He pointed to her ankle again.
“It’s fine, dude.” Frustration at the whole situation crept into her tone. And if she was going to be murdered by a monosyllabic overall-wearing swamp thing, she wasn’t surrendering her pride. “You know you shouldn’t just ignore all the other stuff I said. It was kind of personal.”
The man shifted in his mud-caked boots. “I have a camera,” he rasped in a voice that sounded like burnt cigar ashes. “You can use it.”
Morgan stared. “What?”
Impatience seemed to ripple through him. Impatience at himself? “I’m Rixen.” He stepped into the dull light…and presented the most incredibly intimidating face she’d ever seen. Chiseled angles, a boxed jaw covered in a beard, and drooping eyelids. Damp black hair hung down and clung to his cheeks and forehead. “You’re the angel I asked for.” One hand dropped to the lap of his overalls, where he massaged a ridge of swelling flesh. “Come with me now so I can give thanks.”
Chapter 2
Rixen
Rixen must have done something to please his God. Look at the gift he’d been sent.
Years. He’d waited years for a woman—and although she was more of a girl, clearly his waiting had not been in vain. Because he’d been given the sweetest of all females. Her lack of size made him worry for obvious reasons. His lust was already building to such a fever pitch that maintaining control once he was locked in her tight little body seemed unrealistic. Rixen would, though. The idea of hurting this beautiful creature made him want to howl.
His attention shot to her bleeding ankle and he snarled, the hands at his sides clenched into shaking fists. Her first day in his swamp and she’d already been hurt. If he could go back in time and snap the alligator’s neck all over again, he would do it in a fucking heartbeat.
Soon as he healed Morgan’s injury, no harm would ever come to her again. The swamp would cower when she passed, knowing death would be visited upon anyone who came close.
Rixen took a slow breath, catching the scent of something tropical—coconut oil or tanning lotion—and his blood pumped harder. Heavier. Who was he kidding? Of all the animals in this place, he was the one she should fear the most. The throb in his cock was so severe that already he’d begun to leak great, sticky drops down his thigh. Every ounce that escaped became his enemy. All of the semen in his body was meant to be released inside his gift. Right between her honey-colored thighs. Now. Now.
Patience. You’ve waited this long and she is in pain.
As Rixen approached his female, he forced himself to stop pumping his dick through the denim of his overalls. It was making her nervous, if her chanting “personalize yourself” over and over again was any indication.
“I need to tend your wound, Morgan.” He let his gaze wander over her strawberry-blonde waves, wishing for light so he could determine the color of her eyes. “We will reach our home faster if I carry you.”
“Our home?” She paused in her litany, looking confused. “What did you mean, I’m the angel you asked for?”
“Exactly that. I’ve prayed for you. Every night for decades.” Another hot spurt of seed made a trail through his leg hair. “My two brothers already had their prayers answered, finding wives in town. I…” Embarrassment lanced him in the middle, remembering how vastly different his experiences had been compared to his brothers’. “I have not. Until now.”
“Oh, no. No, no. I’m not her.” Morgan tipped her head back and let out a relieved laugh. “This is one big misunderstanding. I’m just on vacation with my mother in Key Largo. Or I was until she started sucking face with a guy who owns way too much Tommy Bahama. And I blew a tire back on the road.” She gave him a big smile and reached out to pat his shoulder once. “I’m not wifey, man. Glad we cleared this up.”
“You are…wifey.” The word sounded ridiculous on his tongue and he scowled, a bolt beginning to turn in his stomach. Was it possible his gift didn’t know she’d been sent for him?
If so, how would be convince her?
Unlike his brothers, Rixen held no appeal for women. He’d assumed when his angel arrived, she would be prepared to live with him in the swamp forever. Morgan seemed determined to leave as soon as possible. Was this another test of his strength? His decades of waiting were the first. Perhaps an unwilling mate was the next one? If so, he would conquer it. He would conquer anything for the girl in front of him.
The closer he got to Morgan, the more her beauty enraptured him. Not only due to the fullness of her mouth and the splattering of freckles on her nose. No, her spirit rang out like the church bells he sometimes heard in the distance. Honest and clear. She had been scared of the alligator, but also refused to give in to the fear. Rixen admired that. Admired the determination he’d seen in Morgan to keep running. And even now, she was clearly afraid of Rixen but refused to give an inch of ground. A fierce beauty all his own.