Chapter 16

My brother Jonah laughs at me at first for coming to his house with such slight scrapes. Then he takes a proper look, and sees they"re much deeper than they first look. "Okay, fair, I guess you can"t clean and tape these one-handed."

"Exactly. Thanks."

He doesn"t even warn me before he douses my hand with stinging disinfectant. "How the hell did this happen?" he mutters gruffly as he patches me up. "Rescuing someone again?"

When I hesitate, he gives me a sharp look. He"s always been able to see right through me. "Oh. Not just someone, I take it."

"Her name is Kara."

Jonah shakes his head as he wraps my cuts with pressure bandages. "Jeez, I can tell you"re ass over applecart by the way you say her name."

I snort at his sad attempt at humor. "Ass over applecart? How old are you, eighty?"

"Shut it." Next he covers everything with waterproof bandages. "Keep this dry for forty-eight hours."

"Will do. Thanks."

He nods with a crooked grin. "Good luck with your girl. Glad you found someone."

"Thanks." For a split second, I see a flash of sadness in his eyes. I know Jonah has been wanting to find a good woman for a long time.

The thing is, Old Hemlock Valley is great, but it has far more men than women, since the terrain up here is so rough. I don"t like thinking about my brothers and cousins living out their entire lives alone. It"s depressing. I really do feel like I"ve won the lottery by finding Kara.

As I drive home, I start to think about the decision I have to make, even though in truth I"ve already decided. I need to formally ask Kara to stay with me. To live here with me on my mountain, in my town, so that I can keep her safe forever.

She obviously has a tough time trusting men, and I can"t blame her. But I need her to trust me. She has to know by now that all I want is to make her happy.

Barrett and Griffin must hear my truck coming up the driveway, because they meet me on the porch. I get out of the truck awkwardly, trying not to rip the bandage open. The rain is still pelting down hard, and I rush to duck under the awning.

"Your girl makes better coffee than you do," Griffin chuckles. "All patched up?"

"Yeah, I"m good. Thanks so much for taking care of her."

I shake both of their hands, and Barrett nods. "Anytime you need us, Jace, just holler. You know that."

Kara comes to the door to wave as they call out their goodbyes. As they get into their trucks, Griffin flashes Kara a wink. "Don"t forget – set me up with a nice friend who doesn"t mind if her man is a little dirty. We need more women up on this mountain."

I scoop my girl into my arms, pulling her inside. "I"m sorry," she starts, but I instantly cut her off with a slow kiss. From the way her body melts into mine, I can tell that she doesn"t blame me for what happened. Still, I need to say it. If I"m going to keep this incredible woman in my life, I need to start expressing myself a lot more.

"Baby, I have only been utterly terrified twice in my life: when I was four, and a huge coyote walked right through our backyard, grabbed my stuffed owl, and took off with it. And today, when I thought you might be out in the forest, hurt and alone."

Kara frowns. "And in the end, you"re the one that got hurt."

I wave my hand dismissively. "It"s nothing, other than an excuse for a little teasing from my brother."

She smiles sweetly. "I can"t believe you called in all those people to help. No one"s ever done anything like that for me before."

"I"m just sorry I didn"t protect you better," I murmur, kissing across her forehead. "I should"ve kept you right beside me. Kept you safe so you had no reason to panic. I can"t stand the thought of you out there in the woods alone."

"It"s all my fault." Her head shakes against me. "I"ve been so high strung for the past little while that I just freaked out and ran. But I"m sorry… I should have run to you."

She relaxes more as I chuckle, keeping my arms around her. "It sounds like we both need to reprogram some old thought patterns."

"No kidding." Her chin sets with determination as her lovely eyes meet mine. "For example, from now on I"m only going to take jobs with quality people, and thoroughly check their references."

My palm slips down to circle her lower back. "Baby, what if you didn"t need a job at all? I have plenty of money. Plenty of space. What if you came and lived with me?" I love the way her eyes light up. "You could get a new programmer and work on your app, or do anything else you wanted. But you wouldn"t have to worry about bills."

"I"ve never cared about money beyond having enough to survive," she says softly. "And I"d love to live here with you." Her eyelashes flutter as she looks up at me. "I just can"t believe you"re asking so quickly."

Giving her a big squeeze, Kara laughs when I hold her too tightly, squishing her a bit. "Yeah, it"s too fast. Who cares? I know it"s right. Don"t you?"

Her chin tips up and down. "Absolutely."

Then her face falls, her bottom lip trembling. "But what are we going to do about Brad?"

I grin. "Oh, he"s taken care of. He"s probably still handcuffed in the…well, it"s the closest thing to a jail cell we have in town. He"ll be dealing with my family"s lawyers for a good long time, especially once we forward them all those threatening emails he sent you. And when they let him out, I guarantee he won"t bother you again." I can"t stifle my smirk. "I put the fear of God into him. I honestly think he may have pissed himself a little when Riggs was holding him by the throat, and I was growling in his face."

Her mouth falls open. "What?"

"Don"t worry about it, baby. It"s over. It"ll all be dealt with over the next few days."

She squeezes her hands around my waist and back. "Thank you, Jace. Thank you so, so much."

My head dips for another quick kiss. "Anything for my girl." I glance at her quizzically. "You are my girl, right?"

Her smile is pure joy. "Yes. If you"d like me to be."

Her breathtaking blue eyes meet mine as I finally utter the words I"ve been holding back for so long. "Of course I would. I love you, Kara."

It takes her a second to find her breath. Then she whispers, "I love you, too."

It feels like my cheeks are going to split, my smile is so wide. "Good. Done." I step back and nod firmly. "Now, I don"t like that you were outside for so long in just that little sweater. Would you like to take a shower? It"ll warm you right up."

"Yeah. Except you can"t get your hand wet."

"Says who?"

That luscious bottom lip puffs out as her hands land high on her hips. "The Queen of Showers."

"Showers too? Wow. Okay, sure."

We go into the bedroom, and I"m impressed by the way she strips her clothes off quickly this time, with only a touch of shyness when she glances back to catch my hungry stare. I follow right behind her as she adjusts the water in the shower, and gets in first. Draping my bandaged hand over the curtain rod, I manage to keep it dry while scrubbing her perfect breasts one-handed.

Kara cuddles against me in the warm spray. "You really want me to live here with you?"

"Yes. Immediately, if that works for you."

She looks up at me with a hopeful smile. "If you don"t mind driving me to my car tomorrow, I can drive to Kingsville and get my things. It won"t take long to clear out my apartment. Most of my furniture is crappy old student stuff. I"ll just give it away."

"Do you actually think I"m going to let you out of my sight, missy?" My arm squeezes her hard enough to make her laugh. "I"ll borrow a van from Griffin or Walker and go with you. We can even stay in a hotel for a few days if we have to."

"Then who will watch the forest?"

"Don"t worry. I"ll let some of the other guys fill in for me."

My hand begins running up and down her spine lazily, caressing her silky, soft skin. Then my palm dips lower to grab her ass lightly. "You had quite a scare today, baby. Should I put you to bed?" She smirks, looking down at the massive erection sticking up between us. "Don"t worry, I can tell him to calm down if you like."

She flicks her damp hair. "No… I think I want to get closer to my protective ranger."

She grabs my cock with both hands, slowly gliding her wet fingers from the root to the tip. My groan makes her eyes grow wide. It"s clear that she"s still a bit shy, but working really hard on getting over it. I know the more time we spend together, the more she"ll relax around me.

"You can do anything you like with your new toy," I mutter, barely holding back another groan. "But I need to taste you, baby."

"Need to?" Her eyebrow arches as she strokes me again, more firmly this time.

"Yeah. I was so worried it nearly made me sick. So now I need a mouthful of your hot little pussy to make it all better."

Kara"s sharp inhalation tells me she approves of that idea, and she seems to forget all about my bandaged hand as I spin her away from me to face the tiled wall.

The water drums straight into her back, keeping her nice and warm as I drop to my knees. I hear her gasp as I spread her wide and drag my tongue straight across her pussy. Fortunately, with my bandaged hand clasping her stomach, it"s somewhat sheltered from the spray as I tease her with my tongue, lips, and fingertips.

Feeling her body respond to mine almost makes me high. Makes me feel powerful. I can"t believe I"m the one who has the honor of giving her this much pleasure.

I alternate between swiping my tongue and my fingertips through her juicy slit, then slowly work my fingers deep. It"s too difficult to reach her clit with my tongue this way, so once she"s twitching and breathless, I switch position. She moans desperately as I push my tongue inside her, massaging her clit and rolling it between my fingers.

Her thighs tremble as her entire body tightens. Even though the water is splashing into my eyes and my knees are uncomfortable on the tile floor, I would maintain this position for years if she asked me to. But it doesn"t take long before she begins to twitch hard, crying out as her palm smacks against the glass over and over. "Yes," she chokes. "Jace… I…" Another wordless, breathy squeal as the orgasm rocks her, then her body sags.

I hold her up, gradually standing so that I can turn her as she wraps her arms around my shoulders. "How do you even do that?" she laughs weakly. "That was so intense."

"I"ve been waiting for you my entire life." My voice is serious. "I"d honestly given up, and then I found you. I"m going to give you everything you need, baby."

Her left hand drops, feeling between us to find my hard cock. She strokes me gently, looking up to watch the way my eyes crinkle as I smile. "I"ve noticed you"re pretty gruff with the guys," she says. "I like that you"re softer with me."

"That"s so I can match you. You"re soft all over." I kiss along her shoulder. "Are you ready for round two, gorgeous?"

My left hand caresses up her back, and she instantly flinches. "Your bandages! I forgot." She reaches over to turn off the water. "We"re plenty warm. Let"s get you into a nice dry bed."

"But—"

Her finger lands across the center of my lips. "Shower Queen, remember?"

Before I can protest any more, Kara wraps me up in a bath sheet, drying me quickly. Then she hustles me toward the bedroom before grabbing her own towel.

My heart might explode from realizing that Kara is already comfortable enough to boss me around when need be. We"re already finding our balance.

I grin darkly as thoughts of what I"m about to do to her flood my mind. This time I won"t have to balance while standing up in the shower. This time I"ll be able to possess my sweet girl by capturing her under me, and claim her completely.