“I let my emotions get the best of me. You’re so beautiful, and then we were talking and connecting. I didn’t want it to end. I shouldn’t have let you take me up to the river. I should’ve just—”
I’m flattered, and my heart is racing a mile a minute, but I don’t show it. “Connected? All I remember are a bunch of sexist comments about women not being able to camp alone.”
“I didn’t say that! I said you should be careful. And to be fair, you did break another of your parents’ rules, which was don’t pick up hitchhikers.”
“How do you know that was my parents’ rule?”
He turns toward me, the warmth of his breath on my shoulder. “It’s every parent’s rule.”
My brows narrow. “So you’re blaming me for picking you up?”
“I’m just saying, if you hadn’t picked me up you wouldn’t be in this mess, but you let your womanly nature—”
“You mean mykindnature, which I will not be using again when it comes to you!”
He laughs. “You get worked up so fast. I’m just messing around. I think you’re totally capable, and I’m lucky you helped me today. I do feel bad that you’re being repaid like this, though.”
I roll onto my back and stare up at the canvas fabric that shades the trees in through the night. “Me too,” I pause. “Will they kill us?”
“No. I won’t let anyone hurt you.” He looks toward me, his eyes dark and searching. “I’ll keep you safe… unless that’s sexist too. I don’t want you to think you need a man to keep you safe. I—”
I roll toward him and lift a smile onto my face. “Depends, how do I know you’re really here to keep us safe, and not make things worse?”
He shrugs. “I guess you’ll just have to decide if you can trust me.”
Trust him?I laugh to myself. “And what if I don’t?”
He reaches his hand out toward my face, running the edge of his rough thumb carefully over my cheek. I try to ignore the spark of energy rushing through me, but it’s inevitable, coursing through me like fire, begging me to make decisions I know I’ll regret.
“If you don’t, then I guess you wouldn’t want this.” His lips press into mine like he’s been starved for centuries and I’m the food he’s been craving. His hands move over the top of my skin and fist into my hair, until all at once he stops and pulls away slowly, his gaze on mine so intense that heat brews between us.
I’ve never been looked at like this before… ever. I never want it to end.
“You’re beautiful, Reese.” His fingertips graze my shoulders. “And you’ll have to forgive me for that kiss. I’ve spent most of the day thinking about those lips, and if there’s one thing on Earth I’m sure of, it’s that I want you to be safe.” His thumb runs across my lower lip as he speaks, my heart pounding so loud I’m sure Brianna must hear it over the rain and wind.
Immediately, I’m awe struck. His lips and his strength are like nothing I’ve felt before.
He stares back at me, white hot fire burning between us so strongly that I want to tear off my clothes, get closer, and feel every square inch of his body against mine.
My clit throbs as his fingertips move over my skin. His cock is hard. I see the sleeping bag lifting dramatically over his lap. He wants me. I could kiss him again and I don’t think it would stop there.
“You’re different,” he says, brushing my hair back with his fingertips. “You’re a badass. You run your mouth, you do things on your own, you don’t let anyone tell you how it is, and… it’s intriguing.”
He’s saying all the right things, looking at me in the right way, touching me like I’ve never been touched, but maybe this was his plan all along. Maybe he’s trying to lure me into a false sense of security. Trouble is, I’m not sure I care anymore.
“I’m not a badass,” I say, swallowing hard. “I’ve never done anything like this before. If we’re being really honest, I’m kind of a chicken. I ran away from home two years ago to be a firefighter just because I couldn’t tell my parents the truth. I was so afraid of disappointing them. Then, I quit said firefighting job and I’m now apprenticing at the tattoo shop.”
He shrugs. “You still went after your dreams, and you had enough introspection to realize not all dreams are meant to be forever. It’s okay. You’re still a badass.”
My gaze runs over his sleeve of tattoos then back up again as I watch the muscle in his neck twitch. “Were you always a gold miner?”
“My family grew up off grid and that meant doing whatever they could to get by during the various Alaskan seasons. I took to mining from a young age and I got really good at it. Now I figure it’s too late to change paths.”
“What would you want to do, if you could?”
He runs his hand down over my shoulder gently, tickling me in tandem with my heartbeat. I wonder if he knows he’s doing it.
“I don’t know. I can’t much imagine life any other way. I was raised to be a miner, but I really only wanted what my parents had. They loved each other so much and they lived together happily, all while creating a large family in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately, I spent my youth trying to strike it rich so that when the time came, I was able to provide for my dream family in the way I would like. Then I saw you today, and I realized I was doing it all backwards. I should have been looking for the person to share my future with and then the rest of the dream would just fall into place.”