Mandy's Story Read Free Page B

the
combination code would be harder. He might enjoy dreaming about
wrapping his fingers around her slender neck, but they both knew he
wouldn’t kill her.
    When she stopped and rolled up the door
that afternoon, he realized she had backed the tail end of the
truck a foot from a brick wall. After her inquisitive eyes looked
around the truck, she spotted the plastic bag in the corner and
took it away without a word. A few minutes later she returned empty
handed. “I’m heading to get food and pick up a few more things from
the store. Can I get you anything?”
    She appeared so calm, looking directly
into his eyes with steady patience that proved more than anything
that her craziness was inborn. His anger stayed on a low simmer and
he managed to be civil, “I have a feeling I’ll need a few new
sweatpants or fifty. A six pack of beer would be great,
too.”
    She smiled. It was the first one that
truly reached her eyes and it lit up her face. Until that moment,
he didn’t realize the strain she was under, or maybe he just wasn’t
thinking past his own nightmare. Her delicate beauty had affected
him from the moment they met. Keeping his eyes off her was damn
near impossible back then.
    “ If that’s all you want,
I’ll be leaving.”
    The rolling metal door closed slowly
and he was alone again. Boredom was his biggest enemy and he’d
rested more during the past two days than he usually did in a week.
After thirty minutes of moping, he grabbed the bars above his head
at the end of the cage, stretched his body out, and did reverse
pushups. It was probably ten degrees warmer in the truck than
outside and sweat quickly dripped from his body. He switched to one
arm, working up and down fifty times and then working his other.
After three sets, he turned his back to the side of the cage,
grasped the bars beside his hips, and lifted his lower body
straight legged off the floor for five minutes. He repeated his
core exercise twice more. Next, he stretched his body from one end
of the cage to the other, pressing his bare feet to the bars. His
hands held the other end, and he suspended himself halfway off the
floor, and keeping his body in a slightly arched plank position for
ten minutes. The door rolled up during his second set.
    He didn’t look at her and continued to
count silently in his head. She remained quiet. He didn’t hear her
move, but knew she stood and watched. At the completion of ten
counts of sixty, he released his feet and turned.
    Desire was written clearly on her face,
causing his breath to catch. Her green eyes traveled over his
sweat-dampened chest and then down his covered legs. He could smell
himself; unwashed, perspiration from his workout, and the scent of
bear. But god… he inhaled the musky scent that was all her, and
added to that, he smelled her arousal.
    He waited until her eyes met his again.
“Why don’t you open the cage?” His husky voice screamed sexual
fantasy, promised she could run her hands over his chest, and then
lick the sweat running down his body.
    He knew it worked because her eyes
traveled over the dripping moisture again as it rolled over his
hard swelling muscles before dampening the waist of his
pants.
    Her choked voice was incredibly low, “I
don’t think it’s wise.”
    “ It may not be wise, but
it’s what you want. And I’m willing to give you exactly what you
want.” His growl was compelling.
    Her eyes snapped to his. “You’re
lying.” The shaking timbre of the words let him know she hoped he
wasn’t.
    He tried again. “I need to touch
you.”
    Without another word, she laid the bags
on the floor, used the blue hoe to push them closer, and then left
him in the dark. The truck’s engine rumbled a few minutes
later.
    He let out the breath he’d been
holding, knowing he finally had a way to break her down. She
thought him her mate; she desired his body and his touch. He wasn’t
as smart as he thought he was; he should’ve figured it out sooner.
Now… he had