Page 30 of Perfect Alpha

She’s much stronger now than she was all those years ago. She quickly blinks the tears from her eyes, turning her expression cold and neutral before bending purposefully in front of me.

My forgotten hat is in her hands, and she stretches on her tiptoes to put it back on my head, her hip grazing my cock and making me gasp.

The unaffected and perfectly put-together look on her face has me reeling because, damn, she’s really learned how to protect herself. And it’s my fault for forcing her to find armor.

“You know what, Cade? Me neither. Thanks for the drive home.”

With that, she saunters into the house and closes the door behind her, leaving me standing like a punk on the front porch with my heart in my throat.

Chapter 11

Victory

There’snothingIlovemore than being in the woods with Cade. He’s so sexy and confident on our hikes, and watching him work with his hands while he sets up our camps always makes my stomach flutter.

I don’t know how I got so lucky to land him as my man, but I’m thankful every single day.

However, today he’s quiet and sullen while we head to our favorite spot with a vista that never fails to give me vertigo in the best way possible.

The wilderness dwarfs us into small and inconsequential beings, but when I’m here in Cade’s arms, he always looks at me like I’m the most treasured person on earth.

“What’s the matter, grumpy?” I tease, hoping to snap him out of it.

We had an amazing weekend that was the perfect balance of seeing our friends and having sex. I have no idea why he’s brooding so hard. Time with the twins always puts him in a good mood, and so do blowjobs.

He got plenty of both.

“I’m fine,” he snaps.

There’s quiet rustling in the forest as animals scurry away from our noise too quickly for me to catch sight of them. When I try to take Cade’s hand, he pulls away and I flinch. If he doesn’t want me to touch him, something mustreallybe up.

We hike the rest of the way in silence, the big Montana sky engulfing me as each step makes it harder and harder to breathe. It has nothing to do with the steep incline we’re walking and everything to do with Cade’s attitude.

No matter how long I live here, I’ll never stop marveling at the sights. Even if I’ve seen the view a thousand times before, it’s always somehow different with new wonders I’ve never experienced depending on my lens for the day.

The trees are so enormous that I couldn’t wrap my arms around them, and they shield the rocky trail from the harsh summer sun. The rippling stream in the distance is our soundtrack, and the cool water would be so refreshing on my heated skin.

The relentless drone of buzzing bugs doesn’t phase me, and the birds singing feed my soul. There’s nothing more satisfying than the sound of my boots hitting the hard, dirt trail intermingled with my steady breathing and the pounding of my heart.

There’s nowhere else in the world I want to live.

No one else I want to be with.

Stunned doesn’t even begin to describe my reaction to being offered an internship at Gemstone Literary Agency in New York City when I’m finished school.

My seminar professor recommended me without asking, thinking he was doing me a favor. Even though I’m appreciative, Montana is where my heart is, so there’s no way I can go.

My parents are here. Hannah is here, and she’s due to have a baby soon. Cade is here. Mylifeis here, and I’m going to keep building it with the man I love. It’s home. What more could anyone want?

I’ve always planned to pursue teaching and follow in my mom’s footsteps. Instilling my passion for reading and the written word in others is one of my greatest pleasures.

Not going to New York City is far from a sacrifice.

In fact, the idea of starting over alone in a city where I’ve never even visited makes terror root in my gut and bloom throughout my body. I’d make things work long-distance with Cade because I love him so much, but it would definitely be hard.

I need to tell him today that I’m turning down the job to set his mind at ease. I thought it was a given that I would never leave him, but something is bothering him and I hope he hasn’t been obsessing over my offer.

When we reach the clearing that we consider ours because it’s where I gave him my virginity, I gasp like always. The endless panorama of trees stretching before us is so vast, reminding me that the Montana backwoods could swallow me up.

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