“Do you promise not to try and kick me between the legs again?” he said humorously, referencing my earlier struggle.
“No,” I said, but I didn’t mean it.
Lincoln chuckled. “You should never be in sales. Your technique sucks.”
But he set me down anyway. I stepped to the side, not wanting to get close to the fire as it burned higher and brighter for the moment thanks to my additions. Finding a place to stand, I shook myself out, throwing off some of the bad energy that started the morning.
That was a mistake. With my lack of clothing, and the flimsy old pajama shirt, Lincoln’s eyes tracked everything as it bounced and jiggled for his enjoyment. Firelight flickered across his pupils as I watched them drink in my body.
Self-conscious at the attention, I folded my arms over my breasts, hoping he hadn’t noticed how quickly they stiffened under his interested, attentive gaze, which I had not prepared for.
“There’s not a lot left,” I said, swinging back to the fire, only to realize it gave Lincoln a full view of my ass cheeks as they hung out from my shorts.
There was no winning apparently.
“I’ve been up for a few hours.” Nothing in his voice betrayed any emotion.
What was he thinking? Had he just admired what he saw because he was a man? Or was it something more? The things he had said the day before had been … intense.
But he was wounded then. Badly hurt. He didn’t mean any of that. It was just the pain talking.
That’s what I told myself.
“Oh.”
In my peripheral vision I saw him nod. “I let you sleep. You needed it.”
“I wasn’t the one hurt.”
“Yes, you were,” he said gently. “Up here.”
He reached over and lightly tapped my head. His hand didn’t linger.
I glanced at him. He was wearing the tattered remnants of his clothing, cleaned as best as I could and hung to dry overnight. Using the washing machine would have wrecked it even more. Through the holes, I could see the healing of his wounds coming along far faster than any normal human could hope for.
“You’re obviously healing up. You look it. Good, I mean. Um, like, you look better,” I said, tearing my eyes away from the muscled arms and fit torso visible from a dozen or more different holes.
“I told you,” Lincoln said, ignoring my flub. “I heal fast.”
“Yes, you did, but I think it’s okay if I’m still a bit skeptical of it all until I see it happen. After all, I did only learn that your world existed last night.”
Lincoln grunted, still staring into the flames.
“Thank you for doing the burning,” I said.
Another grunt. “No thanks are necessary.”
“Well, thank you for yesterday then,” I said, fidgeting with the hem of the cotton shirt, twisting it tightly. “Saving my life and all that.”
He glanced down at me. I smiled up at him. His eyes grabbed me and held me, rooting me to that spot.
“I told you,” he said, his voice the rumble of a freight train, “I won’t let anything happen to you. I’ll protect you no matter what. With every ounce of strength I possess.”
Lincoln was a very, very strong man.
I nodded. I didn’t know what else to say, and I doubted I could have spoken anyway at that moment. My throat was all closed up. My body was on fire from the way he looked at me.
The memory of being pressed up against him was loud and clear in my mind. Refusing to leave, despite the dozen eviction notices I served. It continued to trespass, hammering at me over and over again-a call I was finding impossible to ignore.
To do that, you must find the guardian. They will be drawn to you-a partnership, a call impossible to ignore.
Those damn words again.
“I should go inside,” I said hurriedly, brushing past him and heading into the house.
I got all of two steps past the threshold.
Lincoln was there, his arms around me once more, pulling me back against him. My back, his front, touching in dozens of spots. My waist to his … lower. He held me fast, preventing any escape. Everything of his was hard. Everything of mine, so soft in comparison.
“What are you doing?” I whispered, shivering as his breath caressed my exposed neck, lifting hairs as it went.
“What I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” he growled. “The exact same thing you want. You try to deny it out loud, but …”
I whimpered as he kissed my neck and then bent forward to try to slip free. All that did was press my half-exposed ass right against his groin. His muscles weren’t the only hard thing about him.
“You can leave if you want to,” he said, his arms loosening just enough that I could slip free.
If I wanted.
“I won’t stop you.” He spoke into my ear once more. “I won’t force it, but you have to tell me that walking away is something youtruly desire, Vee. But I don’t think it is.”
“Why not?” I asked, trying to summon the will to do just that, to walk away.
“Because you want me too.” His growl was deeper, filling the room with a desire he was barely keeping restrained.
A desire for me.
His voice dropped to a whisper. “I can feel it, you know. In the way you tremble at my touch.” A hand slid down, across my stomach one heart-stopping inch at a time, pausing just below my waistline.
I stiffened. His fingertips were getting precariously close to somewhere very sensitive.
“I can see it in your eyes,” he added, his teeth nipping at the bared, sensitive skin of my neck, making me inhale sharp and fast in surprise.
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