Page 32 of Auctioned to the Devil

This fake relationship might kill me before Sloan gets the chance.

Chapter 5

Emily

Caleb Mercer’s cabin is not a cabin.

This becomes obvious the second we pull through a stand of towering pines and his headlights sweep across a two-story house built from dark timber and stone.

I stare through the windshield.

“You lied.”

Caleb shuts off the truck. “About?”

“This.”

He looks at the house. “What about it?”

“You said you had a cabin.”

“It is a cabin.”

“It has two chimneys.”

“So?”

“And a garage.”

He opens his door.

“And electricity, apparently.”

“Most houses do.”

I follow him into the snow. “I pictured a shack.”

He grabs my bag from the truck bed.

“Why?”

“Because you’re terrifying. A caveman. Practically an animal.”

He starts toward the house.

“And antisocial.”

Keeps walking.

“And you grunt.”

He unlocks the door.

“And I’m pretty sure you threatened a man without speaking tonight.”

He holds the door open for me. “You coming inside or writing my biography?”

I brush past him.