Page 6 of Craved By the Mountain Man

The words come out so softly I almost do not hear them.

My eyes begin adjusting while I stand there. Large shapes slowly separate from the dark: the outline of a couch, the edge of a table, the pale suggestion of stone where the fireplace should be.

I slip the backpack from my shoulder. The strap catches against my damp sweater, and I tug at it while taking a step away from the door.

Then a hand closes around my wrist and yanks me around.

My backpack hits the floor as my back meets the wall, and before I can drag in enough air to scream, my other wrist is caught too.

Both of my hands are forced above my head and locked there in one large grip.

A hard body blocks mine.

Kaden taught me what to do when someone grabs me. Turn into the weakest part of the grip. Create space. Use momentum instead of strength. Drive a knee into anything vulnerable enough to make a man reconsider his priorities.

My body reacts before fear can shut it down.

I twist toward the thumb trapping my wrists and drop my weight, bringing my knee up at the same time.

He shifts just enough to ruin the move.

My knee catches nothing but air, my attempt to turn breaks against a grip that adjusts before I can exploit it, and suddenly I have even less room than before.

The efficiency of it terrifies me more than brute force would have.

“Don’t.”

The voice is low and rough, almost lost beneath the rain.

Recognition hits somewhere underneath the fear, impossible enough that for a second I refuse to trust it.

I know that voice.

My heart stutters and then starts pounding harder.

The man holding me shifts just enough to keep me secured against the wall without crushing me. One hand still circles both my wrists above my head while his other forearm braces beside my shoulder, caging me in.

My eyes have adjusted enough now to catch pieces of him.

Bare shoulder.

Wet skin.

Dark hair, wet and disordered.

The rough shadow of stubble over a hard jaw.

My gaze lifts to silver-gray eyes.

The world tips sideways.

Gavin.

Chapter 2

Hannah

Gavin Mercer is here.