Free Rugged Fire [Rugged Savage Valley, Colorado 4] by Edith DuBois Page A

holes in the bottom of the canoe.
    “Fine,” she said, picking up her book again and fighting off a violent shiver. “Assholes,” she muttered, ripping her book open. Then she buried her nose in it, trying her damnedest to hold back tears.

Chapter Four
     
    She was a goddamn virgin!
    Will’s mind didn’t want to wrap itself around that idea. It wasn’t his, or Seb’s, normal routine to deflower virgins. Although, from the way she’d blazed to life under their touch, it was difficult to comprehend the fact that she was a virgin. It was funny how much could change in just a few small moments. Lianne Seward had always been around, always been Carson and Noah Strong’s younger cousin, a small slip of a girl. In fact, until he’d seen her at the bank, if someone had mentioned her, his mind would have brought up a picture of her as a twelve-year-old tomboy.
    The only thing he remembered about her was carrying her home after she’d fallen off her bike and scraped up her legs too much to walk. She’d clung to his neck and shivered from the shock, but she didn’t cry. He’d delivered her to the same doorstep he was standing on now. Her mother had answered when he rang the doorbell, stared at him for a long and uncomfortable moment, given him the strangest smile, and then thanked him for returning her daughter home.
    But after hearing her cry out in pleasure at his touch and at his brother’s touch, Will couldn’t see that little girl anymore. He saw the woman. He saw only the woman—the passionate, beautiful, trusting woman.
    Still, he thought, shaking his head, they’d made a point of only sleeping with women who had experience, who wouldn’t expect things from them, things they could never promise. He hated to be prejudiced, but virgins had a tendency toward clinginess. Toward obsessive, demanding, I’m-expecting-a-ring-soon clinginess. Not that he knew from personal experience, but he’d seen enough to know what would happen.
    The moment his cock penetrated her vagina, she’d be hearing wedding bells. Dreams of white and lace and babies and forever after would fill up her head until she became a mere ghost of the alluring woman she now was.
    And not that marriage wasn’t nice and heartwarming, but Will and his brother were not interested in the big M. They both hated being tied to the land, hated not being able to leave Savage Valley, hated the duties and responsibilities that the small town and their bear-shifting nature placed on their shoulders. They didn’t want to pass that on to their sons.
    And then there was their mother.
    He didn’t want to think about that. He didn’t want to think about Lianne slowly morphing into her over the years. It would kill him.
    So mating was out of the question.
    And that meant sleeping with naive virgins was out of the question.
    Which meant that sleeping with Lianne was out of the question.
    Will tried to ignore how perfectly her body had responded to their touch, how perfect she’d looked when she admitted her insecurities, and how perfect he felt when she’d surrendered her vulnerabilities to them. He didn’t let himself think about that now, not when her mesmerizing eyes were glaring at him with accusation.
    After they’d returned to shore, she’d tried to stomp away from them, but they easily lifted the canoe and kept up with her all the way to her house. She’d marched in sullen silence and now that they’d made it to her front porch, she stood glaring down at them on the top step with her arms crossed.
    “I’m sorry we have to leave things like this, but we’ve got work to do,” he said gruffly.
    “That is such a lie. Don’t act like I’m not smart enough to know what happened. Don’t act like you’re not like every other guy I’ve been with who freaks out at the mention of the V-word. I really thought you were different. Both of you.”
    Will tried to focus on her eyes, but he couldn’t stand the deep-rooted vulnerability he saw so plainly.