Chapter Four #2
Indy gave another low whine from his pile of blankets, and I scurried away to check his heart and lungs. ‘Looks like the marijuana is working its way out of his system. He’ll be better soon.’
‘I don’t know how to repay you for jumping in to take care of him so quickly.’
‘Oh, you’ll get a bill,’ I joked as I headed toward the waiting area.
‘I’m being serious. Let me at least buy you dinner.’
‘That’s not necessary.’ I stopped at the reception desk and plucked a business card off the counter.
‘Are you sure?’ His gaze lingered too long on my lips, and that spark of heat licked through me again.
‘Yes, I’m sure,’ I said roughly. ‘You can do one thing for me, though.’
He inched in closer. ‘What’s that?’
‘Get Indy a collar. Use a leash on the trail. By your reaction tonight, I know you’re a good owner. Prove it by getting him tags, just in case he gets away again.’
He let out a huff of a laugh. ‘Okay. We’ll follow doctor’s orders, I promise.’
‘Write your number on the back.’ I pushed the card across the mahogany counter toward him, not wanting to touch him and risk another spark of whatever the hell that was in the exam room. ‘My assistant will call you in the morning. You can pay for my services then.’
He grabbed a pen out of a coffee cup sitting on the desk and scribbled out his number. ‘I wouldn’t leave Indy with anyone else, but you’re…’ He chewed on the corner of his lip. ‘Like I said, I think you’re something special.’ He handed me the card, and I slid it into the pocket of my joggers.
‘I’ll see you tomorrow,’ I said.
He walked to the door and paused. His shoulders hitched up as he took two solid breaths. Quick as a flash, he spun on his heel and walked straight for me. Before I could react, he tugged me in by the waist and circled me in a tight hug.
‘Thank you, Dani.’ His words were a soft sweep over the cuff of my ear.
The ‘you’re welcome’ stayed lodged in the base of my throat, because the weight of his arms around me, the press of his body against mine, felt too right. Felt too much like coming home.
When I didn’t move, he pressed a warm kiss against my cheek. That flutter in my stomach became a rush of warm gold flooding my veins. Everything was Bryce. The soft sweep of his hair against my cheek. A scent of ink and cedar on his skin.
Just as I relaxed into his touch, he pulled back and gently pressed his hands to my cheeks.
There was a flicker of hesitation, like he was wondering if this was too much.
If he should let me go. I should have told him yes, stepped away, but that feeling that somehow we were tied together cemented me to the floor.
Without thinking, I leaned forward and pressed a firm kiss to his lips.
I started to pull away, thinking this was such a bad idea, until he dug his hands into my waist, deepening the kiss.
I ran my tongue over the seam of his lips, and the rumble in his chest vibrated through me.
His hands curled behind my neck, lining up our bodies like two puzzle pieces locking into place.
This was more than a kiss. It was a sunrise on the morning of a first snow. Warm syrup on pancakes. The first taste of cotton candy at the county fair. Like he felt it too, he spun me around and pressed my back to the desk. His kiss became more insistent and greedier.
What was happening right now? I was kissing a stranger.
A man who looked at me like I was a mystery he desperately needed to solve, but still, I leaned deeper into him, unable to shake the feeling that I was meant to be in his arms. That my body was made to ease perfectly into the lines of his tight, warm form.
His fingers moved up my sides, inching beneath my T-shirt. It’d been too long since a man touched me, because the scorch of his hands made me whimper. He nudged me tighter against the curve of the reception desk, his mouth making small bites against my lower lip.
I settled my hands on his shoulders, and he used his tongue to paint a sensuous line down my neck and across my collarbone. He let out his own growl when I tugged the shirt out of his jeans and slid my hands over his hot skin. I sucked in a quick breath when his thumb traced the peak of my nipple.
‘Should I stop?’ The warmth of his breath against my tender skin sent a shiver down my spine. ‘Dani,’ he said with gravel in his voice. ‘What do you want?’
There was no way this guy was staying around.
He’d enjoy a few days in the woods, and then when he got sick of the quiet, the rural isolation, the fact that he could never get a strong Wi-Fi signal, he’d head back to Los Angeles.
But, I had to admit there was a powerful chemistry between us.
Some sort of odd tether that drew me to him, which made absolutely no sense.
His arms tightened around my waist, and he tugged me closer. The heat of him pressed against my core. We were eye to eye, breath to breath, heartbeat to heartbeat and there was no place to hide from his intense gaze.
‘Say the word and I’ll let you go.’
My brain went back to all the reasons this was a bad idea.
He was a stranger. A client. I knew nothing about him apart from the fact that he had a single family tie here that no longer existed.
I should have stepped out of his touch. Ignored the way his scent was intoxicating.
But then that flutter returned to my chest, and the heat between my legs grew until I listened to my body and thought, Fuck it.
I pressed my mouth to the hollow at the base of his throat.
He moaned as I nipped and bit my way across his skin.
The pulse of blood in his veins hummed beneath my tongue.
I tried to tug off his shirt, needing to feel more of his skin, but his hands shot out and stopped me.
Like he’d been zapped by some invisible force, he quickly disentangled himself from my touch and stumbled out of reach.
‘Holy shit. That was unexpected. I’m sorry if that was too much,’ he said roughly.
Like I’d forgotten the English language, I stayed quiet. That brilliant light in his gaze went out, and the ache of not touching him shook something loose I’d kept buried for years.
‘Uh, what time tomorrow should I be here to get Indy?’ His voice was robotic. Too much like Max was in those final days.
‘I’ll call you once I’ve assessed his status, made sure he can hold down some food and water,’ I replied just as woodenly.
‘All right. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.’
He raced for the front door like he wanted to be anywhere but near me. I stayed planted in place, unsure if what had just happened was real or a very hot hallucination.
I pressed a hand to my lips, the feel of his mouth a lingering phantom’s touch. On shaky legs, I sank down onto a nearby chair, my head a jumble of shock, panic and a dizzying kind of euphoria I could not explain.
Flora trotted toward me and nuzzled my knees, instinctively knowing I needed comfort.
A pall of dread seeped into my bones as I gazed at the closed door.
My one shot at love had walked away from me.
Any chance I ever had at a happily-ever-after disappeared the moment Max decided I was no longer part of his narrative or his future.
I was always going to be alone, and no matter how much I wanted to fight it, the truth was clear in the sound of spinning tires as Bryce’s SUV screeched away into the night.