Page 43 of Mountain Men Heroes

Eyes wide, her mouth worked but nothing came out. What did he want her to say?

“What do you want from me, Ethan?”

“Marry me, damn it. I want you to fucking marry me and give me babies. Lots of babies.”

His chest was heaving and she could see his pulse racing with the bulging vein in his neck.

“My savage mountain.” He wrapped a strong arm around her and hauled into his arms and she rested her cheek against his chest. The sound of his racing heart calmed hers.

She pulled back enough to look into his eyes. She could see the man meant every word he uttered. His eyes glowed with the truth of them and a silent plea for her to obey.

“Do you mean it?” She wanted to hear the words.

“Every last one,” he growled before claiming her mouth with a claiming kiss so deep her soul felt the pain inside him and welcomed the burden. He sucked her bottom lip into his mouth and nipped at the tender flesh. Between them his cock grew hard.

She broke away and stepped from his arms, hard as it was. He met her gaze with a fire in his eyes. He took a step toward her and then another.

“Stay here.” It tore her apart to move that small fraction away from him. She clipped her pistol to her belt, gathered her gear and the case of vials in one hand, and tossed a water bottle his way to land on the couch with the others she tried to force down him to no avail. “You need lots of liquids. I won’t take long. But this is something I have to do. Please understand.”

“Fuck that,” he rumbled and the sound of his dark laughter had her pausing.

“It’ll take a bullet to my head and not my leg to keep me here laid up on the couch like some pussy while my woman puts herself in danger for me or anyone else. Don’t ever ask that of me again.”

She kind of liked his all alpha mode, but that little tidbit stayed with her.

“I’d do anything for you, but it’s not like I’m going out there unarmed,” she corrected, turning to him. He crossed the short distance between them, leaning heavily on the couch and each piece of furniture between them for support. Nothing was holding him back, apparently.

She dropped her supplies and pressed both palms to his cheeks. “You do know you have a fever and you’ve been shot, right? Do you know why you can’t breathe and you’re probably seeing two of me?”

“’Cause you’re tearing my insides to pieces!” A deep growl rumbled through her as he wrapped his arms around her and pressed her against his chest.

“Please don’t go. Damon will be up this way in a day or two to check on the place. He always does. We can hold up until then.”

Damon was Ethan’s second eldest brother and the quiet one of the Savage brothers. She had met him a handful of times at Sunday dinner with their large family. He either stuck to the bar and bakery he owned or spent his time in the woods for the most part. You never experienced a true Alaskan family gathering until you had ten plus burly men in one room with a table full of food.

“You are fighting off the poison that seeped into your bloodstream. How much I don’t know. Waiting isn’t an option. What we don’t know could mean your life. I’m only guessing it affect animals only. What if I’m wrong, Ethan? I’m not willing to risk it out of fear of the unknown.”

He crossed his arms and took a stance that screamed he was budging.

“Look, I need to know what kind of danger we are in. If I don’t find out how to help you, we could have a major crisis on our hands.”

Realization of their situation hit and his eyes became razor-focused. “Fine.” Anger threatened to take hold, but she watched him tap it down. She spent enough time around her brothers to know it simmered just beneath the surface and would find an outlet sooner or later.

“Damon has a radio. Getting to his place will be a bitch and slow, but faster than waiting for him. We’ll call in support while you do your testing back at his place.”

“Since you refuse to leave, think you can you make it?”

“If it kills me.”

“Not funny, Ethan.”

“Not really laughing, Doc.” He grabbed her arm and spun her around as she reached for the door handle.

Momentum carried her straight into his waiting arms. Damn if her hands didn’t land on the firm space his chest took up. Looking up at him wide-eyed, she held his gaze as he lowered his face closer to hers. “We’re not done here. This thing between you and me, we clear this up, figure out what the hell Brax is up to and then this,” he waved a finger between the small space separating their noses, “will be addressed. I want a formal answer to my question and I plan on asking you again to make sure I get it.” His tone held no room for negotiations nor did the hard kiss he stole that left her breathless. Honestly, seeing him face his fear head-on and taking what he wanted turned her on. And she was kind of curious to find out how he planned on asking her to marry him again.

Remy leveled her gaze with his. “Touché, mountain man. Touché.”

Seven

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