Page 54 of The Wolf I Sworn To Hate

They cleaned up with the warmed water and they each drank a bottle of water.

Xyla looked at her empty bottle. “Having sex is thirsty work.”

Sean held up his own bottle. “It seems to be.” He paused and then said, “You should probably be getting back.”

“I want to stay here with you.”

He looked at her. Sean wanted so much for her to stay with him, but he knew she was terrified of her father.

“Your father would be livid.”

“I don’t care. We don’t have a whole lot of time left, and I want to spend every minute that I possibly can with you. The idea of spending the night in your arms is another one of my fantasies. You wouldn’t destroy a woman’s dreams, would you?”

He nodded. They went into the bedrooms and pulled the blankets and pillows off the bed. The couch was a hide-a-bed.

Sean motioned to it. “Sometimes, the floor is more comfortable than these.”

Xyla shrugged. “We’ll give it a try. If it gets to be too uncomfortable, then we’ll just move to the floor.”

They put a blanket on the bed and lay on it, pulling the other covers on top of them. Sean pulled Xyla into his arms, holding her close to him. She fit perfectly against his body.

She fell asleep quickly, but Sean lay awake for a while. Xyla felt so right in his arms. For the first time since Ivy died, Sean let himself feel, whereas before, he had closed himself off from all emotions. Xyla made his world spin out of control. She was special and he didn’t want this to be their last night together.He wasn’t ready to get down on one knee and propose, but he wanted something more than just this evening.

Finally, he relaxed completely, closed his eyes, and fell into a deep sleep.

Xyla moved slightly, waking him.

“Is it morning already?” he asked.

“Yes, and as much as I hate to move, I have to pee.”

“Do you think you could hit a bottle? We have no plumbing and wouldn’t want the toilet to sit unflushed until who knows when.”

“I can hit a bottle,” she said.

She got up, went into the bathroom, and returned a few minutes later with a full bottle. After carefully pouring the contents down the drain, she rinsed the sink out with more water.

Sean reached for his underwear. “I guess we’d better go back.”

“Do we have to? Can’t we just stay here for the rest of the time?”

“Think of your brother. You can’t just abandon him.”

Xyla hung her head and heaved a heavy, exaggerated sigh. “Alright. I guess. Be that way.”

They dressed, pulled the covers off the hide-a-bed, put those back in the bedroom, and pushed the bed back into the couch.

He looked at Xyla and smiled. “Are you ready?”

“No, but let’s go, anyway.”

Elliot’s eyes bulged out of his head when they walked in together.

“Where in the hell have you been?”

Xyla looked at Sean and then back at her father. “I stayed the night with Sean in his cabin.”

“What in the hell were you thinking?” he screamed.

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