My fear is slowly being replaced with hyper awareness of how close he is to me.
I can actually feel every curve of his body—even the bulge of his cock, pressed against my ass as he holds me tightly in place. I can smell the masculine scent of his sweat and feel the roughness of his short beard against my cheek when he moves to look past me.
"You ok?" he whispers.
"Mmhmm," I mutter.
"Then stop wiggling," he complains tightly.
"Sorry," I murmur, blushing and grateful he can't see my face.
"You're ok, I've got you. I won't let anything happen to you," he whispers huskily, reassuring me. But the words seem to spike desire in me instead of calming me. They make my heart race in a different way.
We stay in the tree, far too close together, for a full twenty minutes before that damn bear moves along. By the time Bardil says, "I think it's safe now," I've almost completely lost my mind. And I'm mortified.
It's a weakness. One that I don't seem to have any control over.
I don't want to be so turned on by him, but clearly my body has a mind of its own and doesn't give a shit what I do and don't want.
"Are you ok?" he asks gently as he lifts me off the last branch with his hands wrapped around my waist.
"Totally fine. Why wouldn't I be?" I snap.
I'm still in shock about the bear, but I'm also embarrassed that Bardil had such an intense effect on me.
He wraps his arm around my shoulders and pulls me into an embrace that feels safe and comforting. This annoys me even more.
"It's ok to be scared, Nikita. That was a wild animal. You could have been badly hurt."
I press my lips together and bite back the sarcastic comment I want to make. All I would be doing is deflecting my own agitation, and this man did just save my life. I was frozen in place. I had no idea what to do.
He's right. I could have been badly hurt.
I hate the fact that he was right all along. This place is a wild and unforgiving landscape.
Bardil steps away from and when he looks down at me, his bright green eyes are tender and caring.
I sigh softly. "Do you know how to get back to the cabin?" I ask.
"West," he replies.
I sigh again, this time louder. "And which way is West?" I snap.
He snorts a short laugh and gestures with a tilt of his chin. "Come on. It's time for lunch anyway," he says.
Defeated, embarrassed, and wondering what the hell is wrong with my uncontrollable hormones, I follow him as he makes his way between trees and over fallen branches as though he knows every inch of this place by heart.
While we walk, I try to guess which way he'll turn to get us back to the cabin, and pretty much every time, I'm wrong. I hate to admit it, but I would die out here.
And this stupid little escapade has only taught me that I definitely can't escape by running into the wilderness alone.
I'm more dependent on Bardil than I thought. And definitely more dependent on him than I want to be.
With him walking ahead of me, my thoughts wander over the events that just took place. He was quick to protect me. And he isn't teasing me or making me feel shitty about being so scared. He also hasn't mentioned my escape attempt. His only priority was to keep me safe, and he did that very effectively. I've never had a man be so protective of me before.
Oh, stop it, Kit. He's only protecting his assets. He's protecting the tool he's using to negotiate whatever he wants from your family.
The weather has changed drastically since I left the cabin. Above is the sky is dark grey and keeps rumbling with threatening growls.
