I held up my hand, and I felt my cheeks flush hot. Was he actually going to tell our friends over coffee that I’d sat on his face and held onto the broken headboard as he made me come?
Yes, it seemed he was.
“You are mine. We’ll get your things together, leave here, and head up the mountain to my cabin.”
I slid back on the bench seat. “Um. What? Get my things?”
Boone nodded. He had on the clothes from the night before. His hair was a little messed up from my fingers and sleep, but he still looked good.
He nodded. “Yes, we will have you packed up in no time.”
“You want me to move in with you?” I screeched.
Oh no. Huh-uh. This wasn’t happening. I wasn’t even divorced yet. It took me three years to figure out how to get away from Marty. There was no way I was putting myself in that situation ever again.
“You’re my mate. You belong with me.”
“Up a mountain?” I thought Natalie’s ranch was remote, a few miles outside of a small town, but in the woods? “My car can’t make it up there, not with the snow.”
He shook his head. “I will drive you. You don’t need your car.”
This was why people didn’t have one-night stands with strangers. What looked hot and sexy at night was not the same with the harsh morning light. Boone was possessive. He was expecting me to move up a freaking mountain to live with him. To give up my cozy little apartment here for him. To a place where I wouldn’t be able to drive my car and have him take me around.
I held up my hand. “No. No. This isn’t happening.”
Rand set his hand on Boone’s arm. “Gotta chill, man. You’re scaring her.”
Boone’s eyes widened. Clearly, he didn’t even know what he’d been saying was bat-shit crazy and threw up more red flags than someone in the Navy doing semaphore.
“How is being my mate scary?” Boone asked, looking completely confused. “Baby, I told you I’d never hurt you. You belong with me, and I’ll take care of you. I have more money than I’ll need in several lifetimes. You don’t even have to work at Cody’s any longer.”
Natalie rolled her eyes and groaned.
I slid along the bench and popped to my feet, my coffee abandoned.
“No,” I said flatly, holding my hand out. “I don’t want that. I don’t want to quit my job and live isolated on a mountain where you control my every move.”
“Of course, he doesn’t mean it like it sounds,” Natalie said, playing Switzerland. “He’s going to finish his coffee, give you a kiss goodbye, and–”
“What?” Boone asked, cutting Natalie off.
But she pushed on.
“–see you tonight at Cody’s for karaoke. I’ve been wanting to hear you sing again ever since you moved here.”
“But–”
“Let’s go plow the driveway.” Rand grabbed Boone’s biceps and tried to tug him toward the back door.
I looked at my feet, afraid I’d give in to whatever Boone said next at the look in his eye.
“Summer, you’re mine,” he said. “My mate. Don’t be afraid.”
“Come on, big guy,” Rand said. With the back door open, cold air ripped through the room.
Boone didn’t say anything else but left with Rand.
When the door shut behind them, Natalie said, “Men. They’re idiots. If they weren’t good with their dicks, would we even need them?”
