Page 21 of His Wood Her Fire

“Damn straight you’re not any man’sbaby, Slick.You’re mine.Now get packed,” he growled and dropped a hard kiss on my mouth.

I stood there, frozen, and not because of the icy room, as Bo walked away.

Crap.

I must have said all that shit out loud.But still.That didn’t give him the right to say what he said afterwards!

I grabbed the fuzzy socks I had worn the previous night off the floor and pulled them onto my frosty toes.Then I marched to the closet and grabbed one of my suitcases, quickly filling it with clothes and necessities.

The entire time I was doing that, my mind was racing.

Big, dumb, sexy jerk!

He didn’t just get to kiss me and make outrageous exclamations when I wasn’t even fully awake yet.How dare he?

Coming into my rental in the middle of the night.

Taking my cat.

Kissing me.

Calling me his baby.

“Seriously, Universe, what gives?”I muttered.

And as I walked to meet the man himself, I swear the Universe answered back.

Why are you acting so indignant when your panties are wet right now, Lo?

Chapter Eleven-Bo

Iwas starting to doubt my plan to sabotage the generator when, after a couple of hours, Gloria didn’t emerge.

Finally, I got tired of waiting.Half worried I’d done something to hurt her by turning off the heat, I rushed inside, relieved when I saw she was snuggled beneath three quilts and a comforter.

Little vixen.

Creeping around like some sort of Grinch, I gathered up her cat and all his stuff and brought him over to my place.I set up his litter box and put his food on the mat on the counter, like I saw her do for him.

It was a win-win, really.That way Moose didn’t get into Frou-Frou’sTender Vittles.When I went to head back for Gloria, the two of them were snuggled by the fireplace, already best buds.

See?It’s kismet.

Need pulsed through my body like a drumbeat.Or maybe it was more like the steadychop chop chopof my axe when I was cutting wood.

I swear, I’d never felt anything like it before.

And just like my blade when it sliced through wood, Gloria had broken down every single one of my defenses with nary a blow.

She’d awakened something inside of me that I thought was dead forever.

And as I waited for her to pack, my chest squeezed with emotion.

I have to tell her how I feel.

But I figured it could wait until I got her safely ensconced back inside my home.

Where she belongs.

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