Page 36 of Possessed By the Mountain Man
“You asked for honest.”
“I asked for real, not reckless.”
He looks down at me long and hard. “Same thing with you.”
Before I can argue, he stalks off into the kitchen after Zane—leaving me standing there with my heart in my throat and my sanity held together by one fraying thread.
I lean back against the wall, drag in breath after breath.
I should be furious. I should be done with him. I should reapply my lipstick and armor up again and turn this whole contest into a middle finger.
But all I can think is—he didn’t deny any of it.
He wants me.
He just won’t let himself have me.
Yet.
The problem is, I’m not sure which one of us I should be more afraid of when that changes.
Chapter 8
Thorne
Aspen Taylor is going to be the death of me.
She stands in front of the massive stone fireplace, one hand on her hip, hair wild from earlier chaos, lipstick smudged like sin, laughter already simmering beneath the surface as she pops open another miniature bottle of fireball whiskey.
And I’m losing. Not the argument. Not the power struggle. I’m losing my goddamn mind over her.
The livestream is over. The storm hasn’t let up. The generator is still dead. And the lodge looks like a haunted circus exploded inside it—tinsel, fog, ravens, fake gravestones, and glittering jack-o-lanterns everywhere.
Chaos.
Her chaos.
And it’s seeping into me like poison I can’t refuse.
She tosses me a daredevil smile. “We should pass the time tonight like civilized adults,” she says.
I snort. “You’re incapable of civilization.”
“True.” She grins. “Which is why we’re playing Truth or Dare: Halloween Edition.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Absolutely not.”
She flops dramatically onto the couch, legs crossed, skirt riding up in a way that should be illegal. “Scared?”
“I don’t play drunk party games.”
“This isn’t drunk. This isscary drunk. Big difference.”
“Still not happening.”
