the cops to figure out that Lana was wearing my ring.”
“She promised she would keep our engagement a secret.”
She chuckled. “Really? You give a rock to a girl like that, and you think she’s not going to tell anyone?” For the first time, he looked slightly dumbfounded. Men. “We need to wrap up our business. It’s cold, and I want to get back to town.”
“I have something for you.”
She held up the paper bag. “This is for you, as we agreed upon. Now, give me back my ring.”
He fished the ring out of his pocket and held it out. When she stepped toward him, she had to look up to meet his gaze. She was tall for a woman and liked a good-size man.
He took her hand and carefully threaded the ring on her finger. His calloused touch sent a ripple through her, and she remembered how good those hands had felt on her body. If only she had time for a session between the sheets.
He grabbed her by the wrist, tightened his hold. He was not hurting her, but he was showing her who was boss. She had always liked it when he manned up.
“Let go of me,” she said.
He yanked her toward him until her breasts were pressed against his chest. His hot breath brushed her neck, and she knew his gaze had dropped to her full cleavage.
“Step inside,” he ordered.
His voice had a smoky quality that made her tingle a little. Every time they fucked, it was always so good.
Thrusting her lip out into a small pout, she flicked her head back as she traced her finger down the center of his chest. “What are we going to do inside?”
“Find out.”
He turned and went into the cabin, confident that she would follow. And she did. She liked what the wild woods did to him and what he then did to her.
The interior was dark except for several flickering candles on the hearth of the large woodstove that dominated the cabin’s single room. He closed the door behind her and took her hand in his. He pulled her toward the small bed in the corner of the room, and she willingly lay down and angled her body up on pillows. The moonlight caught the contoured edges of his face as he straddled her. She ran her hands up and down his hard thighs.
“I don’t have long,” she said.
“This won’t take any time at all.”
Before she could question him, he’d wrapped his hands around her neck and had begun to squeeze. They had played games like this before, but this time was different. He was rougher, and there was a darkness in his gaze she had never seen before. “What are you doing?”
He smiled and squeezed tighter. “Killing you.”
She waited a beat to see if this was just another twist to one of their past fantasies. But as the pressure grew tighter and her air supply stopped, survival instincts took over. She arched back, connecting her knee with his groin.
He grunted while his grip slackened enough for her to roll toward the edge of the bed. “This is not funny,” she gasped.
“It’s not meant to be.” Pain strained his voice, even as he recovered quickly.
As her feet hit the floor, he grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked her back. “Stop it! You’re hurting me.”
“You never complained before,” he said. He was enjoying this.
“You were never like this before.” Panic echoed from every syllable. She struck out, connecting the flat of her hand with his jaw.
He grinned and pinned her arms down with his legs. She tried to sit up, determined to bite and scratch to stop him. She just needed to get out of there and to her car.
“What the hell?” she shouted. “Why are you doing this? We are on the same side.”
“I can’t have you telling.” He punched her hard in the mouth, snapping her head back. The pain was blinding, and she could feel her grip on consciousness slipping along with the pain.
The blow stunned her. Her anger vanished as fear took hold. She tried to free her hands to claw his eyes, but he drove his knees deeper into the flesh of her arms.
His hands came around her neck again, and this time she felt him grow hard. Was this a game for him? He’d had trouble getting it up the last time. God, she prayed it was a game.
But his grip banded her neck like a vise, and again her airflow stopped.