Page 59 of Strictly Forbidden

“Right. I’m sure that’s all it is.”

I heard the crunch of the snow indicating she was walking closer. For some reason, every muscle in my body tensed.

“Yeah, it is,” I said gruffly, finally tossing the axe onto the ground. At least there was enough wood for a couple of days if not more. I’d split more in the morning. I had to admit I was exhausted.

“I brought you something to drink.”

“Thanks.”

The awkwardness was difficult.

When she handed me a sports drink of some kind, our fingers touched and almost immediately her eyes opened wide. As soon as I had a grasp on the bottle, she jerked her hand away, shaking her head as she looked off to the side. “I think I found some stuff to put a decent meal together. If you want to have dinner with me, that is.”

“Yeah, that’ll be fine.”

“Great. See ya.”

“Are you okay?” I asked, genuinely hoping she was feeling better.

“Sure. Peachy keen.” She was turned away from me but had stopped, her back heaving and I sure as shit didn’t think it had to do with the cold. Quite the opposite.

“Okay.” I took a swig of the drink and did what I could to drag my mind from the gutter.

“No. Nothing is okay.” She spun around quickly, coming to confront me, even getting in my face. “Who the hell are you and don’t give me some song and dance about you being a bad guy. Yeah, I’ve figured that out on my own. Because of you, my guess is my place is torn up, which leaves me with no home or at least none I want to return to. You tell me these men want to kill me, which was proven by the fact we were chased like animals. You kidnap me, bring me to this godforsaken place in the middle of nowhere where there’s no internet. I did try. And there’s barely any food. Thank God for alcohol because at this point, I need a drink.”

If she thought her tirade was going to pull some admittance out of me, she was dead wrong.

“Why else wouldn’t I be a little on the not so okay side? Maybe because I found your bag of weapons, enough to start a war, or the fact I know you were the man who trained my dog. I feel it right here.” She pounded on her chest, her eyes darting back and forth across mine.

“What do you want me to say, Noel? I already told you I was involved with a bad group of men.”

“Bad? You keep using bad. Why not dangerous or murderous? Why don’t you at least tell me the truth about Max? If I’m right, it means you were in a prison where most of the offenders are pretty damn violent, some never being granted parole. That would make you a killer. Right?”

Goddamn it. She wasn’t going to allow this to go. “Drop it. Don’t ask shit you don’t want the answer to.”

“Damn you. I do want the answers. You don’t know what my life has been like. You have no clue the torture I had to endure so this shit, although yeah, it caused me a panic attack, is nothing in comparison to the fucking monster who…”

She stopped short, sucking in her breath. I thought for certain another attack was going to occur. “Who what?” I stepped closer, capping the bottle and tossing it onto the ground. “What, Noel? Are you talking about the bastard who kidnapped and kept you in a fucked-up dungeon, doing unspeakable things to you and somehow you escaped?”

Fuck me. I shouldn’t have thrown it in her face. The moment her brain comprehended what I’d said, she was suddenly way too calm. But it was just the calm before the storm. She took a hard swing with her fist, which I caught, shocked how strong she was. I cocked my head, giving her a stern look.

“You fucking bastard. You looked me up. Is that why you found me in the grocery store? Huh? Is that what your crazed level of passion was about or the fact you were nice to me with my car? Or maybe you just wanted to see the freak who’d managed to survive. For all I know you made it inoperable on purpose so you could take me home and…” She jerked her arm away and I allowed her.

“That’s not what happened,” I told her. I’d never felt so much like a shit in my life, but I was even more attracted to her than before, my hunger bursting out of control.

“Then tell me. What did happen? Tell me.”

Maybe a small part of me didn’t want to burst the bubble that we had around ourselves, so I kept silent.

“Fucking asshole. I’m getting the hell out of here.”

I had no clue what she had intended and simply stood watching her as she stormed back into the house. Maybe the best thing to do was to let her cool off. When nothing happened in five minutes, I grabbed a load of wood, prepared to bring it into the house. Suddenly, she appeared with a bag in her hand, guiding Max to the truck. She threw open the passenger door and she tossed the bag first then ushered him inside.

What the fuck did she think she was doing?

She managed to climb inside the cab and start the engine before I could dump the wood from my arms. Where I was located was far enough away from the house in deeper snow that running toward her was tough even for a big man like me.

I did my best, racing after her. Somehow, she managed to back up, although she immediately spun dirty snow everywhere with the tires. Fuck. She was serious about this.

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