Sweat slicks my chest, my breath coming in harsh pants, and every muscle in my body coils tight as the pressure builds, chasing that filthy release because I’m right fucking there?—
A sharp crack outside is followed by a crash as a branch hits the metal roof. The sound rips through the night.
Then her cry, small and scared, from the next room.
I freeze, my pulsing, unsatisfied cock heavy in my hand.
But when I hear a soft noise from the hallway—footsteps, followed by the faintcreak of the floorboards—every sense sharpens, and I push myself upright.
My hard-on is going to have to wait.
Especially when I hear her voice, muffled but unmistakable. “Holt?”
I’m on my feet before I can think about it. I grab a pair of sweats from the pile on the floor and tug them up and over my still achingly hard cock.
I’m pulling the door open just as she appears at the end of the short hall. She’s barefoot, wrapped in the quilt I keep on the foot of my bed. Her blonde hair is loose around her shoulders.
She looks impossibly innocent and at the same time, sexy as hell. It’s a dichotomy that is fucking with me in more ways than one.
I push my dirty thoughts about her out of my mind and focus on the situation at hand. “Tessa? Are you?—”
“There was a noise,” she says. “It sounded like maybe…I don’t know…”
“It was probably a branch,” I tell her. “This storm’s pretty wild. It’s not unusual to have some branches down after a big wind, and some of those hit the roof.”
Her eyes grow wide. “The roof?”
“Don’t worry.” I take a step toward her, reaching for her shoulder. “We’re safe. This cabin is solid. I promise.”
I feel the tension in her shoulders relax a little as I turn her toward the living room.
The fire has burned low in the hearth, but it is still glowing a deep orange.
I start to turn Tessa back toward my room, but she spins suddenly in my arms so we’re only inches apart. “Will you sit up with me for a bit?” she asks. “I don’t think I can sleep right now. It’s been…” She blows out a little breath. “A long day.”
There’s no way I can say no.
“Of course,” I say. “I’ll put another log on the fire.”
I take a few minutes longer than necessary to get the fire stoked up again, and when I turn, she’s sitting cross-legged on the couch, wrapped in the blanket. There’s nowhere else to sit, not without making it even more awkward, so I slip my bulk into the space next to her, very aware of how small my couch actually is.
“Aren’t you cold?”
It’s only then that I realize that in my haste to make sure she’s okay, I didn’t put a shirt on. She’s staring at my naked chest as ifshe might share the blanket with me, and there is no way I’m going to let that happen. Not when I still have a semi aching for release between my legs.
“I run hot.” It’s not a lie.
She tucks her feet up beneath her, curling slightly toward me, and the space between us almost completely disappears. Her arm presses against mine. Her thigh brushes against mine.
“I shouldn’t be so scared,” she says. “I know it’s stupid.”
“It’s not stupid at all,” I say. “Everything is a bit…well, a bitmoreout here. Especially if you’re not used to it.”
“I’m not.” She stares straight ahead into the fire. “This is my first time in Iron Peak.”
I was pretty sure she’d never been out to visit Luke before, but the confession still surprises me. “You never wanted to come before?”
She shakes her head a little. “He never asked.”
