Page 8 of Laid Bear

“We don’t. That would ruin the point of vacationing. But if we really need to get in contact with someone, we go into town about a half hour away.”

“Well, could you take me into town? And where exactly is here?”

“Back Swamp, Tennessee. Not too far from the mountains. You’re not in any shape to go anywhere until you’re completely healed. You should probably hop back into bed and rest before you wear yourself out.”

“I don’t need to lie down. What I need is to get out of here. I have someplace to be.”

Though the slight smile that still curved his lips remained, an unfathomable expression flickered in his eyes. “The only place you need to be is back in bed, so we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Your decision.”

Zora placed her hands on her hips and pursed her lips. “Look, I appreciate you taking me in, but I’d very much like to get dressed and get out of here. I’ve already told you, I’m fine.”

“The hard way it is.” He spoke as if she hadn’t said anything. Before she realized what he was up to, Gavin advanced and scooped her up in his arms. He carried her the short distance to the bed and gently laid her down on its center.

Once Zora got over the initial shock of her wishes being ignored, she tried to scramble off the bed, her blood boiling with fury. “I said I didn’t want to lie down!”

He placed a hand on her thigh to keep her still. “I’d hate to restrain you, but I will if I have to.”

She tried to squirm from the grip he had on her but to no avail. “Isn’t that what you’re doing to me already? Look, just because you allowed me to stay here for the night doesn’t give you the right to dictate to me.”

He chuckled in seeming amusement, which further served to piss her off. Her fists balled at her sides. If she were a violent person, she would have smacked the smug look off his face. “What’s so damn funny?”

“A night? Try five.”

“Look buddy, I don’t know what the—”she broke off when his words finally sunk in. “Five? That’s not possible.”

“Believe it. You’ve been here for a total of five nights, not one.”

She placed her hand over her forehead to feel for knots or any other trauma. Everything felt normal. “I couldn’t have been here for that long. I would have woken up at some point. Andif I was out so long, why didn’t you take me to a hospital? Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do after an accident?”

“Look, Zora… May I call you Zora?”

She nodded absently, trying to fathom how what he said was even possible. Beyond a mild headache and aching muscles, she felt no ill side-effects.

Gavin sat next to her, relaxing the grip he had on her thigh, but not removing it completely. “Zora, in most circumstances we would have taken you to the hospital like you said. But when I saw you—when we saw you, we couldn’t do it. Let me preface what I have to say next by mentioning, I’m a medical doctor and I’ve handled the majority of your care while you were unconscious. If at any point in time I thought your injuries were beyond anything I was capable of healing, you’d be at the hospital as we speak. Fortunately, you responded well to the medicine I administered as well as to the treatment I provided.”

Zora raised a brow, waiting for him to finish because there was obviously a but in there. “And the reason you decided to keep me here was why?”

His warm green gaze locked with hers. “Do I need to say? Can’t you feel it too?”

Zora wanted to argue that she had no clue what he was talking about, but they both would have known it was a lie. There was an intangible pull between her and this stranger—Gavin. Perhaps she’d felt it from the second he’d entered the room, but she’d ignored it. Now with him so close and his hand still on her thigh, there was no ignoring the instant chemistry she felt with him. A chemistry she found confusing, exciting and frightening at the same time.

Here was a man she’d known for less than five minutes and yet the simple feel of his hand on her skin made her want more. It was the same reaction she’d had with Logan downstairs. She’d never considered herself promiscuous despite experimenting in college, but she couldn’t explain these feelings whirling within her for two men she didn’t know. Had he given her some kind of drug to make her respond to them this way?

Zora opened her mouth to speak, but the words remained trapped in her throat.

Gavin smiled, this time revealing a row of perfect white teeth. “You don’t have to say it, your expression gives it away.”

He reached over and grazed her cheek with the back of his hand. Zora’s normal instinct would have been to flinch away from his touch, she didn’t know him after all, but the touch of his fingers on her face felt like they were meant to be there. She couldn’t help leaning in to the hand that now cupped her cheek.

His thumb slipped across her bottom lip, sending an involuntary shiver through her entire body. Goosebumps formed along her arms as she became lost in his hypnotic stare. Her heart pounded so hard she could almost hear it, her throat went dry and she darted her tongue across her lips to moisten them. He leaned closer as if he would kiss her and she had every intention of letting him. The part of her brain that was supposed to sound the alarm in situations like this didn’t go off, and she wasn’t sure if she would have listened even if it had.

Gavin moved so close she could feel the warmth of his breath. Zora felt her lids go heavy and she waited for their lips to connect, when someone called out, “Everything all right in here?”

Feeling like a kid with her hand caught in a cookie jar, she backed away from Gavin. She looked up to see the third man she’d seen downstairs. He was just as large as the other two, tall and broad-shouldered. What the hell did these men eat?

There were enough similarities in his appearance to Logan and Gavin to tell her that he was related in some way, but his wavy russet hair hung haphazardly across his forehead, giving him a devil-may-care appearance. His looks were devastating. Though she’d found each man attractive so far, this guy was the most classically handsome of the three, with green bedroom eyes that seemed to invite one to spend a day or night frolicking in bed with him. His lips were fuller than average, but they suited him. They immediately made her think of kissing.

As he walked farther into the room, his eyes narrowed. He looked at her and then at Gavin. “What’s going on in here? I thought you were just going to see if she was okay, not pull a Logan.”

At the sound of the harshness in his tone, Zora snapped out of her trance. “Okay, I’m going to need you guys to tell me what the hell is going on.”

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