Page 53 of Westin

He glances down, and he’s a little dead behind his eyes.

“What?” he says.

“I thought you were good,” I manage. “You seemed so easygoing when I met you, but I think you might be…dangerous.”

His jaw twitches, and my mind goes back to when I joked about Avery disappearing at Sovereign Mountain. Westin laughed a little too hard at that.

“Are you a criminal?” I whisper.

The corner of his mouth turns up. “What does me being a criminal have to do with you, darling?”

I frown, confused. “I’m trying to figure out who you are.”

“Westin River Quinn,” he says.

I pull back, and he lets me go, his palm leaving my breast. My feet sink to the bottom, and I scramble back, out of the water. I fall to the shore, dirt sticking to my naked skin.

He moves towards me, water rippling from his powerful body as he gets closer.

My heart pounds.

I think I fucked up. We’re going too fast.

My survival instincts kick in, and I scramble to my feet, not caring that I’m naked. I can find something to cover myself with later. Right now, I need to put some space between myself and this man who lives behind Westin Quinn’s mask.

I move past the truck, whirling to look back. He’s not pursuing me—he’s putting his pants and boots back on. Yes, he’s working quickly, but it’s giving me the time I need to bolt up ahead.

Right where the dirt road meets the paved one, there’s a trailhead that splits north. I know it breaks off and goes up the field. It’s a few miles, but eventually, it’ll spit me out at the edge of Carter Farms.

I take it, scrambling down the hill. My feet hit the ground at the bottom, and that’s when I hear him. I whip around, but it’s too late. Somehow, he’s right behind me. Then I’m in his arms, lifted off the ground and tossed naked over his shoulder.

I hang there, stunned.

This is the most undignified thing that’s ever happened to me. I’m hot, and between my thighs pounds like a drum. I’m unable to speak until he sets me down at the water’s edge in the soft mud, cool on my back.

“Run from me again, I’ll put you over my knee,” he snaps.

My jaw drops, but instead of indignation, heat flows through every part of my body, quickly followed by shame. On the outside, I want to scream, to fight him for catching me and bringing me back, but the other part of me is thrilled. The deep, deep down part I should be ashamed of.

That part basks in being the center of his desire.

And it wants more.

I gasp, pushing myself up on the heels of my hands. He’s crouched over me, hazel eyes bright like an animal’s stare.

“I’m not leaving, Diane,” he says. “And neither are you.”

My mind flits back to when he tied me to the steering wheel and fucked me. A dormant part of me woke up that day, a shameful partthat wanted him to do something worse, like keep going after I beg him to stop.

My heart skips a beat. My mouth is dry.

Deep, deep down, I like that he’s a little dangerous. An outlaw. The kind of man I can see breaking into my bedroom, tying me up, and… No, that’s not right.

My head is all mixed up, but my pussy isn’t. It’s soaked.

“What if I try to leave?” I whisper hoarsely.

He cocks his head. “I would stop you.”

---