Here it is y'all. My favorite chapter. This is what this book is all about. 🤗🤗❤️❤️ Treat it right. Love it extra. It's my baby.

**
Chapter 39

By the time I had everything done, my nerves were completely shot to hell.

The man was too much, too intense. Just sitting there, watching me, he had my nerves so at attention, one word from him and I'd have been lost. Too appealing. We'd only just gotten here, and already I was... overheated.

I let my gaze dart across from me. Bard wasn't even watching me anymore. He'd stopped paying any mind to me the moment I set the food in front of him.

He ate like a damn bear. The meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and red gravy didn't last five minutes before he'd gotten up and added more to his plate.

How can he even taste the shit?

His fork kept a steady rhythm. Plate, mouth, plate, mouth, each time barely taking a second to chew before swallowing.

"Bard?"

He paused with the fork halfway to his mouth and looked at me.

"I don't know the Heimlich maneuver. Just thought you might like to know that."

He stared at me for a full minute, then snorted and went back to his food as if I hadn't said a word.

Okay, then. I continued to watch him while I took much slower, much smaller bites of my first plate.

Within five minutes, he'd cleared that one and got up again. I thought he was going to put his plate into the sink, but no. Bard added more, and by more, I mean a pile. Then he sat back down and resumed shoveling.

"Does that mean it's good, or were you secretly starving, and I didn't know about it?"

He nodded. "It's good."

I shook my head and stopped watching. Well, at least I now knew why the fridge was so stocked. Then again, Bard was a monster, so it made sense.

I'd just finished mine, when Bard grabbed it out from in front of me.

"You still hungry, Tequila?" He walked to the stove.

"No, no." I waved my hands, then slowly added, "I'm human."

Bard laughed, big and throatily, and a wave of pleasure reverberated through me at the sound.

"You want some dessert? I got ice cream." He shot me a wink and started on the task of washing our plates.

"No way. I'm stuffed." I got up from the table, and moved to put the leftovers away.

There weren't any.

"Did you seriously eat an entire meatloaf?" I gaped at the empty pan.

Bard laughed again. He was doing that more and more lately, and it bothered me. Too sexy. Too tempting. I needed to stop eliciting these reactions.

"You surprised me, Tequila."

I smirked, despite my negative thoughts. "There are a lot of things you don't know about me." I gathered the empty pans and brought them over to the sink.

Bard stopped me from washing. "I've got it. Why don't you go pick out a movie or something. It's too late to do much else."

"I can help." I snatched the pan from his hand. "I wash, you rinse and dry."

His lip twitched. "Yes ma'am."

The kitchen was small, so doing the dishes together put us much closer than I'd realized it would.

We worked silently. I'd pass him a dish and our hands would brush. With every slight movement our bodies would make contact, elbows, forearms, hips, legs.

Each touch thickened the atmosphere. The tension was there, and as much as I hated to admit it, I couldn't just pretend it didn't exist.

The attraction between Bard and I was palpable. He wanted me, and dammit if I didn't want him. Who wouldn't? The man was enough to corrupt a nun.

Even so, there was no way I could let it happen.

Bard was amazing. Unbelievably, otherworldly, and impossibly sexy. Sweet, protective, resourceful, strong. He was everything. If it wasn't for Drake, I'd have fallen for him in a heartbeat, wouldn't have even paused.

But thanks to Drake, I knew better.

When I met him, he'd been sex on a Harley, and every girl's idea of Prince Charming.

He'd bought me gifts, given me compliments, doted on me like I was the most important person in his world.

I'd been in deep. My love for that man had been so strong, that even after things went bad, I didn't let go of it.

Drake abused me for years before I stopped loving him, and he was nothing compared to the man Bard was.

What would happen if I gave in? If I let myself succumb to this attraction?

I cut my eyes over to the center of my turmoil, standing right beside me, unaware of the internal war he'd caused. I'd love him. I'd love him a million times more than I'd ever loved Drake. I knew it. I didn't even need to think about it. He was more.

If I let that happen, when things turned south, I'd never stop.

I'd never walk away. It would be impossible, and I'd become that girl.

Bard put the last dish away and turned to me. "Movie?"

"I'm tired," I lied. My mood was morose, and I suddenly felt lonelier than I'd ever felt in my life.

Bard didn't turn away or offer to show me where I'd be sleeping. He studied me, eyes searching, probing, reading my thoughts.

"Come on." He flicked his head towards the door. "I want to show you something."

I chewed my lip, looked at the door, then back to him. This was his house, and he was doing me a favor by helping me. The least I could do was not be a bitch, so I nodded, if reluctantly.

Bard led me outside. The day had given way to night, painting the tree-filled yard in a darkness I'd never seen before. It was ominous. Eerie. I remembered him saying there were bears in the woods and, out of instinct, took a step closer to him.

"I've got you," he said, voice soft. He looked down at me, then wrapped my hand in his and lead us further away.

I let him be my guide, let his calloused hand swallow my tinier one, let his long legs pull me away into the unknown.

It wasn't until the trees thinned, opening up into a meadow, that I knew what he wanted to show me.

Stars. Millions, upon millions of stars. They filled the sky with depth, surpassing anything I'd ever seen before in my life.

No street lights, neon signs, or high rise complexes dulled them. They were everywhere.

I stared, mouth opened in wonder, up at the sky. It was beautiful.

"Amazing, isn't it?" he asked, voice smooth and rich, blending in with the natural earthiness surrounding us.

I nodded. "I've never seen them look like that before."

Bard sat down onto the grass and motioned for me to sit beside him.

I paused, but did as he asked, making sure to keep a space between us.

"You see there?" He pointed up at the sky. "The Big Dipper."

I searched, but it all looked the same to me. "How can you tell anything? There's so many of them."

"Look." He pointed again. "It looks like a big ladle. The way the stars are." He scooted closer and leaned around me, putting his arm level with my line of sight.

My heart rate picked up, a steady thudding inside my chest, so rapid I was sure he could hear it. This man, the setting, all of it was almost too much; it almost broke me.

"Do you see it?" Bard asked, pulling me back to what he was trying to show me.

I followed his arm, and sure enough, there it was. A ladle. I smiled. "I do."

Bard hummed. "The bottom of the bowl, if you follow it." His finger traced the stars. "All the way over." His voice was quiet, and his breath caressed the curve of my ear. "There." He pointed. "That's the Little Dipper. Can you see it?"

I saw it, but I didn't give a shit about it. Not with this man so close to me. "Yeah."

Bard turned to me, and his eyes swept over my face for a moment before he turned back away. "See the handle? The very last star, that's the North Star. If you can find that, you'll always know which direction you're going."

I found the star he was talking about. "You are never lost," I whispered.

"Exactly." He faced me, and I was lost.

Those eyes. The way his smooth voice caressed my mind as he showed me his world. I was lost.

"Bard?" My voice sounded breathless, unsure, almost fearful.

He saw it all. "Are you ready to head back?"

I nodded.

"C'mon." He stood, and reached a hand down to help me to my feet.

Different sounds filled the silence between us on the walk back. Hooting owls, rustling leaves, chirping insects. It was another world, far away, like I'd left and gone into a new realm.

It felt secluded, and off the grid. Probably because it was, but it was new to me. Safe. A million miles away from the club, from prison, from him.

"Thank you," I whispered just as the cabin came back into view.

Bard stopped and turned to me. "No, Tequila. Thank you."

I snorted. "For what? I haven't done anything for you but cause trouble."

Bard's intense eyes returned and cut right through me. "You're my North Star, Jessie."