Page 40 of Jealous Lumberjack

My eyes narrow. “Are you?”

His mouth twitches, and he sets his massive hands on his hips, drawing my traitorous attention to the V-shaped perfection of his torso. The huge thickness of his denim-clad thighs. Thesteel rod pushing at his fly even now, while we’re in the middle of an argument.

He catches the direction of my gaze, and he licks his lips. “I could get there... if you let me kiss you.”

I gape. “You want me to help you apologize to me?”

He shrugs, broad shoulders rolling. “I’m not perfect, petal.”

The pet name cuts straight through my anger. He opens his arms wide, unapologetically certain I’ll come.

And I do.

I fly into him, fists thudding once against his chest before his arms band tight around me. He hoists me up, and his mouth crushes mine, hot and punishing, his kiss stealing my fury and setting something else ablaze.

His fingers fist in my hair, tilting me back, his tongue sweeping inside like he owns me. Heat pours through me, every nerve lit.

Our tongues tangle hot and urgent enough for me to grow disgracefully wet before he allows me to pull away.

I gasp against his lips, “You’re impossible.”

“And you’re magnificent. And wet. Aren’t you, petal.”

“I plead the fifth.”

I feel his mouth twist against my neck as he sniffs me loud and long. “You can plead all you want, I can smell what’s mine.”

He scoops me up higher, then slings me over his broad back. It’s a smooth, athletic move that twitches a memory in my brain. But I’m too busy yelping to remember why. A yelp that’s swallowed by his low, dark, feral laugh.

My backpack and our argument are long forgotten as he marches away from the clearing.

“Where are we?—”

“Someplace you’ll like, I think.” His voice rumbles, his pace steady as he lopes through the trees, carrying me like a prize. “One of my special places on Eagle’s Crown.”

My heart hammers. My thighs tighten around his shoulders, my fingers fisting in his damp hair.

And when he glances up, his eyes gleam with a promise that terrifies me as much as it thrills me.

It’s been long days since my Bear gave me just the tip.

And from the urgent hunger prowling through me, just the tip might not be enough this time.

7

KNOX

It feels good to hoist something so precious.

Something besides logs.

Something so fucking sexy and warm, with her gasps and giggles music in my ears.

I carry her up Eagle’s Crown in a Fireman’s Carry, but carefully, the way a man carries something precious and fragile, and at the same time, mine. Always mine.

The trees thin as we crest a rise, and there it is. My favorite place.

Well... one of many.