Lumberjacked (A Holiday Lumberjack Mountain Man Romance) - K.C. Crowne Page 0,30
from packing up my entire life and traversing the unknown. In just a couple of short days, I was going to leave behind the only place I ever knew.
My stomach twisted in a knot of nerves when I thought about it. To leave my home behind was terrifying. To go to a big city where I was a nobody scared the living crap out of me.
My future job as an executive assistant excited me, though. A big city go-getter in Chicago had decided that my set of skills was exactly what she needed. She needed someone unattached, someone who could travel at a moment’s notice, work everchanging hours. She needed someone who was willing to have an adventure.
That sounded like me. I had no strings attached, I had no one to look out for if I left my mother here. Most of all, I liked the idea of being an executive assistant to a woman. I wouldn’t have felt comfortable taking the job if it had been a man. I just didn’t trust men. You could give yourself to someone, believe they had the whole world in their hands, and then those hands turned out to be the very same hands that hurt you.
My mom was the perfect example.
The door opened, jarring me, and I glanced over as Viktor walked in. I’d been so deep in thought, I hadn’t heard his boots on the front porch.
“Are you doing okay?” Viktor asked. He stood close to me, his voice low. He took one hand in his and rubbed his thumb in circular motions over the back of my hand.
“I’m okay,” I said. “Axel doesn’t happen to have a signal, does he?”
Viktor shook his head. “Unfortunately not.”
I sighed. I really wanted to call my mom.
“I think it’s going to take longer than we thought,” he told me. “I just wanted to check on you, make sure you’re okay.”
“Actually, I think I’ll go back to the cabin.”
Viktor frowned. It made his dark eyes seem broody. He stopped moving his thumb. “I’d prefer you wait here.”
“Why?” I pulled my hand out of his. “I’m sure I can find my way back. Like you said, you’re going to be busy for a while. What does it matter if I wait here or there?”
Viktor shook his head, took a small step back. “You can wait here, Malen kiy. I’m not letting you go back to the cabin without me.”
I arched an eyebrow at him, irked. “I’m sorry? You’re not letting me go back?”
When he looked at me, his face softened a little. “Malen kiy, I just don’t want you to be alone.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Says the man who insists on being alone all the time.”
Viktor took a step closer again and dropped a kiss in my hair. It was unexpected, and the warmth that came with it even more so. “Please, just a little longer,” he said. “Make yourself comfortable in Axel’s home and I’ll make sure we don’t take too long. Then we can go back to the cabin together.”
I wanted to argue, but the look on his face stopped me. “Okay,” I said. “But I’m going to sit on the porch. I like watching you work.”
He flashed a cocky grin at me. “Maybe I’ll pull off my shirt if it gets hot.”
I blushed even harder. And my body was suddenly hot, my hormones raging. God, what was it about this man that got me so flustered and so ready for him? If he took me now, I wouldn’t complain.
“Hurry up, then,” I said in a breathy voice.
Viktor let out a low growl at the back of his throat leaned closer to me, dipped his head and nuzzled my neck. He brushed his thumb over my nipple, and when my breath caught in my throat, he offered a throaty chuckle.
“I won’t be long, kitn,” Viktor said in a thick voice. He tugged at his pants, and I could see the growing bulge he was trying to hide. I flashed him a smile, and Viktor made a grunting sound that I could only translate as frustration.
Kitn.
I loved it when he called me these Russian names. Kitten, that was what it meant. When he said it, it made me feel sexy. Everything Viktor did made me feel sexy, though. I’d never been with anyone who could draw out this side of me. Until I had been with Viktor, there had been parts of me I hadn’t known about.