Page 42 of Exit Strategy

“It’s a good place to be,” he agreed.

“Is your cabin like this?” I asked, looking up at him.

“Ah, no.” He laughed slightly. “I’m almost embarrassed to take you there. It’s not a quarter so fine as this.”

I smiled up at him. “I don’t need fine things, Kurt,” I murmured and he looked down at me, the look in his blue eyes stealing my breath.

“Aye, you may not need them, but you deserve them,” he said quietly.

I shook my head silently and drew up onto my toes, pitching forward slightly, catching myself against his chest. He turned slightly into my touch and without a word, dipped his head to meet me halfway. Our lips touched, silently, a whisper of a touch, a slight whimper of desire escaping me. He pressed his lips slightly more firmly against mine and Imeltedinto him. He let go of my hand and straightened, putting his arm around me.

I blinked and leaned into him, lowering myself flat on my feet against the smooth wood of the deck. I rested my head against his chest and closed my eyes, listening to the nature around us and the equally wild throbbing of his heart from within his broad chest.

Well, alright then.

15

Kurt…

It seemed that life was full of curveballs. The cabin in the Smokey Mountains had been an easy enough luxury. There were still plenty of places there that were almost off the grid. That was one of the things I had found charming about the region, the deep and almost pervasive mistrust of government and a refusal to embrace fads of technology and fashion. Tradition and family ties ran deep in the folded green mountains.

And there were tons of places that didn’t give two shits if you paid cash and didn’t give them six pieces of personal information so their software could assemble a profile or find your data for information mining. There were places out west that were looking into facial recognition software so that they could create better in-store patterns to make people stay longer and spend more, producing a digital footprint everywhere they went.

I almost shuddered at the thought.

It was like they were completely unaware of the implications.

Callie sighed, her breath hot against my chest, tearing me out of my thoughts. Her behavior since we checked into the cabin had been strange, maybe even going back to the overpass. It had almost been flirtatious, in an awkward way. It was… endearing.

I was very much aware of how small she felt in my arms, and just how little she was wearing – one of my shirts again, and a pair of light purple panties that seemed impossibly thin. I knew it was because they were a cheap, ten pack in a bag off the shelf, but there was a definite effect.

This wasn’t the first time she had slept like this. She had insisted, in that slight manner she had, that we sleep together, and that she was to be the little spoon.

What did Arik do to her? What had he done besides beat her like a drum?

How had he abused her, – gaslit, psychologically coerced, or just outright manipulated her?

I stroked her hair, and she tensed for a second and then relaxed. She still did that, but it was not as prominent a reaction as it had been before. At least she didn’t jump and let out a little scream. That had been disturbing. She tucked in a little closer as I caressed her shoulder and her side. Just small, positive attention. Maybe if that was normal, she would start shedding that fright response. I could smell her, that hint of muskiness under the faint chemical floral smell of the cabin’s soaps and shampoos.

I liked that, and I knew that really, I shouldn’t.

I shouldn’t notice.

My cock certainly shouldn’t notice. But I did, and it did. With her pressed against me, it was hard to keep that thought out of my mind, especially now. Before, it had been easier. The bruises on her face had been raw but they were faded and almost gone now, and she seemed less a woman and more a terrified creature then. The fact that she was beautiful under the abuse, under the bruises, was just a coincidence. What sort of monster would I be, holding her then, everything in her life wrecked, and giving her a nudge in the backside with my bits?

But bloody hell, it was different now.

The question of had she been flirting with me had been answered when she’d kissed me, and I couldn’t decide what it bloody well made me that I’d kissed her back.

Her hands pressed against my chest felt like she desired more, but she was asleep. That didn’t count. I let my hand wander a bit lower, down her side and to the swell of her hip. She felt nice, but that was obvious. I had never been side by side with a woman, felt her body and thought, well this one feels like the rough side of a dead tree. My heart felt like it was racing. This was close to trespassing. She was asleep, for fuck’s sake.

That didn’t matter downstairs, my business was all the way up and starting to throb. It had been a good while since the last time I had such company, and she was easily the most beautiful woman I had in bed. I withdrew my hand and pressed a small kiss to the side of her head, near her temple. I felt her fiery red hair against my lips.

Then she moved.

I froze.

“You missed,” she said very softly. I felt her turn her head up to face me.

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