by Pamela Clare
“Rocky Mountain SAR, dispatch.”
Megs got to her feet, reached for the mic. “SAR, go ahead.”
“We’ve got a report of a lost and injured hiker somewhere off the Buchanan Lake Trail in Indian Peaks Wilderness.”
While Megs and the others scrambled to respond, Lexi found herself wanting to find this Breece guy and kick his butt. Only a heartless jerk could steal money from an organization that worked to save human lives.
Austin went home after his shift, exhausted. He took Mack for a short walk, then got into the shower. He was too damned beat to cook tonight, so he hopped in his truck and drove five minutes to Knockers. Not in the mood for music, he asked for a seat on the rooftop deck where he’d be able to watch the sun set over the mountains.
Already, the sky had turned pink, the sun behind a bank of clouds. He sat, took a deep breath, willed himself to relax.
Rain took his order—a deluxe burrito with guac and an Indian Peaks Ale—then returned with the beer. “Why are you lookin’ so down in the mouth? Rough day?”
“You could say that.” He took a drink. “We had a suicide west of town. A guy shot himself in the head.”
The man had been a combat veteran with a wife and two kids. He’d ended his pain, but heaped grief and suffering on his family.
Rain winced. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know how you deal with that stuff. It must be so hard to see. I think I’d throw up.”
“The gore doesn’t get to me.” It was the emotional side of it that tore Austin up.
Tonight, a wife was grieving, and children were going to bed without their father.
Rain looked toward the stairs. “Someone else is alone tonight.”
Austin’s gaze followed Rain’s, and he saw Lexi. She was wearing a white summer dress, though she’d put a denim jacket over it to keep off the evening chill.
She saw him, smiled.
“Should I bring her over?”
What could Austin say? “Sure.”
“Hey.” Lexi sat across from him. “I’ll have a taco salad and a margarita with salt and ice. Thanks, Rain.”
“I’ll be right back with your drink.”
Lexi’s gaze was turned toward the sunset. “It’s beautiful up here.”
“Yeah, beautiful.” But Austin’s gaze was fixed on her.
One minute in her company, and he was already losing his mind. Megs was right. The junk in his pants was making him stupid.
“Needed to get out of the house for a while?”
She nodded. “Kendra heard that we’d hired a full-time housekeeper. She and my dad are in the kitchen talking. I figured they didn’t need me hanging around.”
“That’s good news—isn’t it?”
“Very good news. I hope they work it out. If not, she’ll probably divorce him, and Britta and I will have to find some way of taking care of him. Since neither of us wants to live here...”
Her words were like a gust of frigid air.
“Right.”
She doesn’t plan on staying here, and don’t you forget it.
“You all had a rough day today.”
“Yeah—a tough one.”
“I don’t know how you deal with something like that afterward—knowing that someone has lost the person they love.”
Unlike Rain, Lexi had cut right to the heart of it—the emotional toll.
“Yeah. That part really sucks.”
“Megs said the man today was a father.”
Austin nodded. “He had two little kids and a wife.”
She looked down at the table. “Their lives are never going to be the same.”
“You know how hard that can be, don’t you?” Without thinking, he reached out, placed his hand over hers.
Awareness arced between them, unexpected and hot.
Jesus.
“Yeah.” She drew her hand away and took a drink of water, clearly struggling with her emotions. “The Team tried to save my mom, but by the time they reached her, she was gone. There was nothing they could do. But they stayed with her all night, helped recover her body, and brought her back to Scarlet.”
He felt a tug in his chest. “That’s what I heard.”
“What I’m trying to say is that even if you couldn’t save this guy, you still did what you could to help his family. You brought him back.” She turned those big green eyes on him. “I think you’re all incredibly brave. I was listening today.”
“You were at The Cave. How’s the audit going?”
“I discovered that he was skimming from your online donations.”
“That son of a bitch.”
“Donations to the Team are actually up this year.”
And then Rain was there with Lexi’s margarita.
“Thanks.” Lexi took a sip, smiled. “Mmm. Perfect.”
Her little moan of pleasure sent a jolt of heat through him, a memory of going down on her flashing through his mind. She’d said those exact words.
Mmm, perfect.
Blood surged to his groin, his jeans suddenly tight.
Oh, he was in so much trouble.
Chapter 7
If anyone had told her a week ago that she would be sitting on the rooftop of Knockers having dinner with Austin Taylor, Lexi would have thought they were out of their mind. But here she was. And here he was, those kissable lips curved in a lop-sided grin, his blue eyes warm.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so alive, aware of everything around her—the breeze on her skin, the tang of the margarita on her tongue, the delicious scents of food, the hot man who sat across from her. He listened while she tried to explain the audit process, being close to him like this making it hard to think.
What would it be like to kiss him again?
No, she’d better not think about that.
“How long do you think it will take you?” he asked.
What were they talking about? Oh, yeah, the audit.
“If I work four hours a day, I can probably finish in a couple of weeks.”
He frowned. “I hate to think of you using your vacation to help us with our mess.”
She started to tell him the truth but stopped herself. There was no reason anyone else had to know. The more people who knew, the greater the chance that someone would twist her story. Word would get around, and then everyone in Scarlet would blame her.
Then again, why should she give a damn what anyone thought? Besides, she’d already told Kendra. Why shouldn’t Austin know? She didn’t want him or anyone else on the Team feeling guilty.
“I’m … I’m not on vacation. I don’t have a job right now.”
Rain arrived with their plates. “Can I get you anything else?”
“I’m good, thanks.”
“Thanks, Rain.” Lexi unfolded her napkin, smoothed it on her lap. “How did it go with my dad today?”
“Great. Don’t worry about me. Your dad reminds me of my grandfather—all bark and no bite.” Rain gave her a bright smile and hurried off.
“Well, that’s a relief.” Lexi picked up her fork, poked at her salad.
Austin dumped salsa on his burrito. “You don’t have a job?”
So he’d heard her.
“I left Price and Crane with a big settlement after filing a sexual harassment suit.”
While they ate, Lexi told him how Mr. Crane had acted as her mentor when she’d first joined the firm. She’d thought of him as a father figure, but he’d had different ideas. He’d invited her to attend a conference in New York, then showed up in her room and made it clear he expected her to have sex with him. She’d had to take his hand off her ass and push him away—hard—to make it clear that her answer was no.
“Even if I’d found him attractive—which I did not—he was married. I was upset and angry, but I kept it to myself because I didn’t want to cause trouble.” That had turned out to be a mistake. “A month later, his vote kept me from making partner.”
She told Austin how she’d gone to human
resources and reported what had happened. “He denied it and told them I’d come onto him. He made up some story about how I’d repeatedly tried to seduce him to persuade him to make me a partner. Some people believed him.”
Austin’s gaze had gone hard. “Tell me he paid for this.”
“Not really.” She told him how she’d hired an attorney and spent the next several months being deposed, answering all kinds of extremely personal questions, and having her work as a CPA criticized by the same people who’d once praised her. “That wasn’t the worst of it. People I’d thought of as friends stopped returning my texts and calls. They avoided me at work, and I could tell they were talking about me. My boyfriend, Chris, who’d made junior partner two years before, called me an idiot and told me I’d brought it on myself because of how I dressed. He broke it off.”
“Asshole.”
She set her fork aside and took a drink of her margarita, her hands shaking. Talking about this was harder than she’d imagined, her anger and hurt still sharp. “In the end, I was given three years’ salary.”
One of his big hands closed over hers, held it fast. “So you came home.”
Home.
No, Chicago was her home.
But then she lifted her gaze to his and saw the concern in his eyes, and it seemed that he was right—she had come home. “I guess I did.”
Austin listened while Lexi told him what she’d loved about living in Chicago, but inside he was seething. If he could, he’d hunt that fucker Crane down and make him eat his own balls. As for her ex-boyfriend, he’d done her a favor by dumping her. Still, if the bastard ever showed up in Scarlet, Austin would take him apart.
Lexi was now on her second margarita, her cheeks flushed, the distress he’d seen in her eyes earlier replaced by laughter. As she spoke, his anger began to fade, his blood growing warm.
Shit.
He wanted her.
Back off, buddy. You do not want to go there.
“When it snows, they shovel out their own parking spots and put a lawn chair there so that no one can take the space while they’re away.”
Austin laughed. “You’re kidding me.”
She shook her head, a smile on her beautiful face. “I still have a lawn chair stashed in my trunk.”
“If anyone did that here, people would just drive over the lawn chair.”
She laughed. “They’d key the hell out of your car—or slash your tires. You do not mess with the lawn chair.”
“They’re a tough bunch.”
Rain walked up to the table, picked up their empty plates. “Do you want me to split the check?”
Austin cut off Lexi before she could answer. “Dinner is my treat.”
She looked like she was about to argue with him, then smiled. “Thank you.”
The conversation drifted after that with Austin catching her up on the news about people they knew from high school. Randy and Stephen, the gay couple they’d elected as prom king and queen their senior year of high school, had finally gotten married and were living in Denver. Mrs. Beech, their English teacher, had recently lost her husband. Dan Meeks, who’d been on the football team with Austin, had been killed in combat in Iraq. His wife, Ellen, had given birth to twins six months later.
“That’s so sad.” She took a drink, down to ice now. “So much has happened.”
“You’ve been gone for a long time.” Austin glanced at his watch, stunned to see that another two hours had gone by. “Did you drive?”
He was pretty sure she was over the legal limit.
Knockers made a mean margarita.
She shook her head, smiled. “Nope. I planned ahead. I walked.”
He didn’t like the idea of her walking home alone in the dark, not while she was tipsy. Scarlet wasn’t a dangerous town compared to Boulder or Denver, but bad things happened—especially when alcohol was involved.
“If you don’t mind swinging past my place so I can let Mack out, I’ll take you home.” He was so full of shit. Mack would be fine for another hour or so. Besides, the inn was only a two-minute drive from Knockers, while Austin’s place was on the other side of town. Austin could easily drop her off on his way home.
You just don’t want to say goodnight.
Who could blame him?
“Who is Mack?”
“He’s my black lab puppy.”
Lexi’s face lit up. “A puppy?”
God.
That smile. It got him every time.
“He flunked out of the selection process for rescue training. I didn’t want him to end up in a shelter, so I adopted him.”
“Oh, can I meet him?”
“Sure.” Austin paid, left Rain a good tip, then led Lexi to his Tahoe, opening the passenger-side door for her.
She climbed in. “This is a lot fancier than that old, beat-up Ford.”
He walked around to the driver’s side and climbed in.
“Hey, I loved that truck.” He and Lexi had certainly made the most of its long bed. “This is more practical. I keep the back loaded with Team gear—ropes, my pack, my rack of climbing gear, first-aid supplies.”
“You’ve got a radio, too.”
He started the engine. “I like to stay in the loop.”
He drove out of the parking lot, an awkward silence replacing conversation as they headed down Hot Springs Drive toward First. It was one thing to sit together in a crowded restaurant. It was another for two people with their intimate history to be alone together in the confined space of a vehicle.
Lexi broke the silence. “Where do you live now?”
“I bought a log house west of town. Some out-of-staters built it as their retirement home, then decided the snow and altitude didn’t suit them and moved to Florida.”
“Why would anyone build in Colorado if they can’t tolerate snow?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. It’s not exactly a secret that we get a lot of snow up here. As it turns out, their lack of foresight was good for me.”
They talked about the weather for the next few minutes until he turned onto the dirt road that served as his driveway.
Lexi’s jaw dropped. “This is your house? Wow.”
“Home sweet home.” He parked in the garage.
She hopped out before he could open her door, then followed him inside.
Mack launched himself at Austin, tail wagging.
Austin gave the pup a good scratch. “Behave yourself, buddy. We have a guest.”
Lexi knelt down. “Hey, boy. Oh, you’re so cute!”
And just like that, Mack forgot all about Austin. He slathered Lexi with sloppy puppy kisses, his tail wagging wildly.
That’s when Austin noticed the bag of dried dog food Mack had ripped open, scattering kibble across the pantry floor and into the kitchen. He grabbed the broom. “That cuteness? It’s a survival strategy.”
“Have you been naughty?” Lexi crooned.
“Always,” Austin muttered, sweeping up the mess.
When the kibble was cleaned up, Austin handed Lexi the dog’s leash, and they took Mack for a short walk on the property, a great horned owl keeping them company with low hoots, the night alive with the chirping of crickets. It felt natural to talk with her, to walk beside her like this. More than once, he felt an impulse to reach for her hand.
When they got back to the house, Austin gave Lexi a quick tour.
“It’s amazing, but…”
“But what?”
She shrugged. “Maybe you should get some furniture.”
He supposed she did have a point. Apart from his brass bedstead and chest of drawers in his bedroom, the table and chairs in the kitchen, and the sofa and TV in the living room, the place was mostly empty. “I figured I’d grow into it.”
For a moment, neither of them spoke, both of them looking out onto the lights of Scarlet through the living room’s floor-to-ceiling windows.
“I’d offer you a drink, but I’ve got an early shift again tomorrow.” He turned towa
rd her, toward the door.
She smiled up at him. “I should probably head home anyway and find out whether Kendra and my dad have made up.”
There was a moment of clumsy silence as if this were a first date and the two of them were trying to figure out how to say goodbye and whether or not they should kiss. Except that it wasn’t a first date. It wasn’t a date at all. Neither of them had any intention of getting physical.
He cleared his throat. “Let’s get you home.”
“Right.”
But then she was in his arms, his mouth coming down hard on hers, her arms going around his neck, drawing him closer. Some part of him knew kissing her was stupid—really stupid, catastrophically stupid. But then she pressed her body hard against his, and he decided stupid could go fuck itself.
Oh, God, yes.
Lexi had spent the evening fantasizing about this, but the fantasy was nothing compared to the reality. The familiar scent of his skin told her this was Austin, but the man who kissed her now was more aggressive than the teenage boy she’d loved, his body changed—harder, stronger, broader.
His lips moved insistently over hers, his tongue teasing hers with slick strokes. One of his big hands cradled the back of her head, the other sliding slowly up her spine, molding her against him, strong arms holding her tight.
She fisted her hands in his hair, answered the force of his kiss with demands of her own, heat flaring inside her as their tongues curled together. Instinct took over, her hips pressing impatiently against him, finding the hard ridge of his erection. And the heat inside her became an ache.
“Lexi.” He whispered her name, grasped her ass with both hands, and lifted her off her feet, his lips moving to her throat.
She wrapped her legs around his waist and held on, her head falling back as his mouth found the sensitive skin beneath her ear.
And then they were moving, Austin carrying her. Across the living room. Up the stairs. Down the hall to the darkness of his bedroom.
They sprawled across his bed, Lexi savoring the burn of Austin’s stubble as he kissed and bit her throat. His lips and teeth made her skin tingle. One big hand moved to cup her breast through the cloth of her dress.