Chapter 6

Tears ran down her face, but she didn’t care. What am I going to do? She didn’t know where to go and wasn’t sure if she wanted to go somewhere else. Here, she was hidden and out of Aiden’s reach. The man that had just appeared out of nowhere had scared her half out of her mind and now she had to start over. Again.

Taking a shaky breath, she wiped her hands over her wet face and turned back towards the cabin. Rayne froze. He was coming back and looked angrier than he had before. Not knowing what else to do, she just stood there as he came towards her, his long legs eating up the distance in no more than a few seconds.

He went over to the tent and undid one of the ropes she’d tied to the building. Rayne just stood there, shocked. She knew she was technically trespassing, but hadn’t she just told him she’d leave? Not sure what else to do she went over and tried to pull the rope out of his hand. “I can take it down, thank you.” He stopped and looked down at her, not releasing the rope or pulling it from her hand. He stood like that for an eternity, even though it was probably only a few seconds. Rayne swallowed, not feeling as certain now.

As he stepped closer she moved to take a step back. He tilted his head to the side and studied her for another tense moment. “I’m fixing it,” he finally said, so quietly it took her a second to realize what he’d said.

She let go of the rope and looked up into grey eyes, which felt so familiar she almost forgot that she didn’t know the man. “Fixing it?” she finally managed to mumble. He turned away from her and continued to do something with the rope as he spoke over his shoulder.

“If it storms again, the way you have it, there’s a good chance you’re going to blow away or get very wet...”

Rayne stepped around him so she could see his face and those eyes again. “I thought you wanted me to leave?” Did I miss something?

Stopping, he sighed. “I may have been a bit—abrupt.” He looked at her and the expression in his eyes completely contradicting the hardness etched on his face. “Stay for a few days if you need to.” He motioned to the cabin. “If the storms get severe, as they often do at this time of year, hide out in there until it passes or your car...” He looked at the car for a moment and then shook his head. “Probably better off in the cabin.” With a jerky movement, he bent down and pulled up a stake that had taken her too long to beat into the ground. With quick, sure movements he slipped the rope through it and shoved it back into the ground completely, with just his hand.

Rayne stood there without comment as he repeated the action with the other three ropes. He was used to being outside, she could tell by the way he moved, as if he were part of the natural landscape that surrounded them. When he finished and came to stand near her, she hadn’t moved while watching him. She could only watch, not sure if she should speak in case she said the wrong thing and made him change his mind.

He was silent too, giving her more time to notice more than his drawing eyes. He had high cheek bones and a square jaw, her first thought as silly as it was, was he looked like a beautiful animal with an untamed wildness beneath. She blinked, realizing her thoughts were bordering on crazy.

“There’s a shower in the small building by the East end, near the lake—the water is on there.” The expression on her face must have told him that she had no clue which way was East, or where the lake was, as he gave her an odd look and then pointed in toward the east. “My place is up the hill over on the Nor...” he pointed in another direction, “that way. You stay clear of my place and I don’t see us having any problems.” He paused and then reached forward so slowly it was as if he was afraid his hand was going to pass right through her. His thumb brushed gently down over her cheek, his fingers tickling against the side of her neck as he did, as a tingling sensation spread through her. “You may want to check that shower out sooner rather than later.” With that he dropped his hand and backed up a few feet. Nodding once he turned and started to walk back into the trees.

Wait! She blinked and then rushed after him. “Thank you,” she added quickly. “My name is Rayne, by the way.” He stopped so suddenly she almost walked into his back. Turning slowly, he looked down at her. “Th-thank you,” she said again, not knowing why he was giving her such an odd look.

“Rayne?” He finally asked with a deep whisper. She nodded, wondering if she should thank him again or just leave it there. He smirked, at least she thought it was a smirk and shook his head. He muttered something under his breath and she wasn’t positive, but it sounded like ‘that figures’.

Clearing his throat, he looked from the ground to her face. “Devin.” Then before she could respond, he turned and disappeared into the trees without another word. Rayne stood there for much longer than she intended, looking into the trees that had just swallowed him.

Still glancing back at the trees, she went over to the car. What had just happened? She had no idea, but wasn’t going to follow him to ask. Closing the car door, she groaned when she saw her own reflection in the window. She looked like she’d been rolling around in the dirt. Well, that helped her understand his shower comment. Shower, oh, she was heading to check that out before she did anything else.

She went into the cabin to find what she’d need. Despite being startled by Devin appearing out of nowhere and barking at her one minute only to turn around and be nice to the next, it hadn’t stopped her from appreciating just how gorgeous he was. His height wasn’t a surprise, most people were taller than her five foot five, but his wonderfully wide shoulders that had tapered to a perfect waist had been—nice. If she wasn’t in the middle of a minor breakdown she’d have bet that he had one of those squeezable butts too. His eyes had been haunting, the pale shade was closer to grey than blue and they had seemed vaguely familiar, and she had no idea why. No one she knew had eyes even remotely similar. She’d figure this out later, right now she was more than ready for a shower to rid herself of the dust and smell.