WILD MEN OF ALASKA

chapter TWELVE

What had she done?

Eva lay on the bed, not knowing how long she’d drifted. Had she blacked out? Lynx lay next to her, one leg draped over hers, his arm wrapped around her middle as though not willing to let her go.

That had been intense. It had been more than just sex. They’d mated. And with mating all sorts of implications were attached.

She wasn’t ready to love again. Especially since she didn’t really know the man resting silently next to her. Was he sleeping? Most men snored after sex, dropping right off.

Lynx was as quiet as a cat. Too quiet to be sleeping. He laid in wait. For what she didn’t have a clue. This was all new territory to her. And she didn’t like it. She felt unbalanced, as though at any moment the floor would open up and swallow her. She needed to gain back control, but how did she do that when he’d showed her how easily he could strip that control from her?

“You’re thinking too much,” Lynx’s voice rumbled next to her.

She turned toward him and found it disconcerting to see him watching her with those dark eyes of his. They’d returned to a more sated espresso color instead of the glowing amber of earlier when he’d taken her.

“I can’t seem to stop,” she answered.

He reached out and fingered the glass pendant still around her neck nestled between her breasts. “Did I hurt you?” His wary eyes flickered back to hers.

A fiery blush heated her face. She was sore, and knew she’d feel what they’d done for a while. But hurt? No, if anything, she tingled everywhere. She shook her head.

“Are you sure?”

This time she nodded.

“I don’t usually get so carried away. There is just something about you.”

There was something about him too. But there were too many unanswered questions between them. First and foremost, how had Lynx talked BW into leaving? She couldn’t believe she now thought of the rogue moose as BW. Maybe this midnight sun was frying her brain cells.

Had Lynx used sex as a reason not to answer her earlier questions? Or had their coming together meant as much to him as it had to her? Either way, she needed to know.

Now.

What was she thinking?

Not now.

That was the quickest way she knew to scare off a man. Did she want to scare off Lynx? Her body still hummed with the tune he’d made it play. While she really wanted to feel like that again, she wasn’t ready for what shown in his eyes. What she needed was a moment to herself and time to think.

“I’m going to take a shower,” she said.

“Would you like some company?” Lynx asked.

“No. I...uh...need a few minutes.”

He nodded. “Just don’t think too hard while you’re in there. There’s something special here, Eva.”

She climbed off the bed and grabbed a blanket to wrap up in. It wasn’t lost on her that she had no problem being half-dressed or even naked in front of Lynx before, and now that he knew her intimately, she needed to cover up.

As she entered the bathroom and started the shower, muscles that hadn’t been used in a while ached for a soak in a hot tub. She didn’t have time for that kind of indulgence with Lynx still out there. Part of her wished he’d be gone when she finished. The other part called her a coward. Was she really hiding in the bathroom because the sex had been too good?

God, she was messed-up.





Lynx covered his face with his hands. He should’ve handled that better. Damn it, he’d scared her. He’d come on too strong, too extreme. It had been too soon to take their relationship into the bedroom.

Hell, what relationship?

He’d stood her up on their first date, dunked and abandoned her on their second, and couldn’t talk her into keeping her door open long enough to get a third.

So what was he doing here lying on her bed? Something had to be going his way, and it wasn’t BW’s involvement.

Could she care about him too?

Women didn’t usually have sex with men unless their heart was somehow involved. At least, that’s what his sisters always said. He didn’t know what to believe. He’d been with women who wanted him because he was the big Alaskan Native. Women could be as callous as men. But Eva didn’t fall into that category, he’d bet his life on it. She was shaken up. What had happened between them had blown her mind too.

He sat up and looked around the room. Clothes were flung everywhere, the bed a rumpled mess. Since he’d done most of the flinging, he could straighten up.

One thing for certain, he wasn’t leaving until they ironed out where they both stood with each other.

Whether Eva liked it or not.