Chapter 132: Asher
The the time we make it back to the cabin, my pulse is will a little off.
It’s too much. It’s all too much. But I know dan well I won’t stop. I can’t
Tkick the dom open with my boot and bold it for her, watching at the steps inside, her cheeks pink from the cold, eyes still a linde glenty from everything told her. She peels off her jacket and boots, setting them by the dig before nothing her hands ingether. The calin’s cold, the tae only embers nyie.
“I’ll get that going again,” I say, moving toward the ferplace.
She follows me, kneeling beside me on the ell, treaking word. “Can you shose me how to do it?” abe aukt
I glance at her, one eyebrow said. “I can host do it *
know,” she says, lips curving into a tiny, trasing smile.
know, for the day I don’t have my own personal survivalist wit
A quiet, sharp exhale escapes me. Something like a laugh, but darker, “Wright, princess,” I mutter, “Pay attention
I crouch beside the stone hearth and reach for the iron poker. “First, you want to break up these embers a hit. Not too much, just mough to through.” I do it, the embets glowing brighter, crackling softly. “Then you take some kindling–small, dry muff like this “I reach for a handful of the thin, dry sticks we collected the first night, and you lay it in a loose pile. You want it to carch quickly, so don’t suffocate it.”
She nods, eyes sharp and focused on my hands,
“Then, you add the medium stuff. Not the thick legs yet. Something in between. Give it a little structure.” I stack the sticks, making a small pyramid oner the embers. It catches almost immediately, the flames licking up through the gaps.
Her mouth parts slightly as she watches, a soft, breathy little sound escaping her throat. Like Eve past done a magic trick,
say, glancing at her sideways. “Simple.”
She looks up at me, her eyes still glowing with the fire’s reflection. “You make it look easy,” she whispers,
1 look at her. Really look at her.
The way the fire casts shadows along her jawline, the curve of her thebat, the delicate arch of her collarbone beneath her sweater. Her fingers are still clasped together in her lap, a little fidgety, like she’s holding herselfÁsack. I know the feeling
“No“, my voice lower, rougher, “you let it breathe. Fred it slowly. Don’t another it.”
She shivers, and I pretend it’s from the cold,
When the fire is crackling steadily, filling the cabin with its warmth, I force myself to stand and
step back. Distance, I need distance.
I walk to my bag, unzipping it and pulling out the laptop I packed. “Wi–Fi sacks, but I’ve got a few movies downloaded.”
She perks up. “Really
I walk back to where she’s sitting on the edge of one of the beds and place the laptop in her lap. “You pick.“”
She takes in, pulling her legs up beneath her and curling into a more comfortable position Her hair falls ver her shoulder, framing her face as she scroll through my list of downloaded movies. She glances at me from the corner of her title crease loiming between her brows
my head. “What?!
“Did something happen back at the lodge?”
1/3
Chapter 132: Asher
I pause. “What do you mean?”
shrugs, eyes flicking back to the sort. “host when you came to sit with me, you looked…… off
gut my teeth. Of course she noticed
“Nothing important,” Lary, leaning back against the scall, arm crossed
She frow
I sigh, rubbing the back of my neck. I should lie. I should keep this to myself. But I know the won’t let it go if I don’t say something. “Some girl cornered
Her head snaps up, eyes wide. “What?”
I shrug, pretending it’s no big deal. “Just some girl. She was… persistent.”
Her lips part slightly, her eyes going a bit distant. “Does… does that happen to you a lot?”
I can hear the way her vice has tightened. The way her throat bobs when she swallows. She’s imagining it. Some girl pressed against hands on chest, her lips on my throat-
My jaw tighten,
I shake my head. “Sometimes,” I say. “But I hate it.”
She blinks, surprised. “You… hate it?
I amrk, pushing off the wall and stepping closer. “Call me old–fashioned, but I don’t like being touched by stranger. And I don’t… I don’t fuck just to fack”
Her cheeks go pink. She drops her gaze back to the laptop, pretending to be very interested in the movie titles. I let myself watch her for send me the way she worries her bottom lip between her teeth, the way her pulse flutters at her throat.
She picks a movie at random, her voice a little too bright. “Okay, um,
I glance at the screen. Some thriller. Dark, intense. She clearly didn’t even look at the genre because she’ll hate this one.
I nod, moving in it behind her, my back against the headboard, 1 spad my legs, pving her non. “Come here.”
She hesitates, biting
ng bet lip again, but then shifts back, settling between my legs. Her back rests against my chest, her head just below my
I reach forward, grabbing the laptop and setting it on her legs. But as I do, I let my hands linger. One on her waist, the other on her hip. I pull her back against me, aligning her spine with my chest, feeling her warmth seep into me.
“You good like this?” I murmur into her hair, my lips dangerously close to her ear
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother