“Maggie, my love, I’m going to have to get really close to you to free you.”
“I don’t care what you have to do,” she said sharply. “Just please do it and let me go.”
Braden dropped his gaze down to her hips as his hunger for her grew even more, as well as another part of him that stiffened and strained, begging for her softness.
Well, if that’s the way she wants it....
He stood directly behind her, then had to lean forward, over her back to pull the limb off her. As he did so, his painfully aroused groin made full contact with her bottom.
She gasped, then jerked her hips to where they collided even more with his swollen shaft. The action wrung a deep moan from him.
“This is a priceless sight,” Sin said from behind them. “Should I leave you two alone?”
“Shut up, Sin,” they shouted in unison.
Braden struggled to breathe against the agonizing pain of his need for her. He had never wanted anything as badly as he wanted to take her right then and there.
Forcing himself to move, Braden pulled the limb away from her spine. Maggie scooted out from between him and the leaf-table lightning quick. Her face was the same color as her hair as she looked about at anything other than him.
“Thank you,” she said.
“My pleasure,” Braden said before he thought better of it.
Her eyes flashing, she met his gaze with fury smoldering in the amber depths. “Only you would take advantage of a woman in that position.”
There, she was wrong, and if he were the demon she thought him to be, he’d have done a whole lot more to her than just free her.
“I wasn’t trying to take advantage of you. I was simply trying to get you out as quickly as possible.”
“Oh, I’m certain of that.” Her sarcasm made a mockery of Braden’s even tone as she tugged her plaid back down to her knees.
“Well,” Sin interjected, “while the two of you catch up on insults, I’m going to scout us a place to sleep.”
Sin quickly vanished into the trees.
Maggie glared while Braden fought down the smile he knew would only anger her more.
The air between them was rife with awkwardness. An awkwardness Braden didn’t like.
As far back as he could remember, there had always been the easiness of friendship between them and he didn’t like the sudden change in her demeanor.
“Did you get hurt?” he asked.
The anger dimmed a bit as she shook her head. “I’m uncertain how I fell. I’m usually very sure-footed.”
“Well, even the best of us occasionally falls into the wrong trap.”
She looked down as if his words triggered something in her memory, then unexpectedly, she smiled.
He delighted in the change it made in her. Her eyes glowed warmly as her entire face lit up. The lass was beautiful when she smiled.
“What?” Braden was curious as to what had brought about this sudden change.
“I was just remembering another trap.”
“The one where I goosed you at the cave?”
She frowned for a second, until she recalled the event, then she gave a short laugh. “Nay, I was thinking of the trap you mentioned earlier when Nera, Mairi, and the others ambushed you on the way to my house.”
