He dug his keys out of his pocket and flipped through them until he found the right key, unlocked the front door, and led the way into the cabin. Which, as he said, was even more impressive than the exterior. It was tiny, maybe a two hundred or two hundred and fifty square feet at the most, but it was cozy. The walls were snug and the interior seemed nice and cool and dry, not at all drafty. There was a kitchenette in the back right corner, a stove-oven combo, a sink, an antique green refrigerator, a toaster, and a few cabinets. A door beside the kitchenette led into a bathroom, complete with a shower stall, and then the back left corner of the cabin contained a wooden four-poster bed that I suspected was handmade from trees felled right outside the door. The comforter and pillows were plain white, new looking, and neatly made. There was a little oil painting of a serene winter scene on one wall, and some old crossed snowshoes on another, and a mounted, stuffed rabbit head with some kind of antlers on the other.
I laughed and pointed at the rabbit. “Um. I didn’t know bunnies had antlers.”
Baxter snorted, trying to contain his laughter. “Seriously? You’ve never heard of a jackalope?”
I frowned at him, unable to tell if he was teasing me or not, and unwilling to admit I wasn’t sure. “Jackalope? It’s a real animal?”
He nodded, his expression serious now. “Yup. It’s a very rare kinda thing. A real big jackrabbit mated with a kinda small antelope this one time, and they had these little baby jackalopes. They’re super elusive and hard to hunt, so that mounted head up there is a real rare piece.”
I stared hard at him, not wanting to look stupid in front of a man I was so attracted to, but also unsure if he was teasing or not. Because yes, I was a spoiled city girl through and through, and I knew it.
I thought back to my various biology classes. “I’m fairly certain one species cannot impregnate a totally different one.”
He shrugged. “What about mules and hinnies? And ligers?”
I frowned. “Yeah, but they’re sterile. They can’t reproduce. And those are similar and closely related species. A jackrabbit and an antelope are completely dissimilar.”
He seemed to be struggling to contain laughter. “Nature is fickle, you know?”
I let out a distinctly unladylike growl. “Baxter Badd, if you’re making fun of me, I swear I’ll—”
He sidled closer to me, wrapped a big palm around the small of my back and tugging me up against him. “You’ll what?”
I gasped at how close he suddenly was, how big his body felt against mine. How small and delicate he made me feel, which in turn made me feel just so…safe.My heart thumped and pitter-pattered as he buried his hands in my hair, tangling and tugging at the roots, pulling my face so close to his I could feel his breath on my lips.
I swallowed hard. “I’ll…I’ll make you take me back to my room in Ketchikan.”
“I think I might just call your bluff, princess. You would do no such thing.”
“Yes I would.”
He bit down gently on my lower lip, licking it with his tongue, sending my heart rate through the roof. “You wouldn’t. You know you’re about to get fucked within an inch of your life, and you want it more than you’ve ever wanted anything.” Keeping one hand firmly in my hair, gripping it roughly, just this side of painful, he slid his other hand down from the small of my back to clutch my bottom. “You’ve only gotten a little taste of what I can make you feel, Evangeline. You know you’re not leaving until you’ve gotten the full Baxter Badd experience.”
“You are! You’re making fun of me!” I breathed, trying to sound irate and failing.
“Not making fun, babe. Just teasing.” He glanced indicatively at the “jackalope” on the wall. “That’s something taxidermists came up with way back when, to poke fun at city slickers. Turned into this running joke. Meanin’, no, jackalopes ain’t real.” He grinned and squeezed my bottom. “But I had you goin’ for a second, didn’t I?”
I tried to glare sternly at him, which was rather difficult to do with his big, strong hand squeezing and kneading my buttock in a way that had me wanting to both groan in pleasure and grind up against him. “You had me doubting my knowledge of basic biology, I’ll give you that.” I let my hands drift up to slide over his broad shoulders. “You were laughing at me, though, and I don’t like being laughed at.”
He shook his head at me. “You’re cute, honey. I wasn’t laughing out of malice. I could just see your gears turning, trying to figure out if I was kidding but refusing to admit you weren’t sure.” He tapped me on the nose with a finger, and then slid his hand into my hair again, the other still on my backside. “Besides, you gotta laugh at yourself sometimes, you know? You can’t always take everything seriously all the time, babe.”
His hand slid to the other side of my bottom, kneading and caressing, and I wanted both his hands down there, touching and making me squirm and making me feel things I’ve never felt before, but I also really liked his hand in my hair, the way he was controlling my head, where I looked, where my mouth went, making sure I didn’t try to escape any impending kisses.
“I don’t like feeling stupid, either,” I murmured.
“Ain’t nothin’ stupid about you, babe. You grew up in the city. Can’t be expected to know things you weren’t ever exposed to. I was just messin’ with you a little, Eva. Relax. Just a little teasing. No big deal.”
“People do not generally tease me, Baxter, so I’m a little…” I shrugged, unsure how to finish the thought.
“Uptight? Touchy?” He laughed as I huffed in indignation. “Teasing again, babe. Seriously, you need to get the stick outta your ass. Chill out, learn to take a joke, and maybe even give it back a little.”
“I do not have a stick up my…” I huffed again, knowing if I avoided the word he’d used he’d tease me again, but also knowing I’d sound dumb if I tried to talk like him. “I’mnotuptight.”
He laughed even harder, burying his face against my throat. “You can’t even say ‘stick up the ass,’ Eva.”
I endeavored to retain the last of my dignity. “I just don’t talk like that.”
“No, but it’d be hot if you did.”
