Page 12 of The Mountain Man's Curvy Trick-or-Treat

I shake my head, planting my hands on my hips. “I’ve been stressed lately. The move has been tough. Too many sleepless nights to count. Maybe I pushed myself too far.”

“Do I not please you, my little Earthling?”

His voice tugs on something behind my ribs.

“No, you’re gorgeous. Beautiful, some might say?—”

“Would you?”

I squint. Of course, he’s gorgeous—in an off-planet sort of way. That’s the problem.

“Don’t lose it, Eden. You’ve got this. You’re going to wake up and?—”

“If you’re going to wake up,” he interrupts softly, “then why not give in to what your body already tells me you want?”

“How?”

“Your arousal. I can smell it. Like you were somehow made for me and the resonance.”

What intheholy hell? This man’s more off his rocker than me.

He shakes his head, crossing his arms over his chest. “I don’t understand it either, but I want to. Through touch, through taste—just once. I’ve waited centuries for this. Is choosing union over loneliness really such a sin?”

You promised yourself you’d say yes to weird, my traitorous mind reminds me.

“Can you feel the humming?” he asks, voice low and sensual. “The way it passes through each of us … and Mother Tree? It is our eternity.”

I can. My veins burn; all I can think about is wrapping my arms around this strange creature and letting him have his way.

What is seriously wrong with me?

“Tomorrow, you’ll wake up in your own bed, your own home, like none of this ever happened. I promise.”

“So, this reallyisa dream, then?” I ask, blinking slowly, temptation coiling around me.

“A dream or a nightmare,” he murmurs. “Up to you.”

The hum swells until it’s inside me, around me, through me—terrifying and beautiful, and I don’t know which will win.

Chapter

Five

EVERETT

Ihold my breath as Eden closes the distance, her hand flattening against my chest. The back glows red, darker veins snaking beneath the skin.

She cranes her neck to look at me, caught between chaos and wonder.

“But where is the vibration coming from? Almost like a musical note.” Her gaze sweeps the forest floor, as if expecting hidden speakers.

“Our resonance,” I tell her, placing my hand atop hers.

“All of this keeps getting weirder.” She exhales, her bottom lip trembling.

“It’s inside you, too,” I murmur. “I can feel it. Can’t you?”

She hesitates, afraid to name the thing already happening between us.