Page 41 of Pretty Obsessed

I had to be hearing things. There were trees and animals. It had always been a little spooky in the woods by myself because I had a good imagination. Or so I would tell myself until I was killed in a tragic murder. There wasn’t a knock. I laughed and scrubbed a hand over my face. I was being silly.

I bent to pick up the dead match, laughing at the welt it had made on my foot. “Great.”

I’d been coming up here my whole life there was no reason to be squeamish about it now. I’d acted like I was going to get axe murdered or something.

“It’s colder than a witch’s tit out here. I’d prefer a verbal dismissal if that is your design.”

I froze. It couldn’t be. I made myself move and walk to the door. "Who is it?”

“Is there a single doubt in your mind who would follow you up here?” The sultry way he said it got under my skin. River exuded sex without even trying. “Maybe I’m not as unique in my stalking as I believed.”

My body buzzed with the allure of it. A repeat of the night before, only this time I wouldn’t have to sneak off in the morning. I unbolted the door and swallowed at him standing there, shoulders nearly filling the doorframe. The veins in his neck bulging from the exercise. I wanted to press my mouth to them and taste the exertion.

My skin heated like he could read my thoughts off my face.

“Who else would be naive enough to follow you to a remote location, impossible to find without a map and no cell service?” He grinned, driving his point home, stepping closer, toes on the jam, like a dare to ask him to leave. “Maybe fans of novelists are more extreme than I once believed.”

“Are you here because you’re a fan?”

“Should I lie and say I am? Or give you the truth of it, that I didn’t want to wait weeks for you to return from this self-imposed isolation and risk being out of the country?”

“I’d rather you say the latter if it’s the truth.”

He stared at me with an intensity that made me shift under the weight of it. “It is the truth, Emory.”

I smiled despite the whole situation. “Maybe I like it.”

“You know you like it.” He pressed on with indignation. “I never thought I’d be so inclined to climb into a fire.”

“Are you cold?” I asked, eyeing the coat and beanie. “Surely the hike warmed you up.”

“Until I fell into a snow drift.”

I covered my mouth, stifling my laugh, reaching out with the other hand to dust him off. “What are you doing here, River?”

“You’re a hard man to find. Harder than I am, which is impressive.” He hadn’t answered the question.

“I wasn’t hiding on purpose.” I didn’t want him to think I’d had such a bad time that I’d run to a remote cabin in the woods.

“And yet, I’ve traversed a great distance to have the pleasure of seeing you again.” He put his hand on the door. “Are you going to invite me in?”

“Is it wise to invite a stranger in?” I pulled my sweater tighter around me, the chill blowing tiny snowflakes in around him.

“Am I still a stranger after last night?”

“No.”

“Then I guess inviting me in depends on what you want.” He said it so simply but a shiver ran through me, and not from the cold this time. “I want another night with you.”

I stepped aside.

He stepped past with a backward glance that nearly made all of my clothes fall off. It shouldn’t be legal for a man to be this sexy. Dropping a backpack next to the door, he closed it but didn’t move to strip off his layers. “If I haven’t scared you so thoroughly I’ve driven you to abandon civilization, then what of it? Because I can’t figure out what else would possess you to leave me in bed and run all the way out here.”

“I told you last night, I’m trying to finish a book. This was preplanned.” And I hadn’t expected us to be more than a one-night thing, but this didn’t seem the best moment to express such a thing.

“This is quite extreme.” He dusted the snow from his coat. “I had to bribe three people to find out where to find you.”

“Only three?” Shock took my expression.

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