Page 4 of Awakening the Wild
"I said I'm—"
"Put. It. On." I used the voice that brooked no argument. "Before you pass out in my truck."
For a second, I thought she'd keep fighting me out of pure stubbornness. Then common sense won out, and she took the shirt with trembling fingers. It was massive on her—the shoulders hung past her elbows, and it fell nearly to her knees. But it was warm and dry, and some of the tension left her body as she burrowed into the fleece lining.
"Better?" I asked.
She nodded, not meeting my eyes. "Thank you."
I watched her straighten her spine and lift her chin against the storm, refusing to break even when she was clearly terrified, I realized I didn't mind complicated.
Not when it came with curves like hers.
Not when it came with fire like that.
She thought she was helpless, but I could see wasn’t. She just needed someone to show her how strong she really was.
Someone like me.
Chapter 2
Kevin
Getting Tonya's Mercedes unstuck had been a nightmare. My truck's tires spun uselessly in the mud for twenty minutes before I finally managed to winch her car to solid ground. By I was soaked to the bone and covered in mud from head to toe.
She wasn’t much better off. Sitting rigid in my passenger seat, arms wrapped around herself, her teeth chattered so hard I could hear them over my engine. Her clothes were ruined, and she looked smaller than ever in my massive truck.
We rode to my house in silence, the storm raging around us. Lightning illuminated the mountain in stark flashes, and thunder rolled across the ridges like artillery fire. This was going to be a bad one—the kind that knocked out power and made the mountain roads impassable for days.
My place sat on the highest ridge, a restored 1800s structure with modern solar panels and a wraparound porch. I'd spent five years making it perfect. It was my sanctuary, my castle, the place where no one could hurt me or my brothers.
And now I was bringing a stranger inside.
I pulled up the driveway and killed the engine. "We're here."
Tonya looked through the windshield at my home, her eyes wide. "You live here alone?"
"Yeah." I watched her take in the three stories of weathered stone and timber, the massive windows that looked out over the valley, the careful landscaping that blended with the natural forest. "Problem with that?"
"It's just big. For one person."
Too big. I'd built it with dreams of filling it someday—wife, kids, the family I'd never had growing up. But those dreams had faded over the years, replaced by the reality that women like the ones I wanted didn't stay with men like me.
Women like her.
"Come on," I said, getting out before I could think about it too hard. "Let's get you inside before the power goes out."
I came around to help her down from the truck, but she was already struggling with the door handle. The truck was built for someone my size, and she could barely reach the ground from the running board.
Without thinking, I put my hands on her waist and lifted her down.
The contact shot through me like electricity. She was so small in my hands, so soft and warm beneath the oversized flannel. For a second, she was pressed against my chest, and I could smell her shampoo underneath the scent of rain and mud. She smelled expensive and feminine and completely out of my league.
She gasped, her hands flying to my shoulders for balance. Through the wet fabric of my thermal shirt, her touch burned like a brand. I set her down quickly, stepping back before I did something stupid. Like kiss her. Or throw her over my shoulder, carry her inside, and never let her leave.
"Careful," I said. "Everything's slippery."
She nodded. Her cheeks were flushed a pretty pink. Whether from cold or something else, I couldn't tell.
