When my gaze traveled lower, I bit my bottom lip as I took in his bare chest.The sweat glistening on his corded muscles made them stand out more.
A bead of sweat traveled down his abs toward the edge of his low-hanging pants.The V of his hip muscles pointed toward the large cock concealed under his pants, but I wasveryaware of what lay beneath.
We’d spent a lot of time working this week but also entangled in each other.While we both had much to do, I yearned to slip into the woods with him.
CHAPTERFORTY-ONE
Ellery
“Ugh, cut it out,”Scarlet said.
Her words and playful bump against my side pulled me out of my reverie.“What?”
“You’redrooling.Stop it.”
I used the back of my hand to wipe my mouth.I was relieved that I hadn’t actually drooled, but I was probably close.“I am not.”
Scarlet laughed.“If I’d known I would be living here with you two lovey-dovey freaks, I might have stayed on that field.”
“We’re not that bad.”
“You’re gross.”The amusement in her doe-brown eyes belied her words.“You’re also kind of cute.”
I smiled before bowing my head over my sewing.A flurry of motion from my right alerted me something was coming a second before Mouse launched himself at me.
I released the shirt in time to catch the boy.I laughed as we fell back together, and his small arms cinched around my neck.
Over the past week, I’d seen a lot of him as he came to the clearing every day and spent more time at the encampment.I hoped that meant he’d stay one day, but I wasn’t sure he’d ever settle down.Mouse had a bigger free spirit than me.
He pulled away and, grinning, sat back to survey the encampment.His recent growth spurt had caused his sleeves to ride almost halfway up his arms, and his pants were on the way to becoming shorts.
His disheveled black hair desperately needed a cut as it hung in his eyes and knotted around his shoulders.Before winter set in, I’d ensure he had new, warmer clothes that fit him properly.
“Are you hungry?”I asked him.
Mouse shook his head as he watched Ryker in the tree.Ever since Ryker had found us in the tunnel beneath the trees, Mouse had started following him around.
When Ryker looked down and caught sight of Mouse, he waved.The boy beamed as he waved enthusiastically back at him.
Mouse still wouldn’t speak, but, like I hoped he’d one day stay with us, I also hoped to hear his voice again.Far too much time had passed without it.
Settling beside me, Mouse leaned against a tree as he studied the builders.I resumed trying not to stab my fingers with a needle.
Scarlet’s fingers moved nimbly through the threading of the pants she mended while, across the way, Ruby and Mr.Fletcher helped feed the horses.He’d healed well from his injuries, and they were settling into the slower rhythm of life in the forest.
From somewhere deep within the trees, something screeched.My hands stilled as the echoing cry rebounded through the woods.Beside me, Mouse stiffened as Scarlet lowered her sewing.
I placed the shirt down and rose to gather my bow and quiver from where I’d placed them beside me.The encampment had grown so large that attacks from the creatures of the Revenant Woods were rare, but that hadn’t stopped some of the monsters from trying.
Grabbing a tree limb, Ryker swung out of the tree to land beside me.“What was that?”
“I don’t know,” I told him.“But it sounded big.”
The others also dropped from the tree as everyone in the encampment focused on where the screech had come from.Then it came again, echoing over the land, but this time, the scream of something dying followed it.
After a few minutes, when nothing else happened, work resumed around the encampment.
“We’ll put on extra guards,” Tucker said.“We’ll add more for tonight too.”
