Page 32 of With Conditions

“I’m not 12 and I can fucking handle myself,” I nipped back. He raised his arms in a submissive motion. I continued, “you think women are weak that they can’t handle hard situations? I’ll have you know. I started my company with nothing and men who looked at me like I was insane trying to make a breakthrough in the fitness industry as a female. But, we are capable of so much more.”

He looked at me, seeing the defense on my face. “I’m very much aware of what women are capable of.” He headed toward the woods, and I followed behind him. The ground hurt to walk on with no shoes and, honestly the situation reminded me of the perfect horror flick.

After walking for what seemed like a long time, I noticed a cabin in the distance. “Oh, thank God, my feet are killing me.”

Cole turned back and, in a few short steps, stopped close to me. The moon gleamed off his skin, and his face tinted a bit dark. He was always so warm, and he looked beautiful in that light. His eyes followed from my lips to my eyes. “I’m not trying to take your independence, but my feet are built for the woods.” Before I could object, he slid his hand under my legs and lifted me with one swoop. Reaching around to grab his neck, I didn’t realize how drained I was. A tingling sensation passed through my body. I looked at his face, which was next to mine. He quipped and looked towards the cabin. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

“We can’t just walk up and knock on the door.”

“We won’t need to knock,” he replied before walking towards the cabin. My face cowered with curiosity, but then I remembered he mentioned something about Maverick so I started putting the pieces of the puzzles. It might be his place.

Making our way out of the clearing and onto the large front porch, I waited for him to put me down. Instead, he just opened the door.

“We are going to get shot,” I whispered, “this is breaking and entering.”

He sat me on what looked like the table and lined his body forward to mine. “The owner of this cabin won’t mind, I promise.” My body reacted to him now standing between my legs. He was hands-on the table and leaning into me. All I could think about was how much I wanted him to kiss me again. My eyes trailed down his face to his soft lips, next to his chest, which was smooth and poked out but not blocking the view of his rock-hard abs, which moved gently when he breathed. Slowly, I moved my eyes back up before stopping at the most ‘fuck-me-face’ I had ever seen.

“Let’s get you taken care of,” his sexy voice was talking to me, but I was so captured by his body that I didn’t hear what he said. He stepped away, and my body slightly moved toward him. All of a sudden, I felt weak. Looking down, I saw blood dripping off my feet onto the floor. “Oh my…” The room went black.

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