Anything You Want: River Jewel Resort Series Book 1 by Madison Sevier

fine?”
    “You’ve been watching me? Listen here creep, you need to back up and walk away. I’m not going to be your next meal. So take your psycho ass on outta here before I kick it for you.”
    The man laughed so hard that tears ran down his cheeks, making a trail through his beard and onto his blue flannel shirt. He actually had the nerve to bend over, in a full-blown belly laugh.
    “I don’t see what’s so funny. I said to keep your hands up!”
    He continued to laugh and glanced at her occasionally before erupting into another fit. “You?”
    “You really are fucking crazy.” Hunter slowly began to back up and inched closer to the safety of her car.
    “Listen, buddy. I don’t want any trouble. Just go back to whatever rock you crawled out from under and I’ll be leaving.”
    “No, you listen. Sweetheart, you’re not goin’ anywhere.”
    A shiver of terror ran through her and the man’s cold gaze stared back at her, freezing her in her tracks. “You’re on my land. You’re not going anywhere. You can’t leave.”
    He inched closer to her and Hunter tightened her grip on the weapon in her hands.
    “No!” She screamed as the guy reached for her. “Don’t touch me, you bastard!”
    He yanked her only means of defense from her and held it up. “This is what you were going to beat me up with? Impressive.”
    Hunter only then realized she’d been holding a stick.
    “Sticks and stones. That’s the best you could come up with?” He erupted into another fit of laughter and tossed the stick aside. “A damn twig! You don’t get out much, do you?”
    He pressed even closer to her body and Hunter felt herself recoil. “I said, don’t touch me.” She backed away and found her backside pressed up against the car.
    “Gladly. I was merely disarming you. Though I’m pretty sure you’d have poked your own eye out before you’d have done any damage to me. Let’s just say it was for your own good.”
    What a jerk!
    “Now, are you going to allow me to help you with this flat tire or are you still hell bent on, what did you say? Oh yeah, kicking my ass.”
    “Just get away from me. I’ll figure it out myself. Kindly point me in the direction of the closest person’s home and I’ll be on my way.”
    “Not a great listener, are ya’?”
    “Why must you answer questions with questions? Have you lived in the woods all your life? No human interaction?”
    “What?”
    The man was incorrigible! “Never mind. I don’t want to confuse you with words of more than one syllable.”
    Hunter pulled her hair to one side of her neck and crossed her arms in front of her.
    “You’re quite the piece of work, aren’t you?”
    “Okay, look, Mr. Woodsman, just leave me alone. Clearly, we aren’t going to be able to have a civilized conversation. Obviously I’m not surprised, considering…”
    “Considering what? Oh, you mean considering how I look? How I talk?”
    Hunter smirked and shrugged. “If the shoe fits.”
    “Alright, have it your way. Where’s your spare?”
    “If I had a spare or anything to help me change a tire, do you think I’d have grabbed a stick to defend myself with? Do you think I’d still be here if I had a spare?”
    “Shucks, ma’am. I have no idea. I’m just a dumb ol’ mountain man.” He spit out the side of his mouth and tucked his hands in his pockets.
    “Typical.”
    “Look, I’ve had the worst week of my life. I’m trying to get to my family’s cabin and I really don’t need attitude and condescension from some hilltop hillbilly. So, if you have an idea on how to help me, great. If not, kindly take yourself back to wherever you came from.”
    “You have quite a way with words. I have no idea why you’d be all alone.”
    Picking up on his sarcasm, Hunter continued, “Whether I’m all alone or not is of no consequence to you.”
    “I beg to differ. Ya’ see, if you weren’t all alone, I wouldn’t have to be here listening to you whine and cuss out squirrels.