"So are there any Bigfoot women nearby?"

He shook his head. The twinkle left his eyes. Casey mourned the loss almost immediately. The guy was cute as hell when he was amused. When not amused he looked intimidating with his intense stare. She didn't feel fear after they'd shared sex. He'd saved her from Ben and Greg too. She sensed he was no danger to her.

Casey realized he must have moved to the cave recently. He sure hadn't lived there last summer when she'd been in it. He probably lived like a nomad, traveling around in thick wooded areas so he wasn't detected. She wondered if he'd even been in a house before. Did he know what a television was? Modern plumbing? Sadness hit her. To live the way he did must be hard. She swallowed the lump in her throat.

"You can come home with me. I live in a remote area." She locked eyes with his. "I live alone. You'd be safe there. I work. I don't have much time for friends anymore so no one will bother us."

A soft growl rumbled from him. He pointed to the falling water. Casey nodded, following his finger, and met his gaze. She was pretty sure he wanted to know what had happened out there.

"I don't know if you'll understand all of this, but I dated this guy. He slept with another woman six months ago. I caught him with his pants down literally. I broke it off with him. Now the woman he cheated on me with just broke it off with him so he is trying to get me back. Last year he was elected sheriff. He sent those two goons who work for him to my place to get me. He thinks if he can force me to be with him, that I'll take him back. Don't worry. I'll handle him somehow and get him to leave me alone. That way those men won't be back. You should come live with me. I have modern technology. You would like television and hot showers. You won't have to hunt for your food anymore. I can buy it at the grocery store. I'm a bartender. I don't have a lot of money but I make good tips and get by just fine. I can afford to feed you as long as you don't eat a ton of food."

Laughing, he looked down his body. His eyes rose to lock with hers.

She raked her gaze up and down him, laughing. "Okay. You're big. We can supplement a little with some hunting. I own a lot of land. I can skin a rabbit and I make a great stew. It's also good on the grill. We have a river to fish from. You don't have to live like this anymore. I can protect you and teach you how to read and write. That way you can talk to me."

Those incredible eyes looked highly amused again. She wondered what entertained him so much. He rose to his feet to walk to the backpack to open it. She saw a small device that he palmed in his hand. Walking back to her, he sat down cross-legged on the bedding and showed the small object to her. It was the size of a pack of cigarettes, all black, with a few buttons on it.

She frowned as she wondered what it was. She'd never seen anything like it.

He pushed a button and growled. He chuckled, staring at her, watching every move Casey made as she looked at the small box on his palm. Something growled back from it.

Startled, she jumped and then laughed at herself. It had to be one of those minirecorders that repeated what someone said. She'd seen some before, but none like the one he held. He pushed the button to growl again. He released the button. The box growled back. Casey smiled at him as her eyes left the box. He liked toys.

"I can buy you some way better ones than that. Wait until I get you hooked on music."

Biting his lip, he slowly stood up. He walked to the edge of the cave to peer out through the thick curtain of water falling from above them to the river flow below. He turned to look at her. Casey watched him. She was hoping that he was debating the idea of living with her. She didn't want him to live like he was. She wanted to keep him.

Guilt ate at her for that thought. He wasn't a stray pet that she could take home to put a collar on. Her gaze ran down his muscular, sexy body. No, he definitely wasn't a pet. She wanted to keep him, but it wasn't in a put-a-collar-on-him way. Not unless that collar came with some handcuffs to tie him down to her bed so she could lick his body and play fun sex games.

He walked to the backpack again. He opened it to withdraw dry clothes. She watched him. The material was like his other outfit, a black leatherlike material. Someone had made those clothes for him. Her heart squeezed in her chest. Was there another woman like her out there who had made him those? Did he make a habit of saving strange women in the woods and making love to them? Was that how he got the toy and the outfits? Why wasn't he still with whatever woman he'd been with? Casey wouldn't let him go easily if she got him to go home with her. She'd want to keep him for as long as she could.

After dressing, he put on his wet boots again. His eyes finally turned to her. Bending down, he removed another set of clothes. He walked slowly to her, holding out the shirt and pants. She hesitated before climbing to her feet. She closed her fingers around the outfit. He backed up a few feet when he released them.

"I don't think these will fit me but they are dry. I'll try. Thank you. They are cool. I've never felt or seen material like this. It looks like leather but it's softer."

He was grinning at her again. Giving him her back, she dropped the pants on his bedding to try to figure out the shirt. She put it on her body only to discover Velcro-like fasteners instead of buttons on the inside seams of the front of the shirt. The garment was baggy as hell on her but at least she didn't have to worry about him seeing her bra-free breasts flopping around under his shirt. It was that baggy. She had to roll the sleeves to find her hands.

As she bent over he growled from behind her. She grinned as she turned her head. He was staring at her ass peeking out from the bottom of the shirt at him.

"An ass man, huh? I thought you wanted me to get dressed."

His eyes tore away from her exposed curves. He nodded.

Regret flooded her. The idea of doing it doggy-style with him turned her on. She bet he was good at that. Guilt ate at her again. Just because he had some animal-like features didn't mean he liked to fuck like one. She bit her lip as she tore her gaze from his.