Page 14 of My Mountain Man Stalker
We stare at each other for a long moment, the air between us crackling with something thick and hot and unspeakable.
“You think I don’t know what you’re doing?” he says finally, voice low.
“I think you’re avoiding something that’s already happening.”
He stands.
Slow. Deliberate.
And I feel it like gravity.
He rounds the table and stops in front of me, the knife still in his hand but pointed down, forgotten. His eyes roam over my face, my mouth, my throat.
“You’re not a little girl anymore,” he says. “I see that. Every goddamn minute you’re here.”
I swallow hard.
“But I made a promise, Wren. And I keep my promises.”
“You promised to keep me safe,” I whisper.
He nods.
“Then don’t lie to yourself,” I say. “Because this thing between us? It’s not dangerous. Not likethem.”
He exhales, and it sounds like it costs him something.
“I want you,” I say. “I know it’s messy. I know it’s complicated. But I’m not scared of you, Hale. I trust you.”
His hand comes up slowly, like he’s reaching through a wall he built himself. His fingers brush the side of my face, rough and warm.
And then suddenly, I’mthere, in his space, pressing against his chest. My hand on the front of his shirt, my body close enough to feel the heat rolling off of him.
We’re breathing hard. Like we’ve been holding it in for too long.
He leans down, his forehead resting against mine.
“You have no idea what you’re asking for,” he growls.
“I’m asking foryou,” I breathe. “Isn’t that enough?”
His hands grip my waist, hard enough to make my pulse race. For one wild second I think he’s going to kiss me. Take me. Break the world in half to have this moment.
But instead, he pulls away.
Fast. Sharp. Like he’s tearing himself off a live wire.
Then he turns and walks away, into the cold, into the dark, like it’s the only place he can still breathe.
And I’m left standing there—burning.
Wanting him more than ever.
Knowing I already have him.
He’s just too honorable to take what’s already his.
7
