Free Bearing It All by Vonnie Davis

pretty good. God, that man could tell some raunchy jokes. He’d sleep on the sofa and I’d make us breakfast before he’d start back home. He died last year and willed me his land. Now, I’m roughly four miles away from neighbors in all directions up here. The Highlands encompasses a huge area, beautiful, strong, and timeless.” He spoke of the area with love and pride.
    “Do you always come up here alone?” Having a place like this to go and unwind would be nice, she figured.
    “Me brothers used to come along sometimes, but now that they’re married, they’d sooner be with their wives. Me cousin, the one who’s a police detective, Kendric Matheson, comes along once in a while depending on his caseload.” He poured dark liquid into two mugs. “Marshmallows or whipped crème?”
    “Marshmallows would be great. I prefer my whipped crème on men.” Her mouth gaped open in embarrassment at the remark that had just slipped out.
    On the other hand, his mouth clamped shut while his eyes popped wide.
    “Oh, Ronan, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…”
    “Dinna say another word. I’ll have to put the mugs on a tray to carry them over. Me hands are trembling too hard to carry them the normal way. Fook, woman, would ye really…?”
    “Spray it on and then lick it off?” Just to rattle him some more, because she knew he’d do the same to her if he got the chance, she gave his body a slow sweep of her eyes and smiled. “Oh, hell, yeah. Makes my tongue itch just thinking about it.”
    The mugs rattled on the tray.
    “Fokin’ hell, ye would drive a man to madness.”
    She took a mug off the tray and batted her eyes. “And I’d do it slowly, too.”
    His eyes pinched shut. “Do not give me any more to fantasize about. Please, woman, have mercy.” He pivoted and stepped toward the sofa.
    “A scoop of ice cream in the navel is always nice to lick out, too. Especially on a hot day when it melts quickly. It’s a good thing you don’t have ice cream with you.”
    His head whipped around and he stared at the refrigerator’s freezer.

Chapter 6
    Oh crap, she may have just kicked a sleeping bear. Maybe she’d gone too far with her teasing. While she’d never done any of those things herself, her three college roommates had bragged and told many an erotic story, trying their best to embarrass the math geek. The joke was on them, though, for she was no virgin. She’d just never felt the need to leave her bookish world to brag about it.
    As devoted as she was to her military career, not once had Anisa ever thought she’d feel strongly enough about a man to try sexual play with him. Yet here sat one fine specimen on the edge of the sofa, coiled like a wild beast, ready to strike. He was all scowls and testosterone and, even from across the room, the waves of his sexual tension pulled at her like tentacles of pure lust.
    His eyes narrowed on her. “Dinna tease a man whose blood is running hot in his veins. A man who wants ye more than his next breath or to see his next sunrise over the Highlands.”
    “I’ve never had a guy talk to me the way you do. It unsettles me.”
And turns me on, too.
    He gulped his drink, his gaze locked on hers. “Does it fluster ye in a good way or bad? Are ye afraid of me, Frenchy? I ken I can be grumpy and domineering in me own way, but I would never, ever hurt ye. Never.”
    “I think I know that already.” And she did, deep down in her heart. She sensed a kindness and loyalty about this man she’d rediscovered after all these years.
    “Because ye need to ken this, lassie. Once I make love to ye and I will, ye’ll be mine. No other man touches ye, but me. I’ve never had emotions like this fer a woman before. I can tell ye in all honesty, not only does it scare me, but I will be one fokin’ possessive, jealous son of a bitch where ye’re concerned.
    “So the choice will be yers. The aye or the nay of it. The time, if we do cross that line. Just ken, once I’m inside ye, ye’ll