Nothing. She rapped harder.
Nope.
Akira hesitated, torn between returning to the relatively safe haven of her car and barging in.
Barging in was her M.O., right? No reason to stop now, when she’d come so far.
The knob turned easily in her hand when she tried it. She stepped inside cautiously. “Hello?” she called out, hating the note of uncertainty in her voice. “Jacob?”
The cabin was silent.
Gaining confidence, Akira stepped inside the home, balancing the bag in her arms, and closed the door behind her. “Jacob? It’s me.” The open door meant he was home, right? Or was he so trusting he left the damn thing unlocked all the time?
If so, they really would need to have a serious talk about his lack of security.
She stepped into the tiny kitchen and dropped the bulging bag filled with food on the chipped countertop, casting a glance at the coffeepot, which was filled with black, sludge-like liquid. She placed her hand against the pot. Still warm. He couldn’t have gotten far.
A noise reached her ears, muted by the thickness of the cabin walls, and she briefly closed her eyes. Well, why wouldn’t he be chopping wood? Full circle. Maybe it was her fate to always be forced to face him when she was fatigued and he was dripping sweat and engaging in an appropriately sexy activity.
After she stowed her purse carefully in the cabinet next to the bookshelves—she adored the expensive handbag itself to pieces, but between her grandmother’s treasures and Jacob’s note, it now contained her most precious possessions—she followed the noise to the clearing she had found Jacob in the first time she had come to this place.
Sweaty palms were not a regular experience for her. Neither was uncertainty. Yet Akira had to battle both as she caught sight of the man she was seeking. Stripped to the waist, his bronzed skin glistening, he brought the ax down ferociously on a helpless log. Hastily, she wiped her hands on her hopelessly wrinkled skirt.
Her heart pounded, her breath coming faster. Thirty feet separated them, then twenty. Then fifteen. She halted, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, her shoes ruined beyond all repair.Say something.
Fear strangled her, stealing her voice.
Another faltering foot and he looked her way. Dark hair fell into his eyes, and he gave an impatient shake of his head, as if to both clear his eyes and express disbelief at what he was seeing.
They stared at each other across the distance separating them for a long minute.
Akira wasn’t sure how expensive Jacob’s ax was, but she bet he was a man who took care of his tools. He barely paid attention to where he dropped the thing on the ground. In the cool air, steam rose from his sweaty shoulders. His hands opened and closed at his sides, his chest pumping with the force of his breaths.
His first step was slow, as was his second, but his stride increased with every move, until he was standing directly in front of her, close enough she could trace the individual lashes on his eyes.
“What the hell,” he shouted, startling both her and probably every bird within earshot, “took you so fucking long?”
She was aware her mouth had fallen half open. Jacob was capable of yelling? Automatic defensiveness made her stand up straight. “It hasn’t been that long.”
“Not that long?” The muscle in his jaw jumped. “One more day, Akira. One more day, and I would have hunted you down.”
Hunting didn’t sound terrible. She had a feeling Jacob could have made it a sexy hunt. “You said you wouldn’t chase me.”
“I lied, okay?” He raked his hands through his disheveled hair and took a deep breath, making a visible effort to bring himself under control. “I fucking lied. Of course I would chase you. Of course I would beg you to give us a chance. How am I…what am I supposed to do when I can’tfunctionwithout you?”
Like butter, she melted. He couldn’t function without her? “I—”
“I can’t eat. I can’t sleep. My dick is raw from my stroking it, thinking of you.”
Her belly tightened. How on earth did he make that last sentence sound so damn romantic? “I had to figure some stuff out…”
His lips firmed. “And did you figure it out?”
“Yes. Jacob…” That was all she managed to say before huge hands closed over her upper arms, and she was yanked forward for a soul-searing kiss. His palms slid down her back as his tongue fucked her mouth, his fingers tracing the individual bumps of her spine and settling over her ass. His fingers squeezed, pulling her closer to him.
He growled when she ripped her mouth away. His eyes were hot, dark with need. His hand wrapped around her neck, his thumb settling at the vulnerable hollow of her throat. “I need to fuck you,” he said, distinct and deliberate. “That clear?”
Oookay. Her knees weakened, both at the words and the hint of pleading in them. She gave him a slow smile, designed to maintain his impressive level of lust. “Then do it already.”
