Page 19 of Wild River

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.

“Iknewit, 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.”

Eight

Jake

Idon’t know what pisses me off more: that stupid offer of a reward to return Becca to her awful family, or the fact that I have completely failed to show my girl how crazy I am about her. Maybe I’m not trying to trap her in an unwanted marriage or to use her as a family bargaining chip, but I’ve still failed her badly. As far as I’m concerned, if she doesn’t know yet that I’d fucking die for her, then I’m a villain in this story too.

And Becca’s had too many villains. Too many shitty people, letting her down in the worst ways. That’s what drove her into that river, after all, so desperate to get away that she risked her own life.

I willnotbe another reason for Becca to doubt herself or feel unsure.

Screw. That.

“What if they come back?” Becca asks now, lifting her hips to help me tug those borrowed shorts down her ass and thighs. Her legs are creamy and soft in the lamplight, with a band aid on herleft knee from where I cleaned a cut earlier today. She’s pale all over—the kind of ghostly pale that comes from a life indoors.

The mountains will soon give her a healthy glow… if she chooses to stay.

God, I hope she stays.

“They won’t come back. They didn’t suspect you were here.”

And they were too arrogant to imagine that a simple man living in a rustic cabin would ever turn down a financial reward if he could possibly claim it. Idiots.

“But what if you’re in danger?”

Me? I swallow back a laugh.

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