Page 17 of His Wood Her Fire

“Look the smoke cleared out, but it will be hours before the place warms up enough for you to be comfortable.”

“I brought warm clothes.I’ll be fine.”

“Slick—”

“Don’t you dare call me that!”I snapped.

I refused to let this brute of a man see how badly he’d hurt me.I sure as fuck wasn’t about to cry in front of him.

“Let me carry him,” he growled, grabbing the handle on top of the carrier.

“Get your paws off my pussy!”

“Ha!You weren’t saying that a few minutes ago,” he retorted.

“That’s it,” I mumbled, and lashed out with my booted foot.

It connected with his shin, and Bo muttered a curse.But he still managed to take Frou-Frou out of my hands.

He walked slightly ahead of me, grumbling about crazy city slicker women, and normally, it would have amused me.

But it didn’t.Because fifteen minutes ago, Bo DuBois had taken me to paradise, then the second he got what he wanted he’d turned into the same unfeeling bastard I’d met the first day I’d arrived on his mountain.

I should have left the second I saw him.

Should have known better than to drop my panties for a man I knew nothing about.A veritable stranger who did not know me at all.

It was my fault for reading too much into what was little more than scratching an itch for him.

Foolish of me to think about falling in love with a stranger.

It was my turn to curse myself a fool as I walked up the steps behind him.

“Gloria, it’s cold in here.Be reasonable.Come back to my place.I’ll sleep on the couch if that’s what’s bothering you,” he said.

“That won’t be necessary.Thank you.Please leave,” I murmured.

“We should talk—” he tried again.

But I did not want to hear it.Didn’t need him to explain to me that I was just a handy body.

“Just go!”I ran to the bathroom and locked the door behind me.

I heard him curse once more, and I might have imagined it, but I thought I heard him talking to Frou-Frou before the sound of the front door closing reached my ears.

The hum of the generator was soothing, and I listened as forced air made its way through the vent.It was still cold, though.

Shivering, I slid down to the rug and allowed myself a few moments of self-pity before I forced myself to get moving.I took another shower, washing Bo’s woodsy scent off my skin.

Then I dressed in thermal pjs, thick wool socks, and a long cozy sweater.Bo must have let Frou-Frou out of the carrier, since my little marmalade fur baby was presently sitting atop the sofa licking his paws.

I’d used the dryer on my hair but hadn’t bothered styling it, so I knew my short blonde curls were likely sticking up every which way.

“You’re not this person, Gloria.You don’t fall apart over one night—or in this caseone afternoon—stands.”

Pep talks were not really my thing.As I tried to convince myself what had happened between me and Bo wasn’t the end of the world, I wound up making myself cry all over again.

Shit.Shit.Shit.

---