Page 207 of Mountain Men Heroes

“Eeli.” A soft, sweet voice reached for me through the nightmare of my flashback. “Come back to me, Eeli.”

I jumped, fighting to focus on reality, the rational side of my brain having just enough of a hold to lure me back.

“Eeli, baby, I promise you’re fine with me.”

That innocent, angelic voice drifting through my nightmare introduced just enough incongruence to my mind that I snapped out of it long enough to register Clara, and not some conjured enemy, standing by my side.

Her teeth sank into her bottom lip, making me focus on its plump fullness. Her gentle smile made my heart ache.

“You’re okay.” She reached for me.

I tracked her movement with my eyes, but even seeing what she was about to do didn’t prepare me for the jolt of awareness that shot through me when her soft hand landed on my arm. My gaze shot back to hers as electricity and heat zinged through me, starting from the spot where her hand rested and spreading into every part of me. Especially my dick. It grew hard behind the metal zipper of my jeans and I growled lowly as much from the surprise as from the urge to see her body take all of me.

Her expression told me she’d been caught off guard by the contact, too. Her amber eyes were wide, her lips parting.

The look on her face, the heat of her touch, the way that tight T-shirt and short shorts, all of it made her unrelentingly tempting. And suddenly, for the first time since we walked into that horrific scene months ago, my fear, rage, and confusion subsided.

But I still couldn’t breathe. But for a whole other reason entirely.

Clara’s hand stroked soothingly up and down my arm, even as she stared up at me in unblinking surprise. I leaned more firmly into her touch. She obliged, continuing to slide her warm hand over my skin.

My eyes drifted closed, but they bolted open again when a realization hit me.

Everything inside me had grown quiet. Visions of death evaporated like smoke floating off into the atmosphere. For the first time in I don’t know how long, I stood firmly rooted in the present moment.

I eased closer to Clara, my body instinctively seeking her warmth, more of her touch. She blinked up at me and shifted closer. We moved as though two strings pulled us together, and before I made the decision to do it, I pulled her to me, holding her close in the circle of my arms.

Her small hands slid up to rest on my chest. “You stopped shaking.”

I drew my eyebrows together, uncertain of what she meant.

She must have sensed my confusion because she explained, “Usually when Dyson gets too far away, you get agitated, start shaking. You did it this time, but now…” her hands slid up to my shoulders, over my biceps, and back to my chest again, “no trembling.”

No trembling. Her words played over and over again in my mind. I should have been embarrassed at being caught in my worst moments of weakness.

But there was no judgment in Clara’s tone or the eyes she turned up to me. If anything, her expression was one of confusion and wonder and…something else.

No trembling. As I kept my gaze trained on her gorgeous upturned face, the truth of her words hit me. I wasn’t shaking. That greasy, wretched ball of fear and anxiety that had been living inside me for months was nowhere to be found. My constant reactions of dread and rage were gone, leaving only contentment and desire and…

Holy shit. Possessiveness.

Without thought, I clutched Clara closer. She obliged, moving her arms up and over my shoulders. I stared down into her eyes. Did she see the same wonder reflected in mine?

Primitive, primal instincts took over. They weren’t products of fear or fury this time, but something deeper, though equally earth-shattering. Only one simple thought formed in my primordial brain—mine.

Holy. Fuck. Clara Becker. My best friend’s baby sister.

Mine.

Before I could deny any of the possessive feelings running through me, the sounds of tires crunching over gravel hit my ears.

“Dyson is coming,” Clara whispered, her eyebrows snapping together and a tumble of confusion flashing on her face.

Dyson. He hadn’t been gone long, but for the first time in months I’d been able to part from him without having a complete mental breakdown. Elation pumped through me and I grinned down at her.

Apparently Clara wasn’t just someone who I lusted for, she was a miracle worker. A living, breathing angel. My angel.

“He’s going to need you, Eeli.”

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