Page 21 of Savage

“Bossy, huh?” I finally said. “You wanna see bossy? I’ll show you bossy, sugar.” I tucked my shoulder into the crease of her hip and lifted her into a fireman’s carry, bringing her into her bedroom. “This is me carrying you home with me. I’m not leaving here without you, so you’d better start cooperating and pack a bag.” I gave her butt a light slap, and she laughed.

I tipped her onto the bed and followed her body down, pinning her beneath me. I gathered her wrists above her head. “Either I’m staying here with you tonight, or you’re coming with me now. But you’re not sleeping anywhere alone again, and that’s my final word.”

“I could call the cops on you, too, Clint Tucker.” Her broad smile belied her threat.

I nipped her neck. “I wouldn’t try it if I were you.”

She squirmed beneath me, rolling her hips to meet mine. My cock hardened painfully against my zipper.

“He’s in jail. Todd won’t bother me tonight.”

I growled as I stripped her of her heavy coat, tossed it onto the floor.

“Tonight. Something tells me he won’t be in there for long.” Slippery fuckers like Todd weaseled their way out of shit. Being a respected doctor in the next town over was in his favor. And I had no doubt this incident would only piss him off. He’d be back.

Her face fell as she considered my words. She knew I was right but didn’t say anything. She knew him better than I did, knew that nothing had stopped him in two years.

“Are you going to take me all the way out to Wolf Ranch?”

Well, I hadn’t thought that through yet. I slept in the bunkhouse with the other ranch hands. Getting my own place had never been important to me because I hadn’t had a mate.

But it sure as hell was now.

Getting thrown up on in the grocery store had changed my entire life. That chance encounter had let me discover what I’d had right in front of my face… right on my dick without even knowing.

My parents had a place in town they used as a vacation rental, and that would serve. They didn’t rent it this time of year, for there wasn’t much demand in comparison to the summer months. “I know a place we can stay where your creeper ex won’t find you. Come on.” I forced myself to roll off her—because I had her exactly where I wanted her—and pulled her to her feet. “I’ll help you pack. You can ditch the PJs though. You won’t be needing them. If you get cold, I’ll keep you warm.”

10

BECKY

“We’re not having sex,”I blurted as Clint ushered me out to his truck with a hand at my low back, my suitcase in his other hand.

I was dying to have sex with him. Especially when I’d just had all six feet of hard body covering mine on the bed, but if we got naked, he might notice my baby bump, and then complications would become problems.

I had enough of those. My, hopefully, soon-to-be-ex husband had just been outside my bedroom window. I was obviously in no position to get involved with someone new, even if that someone was the father of my unborn child.

Especiallybecause that someone was the father of my child.

I was being cruel, I knew, but God, I couldn’t be stuck with Clint out of pity or because we’d had an epic contraceptive fail. Thanks to my parents, I knew what being stuck with a guy was like, and while Clint was nothing like Todd, I refused to be trapped to any guy for the next eighteen years… hell, the rest of my life, without love.

“Okay,” he said mildly. “No sex. I just need to know you’re safe.”

Damn.

Why did I just say no sex? I was nuts. I knew pregnancy brain was real, but what woman, pregnant or otherwise, would skip any kind of sexy shenanigans with a hottie like Clint? His protective streak alone made me wet. My tender breasts practically throbbed for him under my jacket, and my panties had been damp since the moment he threw me over his shoulder and carried me to the bedroom. Take into account his cowboy swagger, his dark intensity or his ability to deal with Todd with only one hand, and I was a horny mess. I didn’t dare remember how his big dick had felt when he’d taken me hard against the storage room wall at Cody’s.

Or how swoony I found it that he demanded I spend the night under his protection. He was truly concerned about me, and that was worst of all because it made my heart melt just a tad.

He helped me up into the cab of the truck and walked around to the driver’s side. The air was frigid, sharp and crisp, but I barely noticed. I looked over at his rugged profile as he started the truck.

“So… what happened tonight?” I asked. “I mean, how did you happen by my street at ten at night?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “I just had a bad feeling,” he said, stealing a look at me as he drove. “I pay attention to my gut when it tells me something’s wrong.”

As if I hadn’t already thought he was a badass. Now I found out he has a sixth sense thing, too.

“I swear I’m not stalking you.” The corner of his mouth quirked. “Although I guess it looks that way.”