But from what Freya had told me about her upbringing, none of it should be that new to her.
“My gun?” she said.
“Yeah.”
“Dammit, I, ah, left it at home. I was in such a rush to get here, I forgot about it completely.”
I slid my thumb over the back of her hand, unable to stop myself. Her skin was insanely soft. “You can use one of mine.”
Her brows shot up. “Oh…that’s, that’s good.”
“How’d you get here?”
“Well, I had a small accident on the way here, so I walked the rest of the way.”
My brows shot up, and I quickly scanned her for injuries. “Accident? Are you hurt?”
She lifted her fingers to her woolen hat. “Just a bump to the head. Otherwise, I’m fine.”
“Jesus. How far did you walk?”
“I’ve been walking a couple of hours, I guess.”
This whole night was insane. “Let’s get you inside. I’ll take a look at your head. I’ll sort your truck out tomorrow.” I took her hand and she followed me inside, or rather hobbled. I glanced down at her. “Did you hurt your leg as well?”
She shook her head, a small smile curving her lips that made my heart kick behind my ribs. “New boots,” she said.
I ignored the way her smile was affecting me—or tried—and frowned. Why the hell would she wear new boots on a trip like this? She had to know we’d be doing a lot of walking. The thought vanished from my mind, though, as I led her up the stairs to my house. I’d been working on this place for four years. I’d put nearly every penny I’d made working on a ranch during summer into it. My twin, Hank, had inherited our family home when our grandfather, who’d raised us, passed away.
Hank deserved it. He’d never abandoned the family like I had, and he’d been there to nurse our grandfather while he was dying. I, on the other hand, had been off living wild. Only I’d swapped rugged mountain peaks and grizzly bears for women and alcohol and being an irresponsible asshole.
I’d loved the house we’d grown up in, and I’d wanted to create something like it, something of my own that I could pass down to my own kids one day. I wanted a family, and that’s what I’d kept in mind while Hank and I had built this place.
I knew Freya lived in the city now, but she’d grown up on a ranch, had lived a similar, simpler life. What she thought of my home was important to me. Whoever I married would have to live and be happy there.
Her reaction to my house was the first step.
I pushed the door open and ushered her in ahead of me. I’d thought I had another week to finish a couple of small things, but hopefully she could see past that.
She still had hold of my hand and she spun to me, a huge smile on her face. “Wow, Beau. Really.” She turned around and took everything in. “You’ve talked so much about working on this house, I had this idea in my head, you know, what I thought it would look like…” She turned back to me. “This surpasses anything I imagined.”
My chest expanded. “You like it?”
She let go of my hand and moved, or more limped, deeper into the large living room. “It’s like something from a storybook.” She ran a hand over one of the doorframes, and looked up at the roof, the huge beams that crisscrossed it. “You did this, all with your own two hands. I’m…I’m blown away.”
She tugged her woolen hat off and I got a better look at her hair. It was dark, but there were lighter streaks of brighter auburn. I loved her hair. Even from her pictures you could see how stunning it was. Way too many times I’d imagined wrapping it around my fist while she was on her knees in front of me.
I walked over to her and gently pulled a twig free, mainly because I wanted to touch her. “My brother helped,” I said, frowning when I spotted a little dried blood by her hairline, just above her temple. “You cut your head.”
Her fingers came up and she prodded it.
“Let me look.” I gently moved her hair. Thankfully, it didn’t look serious. “It’s small. Head wounds can bleed a lot.”
I could feel her eyes on me and when I looked down she shook her head. “I feel fine. I’m sure it’s nothing.” Her smile widened. “So, will I get to meet them, Hank and his wife, while I’m here?”
Hank didn’t know anything about Freya. I’d kept our plan to myself. He was so loved up with his wife, Birdie, I knew he wouldn’t understand. And as much as I was attracted to Freya, I wanted to be sure that this was going to work between us before I introduced her to my family. “Maybe,” I said instead of sharing any of that. “Birdie had their twins a month ago, so they’re sticking close to home.”
Freya clasped her hands together in front of her. “She had the babies? That’s so great. What did they have?”
I couldn’t help but smile down at her. I loved Freya’s enthusiasm. Just the thought of my nieces put a smile on my face. “Girls. And they’re doing great.” I’d shared so much of my life with this woman, more than I’d shared with anyone else, apart from my brother. Having her with me just felt right.
Don’t get ahead of yourself, Beau.
She stepped closer and rested her hands on my chest, her cheeks flushed, eyes bright. “I’m so happy to be here with you, you have no idea,” she said softly.
My abs clenched. Jesus, just having her hands on me made me as hard as iron. “I think I have an idea.”
“Yeah?” she said, moving even closer.
I might have decided to keep my dick in my pants, but there was no way I wasn’t going to kiss her. I’d go mad if I didn’t taste those full lips. I dipped my head. “Oh yeah.”
We’d had a couple of hot and heavy conversations over the phone, but I’d tried not to go there too often with her. I knew this day was coming, and I had a definite idea of how our time together should be spent. If I’d been listening to her come over the phone the last six months all that would have disappeared out the window. Shit, I’d already have her naked in my bed.
I growled, shoving that image out of my head, and closed the distance between us.
Finally, our lips met…and I kid you not, the fucking angels sang.
My mouth covered hers, moving slowly at first, and my entire body lit up, every nerve ending sparking, my heart pounding. I slid my arms around her small waist and hauled her off her feet, lifting her so we were the same height. Shoving my fingers in her hair, I tilted my head to get more of her, and she opened for me, her sweet little tongue flicking out and brushing mine.
I’d been with quite a few women in my life. Like I said, I’d lived wild for a lot of years, acting out, trying to work out what I wanted. But as soon as I did, as soon as I knew what I wanted for my future, I’d stopped all of it. I’d focused on my goal, which was building a house and finding a woman who I could share it with. That was four years ago. Which meant I’d been celibate that long as well. So I wasn’t surprised by my reaction to Freya, by the pulsing need pounding through me at finally having her against me.
But I’d never in my life experienced anything like this. Like a live wire was sparking inside me, through my whole damn body. My hips punched forward all on their own, my cock impossibly hard. I knew I had to slow this down, take a step back, but God only knew how I was going to do that.
Then it got even harder because she wrapped her legs around me, and maybe it was just my imagination, but I was sure I could feel the heat of her pussy through our clothes, right there against my aching dick.
I was seconds away from tearing her clothes from her body and sinking inside her. But somehow, I managed to tear my lips from hers.
Her mouth went to my throat and she nipped, sucking the skin there, a sexy little moan coming from her throat. “Beau,” she said, voice full of need.
Shit, hearing that—how much she wanted me, too—had electricity shooting down my spine.
She tugged at my hair. “Oh God, you feel so good.”
I took a step forward, resting her lovely round ass that was currently in my hands on the back of
the couch, and tried to pull back. She clung tighter, making it fucking hard to do the right thing. “You feel good, too, honey, but we need to slow this down.”
I could barely believe what I was saying, so Freya’s frown didn’t surprise me one bit.
“Slow it down?” she said.
“Yeah,” I muttered. “Don’t you think we should get to know each other, you know, in person, before we go to bed together?” I cupped the side of her face. She was flushed, eyes bright, lips full and swollen from my kiss. “I’m trying to do the right thing here, Freya.”
Her head dropped forward, forehead resting against my chest, and she groaned. “No, you’re right,” she said, voice muffled. She lifted her head again. “At least one of us is strong enough to slow things down. I feel like we’ve been on the longest first date of my life. We’ve been building up to that first kiss for six months.”
Her breath was coming in little pants, and though I couldn’t see her tits through her jacket, I knew her nipples would be hard, tight little peaks underneath.
“I’m not strong, believe me,” I said, taking a step back. “But I don’t want to mess this up.”
She nodded, her hair moving around her shoulders. “Me either.”
I crossed my arms, so I didn’t reach for her again. “You’ve walked a long way. How about I run you a bath and, while you clean up, make us some dinner?”
She slid down from the back of the couch and scooped up her pack. “Sounds perfect.”
As I led her upstairs, I tried to think about anything other than Freya naked in my tub. It wasn’t working. “Tomorrow I thought we’d go fishing,” I said, desperate to move us away from what just happened downstairs. She stumbled over a step and I reached out and caught her. “Steady.”
“Fishing?” she said, voice higher.
“Yeah.”
“Wow, that’s…that’s such a great idea.”
I grinned, pleased with myself. “I know you’ve missed it since your folks sold their place and moved you to Denver. I have your whole stay planned out. Hunting, fishing, treks every day. You’re going to love it here.”
She cleared her throat. “Can’t wait.”
3
Freya
The knock at the door startled me awake. I flailed, splashing water over the side of the tub.
“You okay in there?” Beau called through the door.
I couldn’t believe I’d nodded off. I was no slouch—I mean, I did yoga—but my body wasn’t used to hour and a half treks over rough terrain, and I was exhausted. “Yes!” I called back.
“Grub’s up when you’re ready,” he said in that extremely deep, extremely rough voice.
A shiver slid through me, the good kind. “I’ll be right down.”
I listened to his retreating steps and forced myself to climb out of the tub. Every muscle in my body protested. God, nothing had gone like I’d imagined. After having a gun fired in my direction then momentarily thinking I’d been talking to some crazed psycho for the last six months, we’d attacked each other like starved animals. Then he’d slammed on the brakes, and I still hadn’t recovered.
I understood what he was saying, and I respected his wishes, but I also felt like I already knew him. We’d talked a lot, and then there was the fact that I was wildly in love with him.
I didn’t need time, and the fact that he did, that he was still unsure about me—us—well, it made me feel a lot less secure in this thing we had going on than I had an hour ago.
The nerves in my belly increased. I’d assumed I’d get here and we’d spend the first week in bed making up for all our time apart, and that there’d barely be time for anything else. Then, one night, after Beau had made me scream his name and we were lying in the dark in each other’s arms—and it was obvious that he’d fallen for me just as hard as I had him—I’d admit that I had embellished my experience when it came to living in this type of situation, but we loved each other and that was all that mattered.
Of course, it wasn’t going to be that easy, and instead of a day in bed tomorrow, we were going fishing.
I didn’t know how to fish!
I mean, I had at least bought the right outfit, so that was something, but everything else—the hooks, the worms, whatever else was involved—I had not the first clue. I didn’t think I’d need to know!
Grabbing a towel, I quickly dried off and dressed then made my way back downstairs. There were two plates sitting on the large rustic wooden table just off the kitchen. Steak, potatoes, carrots, and peas were heaped on the plate next to a glass of juice.
A clang came from the kitchen and I turned to find Beau standing there. The oxygen was kicked from my lungs. That’s how the man affected me.
Play it cool, Freya.
“Hope you’re hungry,” he rumbled, blue gaze moving over me.
God, he was gorgeous. “Dinner looks delicious.”
He grinned, white teeth surrounded by sexy beard, and my heart smacked against the back of my ribs. There might have been some nipple tightening as well. His gaze moved over me again, this time from head to toe, pausing at my hair, my chest, my hips, and the grin wavered.
His eyes came back to mine and his nostrils flared. “You look pretty.”
I looked down at myself. I hadn’t really thought much about the clothes I’d grabbed out of the car before I started my nightmare trek. I was wearing my favorite jeans, soft and so worn that in places you could see glimpses of skin here and there, and a fitted green shirt that I guessed clung a little. It had a row of buttons down the front that stopped just under my boobs and the top few were undone, showing the tiniest bit of cleavage. I looked back up at him. “Thanks.”
He blew out a rough breath. “Sit. Let’s eat before it gets cold.”
Beau waited for me to sit down then did the same across from me.
Silence followed, and it started to feel awkward. I didn’t want that.
I searched for something to say. My gaze landed on the low-hanging chandelier made of antlers above the table. I didn’t know how I’d missed it. “Wow, did you make that?” I asked, motioning to it.
His lips curled on one side. “Yeah.”
“And you killed all the…um, animals yourself?”
His smile grew wider and, holy hell, it was breathtaking. “Yeah.”
I didn’t know what else to say. It wasn’t like I could comment about his excellent skills when I didn’t know the first thing about hunting.
After that we started eating, like two polite friends. We made small talk. Beau wasn’t the joking, laughing guy I’d been talking to online. He was polite, respectful, and distracted.
I hated it, and with every minute that passed by, the more awful I felt.
“What made you decide to come early?” he asked after a sip of his drink, head slightly tilted to the side.
At least in this I could be honest. “I’ve been having trouble with my boss. I guess I just reached my limit and I quit. The first thing I wanted to do afterward was talk to you, but since you’re not at the ranch anymore, I couldn’t get hold of you, so instead I got in my car and started driving.”
He was chewing a mouthful and paused for a second then swallowed. “I never took you for the impulsive type.”
The way he said it, I got the feeling he didn’t think that was exactly an endearing trait. “I’m not…not usually, anyway,” I said cautiously. “But when I get backed into a corner, or I’ve been pushed to my limits, I suppose I do have a tendency to run the other way.”
His expression stayed alarmingly blank, and he nodded slowly. “I don’t really have that option out here. In this life, if you’re pushed to the limits you really have no choice but to push back, to face it. You have to find a way.”
I finished chewing my mouthful and had to force it down. It was suddenly sawdust in my mouth. I felt like Beau had just given me my first test and I’d gotten a big red F. “The city is a very different place, and I’m talking people here. I doubt that would b
e as much of an issue out here.”
He nodded again, but his lips were in a flat line. “Yeah, you’re right there.”
I gripped my knife and fork tighter. Jesus. This was like one of those interviews where you walk out the door and receive a thanks but no thanks message on your phone before you even get home.
We finished up our meal, and the conversation was even more strained. I took the empty plates to the kitchen. “I’ll do the washing up since you cooked.”
He stood. “Yeah, I better go deal with the bear. Last thing we need is other predators smelling the fresh blood and coming close to the house.”
I froze, and Beau didn’t miss it. His brows lowered. I forced myself to relax. A girl born and raised on a ranch in Colorado would know that. “Yes, of course.”
I watched him shove on his jacket and boots, grab his gun, and go outside, shutting the door behind him. My heart sank to my feet.
Somehow, in the short time I’d been here, I’d managed to screw everything up.
I finished the dishes and then didn’t know what to do with myself, so sat on one of Beau’s big leather couches and waited for him, but even with the way my mind raced, my eyelids refused to stay open.
The next thing I knew I was moving.
My lids fluttered open. Beau was carrying me upstairs. He was looking ahead and didn’t know I’d woken up, and for some reason I let him carry on thinking it, staying limp in his arms. There was a light thud when he pushed a door open with his foot.
Was I in his room?
He lowered me carefully, there was a rustle, and he pulled the covers over me. Then he straightened, and just stood there. I had my eyes closed but I knew he was looking down at me. I felt it. Something tickled my hair.
Wild Man Page 2