Surrounded by Woods (10 page)

“I want you to come inside me,” Mikaela breathed.

His guttural sound made her clutch him tighter. “Oh, fuck, we—I don’t have any condoms on me.” It amazed him that he was able to even say that.

She stopped stroking him, and he made a small sound of protest, stopping his own ministrations. “Don’t stop! I’m so close,” Mikaela pleaded.

Josh continued fingering her while he rubbed himself against her leg since she hadn’t started stroking him again. “Ah, kitten, I want to feel your hands on me.” She gasped and grabbed his arm, and he could feel her pussy squeezing around his fingers as she came.

She pushed his shoulders back and sat astride him, sucking her juices off his fingers. She started rocking against his cock. “Tell me how you want it, Josh. Say it.”

He grabbed her hips to grind harder against her. “Oh, kitten, you’re going to make me come like this,” he rasped.

“Is that what you want?” She grabbed his wrists and held them above his head. She eased up so that his cock barely made contact with her pussy. He knew he could pull his arms free, but he rather liked her taking charge. “Or do you want to come on my tits or in my mouth?”

“Fuck, Mikaela, I’m going to come just from you talking like that.” He thrust upward to deepen the contact, but she moved up to prevent it. She leaned down and kissed his ear.

“Say it, Josh.”

“Your mouth. Put me in your mou—” He gasped when she quickly moved and took all of him into the wet haven he wanted. “Yes. Yes!”

She sucked him hard, and he snapped up in the bed, pulling her hair up to watch. Her ass was hiked in the air, and he caressed it as he watched her suck him off. So damn beautiful.

It didn’t take long. Within moments, he was biting down on his bottom lip to keep from crying out when he came down her throat.

Josh pulled her to him, stroking her hair for what seemed like forever. Then needing to remedy the condom situation, he left to scour the cabins, collecting all that he’d found before returning to the warmth of her bed, her arms.

They never made it to the cave. They spent the day in bed, talking, laughing, playing. Loving.

His feline self had never been so content, and he’d never been as united to the animal as he was in this moment. He felt whole, and it was all Mikaela’s doing.

But by the end of the day, he still didn’t know how he was going to explain everything to his father.

He was in love, and he’d never been happier or more scared in all his life.

Chapter Nine

Mikaela awoke with something that she hadn’t had in quite some time. She didn’t realize it’d been missing until it’d returned to grace her presence.

Her smile.

Not only could she not remember the last time she’d been this happy, but she couldn’t remember the last time the reason for her happiness was because of a man. Being a strong, independent woman had altered her ideals, thinking she didn’t need a man to make her happy, and she hadn’t even realized that line of reasoning had taken root in her. It was probably because of Joel. Joel and every other asshole she’d wasted time on. But now the man she couldn’t seem to stop thinking about made her smile even bigger.

Josh. She’d spent the entire day with him yesterday, and she loved every single minute of it. She’d never been that open with anyone, and it felt great, but whenever they’d talk about his family, he’d say he’d deal with them and then changed the subject. She didn’t understand his reluctance to discuss them, and he never asked her about her relationship with Joel. Mikaela had every intention of telling Josh the truth, but honestly, yesterday was about the two of them. Josh didn’t talk about his family, and Mikaela didn’t talk about Joel. But she knew she had to do it and do it soon.

She showed up at breakfast promptly at six, but the guys were scrambling to grab breakfast in a hurry. Of course, her eyes immediately sought out Josh, and he shared a tender smile with her.

“What’s up?” she asked to no one in particular as she walked to the table.

Thomas eyed her briefly before responding. “There’s a front moving in. We need to get prepared.” He was dressed in work clothes like the rest of the guys, so he was obviously going to be working outside.

“What kind of front?”

“Winter weather,” Jack explained as he turned his cup up to gulp the last of his coffee.

“Well, if you need me to do anything, let me know. I’d be happy to do what I can.”

“That’s not necessary, Mikaela,” Thomas said without making eye contact. She figured he was just worried about this weather moving in.

“Dad, she could contact the lumber companies and cancel the scheduled pickups this week,” Rob suggested.

“Absolutely not. She is not my secretary. I can do it when I get back,” he barked.

“Really, Thomas. I don’t mind.” She glanced at Josh, but he was watching Thomas.

There was a pause while Josh and Thomas stared at each other and then he cleared his throat. “All right. Come with me, and I’ll show you who needs to be contacted.” He turned to his sons. “Boys, get outside and get started without me. We have to move fast if this storm is as big as they’re predicting.”

By the time Thomas was finished giving her the contact information for the lumber companies, which didn’t take long at all considering how agitated he was, the snow had started falling.

With the way Thomas was either eyeing Mikaela or avoiding eye contact altogether, she figured Josh had told him what happened. Well, maybe not everything, but enough to explain that they were becoming involved with one another. It seemed like Thomas wasn’t very happy about this news, so she’d have to come clean about Joel with Thomas too. Hopefully everyone would understand, and hopefully, the weather wouldn’t be as bad as they were saying. She didn’t want to get stranded here if Thomas had an issue with her getting involved with his son.

Then again, she really liked the idea of being stranded here with Josh. That thought put a smile on her face as she started to work.
 
 

She spent the day thinking about him while doing the tasks given to her. She stayed on the phone, rescheduling pickups and dealing with other things that made absolutely no sense to her since she’d never dealt with lumber issues before. Most of the companies were understanding and even appreciative for the heads up to the incoming weather, but there were a few where she had to flex her legal muscle to get them to cooperate.

By that evening, the ground was covered in nearly two feet of snow with heavy snow still falling. The guys worked as much as they could, cleaning up previously cut trees and storing the small and large equipment. Most of that stuff was made to endure the elements, but when heavy snow was predicted, Thomas said they didn’t take chances.

She knew the men spent most of the day outside in the harsh conditions, so they probably enjoyed the moment when they could come inside to shower before eating. Mikaela never got around to exercising today, but she needed a shower, too, so when they all came in, she used that as her opportunity to freshen up. When she reached the dining room, she could see that everyone was exhausted. The guys were all nursing their drinks, and there was a bottle of wine sitting at her place setting. Josh rose and walked over to open the bottle and pour her a glass.

“Thanks,” she whispered, bringing the glass up to her lips.

“Oh, you can thank me later,” he murmured.

“I intend to.”

“Mmmm…I can’t wait.” He smiled.

The others crowded around the table while Jeffery brought out the food, and everyone took their seats.

“Thanks for your help today, Mikaela,” Thomas said as he placed his napkin in his lap.

“It was my pleasure, Thomas.”

“I hope it didn’t set you back too much on your legal work.”

“Oh, no, I’m already ahead of schedule.” No need to tell him how ahead she was. She had no intention of leaving sooner than scheduled now that she was enjoying some hot, sweaty private time with Josh.

“That’s good. You should contact your office and let them know about the storm, so they do not worry.”

“I already did. I told them I’d check in once the weather clears.”

Thomas nodded.

Everyone ate and chatted about the first big snowfall of the season. The guys were busy comparing it to other major events in the past, but Mikaela just spent her time watching Josh’s mouth move when he spoke. A few times he caught her staring, and smiled and winked at her when no one else was looking. That innocent gesture made her feel like a teenager with her first crush, but as she thought about that, the reality of her feelings came crashing down. Josh wasn’t just a crush. In the course of her stay, she’d fallen in love with him. How was that even possible? The thought made her feel so happy…and so confused.

The door opened, and Jeffery walked in carrying a cordless phone. “Ms. Patterson, there is an urgent call for you.”

Her eyes widened, and she swallowed her food. “Oh?” She stood, taking the phone.

“Yes, ma’am. It’s a Mr. Youngblood.”

She crushed the phone to her chest to shield her voice. “
What?
” she whispered. “What did he say?”

Jeffery lowered his voice. “Nothing, ma’am. He just insisted on speaking to you right away.”

Shit, shit, shit!

Mikaela nodded and slowly put the phone to her ear, stepping away from the table in a daze. “Hello?”

* * * *

Josh’s eyes locked onto Mikaela as soon as she answered the phone. Who the hell was Mr. Youngblood, and why was he calling her?

“I’m fine,” she said curtly into the phone.

She didn’t sound fine to Josh. She sounded pissed.

“It’s a little too late for that, Joel.”

Joel? Joel! CPA Joel? Fiancé Joel? Josh felt his hackles rise as if he were in cat form and a hiss slipped out his throat.

“Hmm, well, you can take your apology, roll it up into a nice little ball, and shove it up your ass!” She hung up the phone, sat back at the table, and took a drink of her wine.

Josh’s heartbeat quickened, ringing in his ears. His hands shook as he stared intently at her, his mind unable to grasp what was happening. It was probably just a fight, he tried to tell himself. Couples fought all the time.

“Er, is everything all right, Mikaela?” Thomas asked awkwardly.

“Mmm-hmm.” She picked up her fork and took a bite of her food.

His dad seemed to be scrambling for words while the other men were intently focused on her. “Um, was that your fiancé on the phone?” he asked timidly.

“He wishes,” she mumbled into her glass as she took another swig.

“I beg your pardon?” Thomas asked slowly. “Was that or was that not your fiancé?”

She sighed and looked at him. “He was about a month or so ago.” Mikaela watched Thomas’s eyes get bigger by the second and the blood rush out of his face, right about the time five distinct forks dropped out of five different hands and crashed onto five separate plates. “What?”

Josh shut his eyes, the enormity of her confession too much to process. But he had to stay focused, so when he opened his eyes, he tried to watch everyone.

“You mean you are
not
taken?” Thomas barely whispered.

“Taken? What? What’s that? What’s wrong?” She glanced around the table incredulously.