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I put my hand under my head and look at her. Her cheeks are still flushed, her chest rising and falling. “Okay, kid,” I say, wanting to keep the fantasy alive a little bit longer.
She purses her lips. I know she hates the nickname, but I can’t help myself as I lean in to kiss her. A hand disappears into my hair. I groan into her mouth, shifting half on top of her, careful not to crush her with my weight. Her little intake of breath tells me she likes my possessive side. Her eyes widen with lust as I pin her down and claim what I want. I know it turns her on being taken like this. Having no other choice than to submit to my dark needs. It made her wet as hell, and my dick hard as steel.
“You must be tired,” I mumble, trying to get my mind out of the gutter.
She shakes her head, yawning nonetheless. I start to laugh. Damn, I haven’t smiled like this in a long time. I sit up, and she watches me.
“What are you doing?” she asks while I pick her up in my arms.
Both dogs look at us. “Stay,” I order them.
“So bossy,” she says, nuzzling my neck. I grin and carry her into my room, turning the lamp on near my bed.
I stop in my tracks when I see the broken picture frame on the nightstand. “You are an observant little one, aren’t you?” I say, kissing the tip of her nose.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, i-t-t was lying on the ground.”
I shake my head. The night before, I called one of my army buddies, only to find out another got himself sent to rehab because he almost killed his wife in a drug-fueled rage. I threw the picture against the wall, terrified of becoming another cautionary tale. I can’t open up to this girl, this woman who already knows more in a couple of hours than anyone I showed a piece of my heart to. Could she be different? Frowning, I pull the sheets back with one hand, gently placing her in the middle and tugging them over her body while I sit next to her.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asks, her smile hopeful like I’m some kind of hero. Hell, baby, I’m a different kind of knight.
“Nothing.”
“What happened over there?” she begins, looking at the picture.
“Enough,” I grunt, not wanting to shatter the dream between us. She keeps looking at me with those soulful eyes. “Okay, fuck, spending time between the trees keeps my mind from wandering back to my years as part of the military machine.”
“How long was that your life?”
“Too fucking long,” I say, breathing out hard through my nose. “I left a part of myself behind on a mountain with my brothers,” I answer, swallowing back the lump in my throat.
“I’m sorry for asking, Rafe.” Her voice is filled with warmth.
“No, kid, it’s okay,” I pause, “it’s just, I haven’t talked about it for a long time.”
“Why?”
I shrug, tugging the sheets down so I can look at her naked body. “No one asked.”
She holds my gaze before leaning forward and placing a kiss on my lips, then she sits back, watching me. She says more with her kiss than any VA meeting ever did.
“Now what?” she husks, her nipples turning into hard pebbles from my stare.
“Now I want you sleeping naked in my bed,” I tell her, standing. Walking around the room, I feel her watching me. I smile, liking she finds my scarred and broken body so appealing. I sit on my haunches and turn on the Franklin stove. Heat fills the cold space instantly.
“Did you make that?” she asks, tipping her chin in the direction of my dresser with the wolf I carved.
“I did,” I answer reluctantly.
“It’s beautiful.”
I snort, and she stares at me, waiting for me to tell her more. Taking a deep breath, I say, “My grandfather used to call me his lone wolf. You were right before; I grew up on the reservation not far from here.” I sit on the edge of the bed and watch her.
“What was it like?” she prods, no hint of pity in her voice like I’ve heard so many times before. This girl is fucking fearless.
Running a hand over my buzzcut, I tell her, “Growing up on therezmeant being cut off from the rest of the country, so we didn’t have shit.”
“Is that why you joined the military?” she asks, staring at the picture on the nightstand.
