Total pages in book: 22
Estimated words: 20337 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 102(@200wpm)___ 81(@250wpm)___ 68(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 20337 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 102(@200wpm)___ 81(@250wpm)___ 68(@300wpm)
"You eat rabbit?" I gasp.
"We eat a lot of shit out here, Sunshine. In case you haven't noticed, there is no grocery store up here. If we want to eat, we catch it." He taps my nose. "That's what mountain men do. We live off the land. We hunt and fish and gather and trap."
I draw myself up to my full height…which isn't very high compared to him. "I know I'm your assistant and all, but I'm not hunting anything, Deacon Cromwell. That is not what I signed up to do."
"You signed up to follow my rules, Sunshine," he says, something dark flaring in his eyes. "Whatever I say, no matter what."
"I'm not shooting Peter Rabbit or Bambi."
"But you're fine with squirrels?"
"Are they the mean ones that jump out of the bushes at your face?" I ask.
"You have experience with this?"
"Seattle," I say, shrugging. The squirrels are on another level. We're basically sworn enemies at this point. "But I'm not shooting them either."
He growls, wrapping his hand up in my jacket to tug me toward him. "You don't make the rules, little girl. You follow them."
"Yeah?" I whisper, getting caught in the maelstrom in his eyes again. "I forgot to tell you something, Deacon."
"What's that, Sunshine?"
"Your stupid rules can go fly a kite, sir."
His eyes darken to gunmetal as he yanks me forward, toppling me into his chest. A predatory growl rumbles in his throat like thunder rolling over the mountainside. His lips crash down on mine, one hand wrapped around my throat as he backs me up against the tree.
I moan into his mouth, my entire soul crying out with relief. Ever since last night, my body has ached for this, begging to feel his touch again, pleading for the relief he denied me. I barely slept last night, not because I was nervous about today, but because I couldn't stop thinking about him. About how badly I wanted to sneak across the hall into his room and finish what I started.
I burn for him in ways I didn't know it was possible to burn.
He shoves his knee between my legs, using it to pin me up against the tree as he attacks my mouth, drinking from my lips exactly like he did last night. He's everywhere again, drowning me in sensation. This man is a giant in every sense of the word, powerful and fierce.
"You're lucky it's thirty degrees out here, Sunshine," he grunts against my lips before biting the bottom one. "If it weren't, you'd be bent over my knee right now, telling me how much you fucking love my rules."
"Promises, promis—Deacon!" I scream, shocked when he bends forward suddenly, scooping me up over his shoulder. My hair falls forward into my eyes as the world tilts upside down. His hand comes down on my ass in a sharp smack.
"Stay still, Sunshine," he growls, and then starts marching down the trail with me over his shoulder like a freaking sack of potatoes.
"Put me down right now, Mountain Man!"
"Can't. Busy."
Tyr barks, jumping up to lick my face.
"Deacon!" I cry, punching him in the butt.
He chuckles, the sound bouncing back to me in a haunting echo. "Did you just punch my butt, Cordelia?"
"Yes, and I'm going to do it again if you don't put me down."
The crazy man starts humming.
"Is that Pocketful of Sunshine?" Why am I screeching like a crazy person?
"Yep," he says, the most cheerful thing he's said since I met him.
I was wrong about dying in the woods. Deacon is going to die in the woods because I'm going to strangle him. And I won't even have to hide the body. We're so far in the middle of freaking nowhere, I doubt anyone will ever find his body.
I don't punch him in the butt this time. I bite him, right on his left cheek.
It does not get the reaction I expected.
The crazy man just laughs and hums louder.
"Where do you think you're going?" he asks twenty minutes later, hooking his hand into the hood of my coat to stop me when I try to slide past him out of the cozy cabin. And by cozy, I mean tiny. It's one room with a bathroom. The bed takes up most of the room, with a small sitting area and a tiny kitchen on the opposite side. The fireplace across from the bed warms the space. The view of the mountains from the windows is breathtaking, even I can't deny that.
"You said we had to prep the cabins." This one looks good to me. It's obvious that they've been well cared for. I don't know how often he comes up here to check on them, but the place is spotless. It probably seems like heaven to couples who have been hiking or skiing all day.
"Later," he grunts, dragging me into his arms. "We've got something to take care of right now, Sunshine."