Page 16 of Mountain Men Heroes

One more tug and her bag slipped free. Blood pounded against his temples and under her delicate touch, his cock grew thicker.

Esmeralda reached around him and whispered, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He pushed up and lumbered over to the entrance that led deeper into the den. No use in hiding what his body wanted. Leaning against the wall, he rested his forehead on his arm and inhaled once. Then again.

“I’m sorry, Drake.”

He craned his neck around.

“For everything.” Esmeralda stood and wobbled slightly. He reached out a hand, but she held hers up. “I could have come back as soon as I realized my father had no intentions of returning to Savage Ridge, but by then, I don’t know.” Tears filled her eyes and she clutched her bag as if it were her lifeline. It took all he had not to reach out and pull her to him. To tell her he didn’t need an explanation. That having her here now was all that mattered.

Why the fuck he wasn’t ripping her clothes off and pinning her to the nearest wall and making her scream his name he didn’t know. It was his intention five minutes ago but he wasn’t a bastard. Not entirely, anyway.

“When that grizzly killed mom, my father sold off all the local assets. Our land, the home I was raised in. The mine. He had several other diamond mines so, I believed him. He had that much rage in him.” She gave a defeated shrug. “I was as naïve as any girl that age. The man didn’t make his empire appeasing teenage daughters or by selling off an asset that made him his fortune. By the time I realized that, I thought it too late. How could I ever show my face here again?” Esmeralda shivered slightly but he didn’t interrupt her. Not yet.

“For years I believed we had no ties here, and I let myself believe you would want nothing to do with me even if I did return. Not after what my father did to you and your family. I was embarrassed.”

He’d damn near ruined them. Using the power of his wealth, the patron of the Morgan family buried their family business without a second thought. It took years to rebuild and all because he thought his family responsible for his wife’s death. He saw the Savage bloodline as having bad blood. It went without saying having one hook up with his daughter was a hard no in the old man’s book.

“You tore my heart out when you left, Esme. There’s no coming back from something like that.” He lied and it tasted like sand in his mouth because if asked, there wasn’t a thing in this world he wouldn’t do for her. “You don’t belong in my gritty world. Princesses belong in castles. Not here, especially with a Savage.” He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck and chuckled.

He couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth.

He couldn’t trap her here. She belonged in the lap of luxury. Not stuck in some small ass mountain-side town.

“Drake Tyler Savage.”

That brought him up short. In his experience, nothing good ever came from a woman using all three names to get his attention.

“Feeling sorry for yourself? That’s not like you.”

“What do you want from me, Esmeralda? I think I’ve made it abundantly clear how much I want you, but you’re determined to not see it.” The gnawing hunger in him grew. If she touched him right now there would be no stopping him until he was between his legs.

Her small, delicate hand rested on his upper arm. Every muscle from his toes to his neck flexed. What the hell was she doing?

“Give me something more, something to let me know you forgive me.”

His brows pinched. “Like you said, you had no choice.”

“What if I did? What if I chose to leave?”

“Then you were a fool for coming back because this time you might not get away.” He broke away.

She let out a grunt of frustration. “I see you’re still as stubborn. You think I don’t see? I see alright. And you know what I see? I see you’re scared behind all those grunts and growls. You have three seconds to tell me what you’re afraid of.” That brought him around and she stepped back. She raised her hand between them as if she wanted to hold him back from getting any closer, yet she was the one closing the distance by getting up in his face.

“You’re a fiery mess of contradictions, woman.” The way she whipped his name across the short distance separating them made his cock pulse. “Three seconds, huh? Or what? You’ll chase me off my mountain? The way I see it, I could have three hours, three days or three weeks. This avalanche could be a foot thick or twenty and whatever you have in that bag won’t sustain us beyond a few hours. At best.”

On the off chance he added, “Unless you have a few Houdini tricks tucked into that suit of yours, we’ll be here for a while.” Before backing away, he drank in his feel of her irresistible scent. Tingles pricked his skin, burned the length of his back and tightened an iron fist around his balls.

The indifference she held onto like a shield fell, and he caught a glimpse of fear in her eyes.

Damn.

Her vulnerable stance and soft green eyes brought around a ferocious need to protect his woman. “Look, Esmeralda. I’m a bastard of a man. All I can think about is getting you fucking naked and coming so deep inside you that before we leave this mountain you have my baby in your womb and no way of ever leaving me again.”

Even he was disgusted at his thoughts, but her expression softened. Like what he has to say was the best damn thing she’d heard in her entire life.

He gathered her hands and continued in a lower voice. “I’m sorry,” he drew out, loving the smallest of contacts. “It’s better you stay as far away from me as possible.”

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