Heroes in Uniform: Soldiers, SEALs, Spies, Rangers and Cops: Sexy Hot Contemporary Alpha Heroes From NY Times and USA Today Bestselling Authors

by Sharon Hamilton

  Loosening his grip on a Jeffrey Pine, Coop shot his fingers through his hair. What did she want? He moved silently back to the fire and stood behind it, arms crossed, observing her.

  And suddenly, he wished he were wearing a shirt.

  Barely Dangerous: Chapter Seventeen

  The back of Maggie's neck tingled as though someone was watching her. She turned nervously.

  “Oh!” Her flashlight hit the ground with a thud.

  An apparition had appeared in the firelight, colored in red reflections and undulating black shadows.

  “I see you've changed your mind.” The specter had Cooper's voice.

  Her heartbeat kicked up. She took a hesitant step toward him. “Yes.” She stepped back again. “No!” Oh, hell. “Changed my mind about what?”

  The black shadows on his face shifted subtly. “You tell me.”

  She swallowed. Good freaking question.

  She inched backward as Cooper stepped out from behind the fire. “Gina’s. I finished my book. But you look all settled in, and probably don't feel like moving.” She stooped to pick up her flashlight and edged away in the direction she had come. “So, I'll just be going—”

  “No.” His hand flicked out to rest on her arm. “Gina's would be nice.” He gave the fire a quick glance.

  She did, too, and her gaze fastened on the small object she’d seen through the telescope. “On the other hand, it would be a shame to waste such a nice fire,” she said. “Maybe we could stay till it burns down.”

  After a moment's hesitation Cooper nodded. “I'll get another blanket from the tent.”

  By the time he came back, she had curled up on his rectangle of handwoven wool. He’d put on a faded work shirt, but hadn't bothered to button it. The front plackets flapped in the breeze of his lithe movements.

  She forced herself to start breathing again, and turned back to the fire. What the hell. Curiosity had gotten her into this—the least she could do was satisfy it.

  She pointed to the small object. “What is that thing on the rock?”

  * * *

  Coop looked sharply at Maggie. He'd forgotten she was one of those armchair anthropologists. Damn, he hated feeling like he was on display.

  Still, answering might lead them to the subject of poaching.

  He smiled. “It's the kneecap of a black bear.”

  She bolted upright. “What are you doing with that?”

  Terribly insensitive stuff, culturally speaking. Maybe she wasn’t one of those new age sponges, after all. “I'm doing a hunting ritual,” he said.

  “Hunting what?” she asked testily. “Gullible white women?”

  He barked out a laugh. Definitely not new age woo-woo.

  With a pair of sticks, he gingerly retrieved the small round patella from the fire ring. “It's a Cree rite to divine the future, one that traditionally predicts the outcome of a bear hunt.”

  “Oh.” She crossed her arms, frowning.

  “If you put a bear's knee cap on a hot rock and it wobbles around, it means a successful hunt,” he explained.

  She looked torn between curiosity and dread. “Did it wobble?”

  “No.”

  She let out a breath. “Thank God.” She studied the bone cooling on his blanket. “So, you'll be unsuccessful, then.”

  “Not necessarily.”

  “But you said—”

  “The traditional ritual is for bear.” He pursed his lips. “I may have other game in mind.”

  Her eyes flicked to his. “Would it still work?”

  Good question. Would it work for poachers? And did a negative outcome mean they would be unsuccessful, or would he be?

  He leaned back on one elbow. “You believe in that stuff?” He indicated the bone with a chin jerk and a thrust of his bottom lip.

  Her brow hiked. “Don't you?”

  He picked up a smooth stone, rubbed it between his fingers, and ignored that last question. “I don’t know if it would work. I guess the whole thing comes down to whether or not an ancient rite is open to modernization.”

  “And what do you think?”

  “Hell, I don't know. I never even passed my medicine man exam.”

  She chuckled, and he sat up and flung the stone far into the lake, where it landed with a quiet plonk.

  “I just did it out of curiosity.” He shrugged. “Not a lot of opportunity to test out the old ways in the urban jungle, you know.”

  “No, I s'pose not.”

  He chuffed out a breath and lay back on the blanket again. “When I was young, I thought it was possible to transfer value systems from one culture to the other. I should know better by now.”

  She rolled on her stomach and rested her chin in a curled up fist, gazing at him. “Yeah. Depressing, isn't it?”

  He laced his hands together over his stomach and flexed his fingers once in a spurt if irritation. She acted as if she knew what it was like, but how could she possibly? He'd lay bets no one had ever lectured her on her savage ancestors, or subtly pushed her to try out for track and field, just because “her kind” was supposed to be good at running long distances, when all she really wanted was to play tennis.

  “What would you know about depressing?” he said, not even trying to disguise the mild resentment.

  She gave him a hard look. “Native Americans don't own a monopoly on having a hard time fitting in, Coop.”

  This conversation was really beginning to annoy him. He scowled up at the sky, and crossed his arms stiffly over his chest. He probably looked like a goddamn cigar store Indian that had fallen over. “I don't want to fit in,” he muttered.

  “That's a choice you Native Americans are lucky to have,” she shot back. “The culture I come from is five thousand miles away.”

  He snorted. “And when have you ever had trouble fitting in, blondie?”

  Barely Dangerous: Chapter Eighteen

  Maggie looked through the flames of the fire at the harsh lines of Cooper’s face. Fit in? Ha. When had she ever?

  Not because of hunting rituals or skin color, but because of a heritage that valued solitude over community, privacy over communication, measured reserved over showing one’s feelings. What if you didn’t agree with that culture of coldness? And were envious of the warmth you saw all around you? But were never quite accepted into it, because you’d never learned how to navigate all that public emotion...?

  Hurt and anger swamped over her in a surge of bad memories.

  “Yeah, you're right,” she muttered. She jumped up and brushed her hands together furiously. “The girl next door. That's me.” Of all the blind, self-centered— “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  His scowl deepened, but when she started to stalk off, he rose to his feet. “Hey! How about the petulant half-breed buying the girl next door a drink?”

  She clamped her jaw. “I don’t think so.”

  He walked up to her. “That's what you came here for, isn't it?”

  She struggled to keep her anger from boiling over at his presumption. It was obvious what he thought she’d come for.

  The very worst part was, he might have been right. On both counts.

  She was completely mortified with herself.

  She froze a smile in place. “No.” She infused the word with sweetness and promise.

  He looped a thumb over the leather belt holding his silver belt buckle. The shadow of his arousal rose subtly under his knuckles. “Tell me, pup.” His voice was low and inviting. “What do you want?”

  The smug bastard.

  She stepped closer to him, tilting her face up so they were nose to nose. And murmured, “I want you to move your campsite away from my tower. Far away.” The sweetness turned to acid. “You said you don't want to fit in? Well, you don't. I liked my view the way it was. Uncluttered.” She bent down and swiped her flashlight off the blanket. “Break camp in the morning.” She spun to leave. “Go somewhere else.”

  “You can't throw me off my campsite,” he called after her
.

  “Watch me, cowboy.”

  “You don't have a reason. I haven't done anything wrong.”

  An unladylike snort escaped her as she spun back to him. “No?” She planted her fists on her hips. “I am hereby revoking your fire permit. Effective immediately.”

  “You can’t be serious.”

  She looked around and feigned surprise. “I am shocked, shocked, to see you have a fire going.” She tsked. “And you with no permit.” She gave him a smug smile. “We don't tolerate lawbreakers in the National Forest, Mr. Cooper. You'll have to leave.”

  With that she strode out of the clearing.

  Barely Dangerous: Chapter Nineteen

  Cooper's jaw dropped as he stared after Maggie’s retreating form.

  What the hell had just happened?

  He stood there staring into the darkness for a full minute before carefully dousing the fire. Returning the patella to his leather pouch, he took it to his tent and hung it just above his pillow in the taawpwaataakan—the dreaming place.

  Then he grabbed his helmet and riding gloves.

  They’d just see about that.

  Barely Dangerous: Chapter Twenty

  Maggie stormed up the path and onto the gravel pad under the lookout tower. She swallowed a strangled gasp when the beam from her flashlight struck Cooper sitting calmly on the hood of her truck, slowly buttoning his shirt.

  Damn his hide, how on earth had he managed to sneak past her?

  A frog that had set up housekeeping in the permanent puddle under the shower drainpipe croaked in the pitch blackness, the sound scraping against her raw nerves.

  He jumped off the truck. “Point that somewhere else, will you?” He began tucking in his shirttails.

  She faltered, and the beam dropped for a few seconds to the denim riding low on his hips. A bronze hand disappeared down the front of his jeans, riding a wave of blue cotton.

  Quickly, she swung the light to the foot of the tower stairs and started toward them. “I don't expect you to pack up at night. Tomorrow will be fine.”

  “I have no intention of packing up. You asked me to Gina's for a drink.”

  She stopped dead and turned to stare at him. Honest to God, the man had some frigging nerve.

  He rolled up his sleeves to below the elbow and looked calmly into her wide, incredulous eyes.

  “I'm ready.” He leaned negligently against the truck, then lowered his gaze to the front of his clothes. “Is my fly open or something?” He looked back up, his face the picture of calm guilelessness.

  Against her will, she glanced down at his zipper, then back up, in time to see the dim reflection of the flashlight sparkle off his grin.

  He pushed off the truck and took a step toward her.

  She backed away, thinking fast. “Fine. I’ll need my purse.”

  She practically ran the whole way up the stairs. Her heart was pounding a hard rhythm by the time she reached the top. Two months of conditioning flouted the notion that her breathlessness was all from the quick climb. Or from the anger which was quickly dissolving into panic.

  Holy crap.

  She stumbled inside, collapsing against the door as she shut it. She dragged two trembling hands through her hair, then launched herself into the darkened cab.

  And tried to decide whether she should go for her purse...or straight for the nearest weapon.

  Barely Dangerous: Chapter Twenty-One

  Cooper pulled a pair of thin leather gloves out of his back pocket and slapped them against one palm. He wasn't sure what had gone wrong down at camp. One minute he was baring his soul, and the next, Maggie was throwing him off his campsite.

  He would have to think about it sometime when he was able to have more than a single coherent thought. Right now, the only thing on his mind was the way her lips had parted just a fraction as she'd watched him tuck his shirt down his pants. And how he'd like to part those lips wider. A lot wider.

  Okay, so two things.

  He walked over and looked at the Yamaha. Anticipation spilled through his veins like a drug. He smacked the gloves in his hand again, looking up at the small cab atop the tower. Yep, a trip to Gina's on the bike should do nicely to convince her not to send him packing.

  Even if it might prove his own undoing.

  His gaze landed on the truck next to the bike. He frowned.

  Well, hell.

  Barely Dangerous: Chapter Twenty-Two

  When Maggie finally clattered down the stairs, the croaking of the frog ceased. A low whisper of breeze through pine needles was all Coop could hear.

  He was sitting on the Yamaha, coaxing his gloves onto his hands. “Will you drive, or shall I?” he said into the darkness.

  “I can drive,” she said. It sounded as much a statement of conviction as one of intent. “We'll take the truck.”

  Scooting around him, she fumbled in her purse for the keys. She’d stabbed at the lock three times by the time he’d reached her. He grasped her shoulders and they stiffened in his hands.

  He lowered his voice to a deep whisper. “You haven't ridden my Warrior yet. Wanna give it a whirl?”

  She turned and shook her head. “It's not big enough.” Her eyes widened. “I mean—”

  A second later, his surprised laughter echoed through the trees. “A smaller man might have taken insult at that, little pup,” he said. “But I assume you are referring to the bike's saddle.”

  She covered her eyes and nodded. “Yeah. Sorry.”

  He pretended to consider. “You're right. That seat wasn't meant for two.” He reached behind her, relocked the truck, and grabbed her keys. “We'll take yours.” He guided her to the Yamaha with a firm hand at the small of her back.

  “Wait. What’s wrong with the truck?”

  He gave her a knowing smile. “Why? Scared to ride with me?”

  “Ya think?” She tucked her thumbs under the sleeves of the flannel shirt she’d tied around her waist. “Why did you call me little pup?”

  She was almost too easy. “It's what we call a baby bear in Cree.”

  She blinked as he started the bike.

  He pinned her with a gaze. “It's also a name we give to a messenger-bear sent by Memekwesiw, the Great Owner of the Animals, to tell a hunter where to find his prey.”

  Even in the darkness he could see her face go pale. “But why would you call me that?”

  He just smiled. Before she could protest, he slipped her helmet onto her head. “Come on. You promised me a beer.”

  She eased gingerly onto the bike behind him and grasped the edges of the saddle instead of putting her arms around him.

  Really? She thought he’d let her get away with that?

  He let out the clutch and headed down the steep service road that wound its way down the mountain to the highway below. It was rough and rocky, and it didn’t take more than ten seconds before her hands clutched at his waist.

  At first she tried holding onto him demurely, but he aimed for every pothole and rock in the road. Soon, she was clinging to him for dear life.

  Much better.

  He thundered over a large bump in the road. Her arms tightened around him and her body pressed into his for a brief moment.

  Good fucking night. She wasn't wearing a bra.

  Instantly, he was searching for another bump or pothole. And another. When they reached the blacktop highway, he took every curve going ten miles over the speed limit. Anything to keep her sweet curves pillowed up against him. And her tight little nipples drilling erotic holes in his back. Thank God she hadn’t put on that flannel shirt.

  By the time they got to Gina's, he was hard as his Mossberg and loaded for bear.

  He had to give himself a minute to cool down or he would definitely blow it.

  He pulled into the lot and parked. “You go on in,” he told her after they dismounted. “I think a distributor wire might be coming loose. It’s running a bit rough.”

  She eyed him suspiciously. “I can wait.”

/>   “Go. I’ll just be a minute.” He knelt down and started examining the engine.

  Because if she didn’t leave immediately, he was in danger of ripping off that flimsy tank top and tasting every inch of those succulent, tempting breasts.

  And then starting in on the rest of her.

  Barely Dangerous: Chapter Twenty-Three

  Maggie strode toward the bar’s entrance, slipping on her flannel shirt to hide the embarrassing state of her breasts. Holy cannoli. Her nipples hadn’t been this hard since getting caught in a freak snowstorm two winters ago.

  Well, at least Cooper had bought her a few minutes to come up with a plausible reason they were having a drink together. She had to tell the guys something that would make them understand it was just a drink. Nothing more.

  Not that Cooper would go along with anything reasonable, she figured. He was probably the type who would play the macho role to the hilt in front of other men.

  Fabulous.

  Inside, Gina was standing behind the bar polishing glasses. She looked up and nodded. “Hi, Mags.” She glanced toward the door. “You alone?”

  Maggie frowned. She never had anyone with her. She couldn't imagine why Gina would ask that. “Actually no. I’m with someone.”

  “The Cree?”

  She quickly looked around to see if he'd come in. He hadn't. “How did you know?”

  Gina tipped her head and went back to polishing. “That's good.”

  Maggie liked Gina. She really did. But she had to admit, there'd always been something just a little cryptic and weird about the woman. It was as if she could see right into a person, and knew your answer even before she’d asked you a question. It was completely unnerving.

  She smiled at the short, dark woman, then continued down the bar, past the trophy case and an overhead TV that was tuned into a Giant's game. She waved to Tommy, who sat on his usual stool beneath the mute glare of the TV screen, where he and Gina could talk when she wasn't busy.