She nearly groaned at that image. She could only imagine how wonderful it would be to run her fingers over his hard muscles without anything between them.
Skin to skin. Suddenly, she didn’t think it was so cold outside. In fact, she was about to start fanning herself when Kish made it back to her.
She squeaked when he scooped her up. “I can walk.”
“If I let you down, I might never find you again in al this snow.”
Was it realy worth complaining about? No.
Instead, she linked her fingers behind his neck and enjoyed the rock hard warmth of his body pressed against her. He carried her as if she weighed nothing.
He wasn’t even winded. Dayam. He must be in serious shape. Yeah. And wouldn’t you love to feel that shape for yourself? Why, yes. Yes, I would.
That’s when she noticed he didn’t have a coat on.
“Where in the world is your coat?”
He cleared his throat. “It got wet when I was working on the generator and shoveling the snow off the roof.”
“Oh. Aren’t you cold?”
“Do I feel cold?”
“No. I guess not.” She frowned.
“Don’t worry about me. I promise you, I’m fine.”
Oh he definitely was fine, al right. She inwardly roled her eyes. She thought only men needed cold showers, but she was thinking she’d need one soon.
He helped her into the truck and fastened her seatbelt for her before getting in on the driver’s side.
“It’s going to be a bit of a bumpy ride, but don’t worry, Baby can handle it,” he said.
“O-okay.”
He chuckled. “Just warning you so you don’t get caught off guard.”
“Thanks for the warning, Kish. I think,” she muttered.
He put Baby in gear and began the drive back to his place.
Chapter Seven
Kish watched as Georgia tightened her fist in a death grip around her seatbelt as the truck slid sideways once again. She kept her other arm around Lucy as if she could save the dog from harm, the dog that weighed nearly as much as she did. Motherly instincts never failed to amaze him. Motherly? The thought of Georgia holding a tiny baby girl with golden-blonde hair and big green eyes stole the breath from his lungs. His baby? Yes.
The thought of having a baby had never crossed his mind until now. Because you’d never met your mate until now. A strange pang fluttered in his chest.
No. No matter how much the idea appealed to him, he didn’t want to go through yet another rejection or worse, saddle Georgia with a scarred man like him.
He reached over and squeezed her gloved hand gently.
“It’s okay, Georgia. I know to your heightened senses it probably seems as if we are completely out of control, but I promise Baby is doing just fine. We won’t wreck. I’ve made this drive hundreds of times in snow like this, occasionaly worse.”
He wanted to comfort her, to reassure her that he’d never let anything happen to her, but at the same time, he didn’t want to give away the true depth of his feelings because he never planned to act upon them.
“I trust you, Kish. It’s just my reflexes.”
“The snow looks as if it might be slowing up. If it stops soon, I might be able make the trip to town tomorrow and pick your friends up.”
“That would be nice, but wouldn’t it be easier to simply take me to town? We could find a hotel to stay at.”
He laughed. “No hotels around here. Not a big enough demand for them with al the cabin rentals.”
“Oh.”
Her lips formed a perfect O and he ached to kiss them, had almost done so earlier, would have done so if that damned tree hadn’t falen on the house. The wolf was itching to claim her, but he refused to alow it. She wasn’t for him, and his ugly mug wasn’t for her. Maybe the tree faling was Mother Nature’s way of teling him to keep his paws off. He almost laughed out loud at that thought. Fate and Mother Nature going head to head, scratching, hair puling, and al.
One trying to get him to claim Georgia, one trying to get him to keep his hands off such a thing of beauty.
Which one was right? He scrubbed his hand over the stubble on his face. Didn’t matter. He would do what was right for him, which meant protecting his heart from being broken again.
“I don’t mind if you and your friends stay at my place until it’s safe to travel again. I have plenty of room.”
“That’s kind of you. Thank you.”
That was a new one. A woman thanking him for something. He thought back to his relationship with Connie. He’d given her nice things, had cooked romantic dinners for her, had given her nearly everything she’d asked for, yet he couldn’t recal one single time she’d thanked him. In fact, if memory served him right—and it did—she’d always acted as if she expected those things from him, as if she was entitled to them somehow.
He barely held back a disgusted snort because it just dawned on him that none of the women he’d been with had thanked him for anything. Not that he expected to be praised for everything he did because he’d done the things he had out of love, not for the gratitude he hoped to gain in return. But fuck, was it wrong to want some appreciation now and then?
Hadn’t he shown appreciation when Connie had . . .
He almost snorted again. Connie had what? Done something nice for him? Nothing in particular he could recal that she’d done just for him. Why hadn’t he noticed that before? Why hadn’t he noticed it with the women before Connie? Why hadn’t he noticed that he had been dating a bunch of shalow, self-righteous bitches from hel who had no care other than what they could get out of the world?
“Is something wrong?”
Her voice puled him back to the present. “No.
Why?”
She shrugged. “You got awful quiet, and the vibes got a little heavy in here.”
“The vibes?”
“Yeah. I tend to feel it when people get tense too.
Kind of like when a storm is brewing. The air gets heavy.”
He understood that perfectly. He felt the heaviness in the air before a storm as wel, but he’d never applied that analogy to people.
“Nothing is wrong.”
“I’m glad, but if something is bothering you, I’d be happy to lend a listening ear.”
“Why would you do that?”
She frowned. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“People don’t tend to care al that much about other people’s feelings. They are mostly too worried about their own to bother.”
“I think you’ve been hanging around the wrong people, Kish Frahm. Believe it or not, there are a lot of people who care about other’s feelings. I’m one of them. How sad it would be if humanity were bled dry of sympathy, kindness, and love of his felow man.”
He did snort this time. “Happens every day. I’ve run into more people that don’t give a shit than those who do.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. I’ve met people like that as wel, but I’ve met more who care.”
“Lucky for you.”
“Yes.” She smiled. “Hmm.”
“Hmm, what?”
“Maybe that’s why we met?”
“And why would that be?” Because you’re my mate and fate threw us together at the worst possible time?
“Maybe Karma knew you needed someone who cared.”
“Karma? I thought Karma was what kicked your ass when you wronged someone else?” Of which he thought was total bulshit because he doubted Karma would fuck with Connie or any of his other exes for what they’d done to him. But hel, he must have done some serious shit to piss Karma off for saddling him with the uncaring bitches it had.
“Yeah. Maybe, but it also brings good things to those who deserve it.”
“If you say so.”
“I do.”
Did he deserve good things from Karma? If so, it sure had a piss-poor way of showing it up to this point in his life.