Lumberjacked (A Holiday Lumberjack Mountain Man Romance) - K.C. Crowne Page 0,57

nodded without speaking.

“I should be able to leave soon.”

“I’d prefer you didn’t,” I said quietly.

Angela frowned at me. “We’re not back on this, are we? I’ll go to Snowmass and get a cab or a bus or something back to Grizzly Falls. It’s no big deal, Viktor.”

That’s where she was wrong.

“I told you, I don’t want you to leave until it’s safe,” I said.

“And what’s so unsafe? The weather is clearing up, the roads will be repaired soon. I can go home. I can go live the rest of my life.”

If she was alive to do it, yeah absolutely. I didn’t know if I could keep her safe if she headed out there. I had let that other fucker go instead of killing him. I regretted that now.

I hadn’t wanted to be the person I’d been before. Especially not when Angela was around. But when it came to who I was, and if she was alive, it was a no brainer. I should have snapped the asshole’s neck.

“You know,” Angela said, her eyes narrowed. “I’m starting to think you’re trying to keep me here.”

“That’s not what this is about.” I was getting pissed off. I didn’t want her to know the truth, but I couldn’t get her to stay without a reason. She was independent, she was feisty, she wanted a good reason why she had to relent her control. And I didn’t want to give it to her.

“Then what is it about?” she asked. When I didn’t answer, she snapped. “I’m not your damned prisoner, you know. I mean, it was great of you to look after me when I was hurt. I will be forever grateful. But that doesn’t mean I don’t get to leave because you were selfless enough to risk yourself to save me.”

I clenched my jaw and spoke through gritted teeth. “I just want you safe.”

“That’s all you keep saying! But safe from what? From the weather? You can’t keep me in a cage, you know. There is such a thing as holding on too tightly.” She looked like she wanted to say more, but she snapped her mouth shut. I had a feeling it was about the asshole who had been her father, the fucked up idiot who had thought it was acceptable to raise a hand to a woman.

“If you want me to stay, just say so,” she said softly.

That pulled me up short, taking the fire right out of me. “What?”

“I don’t know what’s going on here because we never talk about it. But if you’re upset about me leaving because you’d rather I stay, then you can just tell me you have feelings for me.”

I blinked at her, stunned. Did I have feelings for her? Absolutely. It was the reason I was so fucking worried about her in the first place. She had become my weakness, which meant that if something happened to her, it would hit me in the gut so hard, I wouldn’t be able to bounce back.

I didn’t need that, and she didn’t need it either. Hell, men like me shouldn’t even look at women like her, let alone drag her into the fray with me. My entire reason for hiding out up here had been not to get anyone else involved in this damn mess I’d created for myself.

“So?” she asked, and her voice was softer now.

“So what?” I asked, even though I knew what she was asking of me.

“What is it, then? Why won’t you let me go?”

She looked nervous. What if I lied and told her I didn’t care about her? And God, I wanted nothing more than to tell her that I had fallen for her, that I wanted her with me, by my side, for as long as I could have her. Far longer than the handful of days left before she had to get the hell out of Dodge and head off to the big city.

“I don’t deny that I feel something for you,” I said carefully.

“Oh, how wonderful,” Angela said sarcastically and turned away from the window, her back to me. “And I was worried you wouldn’t be able to really express yourself.”

“Malen kiy,” I murmured.

“No, Viktor,” she said. “If it’s all the same to you, I’m going to go pack.”

She headed to the room. I walked after her, putting a hand on her shoulder to stop her. She spun around, eyes spitting fire at me. “Don’t.”

“I don’t want you to go.” I didn’t mean for it to sound as raw