Quinn
I couldn’t think straight with my mountain-man in the apartment. I would’ve kicked him out if I didn’t suspect that Beth had already given him a key. She was obviously on his side since she’d been the one who let him in in the first place.
He was leaned up against the counter with a bowl in his hand. I would’ve walked straight back into my room if the sight of him looking so comfortable in my kitchen hadn’t been such a turn-on.
I fluffed my towel-dried hair and ran my hands over the short black pencil skirt I’d paired with a silky green v-neck top that swooped precariously low and wrapped around my middle. It was the beginning of May, so the weather was nice enough that I wouldn’t need my coat.
“Looks like you’ve made yourself at home.” I snapped, more frustrated at my reaction to him than I was at the man himself.
“I’m living wherever you’re living, so I might as well.” He sounded pretty convinced about that, and continued speaking before I could respond. “Here, you need to eat.” He brought me the bowl.
When I didn’t take it, he waited.
“I’m not hungry.” I tried to step around him, but he cut me off with his body.
“I don’t care.”
I glared at him.
“Who do you think you are?”
“The man the Creator made to love and take care of you.” The look in his eyes dared me to disagree.
“You’re not a man, remember? You’re a wolf.” I had no problem facing off against him.
“You think I’m not enough of a man?” he dropped the bowl on the counter and folded his arms, taking a step closer. The sheer hugeness of his body reminded me exactly why I’d been calling him ‘mountain-man’.
His muscles just about made him into a mountain, and he was all man.
“The men in that club last night were touching just about every part of you while you were too drunk to stop them. If that’s your definition of manly, I’d rather be a wolf.” His words were flat and unapologetic.
And I mean, he was right. I knew he was right. A real man would respect me even if I wasn’t wearing anything at all, which was exactly what my mountain-man had done. I only went to the club to get away from the uncertainty that seemed to be swallowing me whole most days.
But that didn’t mean I was about to tell him he was right.
“I prefer my men clean-cut and well-dressed.” I shot back. “And for the record, I like to feel desired and attractive.”
When his eyes narrowed, I saw something in them change and I wanted to run for the hills.
Or rip his clothes off, but well, I wasn’t about to do that.
Instead I held my ground, even as he stepped up so close to me that our chests were nearly touching. My breath picked up a little, and I cursed myself for my reaction to him.
“You want to feel desired?” his voice growled, low and deep, and I tried to tell myself that I hated how animalistic it was.
He lifted his hand to my waist and ran it slowly down the curve of my hip, continuing down the side of the pencil skirt that was practically molded to my skin.
When his hand left the fabric of the skirt and hit my skin, he stepped forward so our chests were smashed together, one of his hands gripping the back of my thigh while the other hand pressed tightly to my back, holding me against him.
I fought to stop myself from throwing my legs around his waist and kissing him until our clothes were in a pile on the floor.
“Do you think it was easy for me to spend the night in bed with you without touching you, Quinn?” His words came out sounding gravelly and rough. I’d never found that attractive until I heard it from him.
The way his fingers dug into the back of my thigh was shooting flames through my entire body, and standing straight as a rod was all I could do not to respond to that attraction.
“Do you think I didn’t notice the way you looked in that sexy underwear? Or the way your body moves with this skirt stuck to you like you’re not wearing anything at all?” He released my thigh long enough to play with the hem of my skirt, the movement sending fireworks through my stomach.
I bit back a moan as I arched my body into him, failing at my attempt not to respond to his advances.
“I noticed.” He was still growling the words, and that just turned me on more. “I noticed all of it.” His hand lifted from my thigh to my lower back, and then his fingers brushed against my sides as he slowly stepped away from me. “Eat this.”
The sudden absence of his body snapped me out of it like a wave of ice-water.
I flipped him off with my left hand and grabbed my purse off a hook on the wall before I stomped out of the apartment, swearing under my breath.
Whether I wanted to believe it or not, there was obviously some sort of connection between us. I hadn’t ever reacted to a man like that before. No one had ever made me feel so respected, or so desired, or so out of control.
We hadn’t even kissed, but I knew that when we did, there would be no going back.
I’d been with a lot of guys, more than I wanted to admit, and sleeping with them had never made me feel the way my mountain man made me feel just by touching my leg.