“Is your aunt’s house in an isolated area or a town?” he asked her, trying to distract himself from his thoughts.
“Umm, I have the address in my bag. I think it’s in a small town, Russell?”
“Russell? That’s about an hour from here.”
He set her back on the bed, tucking her under the covers again. She gave him a slightly exasperated look but didn’t say anything. Okay, so it was nice and toasty in the cabin and she was obviously feeling better. But he still intended to watch her.
He grabbed her handbag and handed it to her. She pulled out a document and gave it to him.
“Do you know Russell at all?” she asked.
“Don’t go there much. It’s not the closest town to us and you were headed in a strange direction. You must have gotten turned around somewhere. You say the GPS on your phone led you to here?”
“Ah, well, my phone kind of died several hours before you found me,” she admitted.
He gave her a look and she shifted around a little. “You’re not gonna spank me for that, are you?”
“Little girl, I understand why you traveled halfway across the country with no luggage and little sleep, I don’t like it but I get it. But not having your phone charged?” He clenched his hands into fists. “Do you know what could have happened to you?”
“What? Something worse than crashing into a tree, getting a concussion and nearly freezing to death?”
He growled at her. Actually growled.
“I’m beginning to see why your nickname is Bear.”
He just gave her a look.
“Want to tell me what your real name is?”
No, he did not.
“You know, I kind of see what happened as a good thing.”
“A good thing?”
“Well, if it hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have met you.” She tilted her head back to smile up at him and he couldn’t stop himself.
“You’d find something good in anything, wouldn’t you?” he murmured. He leaned in. He shouldn’t. He knew that one kiss wasn’t going to be enough. And she wasn’t up to anything more. But then she licked her lips, her eyes filled with arousal.
He was gone.
He brushed his lips against hers, giving her a chance to push back. To tell him no. But her lips met his eagerly, her body pressing up to meet his. He ran his tongue over the seam of her lips.
“Tell me if you don’t want this. Tell me no and I’ll back off. Remember, if any of this gets too much or isn’t what you want, you just need to say.” He didn’t want her to ever think he was like her parents.
She reached up and with one hand touched his cheek. “Bear, I want this. I want you. Please kiss me.”
“I don’t want to take advantage of you.” He sat on the mattress, facing her. “I don’t want you to think I’m trying to control you.”
She rolled her eyes. “Bear, out of everyone I’ve known in my life, you are the least likely person to take advantage of me. You’re so careful, all the time. Like you’re worried I’ll break or something. I’m not weak or fragile. Just a naïve idiot.”
“Three,” he growled at her warningly.
“Three? What happened to two?”
“Two was not keeping an eye on the weather and driving into a storm without enough gas or a charged-up phone. Can’t punish you for making that trip, when I know you had little choice. But you should have taken more care. Three is for the same reason you earned your first spanking. Talking down about yourself. Once you’re feeling better, you’re not going to be able to sit comfortably for a while.”
Funny he always thought he wouldn’t get involved with someone else because he couldn’t trust them. But he didn’t have any issues trusting her. She was so different from Maria. She didn’t have a deceptive bone in her body.