The Mountain Man's Kitten - Thickwood CO

Miller found his weakness, and he exploited it.

“He has a girlfriend, doesn’t he?” I ask Miss Muffet. “Have you seen her? No, probably not. He’s sent her off somewhere while he puts his plan into action. I’m the princess and he’s been acting like prince charming, but he’s actually the evil knight.”

Which means there is no prince charming, and the life lesson in this tale is actually that there’s no place like home.

I run through to the bedroom and start grabbing my stuff, stripping off the t-shirt that he lent me to use as a dress and wondering what to do about Miss Muffet. I don’t want to leave her, she’s as much mine as she is his, but the truth is it’s his name on the adoption paperwork and I have no right to take her.

“Oh, Miss Muffet.” I pull her in close for a hug when I hear the door boom closed.

“Where’s my kitten?”

Those words somehow seal it for me. I pull Miss Muffet in close, grab my purse and run. He’s lumbering through the living room when I get to the bottom of the stairs, but I push past him. “I’m taking her.”

“I didn’t mean her, I meant—” He turns and tries to grab my arm, but I slip out of his grasp. “Hey, where are you going?”

I stop, just for a moment, and fix him with a glare. “I saw all her stuff, Miller, whoever she is! I know you have a girlfriend. One who likes to walk around in nothing but lingerie and revealing clothes by the looks of things. You win. I’ll let my dad know.”

The tears are dripping off my chin as I head out the door and run for my car, but Miller is right behind me.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I mimic sarcastically as I pull open the door to my car.

And then he grabs me.

I can’t believe what’s happening as I’m slung over his shoulder and he carefully takes Miss Muffet from me in one of his massive hands.

“Hey! Put me down.” I bang my fists against his back as he carries me toward the house. “This is kidnapping.”

The screaming is pointless, since we’re out in the middle of nowhere, but I do it anyway. A few seconds later, he drops me onto the couch and stands there, folding his arms over his chest, but I just glare right back.

“You do know this is illegal, right? You can’t hold me here.”

“I don’t know what is going on.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “I told you. I found them. Women’s clothes? Razors? Shampoo? Tampons?” I draw a breath through my nose. “Your girlfriend’s things?”

A slight smirk tugs at the corner of his lips. “Yes, but it’s not what you think.”

My mouth gapes. I can’t believe his grinning over this. How wrong could I possibly be about a guy? “Don’t you have any shame? You’re not even sorry, are you?”

He nods. “I am sorry. I feel guilty about those things. But they’re not what you think. They do belong to my girlfriend. Because they belong to you.”

“What?”

“They’re your things, Katarina. I got them, for you. I can’t stop planning, like you’re here already. I couldn’t get you off my mind.”

“You got them for me?”

He breathes a deep sigh. “I didn’t want you to find out about all this. I’ve…been planning our life. For three fucking years. I buy things, plan. Pretend you’re here. It’s weak I know but believe me, there is no one else.”

I shake my head.

Heat rises to my face and, despite myself, sinks to my girly parts. The idea of being this obsessed should scare me. But instead it turns me on. It makes me feel safe.

But I grit my teeth. “I don’t believe you.”

“Look…I wasn’t going to show you this, but I guess I don’t have much choice.” He grabs my arm and pulls me along to his office, where he gets the key to the cupboard and opens the drawer. “Here.”

He hands me over a piece of paper, and I stare at it. “What is this?”

“The deed to a house. The one opposite yours.”

“The house opposite mine?” If he’s been there, then maybe… “No. This is all just a part of an elaborate act. You’re a liar. You’re trying to get back at my father, aren’t you? Hurting me will hurt him. Maybe you hypnotized me or something to get me here, I should have known made me come in here and snoop around and…”

“Hypnotized you?”

I nod. “People can be hypnotized.”

“Why were you snooping around in here?”

I feel the blush rise to my face and my voice starts to shake as I answer. “Well, Miss Muffet came in here and I was trying to get her out…”

“So, you decided to go through everything?” The smirk comes back to his face and I want to slap him.