But she obeyed him.
He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her up against his body, her breathing fast for a while, but then slowing to regulate to the speed of his.
He was only holding her. Nothing else.
And it felt amazing.
She wasn’t just warm, she was hot all the way down to her toes.
Her shoulder blades were connecting with his hard chest, his large, warm hand pressed against her stomach. His lower body was moved away from hers, and she didn’t like that. She wanted to nest right up against him, and she had a feeling that he wasn’t near her for a reason. Either to avoid it being too intimate or because he didn’t want… He just didn’t want it to be.
But she felt safe, so safe with his body around hers.
“I don’t feel so afraid of bears now.”
“Do you think I’m going to fight a bear for you, Cara Logan?”
His breath was warm on her neck. “I was kind of hoping you would. I mean, don’t go pick a fight with a bear, but if one tries to pick one with me, I thought you might protect me.”
“You know I would,” he said.
She closed her eyes. She didn’t know that he would.
“You pretend to be so mean.”
“I do not pretend to be mean,” he said. “I am exactly who I appear to be, and people have a difficult time with that.”
“Okay, what’s that supposed to mean?”
“Meaning, I’m not overly friendly. But I also never go out of my way to be unkind to anybody, do I?”
“Of course you don’t.”
“Exactly. It’s not my fault if people mix up not being a people person with being mean.”
“It’s just that a lot of people feel like they have to smooth situations over. Be extra friendly and polite to make everyone comfortable. It’s me. I’m a lot of people.”
“I lost that skill,” he said.
She didn’t know what that meant. But for some reason, it made her think of his younger brother. The one that he’d gone to the store to buy candy with — the one he said… He didn’t know where he was.
She wondered if there had been some kind of family falling out, because he never mentioned his family. That one mention of his younger brother was the only time he ever had.
“So, you’re not a people person. Does that extend to your family?”
His body stiffened against hers. Like he had heard a sound in the distance, and was freezing so that he could assess the threat.
“What makes you ask that?”
“You said you didn’t know where your brother was. Maybe… Maybe you could find him.”
He let out a slow breath. “Not likely. Not on this side of things anyway.”
“What do you mean?”
“My brother is dead.”
She felt like she’d been punched in the stomach. “Oh.”
