Page 23 of Beg Me Angel

Chapter Six

Vera

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The clothes he gave me smelled just like him, the juniper highlights swirled through the tightly weaved material, hijacking my body. I shouldn't have cared about that, and I definitely shouldn't have had flutters skimming across my belly the way I did.

But as I sat and inhaled his deep musk, it sparked another memory. A two second glimpse into the night he found me. I could clearly see the thick stubble of his jaw from beneath as I was perched in his arms.

I tried to focus on his features, on the firm lines and hard angles, only I couldn't see his face. But being matted against his chest, the way it felt to be in his arms and the smell of his clothes as a breeze blew between us, forcing his aroma into my nose, it came to life in my mind.

He really carried me. . .

He carried me in his arms through the woods and back to his cabin.

The thought fed a new feeling, one that was full of torridity, excitement, a lavish thirst that made my throat dry. That vivid memory of how it felt to be wrapped inside him and pressed against his body swept in, creating a lingering sensation on my skin.

Crossing my arms, I ran my fingertips up and down them and closed my eyes to picture his arms around me.

He had hugged me tightly, curling me up and bracing me against his chest. A soft hum of words I couldn't understand buzzed in my ear. He had said something to me as he whisked me away from danger, away from death and back into life.

What was it, what did he say?

Stuffing his clothes almost up my nose, I took in another long deep breath, trying to make those words audible. I wanted to remember what he said to me, I wanted to be able to play those words over and over in my head.

But it wasn't working. Whatever he had mumbled to me in the heat of the moment was nothing but white noise.

Falling back on the bed, I hugged the two articles of clothing into my chest. My towel loosened, dropping to my sides and leaving me bare. I felt my nipples harden as a wintry draft trickled in from between the log walls.

The door was shut and the room was beginning to chill as the heat from the fire no longer reached inside.

Pushing myself up, my body still felt achy, but it had subsided, easing up on my muscles and making my movements smoother. Slipping the over-sized t-shirt over my head, the cotton fell loosely around my frame. He was right, it didn't fit at all, not even close.

But I didn't mind. There was comfort around my body, hugging me like he had the day he saved me. I could feel the ghostly memory of his arms as the shirt touched my back, my legs, my belly.

I tried to put on the shorts, but no matter how much I rolled them, all they did was fall off my hips. So I gave up, kicking them into the corner and tucking myself into the shirt. The weight of the day pressed down, trying to suck me into its depressive hole.

Sara. . . I hope she's okay.

She's fine, Vera, you know she is. There's nothing you can do right now anyway, so there's no point in worrying about it.

I wasn't going to brood about it anymore, I had a plan, I knew what I was going to do. Tomorrow I would convince Pax to help me, I planned on forcing him to take me to the place he scooped me up from.

There had to be something there for me to find, some sort of clue as to what happened or where Sara was. People don't just disappear, I didn't just get lost and then found by this mountain man.

Humanity in general, had a bad habit of leaving behind traces of their existence, I was positive that it would be true with this too.

My purse wasn't with me, my phone was gone, I had none of the things I always carried. Pax had said he found me laying in a bush, but that I was the only thing that was there.

So where did everything else go? I tried to convince myself that there was a chance I left my purse in Sara's car, but my phone would have been in my pocket, and it wasn't.

The questions were killing me, having nothing to go on but a few meager memories was hard to swallow. I needed answers, I deserved answers.

I wanted to believe deep down that there was a logical explanation, a valid reason for what had happened that could easily explain it all away.

There's always a silver lining, always.

That was my father's line, it was his life motto. When I found out he had cancer, it was devastating. I couldn't imagine my life without him, I couldn't imagine not having him to call when I had a question or when I needed backup in an argument with my mom.

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