Page 31 of Never In My Wildest Dreams

Just find a damn tree. The air was sharp and cold, the pine trees creaked, and the boughs hung dangerously low, weighted with a foot of snow.

The silence filled his ears like water, creating pressure. He’d never felt loneliness so acutely as in that moment. The animals were hiding in burrows and caves, his mom was somewhere on an island with the man she’d probably marry one day, and his colleagues were finishing up work so they could either meet for drinks or get home to their families.

The weird thing was, the whole reason he’d come there was to be alone. To get away so he could think.

But he knew the reason for this preoccupation. Of course, he did. It was the way he clicked with Hellcat. He hadn’t done that with anyone since his hockey friends.

The same guys who’d taught him that friendship was situational. Once you flew outside of each other’s orbit, you clipped the connection.Same’s true for Hellcat.Once he left, they’d forget all about each other.It’s situational.

A branch cracked, and snow came tumbling down. And that was when he found it. The perfect tree.

He pictured Hellcat’s expression when she saw it. How joy would spread across her features, how her eyes would light up. And there really wasn’t anything he wanted more than to do that for her.

It wasn’t lost on him that he was thinking about this stranger’s happiness when he could be sitting next to the fire with a cup of coffee, deciding on his next move.

But it was okay. He’d figured things out.

Situational, remember?

He wouldn’t get invested.

ChapterSeven

Wasit weird that she felt safer with a total stranger in the cabin than she had before he’d shown up? Sure, finding a naked man in her bed was terrifying, but now that she’d gotten to know him, she felt way less vulnerable as a woman alone in a cabin in the forest.

Even weirder was he’d awakened a part of her she hadn’t known she’d neglected. Her sexual side.Thank you, Slick, for bringing that one to my attention. Since she’d only been with Landon, she’d assumed skinny-jean-wearing artsy guys were her type.

Wrong.

Holy moly.

She’d never reacted to any man the way she did Slick. With his big body and deep voice, his confidence and competence…he was just somasculine. Everything he did made her hot.

She could totally see the hockey player he once was in his muscular frame and commanding tone. He was grumpy and gruff and cursed like a sailor, but he looked out for her and didn’t make her feel stupid for not knowing how to make a pot of coffee or grate cheese.

And, yes, she knew it was ridiculous to be this successful and yet have so few skills. The irony was he thought she lived off processed foods, when in reality her private chef used only the finest ingredients and made her the most amazing coffee she’d ever had.

But he didn’t need to know the truth about her. She’d be leaving soon.

Her heart squeezed at the idea of walking away from him. Which was stupid. Obviously. She didn’t even know him. But she liked the way he made her feel. The excitement, the attraction… She could sit on that counter and watch him cook every meal for the rest of her life and never get bored. That cashmere sweater hugged his rounded biceps, tempting her every time they flexed. She wanted to run her hands across those broad shoulders and down his flat stomach.

And his ass in those jeans.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

Now, she knew where the phrase “tight as a drum” came from. Yeesh, she was getting all stirred up just thinking about it.

But let’s be honest. It was so much more than physical attraction. She liked him. Plain and simple. She felt a connection to him that was equal parts thrilling and terrifying.

Terrifying because… She’d lost her ability to trust. And not just other people, but herself. An entire year of the people closest to her cheating right under her nose? Come on. How could she have missed the signs?

The people in her world wanted to touch fame and have access to her money, so they gave her what they thought she wanted. She and Landon and Cissy used to laugh about it all the time because it was obvious when people sucked up to her.

She’d thought they were the only people who loved her for herself. The only ones she could count on.

Turns out, they were the cruelest users of all.

An image dropped into her mind of Cissy coming down the stairs with a big, pregnant belly.

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