by Elle James
Sorry, although I’m not really sorry, but Gunny has just informed me that the bunks were removed because he got tired of sleeping on them, and he replaced them with a full-size bed. I included an extra sleeping bag in case one of you decides to sleep on the floor. If not, I hope you enjoy your stay in the cabin.
RJ
Cage leaned over her shoulder. “I’ll take a sleeping bag and sleep on the floor.”
“No way,” Emily said. “I got you into this. You can sleep on the bed. I’ll sleep on the floor.”
Cage shook his head. “There’s really no reason for either one of us to sleep on the floor. We’re grown adults. We can share a bed. Neither one of us has to answer to anyone else. We’re free, we’re single, and I promise I don’t hog any more of my side than is necessary. However, I do snore sometimes.”
Emily chewed on her bottom lip. It was too late to turn around and drive back down to the lodge. But this was just the kind of situation she had wanted to avoid. Now she was stuck in a cabin, alone with Cage and thinking of all the possibilities of sharing a bed with him. She would not be sleeping tonight.
Chapter 10
Cage hadn’t been completely sold on the idea of going to the cabin, with just the two of them. He liked the idea of having his team as backup. Not to mention, being completely alone with Emily could be dangerous in other ways.
He liked her. She was pretty and smart. He liked the way her auburn hair curled around her cheeks and how her green eyes darkened when she was emotional about something. And watching her slim body on the back of that four-wheeler, charging up the mountainside, made her even more attractive in his eyes.
He understood she was self-conscious about her limp, but to him her limp did not define her. Everything else about her did. Her gentle nature, the way she listened, her desire to help others and the fact that she wasn’t afraid of hard work or getting dirt under her fingernails, or hay in her hair for that matter, made her more attractive than any woman he’d ever met.
He had been sensible about sharing the bed, pointing out that they were two adults capable of sleeping together without getting intimate. Once he closed the door behind them, he had misgivings. The small cabin created a deeper sense of intimacy. Maybe he should’ve stuck to his suggestion that he sleep on that floor. The hard wood against his back might have provided enough discomfort to prevent him from getting aroused.
Unfortunately, he’d already offered to share the bed. No strings, no touching was what he’d implied. Sleep would be difficult lying next to her when all he wanted to do was touch her, taste her lips and explore her body. The only other space inside the small cabin was a small closet-sized room that contained a tiny shower and a toilet.
Emily dropped the canvas bag she’d carried inside on the bed and turned it upside down, emptying a full-size sleeping bag onto the mattress. “If you could bring in some firewood and get a fire started, I’ll start the generator, so we’ll have a little water for a quick rinse off in the shower,” Emily said. She plucked another flashlight out of the stuff that she’d dumped out of the canvas bag and handed it to Cage. “Just be aware that there are wolves and bears up in this area. We rarely see them but they’re out there, and they’re not afraid of humans.”
“I’ll keep an eye open for four-legged creatures of all shapes and sizes,” he promised.
Cage crossed to the door and held it open for Emily. Once she passed through it, he followed her outside. Emily pointed to the right where a stack of firewood lay next to the building. She turned left to walk to the other end of the cabin where there was a lean-to shed. She opened the door and shined the light into the interior.
Cage joined her at the lean-to door and added his light, holding it while she primed the pump on the generator then flipped the switch. The generator chugged and then kicked into gear, the sound deafening in the night air. Emily left the shed door open and turned to him. “Thank you. I’ll help you carry in firewood.”
Together, they gathered enough logs to keep them warm for the night and kindling to help them start the fire. Back inside the cabin, they stoked the potbelly stove in the corner with the firewood and kindling. Using some sheets of an old newspaper, Cage wadded it up beneath the kindling and firewood and used a match to light it. After a few minutes, the flames caught, and the kindling burned. Before long the logs caught, and it began to warm the air inside the cabin.
While Cage had been working the fire, Emily had spread the big sleeping bag on the bed and set out the supplies RJ had packed for them. Her friend had thought of everything, including bottles of water, a small can of instant coffee, packets of hot cocoa, a box of crackers, granola bars, canned soup and instant oatmeal. Emily stacked the supplies on a shelf and glanced around.
Cage was still working the fire, poking the logs to keep them burning.
Grabbing her toiletry kit, Emily headed for the small closet-sized bathroom. “If you don’t mind, I’ll go first and rinse the dust off in the shower.”
“Go ahead. I’ll make up some of this hot cocoa.”
She smiled. “That sounds good.”
He found a couple of tin mugs on a shelf and rinsed them out in the sink before pouring the bottled water into a pan, which he set on top of the potbelly stove. The fire was burning nicely, and the top of the stove had gotten hot enough to heat the water. Emily liked watching him move about the cabin. His broad shoulders filled the space, making it feel even smaller.
He glanced up, catching her watching him. Her cheeks heated as she ducked into the bathroom and closed the door.
A few short minutes later, Emily stepped out of the small bathroom wearing a long T-shirt and nothing else that he could tell.
She shivered in the cold and gave him a weak grin. “I’m sorry to say, but there’s no hot water. We tend to take really short showers up here, but it’s better than going to bed dusty.”
He nodded. “I’ll just be a few minutes. The water on the stove should be hot enough shortly to make the hot cocoa.”
“I’ll take over,” she said. “Go get your ice-cold shower.”
He grabbed a pair of his gym shorts and headed for the shower. The little shower unit was just barely big enough for him to step in and close the door and, as Emily had indicated, the water was frigid. He wouldn’t be surprised if it was snow melt from higher elevations.
He rinsed as quickly as he could, glad for the chilly water to tamp down his desire. The thought of sharing the mattress and the sleeping bag for two with Emily had him hotter than the potbelly stove. The icy mountain water helped but didn’t completely destroy his desire.
The image of her standing there in just a T-shirt that hung down to the middle of her thighs replayed in his mind. Just as soon as he stepped out of the cold shower and dried off, he was right back to where he’d been before he’d entered the shower—hot and bothered over his client.
He repeated to himself, “She’s the client…she’s the client.” He was still murmuring it under his breath when he stepped out of the bathroom.
She met him with a mug of hot cocoa and a smile. “Here, this should warm you up.”
When she handed him the mug, their fingers touched. That was all it took, and he was aroused all over again. Since he’d only gone in with a pair of shorts, he was as near to naked as he’d been with her since he’d met her. As well, her long legs beneath the hem of her T-shirt made him wonder how they’d feel wrapped around his waist. A groan rose up his throat. He swallowed hard to keep from letting it out. It would be a long night lying next to her and not touching her.
“Is the hot cocoa not warm enough for you?” she asked.
He hadn’t even tried it. He raised the mug to his lips and sipped the sweet drink. “It’s perfect,” he said. His gaze met hers over the top of his mug.
She sighed. “I’m making you feel uncomfortable, aren’t I?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. If anybody was making him uncomfortable, it was his own lusty
thoughts about the woman standing in front of him.
“Though I still think it was a good idea to come out here and take the danger away from the people at the lodge, it might not have been such a good idea for the two of us. I mean.” She stopped talking and looked to the corner of the room. “I didn’t realize Gunny had changed out the beds. I had no problem with the sleeping arrangements when I thought we were coming to a couple sets of bunk beds, but now…that single bed…it’s just...”
He lowered his mug and met her gaze. “Too intimate?”
“Yes,” she said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it would be this way.”
“If it makes you feel better, I’ll sleep on the floor.”
She shook her head. “No, I wouldn’t do that to you.”
“How about if I promise not to touch you?”
She laughed. “Do you think I’m afraid of you touching me?”
“Isn’t that why you’re uncomfortable being alone with me here?”
She shook her head. “No, it’s completely the opposite.”
“I don’t understand,” he said.
“I’m not afraid of you touching me. If anything, I’m afraid of you not touching me.” Her voice lowered to a whisper. “I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep my hands off you.”
Cage’s pulse picked up, sending heat and adrenaline throughout his body and pooling low in his groin. “You’re afraid I won’t want to touch you?” He set his mug on the small table, took hers from her hands and sat it next to his. Then he took her hand and pulled her close, wrapping his arm around her waist. “You’re afraid I won’t want to touch you?” he asked again.
She nodded, staring up into his eyes, her hands resting on his chest.
“Sweetheart,” he said, “I’ve wanted to touch you since the moment I met you.”
She looked up at him, her eyes wide. “Why?”
He chuckled. “I find you completely attractive.”
“But I’m not,” Emily said.
“For a smart woman who has more brains in her little finger than I have in my head, you can be completely clueless.” He pulled her closer and bent his head toward her until his lips hovered over hers. “You are a beautiful woman.” She started to shake her head, so he lowered his lips to cover hers. He brushed against them gently then raised his head. “I can imagine every one of your male patients are already in love with you, and I might just be halfway there myself.”
“Oh, please,” she said. “You don’t have to pretend to like me just because I’m your client.”
He leaned back and stared into her eyes. “You really don’t understand, do you?”
“No,” she said. “All I know is that I find you extremely attractive, and I’ve wanted to rub my fingers over your naked skin.” Her hands slid across his chest and downward until they found his hard brown nipples. She circled them with her fingertips. “You’re such a dichotomy of sensations with your smooth skin and hard muscles. I don’t think I could sleep with you and not want to touch you.” She frowned up at him. “I really didn’t bring you up here to take advantage of you.”
He laughed out loud. “Please,” he said, “take advantage of me, because I plan to do the same with you.” Cage gathered Emily in his arms.
With her hands still resting lightly on his chest, she met his gaze, her green eyes glowing in the light from the lantern she’d found in a corner. “I want you to know I have no expectations for anything beyond tonight. No strings, no commitment, no requirement to pledge our undying love.” She laughed. “We barely know each other.”
“I know enough about you to know I’m attracted to you,” Cage said. “I’m pretty sure what I want to do with you goes against everything inside the bodyguard rulebook for dummies. The first page states in bold letters, Don’t make love to your client.”
Emily nodded. “What we’re considering is probably wrong in every way.”
“Absolutely.” Cage grinned. “Are you trying to talk me out of it?”
Emily’s lips curved upward in a tentative smile. “No. Not in the least. The problem is that I’ve always been the rule-follower, doing what my parents would have expected from me as the oldest child. Even after they died, I could hear their voices in the back of my head, guiding me to do all the right things. And there was the side of me that wanted to please my new family by keeping my nose clean, making good grades and realizing my full potential. I felt obligated to be the good girl.”
Cage frowned. “So, does this make you uncomfortable? Being alone with me?”
“Yes, it does. In the best way imaginable.” Emily leaned up on her toes and pressed her lips to his. “I’ve learned in the last twenty-four hours that being a good girl doesn’t make you any less of a target. It doesn’t pay to be nice.”
“Yeah, but if you weren’t nice—” he lowered his head until his lips hovered over hers, “you wouldn’t be the person you are.” He tucked a lock of her auburn hair behind her ear. “I’m really surprised you don’t have more of a temper than you do. Aren’t redheads notorious for their fiery tempers?”
“Maybe my fire is not in my temper.” She glanced at him from beneath hooded eyes. “Perhaps if I weren’t so nice, I wouldn’t have encouraged someone to stalk me.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Tonight, it doesn’t matter. The stalker hasn’t caught up to me. He can’t find me here. I want to take full advantage of the solitude and safety…and you.” She smiled up at him.
He cupped her cheek with his palm and whispered, “Are you sure about this? Are you sure this is what you want?”
Emily nodded, turned her face into his palm and pressed her lips to his lifeline. “I’m sure. I want to forget everything that has happened over the past twenty-four hours. I want to pretend you and I are the last man and woman left on the planet. Just you and me.”
He bent, scooped her up in his arms and carried her the one step it took to get to the bed where she’d laid out the sleeping bag for two.
She stared up at him. “I don’t suppose you brought protection?”
He smiled. “I never leave home without it.” He reached into his bag, pulled out his shaving kit and dug out a packet from inside.
“Always prepared?” she asked.
“I put it in there a while back when I went on vacation. I never met anyone I felt drawn to.” He bent over her and kissed her lips. “Until you.”
She wound her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss, opening to let him sweep past her teeth to caress her tongue with his. The more he kissed her, the more he wanted to. Finally, he lifted his head. “Anytime you feel uncomfortable with anything we do, you tell me. I’ll stop.”
Emily tightened her hold around his neck, pulling him the rest of the way down on top of her. “Don’t stop. I want whatever you have to give.”
Heat swept through him, carried by his racing pulse to every part of his body. In that moment, in that cabin on a mountain in the middle of nowhere, he was going to make love to a woman who set his soul on fire. “Sweetheart, I’m yours.”
Emily ran her hands over Cage’s chest and across his shoulders, loving the feel of his hard muscles and smooth skin. She couldn’t wait to feel his body against hers. Skin to skin. When she reached for the hem of her shirt, he brushed her hands aside and slid his up beneath the fabric to capture her breasts in the palms of his hands.
Emily arched her back, pressing into his hands. Still, there was the matter of her shirt between them. It was too much.
Then his hands left her breasts and trailed over her ribs and down to the hem of her shirt. He held onto the fabric and dragged it up her torso over her breasts. Pausing at that point, he captured a nipple between his lips and flicked the tip with his tongue until Emily moaned aloud. The sound echoed in the small cabin, adding to the erotic vibe of lying on a sleeping bag with a fire blazing in the stove, warming the cabin’s interior.
Cage switched to the other breast and sucked it into his mouth, teasing the hardening bud with his tongu
e, rolling it around between his teeth.
She clutched his head to her, wanting him to keep doing what he was doing.
Alas, he abandoned her breasts, tugged her T-shirt higher until she raised her arms over her head, and he divested her of the garment. Then he returned his lips to take one of her nipples, swirling his tongue around and around until she took matters into her own hands and directed his hand to the juncture of her thighs.
He chuckled. “What’s the matter?”
“Not moving nearly fast enough,” she said through gritted teeth. If she didn’t have him inside her soon, she would come apart. Hell, she was likely to come apart anyway with the way his skin felt against hers.
Cage cupped her sex and pressed a finger into her entrance. A burst of fire washed over her. She raised her hips from the bed, urging him deeper.
Her breathing became erratic, and her pulse hammered through her veins.
Cage trailed kisses down her torso, converging on the path his hand had taken. He parted her folds and touched his tongue to her clit.
Her breath arrested in her lungs as explosions of sensation shot out from her center. It was hot and intense and building with each passing second.
He touched her again with his tongue, flicking the bundle of nerves until she grabbed his hair and held him there. On the one hand, she wasn’t sure she could take much more. On the other hand, she couldn’t let him stop. Not when she was so close to losing it altogether.
Cage pressed a finger into her channel, then added another and yet another, stretching her entrance while swirling and pumping. All the while, he licked her clit until she reached the edge of the world and rocketed into the stratosphere.
Her hips rocked to the rhythm of her release as she rode the wave all the way to the end.
Cage continued to strum her like a musical instrument until she collapsed against the mattress, breathing hard, sated but not finished.
She tightened her hold on his hair and dragged him up her body.
