9. Dax
9
DAX
I grimace when I hear the slight gasp of pain from behind me. I don’t know why she’s so fucking certain that she needs to make herself useful around here, when the most helpful thing she could do is rest up, heal, and get out of here again.
I glance over my shoulder toward the kitchen where Charli is standing on tiptoe to put a couple of plates back in the cupboard. Her shirt has ridden up slightly at her waist, displaying a few inches of her soft stomach, and I hate that my eyes linger there for a moment before I go over to take care of it for her.
“Here, let me do it,” I demand, brushing her aside and lifting the plates from her hand. She shoots me a look out of the corner of her eye as she drops back onto her bare heels.
“I’m fine. I can do it myself.”
“You’re not. You should be in bed.”
She sighs heavily. “Look, I’ve been there all week,” she points out. “And I’m going crazy. Not like I can catch up on any TV shows while I’m flopping around here, is it?”
“We have books.”
“And I can’t hold my hands up for long enough without my shoulders getting tired,” she counters. “I’m just trying to be helpful, Dax. Let me do something. I don’t like feeling useless.”
Once I’ve put the plates into the cupboard and closed the door, I turn around to face her. Her arms are crossed over her chest, and her mouth is set into a hard line as she glares up at me. I’m not exactly pleased that she’s looking at me like that, but then, with the way I’ve been treating her, I guess it’s to be expected.
Seven days. Seven days since she got here, and she still shows no signs of getting out. More to the point, neither of my damn brothers seem interested in getting rid of her either. Callum might have talked a big game about just letting her stay here until she got back on her feet and was able to go back to her life, but even now that she’s starting to get better, he hasn’t mentioned the possibility of it again once.
Which is starting to worry me. Seriously worry me. Because I’m not going to let my little slice of paradise get all fucked up by an intruder. She might not have meant to turn up on our doorstep like that—though, truth be told, I’m still not entirely certain I believe it—but she’s here, and she’s not leaving anytime soon, and that isn’t sitting right with me.
“Go back to bed,” I order her, turning my back on her, about to head over to my seat again so I can pick up where I left off with my book. Callum and Chuck are out collecting firewood, but my hip’s been playing up, and I know I’m not going to do it any good by stomping around out there in the cold. I hoped that she would keep to her room to avoid running into me, but seems like I’m not getting so lucky.
Before I can push past her, she steps out in front of me, her arms crossed over her chest, her eyes not moving from mine.
“Go back to bed,” I repeat, through gritted teeth, a little sharper this time.
She shakes her head. “No, Dax, we need to talk,” she replies. “I don’t know what your problem is with me, but you’re clearly not happy with me being here, and?—”
“You don’t know what my problem is with you?” I laugh. “You really can’t figure it out?”
Her cheeks flush slightly. I hate to admit it, but when she’s pissed, she’s even cuter.
“No, you’re going to have to tell me,” she fires back. “Because I didn’t ask to be brought here. I didn’t?—”
“No, you didn’t ask, but you haven’t exactly made a point of leaving now that you’re doing better, have you?” I snap back pointedly. “You could have cleared off already. Get the hell out of here, hitchhike your way to the nearest town, get out of our damn hair and be done with it.”
“They said it wasn’t safe?—”
“Neither was driving around these roads in a blizzard, but that didn’t seem to stop you.”
Her jaw clenches. “I didn’t do that because I wanted to,” she argues. “I did it because I had no choice.”
“And why not?” I push. “You still haven’t told us that part. Why exactly was it so important for you to be driving out there like an idiot in the middle of a blizzard?”
Her eyes narrow. “You wouldn’t understand,” she mutters, drawing her gaze away from me. I know I should leave it there—that she’s done with this, and I should get back to my book and forget this conversation ever happened—but something about her defiance has sparked a response in me. I want an answer. I want it now.
“Try me,” I grit out, grabbing her arm and pulling her to face me. She wrenches herself free at once.
“Don’t touch me,” she spits. “You’re the one telling me to heal up. How can I do that if you’re manhandling me all over the place?—”
“You think that was manhandling?” I laugh.
Her cheeks darken. “I think you need to keep your hands to yourself.”
“Oh, really?” I remark, taking a step toward her. She’s backed against the counter now, just a few inches between us, and I can’t help but catch the scent of her skin in the air—the soft, warm musk of it, so tempting it almost takes me over.
“Because if I’d kept my hands to myself out there, you would still be in that car,” I remind her. “So I think you could stand to show me a little gratitude?—”
“Tell me why I should be grateful to you when you’ve been nothing but an asshole to me?” she counters. “Your brothers have been so kind, and then you’re in the middle of it, acting like a total jerk. You want to explain that? Is it just me who gets that treatment from you? Or are you just an asshole through and through?”
Neither of us says a word for a moment. We’re just staring at each other—she’s breathing hard, her chest rising and falling, her eyes not moving from mine for an instant. And I want to tell her that she doesn’t get it, that if she understood everything that I’ve been through she would never in a million years be speaking to me like this. That she doesn’t know how important this place is to me. How close I came to the same fate our father faced, how this place was a sanctuary, how she’s invaded and thrown off the balance and made it all the kind of mess that I can’t figure out any longer.
But I don’t. I don’t, because right now there’s nothing I want to do more than kiss her.
I’m not sure which of us moves first—but a second later, her mouth is against mine, her hands hooked into the loops of my jeans, pulling me against her like she’s starving for me.
And I am hungry for her, hungrier than I have been in a long time. I haven’t been this close to a woman in years, and it’s sparked something in me that I can’t deny, no matter how angry I might be at her presence here. Shit, maybe the only reason I’m angry is because of the way she makes me feel—because I want, more than anything, to be better than this, to be stronger, to not fall for my desires so easily.
But I can’t help it. I push my tongue into her mouth, sinking our lips together as I wrap my arms around her and pull her in close. The feel of her body against mine—that soft, small body crushed against my chest—it’s so fucking hot to me. I had forgotten how addictive this feeling is, taking complete control of a woman, letting all my tension and self-doubt fall away as I lose myself to a kiss.
She lets out a slight moan against my mouth, and I sink my teeth softly into her bottom lip. I want to hear that noise again. More than that, I want to see what other noises I can coax from between her lips. I can already imagine just how good she’ll sound when I’m inside of her, when her body is moving against mine. I slide my hands to her waist, pushing them beneath her shirt, feeling the soft curve of her body under my fingertips.
Fuck, the things I could do to this girl…
But before I can take it any further, I hear voices—Callum and Chuck, chatting as they head back to the cabin. I spring away from her, putting as much distance between us as possible, just as the door opens and the two of them step back inside.
I stride back over to the chair, slipping down in front of the fire and picking up my book as they come in. I can still feel the pressure of her lips against mine, my cock responding to it in a way I can’t deny. If they hadn’t interrupted us, I know I would have taken it further, and that angers me as much as it excites me.
Nobody makes me lose control. Nobody. But her…
“Hey,” Chuck greets the two of us. “You alright?”
“Fine,” Charli shoots back, and I hear her clattering around with plates in the kitchen. I don’t dare look over my shoulder, certain that if I do, it’s going to be totally obvious that something happened between us.
“What are you doing, Charli?” Callum asks, his voice softening when he realizes she’s out of bed. I close my eyes for a moment as it hits me—of course. The two of them were together. And as much as Callum might be trying his best to deny it, I can tell he still has feelings for her. What kind of asshole am I, making a move on her when I know my brother wants her…?
“Just cleaning up,” she replies. Her voice is laced with a little edge, higher than it needs to be. I can hear a slight tremble to it, and I know that if I spoke, I’d give the same game away. I lift my book up to my face, though the words do nothing but dance on the page before me.
Chuck heads over to the fire and dumps the wood that they collected next to the hearth. He looks over at me, and as soon as his gaze lands on me, he frowns.
“You okay?” he mutters, keeping his voice low as Callum and Charli talk in the kitchen. I take a deep breath, then lower my book to look at him, shrugging as though it’s a stupid question.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I reply. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
He eyes me for a long moment. Chuck has always been the sharpest out of the three of us, able to read what’s truly going on in someone’s head, and for a second I fear he’s going to guess why I’m sitting here with such a strange look on my face.
“No reason,” he replies, straightening up, and I lift the book back in front of my face and let out a sigh of relief. Chuck heads to the kitchen to start making dinner, and I do my level best not to think about what just happened.
Because if I do, I know I’m going to want more. I’m going to want her. This woman who has come crashing into our lives. I’ve been doing my best to disguise it, but I want her. And I don’t know where the fuck that leaves me—or my brothers.
Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Charli heading back to her room. Before I can stop myself, I glance up at her—and sure enough, she’s staring down at me like she’s doing her best to make sense of what just happened between us.
But before I can say a word, she dives into the bedroom and pulls the door shut behind her, leaving me sitting here in silence—and realizing just how much more complicated I’ve made things.
And just how badly I want to follow her into that bedroom, lock the door, and spend the rest of the day with my mouth on hers.