Page 64 of Creep

I bit my lip to keep from smiling, and he narrowed his eyes on me.

I shook my head. “I’m sorry. It’s just… not something I thought you would say.”

It was just so human, and I might not know him well, but Mael just looked so confident, so formidable, that I didn’t think there would be anything he was scared of.

“We’re hiking up in the mountains,” I said, looking around. We were pretty high up.

He shrugged. “I can handle it.”

I laughed. “You are something, you know that, Mael…? I don’t even know your last name.”

His eyes twinkled as he looked at me. “Beckett.”

“Mael Beckett.”

What a masculine name. And it matched him so well.

“My last name is Whitlock,” I said. “Not that you asked, but…”

I trailed off, not knowing what to say and wondering why I was feeling so awkward right now.

“Finish your lunch,baby Whitlock,” he said, washing away the awkwardness for me.

I laughed and finished my lunch. We stayed there and talked a little more before the clouds got darker, and they were harder to ignore.

“Come on. Let's go back to the car before the rain catches up with us.”

I nodded in agreement and helped Mael clean up a bit before we made our way back. We were about a third of the way down when the rain caught up to us.

I shrieked when I felt not a soft drizzle coming down but heavy rainfall that drenched our clothes and hair in five seconds flat.

I heard Mael laughing at me through the pounding of the rain before he grabbed my hand and rushed us out of there. When we reached his car, he opened the door to the back seat and ushered me inside before moving to the front to start the car and put the heat on full blast. Still, I shivered from the cold as my wet clothes clung to me. Mael looked back at me from the rearview mirror, our eyes meeting for one brief second that felt like a lifetime, and made my heart stall. I watched as he got out of the car and joined me in the back seat.

“Take off your clothes, baby,” he said, twisting around and reaching for something in the cargo area.

“W-What?” I asked, laughing, when he pulled out some blankets and a couple of bags with clothes—dry clothes!—inside.

He shot me a smile that had my stalled heart racing into overdrive. “I came prepared.”

“You thought we m-might be drenched from th-the r-rain?” I asked, the tremors in my voice getting worse.

He shrugged. “Not really, but why chance it, right?”

I smiled. “God, I really like you,” I said, my numbed fingers moving over to remove my clothes.

“I’m easy to like,” he replied with a grin, eliciting a giggle from me, as he took the dry clothes out from the bags and placed them in the passenger seat so they wouldn’t get wet.

It wasn’t easy getting my clothes off. I let out a frustrated groan, and Mael gently pushed my hands away before he took over.

I let him pull my wet shirt over my head and put it in the bag he had the dry clothes in before he handed me a small towel.

“You must have been in the Boy Scouts,” I said, using it to wipe away some excess water from my hair.

He shook his head. “Lift your hips for me, baby.”

I was too cold to be self-conscious. I did as he asked, and he pulled my leggings down, leaving me in nothing but my underwear and sports bra. He wrapped the blanket around me, and I let out a groan in relief. I was still so cold, but it was getting better.

Then he was taking off his clothes, and I could feel excitement over seeing him like this once more. Mael’s body was like a work of art.

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