Page 8

Seven

Becca

E arlier tonight, Jake turned my whole world upside down and shook it like a snow globe.

He touched me in ways that no man has ever done before.

Lit up my nerve endings and made my heart soar.

And not only that, but he did it with so much hunger, so much possession, so much desperate want throbbing in his voice that for a minute there… I thought it was real.

Not that it was fake. That’s not fair. I wholly believe that the gruff mountain man really wanted me for those few minutes by the kitchen sink. I may have only known Jake for a day, but I know for a fact that he doesn’t lie about things. He doesn’t mess around like that.

He really wanted me…

And now he doesn’t.

Wrapping my arms around my knees, I curl up into an even tighter ball on his sofa. Holding myself like this, giving myself the world’s most tragic hug, is the only way I’m keeping it together.

Need to act normal. Need to keep some pride, damn it.

“Sure you don’t want a book or something?”

Jake shoots me the dozenth concerned glance in the space of a few minutes, his hands pausing in the middle of his task. He’s got an old radio on the coffee table, taken apart into loads of fiddly little pieces. Either he’s fixing it, or this is his version of a jigsaw puzzle.

I shake my head and force a smile. “I’m good.”

If I move, if I stop hugging myself, all the bottled up emotions will spill out of me in a big, messy flood.

It will be awful. Because Jake saved my life today and brought me back here to recover in his cabin; hell, he even gave me the best orgasm of my life.

And the fact that I’m being a bruised, pathetic weenie about the fact that he’s done with me already, that he doesn’t want any more…

Yeah. Gonna keep those ugly emotions bottled up where they belong.

But Jake frowns at me, his dark eyebrows lowered. His stare is so piercing, reading me like a book. “You must be bored, though.”

“Nope.” Lots to think about.

Like the fact that I ran away from my own wedding today.

Like the fact that my family is probably hunting me through these mountains; the fact that I need to start a whole new life under a new name, starting over from scratch, and that would be hard enough even if my brain could focus on anything except this mountain man.

Was I not good at… that stuff?

Does he regret touching me altogether?

If I’d been better, more experienced or whatever, would he have wanted to keep going? Would I be on Jake’s lap right now, cradled against his strong chest?

My stomach twists miserably.

“Okay.” Jake puts a piece of radio down with a quiet thunk. “Something’s wrong. We’re gonna talk about this, sweetheart.”

Um, no thank you. I’d rather stuff one of these sofa cushions in my mouth and chew my way through the whole thing.

“Talk about what?” I say brightly.

Jake gives me a flat look, his hands braced on his knees. He’s still in sweatpants, and god, the way his strong thighs press against the fabric… it’s very distracting. So unfair.

“Becca,” he says, faint warning in his tone. A delighted shiver runs up my spine, but I shift on the sofa and ignore it. That’s not for me. I won’t ever get to explore this man’s deliciously stern side.

He doesn’t want me like that.

Sigh.

“So, a radio, huh?” I nod at the parts spread over the coffee table. The rest of the cabin is lit by lamplight, while stars glitter through a skylight above. The other curtains are drawn, closing us in together away from the world. “That’s old school.”

Jake scrubs a hand down his face, closing his eyes for a long moment.

“Becca.”

“Could you put any of your gadgets back together?”

“Becca, listen—”

A sharp knock on the door cuts through the quiet.

I go rigid on the sofa, arms locked around my knees. Fear spreads like ice through my veins, and my gut hollows out with dread.

It’s them. Surely it’s them.

My family has found me.

By the coffee table, Jake launches to his feet and jerks his chin at the bedroom door. His eyes are wide, his movements jerky, like this is his worst nightmare too.

“Go,” Jake hisses under his breath, and finally, my brain thunks back into gear.

My limbs are stiff as they unfold, and pins and needles shoot up my legs as I stumble to my feet.

I wince as I hurry across the cabin to the bedroom, because even when I try my best to be quiet, my steps seem so loud in the silent cabin. Can whoever is out there hear me?

Jake’s bedroom is dark and cool, and it smells like wood and fresh basil. The curtains are open, with stars glittering out there, but there are no dark shapes by the glass, thank god.

I shut myself away in the bedroom, then squat down where someone at the window couldn’t see me past the bed. Heart thumping, I press my ear to the crack in the door frame.

Jake’s low voice rumbles through the cabin, and at first my brain is too slow to follow what he’s saying. Then another man speaks, and even though we only met a couple times, I know that voice. The air empties out of my chest.

Tristan Peters.

My would-be groom.

He’s speaking in a low voice too, but I catch my own name. A description of what I look like. Red hair, green eyes, wearing a white dress. Somewhat pretty.

My lips press together, because I know Jake’s biting back a growl at that description. Even if he privately agrees with that assessment, he’d never be such a jerk as to say it out loud. My mountain man is a gentleman, down to his bones.

Somewhat pretty.

I can’t believe this is the man my parents chose for me. The life they chose for me. Being tethered to a man who calls me ‘somewhat pretty’ to complete strangers, like he’s describing an old bike he accidentally left outside a coffee shop.

Beside the cabin, a twig snaps. A shadow passes over the floorboards by the window, just visible by my spot crouching down behind the bed. Someone’s wandering around the cabin, peering in all the windows, making sure I’m not hiding here.

Breath held, I watch that shadow move past the bedroom window. It pauses to stare inside, then moves along, pace casual.

They didn’t see me. Did they?

Oh, god.

It feels like hours that I’m crouched down, palms sweating and thighs burning from the awkward position. Voices rumble out in the main cabin, and I strain to listen, but my own pulse is thudding so loud in my ears that I only catch shreds of the conversation.

Tristan asks Jake to keep an eye out for me, and Jake agrees calmly. He promises to call a number if he spots any sign of me in the wilderness.

Tristan mentions a reward being offered by my family. Thousands of dollars for my ‘safe return’.

Jake grunts at that, but doesn’t mention the terrified woman huddled in his bedroom.

I bite my lip hard at that point, because up until today, there’s never been anyone in my life who wouldn’t sell me out in a hot second.

No one who didn’t look at me and see only my family name and dollar signs.

And after saving my life this morning, after everything he’s already done for me, Jake doesn’t owe me shit.

My eyes go damp and my nose starts to run, but I’m being too quiet to sniffle. I just crouch there and get sticky.

When they finally, finally leave, the front door thumping closed, I keep squatting, ears straining for signs that they’re coming back. Meanwhile footsteps cross the floorboards, and the bedroom door swings outward.

I squeak, grabbing the door frame for balance.

Jake stares down at me, his face cast in shadow, so freaking tall while I’m huddled down here.

Then he looks up at the window, a scowl settling over his features, and strides around the bed to yank the curtains closed.

The second the window is covered, my shoulders relax an inch, and I lurch up to my feet.

“Have they gone?”

“Yes.” Jake’s voice is taut with anger, but it’s not aimed at me. He’s glaring blindly at the bedroom wall, like he can see them through the wood and turn them to ash with his stare alone. “They’ve got a fancy truck a little ways down the path. I watched until they drove away.”

“Both of them?”

Jake nods slowly then turns to look at me. “All three.”

An involuntary shudder rolls down my arms. There was another one? I didn’t even realize.

God, I’d be so screwed if Jake hadn’t found me in the river. I’d be out there all alone and vulnerable, soaked to my skin, trying not to get eaten by bears and wolves. Hunted by those men. Doomed.

My chin wobbles.

“Hey, hey.” Jake crosses the room quickly, rounding the bed. Before I know it, I’m swept into his arms, cradled against his strong chest. He presses his cheek to the top of my head, holding me like I’m precious. “They didn’t find you, Becca. They’re never gonna find you.”

I sniffle, surreptitiously wiping my nose on his shirt. Hey, I’ll offer to do laundry tomorrow before I leave.

“Even with the reward?”

Jake snorts, holding me tighter. “No one around these parts would fall for that shit, Becca. We look after ourselves, and we look after each other. We don’t need some snobby banker to give us handouts.”

Relief makes my knees extra wobbly, and I cling to Jake’s shirt for balance. Thank god.

“Although,” he says. “If he threw that truck into the bargain…”

Um. What?

Leaning back in Jake’s arms, I blink up at his face. His features are completely blank, but there’s a glint in his brown eyes. A teasing glint.

“Stop it!” I smack his shoulder, laughing, and Jake cracks a smile too. “I’m too frazzled to tell what’s real and what’s not. It’s been a really long day.”

His smile fades. “Is that why you went all weird and quiet on me earlier? You don’t know what’s real?”

Oh.

Well… yeah. Kinda.

I shrug.

Jake gusts out a long breath, then moves quickly, scooping me up into his arms. The room tilts, and let out a little whoop as I cling to his shoulders.

“I knew it, Becca. I knew you were getting in your head about this. It’s because I tried to give you space, isn’t it? You went all squeaky and awkward after that.”

“Excuse you! I was not squeaky and awkward—”

“Yeah, you were. Big time. Because you thought I didn’t really want you.”

Jake carries me the two steps to the bed and holds me over the mattress, waiting for me to catch his eye. He raises an eyebrow in question, and waits for me to nod eagerly before setting his knee on the bed.

My stomach swoops, and I scrunch his t-shirt in my hands.

“But it’s okay.” Jake’s scowling again, going all intense and manly, and every nerve ending in my body tingles in anticipation. “I’m gonna show you exactly what’s real, Becca. After this, you will never doubt my intentions again.”

“I—”

He drops me like a sack of potatoes, tossing me into the center of the bed. I bounce madly, limbs sprawling, and squawk with shock. What the hell?

But Jake laughs darkly, then crawls onto the bed too, pausing only to flick on the nightstand lamp.

The light washes over his features, glints against the bronze flecks in his dark beard, and oh god.

Is this really happening? Is this dreamy mountain man really looming over me, hunger etched in every line of his handsome face?

“Come here.” Jake takes my ankles and yanks me unceremoniously closer. I skid down the mattress and burst out laughing, half with shock, half with delight. “Let me convince you to stay here with me forever.”