AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Surveying my available ingredients, I get to work making tomato basil garlic scrambled eggs and toast. The back door swings open right as I’m plating our food. I hear Brewer’s heavy footsteps grow louder until he’s standing mere inches from me, shirtless and sweaty.
Suddenly, I’m not hungry for breakfast at all.
“Firefly.”
“Brewer.”
It’s the only word I get out before his lips crash down on mine. I taste his salty sweat on my tongue, mixed with his natural flavor. I moan and drink down more of him, needing it all.
Just as quickly as it started, the kiss ends.
“I really like seeing you in my kitchen, angel,” he says, still holding me in his arms and smiling down at me.
"Well, I really like being in your kitchen," I tell him with a grin. He's looking at me like I'm the love of his life. I'm sure I'm looking at him the exact same way. "Where were you?"
“Out checking the traps and feeding the animals.”
“Animals?!” I ask excitedly.
“Yeah,” he chuckles, giving me another kiss. “I’ll give you the full tour after breakfast. I’ll devour the food you made, and then I’ll devour you.”
“Uh, me?” I squeak out.
“Yeah, beautiful,” he murmurs, nuzzling into my neck and kissing a trail up to the shell of my ear. “I’m going to have my mouth on every fucking inch of your body.” I feel Brewer’s big hands slide underneath the sweatshirt I’m wearing, trailing up my thighs and gripping my hips. He pulls me close, making me whimper. “But first, breakfast.”
I gasp when he steps away from me, which only makes him chuckle. Recovering quickly, I turn to our plates and set them down on the table, motioning for Brewer to join me.
“Holy shit, Firefly, these eggs are amazing,” he says around a mouthful of food.
“Thank you,” I whisper, beaming at his praise. I stare at him eating for a beat too long before realizing I’m being a creeper. “Why do you call me Firefly?” I ask, hoping to distract myself from the bare-chested, muscled god sitting across the table from me.
Brewer looks up at me with a warm smile that makes the green in his hazel eyes stand out more. “I saw you run right by my cabin with your light hair, fair skin, and white dress glowing in the moonlight. Everything about you lit up the dark forest. That’s when I knew I had to have you for my own.”
I smile at him, but inside my gut twists remembering that damn wedding dress. As if sensing my thoughts, Brewer sets his fork down and takes my hand in his, rubbing gentle circles over my knuckles.
“Do you want to tell me why you were in a wedding dress?” he asks softly.
I sigh and shake my head no, and then yes. “I suppose I should, huh?”
“What did I tell you about living up on the mountain, firefly? No one is here to tell you what you should or shouldn’t do. I’d like to know more about you, everything about you, really, but only if you want that, too. I can be patient as long as you know you’re mine.”
I’m out of my chair and crawling into Brewer’s lap before I even realize what I’m doing. He doesn’t miss a beat. His arms wrap around me and he holds me close against his warm, chiseled chest. I bury my face in Brewer’s neck, loving the way he sighs and relaxes when I kiss him there. I gather my thoughts while breathing in his manly scent of earth and pine and sweat.
I don’t even know where to start, but the words come spilling out of me, almost without my permission. I tell him about growing up in a large estate in Seattle, how my parents pretty much kept me locked up unless they needed to parade me around for a party or to keep up appearances of a happy family.
I tell him about visiting the property we own up here once a year, and how I tend to wander off into the woods or out to the nearby lake, only to get in trouble for being unladylike and ruining my complexion by getting too much sun.
He holds me and whispers reassuring things while I lay everything out before him, letting him know what he’s getting himself into by claiming me as his own.
“And then two weeks ago, we came up here for my nineteenth birthday,” I say after taking a deep breath. I haven’t even gotten to the wedding dress part yet, but Brewer doesn’t seem to mind.
“Two weeks ago. Huh,” he says to himself. I give him a curious look and he just grins and kisses the tip of my nose. “I woke up one morning a few weeks ago with an ache in my chest. It got worse every day until the mountain delivered you to me.”
My eyes fill with tears, and he wipes them away, kissing my forehead and breathing me in. “When I escaped, my feet carried me up the mountain. I couldn’t stop running. It felt like I was being pulled, like I knew something was out here, waiting for me.”
“Not something, Firefly. Someone. I was waiting for you.” I nod and rest my forehead on his. “Now, can you tell me why you ran? What did you need to escape?”
“My parents had been talking about finding a suitable husband for me that would strengthen their business partnerships. They were showing me off at parties, not even trying to hide the fact that they were selling me to the highest bidder. I hate their money. I hate what it did to them. I never want to live like them, Brewer. I never want the kind of wealth they have.”
