So do you, sweetheart.
If I could, I’d just stand here in the dark and watch her like this. She might not realize it but she is slowly settling in. There’s no tension around her shoulders anymore, that cagey and cold look on her face that she had in the city, now gone.
I sit beside her, too close on purpose and I expect her to shift a little but she doesn’t. Out here she craves my closeness, craves being near to me, knowing that my body brings her both heat and protection.
“You’ve never tasted anything like it,” I assure her, cutting off a grilled piece for her to try. She nibbles on it carefully before gulping it down and then she throws me a strange look as if asking me for permission to have seconds.
It rubs me the wrong way.
Hell...she doesn’t need to ask me for permission. I’d rather chop my leg off with my axe before monitoring her eating. All I care about is her being well nourished.
“Have another piece before I shove it down your throat,” I grunt casually, looking into the fire and I can tell that she’s smiling. Another girl would have been upset, complained about me bullying her but Meadow is sparkling and flickering like I just gave her a gift.
For a short moment, she presses her thigh against mine, her mild body temperature causing mine to soar. But she pulls her thigh away too soon, taking another piece and I’m tempted to push her right back where I want her.
Close. I want her close.
“You don’t happen to have any serviette’s do you?” she murmurs with her mouth full and I snort.
“Serviette? Fuck, I have a lot of work to do with you.”
She glowers. “That’s how we were taught to say it in etiquette school.”
My brows curve. I barely even finished high school, dropped out a couple of months earlier to help my father but I don’t regret it. I’ve still made a good life for myself and the cabin might look modest but it’s not from a lack of resources. It has more to do with me hating anything froufrou.
“No napkins needed in the wild,” I say and she shrugs, throwing a piece of meat to the dog who takes a couple of hesitant bites. Meadow exhales, shaking her head.
“No offense to your cooking. She’s a persnickety eater that one.”
My mouth curves in a grin. “None taken.”
“Did you really live out here for most of your life?” Meadow asks and I nod. She shudders. “I can’t imagine what that was like.”
“This your first time out in nature?”
Meadow nods. “Although once, I did go glamping with Melody.”
I frown. “Glamping?” Never heard of it.
Shrugging, she replies, “You know...glamorous camping. We stayed in this super luxurious tent, but we still only managed for 24 hours before we ran back to the city.”
Tensing, my voice comes out sharper than a razor when I say, “You’ll be staying here for more than 24 hours, that’s for sure.”
“But not for much longer, right?”
“Would that be so bad?”
“You can’t expect me to stay out here,” she almost cries and I throw her a piercing look.
“Eat your food.”
Crossing her arms, she mutters, “I’m full.” She glances at me and her eyes are both cautious and inquisitive, probably wondering why I’m so intent on keeping her in the wild. But she has no idea what this does to me.
Deep down, I recognize that this is all I’ve ever wanted. Live like a mountain man, with a woman that is all my own. Only problem is that I can’t imagine any other girl than Meadow. It probably would have been easier had I been infatuated with a sturdy female, with thick bones and a ringing laughter and calluses on her hands from chopping wood.
Instead I’ve fixated on Meadow, my mind single focused on her and her blemish free, small hands and her whole aura that screams, “I deserve the whole world,” and that manages to drive me over the edge. But I still have doubts about her accepting this. Will this life ever be enough for her?
Will I be enough for her?