With quick, mean moves, he yanked her blanket away, opened his own parka, and yanked her back against his chest. He spread the blanket in front of her and clenched his jaw as she wriggled the soft curves of her ass against his already aching dick. The madder he got at her, the harder he got for her. Needing to discipline her was a sickness swimming in his blood.

She tried to pull away from him, and in the ensuing struggle, her sweater slid higher. He couldn’t stop himself from splaying one hand over her now bare stomach.

“Hold the fuck still,” he ordered as he spread the thermal blanket around her.

He tried not to think about his thumb’s discovery that the infuriating woman against him was not wearing a bra. There was nothing between his thumb and the soft underside of her left breast. Just full, silky flesh begging to be squeezed, sucked. His pinky finger was wedged an inch into the waistband of her sweatpants.

He kicked the horse into motion and gritted his teeth. The slow roll of the saddle added a constant friction between Remi’s sweet, round ass and his granite erection. Heaven and hell intertwined as he finally learned what she’d feel like under his hands.

They broke out of the trees minutes later into civilization.

“Where are we going?” she asked when he guided Cleetus away from downtown and the health center.

“We’re going to your place to get your rescue inhaler and the rest of your prescriptions. Then I’m taking you to the med center and telling the doctor to lecture you until you actually listen.”

“I don’t need your…assistance,” she sniped weakly. “I can do all that…myself.”

“Yeah. Sounds like you could run a lap around the island right now, too. Would you rather I dropped you off at the Kleckners so your mom can give you that scary look of hers?”

“No,” she said sullenly.

“Are you warm enough?” he asked in her ear.

“I’m fine.”

They lapsed into silence. Her heart thumped steadily against his palm, and her skin gradually began to warm under his touch.

The snow fell harder now. Fat flakes floating from the sky, blotting out the horizon as Cleetus picked his way down the road.

“I swear to Christ, if you ever leave your house without your inhaler again, I’m going to lock you up.”

“If my recollection serves, I didn’t call you. This isn’t your problem.”

She sounded stronger at least, but of course it was because she was fighting him.

“You didn’t call, but I came anyway. That’s the way this works. You will always be my problem.”

For some goddamn ridiculous female reason, his answer had her relaxing against him. He could spend a lifetime studying Remi and knew she still wouldn’t make any damn sense to him. But he had bigger problems to deal with now. With her new relaxed position, his thumb wasn’t just brushing her breast, it was pinned under it.