Read Online ALWAYS (A Wolfe Brothers Novel) by Lita Stone - Free Book Online Page A

climbed the slightest of
slopes the muscles in Maggie’s legs quivered. She placed her open
hand on her thigh. Nope, her skin hadn’t burst to flame. She willed
her body to continue without complaint.
    Her efforts failed. “My legs feel like
spaghetti.”
    His back to her, he said, “If I use the
hairspray on you, will you stop pestering me?”
    “ Why don’t you just let me
land on you? What’s the worst that could happen?”
    “ You could sting me.” He
spoke without looking at her, still trudging forward.
    “ Occasionally, but you’re
thick-skinned. You’d survive.”
    Cam shook his head. “But you might
not.”
    “ What does that
mean?”
    “ My knee-jerk reaction
would be to flatten you.”
    Maggie stepped forward and gave him a
swat on his ass. “You could try, but this pest is quick and always
comes back for more.”
    “ You don’t get
it.”
    “ Explain it to me. After
last night, it’s the least you could do.”
    He turned and stalked toward her.
“Flatten you.” The words lingered from his lips as he closed the
distance between them. Backing her into a tree, he wedged his knee
between her legs and wrapped his calloused warm fingers around her
neck. He turned her head and whispered close to her ear. “Flatten
you.”
    Maggie drew in a shaky
breath.
    Cam smiled. “Now you get
it.”
    # # #
    The sun peeked over the horizon. For
what felt like days, they walked in silence, until Cam finally
veered off the trail.
    “ We camp here.” He dropped
his backpack and reached for hers, but she pulled it from his
reach. “I can set up my own tent.”
    Cam nodded and headed for the
woods.
    Sighing, she dropped to the ground and
crossed her legs. Her dry eyes burned from physical and emotional
exhaustion. The painful desire she felt just hours ago, turned to a
generous portion of revulsion, thanks to him threatening her. But
her body ached from strenuous activity and hunger.
    Maggie curled on her side and hugged
her knees against her chest. Never again would she find herself
vulnerable to anyone. Much less a man. Despite her body’s
objections, her conscience couldn’t tolerate one more second with
this excuse of a man.
    Snatching her backpack,
she ran. How hard could it be to follow a
marked trail? Once she was a safe
distance, she’d pitch her tent, get up in the morning and finish
this damn hike on her own.
    # # #
    Cam dropped the wood he'd collected and
scanned his surroundings but she was no where in sight. She could
be doing her business, but based on the little she'd drank and ate
that day, he doubted it.
    He sprinted down the trail. His face
flushed, not from exertion, but from rage. He wanted to wrap his
hands around her scrawny little neck and shake her. How could she
be so stupid? Didn’t she realize wandering alone through the middle
of the woods was dangerous?
    Cam ran faster.
    Turning a corner, he caught a glimpse
of her red tank top. “Maggie!”
    She peered over her shoulder, and their
eyes met. Her head whipped back.
    Maggie ran faster.
    Aside from the crunch of the dry leaves
beneath their feet and the wheeze of their labored breaths, quiet
monopolized the forest.
    When he neared, Maggie dashed around a
cluster of narrow trees. Cam circled to her, but she moved,
maintaining an equal distance between them.
    Maggie struggled for a breath.
“Lesson’s over.”
    Cam rounded the greenery. Maggie did
the same. Since all she’d eaten today was two of his energy bars,
he gambled she’d tire before him. “I’m getting dizzy.”
    “ Then stop chasing me,”
she said, her tone matter-of-fact.
    “ Nope.”
    “ Am I amusing
you?”
    “ Yup.”
    From the ground, she snatched a branch
the size of a broom and held the make-shift weapon across her
chest. “Come and get me.”
    Cam held up his hands, palms out. “I’m
not going to hurt you.”
    She raised a brow. “Really?”
    “ I’ve never hit a woman
out of anger,” he lied.
    Although he never intended to put his
mother in a coma,