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“Like this,” he says as he wraps his hand over mine and guides the flame to the shredded part of a piece of dried tree bark.
If the lighter doesn’t do it, then the heat from his touch certainly will. It feels like I’m about to burst into flames.
“That’s good,” he whispers in a deep encouraging voice when the flame catches. “Now add some small sticks to it. Slowly.”
I do as he says and the flame spreads and grows, eating the sticks as I watch in awe.
“I did it!” I say as I jump up with a big grin on my face. “I made a fire. I’m not totally useless out here!”
He stands up with a big smile on his face. “I knew you could do it.”
My excitement builds and it makes me jump onto him without thinking. I wrap my arms around his warm body and my hands land on the smooth taut skin of his back muscles.
I’m about to pull away and apologize when his arms wrap tightly around me, holding me against him. “Don’t go so soon,” he whispers. “This is where you belong.”
I look up at him and our eyes meet. My breath catches, my heart pounds, my body ignites in his arms.
The sexual tension between us becomes impossible to ignore. I’m all too aware of my body’s reaction. The pulsing between my legs, the prickle in my lips, the intense desire to kiss that sensual mouth as the heated eye contact goes on for longer than any two people who don’t want to jump each other’s bones would ever have.
I want him to kiss me. I want even more than that.
The next thing I want him to teach me is not going to be outdoors. It’s going to be in his bed and it’s going to be hotter than the fire burning beside us.
Don’t go so soon. This is where you belong.
I never thought I belonged in the forest. I’m still not so sure. But here in his arms? I don’t know…
This feels right. It feels exactly where I want to be.
And exactly where I want to stay.
Chapter Six
Cyrus
* * *
I want the dinner to be perfect. I want everything to be perfect.
The table is set, the stew is simmering, the fire is roaring in the fireplace. I have music, candles, and a beautiful woman in front of me.
I want to impress her so badly.
I want her to fall in love with me and never leave.
It’s asking for a lot, but I don’t know how I’m going to survive without her. Life has felt so different since she showed up. There was a heaviness in my bones that I lived with for so long and didn’t even realize was there. Now that she’s with me, that heaviness has gone and only a lightness remains.
“This was not what I was expecting when I saw you coming out of the forest,” Mia says as she sits down with her glass of wine on the couch. There’s a fire burning in the fireplace behind her, washing her in a warm orange glow. This afternoon in the sun, I thought she could never be more beautiful than she was in that moment. I was wrong.
My chest is aching as I watch her put her plump juicy lips to the glass and take a small sip.
“What were you expecting?” I ask her as I grab my glass and head over to join her.
“I don’t know,” she says with a chuckle. “Something out of a horror movie.”
I raise my eyebrow as I sit on the couch across from her.
“Don’t get mad at me!” she says, playfully indignant. “What am I supposed to think when some hulking mountain man comes storming out of the forest holding two dead rabbits?”
“I can’t blame you on that one,” I tell her with a smile. “I’m just happy that story you told me about your husband was all made up.”
“Or, was it?” she says with a grin. “Maybe he’s outside looking for me now.”
“Please don’t play with me like that,” I say as I clutch my aching chest. “You’re going to break my heart.”
She takes a sip, but her eyes are watching me like she’s contemplating something.
“Why do you say that?”
“Say what?”
“That I’m breaking your heart.”
I take a deep breath, wondering how much I should be revealing. But this is the night. This is the moment. Tomorrow, she’s going to leave and I’m not sure I’ll get another one. When fate hands you a shot, you take it. No matter what the odds are.
“Because Mia… You’re the one for me. You’re it. I’m falling for you hard.”
She swallows as she watches me with an excited nervousness in her eyes. “Why are you saying that?”
“Because it’s true.”
“But I’m useless out here,” she says as she looks around. “I can’t start a fire or chop wood. I can’t even drive a canoe! Don’t you want a woman who can do all of those things?”
