Total pages in book: 17
Estimated words: 15269 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 76(@200wpm)___ 61(@250wpm)___ 51(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 15269 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 76(@200wpm)___ 61(@250wpm)___ 51(@300wpm)
God, the very thought of him with another woman had my stomach clenching and distaste taking hold. I meant it when I said he ruined all other men for me. Everyone else seemed like… boys.
I tried to push thoughts of Gavin aside and focus on the present. But that had never been easy. I headed to my parents’ house, a temporary situation until the legalities of renting the duplex were squared up and the owner and I could finalize everything.
And as I drove, the only thing that kept playing through my mind was how I wanted to get lost in those woods again and find myself on Gavin’s doorstep.
Chapter Two
Gavin
I pulled my pick-up to a stop in front of my cabin, cut the engine, and glanced over at the porch. Bear, my Tibetan Mastiff, was sprawled out on the wood. He lifted his big head, saw it was me, and promptly went back to sleep. He’d been one hell of a guard dog back in the day, but now that the vet considered him geriatric, he’d been retired and was living out the rest of his days sunbathing instead of protecting the property. And that was fine by me.
He earned this downtime.
I climbed out of the vehicle and shut the door, walking around the side and looking in the back of the truck. The bed was filled with lumber, my ax situated between the logs, the handle worn and damaged from years of use.
All morning, I’d been out on the property cutting down dead trees, stockpiling the wood for winter later this year. There were things that always had to be done around the cabin or the property, the hundred acres that surrounded my home having been in my family for generations. The cabin had once been my father’s, one he and my grandfather had built together before Dad married my mother and I was born.
And after my parents passed away in a tragic accident while overseas for their anniversary over a decade ago, I renovated it in their honor.
In their memory.
I added on to it, even though it was just me living there. I didn’t need the extra space, but it had given me something to do, and I knew my mother had always wanted more space. I did it for her.
It also kept me busy. It didn’t matter if I had money in the bank, more than I’d ever need in a lifetime. I lived off the land as much as I could, did repairs myself, and didn’t spend money on anything that I didn’t absolutely have to. Hell, my pick-up truck was twenty years old, rusted around the wheels, with a cassette player that didn’t even work in the dash. But it was a beast on these uneven mountain roads, and it got the job done when need be.
I grabbed my ax and headed toward the porch, setting it by the front door and then turning to look at Bear. He made a gruff sound when I leaned down and scratched behind his ear but otherwise stayed lying down, obviously wanting to get back to sleep.
I went into the cabin, and like always for the last four years, my focus was trained right in front of that fireplace. All these years later, and I could still remember the way she smelled, the way she felt pressed against me, and the warmth of her body licking over my naked skin as I thrust inside her.
I shouldn’t have done any of that. She’d been far too young, only eighteen. It was wrong, being twice her age and having just met her, but she’d been the first person that made me feel... something.
Bailey made me feel something more than this void.
And I let the whiskey start doing the talking, let my body and arousal control the situation. And I had absolutely no strength where she was concerned, none when she touched my arm and leaned in close, telling me she felt something between us that she wanted to explore. And when she admitted to me that she was lonely, that she just wanted to feel alive, all self-control I had completely fucking snapped.
Because I felt the same way.
I lifted my hand and rubbed the back of my head. Fuck, I was getting turned on. She’d been the first woman I’d slept with in years. She’d been the only woman I’d been with since. And I wanted her again and again, over and over until neither of us could walk.
I only wanted her, only wanted to feel how soft she was again, how good she felt as I thrust inside her. She’d been so tight and wet, so fucking hot.
Fuck, I was obsessed with her. There was no other explanation for the fact that I couldn’t keep my mind off her, and even all these years later, she was still the first thing I thought about when I woke up, and the last thing on my mind as I jerked myself off before bed.