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Bennet
I see it in her eyes. Her clear blue eyes are as easy to read as a book. She’s scared of me. Or if not scared, she’s plenty wary. I can’t say I blame her for that. I’ve never been anything but a dangerous man. Hunting, fishing and solitude have always been my safe space. I grew up in mountains like these. I only left them for the army. For the promise of a good paycheck doing what I loved to do. Little did I know that that would be the biggest curse of my life.
She settles on the couch in front of the fireplace and I can’t help but draw in a stuttered breath at how stunning she looks by firelight. It dances warmly along her high cheekbones and kisses her pale skin with an ethereal glow. Her blond hair gleams with fiery highlights. If ever I believed in the supernatural, now would be that time. She looks like exactly what I call her. A fallen angel kissed by the fires of earthly pleasures and desires. My pleasures and desires and mine alone. No one else will ever touch this woman. I shouldn’t fly so close to the sun. I know that she’s too innocent and naive for me. But too fucking bad. After all the hell I’ve seen over the years, I intend to be selfish and hold onto this angel. She soothes my anger and pulls me out of the horrors of my existence. My past.
And I’m just selfish enough to want more and more. To drain every last drop of the good she is but then fill it up with my own care. I will make sure that she’s loved and she feels it. Knows that I will do whatever she wants and needs to keep her safe and happy.
“As soon as it’s light, I’m going to go and find your car and take a look at the damage. Assess what I need to do with it.” I don’t really want to tell her what I’m going to do…I have a feeling she’d be really pissed. If it looks like what I think it looks like, I’m gonna push that son of a bitch right off the edge and over. Pretty sure most women, hell most men too, would have a big problem with that.
Her head turns to me and she leans on her elbow, resting her soft cheek on the fabric. I want to be that fabric. Want to cradle her rounded cheeks in my hand, have her lean into me. I’d give almost anything just to be near enough to touch her. Any part of her.
Her shadowed eyes slip down and she sighs. “I would appreciate that. Maybe you could find some of the clothes that I had to leave in my car. You must want me out of your hair and your clothes.”
That couldn’t be further from the truth. I want her here with me forever. I want her chained to me, her belly rounded with my baby. But first, I need to take care of the people who are hunting her. Then I’m going to claim her. She’ll never get away from me.
“Why don’t you go lie down again. That little trek through the snow probably zapped your strength. You need to rest up and take care of yourself.”
She opens those perfect pink lips and I can see she wants to argue with me. I haven’t seen her fire yet. I’m sure it’s there. I hope it’s there. I want it. Want to warm myself on her ire and wrap her snark all over me like a dog marking its territory.
She makes me feel feral and close to losing myself to my more base animal side.
But then her shoulders seem to curl into themselves and she just nods, standing and stumbling over to the bed. I watch her crawl up into the bed, her rounded ass in the air. My dick hardens and I groan under my breath, swearing softly.
“I need that ass.”
She rolls over in the bed and her sleepy sapphire eyes turn to me. “Did you say something, Bennet?”
“No, Angel. Not yet.”
Her marble brow wrinkles, confused by my cryptic message. But then she lays her head down and her tousled blond curls fluff when she takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. “Okay.”
It only takes a few minutes and I see her deep, slow breaths and I know she’s fallen asleep.
Unable to help myself, I move closer, tempted to touch her soft, warm skin. My fingers itching to tangle in those pale blond curls, smooth them down and cradle her to me.
Instead, I lean over and carefully tuck her fingers under the blanket, pulling it up on her shoulders, smiling when she mumbles something in her sleep. I pull back and watch to make sure that she stays asleep.
I know I can take care of my little angel. I’ve been rudderless since I left the military, just surviving on the mountain. But now that I’ve met Harleigh, I know what I was waiting for. Her. My whole world revolves around this woman. I just have to convince her.
As soon as I find that car and take a look at it, I’ll start working on my own plan. See if I can figure out where I should go. What I should do to make sure that whatever happens to me, she’s safe. That’s all that really matters. I’ve been living on borrowed time for what seems like half my life. If something happens to me, I don’t give a shit. As long as my Angel is safe.
I’m hard to kill. So it’s not really a concern of mine. But whatever happens happens. As long as the motherfuckers that think they can take what’s mine find out that that’s a quick way to die.
Harleigh
It’s dark. I’m lost in a maze of smoke and mirrors. I can’t find my way home. I hold my hands out and feel along the cold, dirty wall, the broken bricks digging into my skin like needles.
There’s something watching me. Someone. I can feel their eyes on me and ice crawls down my spine. My breath huffs in and out. My eyes are wide and terrified. I can’t see anything but yet I know there’s a problem.
Screaming echoes in the darkness and then I see the man fall to the ground, blood spreading out around his body like a dark crimson pool, his eyes open and staring.
I scream and scream and it echoes around the alley bringing their attention to me. Two pairs of cold, dead eyes that fix on me like wolves stalking their prey.
I turn to run but slam into a wall that appears in front of me. Whipping around, I run into yet another wall. They appear all around me until I’m trapped and I can’t get away. The men move closer, their hands curled around their gleaming weapons, their bodies tense and angry. Neither of them says one thing but I know they’re going to kill me. And I can’t get away. The walls are blocking me. The only opening is where they’re coming from.
One man reaches me and his hand reaches out to grab me around the throat. My screams are cut off. I claw at his arm as it cuts off my air supply. But it doesn’t help. He doesn’t even seem to notice. Just tightens his hand until spots dance in front of my eyes and the edge of my vision blurs.
This is it. I’m going to die.
