Page 62 of A Violet Obsession

Lily makes a distressed sound, her hands still fisted in my shirt. “Why?”

I lift my head and look at her. Lily’s lips are swollen, and her eyes dazed with want. It takes every ounce of self-control I have not to kiss her again.

“I’m not sure,” I admit, my thumb stroking over the petal-soft skin on the underside of her breast before lowering my hand to her hip. “But it feels reckless, and you deserve better than me taking you against a tree in the middle of the woods after everything you’ve been through.”

“I wouldn’t mind,” she whispers, and I completely forget why we need to slow things down. My lips lower to take hers again when a blaring alarm goes off in my pocket.

“Why do I think you did that on purpose?”

I smile. “I’m glad you think I’m so powerful.”

With one last lingering look at her lips, I straighten and pull my phone from my pocket to read the alert.

“What’s wrong?”

I look at the sky and then back at her. “They’ve updated the winter storm warning. We are expecting accumulation now, and ice. As early as tonight.”

“Should I be worried?”

I shake my head. “Even if we lose power, there’s plenty of wood on the side of the house. I’ll go split some more now to be sure.”

She arches an eyebrow at the thin excuse but doesn’t say anything, as I stride toward the wood pile.

Forty-five minutes later, my body is still wound tight and is thrumming with frustrated arousal. I pick up the axe again, adjust my grip, and set another log on the block. Bringing the blade down in a clean strike, the wood cracks in two. I use my wrist to push my glasses up my nose, reset and swing again.

My breathing picks up the longer I work, but at least this time it’s not because my cock is trying to break past my zipper.

Lily is such a contradiction. She’s so soft and feminine in those dresses, but she’s also a hardened survivor. For a split-second, I think about all she’s been through before shoving the thought away again. Because every time it surfaces, it feels like a knife to the chest. Even today, she was willing to conquer her fear of guns so I wouldn’t have to fight alone.

I think about how she hadn’t filled the quiet on the ride here, and how easy and peaceful it feels to just be with her, and her loyalty to her friends, and the way she loves on that damn cat…

Fuck!

I bring the axe down.

Where’s the part of me that’s supposed to talk me down from caring about her? The one that tried to rear its head when we were kissing and remind me not to get too close, but then disappeared again. It’s supposed to be protecting me when my dick tries to take charge.

But I know why.

I trust Lily.

The axe comes down again; the impact sending a vibration through my arms and shoulders.

The problem isn’t Lily.

It’s me.

I have zero experience with a healthy adult relationship. What if I fail her and just become one more on a long list of people who’ve already let her down?

I split another round and reach for another when the cabin door to the deck opens above me.

“Figured you’d want this before you chop down the entire forest.”

I straighten and set the axe against the block, and turn to greet her. Lily steps off the last step and walks toward me with two steaming mugs, her braid bouncing over her shoulder with each step. Hera trots behind her hesitantly, sniffing the air before bounding for the tree line.

“Aren’t you worried she won’t come back?” I ask, as Lily tracks her cat’s escape.

“Nah, she knows where it’s warm.” She squints toward where the cat has disappeared in the growing dusk. “I think we should be more concerned for whatever lives out there.”