Page 36 of Perfect Cowboy

“Are you going to follow me if I leave again?” he demands.

“Yup.”

“You’re impossible.”

“So are you!”

“I don’t want to be here.”

His eyes are fire, and I wonder if he recognizes just how closely anger and lust are linked. He’s radiating powerful energy, and he either wants to scream at me or throw me down and devour me.

Fucking the anger out of his system could be good for both of us.

I hold my breath, waiting for his next move. He’s either going to bolt to the truck again and drive off before I can do anything to stop him, or he’s going to surrender to my request and stay put.

Stay safe.

Stay alive.

“Gavin, please,” I whisper, trying a different and softer approach. “I don’t want anything to happen to you. Please, please stay with me.”

He glares at me, but starts yanking off his winter gear and tossing it aside, his gestures harsh and angry. But I don’t care how mad he is at me. At least he’s staying.

However, I do know better than to keep poking this particular bear.

Even a jacked, ridiculously hot bear wearing jeans that fit him like a glove and a black hoodie. All he needs is a backward baseball hat and I’d be in heaven.

I walk into the kitchen and click on the radio, hoping it counts as an essential product rather than an energy hog, before I start preparing dinner.

Gavin paces around the cabin, his big body filling the tiny space. He can cross the entire living area in just a few long strides. With a loud, exasperated sigh, he starts messing around with the fire, grumbling incoherently to himself, and I can’t help but smile.

He’s even sexy when he’s madder than hell.

When the music stops and a radio host starts talking about the storm, I turn the volume up. He’s describing horrible accidents across the state, including one on the road leading up to the cabin.

Gavin’s movements still and he stands up from squatting in front of the fire to face me. His expression is blank while he listens to the details of the ten-car pileup.

Apparently, the poor people were trying to get down the mountain to ride out the storm closer to the amenities and comforts in town.

Now they’re either dead or in critical condition, their situation made worse by the difficulties emergency personnel had reaching them.

Gavin scrubs a hand over his face and strides into the kitchen, looking me in the eye.

“Thank you for making me stay here. I was wrong to try to leave and would have ended up in that accident if it wasn’t for you.”

“Thank you for coming to save me. Again. You didn’t let me die, so I’m not letting you die either.”

I’m keeping dinner simple and trying to use the least amount of electricity possible. Fresh vegetables need to be consumed first, so after seasoning and sautéing chicken, I add some broccoli florets, sliced peppers, and onion to the cast iron wok.

It’s toasty warm inside the cabin, but the heat moving through me has nothing to do with the woodstove.

Gavin is still standing a few feet away watching me.

His gaze is like a heavy, comforting blanket covering my entire body.

If blankets were something that I wanted to climb like a tree.

When I turn around from the stove, he’s so close to me that I almost bump into him. He has always run hot, and I used to snuggle up close to him at night to stay warm no matter where we were sleeping. Heat radiates off his body, and I want to wrap myself around him.

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