Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 29800 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 149(@200wpm)___ 119(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29800 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 149(@200wpm)___ 119(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)
“Too late.”
“You barely know me.”
“I know enough.”
“That’s not how this works.”
“Seems to be working exactly like this.”
Her breathing turns uneven again.
Mine’s not much better.
The cabin suddenly feels too small for both of us.
“You’re intense,” she mutters weakly.
“You like it.”
“That’s not the point.”
“It is to me.”
A frustrated sound leaves her throat as she turns away abruptly, pacing toward the kitchen like distance might save her now.
It won’t.
Not from this.
Not from me.
“Nora.”
She stops moving but doesn’t turn around.
“What?”
“You’re shaking.”
“I’m angry.”
“You’re affected.”
Her shoulders tense instantly.
Then slowly, finally, she turns back toward me.
The look on her face almost knocks the air out of my lungs.
Because she’s scared.
Not of me.
Of this.
Of how fast this thing between us is becoming something neither of us can control anymore.
“You don’t get to decide what I feel,” she says softly.
“No.” I hold her gaze. “But I can see it anyway.”
That does it.
Something inside her finally snaps.
Nora crosses the room so fast I barely register the movement before her hands fist in my shirt and her mouth crashes into mine.
Hot.
Angry.
Desperate.
For one solid second I stop breathing entirely.
Then instinct takes over.
My hands lock onto her waist hard enough to lift her partly off the floor as I kiss her back immediately, turning all that fury and tension into something rougher.
Hungrier.
Jesus Christ.
She tastes like coffee and stubbornness and every bad decision I’ve made since she drove onto this mountain.
Nora makes a soft sound against my mouth that nearly destroys what’s left of my control.
“You are so infuriating,” she breathes against my lips.
“Yeah?”
“Yes.”
I kiss her again before she can keep talking.
Because if she keeps talking, I’m going to say something reckless.
Like stay.
Like mine.
Like don’t fucking leave me with this when the storm ends.
Her fingers tighten in my shirt as my hands slide up her back slowly, pulling her flush against me until there’s no space left between us at all.
The fire crackles beside us.
Wind howls outside.
And somewhere in the middle of all that chaos, Nora kisses me like she’s finally stopped trying to run from this too.
Chapter Ten
Nora
His mouth ruins me instantly.
That’s the first coherent thought I have after kissing Rhett Maddox, after storming across his cabin determined to prove a point and finding myself pinned between his body and the edge of the kitchen counter instead, breathing him in like I’ve wanted this longer than I’m willing to admit.
Because I have.
God, I have.
The kiss turns rough almost immediately, all the tension we’ve been building for days finally snapping hard enough to leave me dizzy. Rhett kisses like he does everything else, controlled until he decides not to be, and then suddenly there’s nothing restrained about him at all.
His hands grip my waist firmly, pulling me tighter against him until I can feel every inch of him, solid muscle and heat and the dangerous edge of a man who’s spent his entire life holding himself back.
“You sure about this?” he asks against my mouth, voice rough.
It’s probably the first reasonable thing either of us has said in days.
I should answer carefully. Instead, “You talk too much.”
A low sound rumbles out of his chest, almost a laugh, and then he kisses me again harder for being smart enough to mouth off to him when he’s already halfway gone.
The cabin feels smaller now. Hotter.
Every nerve ending in my body wakes up at once as Rhett’s hand slides slowly up my back, fingers spreading wide like he’s learning me through touch alone. Nothing about him feels hesitant anymore. Not the way he holds me. Not the way he looks at me. Not the way his body crowds mine until there’s nowhere left to retreat.
Not that I want to.
That’s the problem.
“You’re staring again,” he murmurs against my lips.
I swallow hard. “You’re distracting.”
“Good.”
God.
The confidence on this man should be illegal.
My fingers tighten in his shirt automatically as he kisses down the side of my jaw slowly enough to make my knees weak. His beard scrapes lightly against my skin, rough in a way that sends heat straight through my stomach.
“You know what your problem is?” I breathe.
“I’ve been told there are several.”
“You act like you already own every room you walk into.”
His mouth brushes my throat. “Usually do.”
“That’s not attractive.”
“Liar.”
I hate how quickly my body betrays me around him.
Because he’s right.
Every inch of me reacts to him instantly now, my pulse jumping the second he gets close, my breathing turning uneven whenever his hands settle on me like they belong there.
Like I belong there.
That thought should scare me more than it does.
Rhett pulls back just enough to look at me, his eyes dark and focused in a way that nearly steals the air from my lungs completely.
“There she is,” he says quietly.
“What?”
“That look.”
I try to glare at him. “You’re annoyingly observant.”
“You’re flushed.”
“It’s warm in here.”
“You’re gripping my shirt hard enough to wrinkle it.”
My hands loosen automatically.
Rhett catches both wrists immediately, pinning them lightly against his chest before I can pull away completely.