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“Jesus. I can’t stop looking at you.” I swallow the saliva pooling in my mouth. “You’re a fucking stunner. A goddamn knockout. You could easily be a porn star.”
I cringe at the words pouring out of me. I have no skill in this. Not with compliments or eloquence or charm. Especially not with women. And this woman? My God, she’s so fucking out of my league. I need to shut my damn mouth before I blow it.
Of all the things I’ve missed out on in life, it’s experiences like this that hurt the most. The flirting. The dating. The wooing. The social norms. I only know what I’ve picked up in books and movies, and now I’ve made it weird.
She stares at me with her lips parted.
“Frankie, look, I—”
“No, it’s fine. I’m just…” She glances down at her small tantalizing chest, her expression derisive, almost pained. “I’ve never felt insecure or modest about my body. Never while standing before a man, no matter what I’m wearing. Or not wearing. But I feel…I feel it now. With you. I guess it’s…” She looks away and clears her throat. “Getting cheated on will do that to a person.”
Her admission thaws something inside me. It also conjures fantasies of cutting her husband into bite-sized pieces and throwing his remains in the fire pit with Gretchen.
She’s lost too much weight. When she arrived six weeks ago, she was already slim. But the kidnapping, the miscarriage, and now, her husband’s infidelity—it’s taken its toll. She’s not eating. Not sleeping. In the last two days, her appearance has drastically changed into a rawboned, sunken-eyed ghost.
Still gorgeous. Impossibly so. But her light is gone. Her fight is…
Gone.
I won’t stand for it.
With a spike of anger, I straighten off the workbench. “He didn’t deserve you.”
“No. He didn’t. But that doesn’t repair the damage.”
“Come here.”
“Okay.” She approaches with a subtle yet undeniable air of resistance.
Her steady gaze holds a guarded flicker, a cautiousness that entices me even more. The scent of oil and burning coal mingles with an unmistakable note of defiance, creating a drugging blend that sends a thrill through my veins.
As she closes the distance, her movements deliberate, as if she’s testing the waters. Her fingers lightly graze the worktable beside us, leaving a damp trail through the dust. My pulse quickens, anticipation clashing with the challenge in her eyes.
When she pauses at my side, I reach out, my hand poised to make contact. But she flinches, pulling away ever so slightly, her uncertainty palpable. It only feeds the fire within me, stirring an intense determination to pin her down and pump her full of my seed.
“I don’t want to cause you or anyone else to get a knife through the hand.” She swallows. “Or something worse.”
Worse things most definitely await, but I won’t share that.
“I promise no knives.” My hand inches closer once again.
This time, she doesn’t retreat. Instead, she meets my touch halfway, her fingers interlocking with mine, but her grip remains firm, a silent reminder that she’s not easily conquered.
Closing my hand around hers, I pull her against me.
With a whimper, she ducks her head, hiding her beautiful, fallen face. A small, broken noise follows. A whisper of distress.
“Hey.” I touch her jaw, lift it, and brush my thumb across her full bottom lip. “Talk to me.”
I need to kiss her more than I need air. I ache to put my mouth all over her sublime body until she sighs and shivers. But more than that, I want her to stop hurting. I can’t bear to see her continue like this, and that is an alien, unconscionable feeling.
“I’m not okay.” Her eyes hold mine, shiny and unblinking. “My heart is in so many pieces, and those pieces still love him.”
I freeze, the world grinding to a stomach-hardening halt.
Him.
The unworthy husband.
“You think I’m a naïve fool.”
“No.” I frown. “I don’t—”
“I loved him as best as I could. Blindly, ignorantly, I gave him my devotion. My fidelity. My trust. After everything that’s happened here, I might’ve even forgiven him for his heartless response to our pregnancy. But now…” Her tone hardens, and her gaze turns to ice. “That was a one-time deal. I can’t…I won’t offer it again. Not to him. Not to anyone. It hurts too much.”
My chest tightens, a dull, throbbing ache. She’s drawing a line in the sand, confessing she’ll never be devoted again. My reaction is conflicted. I’m not looking for monogamy. I just want to fuck her.
But no…That isn’t true.
I need her to stay away from my brothers. Not just because she’s dangerous to them. But because I won’t share her. The thought of her with someone else, with them, blinds me with rage.
I need her for myself.
“I also hate him.” Her hand clenches in the cage of mine. “While I’m a captive in nowhere Alaska, he’s indulging in other women, satisfying his every need, not missing me, not looking for me. How quickly he moved on. So yeah…” Lifting her free arm, she slips her hand around my nape and pulls me down in a firm grip. “I’m going to stop feeling guilty and start satisfying my own needs.”
