Page 8 of Arctic Mountain Man
The possessive edge in his voice made something flutter in my chest. Aaron had never defended me. Never stood up for me. Hell, he’d barely acknowledged me half the time.
His other hand came up to cup my cheek, his thumb stroking across my skin and my eyes fluttered closed. I wanted to know more too. I wanted to know what his hands would feellike on other parts of my body. The thoughts were so vivid, so intense, they made me dizzy.
“I don’t usually feel this comfortable with someone so soon,” I said.
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
I opened my eyes and looked at him—really looked at him. He was big and gruff and dangerous-looking, and he lived alone on a mountain like some kind of hermit. By all rights, I should be terrified.
Instead, I felt safer than I had in years.
“Good,” I whispered. “Definitely good.”
His hand slid from my cheek to the back of my neck, his fingers warm and possessive, holding me there like he didn’t want me to move. I wanted him to pull me forward, to kiss me, to pin me against the hood of that Mustang and make me beg. But instead, he just looked at me—hungry, restrained, dangerous. And it left me trembling.
CHAPTER FOUR
Blake
I’d forgotten what it felt like to want to smile.
On this mountain, I’d gotten used to the silence, the solitude, the absence of anything that might crack the stone wall I’d built around what was left of my heart. But watching Sadie explore my garage, seeing the genuine interest in her eyes when she looked at my work, hearing her ramble about everything and nothing—it stirred something I thought was dead.
She made me want to smile. Almost.
The closest I’d come was when she’d started babbling about not being a nuisance, words tumbling over each other in her nervousness. Something about the way she fidgeted and flustered made my chest tight in a way that had nothing to do with wanting to drag her into my lap, shove her legs open, and lick that nervousness right out of her until she was shaking apart in my arms.
Now we sat on my front porch, with her curled up in one of the wooden chairs I’d built last winter, a glass of lemonade in her hands. The afternoon sun caught the highlights in her dark hair. She tucked a strand behind her ear in a gesture that was becoming dangerously familiar.
I wanted to be the one to tuck it behind her ear, then cup the back of her neck and drag her in until she was breathless againstmy mouth. I wanted to feel her shiver when my thumb grazed her skin. I wanted to tilt her chin up, slip my tongue past her lips, and taste the sweet lemonade right from her mouth.
Fuck.
I was in trouble. Deep, bone-deep trouble with this woman who’d stumbled into my life less than twenty-four hours ago.
I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms. “So, what do you do on a romantic weekend getaway on the mountain?”
She choked on her lemonade, coughing and sputtering. “What?”
The reaction was so unexpected, so genuine, that I felt that almost-smile tug at my mouth again. “You said this was supposed to be romantic. What did you have planned?”
“I really didn’t have anything planned. Honestly, it was his idea to come, not mine. I had already planned my weekend. Grocery shopping and reading to avoid cleaning my house.” She looked at me and smiled. “I’m a really exciting person.”
A low growl rose inside me. I could tell she lacked confidence in herself. I didn’t know if it was from her jackass ex—because the man who had left her on the side of a mountain would never come near her again—or if it went deeper than that. Right then, I made a vow to myself to show her exactly the kind of woman she was.
One that made my dick hard and could easily bring me to my knees.
One that deserved to be worshipped, teased, fucked until she couldn’t remember her own doubts.
She glanced at me from beneath her long lashes. “Have you ever been on a romantic weekend?”
There was a tentative tone beneath her bravado, and I smiled to myself. Progress already and I hadn’t done anything but touch her cheek. I couldn’t wait until I brought out the bad girl inside her.
I had plans for that bad girl. And the sweet girl too. And every one of them involved my mouth on her pussy or my cock inside her.
“Never had the desire.”
Until now.
