by Lori Foster
She studied him in silence before finally shrugging. “I guess I can rustle you up something.” She went behind the counter, stepped into her flip-flops and headed out a side door. “Make yourself at home.”
Instead, Shohn followed her. “Where are we going?”
Nadine froze then slowly looked over her shoulder at him. “I’m going to get you food. You’re going back to Animal House to wait.”
No, he wasn’t. He wanted to stick close to her, to figure out this sudden urge to…do things to her.
Sexual things.
Hot, nasty, possessive things.
Looking beyond her in the direction she’d headed, he realized that the small outbuilding could be her home. “You live here?”
A dozen different lies showed in her big brown eyes. “Um…”
Screw it, Shohn thought. If she already considered him an irredeemable reprobate, he may as well quit trying to be polite. “Forget I asked.” Pulling his khaki uniform shirt from his cargo military-style pants, he started toward the building without her.
Scandalized, she asked in a rush, “What are you doing?”
“I need to cool down.” He unbuttoned the shirt as he went. On the side of the small building was a garden hose left uncoiled in the grass. Between the temps and the direction of his thoughts, he needed a douse of cold water in a bad way.
“Wait a minute!” He heard her hustling along behind him. “You can’t do that!”
He didn’t slow. “Sure I can.” He shrugged the shirt off and hung it over the limb of a tree. “I’ll be careful not to soak my weapons.”
Nadine stopped dead in her tracks.
Sitting on the ground, aware of her consuming stare, Shohn pulled up a foot and removed his boot. As he peeled off a sock, he glanced up at Nadine.
She just stood there, one hand on her tummy, the other at her throat.
Liking how she stared so fixedly at his chest, he smiled to himself. “Don’t get too close. I have sweaty…everything. But especially my feet.” He tugged off the other boot. “Some kid got stuck out on a rock in a stream today. I had to wade out and get him. In this heat, my pants dried, but my socks? Not so much. My feet have been swimming for over an hour now.” He rolled up his pants legs.
Nadine hadn’t moved.
“Also had a lady slide down a ravine into a patch of poison ivy. And some bozo misplaced his car. Couldn’t remember which lot he parked in before taking the expert trail up into the woods.” Shohn shook his head. “I swear, sometimes it’s a wonder the human race survives.”
Because Nadine still stood there, mute and bug-eyed, he decided to tease her. Rising up to his feet, he reached for his belt buckle.
She gasped so hard, it took her back a step.
Shohn laughed. “Forget it, woman. I’m not stripping down for you, no matter how hard you stare.”
She sputtered, turned, turned again and with a distinct, “Argh!” marched past him toward her small house.
Shohn called after her, “I’m going to use your hose to cool off while you fix me something to eat.”
“Drown yourself for all I care!” Her screen door slammed.
In slow-mo, the grin spread until Shohn had to laugh aloud. Yeah, he had Nadine figured out now. She wanted him. Maybe not as much as he suddenly wanted her, but probably enough.
Nothing else made any sense. He wasn’t an unlikable guy. Shoot, everyone liked him.
And not to be vain, but he wasn’t an ogre, either. As a ranger, he stayed fit. Had to, what with the possibility of getting stuck in the woods, having to climb mountains, swim streams…hell, he was almost like Superman, if Superman had to hang in the Kentucky hills.
He wasn’t dumb. He’d breezed through college even while having his fair share of fun. Right out of school he’d worked as a deputy for a year, and then signed on with the park rangers.
He came from a great family. His dad was the most popular doctor in the county, his uncle Jordan the most respected vet. After many years serving as the sheriff, his uncle Morgan was now the mayor, and Uncle Gabe was a jack-of-all-trades who at one time or another had fixed something for everyone in Buckhorn County. Casey, his older brother, had a successful financial consulting firm.
And he was nice. Everyone in Buckhorn told him so, but especially everyone female. He smiled easily, enjoyed laughing, helped others when he could. And yeah, he was successful with the ladies. He paid attention, pampered them, made sure they enjoyed sex as much as he did…why wouldn’t Nadine want him?
She could protest all day long, but they had some explosive newfound chemistry going on, and he for one planned to explore it.
The sooner the better.
Bending forward, Shohn opened the hose over his head. The water was tepid at first, warmed from the hose’s position in the sun. By the time he rinsed his arms and feet, it had cooled. He didn’t want to soak his pants, his gun, stun baton or radio, so he only splashed his chest.
He’d just finished using his shirt to dry off when his phone beeped. He took it out to see a message from Amber. Called and left Nadine a message. Thx!
So he could leave now. Only…he didn’t want to. Not yet. Knowing he wouldn’t mention the message to Nadine, he texted back, Drive careful, and put the phone back in his pocket.
Now somewhat refreshed, Shohn finger-combed his hair back, folded his shirt and put it with his socks and boots on her front porch, and peered in through her screen door.
He had a clear view from the small living room straight into the kitchen—where Nadine was bent at the waist, getting something from a bottom cabinet.
Lord have mercy.
That heart-shaped ass offered such a nice invitation.
Two things happened: his exhaustion evaporated, and Nadine moved up to the top of his list.
Shohn said softly, “Knock, knock,” and opened the door to step in.
* * *
STARTLED, NADINE STRAIGHTENED in a rush, the fresh buns squeezed to her chest. She twisted around to face the door, and stalled.
Shohn was in her house.
Every scrumptious inch of him. Shirtless. Barefoot.
Looking at her as if she was the meal.
Be still my heart.
He really had rinsed off, leaving his inky-black hair damp and pushed away from his forehead. Water droplets clung to his wide, tanned shoulders, then trailed down over his chest and into that crisp chest hair.
Lucky little water droplets.
A fire lit behind his dark eyes as he watched her. Long lashes lowered when his gaze moved down to her breasts, lower to her belly, then to her thighs. His lean jaw tightened, his high cheekbones flushed.
And he moved that sinful body of his even closer.
Filling her lungs with needed oxygen didn’t help because it also filled her head with his rich scent. Shohn Hudson smelled like the great outdoors, like heat and man and pure deliciousness.
In contrast, she probably smelled like dog. “Shohn…”
“Nadine.” He smiled, again looking into her eyes as if he knew her every thought.
But why now?
She’d known him forever, and not once, not ever, had he come on to her. He was always his usual charming self—all while seducing every other young woman in Buckhorn County.
But not her.
Her he treated the same as he did elderly Mrs. Crook at the grocery, or twelve-year-old Suzy who helped her dad at the vegetable stand.
Was Shohn bored? Was this retaliation because she wouldn’t let him have Rookie? Nadine pulled her brows down and asked, “What are you doing? You can’t just walk in here.”
But he already had. And now he stalked toward her, his gaze touching all over her body again, turning her into a puddle of nerves.
No, she w
ould not let him toy with her like this. She lifted one hand, palm out. “Stop, Shohn. I mean it.”
He did. He even looked confused by the fact that he’d intruded uninvited. He nodded at her chest and said, “You’re mangling the buns.”
“What? Oh.” Now that he was no longer advancing on her, she turned and put the buns on the counter. Maybe if she didn’t see all that masculine perfection, she could get herself together. “I have some leftover barbecue. How’s that sound?”
“You going to eat with me?”
She’d planned to, but now, with him acting so differently—as if he were lustful or something—she just didn’t know.
His breath brushed her ear when he spoke from right behind her. “So much hesitation. I won’t bite, you know.”
Paralyzed by his nearness, she grabbed the counter to ground herself.
When he whispered, “Unless you want me to,” it wasn’t just his breath she felt. It was his warm lips, too, barely touching her earlobe.
Nadine almost knocked him over when she bolted out from between him and the counter. Spinning to face him, she backed up a few more steps and bumped into her fridge.
Damn her cozy little cottage for being so…cozy.
She put her shoulders back, lifted her chin and said, “All right, Shohn. Just what do you think you’re doing?”
CHAPTER TWO
ONE SIDE OF Shohn’s mouth curled. “You keep asking me that.”
“Only because you keep doing…stuff!” Oh, God, she was screeching.
With a lot of carnal insinuation, he murmured, “Not the stuff I’d like to be doing.”
Don’t ask, Nadine. Do. Not. Ask. She even bit her lip to keep her sensual curiosity from exploding.
Shohn smiled. “You’d rather I just surprise you?”
“No.” Get it together, Nadine. She cleared her throat. “Do you want to eat or not?”
“Definitely yes.”
The way he said that, with so much heat burning in his eyes, left her even more unsettled. “Then grab a seat at the table. I only have a few minutes left before I need to let the others head home.”
He looked undecided before finally turning a chair at the little table and straddling it.
Relieved, and maybe a little disappointed, too, Nadine went to the microwave and pulled out the now-steaming barbecue. She loaded cheese from the fridge, a bag of chips, two paper plates and two cans of Coke onto a tray.
With his gaze tracking her every move, Shohn asked, “Can I do anything to help?”
Stop trying to melt me. “No. Just…stay over there.” If he started bumping that hot, hard body into her again, she’d end up dragging him down to the floor. “Everything is ready.”
He stood to take the tray from her, holding it in one hand so he could pull out her chair with the other. Such a gentleman. Of course, all the men from his family were the same, meaning they were all gorgeous, sexy, protective, mannerly and alpha. Even the girls seemed to have gotten a little extra “oomph” from that amazing gene pool.
While she loaded up the buns with barbecue, Shohn popped open the drinks. “So once everyone clocks out, you’ll be here alone?”
Uh-oh. She didn’t, couldn’t, look at him. “Me, and twenty-five dogs.” Going past that as fast as she could, she added, “I’ll have at least an hour’s worth of work to get through yet before I can call it a day.”
“What time did you start work?”
“I let the dogs out into the yard early. Around six or so.” She wrinkled her nose. “Cuts back on cleanup.”
“They don’t ever fight with each other?”
“You know right away which animals are social and which ones prefer a little privacy. A big part of the backyard is divided up to suit them all, with separate runs and fenced areas.”
“That’s a long day.” He nodded to the clock on her wall. “It’s almost eight.”
“Overall, it doesn’t really seem like work. I love animals, they love me.” She put some chips on her plate and handed him the bag. With a telling glance his way, she said, “It’s the pet owners who are sometimes a bother.” Especially when they flaunt their perfect pecs at the dinner table.
“Since I was a bother,” Shohn teased, “why don’t I hang around and help you put the pups to bed for the night.”
No, and no. “That’s okay. I have a routine.” And she didn’t even want to say “Shohn” and “bed” in the same sentence, never mind that he meant small pet beds.
“Then let me bring dinner by tomorrow as a payback.” He ate half his sandwich in two big bites. “It’s the least I can do.”
She was already shaking her head, denying him. “No, really. It’s only warmed-up barbecue. No payback necessary.” And trying this twice would be too much temptation.
He finished his sandwich, downed half his Coke then folded his arms on the table and studied her. “You’re not going to give an inch, are you?”
Definitely not. She thought about pretending she didn’t understand, but knowing Shohn, he’d just spell it out for her. So instead, she rolled a shoulder, drank her own Coke and said, “There’s no point.”
“The point could be lust, chemistry—or even good old fun.”
Oh, I bet you would be so fun. Then she caught herself. Be strong, Nadine! She picked up a few chips and tried for a casual tone. “Yeah, see, I’m not into being another conquest for the infamous Shohn Hudson.”
“Infamous?”
“Don’t act like you don’t know.” She rolled her eyes and jammed the chips in her mouth.
“Okay, you mean sex.” He slowly pushed away from his chair.
Nadine sank back in hers. Gaze watchful, she now regretted that mouthful of chips.
“Hot sex,” Shohn clarified as he stood. “With me.”
Nadine gulped down the chips, choked a little and nodded. “Yes.” She coughed, swigged down more Coke and nodded again. “Yes, that’s what I mean.”
Eyes intent, mouth barely curled in a small smile, he circled the table.
She wanted to sink under it…and maybe take him with her for a little hanky-panky.
He stopped beside her chair, right there so that her gaze was level with his abs and she got the up-close-and-personal view of that mesmerizing happy trail that disappeared into his uniform pants.
The temp in the kitchen spiked…oh, a hundred degrees or so.
Shohn brushed the back of one knuckle over her cheek. “How come we’ve never gotten together, Nadine?”
That snapped her out of the spell. In a rush, she shoved her own chair back and scrambled to her feet behind it. Finger pointing, she said, “Because you’ve always treated me like I was a relative or a guy friend or…or old or something.”
Instead of her accusation bothering him, he went all alpha sexy male on her. “So it wasn’t disinterest on your part?”
Jerk! “No, it was disinterest on your part!”
“I must’ve been blind or something.”
Yeah, right. She knew the truth: she wasn’t in his league and never would be. “As far as I’m concerned, you can just go on being disinterested.”
“No, I don’t think I can.” He stepped toward her. She backed up. He stopped. “Are you afraid of me?”
Ha! Stepping around the chair, Nadine butted up to him. “Not a chance.”
“Glad to hear it.”
Oh, her stupid pride. She tried to retreat a little. “Look, Shohn, be reasonable here. You are not, have never been, into me that way.”
He stared at her mouth. “Am now.”
“Well, tough!” It’s too late. “My life is busy enough as is without me trying to fit in a…a fling, or whatever it is you have on your mind.”
“I have all kinds of things on my mind.”
She could only imagine how wonderful those things would be. “Dial it down already, will you?” To give herself something to do other than reciprocate, she began stacking the remains of their dinner back onto the tray. “It won’t do you any good,” she lied. “I’m seduction-proof because I plain don’t have the time for it.”
“For it—or for me?”
“Take your pick.” He looked equal parts insulted and challenged by that, so she kept talking fast in the hopes they could just move past it. “Right now, I need to get out there to let my workers go home. Then I need to start moving the dogs into their beds so I can lock up. You’re right, it has been a long day and I still have a ton of things to do.”
“I offered to help.”
If he stuck around, all shirtless and sexy, she wouldn’t get anything done because she’d spend all her time staring at him. Carrying the tray to the kitchen, she said, “And I told you no, so let it go.” She would not let him bully her, make her feel guilty or cause her to cave in. She had bucketsful of pride and by God, she’d hold on to it. “I do wish Amber would call back, though.” Then he could take the dog and leave.
“She already did.”
Nadine paused in the middle of putting away their mess. In a slow simmer, she turned to Shohn. He leaned there against the fridge, one hand braced on his holster, expression taunting.
“When?”
“Right before I came in here she sent me a text saying she’d called you and left a message.”
And he’d kept that to himself! She scowled. “If you’d told me—”
“You’d have given Rookie to me and sent me away.” He gave up his casual pose and closed the space between them. “But I didn’t want to go. Still don’t.” When she started to object, he cut her off. “Thing is, I’m not into forcing my company on women.”
“You just did!”
He ignored that to suggest, “How about a compromise?”
Said the spider to the fly. She stared up at him, aware of his naked chest so close, knowing he wanted her, even if only for a lark. From the time he was eight or nine years old, Shohn had been flirting with females and winning them over. The elders thought him charming, the young girls had crushes and those his age bragged about how good he was in bed. They all adored him.
