“I said stand back from the door, baby.”
“You called me baby,” she repeats, sounding stunned.
“You don’t like being called baby?” I ask in return and find I’m still smiling.
“No. I mean, I do! It’s just, I don’t think anyone has ever called me that before.”
“Good. I like that I’ll be the only one.”
“You do?”
“Definitely. Now stand back from the door.”
“Why?”
“Did you move away?” I ask, knowing she did because her voice is fainter.
“I did,” she responds. “But I still don’t understand.”
“Take another couple of steps,” I instruct. I give her a minute to do as I ask and then I position my shoulder against the door.
If I had known that I was going to be breaking into my own bedrooms, I wouldn’t have made the doorframes and doors out of solid wood. It’s too late now, however. It takes a couple of tries, but on the third hit with my shoulder, the door gives away. It opens to a startled Carly, who is standing there with her mouth open, gaping at me.
“You knocked down the door,” she stutters out.
“I did,” I answer, stalking toward her. In response she backs away, frightened. I should feel like an asshole, but I like that she’s frightened. And I might have once wanted a tall woman, but I like that she’s smaller. I’m the predator and she’s my prize. My prize to care for, to hold, and to protect.
“You… you need to leave,” she says, and the nervousness in her voice only increases when I pin her between me and the bed.
“I’m going to.”
“You are?”
“Yeah, baby, I am.”
“Oh. Well, okay then.”
“And you’re going with me,” I tell her as I reach down and grab her. I place her over my shoulder, so that her torso and head stretch down my back. Her ass is hanging over my front and I’d swear to fuck that I can feel the heat of her pussy pressed against me there.
I suddenly feel more alive than I have in years.
Chapter Six
Carly
I should be scared, and maybe somewhere underneath the lust that’s clawing through my system right now, I am. I do feel on the verge of a panic attack, but that’s because I think I made the wrong decision. Stone is acting like a caveman, but then he thinks we’ve spent months and months pouring our hearts out together online and on paper. If I put myself in his position, I can understand his urgency.
But I wasn’t the one he talked to.
I’ve read through the letters, but not the online conversations or texts. Tally assured me there wasn’t that many because his connection here in Alaska wasn’t secure, but the fact that there were some scares me.
What don’t I know?
What did I—Tally—say?
What did she promise?
Those are the questions that are swarming through my mind at the speed of light and causing me to panic. His big hand wraps firmly around my thighs as we walk back to his room. His heated touch seems to burn me. I can’t stop myself from watching the way his ass juts against the white cotton towel. It bubbles out, a firm mass that makes me weak. Stone has a really nice ass. I watch the muscles flex, unable to look away, and too caught up in the movement to protest further—like I really should.
When we get to the bedroom he lays me down on his bed and I scramble up against the headboard. He grins down at me.
“I won’t bite you, Carly.”
“I… I didn’t think you would,” I mutter, refusing to blush.
“Unless you ask me,” he grins.
“I won’t,” I huff and he laughs. “You’re being… scary,” I tell him and that cocky look he’s wearing seems to disappear quickly.
“Are you scared?”
“Well—”
“Be honest with me, Carly.”
I think over everything. I have to admit it. I’m not scared. What we shared in the bathroom was intense, but it could have gone down many ways and it didn’t. It was hot, but Stone didn’t force anything on me. He went a little crazy on his door, but he’s handled me with care—even while packing me around like a sack of potatoes.
“It depends on what you have planned,” I tell him, hedging.
“You came here to marry me, didn’t you, Carly?” he asks after studying me, and I can’t make myself meet his eyes.
“Kind of.”
“Kind of?” he asks, and this time I can hear anger in his voice. I had thought about telling him the complete truth. With his reply, I decide that might not be my wisest course of action. If he kicks me out, I have nowhere to go. Plus… as insane as it is to even think it—I like being around him. I don’t really want to leave.
“I thought maybe we’d get to know each other and see if we were… compatible.”
“Get to know each other?”