as her temperature hit boiling point and she feared she was going to pass out if she didn’t cool down soon.
She was panicking.
“Holly.” Saint strode to the door, and she thought he meant to block it, that he would stop her from opening it and getting the air she needed, air that felt vital, the only way of stopping herself from passing out.
She growled at him and bared fangs.
He arched an eyebrow as he opened the door at the same time as she threatened him.
Shame flooded her cheeks with even more heat and she lowered her head as she scurried past him, relief crashing over her at the first cold kiss of the wind on her face. Saint caught her arm when she tried to step out onto the snowy deck, holding her back. She shivered at the firmness of his grip on her, at the strength she could feel in it together with a silent declaration that he wasn’t going to let her go.
That did more to calm her racing heart and cool her burning blood than the air that swept snow against her.
Her temperature quickly took a nosedive back to normal, the strange urges that had seized control of her falling away as Saint held on to her arm, as she grew aware of him standing just inches behind her, his gaze on the back of her head.
“Better?” he rumbled.
She nodded, breathed slowly as she focused on him. Couldn’t stop herself from speaking and filling the silence. “Cougars are like other shifters. I matured at just over a century old, but I still live with my family… for now. Ember has only just left her family and I want to do the same. I want to see more of the world.”
Gods, it felt good to admit that out loud to someone, and to herself.
She really did want that.
He slowly tugged on her arm, pulling her around to face him. His dark brown eyes searched hers. “How much of the world do you have left to experience?”
He was good at that—asking probing and very personal questions without saying them directly.
He wanted to know how much experience she had with males, and that was one question she wasn’t going to answer. She searched for a way to shift the course of their conversation.
Saint released her and rubbed the back of his neck, his expression grim as he grumbled, “I made you uncomfortable again. How about I apologise with a drink? I might have some hot chocolate.”
Holly smiled, relieved she didn’t have to evade his question, and tempted by the fact he had offered her favourite drink.
“That sounds nice.” She pulled a face as an urge hit her, roused by the thought of sipping hot chocolate. “Maybe come back to it. I have a more pressing need than a warm drink.”
He frowned. “What’s wrong?”
She glanced around his cabin and cold washed over her as she realised something. There was only one large room and the loft. Only a single door in the entire cabin and she was stood next to it. Her eyes darted back to him.
“Where’s the bathroom?”
Saint hiked his thumb over his shoulder, towards the back of the cabin. “About sixty feet that way.”
Holly squeezed her thighs together and stared at the snowstorm as wind howled past the cabin.
She re-evaluated his home.
Rustic was too good a word for it.
She stared at Saint in horror, aware of how she was about to give away that she had no intention of escaping him while the storm was raging but unable to muster even a shred of concern.
“You can’t seriously expect me to go out there?”
Chapter 10
Saint would have found the horrified look on Holly’s beautiful face amusing had it not been for the awareness that beat in his veins, warning him that she found his home wanting, that it wasn’t good enough for her. He braced himself, but was sure it would do nothing to deflect the anger he was about to feel.
Or was that hurt?
She cast another wide-eyed glance around her, checking every inch of his cabin, and then threw him another shocked look. “You’re not kidding. You don’t even have an indoor toilet!”
And there it was.
His pride took a direct hit and he growled at her, bared short fangs as she looked ready to launch another salvo at him. Her lips compressed and he sensed the fight in her, how fiercely she had to battle herself to stop herself from uttering another insult.
So his home was a little more