I shuffled to the edge of the bed, wanting to take a leak and a shower. That I’d never expected at all. Indoor plumbing in the log cabin. He had explained that he did the plumbing himself and sourced from the river nearby. I was impressed that he was so handy although it was obvious just by looking at him, that he was the kind of guy you’d want hanging around in dire situations.
I frowned as I wondered why I had this fixation with guys who were physically more powerful than me? Although Keith was very much corporate, he still had that macho, larger-than-life personality that had attracted me to him.
Now Tate.
“Shit,” I grumbled when I tried standing on my leg and it still hurt too much to put pressure on it. I looked around for the clothes Tate had loaned me since everything in my bag had been soaked. I found the T-shirt and tugged it over my head, before hopping my way to the door.
Without warning, the door pushed open, stubbing the toe of my left foot.
“Fuck!” I exploded, hopping around on my one foot. Before I could fall, Tate caught me.
“Shit, sorry,” he apologized. “I had no idea you were out of bed.”
My toes forgotten, I stared up at Tate, clinging to his biceps. Holy hell, I didn’t know he was so handsome. He had shaved off the hair from his face and his hair was tied back. With the lack of facial hair, I could clearly make out his strong jawline and the sensuous lips I’d kissed over and over last night. His piercing green eyes stared back at me.
“What?” he barked out at me in that gruff way of his.
“Uh nothing,” I replied, looking away from him. “Put me down, will you? I was going to take a shower.”
“Hang on.” I couldn’t say I was surprised when he brought me to the bathroom. I figured Tate for this type of man with a take-charge attitude and, it was useless for me to protest.
“You don’t have to act so macho, you know,” I told him when he walked into the bathroom and lowered me to my feet.
“You know you love it,” he smirked at me.
I was amazed that he was able to tease, although the mask came back over his features immediately.
“Call me when you’re through,” he stated, retreating from the bathroom.
I watched him go with a frown. I was wondering if I had made a mistake. I had been inclined to believe he had shaved for my benefit but now I wasn’t so sure. He had the opportunity to join me in the shower if he had wanted to but he had chosen to leave instead.
Feeling disappointed, I set about getting to my morning routine. This was all for the best anyway. It couldn’t be wise for me to be more than sexually involved with another man so quickly after Keith. We had sex yesterday. Twice. So it was good. Way better than good. That didn’t mean I had to start thinking about what life in these woods would be like with Tate.
Nope. I wasn’t thinking about that at all.
Chapter Six
“Is there anything you can’t do?” I asked Tate as he laid out breakfast. He had been cooking while I was in the shower and my mouth watered at the scrumptious meal of eggs, bacon and grits with biscuits. I felt better having showered and was now wearing my own clothes since he had hung them to dry overnight. My right leg was propped up on a chair and a handsome masculine face was settling across the table from me. What more could I want?
“I’m sure there’s a thing or two,” he answered and dug into his breakfast.
I followed suit, figuring he didn’t want to talk much as usual. I watched him from beneath my lashes, the way his lips tugged on the tines of the fork. And I remembered the way those same lips had been wrapped around my cock yesterday. I squirmed in my chair and lowered my gaze to my food, as the seat of my shorts got a little too snug. I groaned mentally. I couldn’t walk around with a perpetual hard-on and my ass needed time to recover anyway.
“How’s your ankle?” Tate enquired in the middle of breakfast.
“It doesn’t look as bad anymore,” I replied, deciding that maybe if I opened up a little, then I could get him to talk to me and tell me why he was in these god-forsaken woods all by himself. Not that I wasn’t grateful he was around. I’d have likely walked off a cliff somewhere if he hadn’t followed me down the mountain. Even if we did end up going back up the dreaded mountain.
“You’ll need to stay off it for a couple of days at best,” he advised me. “The last thing you want is to aggravate it or you just might end up in a hospital.”
I groaned. “I’ve to get back to work on Monday.” If I still had a job. I couldn’t imagine still working for Keith after breaking up with him. He was the vindictive sort.
He glanced up at me with a frown. “It’s the middle of the week. Why aren’t you at work in the first place?”
I got the feeling he just narrowly stopped himself saying ‘where you belong.’ “I took a few days of vacation time,” I answered. No need to tell him that Keith had given me the paid time off to go trekking through the woods with him.
“Let me guess,” he stated. “You work in a bank or something? You look to a bit straitlaced.”
I laughed. “That’s the first I’m hearing a gay man being described as straitlaced.”