by Zoe Chant
Getting into a fight had not been part of his plan. “I can drink where I please,” Grey said mildly, “but since I was just leaving, you bears can have your clubhouse all to yourselves now.”
He slipped smoothly past Matt and kept going toward the door.
Behind him, he heard Matt say, “Hey, don’t you run away from me!” He braced himself. It looked like he might be getting a fight after all.
Then a high female voice said, “Matt Finch, if you punch that guy, I am out of here.”
Grey glanced back and saw Matt looking between him and a thin blonde, clearly undecided. There was a long moment where it wasn’t clear which way it would go, but finally Matt said, “All right, baby, fine. I’ll find him later.”
Grey let out his breath and kept on his way. No fight tonight.
It was coming, though, he could tell. Assholes like Matt Finch didn’t let up.
As he got farther away, he started to relax, but just as he was nearing the door, someone darted forward and ran straight into him, hard enough to bounce off his chest and stumble back a few steps.
“Hey,” Grey started to growl, intending to follow it up with, Watch where you’re going!
But the person looked up and met his eyes, and Grey forgot what he was going to say.
She had huge, startlingly blue eyes, framed by long, curling eyelashes and a round, beautiful face. Her skin was olive-toned, smooth, and soft-looking—and there was as much of it as any man could want to look at. Her curves strained the edges of her clothing, as though it was doing its best but couldn’t quite contain anything so magnificent as this woman’s body.
This woman’s body that had just bounced off of his body. Grey immediately regretted not catching her while she’d been there, and just keeping her tucked up against him. Forever.
Then he saw the man behind her, and the tear slipping down her cheek.
The growl rose in his chest without any conscious thought.
***
The evening wasn’t turning out how Ali had wanted.
Her request to go somewhere quiet had been ignored. Mac wanted to go to the logger bar because there were apparently some guys there he wanted to play pool with. Ted wanted to go to the logger bar because he did everything his brother wanted. And Denise was apparently thinking with her panties tonight.
So now they were at the place that was sure to get the most action from the wildest people in the whole town.
The bar had already been loud and rowdy when they got there. Then Ted bought her a beer without asking her if she wanted one, and got mad when she’d set it down without drinking it.
“I paid good money for that, Ali!” Then Ted said, “Maybe you want something else, huh?”
Before she could react, he tried to slide his hand up her shirt.
“No,” she told him. “I don’t want to do that.”
“Oh, come on, Ali. It’s only second base.” His hand slipped higher.
She jerked his hand away. “I said no. We’re done.”
Ali stalked off. He followed her at first, but then his brother had found him and dragged him off to meet some local street-racing legend or something. That left her feeling a little shaky, although she kept her chin high and her expression fierce.
Then she spotted Matt Finch across the bar, laughing with some skinny blonde.
She turned around immediately, her cheeks burning. He hadn’t seen her, but it didn’t matter. He wouldn’t care if he had. She was the only one who’d ever cared. And he was the last person she’d wanted to see tonight.
So now she was on the opposite end of the bar, looking for Denise. If it were up to her, they’d abandon the Eltons here and drive back to town right now. She’d rather be at home listening to Paul and Molly argue than here.
She was still fuming about the fact that Ted hadn’t listened her to tell him no. Alethia Parker would tell any man no she wanted to, and if he took issue with that, she had pepper spray in her purse and she wasn’t afraid to use it.
So that was the mindset she was in when some guy in a scraggly beard and a stained T-shirt noticed her and leered. “Hey, honey, you lose your boyfriend?”
“I don’t know,” she snapped. “He’s probably with your mom.”
In retrospect, that had been a dumb thing to say.
Scraggly got mad and grabbed her arm.
“I think you should learn some respect.” His breath was hot in her face. It did not smell minty-fresh.
“Let go of me.” She made sure to enunciate each word very carefully.
“No.” His grip tightened.
Ali looked down, hoping to God he wasn’t wearing steel-toed boots. Nope, she was in luck: dirty white sneakers.
She drove her four-inch stiletto heel down into his foot. He howled and let her go, and she darted off into the crowd as fast as she could go.
That was it, she was finding Denise and they were leaving right now!
She ran smack into someone, rebounding off his chest like he was made of stone.
She looked up—and up—to meet the cool, grey eyes of a man who had to be at least 6’3’’. He was lean and muscular and looked like he could take anybody at this bar without breaking a sweat.
Great, Ali thought. Now this guy would want a piece of her, and she was going to have to try and pepper spray him, except his face might be too high for her to reach.
But he wasn’t making a move. He was just looking at her, intently, and when she looked back, she saw that his eyes weren’t cool after all. They were warm, a warm silvery color that held her attention like nothing else ever had.
“Gotcha!” Scraggly had come up behind her without her noticing and grabbed her arm again.
Gotcha?
She tried to find it funny—it was funny, after all, like she was a mouse in a cartoon—but all of a sudden, the whole night seemed to crash down on her. Molly, Denise, Ted, Matt, Scraggly. She wanted to burst into tears.
She couldn’t cry in a bar in front of everyone. But somehow, a single hot streak escaped her eye makeup and made it down her cheek.
Then a big hand closed around Scraggly’s wrist and twisted.
“Hey!” Scraggly yelled, instantly letting her go. “What’s wrong with you? I saw her first.”
“I’m thinking she doesn’t want to see you,” said the grey-eyed man in a rumbling voice. “Seeing as how she was running away from you.”
“She needs to pay for what she said to me,” Scraggly whined.
The grey-eyed man stepped forward. “Excuse me,” he said to Ali.
Suddenly, with a graceful twist, he was between her and Scraggly. He stared down at Scraggly’s trucker hat. Scraggly tilted his head back and looked a little less sure of himself.
“Seems to me that you need to pay for what you did to her.” His voice was almost a growl. “We can do that here or outside.”
“No! Uh, no, no thanks.” Scraggly backed away abruptly. He had to shoulder a few guys aside to do it. Then his whiny voice rose again as he started making new friends a few yards away.
Ali let out a breath that she felt like she’d been holding for an hour.
“Thank you,” she said to the man.
Now that she had a chance to take in more than his height and his eyes, he was even more striking. His skin was weather-beaten and tanned a pale, pale gold, and his hair was white-blond, getting a little too long and falling into his eyes. He had broad shoulders and muscular arms, but still managed to give the impression of leanness, a rangy grace that she had just witnessed in motion.
“No need to thank me.” No longer a rumbling growl, his voice was husky, deep but quiet enough that it seemed like she shouldn’t be able to hear it over the noise of the bar.
“It was just what any man should’ve done.” His eyes flickered over the crowd of men around them, none of whom had done anything, but most of whom would’ve followed in Scraggly’s footsteps if they’d noticed her. “Any decent man,” he corrected himself.
�
�Well, you’re the one who did it, so my thanks are going to you.” She couldn’t help looking him up and down again. Wow, he was a tall, cool glass of water. “Do you have a name?”
“Grey,” he said. “Grey Landin. You?”
She opened her mouth to say Ali, like she’d introduced herself a thousand times before, but for some reason what slipped out instead was, “Alethia. Alethia Parker.”
“Alethia,” he repeated.
In his husky voice, it didn’t sound weird or stupid or old-fashioned, like she usually thought. It sounded exotic and beautiful.
“Are you okay, Alethia?” he was asking. She made herself pay attention. It wasn’t hard. His voice seemed to curl up next to her ears, somehow drowning out the crowd without being loud at all. “Did he do anything to you?”
She shook her head. It was tempting to mention Ted feeling her up earlier, just to see what Grey Landin would do to a man like that.
But just the sight and sound of Grey pushed Ted—and Molly, and Paul, and Scraggly, and even Matt—out of her mind. She didn’t want to bring any of that up with him. “I’m okay. I got his foot with my heel before he did anything.”
Grey’s eyes flickered downward, and he smiled faintly. “Always wondered why women wore those things. Now I understand.”
“We’re never without a weapon.” She held up her hand, showing her long nails. They were sparkly rose-pink this week. “These too.”
“Those, I already guessed about. I’ve seen a woman use ’em a time or two. Works a treat.” He took her hand in one of his. His hands were big and warm, with long, graceful fingers, and when he touched her, a wave of desire ran through her body. “That’s a pretty color.”
She felt herself blush. When was the last time a man had noticed her nails? Let alone complimented her on them. “Thanks.” She looked down, suddenly uncertain. This guy was too nice and way too attractive. Surely he had a wife or a girlfriend somewhere.
But his hand was still holding hers, and it didn’t have a ring on it.
As if the same thought had flashed through his head, he looked around the bar. “Are you here with somebody? Can I find them for you?”
“I came with my friend.” She almost stopped there, but honesty compelled her to continue. Ted was coming back to haunt the evening after all. “On a double date with a guy and his brother. But I told my asshole date to get lost when he wouldn’t listen to me tell him ‘no.’”
Grey’s eyes darkened. “The offer stands. I’d be happy to find him for you.” And teach him a lesson was clearly implied.
Ali shook her head. “No,” she said. “I don’t care about him.”
Anymore.
“Do you have a way to get home, then?” he persisted. He looked concerned.
She hadn’t thought about that yet. “My friend drove.” She’d been imagining that she’d drive everyone home at the end of the night, because she hadn’t been planning to drink. But she didn’t want to drive Ted home. Plus, she wanted to go now. “I can’t leave until everyone else does.”
“Do you want a ride? I was about to leave myself.” He was still holding her hand, which she’d held up high so he could see her nails. It felt like they were about to dance or something.
“That would be great,” Ali said faintly. “Let me just find my friend and tell her.”
He nodded. “I can wait for you just outside. Or—”
The little hesitation made it clear that he wanted to come with her. But he probably didn’t want to imply that she needed someone to hold her hand just to walk through a bar.
Ali decided that she didn’t care. “Come on.” She tightened her grip on his hand and turned to fight her way back through the crowd to find Denise.
Denise, it turned out, was watching Mac get his ass kicked at pool. Ted was nowhere in sight, thank God.
“Denise!” Ali shouted in her ear.
Denise turned around. “There you are! Ted said you just decided you weren’t speaking to him for no reason! Ali, come on, you know how important tonight is for me.”
“Ted tried to feel me up and wouldn’t listen when I said no,” Ali snapped. “I don’t care what Ted wants. I’m heading out.”
Denise’s eyes followed Ali’s hand back to Grey’s tall form behind her, visibly sizing him up. Ali was afraid to look over her shoulder and see what he thought of all of this.
“Well,” said Denise finally. “If Ted was a jerk to you,” And if you’re scoring this guy instead, her eyes communicated, “I get it. Have a good time.”
“Thanks, Denise.”
When they turned around, their positions were reversed so that it was Grey who led Ali toward the door. His grip on her hand was firm, and he strode through the crowd without seeming to worry about finding a path. It just appeared in front of him.
They stepped outside into the crisp early-spring air, and Ali inhaled gratefully. The open night around them was so much better than the crowded bar had been.
Maybe I should just become a hermit. The thought floated up unbidden, and Ali couldn’t help but think that it sounded absolutely wonderful. She’d love to live out in the great outdoors somewhere, deep in the forest where no one could get to her.
Be realistic. She couldn’t hack it alone in the wilderness. She had no survival skills at all. She’d been much more interested in clothes and makeup than outdoor camp and scouts when she was younger.
And she did still like clothes and makeup, to be fair. She was just…tired of people. Tired of having to defend herself to everyone she knew, of dealing with come-ons and insults and deep-rooted expectations. She wanted to get away.
She’d been lost in thought for a good five minutes, she realized, and shook herself out of it, trying to think up some kind of conversation to make up for having been awkwardly silent for so long.
But Grey was looking up toward the black shape of the mountains with an expression on his face that suggested he was thinking along the same lines as she had been.
Or maybe Ali was just projecting.
Then he blinked and focused back on her, that faint smile appearing on his face again. “My truck’s just this way.”
She followed him to his pickup, and accepted his boost up onto the high seat. He was a total gentleman about it, didn’t even try to grope her or anything, which was absolutely 100% unique in her experience of men helping her into high trucks.
He got in the other side and said, “Where to?”
“Could we just go for a drive?” Ali asked impulsively. “Would that be okay? I mean, not if you have to be somewhere.”
“Sure.” He put the truck in gear. “I don’t have to be anywhere. I was just going to go home and have a quiet night.”
“Do you live in Ryder’s Lodge?”
He shook his head. “Out in the woods. I bought a cabin when I moved here. Tiny little thing, but it’s well-put-together. And it’s far away from any neighbors.”
“That sounds nice.” Ali could hear the wistful tone in her own voice.
Grey pulled onto a road heading out of town. “The scenery’s beautiful up there. Too dark for you to see any of it now, but it’s something.”
“I love the scenery around here.” Growing up in the mountains was like waking up to a beautiful painting every day. It was the one thing Ali really loved about her hometown.
“You local?”
“I live in Prescott.” She tried to keep her voice neutral, but it wavered a little. “With my brother and sister-in-law. They have a little house in town.”
“You like it?”
That was the heart of the issue, wasn’t it? She glanced over and he was looking at her, while they idled at Ryder’s Lodge’s only stoplight.
She shook her head.
“I’m sorry to hear that.” The light turned green and they started up, and pretty soon they were leaving the buildings behind and heading into the forest.
“I don’t like it here much, either,” he said suddenly, as the lights receded behind them a
nd they were surrounded by forest. “Scenery excepted.”
She looked over in surprise. “You don’t?”
“I used to work as a park ranger. There was a lot of time out on my own, learning the land, making sure it was clean and that no one was in trouble. I liked that.”
She thought about that. “That doesn’t sound anything like logging.” Logging, from what she understood, was the definition of dirty and troublesome.
“It isn’t. I’m hoping to get another ranger job soon. Working with these guys—” He paused. “I’m a bit of a loner, that’s all. I’m not great at making friends.”
That made sense. He seemed quiet, a thinker rather than a talker. She could picture how the rowdy crowd at the bar dealt with someone who wasn’t one of the guys, with all the dumb macho stuff that that implied.
“Believe me,” she said, heartfelt, “I understand that.” She didn’t have many friends either. Denise was pretty much it, and she was just a holdover from high school. They never talked about anything serious.
He slid a look over at her. “Have you thought about moving out somewhere on your own?”
He hadn’t said, I bet a girl like you has lots of friends, or You’re way too pretty to be a loner.
He was listening to her. Men hardly ever listened to her when she talked. She’d gotten so used to it that it was a shock to meet one who did.
“I’ve thought about it. But I’d need to get a job. Part-time waitressing doesn’t make enough to throw it all away and start over new somewhere else.” She smiled a little. “If I win the lottery, that’s another story.”
She knew she was painting herself as a real catch. Lives with her brother, works a dead-end part-time job, doesn’t like her hometown much, and can’t do anything about any of it. But it was the truth. She wasn’t going to lie about her life.
Her mother used to say, “Alethia means ‘truth.’ Doesn’t matter if you tell the truth or not, the truth is in you—so you might as well let it out.”
Letting it out hadn’t served her well so far, but it was how she was, and of all the things she wanted to change, that wasn’t one of them.
