Page 9 of Praise Me: Lumberjack
I should go back to my trailer.
No.
Someone is going to follow me.
I feel it in my bones…and those bones start to shake.
I want to go home.
You don’t have a home.
At least, not a place that truly feels like one.
I close my eyes and remember the safety and strength of Penn’s arms around me, wrapping me in flannel and holding me to his massive chest.Thatfelt like home.
But I guess I was wrong.
When I open my eyes again, Crotch Grabber has broken from the pack and is cutting through the crowded bar like a shark, veering in my direction. I pray that my manager notices what's happening and intercepts the guy, but he's already had three drinks and isn’t cognizant of his surroundings. I press my back harder into the wall, my heart cramming into my throat as he gets closer—
“Hey,” snaps the bartender to my left. “Penn Holland said she’s off limits.”
Crotch Grabber stops in his tracks, some of the color draining from his face. “Ah, hell.Pennsaid that?”
“Did I stutter, boy?”
A sob of relief wells in my throat as my pursuer turns around and slinks back to his group of friends. The bartender nods at me warmly and walks away. And I practically break into a tap-dancing number, my chest squeezing like a fist around a soaked sponge.
Penn Holland said she’s off limits.
A sound leaves my mouth that I can only describe as a giggle-gasp, my hands pressing to my stomach to calm the butterflies. He made me off limits. He thought about me. He guards me better in his absence than any of these people on my payroll.
He’s my Daddy.
As if I willed him to appear, the door of the bar slams open, bashing off the adjacent wall, and there is my magnificent lumberjack, outlined in a combination of moonlight and neon, courtesy of the Coors Light sign blinking in the window. He sweeps everyone in the room with a murderous glance, cracking his knuckles against a giant palm, that chest—which I know to be covered in glorious black hair—heaving with irritation.
My sex wells with moisture and soaks my panties before he’s taken one step.
I’m hot. I’m hoteverywhere.
It takes all my self-control not to run across the bar and leap into his arms, but…
No.
No, I came onwaytoo strong earlier.
I’d only just met the man, and I asked him to be part of my life! Hello? Could I give off any more of a psycho, wanna-be girlfriend vibe? I made it clear I wanted something serious from him, which only led to him leaving. Therefore, I can’t do that again.
Play it cool.
You just want a fling.
At least, that’s what I’ll let him think.
Honestly, though, if a fling is all Penn can offer me, I’ll take that, too. There’s virtually zero chance of me finding another man who has this effect on my body. Another man who makes me want to offer up my virginity on a silver Tiffany platter.
Penn has almost reached my side of the bar, and I tug anxiously on my skirt, shifting in my high heels. No idea what to do with my hands. So awkward.
You’re an actress. Act like you’re cool.
