Wild Men of Alaska Collection - By Helmer, Tiffinie Page 0,33
dumb as a musk ox or a man to be feared. Women tended to think the latter and a few men had been educated in the former. Eva was a breath of fresh air he hadn’t known he needed.
He stayed rooted to his spot and focused on her every move. The woman was perfectly fine with being practically naked in front of him. He was just grateful. She gathered up her wet clothes and laid them over tree branches to help them dry. He took in her creamy skin, so different from the brown of his, and couldn’t wait to join the two of them together. She bent over and fluffed her hair in the breeze. He groaned. She was just messing with him now.
“How are your stitches?” he asked, eyes rooted to her ass.
She turned and looked at him over her shoulder, her back arched in a pose worthy of Playboy.
The minx.
Did she have any idea what she was doing to him?
“They seem fine.” She started to wring the water out of her socks.
“You seem warmer now.”
She lifted her face to the clear blue sky and closed her eyes. “This sun is just glorious.”
It wasn’t the only thing. “Would you like your backpack,” he asked, his voice husky. She turned and gave him a full frontal view. With the sun behind her, she resembled a mystical faerie sent to sexually enslave him.
Where did he sign?
If he didn’t get her covered up, he was afraid of what he might do. There was only so much temptation he could resist.
A hungry man was going to eat.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The look in Lynx’s eyes had Eva faltering in her actions. Maybe she’d pushed him enough. She’d gotten drunk on the power. Never had a man devoured her like he was currently doing. It was heady and something she could definitely get used to.
Served him right for dowsing her in the river. So, it wasn’t really his fault, but he’d laughed, so therefore the man had to pay.
She figured she’d tortured him enough. Besides, she’d just been bitten by a mosquito. She yanked her backpack from his grip and tore into it, grabbing the hoodie she’d stuffed into it early, believing she wouldn’t need it. He’d said a full change of clothes, “just in case.” She should have listened. All she’d put in here was the hoodie.
Chalk one up for the mountain man.
She covered up. The sweatshirt ended just past her hips.
“Is that all you brought?” Lynx asked. He looked as though he was in pain as he stared at her bare legs.
She slapped her upper thigh and gave it a scratch. Crap. These damn things were going to suck her dry. “Can I have the bug spray again?”
Chalk two up for the mountain man.
He offered her the can of spray. No light coating this time. She bathed in the stuff and did the same thing he’d done with wetting his hands and rubbing the smelly spray on her face and neck. She swore she could hear them buzzing inside her ears.
“Seriously, you need to put some clothes on,” Lynx said.
“This is all I brought,” she admitted.
He opened his pack and pulled out a blanket and tossed it to her. “I’ll be right back.” And then he disappeared into the woods.
She was suddenly alone.
Really alone.
She glanced around. A raven sat on a spruce tree branch. Its beady eye met hers and it cawed, the sharp sound making her jerk. Then it flew off in a blur of black and blue feathers. The clearing was roughly the size of her apartment. Trees crowded in from all sides. She couldn’t even tell what direction Lynx had vanished off to.
She sat on a rock and took in her surroundings. No longer was she finding the beauty and tranquility of earlier on the river. Now there seemed to be eyes watching her from the shadows. A rustling to her left had her jumping back to her feet. Her heart in her throat, she waited to see what would appear.
What did she do if it was a bear? She didn’t have a gun to protect herself with. She could get back into the canoe, but no way could she out paddle a bear, and didn’t bears swim? Nothing ventured from the darkness beyond what she could see. She shouldn’t have pissed off Lynx. Why would he just leave her like that?
What was she going to do if he didn’t return?
She rotated in a slow circle, scanning the thick trees. She