Seducing the Bachelor (The Bach - Sinclair Jayne

Seducing the Bachelor The Bachelor Auction Returns Sinclair Jayne

Seducing the Bachelor Copyright© 2016 Sinclair Jayne Kindle Edition The Tule Publishing Group, LLC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

ISBN: 978-1-944925-41-3

Table of Contents Title Page Copyright Page Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen The Sons of San Clemente The Bachelor Auction Returns The Bachelor Auction Series

About the Author

Chapter One COLT EWING PEERED over the banister of the stairs leading down to the bar of the Grey’s Saloon that was bursting full of women. Under different circumstances, the sight would have been welcome, but not tonight. Shit, this sucked. He tugged on the neck of his greyblue Henley even though the three buttons were already open. A bachelor auction. Stupidest idea ever. No. The fact he’d agreed to be bachelor number

three was stupider. Yeah, he was doing it for Coach D, the one positive male role model Colt had had in his life until the army, but he still wished he’d had the stones to say no. Didn’t help that three of his high school football teammates had ’nadded up to be auctioned off like a summer-fattened steer. In fact, his welcome back to Marietta had been a march across the Grizzlies’ football field, reminiscing about the senior homecoming game, which they’d lost for a variety of lame moves, to see Coach Downey and his wife Helen. Next thing he’d known, Coach and his wife, Helen, were thanking him for agreeing to participate in a bachelor auction.

Agreeing, my ass. “Stop staring.” Nick Palotay clapped a hand on his shoulder. “You’ll scare the hell out of the ladies. And what’s up with your clothes? This is how you dress up?” Nick, one of the few friends Colt still kept in touch with from high school, shoved a beer into his hand. “Rowan’s gonna be pissed at you. When a woman tells you to dress up, that means a suit.” He didn’t own one. Never would. Except his military dress uniform. He could have worn that had they told him the plan ahead of time, but then he wouldn’t have come. He tipped the bottle back and let the chilled liquid gold slide down his throat, which still

did nothing to sooth his mood. He’d hated every moment of his nine years in Marietta. Every damn second had been a gauntlet of tiptoeing around his alcoholic uncle with his quick, hard fists, and loneliness, boredom and a helpless, bottled resentment that had built and built until Colt had been convinced his head would pop off from the pressure. He’d counted the days until he could get off the ranch and after his last exam senior year, he’d met the army recruiter at the Main Street Diner for a cheeseburger and a coke, signed the final paper work, climbed in the recruiter’s car with a backpack full of clothes vowing never to return. But twelve years

later, here he was. Never say never. “Thanks.” He remembered to acknowledge the beer with a quick clink with Nick’s. “Still killing it with the verbal skills.” Nick commented. “At this rate, you’ll need a six pack of these before you hit the stage.” Colt never drank more than two beers in a day. Never. And that was a never he would keep because blood was blood. And he’d never be like his uncle. Sorry excuse for a man. Code Matthews, another bachelor, had also grown up with an uncle after his parents had died, but he and his uncle, Brand, had always

been pretty tight and Colt had envied their relationship. He turned back to his brooding assessment of the all-female crowd. “Man up.” Nick advised. “We’re doing it for Troy.” “Yeah.” Colt nodded. No kid should die playing the sport he loved. Troy had been Coach Downey’s grandson, a star running back, sixteen-years-old, who’d been tackled yards from a touchdown and had never gotten up. A freak snow storm that night had made the roads impassable and, because the Marietta Hospital hadn’t yet had a helipad, the extra time for LifeFlight to arrive might have made the

difference for Troy. So, wasn’t standing up on a stage for the first time in his life, feeling like an idiot, worth it to help Coach and his wife and another kid like Troy who had an unlucky tackle? “Okay, boys.” Rowan rushed up the stairs, holding something tightly in her palm. “The moment of truth.” She held out her hand in a tight fist and Colt could see four straws sticking out of the top. “So, do you feel lucky, punk?” He quoted one of his favorite old-time movie lines under his breath. “Figures you’d quote Dirty Harry,” Code Matthews, a former army soldier who’d served two tours in Afghanistan, taunted. Then he added. “Well, do you?”

Colt nodded. “Pick.” Code picked then swore. The straw was really, really short. “I think the straws reflect dick size, right boys?” Gavin Clark, who’d always been quick with a joke and had often teased his close friend Code didn’t miss a beat. “No idea.” Colt denied. “Don’t want to know.” Nick added. “Really all those steamy showers after practice and games?” Rowan laughed. “Bragging about this or that play? I figured you’d be slapping each other with towels, comparing conquests, and creating all other sorts of manly moments.”

“Too busy trying to peer into the girl’s locker room to compare our junk, perve,” Nick said to his little sister “And the showers were lukewarm at best, and why are we even talking about this, sis?” Nick picked. “Definitely dick size.” Colt looked at it. Colt drew his straw and Gavin drew his. Colt was third. Good to not be first and maybe good not to be last. As much as it would suck to be up there, to be up there and not be bid on would really bite. He looked at the others and wondered if they were just as nervous only hiding it better. He’d been in

battles, life and death shit, and he’d been solid. Maybe he definitely should re-up if this were an indication of how he handled life on the outside. He’d only been on leave two days, and he was seriously considering whining about having a bunch of women ogle him. Not like he hadn’t done his share. He’d just been subtle. From the growing din below, subtle wasn’t in the cards tonight. Rowan left the storage room briefly and then returned. “Okay, boys, Coach is getting ready to start. Colt, where’s your blazer?” He held out his arms in a ‘this is it’ gesture. Rowan looked horrified. He mentally kicked himself. Not that he’d

known he was about to be auctioned off when Nick had contacted him and said that Coach needed to talk to them, but still, he’d had a day’s notice. He should have pulled something together. “Wear your leather biker jacket. Be a tough guy. Chicks dig it.” Gavin suggested. They generally did, but not the kind of women in Grey’s Saloon out to do a good deed; at least he didn’t think so. Colt shrugged into the worn leather. “Let me see.” Rowan looked at him skeptically. Now he really felt like an auction steer. “Okay,” she said slowly. “Now take

it off and dangle it from your finger.” “Great, stripper tips from my little sis. Mom will be proud.” Colt flipped Nick off for her. “Boys, behave.” Rowan ordered. “You are gentlemen for tonight.” That was all he’d be able to manage. He just hoped his winning bidder wasn’t expecting upscale or he’d really be in for it. Colt dangled his coat like the biggest idiot. Rowan walked a circle around him. “You look ripped. That’s one advantage of the Henley shirt. Would you be comfortable taking it off?” Colt dropped the jacket, shocked. No

one had said this was a Magic Mike thing. He couldn’t dance. “Do it and I’ll punch you,” Nick said. “Welcome to try.” Rowan rolled her eyes. “Probably too much. Widow Benedict is in the house.” “I know, she’s my date,” Code said. “That sounds like a blast.” Nick shot back. “And Helen will probably think I’ve lost my mind, and since you’re all Army Ranger dude, you probably have tats crawling all over your skin like a high school bathroom wall.” “You could be an inspirational

speaker,” Colt said. “Do you think so?” And there the exchange ended because Colt was too socially inept to read sarcasm because most women didn’t want to talk to him much. They wanted something else. And he obliged. His tats turned on a certain type of woman but others would probably run. Rowan tilted her head, looked him up and down, and Colt felt undressed and not in the good way. No woman had ever looked at him so clinically before, except one army doc who’d had to stitch him up after a hand-to-hand combat training session when he hadn’t ducked fast enough.

Rowan bent at his feet and cuffed his Carhartt work pants a couple of times. She stood up and eyed the result. “That shows off the combat boots more so you got a bit more stylish, deliberate edge, and it makes your pants look even leaner on your thighs.” “Jesus,” Nick muttered. “Looking at Colt’s thighs. I feel sick.” “If your stint as an image consultant is finished,” Gavin said, “Coach is calling for you, Rowan.” He turned to Colt. “Make sure you shimmy your ass when you turn around up there with your biker leather all tossed over your shoulder like Justin Bieber.” “Who’s that?” Colt deadpanned.

Gavin said something Rowan would not approve of. “And lift up your shirt to wipe your mouth like you’re in a beer commercial or is it some girlie drink like ginger ale?” Code suggested. “I never noticed you are kinda pretty, Colt,” Nick said. “Maybe you should go first.” What the fuck? No good deed went unpunished, which was why he didn’t do them anymore. Should have taken a flight in the opposite direction, but he hadn’t known what the hell he was going to do with thirty days of freedom. The idea had freaked him out so Nick’s call couldn’t have come at a better time.

Colt leaned against the wall, picked up his beer, and gave Nick the stare, and even though Colt was thousands of miles away from his unit and his team and his weapon, Nick shut up. Finally. Until he didn’t. As Code walked down the wide staircase to the bar below, Nick and Gavin gathered closer so they could hear the proceedings and do a bit of spying and even though Colt wished himself a thousand miles away, he too gravitated towards his high school buddies. “Code’s offering up a weekend date,” Gavin said. “That sounds promising.” “But that string tie looks dumb.”

Nick commented. “Ties are like nooses, and I don’t think any man needs to taunt someone with a way to strangle them.” “Make them work for it,” Gavin said. He turned to Colt. “What’s your date?” Colt made a whatever gesture. His creative dearth dogged him his whole life. Rowan had asked him what he enjoyed doing and he’d drawn a blank. Then she’d smiled, thumbs busy typing out a description on her phone, and asked him what he was good at. He didn’t think “killing” was what she was looking for. Nick looked down at a program his sister had brought up. “Lady’s Choice,”

he said. “Good. Puts the ball in her court like you’re a metrosexual male as if she couldn’t tell from your cuffed pants, but it’s a bit open-ended.” “Yeah.” Gavin chimed in. “What if she wants to get married or make a baby?” Colt started. Gavin was joking, but Colt hadn’t even thought about what the woman might choose. He hadn’t really thought about the woman at all. “I was thinking more along the lines of work around her house like weeding.” “Weeding?” Gavin laughed. “That’s gotta be code for something good.” But before any of them could think of a reply someone from the back of the bar

shouted out “ten thousand dollars.” “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.” Gavin breathed. “I think that sounded like Hayley Dawn O’Malley’s back in town.” Ten thousand dollars was some serious dough. Colt looked over the railing to see if he could see Hayley, whom he’d seen in a couple of movies over the years, but instead, his attention was caught by a tall, loose-limbed, leggy blond, with a ponytail of tight curls spiraling down her back as she moved across the floor like molasses. She was slim and graceful and moved like how he thought a dancer would. Watching her deliver a tray full of drinks was like

watching a ribbon caught in a breeze. Shit. He wiped his hand over his mouth. Where the hell had that poetic thought come from? He found it difficult to look away. She seemed to command the room, swishing easily through the tables of laughing, teasing women, tray held high over her head, and even though many of the women were in short skirts and dresses, the server looked elegant in a way he liked. Tight, slim-fitting, western style jeans hugged the curve of her ass and then skimmed down her legs that went forever, ending in a slight flare at her feet where he could see a peek of her

cowboy boots. He’d always been a leg man and so he lingered there for a while before his gaze roved up all that sexy leg to her small waist, emphasized by the tailored tuck of her blue western style shirt. He had missed that about Montana. The boots he had always fantasized about pulling off and tossing over his shoulder and the western style shirts with the snap buttons that begged to be pulled apart in one aggressive tug that revealed the soft, toned skin and sensitive peaks hiding beneath. Not that he’d been able to act on his fantasies in high school. His uncle’s leash had been too tight, but he’d

definitely spent a lot of time watching the cowgirls and imagining how they would feel beneath him. His cock stirred. He wasn’t in high school anymore and since he was going to be stuck in Marietta for a few days he could finally fulfill one fantasy. And that was when Colt finally looked at her face. She was pretty enough, but it was her mouth that punched like a fist. Her lips were bow shaped, a soft, natural pink, like pillows, plump, kissable, and fell in a sexy pout when she wasn’t laughing or talking, which it seemed like she did a lot, but when her mouth settled into its natural lines, it seared his brain with sexual

imagery he couldn’t ignore and, when he saw no ring, he didn’t have to. The night just got a hell of a lot better. Colt didn’t even notice Nick was on the block and that he’d be up next. He watched her float to the bar and speak quickly to the bartender, her gaze sweeping across the crowded room. She loaded up her tray with brightly colored cocktails and swept back into the rowdy crowd. He noticed her smile, the way her face lit up. She seemed at ease in the setting where as he was anything but. He wondered the best way to approach her. He didn’t want to ask Nick or Gavin. Code could keep his

mouth shut. Maybe. But he didn’t share his business with anyone, so he watched her. Noted if she talked to anyone longer, dipped closer to them to indicate more than a casual acquaintance or friendship. She did stand near one table of five women more often than the others. And talked more. His eyes took in each face at the table gauging their involvement with the conversation, with the waitress. One girl with bright red hair and freckles seemed to talk the most, but he didn’t recognize her. Another was familiar. Meghan somebody. Target acquired. “Okay,” Rowan completely interrupted his focus. Nobody on his

team would ever dream of interrupting him with a hand on his shoulder. But Rowan was Nick’s little sister, and he wasn’t in a war zone or on an undercover op. She nudged him toward the stairs. “Stop looking so intense. Try to seem more playful.” “I don’t play.” She huffed out an irritated breath. “Pretend. Oh, forget it. Alright, here’s the plan.” Coach would introduce him. Making a big story about how fast he’d been in high school. So easy to dodge through defenders. Then his service to his country. Blah. Blah. Blah. Where was

the waitress? Was she interested in the bachelors? That would be a serious buzz kill if she had some idiot at home waiting for her. “Remember it’s for Coach and Troy,” she said. He nodded. It wasn’t as if he’d suffered any head injuries in high school or after. “Go slow. Be cool, confident. Own the room. You have a rocking bod and that shirt really defines your abs and shoulders and arms. I think I might need to fan myself.” “It’s a cheap, practical shirt, Rowan.” “On you, it’s not. Okay. Maybe the

intense thing is good, but think about sex while you’re up there. Can you at least do that for me?” Hell, no, he wouldn’t do it for Rowan in a billion years, but for the curly haired waitress whose mouth looked like it could bring a man to paradise, hell, yes, he could stand up there and think about sex all night long.

Chapter Two TALON

REESE SURVEYED the room. Crazy awesome how many people had turned out for tonight’s fundraiser. The crowd was even bigger than last year and judging from how tired her feet were, before the bidding had even started, thirstier. Grey’s Saloon was donating the proceeds from tonight’s bar to the cause and the servers were expected to kick in their tips. Usually, Talon was the first to open her wallet, but she was running on fumes from her last financial aid check

from school so she couldn’t stop the longing look at the growing wad of dollar bills in her apron pocket. She usually worked as a server at Main Street Diner and also interned under local large animal vet, Noah Gallagher, as she finished her bachelor’s degree in animal husbandry and took as many online pre-req courses to enter veterinary school. As tempting as the chunk of change was, she knew the money would benefit others in the town and surrounding area more. She and her seven-year-old son, Parker James, had a roof over their heads and her job at the diner ensured that they received delicious dinners five

nights a week. The school covered his lunches, so really, they were doing quite well. Better than her chaotic childhood in and out of foster care. “Talon, which bachelor captures your hormones?” Meghan, a local accountant in town, called out as Talon served them their second round of drinks as well as some potato skins and jalapeno poppers. “I don’t know,” she said. “I haven’t looked at the program. I heard all of them grew up in Marietta but have moved away. Former football players for Coach. I heard a couple were soldiers. One still is so he’s probably nice,” Talon said, not really thinking

about it. “Who wants nice?” Leanne, a teacher at the elementary school, scoffed. “I want hot!” Talon laughed as she was meant to. Hot would be a fun distraction, but it made her feel a little embarrassed for the bachelors being so objectified. As a woman who’d routinely faced wolf whistles and casually flung sexual comments since puberty, she empathized with the four bachelors, but it wasn’t like they were expected to have sex with their dates, she reminded herself as she made more rounds to take orders. Although, she’d never met a man who didn’t enjoy casual sex, and casual was

all she was ever going to be able to indulge in until Parker graduated high school. Coach Downey tested the sound system. Showtime. She hoped she could take an unobtrusive peek during the bidding. A peek was all she was going to get with her responsibilities. She checked back in with the table where many of her friends were squeezed in. Tanner McTavish, her closest friend in Marietta, fanned herself with the program. “I hate sitting so much. I wish they’d get on with it so we could go dancing. You up for it tonight, Talon?” “No, Parker’s in the office. We’re

going home after the auction. Grey’s only needed extra servers during the event. After, I’m going to study.” Tanner crossed her eyes. “That sounds fun. Not. At least check out the bachelor program, then, Talon. The soldier you were panting over is offering a lady’s choice date. A total gentleman.” That statement was followed by giggles and teasing. Talon pretended to be stern. “No need to stoop to the men’s level of sexually objectifying.” Talon objected. “They have donated their time and money and imagination. No need to make them donate their dignity as well. Besides”—Talon couldn’t hide her smile

—“I haven’t even see him, so no panting involved.” “Yet.” Leanne tossed back. “Ever.” Talon drew herself up to her full five-ten height, and then laughed. “You girls.” She shook her fingers. “Naughty. And you’re married,” she said to Meghan. “But not dead,” Meghan said. “Talon, you can’t have gorgeous hair, a sassy mouth, and legs a mile long and not be in the game,” Tanner said. “You’re in by default. And we’re just objectifying for charity to raise the bidding. So which one catches your eye?” “Not looking. I have to write a paper

tonight.” “If you won bachelor number three, you could get him to write your paper.” Meghan teased. “I went to high school with him, and he was smart but super quiet. Never even made eye contact with a girl, but super-fast on the field.” “I know I’m a single mom and a student and working two jobs, but even I’m not so boring that I’d want a date to write my paper,” Talon laughed. At least she hoped not. “You will be if you don’t get out there. Too many cowboys in the town to not be in the game.” Tanner looked up and Talon felt those green eyes sear her bones. “Spill. What would your choice

be?” Talon cleared their table of the excess dishes and glasses. She paused. Her choice. “Wow,” she said quietly looking at Tanner. “I don’t think I ever thought about it like that. Having a choice.” She scrubbed at the spotless table, nibbling on her lower lip, clearly thinking. She hadn’t had a lot of choices growing up. Just rolled with it. Choosing to live in Marietta had been the first choice she’d had total control over. “Have fun you guys and bid ’em up. I’ll be back later to see if you need anything more. Your nachos should be up soon.”

Talon straightened up slowly. She felt it again, that burning sensation like something was boring through her back. Her neck prickled and her body went on alert. She turned around and saw him, one of the bachelors at the top of the stairs staring at her. “Whoosh,” she said. “And there goes my brain.” “Whoosh and there go my panties. Go talk to him,” Tanner urged. Talon had no idea what she could say to a man that…that much of a man. He looked like…she couldn’t even think of a simile. He was…perfect. He was so the total package. Intense. Tall. Cut. Self-contained. He looked

totally like he could be a warrior of ancient times, staring down into a village seconds before he plundered and burned, and yet he also looked contemporary. A chameleon. Talon shivered. He looked delicious and his eyes were burning holes through her, and she looked back. Definitely. He must be looking at Tanner she told herself, but no. His gaze was fixed on her, unwavering. Like a cougar in full hunt mode and Talon anticipated the pounce and the claws with a tingling spine and liquid warmth pooling low. She loved how he stood so still, so self-possessed like nothing fazed him, not even this circus. Some woman was

in for a lot of fun. He jerked his head a little. Talon frowned. Did he need something? Another of whatever he was drinking? Yes, please. Even though she thought Rowan had taken care of drinks and snacks for the bachelors, it didn’t hurt to check, did it? She wondered which number he was. Two was already on his way down after the huge bid that had kicked off the night for bachelor number one. So three or four. Three was a lucky number, wasn’t it? Don’t be an idiot. She walked across the wood floor of the saloon, chin up. She would not give

her friends the satisfaction of panting, but this guy was some serious drool inducing piece of masculine pride. He didn’t seem to blink so she wouldn’t either. Definitely not as easy as he made it look. She was halfway up the stairs before he took the first step down. Even more beautiful closer up. Sharp angles for bones, sculpted mouth that looked tough but with a hint of sex. “You’re not supposed to come down yet,” she said, jogging up the last few steps so he was only two steps above her. She wasn’t used to having many people tower over her. “Can I help you?” she asked breathlessly.

He looked at her for a few moments longer than was socially comfortable. “Probably.” “Can I get you something to drink?” “Not thirsty for beer.” Oh. My. God. She was either becoming the biggest, highly suggestible, presumptuous perve in the town or he was coming on to her. Her. Wow. “What do you like to drink?” “I’m working.” Talon was afraid she’d squeaked that, but she was so out of practice. All her conversations with the opposite sex had been school or work oriented or with her son and wasn’t that a sad, sad statement? She was twenty-five, not seventy.

“Later?” Yes, oh yes, oh yes. All he needed was a motorcycle and a guitar, and he would have nine tenths of the world female population chasing him. “You’re supposed to go on a date for a good cause,” she said. His stare practically quartered her. His eyes were the most interesting light brown, almost golden and she felt dissected. “It would be.” “So you can’t try to make plans with me,” Talon said, feeling that if she didn’t try to force this point, be practical, she’d actually grab his arm and tug him out the door auction and Parker forgotten. And she would not be that woman. A woman

perhaps like her mother had been. “It’s Lady’s Choice. What if she wants tonight?” He came down one more step. Talon found it hard to breathe. He was potent. His scrutiny created more heat than a blowtorch. She could feel his energy mix with hers like some kind of heady pleasure inducing, inhibition generating cocktail. “I would persuade her to choose differently.” He could persuade anyone to do anything. Talon felt drawn even closer into his orbit, and she couldn’t decide where she wanted to look more, his intense, honey stare, his mouth that

looked like it was about to plunder hers, or his chest that looked harder than the glacier-sheered rocks on Copper Mountain. Talon nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard Coach Downey calling out “going once, going twice.” “You’re up.” She could barely breathe or command her body to do anything but lean into him and absorb all the intensity and heat and sexual pull. It was like she was a different person. A woman for the first time in her life with needs and wants and desires that had nothing to do with responsibility and future goals that always seemed just out of reach. She turned to flee back down the stairs.

What had she been thinking that she could even come within orbit of that much testosterone? She was a newb at flirting and he was clearly a master. He caught her hand, and Talon felt almost that she could melt in a puddle at his feet. “Aren’t you going to wish me good luck?” His voice was low in her ear. She turned to look at him and felt all her air stick in her chest. “I don’t think luck’s going to have anything to do with it.” She sounded strangled as she pulled out of his hold, savoring the slide of his calloused, heated skin against hers. Talon hurried down the stairs and back onto the saloon floor, where she

took two more orders and entered them in on the computer just as bachelor number three—a man with eyes like a bird of prey’s and a body like…she didn’t even have words to describe that work of art. Definitely made her believe God had a master plan and played favorites—hit the stage. She was torn. She wanted to watch. No, be real. She wanted to stare and lust and fantasize that she could at least think about letting him buy her a drink, but she had to be responsible. Drive her life safe and solo; and that guy would be all about the ride and it would not be to the library or for groceries. His pores oozed sex. Even his name Colt was the brand of a gun. A

young horse. He was not a forever guy. Not that she wanted a forever guy. She had one. She poked her head in the saloon business office to check on Parker, her son. “Hey, bud, what’s up?” He was curled up under the desk on his sleeping bag reading from his stash of Magic Tree House books and munching on chicken fingers, fries, carrots, apples, and vanilla yogurt. “Somebody scored an amazing meal.” “Hey, mom.” He poked his nose out of his book, waved, and then went back to the adventures of Jack and Annie. He waved his fingers in a shooing motion.

Talon smiled affectionately and went back out onto the saloon’s floor. Coach Downey had just finished a story about bachelor number three’s running prowess in football. Probably came in handy now, she thought idly, with so many women chasing him. He stood on the stage looking a million miles away until his eyes locked with hers. Talon had been tired and had slumped against the wall not wanting to distract the bidders by circulating around the tables, but when his intense gaze hit hers, she felt like she’d just been jolted back to life by a live wire. His eyes were molten gold and trained on her like he was a falcon and

she, a field mouse. She tried to tell herself it was her just imagination that he was fixed on her, but her imagination was out of the barn and running wild and not about to stop or shut up. She could feel him. Feel him undressing her with his mind and, thank God, it was all in the realm of fantasy because she had the most boring white cotton panties on ever. That was all she owned and, still, they were soaked so she should stop looking at him now. Only she didn’t. Even her nipples, dormant except when it was cold, woke up with a big hurrah and chafed against her tank under her western style shirt because she’d washed her bras this

morning and she hadn’t had a dry one for tonight, and it wasn’t like anyone would have been looking at her she’d reasoned this afternoon, except now the smokin’ hot, about to combust her on the spot, man was looking. And looking hard. “Sold!” Coach Downey’s voice rang out over the room and there were cheers and applause and then bachelor number three swaggered over to her and Talon felt her legs shake, which was ridiculous because she wasn’t in middle school, and she wasn’t meeting him later and he’d just become some other woman’s wet panty problem. “See you in a bit.” He made a quick turn and loped over to another table.

Chapter Three COLT

and headed toward the table that Coach D had pointed out. If ever there were a time for someone to slap him on the shoulder and say man up, now would be that time. He wanted to be anywhere else on the planet. He would have jumped up, hand raised high to be back in a shelled-out building in Iraq or Syria, sighting down ISIS targets instead of walking up to a table full of women, who were eyeing him speculatively. He wished he had the SWALLOWED

HARD

easy charm of Nick or Gavin when they chose, but he had nada. He’d known Rowan had wanted him to play to the crowd. Helen had even given him a hug before Coach started talking him up and whispered to him to be himself. And so he’d stood there solid, predictable, and interesting as a block of wood, but when he’d spotted the sexy waitresses watching him across the floor, he’d turned his focus completely on her. He liked that she was tall and slim and natural-looking. Not usually his type only because her type didn’t hang out in bars where service men went, and her type didn’t usually agree to anything fast and furious within

the first hour or two of meeting. Instead, she’d seemed surprised by his sexual interest, and that made him curious. Why? Place like this, cowboys coming in and out, she must have guys hitting on her all the time. He wanted to touch her hair. See if it was as soft as it looked. See if the wildness of it hinted at a passionate interior. See if her blonde was natural. He definitely wanted to know that. He walked to the table. Reminded himself that he was supposed to be charming and, without changing expression, he stopped. They’d all watched his approach and no one spoke up, claimed being the winning bidder so

he had no idea who to address. This is why I don’t date. This must be why cowboys wore hats so they could tip them. It gave them a prop. He imagined how fast the place would clear out if he had his usual prop. “Evening, ladies.” He hoped that wasn’t a sexist term. “I’m Colt.” “Yes, you are.” The woman he dimly remembered from high school fanned herself. “I definitely remember you.” Everyone smiled so it was supposed to be funny, but for him, anything from the past wasn’t anything to smile about. The sooner he could get out of town the better, although the waitress was definitely worth another look or two.

“So,” he just needed to think of it as a mission. Accept. Plan. Execute. Return. “What can I do for you?”

* TALON WALKED INTO the kitchen on wobbly legs. She felt like she’d been sunburned by bachelor number three’s sexual charisma. “Whew.” She used a clean rag to dab some cold water on her face. “That was like a close encounter with a supernova.” The volunteer chef, Ryan, who’d been a bachelor last year when the town had raised money to help with the

medical expenses for a little boy, Josh, who’d been injured while on a scout camping trip, laughed. “Did you catch anyone on fire with your deadly sexual swagger and stare last year?” She demanded. Ryan winked and pushed four to-go boxes toward her. “I do that every day,” he said. “Better than burning my food. Dinner and dessert for you and Mister P. No need to stay long for cleanup. Last year the auction crowd cleaned out fast and the usual crowd sidled in so just the tabletops that you worked.” Talon wasn’t going to argue with that. She’d started wearing gel inserts in

her cowboy boots due to all the walking but some days that was not enough. She waved her thanks to Ryan and tucked her boxes into her tote in the office, noting that Parker was asleep. It would suck to wake him, but her days of carrying him were long gone. She blew at the stray curls that had escaped around her face and wondered who’d bought the bachelor. She would not be feeling so tired after winning that prize. Smiling, she returned to the main bar area to find the panty-soaker standing by the ordering station, arms crossed staring at her with an intensity that unnerved. He didn’t really think they were going to go somewhere tonight? She hadn’t said yes.

But who would ever say no to that. She walked toward him, no longer feeling her feet. His eyes were the most interesting shade of brown, kind of a cross between gold and caramel, her favorite type of candy. No one had looked at her that intently before. Her heart kicked into high speed. “Hi.” She could barely blow the word out through her mouth. “Need something?” She cringed at how suggestive the words sounded. She’d meant a drink or something to eat. Food. Not her. Oh, she had it bad. He didn’t blink. “You.” The thrill that shot through her blood

was hot and wicked and entirely inappropriate. The room and everyone in it disappeared. She moistened her lip nervously, thinking she’d imagined his answer. “Excuse me?” “Your friends bought me. They’ve left. I cleaned your tables. Let’s roll.” Talon ran his words through her head to have them make sense. Then again. Still nothing. Him. Her. Bought. Her brain wasn’t working. Probably because he was well over six foot of solid muscle, cut features, square jaw, dark, straight brows, like crow’s wings, and dark chestnut hair with hints of red and gold and a widow’s peak that made her fingers tremble in longing to soothe

through. And his hands. She didn’t want to even get started on noticing his hands, which she’d already done because they were large, rough, tanned with long, square-tipped fingers that she could imagine imprinting all over her body. “I…I don’t roll.” The look he gave her scorched and made her clit flame. “Tonight can be a first.” He prowled towards her, and it was all Talon could do to not offer herself up like the most willing, excited sacrifice in the history of mankind. “You have the hottest mouth I’ve ever seen. I’ve been fantasizing about it all night.” Her mouth dropped open at his

boldness. She’d been thinking a lot about him, too, but she wasn’t going to broadcast it. “You could use it to tell me what you want me to do for you.” Talon had to tear her mesmerized stare from his mouth because she was not even close to imagining anything so tame as a date with him, and what the heck was wrong with her? He was a stranger and while his whole physicality and sexuality screamed “touch me now,” she had to hear “danger, back away.” “I’m not going to have sex with you.” She blurted and then slapped her hand over her big mouth. “My date is Lady’s Choice.” His

deep voice rumbled through her body. “You don’t have to choose the best sex of your life—past, present, or future.” “That’s a bold statement.” Talon was outraged, amused, and so turned on she didn’t know which one she should be feeling. “And if I were superexperienced and a casual person, I would put that statement to the test.” He took a step closer so his mouth was inches away, and when she inhaled his lightly spicy cologne, or maybe it was just his skin, she felt dizzy. “I’d pass. Best. Sex. Ever.” Talon was the one who was going to have to pass. Pass him up and the wave of loneliness and regret that swept

through her was fierce and unwelcome. She’d fought hard to make something of herself and though she wasn’t done by a long shot, she was proud of what she’d accomplished so far. But being with him, flirting, teasing, was fun. And she hadn’t had fun in a long, long time. “Is that why they bought you for me?” She asked in a small voice, suddenly embarrassed, thinking about the fact that her friends had to buy someone to do something fun with her. “So that you should show me a good time? Is that what they said?” She didn’t know what they’d paid, her heart sank. But they’d wasted their money, and she couldn’t pay them back.

Not for years. His eyes narrowed and he was quiet for a while, clearly thinking it through. Talon trembled under his piercing stare, aware she’d given too much away, but not exactly sure what. “The date is your choice,” he said. His voice was deep and quiet and seemed to reach into Talon’s body and wrap around her spine like melted chocolate. “Not theirs.”

* SHE LIKED HIM sexually aggressive. He could tell by the flare of her pupils. Her eyes were blue. Deep blue like a fall

Montana sky just before twilight descends. Also the way she watched him gave her away. She didn’t try to hide her appraisal of his body. She was embarrassed by her desire, but not hiding it. And that kept cranking him up. He wished he’d rented a car so he could take her somewhere. See if the smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose dipped any lower. He didn’t think she was wearing a bra, and it was driving him nuts because he wanted to get the hell out of here with her and not resurface until he’d buried every ghost that had risen now that he was back in his hometown, feeling once again alienated, lonely, frustrated, and

edgy, just like the awkward teen who’d slunk around his high school hallways always wanting to say something to a girl to get her attention but coming up empty. He loved, loved the way she moved. He could watch her all night, that rolling gait, pelvis tucked under, back straight, shoulders dropped and fluid. She was so symmetrical, athletic with just a hint of sex in her hip sway. Definitely out of his league, but he was going to step up to the mound and take a swing anyway. He liked his chances, and he wasn’t ready to walk away. She broke eye contact first. Moistened her lips again, and it took a

lot of his restraint not to dip his head to taste her. Nick, Gavin, and Code were nowhere in sight, which meant he had no wheels. Stupid not to rent a car. “I don’t know,” she said, “what I want to do.” Yes, she did. But she wasn’t ready for that. That was his sign to move on immediately. But something about her held him and it wasn’t just the obligation. She nibbled on her lip. “I…I have to go,” she said. “Name?” That was so not a question he asked unless it was offered. And now he was going to ask for her number so he could plan a date. Definitely a night of firsts

for him. “Talon,” she said. She pulled a huge wad of bills out of her apron pocket, looked at it, her expression closed and then she carefully tucked it into the large tip jar that stood at the end of the bar. The bartender, who’d looked pissed off all night, his face set in stone, asked her something. She smiled and her face lit up, and Colt felt something strange stir inside him. It made him uncomfortable. She had a beautiful, open smile. Like the sun coming out, and he couldn’t think of a name less appropriate for her. There was nothing sharp or deadly about

Talon. “Donation?” he asked. She nodded. “I volunteered to help out tonight. Usually, I waitress the dinner shift at The Main Street Diner. I’m finishing my bachelor’s degree. I’m going to be a vet. Starting school in the fall. I also have an associates and am a vet tech.” She clapped her hand over her mouth again. “Sorry. TMI. And I blab when I’m nervous. Obviously. I don’t think I’ve ever won anything.” His heart squeezed at her look of wonder. He’d never been anyone’s prize. “I guess this is where we say goodbye,” she said, her voice a bit sad

and she held out her hand. To shake? “Lady’s choice.” He reminded her, feeling like a dumb ass because obviously spending time with him was going to be more of a chore than something to look forward to, and he was stupid to care. He should blow out of here. Good deed done. Only it wasn’t. And for the time that Coach D had been there for him. And Nick, Gavin, and Code. He couldn’t quite walk away like he’d planned. “Did you have something in mind?” “If I had, I would have told Rowan for the program.” She laughed. Again, her eyes lit up

and she looked even prettier, carefree in a way he couldn’t imagine feeling. He guessed it was funny, but he’d been serious. He should probably laugh too but couldn’t manage the right reactions sometimes. Most times. The silence pulled, stretched. He waited. “Can I think about it?” “Sure.” Disappointment was a nagging bitch, but what had he expected, really? “Do you need a ride to one of your friends’ homes?” she asked. “I know where Code’s uncle’s ranch is. I’ve been out on a couple of calls when one of his horses was in trouble with her labor.” “Yes,” he said to the ride. “No to

Code’s.” He was so antsy to get out of here. He didn’t spend this much time indoors hardly ever. He’d be better staying on his own in a motel. “Where to?” She headed back to where she’d come from, indicating that he should follow so he did. “Your family’s then?” He hated this. The whole getting to know him. This was what he didn’t do. He watched the crowd in the bar. Read the room. Picked the woman who’d be ready for action without too many questions. Repeat different bar, different town, different woman. That couldn’t be the play tonight. “No family,” he said.

“Oh.” She turned around and he had to stop abruptly to keep from crashing into her. She touched his arm, her eyes dark with sympathy, and something coiled in his gut so tightly, raised its ugly head and stirred. “I’m sorry. I know what that feels like.” His jaw clenched. “I didn’t have a family growing up either. Mostly foster homes and group homes. That’s why I love this town so much. It’s so welcoming. I feel like the people of this town are my family. Everyone has been really kind to me and to Parker.” She was so open. Christ, it was like she was inviting the hurt. Wincing for

her, he followed her to an office not sure if Parker was a dog or a kid. A kid. No ring. What dumb ass made a kid with her and walked away from that sexiness coupled with kindness and a strong work ethic? Or maybe Parker’s father had been a soldier and had died. Maybe that was why his intensity, his curtness didn’t throw her. Women definitely propositioned him. None of them seemed prepared to get to know more than one part of him, and that totally worked. But he was up for his third enlistment. He was thirty and he had nothing. No house. No wife. No dog. The few things he had were in a storage locker on a Texas base. He had bought a

beautiful truck a couple of years ago that he’d tricked out and had stored it at another ranger’s house, but David had been killed, and his wife had moved with her kids back to Florida to be with her parents, and she’d called his uncle about the truck. He’d probably junked it for spite. “Where’s Parker’s dad?” Couldn’t hold that one in. Kids definitely complicated things. Not that he should be thinking along those lines. He wasn’t here long enough for a complication. “Aaaaah…I don’t really know. Jenna didn’t tell me. Only that he was rodeo. She’s dead. Killed in a car accident. I adopted Parker three years ago.” She

crouched next to the sleeping child, who was wrapped in a purple down parka. “Jenna was my best friend. We lived together in a few fosters and then lit out together after I graduated early.” She smoothed the hair back from her son’s small face. “So I’ve been with Parker since he was born.” She stood up and gathered up a tote that had boxes in it, kids’ books, and a few other things. “I’ve been in Marietta now over a year and a half. Longest I’ve lived anywhere.” Her expressive eyes shone as if Marietta were the center of the universe. And he had always hated it. Hated the

town. The gossip. The judging. His uncle’s isolated life and all the work. Football and study had been his only reprieves. “Jenna found it. She and I had gone to the Copper Mountain Rodeo once where she met Parker’s dad, but I had to study so I didn’t stay for all the events, but I fell in love with the town and when she…” She trailed off, her eyes tearing up. “Sorry.” He said quickly, mentally kicking himself for asking her anything personal. Not that he’d known he’d get the novel version of her life. “Want me to carry him to your car?” “He’s seven and solid. You can’t

pick him up.” A challenge. This he could deal with. Tenderness rubbed him raw. So did sorrow. He scooped up the kid, tucking the jacket, probably hers around him. Talon blinked at him with her strange, deeply blue eyes—almost purple in some lights, like pansies, and her lashes were long and curled up, making her always look searching, and he had to resist the urge to rock back on his heels away from her discerning gaze. “Can.” He taunted back. “Where’s your ride?” “Well, it’s not really mine.” She pulled out the keys and let him out of a

side door. “I’m sort of borrowing it right now because my car’s giving up the ghost again, and the person who owns it hasn’t come looking yet, and I just renewed the tags so that’s kind of like I’m leasing it and…” She continued to walk quickly across the small parking lot and down a couple of blocks. “I’m sorry. Parker is tall and definitely not a skinny kid and…are you okay?” “My gear weighs twice this and I climb at high elevations and run with it, so I’m not even breaking a sweat here.” “Oh, sorry. I’m totally impressed by your manly fitness level. Feeling deliciously weak and swoony now. Must join a gym.”

She definitely had a mouth on her. Better and better. Why did he have to be playing hero, carrying the sleeping kid when he’d rather be carrying her off somewhere so he could finally get to live his dream of ripping off a cowgirl’s shirt and making her come by playing with her breasts while she still stood up in her jeans and boots? He didn’t think she was wearing a bra and he felt like his fingers were crawling out of his skin in order to find out for sure. “I can think of better ways to work out,” he said. “You can tell me all about it on the ride.”

“Rather show you,” he said low in her ear, easily keeping pace with her quickening steps. She stumbled and he easily caught her elbow even with the kid’s dead weight. Yeah. She was definitely interested, kid or no kid. Maybe Lady’s Choice hadn’t been such a sucky date idea after all.

Chapter Four HARD

when she was pressing her legs together so tightly. This was crazy, but she was loving every second of it. She felt so alive and so wet and swollen down there, and he hadn’t even kissed her yet. And why was she flirting with him, because he was so clearly out of her league, it was a different game. And she didn’t care because she wanted this man however she could get him, which was stupid because she had Parker and her own dumb heart to think TO WALK

about. As much as she’d like to pretend that she was a woman who could have a one-night stand or a weekend stand since tomorrow was Sunday, she had a niggling feeling she would want more. She cried during Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day commercials. No way was she a sophisticated woman who could jump into bed with a hot man and walk away with a smile. Colt was not a man any woman would forget anytime soon. She couldn’t be dragging around her bruised and empty heart and still hold it together enough to be Parker’s mom, and a good employee and student, and work with Noah to try to learn as much as she could

hands-on because she learned better that way than from her classes. She was just talking herself into behaving when he had to go whisper that suggestive comment in her ear about showing her how to work out. He was so ripped it was all she could do to keep her hands off him. Back and forth her mind seesawed— make a move on Colt or listen to her wiser, safer self and ignore her suddenly wide-awake hormones, so it was a relief to get to the truck. It was a thing of beauty, but a bit masculine. She washed it every week because the owner of it had obviously spent some serious dough. Top of the line and upgrades. She felt

guilty driving it, especially on most of the rutted ranch roads where she interned with Noah, but trucks were built to be tough. All the ads said so. She knew she was on borrowed time. Mr. Meizner had died several months ago, and his lawyer had contacted her that the son had been notified. He could show up any day demanding that she leave Talon reminded herself, but she was really starting to settle into the ranch, relax a little. Dream. “This is it,” she said, pushing the lock on the remote. “Parker’s booster is on the right side. I know he seems big for one, and he’s already complaining

about it, but the truck is big, and the law says…what’s wrong?” Colt walked around the sleek, shiny black Dodge Ram truck with the custom tires and rims. “It’s a beauty, isn’t it?” She said. “Where’d you get it?” The question was like a shot. “I told you.” She pressed her lips together to keep them from trembling. It was late. They were alone on Main Street, and he was holding Parker, and all of a sudden she realized that she’d been taking a lot for granted. She didn’t know him. Normally she would never have left a bar with a stranger, let him hold her son. But Colt was a home town

boy. A hero. Who’d been gone twelve long years. Meghan had told her that. She swallowed, feeling a little sick and scared like she hadn’t felt since she’d been a teen trying to assess yet another new situation. “I’m borrowing it.” “Borrowing it how?” She tried to gulp in some air so she wouldn’t sound so breathy, afraid. It was almost as if he could sense her fear because he suddenly looked up, that narrowed, focused stare of his, and tilted his head toward the door. “You need to push it again to open the door. I’ll put Parker in his booster seat.” She nodded and pushed the button

twice. The door opened and he carefully put Parker inside along with her tote and strapped Parker in. Then he stepped back from the truck, closed the door, and took another step back from her. By that time she could breathe again. “Tell me about the truck.” “Why?” “Because it’s mine.”

* “YOURS?” SHE ASKED softly, her face clouded in confusion, but at least she wasn’t about to hyperventilate now, which kicked up his desire again. He was completely uncivilized in regular

society. “How?” she asked. “Mr. Meizner said it was his son’s truck.” Colt laughed, but he was so far from amused he was in a different country. “I wasn’t his son.” “But…” She looked up at him quickly, bewilderment on her open face, and then she looked down, stubbed her boot on the sidewalk. “Sorry.” Her fingers stroked along the gleaming side of the truck, and he watched the glide, imagined her finger touching something else. “It’s not my business.” She handed him his keys. He took them, stared at them. He’d thought to never have his truck back.

And here it was. Looking just as beautiful as the day he had dropped it off at his ranger buddy’s extra garage. “I’ve kept up with the maintenance. The oil changes and tire rotation,” she said. “I’m sorry I was using it. When my car died, Mr. Meizner said…” “Stop apologizing.” The last thing he wanted to hear was anything his uncle had said or thought. “It looks fantastic.” He could see her shoulders relax and that bothered him, that she’d felt tense or worried, but why the hell should he care? He had his truck back. “When I heard that pissed off bastard got his hands on my truck I figured he’d sell it. Torch it. Chop it up for parts.

Drive it off a cliff just for laughs.” Talon stared up at him. He knew he was ranting, but his surprise, his pleasure at seeing one of the few things he’d purchased still in one piece made him giddy. He shook his head and walked around it once again. “Never occurred to me it would still fucking be here. In one piece.” “Why…” She licked her lip and the sight of her pink tongue peeking out for just a second made the truck fade away. “Why wouldn’t he keep it for you?” He noticed her shivering so he shrugged out of his leather biker jacket and draped it around her shoulders. He’d forgotten how the cold air could

still swirl down from the mountains, chilling even the spring nights. Her eyes widened and her slim fingers caught the leather before it fell. “You’ll be cold.” She reached out to place her hand on his forearm as if that alone could ward off the cold and, who knew, after tonight, after surviving the dreaded bachelor auction, having his date possibly be shaping up into something promising and learning that his truck was still on four wheels, anything could happen. “Not ruining the night dredging up that swamp.” She nodded. “Still, Colt, he was your…uncle? And I’m sorry for your

loss.” “I didn’t lose anything,” he said. “I’d dance on his grave if I knew how to dance or where it is.” “But he was family.” She breathed. “Not everyone has a chance for that. Families don’t always get along, but…” Oh, hell. She’d been a foster. She probably thought him an ungrateful ass, but he couldn’t think of his childhood with that man without hating him all over again. She sighed heavily. “Sorry.” “Stop apologizing.” And they stood there facing each other. She was uncertain. The earlier sex-charged mood had been broken and

he was edgy, wanting to get the hell away, but he felt bound by his promise to Coach and something less definitive. “Get in,” he said, opening the passenger door. “I’ll take you both home.” “Colt, I’m sorry you two weren’t close, but he is dead. He was so sick at the end. So weak and alone.” He barely bit back “Good. Hope he rots in hell.” Because, obviously, she either cared about his uncle, which he didn’t deserve, or she was just a kind and loving person whose compassion was misplaced. “I helped him the last six months when he was too sick to take care of

himself because he wanted to stay in his house, and the hospice nurse could only come twice a week.” Something burned hot and sick in his gut, and it took all his effort to not react. Yell. Hit something. That cold, critical, vicious monster that claimed to be a man had had help in the end. A soothing voice. Morphine. When so many good men, who’d done their best and believed in honor and country, had their last moment screaming in blood and death and writhing pain and fear far from home, hope, and help, Sam Meizner had had someone to soothe his way through the gates of hell. She must have sensed his turmoil but

misunderstood because when he turned on the ignition, her hand covered his. Sympathy swam in her strangely colored eyes. Maybe they were contacts, but she didn’t seem like the type of woman who’d use artifice as she didn’t seem to be wearing makeup. “I want you to know his end was….” “Protracted and agonizing I hope.” She caught her breath. Her eyes searched his. “You don’t mean that.” Not a question. “I never say anything I don’t mean.” “I heard your relationship might be… difficult,” she began. So that was the word she’d chosen. Way too mild and innocent for what he’d

endured living with that sadistic, unpredictable drunk for almost ten years. “Leave it.” His voice was hard, and he didn’t try to soften it this time. She swallowed, beautiful eyes still trying to read his soul probably. Women always wanted to understand him. Save him. Halleflippinluiah. As if he had a soul in the offing. “I’m not really sure what to do next,” she said after fidgeting with his jacket a bit. “Nothing.” He started the engine, felt the rumble all the way to his bones, and pulled out on Main Street. “Which way? Talon was quiet after getting him on the highway north out of town. He’d

wanted that. Silence. But now it seemed to roar and snarl and judge. He drove for twenty minutes, his lips twisted. He was getting close to his uncle’s ranch. He wondered if he’d tried to keep any of the animals or had auctioned them all off. He’d received two letters in the last year from Meizner. He hadn’t opened them. The third letter had been from an attorney. He’d been tempted to burn it as well, but his CO had ordered him to deal with his business. That was partially the reason he was back to town. To deal with his business, but he didn’t know if he would. Why bother? Nothing that man could say from beyond his grave would wheedle out one

ounce of forgiveness. And he’d never step foot on that property or that junk of a house again. “Close that chapter of your life.” His CO had ordered like he’d just returned from some inspirational lecture. “Deal with your shit and move on. Slay your demons or they’ll slay you.” Amen. He glared at the mile marker. Too close. Talon looked back at Parker a few times and twisted her fingers together. “I’m not mad at you. I won’t hurt you.” He couldn’t stand her fear. “Why would I think you’d hurt me?” She sounded astonished. “I can just tell

that you still have some unresolved issues with your uncle and I don’t want to cause you anymore pain.” “How are you going to cause me pain?” It wasn’t like they were going to start dating or anything. Make any promises and then, when he redeployed, she could play around on him. This, if there were a this, was going to be the usual one-off fuck. He was so busy telling himself there was no way she could ever hurt him, that he nearly missed her quiet voice. “Turn here.”

Chapter Five HE

the middle of the road and looked left at the twisted gravel turnoff that bumped up and around a rolling hill. Even the turn looked evil. Everything inside him rebelled. His stomach cramped and his skin felt way too tight and cold and painful to stretch over his bones. But his face was expressionless. “You’re shitting me.” She glanced back quickly at the sleeping kid. Parker. He gripped the STOPPED IN

steering wheel hard, truck idling like a powerful beast ready to escape to the open road. “You live here.” “Yes, temporarily.” “He’s been dead almost three months.” “Yes.” “How long?” “A little less than a year and a half. Since I came to Marietta.” “With Parker.” “Yes.” She’d come to this place with a kid about the same age he’d been. He sucked in a deep breath, thinking about her here alone with Meizner and her kid. Miles

from town. Miles from other neighbors. “Colt.” She touched his shoulder, but he shook it off. He’d never thought of that, another kid being subjected to abuse. The rages that came out of nowhere. Colt had kept his head down and survived. Never shown his fear or his bruises. He’d never thought his silence, his running, would have endangered another child. And then something else occurred to him that knocked the sexual interest right out of him. “Were you and my uncle…” Disgust curdled the words in his throat. “No.” She sat straight up and jammed her fisted hands between her

delectable thighs, her mouth pinched, eyes sparking. “Nothing like that.” And he could breathe again. “He was sick.” “And you took care of him.” Something in his voice set her off because she pushed opened the truck door with surprising strength and quickness. She ripped off his jacket, threw it at him and slammed the door shut. By the time she was pulling on the back passenger side door, he was eating up the ground around the truck. “Open the door.” She jerked on it again, and glared at him. Colt caught her arms. “Calm down,”

he said softly. “You’ll wake him up.” “Fine. He needs to get up. Thanks for the ride. I’ll take it from here.” “It’s two miles to the house.” “Yeah, so? I can walk.” “This is stupid. Get in the truck.” “You think I took advantage of him don’t you?” She challenged. “That I used him. That I didn’t pay my way.” God, he was so dumb with women. Good at one thing with them. Everything else, disaster. “No.” He struggled to find the words that would explain. “I think you were better than he deserved in the end.” His words were choppy with frustration. She stood beside the truck, breathing

heavily, but looking as if the fight were slowly leaking out of her. She held out her hand to keep him away, as if that would stop him if he were intent on doing what? Jesus, had his uncle hurt her or Parker? He couldn’t imagine her standing by and letting that happen, but he hadn’t fought back until he’d been a teenager. “Get in the truck, Talon. I’ll keep my mouth shut.” It’s better that way. The road had never seemed so long or curvy. The truck bounced over the ruts, and it seemed like every curve jostled her body closer to his despite the large cab and the seatbelt. He could

smell the scent of her shampoo, something tropical like jasmine and coconut. True to his word he didn’t say another word and, at first, that was soothing, but then it was grating because so many words pulsed and snarled between them. “You have poker face down to a high art form,” she said. He pulled into the clearing where the house was cheerily lit up in the front and kitchen. That was different. Usually the house was dark. Sometimes even with them in it. “Colt.” She finally spoke into the silence while his eyes took in everything but the house. “I’d like to explain.”

“Don’t have to.” “I want to. I need to.” He blew out a breath. “Besides I need help getting Parker inside.” He got out of the truck, heart heavy with dread. He had to go inside that house. The darkness of it. The grime. The cigarette smoke. The fist coming at him for something, always different, like forgetting to wrap up the hose, or wash out a dish, because he hadn’t wanted to miss the school bus. The memories pressed down on him. Shoulders squared, he opened the rear cab door, unbuckled the kid, and swung him into his arms. He walked toward the porch. It

was a mission like any other mission. He kept his mind blank. Counted the steps to the porch. The five steps up it. The twenty wide, worn oak planks to the front door. Waited for her to put in the key. Counted the breaths it took to turn it, swing wide the door. She hurried down the hall and up the stairs. He laid Parker down in a twin bed that was army themed. He briefly wondered why. Talon pulled up the comforter. He turned on a nightlight. He avoided looking around to see if there was anything of him left though he’d escaped long ago. He’d made a new life. Useless to look back. He should have reenlisted before flying to Montana.

He walked down the hall quietly, not wanting to notice that instead of dingy white walls they were a soft yellow. At the bottom of the stairs, he stopped short. The worn, faded brown carpet that had had huge stains even when he’d been a kid was gone from the main room. Instead wide-planked wood shone. And the big recliner where his uncle had always sat was gone. Instead there was a yellow couch with a lot of pillows scattered on it. The room had always filled him with terror. It was where he had to stand in front of his uncle each day while his chores had been checked off as well as his homework. And even though he had

always tried his best and rechecked his work, many days he fell short, usually through some expectation that seemed made up at the time. But the chair was gone. And there was no smell of smoke. Instead the most delicious smells wafted from the kitchen. He followed the smell and saw Talon stirring something in a slow cooker. She eyed him warily and then backed up to the door and pressed her back against it. “You’re not leaving here until you have something to eat.” She crossed her arms. “I made stew since it was Saturday, or Ryan, who was volunteering as chef tonight made some to-go boxes

from the kitchen.” She looked so fierce, but his eyes were fixated on her mouth. He advanced across the floor and stopped in front of her, close enough to inhale her light, floral fragrance and something fruity, probably all the drinks at the bar. He had an image of him licking her skin, getting drunk off the feel and taste and scent of her. “How are you going to make me eat?” He reached behind her and tugged at the elastic around her hair. He let the band roll over his hand to his wrist. “You can try to get that later.” He promised and dipped his head low

towards her, exalting in the crazy-fast flutter at her neck. He let his lips almost skim her throat while his hand buried in her hair. “Colt.” Her voice was an ache and her hand clenched convulsively on his arm. “This is your home. I want to explain.” He took a step back. “Never my home. Lived here, but not by choice.” He didn’t really have a home. Wherever he was at the time. He hated talking about this. He didn’t have to explain. He owed her something, but not his whole sordid past, dragged across the scratched, grimy floor, which, when he looked down, he

noted almost in dismay, wasn’t dirty or scratched anymore. Instead, the wood looked darker and gleamed. It was like a different house. Home. Talon or Meizner? He couldn’t imagine that man redecorating. “Please.” She placed her palms lightly on his chest. “Let me tell you how I came, what I’ve done, and then you’ll be able to decide.” The only decision he was going to make was to get the hell out of here as soon as possible. He hated how the memories kept crashing in on him. Hated how she was getting under his skin. Making him think. Question. “You’re not going to run out are

you?” “No.” She relaxed a little. “We’ve haven’t had sex yet.” She rolled her eyes and pushed off the door. “Note to self”—she held up one finger—“Colt Ewing is not funny.” “But I am hungry.” Her smile warmed him through. Ten minutes later, Colt was sitting at the kitchen table that was not the table from his childhood. Instead, it was round and hand painted a cheery yellow with linked black diamonds. He had coffee and a bowl of delicious stew. He was in heaven in the midst of hell, appreciating the irony of his situation.

“Ghosts are all gone,” she said. She knew. That should have upset him. Instead, he dug into his meal that included one of his favorites—corn bread with honey. And she promised Ryan had packed dessert. It was weird to feel comfortable in a place where he’d vowed to never step foot in again. And the last thing he’d wanted after three plane flights back to Texas, a four-day debrief and then another flight to Bozeman where he then had to sit in a car with Nick and hear all about how Coach Downey wanted to see them all, just a quick get together. Sucker. He’d ended up as eye candy for a

bunch of women and was now playing true confessions with a woman who made him as hot as hell and just as uncomfortable. He liked willing, quick, and uncomplicated. Talon was a yes on one, possibly on the second, and then huge, flashing all caps no. She turned a chair around, straddled it facing him. Like he was going to be able to eat now. Concentrate now. She took a deep breath. “The first time I came to Marietta, I was seventeen and was with Jenna, who had been here once before. I fell in love with the town. It seemed like a fantasy. Like a place I had always dreamed of living and having a house and raising a family. I felt

like anything was possible here.” He ate his stew. How could she trust him with this information? Let him in like this. He wanted to warn her. Protect her. “I haven’t finished school yet, but I was tired of always waiting, putting everything off until one day that always got further and further away. I wanted Parker to have a hometown now when he was a kid.” She ducked her head. “And I wanted to have a home. So I drove here, and the first day I was at the feed store looking for a job, to see if any farms had a bunkhouse or something in return for work because I wanted to work with animals, I met your uncle. In return for a

cabin, I took care of all his errands in town and the goats.” “Goats!” She smiled. “Parker loved them. We milked them morning and evening. Sometimes Mr. Meizner would sit in the barn and watch and tell Parker about… well it doesn’t matter. But with the milk, we made cheese. Sold it at the farmer’s market. I felt like a pioneer.” Her face glowed. “But he got sicker and it didn’t make sense anymore so he sold them. All that’s left is a free range, aloof emu, and a stray dog I can’t catch, but Parker and I sometimes see on our walks.” He stared at her. The ranch sounded

like something out of a children’s book. And his uncle sounded almost benevolent. “When he was really sick, he talked a lot about how his son would come home. Live here. Make the ranch run again. He had to sell off some land to keep up with taxes, but still had enough to turn it into a working ranch again.” “This sounds like a really bad cable movie.” Colt interrupted. “He had no son, Talon. And he didn’t treat me like one. I don’t know how I ended up here. He never told me, and my memory is scrambled from before that time, but I can tell you, no one’s coming back.” Her eyes met his, and he felt that

look flash burn his knee jerk response and expose him like an upended bug in a collection. “You must wonder why I stayed on after he passed.” He shifted restlessly. Grabbed another slice of the corn bread and avoided meeting her eyes. “I was hoping that when Mr. Meizner’s son…when you came that we could strike a deal.” He looked up startled. “Parker and I could rent the cabin that’s been refurbished, where we first lived before Mr. Meizner needed more help. Or stay at the house as caretakers until he, you, sold the ranch or moved

back or leased it.” He put down his fork, appetite gone. She wanted to stay. Here. “Your plans have nothing to do with me.” “But they do.” She ran her fingers through her hair and he found himself watching the graceful motion, the way her curls sprang back from her face. “You are his only heir, or so I think from Mia Zabrinsky, the attorney he went to. Obviously she didn’t tell me that, but Mr. Meizner said…” Colt stood up so quickly his chair tipped back, and he caught it, righted it. “Town’s easier to live in,” he said gruffly. “With a kid.”

She looked around the room, her eyes lingering on things, the open shelves instead of cabinets, painted red and an earthy kind of green, the art work on the fridge. Totally different from when he’d lived here with his uncle. His stomach twisted. He so was not good at this. At any of it. The messiness of life. “Colt, I know it’s late and you’ve traveled a long way. But I can’t get us all packed out in a night.” “Why the hell would you do that? I’m not staying.” “But this is your…” “Don’t even say that word.” He held out his hand. “I’d rather cut off my balls with a broken beer bottle than sleep in

this house again.” “But it’s yours.” “I wouldn’t want it if you gift wrapped it. I gotta get out of here.” He quickly rinsed his cup and bowl and put them in the sink. Talon hovered, but he refused to meet her worried look. He’d cave for sure. He didn’t know what it was with this woman. She unbalanced him from the tight rope he walked. Each day. One foot in front of the other. Colt bolted out the front door.

Chapter Six “COLT, WAIT. STOP.” He was out the door, and she’d long ago kicked off her cowboy boots after two waitressing shifts and then chasing those with a special event at Grey’s Saloon. Whatever. She rolled her eyes. Barefoot, she ran out. “Wait! Ouch! Ow!” Halfway to his truck he paused and looked at her, incredulous. “What are you doing?” He demanded, in the same tone many men

and, in a spirit of full disclosure, many women had asked her during much of her life. “Just hold on a sec. Ouch.” She bit back a more colorful word that since she had inadvertently become a mom she tried never to use, but it was hard tonight because pain shot from her foot all the way to her thigh. “Eeeewakedywak!” And he was there, his hands on her shoulders. “Stay still,” he murmured. “You have no shoes on.” “Oh, is that it?” And she thought she saw a hint of a smile and her stomach spun and flipped as spectacularly as pizza dough in the

hands of a show-offy pizza chef. She didn’t know him, but she was starting to like him. His tenseness. His stillness. And then the hint of warmth as if he couldn’t quite help himself. It made her feel special. “You are crazy,” he said conversationally as he tucked one arm under her knees and the other around her shoulders and lifted. She stifled a scream and tried not to clutch at him. “And you are crazy strong. You’ll hurt yourself.” He laughed. Not a full on laugh, but a definite quick musical “ha” or “huh” for all her efforts. “Do you have any idea how much gear I lug around daily?”

“Prince Charming. My heart is pounding. It’s every woman’s dream to be lugged and compared to gear.” He shouldered back through the partially opened door and into the house and carried her to the kitchen, settling her on the counter and swinging her feet into the sink. “I’m bleeding,” she said, surprised. “Let me look.” She bit back another ouch as he carefully rinsed her foot. “First aid kit?” “It’s not that big of a deal.” “It’s a foot and very dirty. When was your last tetanus shot?” “I’m a terrible patient,” she said.

“Which is awkward because I’m going to be a vet.” “Well, unless you have a lot of hair I can’t see or howl at a full moon, I think you should stick to getting the shot from a doctor.” His hands were gentle as he washed her foot, examined it, dabbed it with an antibacterial wipe, and then put on a gauze pad with tea tree oil and then wrapped it with tape. “I’ll drive you to the doctor tomorrow. Or a clinic since it will be Sunday.” She stared at the top of his head. She’d thought his hair was just dark brown, but it was so many shades of

gold with some red and then several shades of brown from chestnut to coffee. And the tight crop couldn’t quite hide definite waves. If he were hers, she’d want him to grow out his hair so she could run her fingers through it. What would it be like to be able to do that? To make him smile? Make his eyes light up. She’d never made anyone’s eyes light up. Thinking thoughts like that made it hard to breathe, and she stuffed them back in the drawer in her brain where she tried to keep all her longing so she didn’t scare anyone, especially herself. “Why did you come after me?” he asked. “I wanted you to stay,” she said.

He straightened up like she’d poked him. His pupils dilated and this close up, his irises were the most beautiful shade of honey. She’d shocked him. Definitely. She hadn’t meant it that way, as a sexual invitation, but deep down she knew it was. Or would be. No. No. No, she told herself. She couldn’t go there. He was so temporary in town he hadn’t even booked a room or made plans to stay with friends. “There’s a cabin on the property,” she said quickly. “You could stay there. It’s on the septic system.” He took a step back; his lips pressed tightly together, his eyes glittering. “You seemed to have no place to

go.” She interjected into his silence. “And it is yours.” “And it’s on the septic.” “Are you laughing at me?” “A little.” She relaxed. “I’ll show you.” She hopped down from the counter even though he didn’t seem to approve and fetched a thick pair of socks from the laundry room, she quickly put them on as well as her boots and grabbed a flashlight. He stilled her hand. “I know where it is,” he said softly and then took a step back from her. She wished he hadn’t taken his hand away. Why did she want to keep him

here? It was insane. She didn’t know him, but she felt like she did. He was alone like she was. Only she had Parker now and he had no one. No family. He was here with her instead of with his friends. And what did that say about his life? Something inside of her wanted to reach out and grab hold of him. Not let him go. She swallowed hard. It was dangerous, she knew. She’d start to care. Notice things like the way his hair grew in a whorl on top, and his widow’s peak that made his intense stare that much sexier, and also the curl of his dark lashes, or the way her hand tingled from when he’d touched it. She was lonely. She could admit that because

she’d been lonely almost all her life and had tried to stave it off in the usual way by making lots of friends. Letting boys chase and catch her. She still felt lonely down to her bones, when she let herself stop and think and be quiet and to feel and maybe it was that. She could tell that he too was lonely to his bones. He too might be able to fathom the deep, empty ache she felt. “It may have septic, but it was falling down ten years ago.” She smiled and held out her hand. For a moment, she thought he’d refuse, but he took her hand, looked at in in his much larger one and Talon felt enveloped. Safe in a way she’d never

felt before. Then he followed her out into the night. He had strong hands. Warm. Rough. With long fingers and squared off fingers with short clipped, very clean nails. “You have nice hands,” she said, unable to bite back the compliment. “They look like hands that build things.” “You’re wrong about that.” His voice was flat in the night as she clicked on the flashlight and hurried down the trail. “Foot okay.” “Yeah. I’m sorry if I’ve made coming back here awkward.” They walked past the barn and along a trail that led to a couple of empty

bunkhouses and a larger cabin. She wondered what the ranch had been like when it had been full scale. Busy. “You haven’t made it awkward.” He finally said. “You’ve made it bearable.” At the door of the cabin, she stopped short, shifted her weight back and forth nervously. “I have something I think is yours,” she said. “Parker and I found it when we refinished the floors. We saved it, knowing someday you’d come. Only we didn’t know it would be you.” She fished around in her parka and pulled out a small wood cube that had a metal inlay with a fused glass heart in the center. “It’s beautiful. And unique. I think it’s a puzzle cube.” She held it out

to him. “Is it yours? We found it under a floor board in the in the bedroom where I put Parker after we moved to the main house in the last months of Mr. Meizner’s life.”

* EVEN IN THE dark, moon hidden by the tree branches, he recognized it. His hand closed over the cube. It was one piece of his past he had wanted to take with him, but he’d been unable to retrieve the cube his last morning at the house. And rather than risk running into his uncle again, who in his mind had grown into an almost invincible monster, he climbed in

the army recruiter’s van. Never looked back. Until today. He slid the cube in the pocket of his jacket. “Parker thought there was a treasure inside the heart of the cube.” The way she breathed the word heart made his ache a bit, like it was too deprived of blood to pump properly. “Parker has a good imagination.” Talon unlocked the cabin and handed him the key. “Welcome home, Colt.” The words made him flinch. But it was just a building. Wood, nails, sheetrock, wiring. It held no power. The past wasn’t going to trip him up. Always

move forward. He’d made that promise to himself the day he’d climbed into his recruiter’s van. He made no move to open the door. Instead his entire focus was on Talon. He wanted her. Craved to kiss her until she quivered and moaned in his arms and begged him. He burned to bury himself in the heaven of her body all night to try to get some of the dark and the sadness out that he’d managed to hold off for years now. She’d made him remember, and now he wanted her to make him forget. With her long, slender, and graceful body, she could drive all the demons away until they were both sated. He

wove his fingers in her hair, imagining how she would look with her curls bouncing on her shoulders, tickling her bare breasts while she rode him. “Colt?” “Yes?” “Don’t you want to go inside?” “No.” Her breath came in little puffs that he wanted to catch with his mouth, feed with his breath as he devoured her. “Then what do you want to do?” she whispered. “You know.” “Yes.” Just a broken thread of sound, and he leaned in closer to her, and the little sound of excitement that escaped

shot straight to his groin. “Yes is my favorite word,” he said, trying to gauge her mood. What he really wanted to do was cup her ass and lift her up so that those long legs of hers could wrap around his body like he’d been picturing all night, but he didn’t want to scare the hell out of her, and she seemed sweeter than that. Not like the women he’d been with. He should say good night and get the hell out of here, but she held him somehow. He feathered his fingers under her jawbone, tilting her face up to his. Her skin was so soft. And her mouth. He gave her plenty of time to say no. But she didn’t, and the pierce of joy he felt when

her fingers twisted in the front of his shirt at the same time her lips parted, was like a brand on his chest. Heat radiated, almost painful in its instant intensity. His mouth slanted over hers, devouring her sweetness and her passion. “Oh, god, yes.” She moaned against his mouth and the vibration of her words sang through his body. His hands were in her loose hair, on her back, her hips. He couldn’t get close enough. “Colt, please,” she begged, her hands already sliding under his shirt burning a trail across his abs, his chest,

and when her fingers traced circles over his nipples, he thought he’d combust on the spot. How could something so sweet burn so hot? He gripped her butt and lifted her up, angling her against the door frame so he could get the perfect angle. “You can’t lift me.” She panted. “I weigh a ton.” “Can.” God, she felt fantastic. “Wrap your legs around me.” He commanded, barely able to squeeze out the words through his desperation. “Oh.” He caught her little gasp in his mouth as her core came into contact with his erection. He didn’t try to hide his

desire from her, and she definitely didn’t mind as she moved against him. With one hand he pulled open the buttons on her shirt, and while they parted with a satisfying snap, she was wearing a pale pink thin tank underneath her shirt. But she was braless. “I hate tanks,” he said, sucking one of her small, perfect breasts into his mouth through the cotton. She arched against him and cried out. Her fingers dug into his shoulders. “Colt, stop. It’s too intense.” He leaned his forehead against hers, their ragged breaths mingled. “Sorry. I…” “It’s okay.” He managed, pressing

his finger against her lips. “I went too fast.” Not like he hadn’t done that every time before, but usually it was the woman who was equally aggressive. He’d practically mauled Talon, he was so desperate to connect to her. He tried to smooth her hair. Rebuttoned her shirt. “I felt so incredible,” she said in a small voice. “But out of control like I was going to fly apart and become all scattered like the stars.” He stilled, not sure what to do with her honesty, but impressed as hell by it. “I guess that’s what all the fuss is about.” She looked up at him, totally without guile.

He sucked in a breath. Dread filled him. Jesus. “You’ve been with men before, right?” “Oh. Ah. Yeah. Well, not men, exactly. More like boys. You know. In high school.” He stared at her flaming cheeks. “And my first year at community college, but by then Jenna had had Parker, and we were sharing an apartment. I was going to school and working, and so was she, and we were trying to make our schedules opposite so one of us could be with Parker so there wasn’t really time.” He felt like the biggest jerk around,

practically throwing her up against the door frame and taking her. She’d put her life on hold to help a friend and a little boy. Was doing her best to manage being a mom and a student and an employee and all he’d wanted was a moment of quick pleasure so he could lock up his darkness one more night. He ran his hand through his hair. It was longer than it had been in years. “I’ve never been kissed like that,” she said after a while. Another nail hammered in his heart. “You are an amazing kisser.” “Talon, stop.” He couldn’t stand it. She deserved so much more, and all she had was his

sorry ass looking for a quickie before he blew out of town for good this time. She’d find a decent guy, he told himself. A man who would make love to her properly. Make sure the gutters were cleaned out on the house. Not leave for months on end. Shit. Again hand through his hair. Wiping down his face. Like he’d find the words he needed there. “I’ll walk you back to the house.” “Did I do something wrong?” she asked as she paced beside him. “Are you mad because we didn’t…” “Of course not.” He stopped. “No. I went too fast. I…” How did he put himself, his life into words. “I don’t

have a normal life,” he said in the biggest understatement of the year. “I am away a lot.” What the hell he thought that would explain he had no idea, but Talon seemed to be thinking about it. “I just got back from an assignment.” He tried again. “I don’t always adjust right away.” And there was understatement number two. “You can’t blame yourself,” she said. “What you do is so challenging and heroic, and I think I was putting out some pretty ‘come here, baby’ vibes.” They started to walk again. He inhaled deeply. He’d forgotten how

crisp the air was in April at night. The smell of the grass and the dirt and the evergreens. “I think you are really a special person, Colt.” She said as the lights from the porch came into view from the trees. “I hope that you stay in Marietta during part of your leave. I’d like to see you again.” Obviously, she’d see him again. She still hadn’t had her date or whatever she wanted him to do. He had a feeling mutual orgasms were off the table. As they should be, he kicked his libido hard, which still hadn’t completely recovered from that cabin kiss. “Maybe I could make you dinner

again. You could tell Parker something about being a soldier.” Most of his life was classified. “I think I’m the one who’s supposed to be treating you,” he said, stopping in the tree line. “Lady’s Choice.” He reminded. “Oh, that.” She smiled, and he noticed this time it had a touch of sadness in it. His fault probably. “That was a pretty amazing kiss.” “You’re going to have to make me work harder than that, Talon.” She smiled, and this time is was more genuine. “Okay, then. I’ll try to be creative.” “Knock yourself out.”

He walked her to the porch. She turned to face him. He waited. She always had something to say. But she was silent, her expressive eyes searching his. He wondered what she saw. Then he did something he couldn’t remember ever doing. He kissed her cheek. “Good night, Talon.” She ran up the stairs and slipped through the door. He stared at the door for a while, thinking of the woman and child behind it. The ghosts. The nightmares. The memories. He looked at his truck. So easy to fire it up and drive. He’d done that his whole life. Colt jammed his hands in his front

pocket, avoiding his keys clipped to his belt loop and walked back to the cabin.

Chapter Seven THE

NEXT MORNING,

Colt looked at the etched words on the back of the handworked silver piece—You are my world. He touched the tiny script, traced each letter as he’d done hundreds, maybe thousands of times as a young boy. It had been his mother’s necklace, at least he thought so. The only thing he had left of her except a few snippets of memory, and even those he wasn’t sure of. It could have been an aunt or a foster mom as sometimes the faces, the hair, the

rooms were different. He hadn’t come to live at the ranch with his uncle, who now might not have been his uncle, until he was eight. He didn’t regret tossing his uncle’s two letters in the trash unopened, but he hated the mystery. Thinking about it. Talon was making him think. This place was making him think. The homey house. The refurbished cabin. He turned the necklace over and saw the deep blue orb inlaid into the silver casing. Iridescent green and turquoise swirled in the depths of the blue, with hints of metallic glint that caught the light streaming in the window of the cabin. He tucked the necklace back into the

cube and turned several of the pieces in different directions, locking it back into place. Immediately, his hand missed the feel and the weight of the necklace, the way the silver warmed in his hand. He cursed his sentimentality. His mother had left him. Again and again. He didn’t even know if that had been her necklace. Not for sure. And he sure as hell had never been her world, but when he’d been a kid, he’d liked to think that somewhere at some time there had been a man who had loved his mother enough to think that she was his world. He’d also thought as a kid that they would find each other again, this

man, his father, and his mother, and they would be happy together. Happy enough to come find him. A childish dream. He’d known it even back them. Hope was a kick in the gut. Talon had probably had similar dreams. Both of them abandoned. Hoping to be reclaimed like luggage. He had shut himself off from hope. She still seemed to have it, embracing life and people, trying to make a connection. How? All he’d wanted last night was to be deep inside her body. That was all the connection he ever wanted, but he suspected Talon wanted a lot more than his inadequate best.

So why was he still here? He’d gone for a pre-dawn run. Had a shower. His eyes quartered the cabin. It looked like nothing he remembered. The last time he’d been here, the cabin had been unfinished. The roof had been solid. He had redone it, nailing on the tar paper and weather proofing, screwing in the tin sheets and adding the insulation, but the inside had never been dry-walled or insulated. There had been running water, connected to the second well, and it had been plumbed to connect to the septic system. But it had been totally rustic. Hot in the summer. Frigid in the winter. Still, he had loved to sit in here on his free moments. Read a book, stare out

the window and imagine himself like a cowboy of old, riding the range, driving the cattle higher to the spring pastures and then back down again in the late fall. He sat cross-legged and leaned against the wall of the main room, letting his gaze wander up to the loft area, where a fan now hung. It wasn’t so bad here. He could breathe here. No bad memories here. No sounds either. Until the quiet fall of footsteps on the porch. “Hey, mister.” A small voice called out. “Mister Ewing?” Colt allowed his eyes to close briefly. The kid. He knew it was coming.

He hadn’t had to deal with a kid since… He broke off that thought and popped to his feet, bracing himself against the wall. He opened the door. “Wow! You’re tall,” was the first thing out of the kid’s mouth. “Mom says you’re a soldier. Are you for real? Have you killed anyone?” The question wasn’t one he hadn’t been asked before, but it snapped him out of his relaxed contemplation of cataloging the changes in the cabin. Instantly, the tension was back in his neck, his shoulders, even though he’d tried to run out the knots this morning. “Yes.” The kid stared back at him in awe.

Dark hair, widow’s peak, grey eyes. He had the stare of someone much older. “My mom says killing is wrong.” “She’s right.” “She doesn’t even eat meat. Why’d you do it then?” “My job.” Again that solemn, judging stare. “You want pancakes?” He must not have answered quickly enough because the kid added. “Blueberries.”

* TALON FELT LIKE she’d taken the coward’s way out, sending Parker to ask Colt if he

wanted to eat breakfast with them. She’d expected to hear his truck roar to life any second as she lay gritty-eyed, staring at her ceiling for most of the night. She didn’t recognize herself as the woman who’d kissed a man she’d met only a few hours earlier, had let her hands walk all over his body. And he was still here. And now what? Pancakes? Cheery but false domesticity? Pretending that nothing had happened? Trying to get a timetable from him because she had to once again remake her life. The loss of control just when she’d been starting to let her guard down, was confidence shaking. But she had to get a grip. She

was young. Healthy. Smart. Determined. She’d find a way. All she had to do was ignore her clamoring body that had had a taste of Colt last night and now wanted to feast. He wasn’t a one-night stand. He was a man with a capital “M”, and she feared she’d have a hard time forgetting him and moving on. “Hey, good morning! How’d you sleep? Coffee?” She practically shoved a cup in his hand as Colt came in behind Parker. “Cream? Sugar.” “Mom, he came for pancakes.” “Thank you.” He took the cup and his fingers brushed hers. She felt warmth to her toes and they

wiggled in her boots. Wow. His hands just looked like they knew what they were doing. Okay, she was officially desperate and smitten. “Can I pour the batter?” “What?” She dragged her eyes away from Colt’s hands and stared at Parker, absently stroking her fingers through his spikey black hair. “Did you use a comb this morning?” “Mom.” He drawled out the word like it had five syllables. “Comb your hair.” She gave the batter one last unnecessary swirl. “And then you can pour the batter and add the blueberries.”

“Yes!” He ran off. “Hope he didn’t wake you.” “No.” He sipped his coffee. She got out the silverware and napkins, which he took to the small worn farmhouse table that she’d found at a thrift store. Colt set the table, and she tried not to think how nice it looked to have three place settings instead of just the usual two. Don’t dream of stupid stuff. She pressed her lips together and took the butter, syrup, and juice out of the fridge. He put those on the table. His self-contained silence stretched her nerves to snapping. “Your mother trained you well,” she

said flippantly, nervous by his nearness and quiet. “No,” he said. The word shot out like a bullet. Deadly aim. She kept stepping in it with him. “Me and my mouth.” She tried to laugh it off, but then he was staring at her mouth, and she felt the hot, gaze lodge in her tummy. Her skin prickled with awareness even as her head yelled at her to look away. “Your eyes are a beautiful color,” she whispered. “Like liquid gold.” And just like that, the air between the seemed to shimmer. His eyes seemed the only thing alive about him. The rest of

him was so still, expressionless, so contained. Like a calm before a storm. But she had a feeling underneath all that disciplined calm was a cauldron seething, waiting for a chance to blow. And that should have worried her. Instead, she felt safe. Comforted by his presence. She was lonely. That was it, except when he took one step toward her, his fingers raised, and she had the crazy idea he was going to touch her again, tangle his hands in her hair, she leaned in, every nerve, every molecule clamored for his touch. Her eyes drifted shut, waiting, counting the seconds. “Okay, I’m ready.” Parker

announced, running in and standing between them, breaking the spell. Colt stepped back, hand to his side. Talon had trouble acting normal. Her body felt like it had started humming in his presence, especially when he got close, like they were harmonic crystals. Anticlimatically, she asked Colt to pour three small glasses of orange juice. Colt leaned against the opposite counter watching them. Talon found it difficult to act naturally even though she was in her usual environment. She wanted to fuss with her hair, and she was super conscious that while she had worn panties, she had definitely thought twice and then three times about not

wearing a bra. Then she’d done it just to prove to herself that she wasn’t going to fall under his spell. If only her body would get on board with that plan. “Do you want me to pour you a pancake in the shape of a gun?” Parker asked over his shoulder. “How about a baseball?” “Where’s the challenge in that?” Parker demanded looking affronted. Talon laughed. Colt’s attention shifted to her and his eyes dropped to her mouth. She felt it like a kiss. “Chef’s choice then.” Colt said softly. Parker turned back to being creative with the batter, but Talon was still

looking at Colt and his eyes drifted down her body, lingering at her breasts far longer than he should have. She could feel a blush burn her cheeks and lower. Not fair, she wanted to say. He couldn’t start thinking about sex this early in the morning because they had logistics to work out. But his direct and very interested stare and casual sprawl against the counter told her that was exactly what he was thinking about. And so was she. She was so flustered, the spoon flipped out of the bowl and the batter splattered her front and then hit the floor with a clang. She bent to pick it up feeling self-conscious, clumsy, and

obvious and, when she stood up, she froze, spoon dripping batter on the floor because she thought she caught a hint of a smile that lit of his eyes, and Talon felt as if the sun came out so she smiled back.

* COLT STARED AT Talon. Looking at her face light up like he was something special made him uneasy, almost as if he had vertigo. He’d always been serious as a kid. Quiet. Boring. Probably why he’d never managed to stick it with the various people his mom had stashed him with before he’d come to live with his

uncle. And in the service. Not much to smile about. But to feel the urge to smile here on this land, in this house, in this town was something he’d never seen coming. He watched them pour out the batter. Parker’s bright eyes sparkling, his tongue out of his mouth as he concentrated on following Talon’s whispered instructions—pouring the batter, flipping the pancakes, sliding them onto a plate and into a toaster oven, and then starting the process again. He should feel like an outsider. Parker and Talon were a family. He was a stranger. In a house that seemed more like theirs than his. “Grub’s up!” Parker called out,

stuffing one pancake into his mouth. Talon carried the plate over to the table. There were also scrambled eggs with herbs and cheese and fresh fruit. He thought of things that he should say. Compliments, but nothing sounded right in his head. “Thanks.” He sat down. Talon brought over a carafe of coffee and poured him out a fresh, steaming cup. “Not a morning person?” He thought of all the predawn mornings he’d been up tending to chores before running the two miles down the driveway to meet the school bus. The wake-up alarms in the dark all over the

world where he’d been sent with his team. Even when he wasn’t working, he couldn’t sleep past dawn. “Mornings are okay.” “I love getting up early,” Talon said, “I love watching the black sky stars spangling, begin to fade to grey, then fingers of pink streaking out like they are reaching for all that beauty. And the birds. In the spring and summer, the birds are filled with such ebullient purpose, so chatty with their friends and family. Have you been in the Middle East?” She asked. “What kinds of bird calls did you hear there?” He paused, pancake on the edge of his lips. How was he supposed to know?

He stuffed the bite in his mouth and chewed carefully. Usually this worked. The conversation would steer away from him. Only this time, Talon and Parker continued to stare at him, awaiting news of native species of birds in Syria, or Iraq, or Afghanistan. “Don’t know,” he mumbled, surprised that their crestfallen faces bothered him. “You didn’t get a book?” Parker asked. “Read about the birds?” He’d had lots of books on army procedure, briefing on terror cell activities, hand-to-hand combat, information on local cultures blending in, survival skills, weapons operation

and maintenance. “No.” “How many people have you killed?” Parker asked, his impish face just as curious as it had been about birds. “Parker,” Talon said, clearly censuring him. Parker looked completely unfazed. Damn. “I don’t think that’s breakfast conversation,” he said. “I’m almost done.” “Spoken with the self-centeredness of youth,” Talon said briskly. “Drop it, Parker. Lots of soldiers serve their country in many different ways. No need

to dwell on the ghoulish. Besides, Colt is on vacation, so no talking shop.” Somehow the question, the reminder of who he was, who he’d chosen to become, stung a little. It never had before. He liked excelling at such a difficult, specialized skill. He’d initially been surprised to be singled out, sent for special training. To matter. He didn’t like the attention it brought when he was flown in for a mission, or at a briefing on a different base the other soldiers all greeted him either with awe or envy or overwhelming respect when they learned him name or saw his crest tat. It was a job to him. Not a calling.

The last two times he’d re-signed with the rangers without thought. This time, he’d hesitated, wondering if he should try to live a different, more normal life before it was too late, but when he looked in the mirror, Colt had no idea what normal would look like for him, and after all the uncertainty of his childhood, he didn’t really desire to throw his life into chaos now. Parker picked up his plate and glass and padded over to the sink. “What do you want to talk about, Colt?” he asked. “My mom doesn’t like cool things like blood and zombies so we can talk about stuff like war and fighting after I clean up,” he said. “It’s a boy conversation.”

Talon stared at Parker as if shocked by the sexist comment. “Lots of women soldiers,” Colt said. “Who can kick a lot of the guy’s a… attitude,” he said. “Right out of them. Carry more weight in their packs out on a training course, break down, clean and reassemble their weapons faster, score higher on skills tests.” “Wow. Really?” Parker’s eyes were wide. “Lots of girls at my school run faster than me.” “Me, too.” Parker smiled. “Can I show you something cool?” “Here?” “Outside. I found something.

Well…” He trailed off and shot a quick look at his mom. Colt had spent most of the breakfast trying not to look at Parker’s mom. That was how he was trying to think of her now. A mom. Not a woman with a mouth that made his cock stir every time she opened it. Not a woman with legs that stretched out long and lean under the table and that when she’d wrapped them around her waist last night had made him feel a deep connection that had turned him on and scared the hell out of him. He needed to shut those thoughts down. He was not a man who had relationships, and Talon was made for love and making a life with, not a quickie against a door.

Seeing her here, smiling at him, making pancakes shamed him. He’d acted with the finesse of a bull just out of a chute. He’d treated her like a one-night stand. His usual fare when she was anything but. “Can I show you, Colt?” Parker’s eyes were round with inquiry. So clear and innocent. Confident and hopeful. Colt had lost the kid’s thread of conversation long ago. “If your mom says yes, but after we clean up.” He had no idea what he’d just agreed to, but hopefully whatever it was it wouldn’t have anything to do with looking at Talon so he could get his head out of his pants.

Chapter Eight TALON

Colt, wondering why she felt so comfortable. Maybe it was because he clearly wasn’t. Oh, he moved fluidly, like a well-lubricated machine, all efficient, coordinated moves almost like he was conserving energy. And when he wasn’t moving, he was so still. Like he just became part of the landscape. It should have been eerie. Instead, it made her hot as hell. She lifted her thick ponytail off her nape of her neck and blew air through WALKED BESIDE

her bottom lip. It was warm for spring. Or, it was this man. Again, he wore work pants. Tan instead of blue and they really worked on him. Carhartts, she thought, although she’d been trying to not stare at his ass to see the tag. And a tshirt that was tight enough to taunt her with his broad shoulders, defined pecs, and abs that stretched the soft, thin cotton and that she’d accessed all too briefly last night. He was taller than she was by a few inches, cut, cut, cut, and she never thought she was such a muscle whore. She hadn’t really noticed men for years. It was like after she’d stopped trying to finally win love from boys in high school by meeting them in their cars

or in the woods or an empty lot after school, she’d ceased to exist sexually. She’d been twenty-one and buried in textbooks when Jenna had died and she’d stepped in and adopted Parker. And now! Wham! She felt almost like she couldn’t walk right. Her skin seemed too tight for her body. Hot. Itchy. It was like something was alive in her, stirring, whispering louder and louder to get out. She wanted to be back where she’d been last night, to continue where they’d left off. And as she walked beside him in the sunshine, Talon had never before been so aware of the differences between men and women. The quick, furtive experiences in high school and

her first year of college had been absolutely nothing like this. And they were wearing clothes. “How long are you in town?” she asked. Oh, God, was that even her voice? It sounded so much deeper, huskier, uncertain, like she was asking him how much longer until they could strip naked and she could jump him. And there was Parker, running, dodging through the stand of evergreens, broken stick in hand while he feinted at the trunks and reaching branches like a character out of Star Wars. “Not sure,” he said. “My leave is thirty days.”

“So you have time.” Silence. Awkward! All he owed her was a Lady’s Choice date, and he probably felt like last night he’d more than delivered. Oh, God. Was that why he’d kissed her? Duty? Her skin crawled with shame and as Parker continued to run ahead and back and exhort them to hurry, Talon stumbled over a rock and Colt caught her. “Easy.” Nothing about this man was easy. “Colt, why did you kiss me last night?” The intensity of his gaze seared her and made it almost impossible to

breathe. “Why are you asking?” “Hurry up!” Parker called, circling back. “Coming.” Talon said automatically and Parker ran through the trees again. “Look at you!” She waved her hand wildly around. “I’m studying to be able to stick my hands up animal parts when their babies are stuck, and you must have women throwing themselves at you all the time. In every country. I can barely remember how to talk to a man, yet you just have to look at me, and my body experiences twelve levels of tantric sex, if that even exists.” “Was there a question in there?” he

asked. “Do you have a girlfriend?” She nibbled on her lip. “No girlfriend,” he said. “And I think level twelve is a myth, but I’m happy to make a hero’s quest with you.” Talon could feel herself blush like a teenager. “So you can joke,” she said. “I never joke.” Talon felt her heart flip over in her chest. Colt was so masculine, so sexy and he just seemed deadly serious, but when she’d catch a glimpse of his more playful side, well, then she really was a goner. “Here it is. Here it is!” Parker called from up ahead. “Hurry up!”

* COLT SCRUBBED A hand over his face. Thank God the kid was here. He didn’t know what he would have done if they’d been alone. He’d wanted to pull that band thing out of her hair and sink his hands into all those curls. They just looked so soft and tempting. And the fragrance that wafted off her when she walked did something to his insides, almost making him dizzy. He wanted. Wanted. Ached to do things he shouldn’t, all the things he’d wanted to do to her last night before he’d come to his senses. But the two icy cold showers and the list of why he shouldn’t get physical didn’t

make a dent in the desire that hammered his skull and yelled in his blood. Telling his cock no was like spitting into a tornado. He tried to swallow the knot of want that had lodged in his throat like a cancer. Metastasized in his gut. Tried to kill off the desire that had his fingers twitching, wanting to know with a curiosity that burned if those sunshinecolored curls that tumbled down her back like a sunlit waterfall were natural. What the hell was she doing to him? Why her? Why here? Why now? Because he was finally considering leaving the army? Maybe making a different life? He knew he should get the

hell away from her. She had a kid, but watching her walk beside him, the erect posture, gentle sway of her hips, long legs eating up the ground, he knew with a certainty that walking away wasn’t going to banish her memory and that if he were going to go back to hours of waiting for a mission, traveling the globe, lying in wait, every nerve in his body ready for that one second of perfect view and timing and the “go”, he wanted, for once, to have something good to hold on to. “Ta-da!” Parker had skimmed up a tree and was now standing on a small, weathered platform, straddling an area between two trees. “This is my fort.”

“Parker.” Talon called out. “Come down right now. You don’t know if that’s safe. That’s not one of the places on the list where you can go without me. Climb down.” “Mom, it’s totally awesome!” “You don’t know how old it is,” she said, her voice taking on a desperate edge. “It could be rotted. Oh, God, was it yours?” She asked Colt. “Is it steady?” Colt felt everything inside of him still. The platform he’d found in the sky. The thrill of discovery, until his uncle had found him there, trying to make improvements. It had been the first time his uncle had hit him. He still remembered the first shock like his brain

couldn’t comprehend. How his body wouldn’t respond properly even though he was screaming at himself to run. He hated this place. He kept getting stuck in the past. But he had to stay focused in the present so he dragged himself forward and focused on Talon’s blue eyes, long lashes in no way veiling her worry. She was worried for her son, and he was rooted unproductively. He wanted to tell her it was safe. To take the worry from her eyes and heart, but he couldn’t make that guarantee. “Parker James Reese, you come down this instant,” Talon said, hands on hips. Her voice shook. “No way. I can see forever. I’m a

hawk.” Parker spread his arms wide and began to swoop around the platform. “Parker!” Her voice held panic. “It’s mine.” He whined. “I found it.” Damn. Colt didn’t need a psych degree to know Talon was about to lose her mind. Her skin was pale and her breathing accelerated. She twisted her long fingers together almost compulsively. The same fingers that had brought him such peace as they’d soothed over his skin and hair last night. Her touch had been sexy and reverent and something had broken inside him. “Is it safe?” She demanded again. “Sturdy?”

There was no way he could answer to reassure her. Shit. That place held nothing but bad memories. His sanctuary destroyed. “Let me check it out.” He strode over to the tree. “Wait.” She caught his arm, and he was surprised by her wiry strength. She was slim and didn’t look the type to be a gym rat. She just kept getting better and better, which meant he had to move on faster. “What are you doing? You’re not going to go up there are you?” She broke off and nibbled at the side of her lip, a habit that was definitely not putting any

G or PG thoughts in his head. “I don’t want you to get hurt.” He looked up at the platform not even twenty feet above the ground. “I’ve climbed higher. A lot.” He shrugged off her arm. How was he supposed to check if the platform was sturdy from down here? Psychic energy? “But…” He blew out a breath. “Not a lot of options, Talon. It’s you or me and my money’s on me.” She was ghost white, shaky, and had a sheen of sweat on her forehead. She still looked unconvinced and his pride took a hit. “Look at me.” He held his arms

wide. “I don’t exactly have a desk job.” No, he’d hauled around so much equipment in his packs over the years; weapons, ammunition, water, food, supplies, survival gear. Up mountains. Down. Through swamps. Ravines. Deserts. Climbing a tree was nada, and his team would have laughed their assess off to see her so worried, but that was nothing to how much they would have harassed him for his missed opportunity for a little horizontal time with the hot mom last night. He’d had her so she couldn’t even stand or remember her own name, and he’d just backed off and walked her home. Noble was the dumbest move ever.

But last night it had seemed like survival. She did something to him. Something he couldn’t explain, didn’t want to think about but, like a rubbernecker at an accident scene, he couldn’t seem to look or to walk away. Tree. Kid. Climb. Back to the scene where all the torment had started. The time when his uncle had discovered him up here, trying to nail in gnarled branches to create a railing for the platform in the sky he’d found. And how he had seemed to morph from a cold, silent man who issued short commands in between hours of silence into a raging monster. “Be careful.” She stood toe-to-toe

with him, radiating anxiety as he’d reached out to grab a branch above his head to swing himself up. If he stepped into her, he’d feel her tall, slim body with just enough curves to make him anticipate feeling their differences, where she’d be soft where he’d was hard. “I’ll be fine,” he said and swung himself up. The trick with climbing, everyone knew, was to not look down. Colt was good with that. He didn’t look up, down, or around. He’d built his life like that. Moment by moment. So he didn’t think about the history of “tree house.” Didn’t think about his childhood discovery,

dashed dreams, fear. He just climbed, liking the way his muscles felt as he reached and pulled. And then he pulled himself over the edge, holding on to a limb, while he felt the floor. He folded himself next to Parker, who had sat, feet dangling over the edge while he watched Colt climb. “Parker,” he said, not really sure what he should say now. His experience with kids was next to zero, watching them run around at a backyard barbeque, handing out gum and candy on the streets in South America or Iraq or wherever he was sent. Didn’t matter. His job was the same. Scout. Set up. Position. Wait. Go. Pack up. Get out

like a ghost. No one seeing him come or watching him go. “I think you’re scaring your mom.” He felt stupid sitting here talking to this kid. He had no authority. No knowledge. “Yeah.” Parker sounded completely unrepentant. “But this is my spot. Mine.” The simple words, spoken with satisfaction, finger-walked down his spine like the chilled hand of death. He’d said the same thing many years ago. Had believed it. Until it was so clear that he’d been wrong. Always wrong. “Because you found it?” He was very aware of Talon

watching them from below, going up and down on her toes with anxiety. While he’d been trying to think of the right thing to say to Parker, he’d been feeling the platform, expecting far more loose nails than he was finding. He looped his finger in the belt loop of the kid’s jeans. “No,” He said, “Mr. Meizner said it.” Colt forced himself to breathe in and out. To not think. Not react. “He wanted to tone.” “Tone?” “Like music, you know a song note only he didn’t say it like that.” “Huh.”

“He said we could fix it. That it had been broken. Mom, come up.” “I think she wants us to come down,” Colt said. “I don’t think she likes heights.” “Mom says the best way to conquer fear is stand up, look it in the eye, and say hi.” Colt bit his cheek, surprised by the urge to smile. “That’s good advice.” “Do you have a cellphone?” She called out. “Yes.” He peered over. “Okay, you know what to do if I bite it.” And then she began to climb. “Shit,” he said. “Oops. Sorry. Excuse me.”

Parker was looking over the side, smiling. He waved his hand airily like a prince to a peasant. “I’ve heard way worse in the diner. And mom said Mr. Meizner was creative with his language.” Jesus. He still couldn’t believe Parker had had contact with that monster and was still whole, smiling. Talking about him like he had been remotely human. “I bet he did.” But he had been sick. Illness must have tempered him a bit. “Hold on to this.” He instructed, handing Parker a rope that he’d used to use to climb up and shimmy down. He

yanked it hard, and it held. “Right back.” He climbed down flush with Talon, who’d only made it up a third of the distance so far. He wedged himself into the crotch of the tree so he had at least one arm free. She had her eyes squeezed shut. “It’s easier if you look.” “I don’t think it is.” She risked one eye open. “What exactly do you think you’re going to be able to do? Catch me? Think you’re Superman?” “Yes.” Not bothering to hide the twitch of his lips because, despite the place, she made him feel…what was that? Lighter? Was that happy? “And yes.”

She scowled. “Want me to prove it?” “No.” She wrapped both arms around the tree. “I’m fine.” She chanted. “I’m fine. I can totally do this.” “Yes.” He leaned closer and said calmly, “You can. If you reach up, you can pull yourself to the next limb. Or if you want, I’ll take you.” “You can’t.” “Can.” She opened her eyes and, again, he had a close up of her sparkling irises that seemed to swirl with different shades of blue. Like his world fused in a glass orb, he realized suddenly, feeling

punched in the stomach with that realization. The whole time it had been as if she’d been familiar, and that was why. It was as if even after so many years, his brain still remembered the swirls of blues in the fused glass orb of the necklace. “Talon. I will.” “Really?” Her doubt was another one-two punch. He knew what it was like to never quite belong. To move around so much early in life, have no control. The army had given him a home. Jenna and Parker had given Talon a home, but she’d lost Jenna. Still not security, but she kept getting back up, and he

respected the hell out of that. His throat felt too closed to speak so he resorted, like he almost always did, to action. He wrapped an arm around her waist. “Hold on.” With his other hand, he reached up, giving her a little time to freak out, but she surprised him. No, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pressed her body tightly against his. Her eyes stayed on his, and he actually felt more connected to her in that moment than he had last night when he’d been kissing her. Their air mingled and he didn’t try to hide his desire. Her eyes darkened when she realized, and her breathing changed.

God, they were so attuned to each other. How was that even possible? They were so different. No history. Somehow, with Talon, he felt like some of his inner grime was scraped away, making room for a shaft of light. “One more.” He told her. He did it again and she buried her face against his neck. Her warmth seemed to seep inside of him and her lightly floral scent made him want to unsnap the buttons on her western shirt and inhale her. Reach up, and pull. “No tank today?” He couldn’t keep the question back. “No.” And he just got harder. Colt wished

the platform had been quite a bit higher, like on top of Copper Mountain, so he’d have an excuse to keep holding her. He angled himself, gripped her hips, letting his fingers linger and brand, and lifted her to the edge of the open part of the platform so she was sitting on the edge. He forced himself to let go. In the dappled light, he could see her irises, really see them up close. Flecks of darker blue, and a bit of grey, which gave them an almost eerie look as if a light were shining out of them, seeing him, really seeing all the way into his soul, or where his should have been. “God, you’re beautiful.” He couldn’t help the words.

She looked stunned, and then her face lit up, first with happiness and then doubt. He’d never seen so many expressions flit across someone’s face. So open. Nothing hidden. “Really? For real? Or are you just…” He placed his finger over her mouth, not able to silence her doubt with words. He wasn’t good with them, but he didn’t want her to express such self-doubt. It was too raw. He didn’t want her feeling so exposed, especially to him. Her bottom lip was so plump, naturally dark pink, which distracted him immediately, especially when her lips parted. She inhaled quickly, which went straight to his groin.

“That’s one way to cause a different reaction,” he said, striving for selfderision. “Now I have an entirely different problem.” “Really?” the husky, breathy voice made him want to bury himself in her silky heat of her mouth with a fierceness that astonished him. He’d been with a lot of women, quick and casual, entirely physical, because he always made it clear he had one foot out the door already, but this was… this was…he had no idea what this was. And he didn’t have anywhere he had to be for four weeks. Four weeks! He’d never taken so much leave, but on his last mandatory psych eval, the doc

had strongly worded that Colt should get stateside and take some time off, completely away from base. Yeah, yeah. He’d heard that before and had ignored it, as had his CO, until this time. He’d been told to take the time, settle up his uncle’s so called estate and not re-sign until after his leave had expired and his family’s affairs were in order. “The last thing we need is someone like you wigging out,” his commander had said. Not his name. Not his rank. “Someone like you.” And he couldn’t deny that the job had started to change for him. No, he had started to change. To

think. “Colt?” She nibbled on her bottom lip. Her blue eyes were anxious but also sensual as they met his. For the first time, he was not sorry he’d stepped up to help coach. Standing on that makeshift stage, looking and feeling like an idiotic, tongue-tied hunk of meat just might be so totally worth it, if he could hook up with her for the short time he was here. But she wasn’t a random woman, looking for some quick, dirty action for a night. And she had a kid. Talon was a blinking neon sign for Not-A-One-Night-Stand. And that was all he’d even been by choice and design.

So get your head out of your pants and back on your neck. “Told you.” He hopped up beside her and sat down. “Can.” “That was so cool. Like Tarzan.” Parker ran around from the other side of the platform stared at him, mouth and eyes rounded in awe. And then Colt shocked himself by yodeling the Tarzan yell. “Even better.” Parker approved. “Can you swing from the rope?” Colt looked at it. “No,” Talon said. “Definitely not. Don’t even encourage him.” “Can.” Colt mouthed and was rewarded with her eyes widening and

her delectable lips, which he could barely resist tasting, parting. “No. Way. We are climbing down. Now.” Although Colt noticed she looked nervously at the ground as she said this. “Stairs would have been nice.” “I was nine,” he said. “Maybe ten.” “Can’t we stay up here, mom? Look at the view? I can see Copper Mountain through the trees.” “It is beautiful,” she said, her voice full of an imminent ‘but.’ “I want us to finish it,” Parker said, his lower lip trembling. “Like Mr. Meizner wanted.” “Honey, he was too sick to work on

it,” she said. “I know you and he took walks around the property before he got too sick, and he told you about the cattle drives. I’m sure he wanted to finish the tree house, but his body was giving out.” “But he really wanted to finish it.” Parker, hands on hips, looked determined. Colt couldn’t remember ever speaking back to an adult like Parker was, especially his uncle, at least not after the first few slaps that would knock him to the ground. “He wanted to tone. I want to hear the music, too.” Again the weird word. Colt stared at Parker, thinking he really shouldn’t care,

but he felt curious. And bad that the kid obviously was in for a big disappointment. “Ah, honey.” Talon sighed. “Atone. It means doing something to try to make up for a mistake in the past. He wasn’t trying to hear a song.” And Colt felt as if the platform just whooshed out from under his feet. She looked at Colt. “Why didn’t you and your uncle finish it when you were nine or ten?” He barely heard the question. He stared blankly out through the leafy oak as the years rushed past in vivid, graphic detail. Colt stood up. “Your mom said time

to go, Parker. I’ll spot you on the way down, and then I’ll come back and help your mom.” He didn’t know what he’d do if Parker argued. He’d used his military team leader voice. Parker got up. “I can do it by myself.” “Show me.”

* TALON WALKED BACK to the house more slowly than Colt and Parker. Thinking. He was a puzzle. He held himself so still and silent, yet he’d made a joke, and had done the silly yell, seeming to surprise

himself as well as her. And then when he’d helped her up the tree, it had been like he’d been trying to connect with her. It had seemed so sexual, and when she’d felt herself instantly responding, for a second, she felt like she’d seen a flash of something more. His relationship with his uncle had obviously been painful. She’d heard from Meghan that Colt hadn’t attended prom or walked graduation or attended the grad party. He’d left town without telling anyone, not even Coach or his friends. It was so sad. Talon couldn’t imagine ever wanting to leave Marietta. She hadn’t had a hometown, but Marietta

was going to be hers, and it was going to be Parker’s. She wished she could find a way for Colt to feel connected to his roots. But how? She absently twirled her finger through one of her curls, caught back in the bandana. What were his secrets? She felt like she knew him, but she didn’t, and what she did know was sketchy. He didn’t talk about himself or his job or his past, but when she looked in his eyes, when she touched him, she felt like they belonged. And to someone who had never really belonged anywhere, but had kept trying, that feeling was something she didn’t want to let go of, at least not without a fight.

She smiled. So typical. She wanted to dig roots and settle down in Marietta so she started falling for a hometown boy, who didn’t want to come home, settle down, or connect with her, except sexually. Although that part would be fun. But she knew herself. She couldn’t keep it physical. She would always want more. Crave it. She walked by the barn, which was still in fairly good shape, a few worn spots in one corner of the roof. She stopped and took in the sight as she always did. It seemed so quiet now. Her steps slowed and then stopped. Every time she looked at the barn, she’d feel a wave of longing sweep through her. Up

until six months ago, there had been a herd of twenty Nubian goats that had seemed to make Mr. Meizner happy since he had sold off his cattle a year into his liver cancer diagnosis when it became clear he couldn’t beat it. Then the goats had been sold since Talon was too busy taking care of Mr. Meizner with the help of the hospice nurse. She still missed the goats, and she’d missed Mr. Meizner. He’d been a bit like a dad, worrying about her. Curious about her life. Insisting she use the truck when she went into town. Telling her to stay at the cabin until his son came home. She was really going to miss this

place. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she’d dreamed of buying the ranch after she became a vet, which was years away. Still, Talon sighed and scraped her boot toe in the dirt, she loved the small farm house and had put in a lot of elbow grease to make it shine and look welcoming, and the barn and the outbuildings that probably in the happier days of the ranch had bunked ranch hands, would be perfect for her ultimate fantasy project, an animal rescue facility where teens, or vets, or anyone needing the healing touch of animals could volunteer, benefiting both. Now the farm only had Muriel, the emu who strutted around the property

keeping fairly close to the house. She wouldn’t be a good therapy animal as she liked to charge if anyone got too close, although Muriel did like it when Talon sang to her. She shook off her dreams and tucked them back into her future drawer just as Parker ran back towards where she’d lingered. “Mom, mom, mom.” Parker ran into the barn yelling. “Colt needs help.”

Chapter Nine “WHAT?” ADRENALIN FLOODED her body. “What happened?” She looked Parker over carefully. “Are you okay? What’s wrong with Colt?” “He needs wire cutters,” Parker said breathlessly then ran away from the barn again. “Parker wait.” But even as she called out, she hurried over to the tack area of the barn where she’d seen a lot of tools before. She grabbed the wire cutters and

then strode after Parker, who’d taken off the across the field near the house and to the fenced in former vegetable garden. “It’s the dog wolf mom,” Parker shouted and then hopped from one foot to the other, clearly agitated. “The one we’ve seen in the field the past couple of weeks. It’s stuck. Talon approached the backside of the garden that had been deer fenced long ago. Her heart sank. The dog was caught under the deer fencing, the broken bits, digging into its back, and it had already done a lot of damage trying to free itself. It alternated between snarling at Colt, who clearly was trying to figure out a way to approach the dog to free it, and

whimpering. “Parker, go get my bag,” she whispered. “And a blanket.” Parker ran off. “Your dog?” Colt asked. She shook her head. “Stray. I’ve been leaving food out in a live trap, trying to catch it to see if it’s chipped, but she’s too smart for that. Raccoons and skunks not so much.” She approached quietly. “She’s definitely a Great Pyrenees mix. Probably a livestock dog that went missing. I left a notice in town at the feed store and Big Z’s, but nothing yet.” She watched the dog carefully. “Don’t get too close,” she said, tucking

her hands behind her back. “She’ll try harder to escape.” “Isn’t that the point?” “I want to treat her wounds. And she’s far too skinny. Probably needs antibiotics.” “What do you need me to do?” Talon liked that he was going to help, that his first instinct had been to help. And the fact that he was deferring to her, definitely earned him points. “You need to stop being so perfect,” she said. “Not an issue.” It was definitely an issue. A serious one. “Parker’s going for my bag. First

thing is the cone of shame,” she said. “Poor bastard,” Colt said eying the dog. “Actually, she’s a bitch,” Talon said. “And then I want to sedate her just a little and restrain her so I can treat her, and then I’d like to pen her in the barn once we can nail up some extra boards so she’ll stay put. Maybe once she’s fed properly and feeling better, she won’t be so feral. Maybe I can find her family. Colt continued to eye the dog narrowly. She could practically hear his thoughts. That dog did not have an anxious family missing her. She was skinny, ragged with her fur pulled out in patches, and filthy. She looked like she’d

been in a fight with something recently, possibly the emu. Blood coated her sides and now she was prone, panting, eyes rolling. Her stomach was hard and distended. Serious worms or disease or pregnancy, Talon thought with despair. “It’s all right, baby.” Talon began to speak softly. Nonsense words. Sweet words, letting her voice slow and soften and deepen. The dog kept its eyes on her as she approached, ears flattened, tail down, sides heaving as she sucked in air. Talon slowed her own breathing, lowered her eyes so she didn’t make contact, and continued slowly but steadily. She tapped her hand lightly on her leg, slower and slower, keeping a

soft beat, all the time talking. The dog stopped pulling so hard to get away, and instead looked at her more beseechingly than terrified. “Yes, that’s right, baby. We’re going to free you, and stitch you up, and then give you something delicious to eat. Are you hungry? I bet you are. Just another minute.” The sound of fast footfalls cut through the calm she was trying to weave, and Talon held her hand out behind her. Parker slowed. She was closer now, almost to touching. She crouched down. “Parker, give the cone to me and the wire cutters and blanket to Colt. Put my

bag down on the ground and scoot it to me. Don’t come too close.” She sang a lullaby that her friend Jenna used to sing to Parker when he’d been a baby. Without her telling him to, Colt dropped to a crouch and began to ease the blanket down flat, his eyes on the ground but clearly eyeing the dog briefly in his peripheral vision. “Closer,” she whispered. He leaned towards the dog, and immediately her attentions shifted to him. Talon slid the collar around the dog’s neck and pressed the Velcro in place. “Okay, slide the blanket under her.”

He did while she drew up a shot of pain meds. “She’s going to also need an IV.” She pulled out a bag of fluid. She was really lucky Noah let her keep a stash of medical supplies at her house, in case she reached a call first where some minor interventions would make a difference. She ran her hands over the dog’s limbs feeling for breaks and sighing in relief when she felt none. The dog thrashed, but Colt had wrapped the blanket around the dog’s limbs, and its struggles were weaker. “Okay, cut her free,” she said. Colt cut and slowly peeled back the fence, as Talon gently freed the dog’s

lacerations. The dog thrashed more, tried to turn over and yelped, and Talon appreciated how Colt kept the wire free and didn’t freak out when the dog’s head crashed into his knee. A mouth full of sharp canines could be intimidating even with the cone restraint, but he didn’t even blink or try to jump out of the way. “Thank you,” she said. “Can you pick her up, keeping her in the blanket?” she asked. Yes, the dog was quite thin, but she was a large breed. “Can,” he said, his voice had a touch of the same playful tone he’d shared at the platform. Talon caught her breath and looked up quickly, just to catch a glint of

humor before he stood with the seventy to eighty pound dog as easily as if it were a Chihuahua. “Where to?” “That’s a lovely question for a woman to hear.” Talon grabbed her bag. “If you keep talking so sweetly and lifting heavy objects, I might have to keep you.” “I’m on loan,” he said. “And, bam, in walked reality,” Talon said, trying to stuff the disappointment back to where it had unexpectedly welled up from. She knew he was only here helping his coach. That he had a job and a life elsewhere. And probably a line of women around the block.

She tripped over her own feet. “You’re still being perfect,” she said. “Haven’t started.” “She seems pretty calm.” Talon noted. “Take her to the house please, Superman.” “I always wanted a red cape,” he said, but Talon was curious why his tone had gone cool and curt. And his fabulous square jaw, the one with the cleft that made her stare and fantasize about licking it, was tighter than usual. “You’d look good in red.” She teased, hoping to see that light in his eyes again. “Can we keep her mom, can we keep her?”

“Let’s focus on seeing to her injuries and getting her fed,” Talon said, dragging her attention away from Colt and her flirty thoughts. Really? Like she didn’t have anything else to do except lust after a man who was going to be gone in few weeks. And with her son present. “You want to take the dog to the house, not the barn?” He fell into step with her, and she liked how his voice was curious, not critical. “We’ll keep her in the mudroom for now. I don’t have clean straw, or wood to close up the space between the slats enough to keep her in one of the birthing pens.”

“Are you planning to keep her?” Again with the neutral voice, only soft, so Parker, running ahead, couldn’t hear their conversation. Definitely a keeper. “Heal her and see if we can find her ranch or her family.” She sighed and reached out to touch the dog through the blanket. She could feel the deep trembling. “Parker will want to keep her, of course, and I’d love to, but I’m not home enough for a dog with my shifts at the diner and interning with Noah, the vet in town.” She smiled. “But once I’m done with school and working in a vet practice, Parker and I will be able to have a dog and I’m hoping to take in

other animals to have kind of an animal sanctuary where school kids or veterans could volunteer, and it could be a therapeutic experience for them. I think taking care of others, people and animals or a garden, is so important. So healing, don’t you think?” His golden eyes swept over her, lingered. Then he nodded. She wished she could see into his mind right at that minute. What made him tick? What did he want? “Do you like animals?” she asked. “Haven’t thought about it.” “Really?” she asked, walking into the house as Parker held open the door. “As a child, I didn’t want to kill

them.” “Well, there’s a start.” She couldn’t tell if he was joking. “Hunting,” he said. “I didn’t want to hunt. My uncle did. Common in this town. My aversion was not.” She thought she heard him mutter “ironic”, but wasn’t sure what to make of that, and his tone was more than a red flag that he was done with this conversation, and Parker was dancing, one foot to the other, dragging more blankets out of the linen closet and sliding them across the floor to make a bed inside the storage bench. He’d already partially propped the lid open with a roll of duct tape.

“That’s smart thinking, Parker,” Talon said. “It’s like a nest, mom, don’t you think?” Talon braced for a sarcastic comment from Colt about how he was holding a dog, not a bird, but once again he surprised her. “Looks good, Parker. Help me hand her in. I have her head.” Talon whispered, “Thank you.” “What do you need? Water? Towels?” She did want water and cloths to clean the wounds and Parker ran around being helpful and enthusiastic, directing Colt where everything was and

suggesting that maybe they’d all want some of his mother’s homemade chocolate chip cookies. Colt took him up on that and when Talon looked back at them, leaning against the laundry sink as the mud room was also the utility/laundry room, both of them were munching a cookie and fisting two others each, her heart flipped in a crazy way. Something so normal, like seeing Parker munching on a cookie looking up and smiling at a man and talking a mile a minute shouldn’t hurt. Shouldn’t make her feel sad. But Parker didn’t have a dad. And he might never have one. She deliberately kept all men at a long arm’s length. Between Parker, school, and

work, she didn’t have time or the inclination. She was building their life. And it was safer that way. She didn’t want to bring men in and out of Parker’s life. But for the first time it hit her that by not even trying, she was ensuring that Parker would never have a dad. Or siblings. And that if something happened to her, he’d be in the foster system. Just like what had happened to her. And to his mom, Jenna. She turned back to the dog, trying to shut down the negative thoughts. Yes, life wasn’t fair, and bad things happened, and she had to roll with it. But Parker couldn’t be so unlucky as to have a dad who walked away, a mom

killed in a car accident, and then his adopted mom…what? She didn’t want to think about it. Life was also full of good things, too. Lucking out on the living arrangements with Mr. Meizner for the last year and a half of his life had definitely qualified to be in the very, very good column of life her and Parker’s life. Talon cleaned the dog as much as possible without giving it a full bath, sterilized and stitched all the deeper gouges and tears, before what she’d been worried about for the past half hour became obvious even to Colt and Parker. Parker began fist pumping and jumping around the small cluttered room.

Colt muttered “When it rains it pours. Parker, settle down. Dog’s freaked out enough.” “Oh, right,” he whispered. “Can I watch?” “Ask your mom.” Talon watched the beginnings of a very active labor. And blew out a breath. It wasn’t that she hadn’t observed a birth before. She’d helped deliver stuck sheep, calves, foals, llamas and alpacas, and a couple of prized bulls when Noah had been called out either because the ranch was understaffed or too busy or worried because the animal in trouble was more prized for its breeding capabilities. It

was just she didn’t know this dog. How sick it was. And because of the malnutrition, it was possible that some or all of the puppies could be stillborn or that the mom wouldn’t have the strength to deliver or nurse. With her schedule, she couldn’t bottle feed puppies. “Parker, I think we should all keep a safe distance at this point. I’m going to have to take her cone off so that she’ll be able to smell and clean and bond with the puppies, but she’s pretty sick, and, Parker, some of the puppies might not make it.” She forced herself to say it. “They might.” “Yes. They might.” She smiled.

She’d always been called Sunnyside Up in the group homes she’d bounced around; especially by the teen years, many girls in long term foster care had a tendency to be sullen, angry, thinking the world owed them something. Her view had not been embraced by anyone but Jenna, which was why they’d probably bonded. Jenna had been positive that “this time it was going to work out and be perfect.” Even though she hadn’t told Talon about Parker’s father, she had been sure he would return for both of them, and each rodeo she’d dragged the two of them around to, she’d always dressed up and looked around with such an expectant air it had broken Talon’s

heart, but she hadn’t been able to let her go alone. She knew what it was like to hope, and it seemed like Parker had inherited that as well as his mother’s thick, straight, black hair. Four years later, and she still thought about Jenna every day. Missed her. “What do you need me to do?” Colt asked. “Is this bench thing a good long term option? Should I figure a way to safely contain her in case she gets over protective?” “There’re a few large animal crates in the barn that Noah stores there, but I hate to lock her up.” “Leave the door open. We’ll put it in the barn. I’ll find some wood to close

off one of the pens. She can move, but the pups, if any survive”—he looked at Parker—“will be safe. Parker, want to help me clean up a crate.” “Awesome.” Parker jumped up from his crouched position. Colt looked at him a bit bemused. He mouthed awesome at Talon and she laughed. “Careful, his enthusiasm is contagious.” “I’ll keep it in mind.” Talon watched the progress of the birth and wished over and over that the dog could have held on a few days so she could have gotten some nutrition in her. At least she’d have the bag of fluids

although there was plenty of water access this time of year. She prepared some towels, warm water if they needed to clean any surviving pups and then rummaged through her fridge to see what she could give the dog to eat if she were later inclined. She also made a list of supplies she’d need from town. And tried not to think of the cost. Or how they’d take care of one dog and then any resulting puppies. “One thing at a time.” She reminded herself. “The list.” Talon finished the list. Grabbed a few more old towels and a heating pad to make an easily washed bed in the crate and happened to glance out the

kitchen window. Parker was enthusiastically spraying the crate, while Colt stepped far out of range. “Smart man.” She breathed, thinking of all the times she’d been hit with Parker’s overly thorough cleaning bouts. Although she would have loved a little of the spray to hit Colt. Okay, to be honest, soak his shirt so she could see the thin fabric plastered to his body. She wondered if he had any tats. Heat pooled low just at the thought of ink on his taut skin, how the ink would flex with his movement, follow the contours of his cut body. He must have ink. She wanted to check it out. Hear the story about each one.

Parker turned off the hose and then Colt lifted the crate high, nearly over his head, but out away from his body, and Talon sighed to watch the flex of his muscles across his back and digging in, defining his arms. He vigorously shook it. Droplets flew everywhere and she could see the breadth of his shoulders narrow down to a V at his hips and she didn’t even bothering trying to distract herself. My God, he was beautifully made. Did his work in the army keep him so fit? And how was she going to be around all that amazing maleness and deny herself, and why should she? They were adults. He wasn’t staying around long,

and he said he didn’t have anyone special. Opportunities this fine and uncomplicated didn’t come around very often. How could she say no? Or get him to say yes? If she could persuade him to stay in the cabin…her stomach flipped at the idea of having him so close, so accessible although with her dinner shifts at the Main Street Diner and work with Noah and studies she didn’t have a lot of time, but a little time was better than no time. But what about Parker? She couldn’t let him get attached only to have Colt walk out after a few weeks. But surely he was old enough to understand that.

Maybe. If she explained. Or was she being selfish? Or hormone driven? Probably both, she derided, but if he stayed in the cabin, Colt would have a chance to find peace, and settle his uncle’s affairs. He had to do something about the land and the house. Sell it. Lease it. Either way, it meant another change for her and for Parker. She watched Colt shake the crate again before shifting it to one hand and dangle it and head towards the barn. Parker coiled the hose back like he never did for her. Colt waited for Parker to finish before they both walked back to the house, and her stomach pinched a little when she saw Parker look at Colt

sideways and then adjust his posture and walk a little, although that deadly, sexual, prowling swagger did not look the same on her seven-year-old. She found it hard to breathe. Why was she thinking about a fling? It was selfish because Parker would get attached. Of course he would, and the benefit of having a positive male role model would be outweighed by losing that role model after a few precious weeks. And to be honest, she kicked herself, the longer she was around Colt, the harder it was to see him as just fling material. She would be strong. Ignore her clamoring hormones.

And then Colt came in just as the first puppy slid out in a gush of fluid and blood, but instead of wiggling, it was ominously still. Parker ran over. “I want to see. I want to see.” His voice was sharp with excitement. The dog thrashed and struggled. With one hand Talon tried to sooth her, with the other she wrapped the puppy in a towel and massaged her chest a little. “Parker.” Her voice was sharper than she intended. He skidded to a stop, knocked into a shelf, which tumbled his backpack, several pairs of athletic shoes, and his bat to the floor. “Parker, let’s go get the crate set up

for the dog,” Colt said, his voice soft and low, but Talon could hear the command in it. “She’ll need some of those blankets and we need to find an extension cord for the heating pad. Do you know what one of those looks like?” “Yeah, we got one. Is it dead, mom?” “Let her do her work,” Colt said easily, and Talon was a bit surprised when Parker followed Colt out of the room. “But what if—” Talon didn’t hear the rest of Parker’s question, but she heard Colt’s low voice, quiet and calm. Damn, he was perfect. Except the fact that he wasn’t hers. Except the fact that he was leaving in

a few weeks. Except for the fact that she couldn’t stop thinking about him. She cut off her unproductive thoughts. She massaged the puppy’s chest, suctioned its small nose, pressed as hard as she dared on its chest, puffed a bit of air into the puppy’s mouth and was finally rewarded with movement. Sighing with relief, she tucked the tiny pup against its mother and repeated the process with the next pup. Colt and Parker came back to watch, Parker’s eyes and mouth wide with wonder, but he didn’t speak. But in the end, when the dog slumped, exhausted after a few halfhearted licks of her

newborns, three puppies lived and two hadn’t been revived. Parker was heartbroken. “Can we bury them?” he asked tearfully. “Sure,” Colt said. “But let’s see if your mom needs me to run into town to get some supplies.” “Let me wash up.” Talon followed Colt into the kitchen wishing she were paying more attention to her patients instead of his butt, and the way he moved. She had a fantasy of what it would feel like to sink her fingers into his bare ass and haul him up against her, and it was so realistic she could feel her

cervix spasm and clit supernova at the too visual image she was rocking, wetting her panties, which was more excitement than they’d seen in their entire lifetime. So not the way a twenty-five-yearold woman should be living, her panties seemed to chide. She had to have him, her body demanded, earlier good girl, responsible single mom intentions forgotten. Parker dashed off to his room to look for a box he could decorate where they could bury the two puppies that hadn’t made it. “Want me to put the cone back on?” Colt asked as he learned against the

counter next to the sink, strong arms folded. She walked up next to him, intending to wash her hands, but instead she stared at the front of his shirt. “No. Let’s see how she does.” He smelled amazing. Total man and outdoorsy, a mixture of pine and citrus and something indefinable that made her dizzy. She tried to breathe shallowly but still his scent wafted between them, and she could feel the heat roll off him, with a hint of sweat and wet cotton from when Parker had sprayed the crate, and it was all she could do to not lean into him. He had a bit of spray from the hose on his neck near his Adam’s apple, and

her mouth actually salivated for a taste. What the hell was wrong with her? She hadn’t jumped a guy since…well, since never. She been mildly attracted before and had definitely been an agreeable participant in her younger, less responsible youth, but it was as if she’d been snoozing and Colt sauntered up to her, steeped in silence and mystery, and her body responded as if he’d hooked jumper cables to her nipples. She could feel them beading, tighter and tighter so that even the thin fabric of her bra chafed. He’d been right to tell her not to wear a bra around him, she thought. Too bad she’d been too prudish to heed his advice. She so wanted a repeat of last

night’s kiss and then some. Just thinking about the way his hands had touched her, the way his mouth had dominated hers last night had her aching for more. Bad, bad, bad. But her bad self rejoiced and her good self was silent, expectant. “Colt,” she whispered, not knowing what she was going to say next, but needing to hear his name on her lips. “I saw a list on the counter in the mudroom. Do you need supplies?” His voice was as tight as his expression, and he seemed to be leaning away from her. She was making him uncomfortable. She spun toward the sink, embarrassed

and angry that she kept reading his signals wrong. Talon ignored the question. Her cheeks flamed. She’d totally made a fool of herself and embarrassed Colt. Total rejection. She was like some sex starved, desperate mom, and he couldn’t get out of here fast enough. And she couldn’t blame him. Not really. She held her hands under the spray of water, staring at them blindly. And then he was behind her, the warmth and strength of his body pressed against her, leeching all the tension and ache and sorrow from her bones. Strong arms wrapped around her, hands smoothed down her arms and then were over hers,

massaging soap in, rinsing, and then he dried her hands off with a bright, royal blue hand towel while she focused on her breathing and trying not to let her legs shake. She could feel him hard against her bottom, and it took all her willpower not to spin around and climb him like a jungle gym. “What do you want?” His words were a harsh whisper in her ear. Her throat squeezed. She wanted everything. Him. All of him. But she couldn’t say that. It sounded insane even to her, and she was used to living in her head. She hadn’t even known of his existence yesterday at this time. Talon knew she was emotionally needy and she

stuffed down the need as much as she could, but having breakfast together, sitting up in the tree and looking out over part of the ranch, watching him with Parker, had given her a peekaboo of a life she’d never had and tried to pretend she didn’t need. “I need to know.” “I want so many things.” She turned around, hoping to find some answers in his face but, as usual, his expression was shuttered, his masculine features stamped with restrained emotion, but, oh, so beautiful to her. “Can we talk about it later?” “When?” She would have laughed if she didn’t

feel so frazzled by her desires and thoughts that were like sparklers in her brain. “Will you stay for dinner?” She took a deep breath and plunged on not wanting to see or hear his ‘no’ “You said you didn’t have plans or a place to stay, and I, well, I’d, we’d—” She was not sure if using Parker would help her case or not. “Love to have you.” “Sure,” he said finally after his liquid gold eyes had searched hers. “I’ll get the list.” Talon looked down at her hands that he had washed as if they were magic, as if they were holy. Nothing had ever happened to her like that before. Something so sweet and sensuous and

intimate. He would stay! At least for one more night. “One day at a time,” she said to steady her excitement, and then she remembered dinner. They could grill out. Colt probably ate a lot of meat. To keep up his strength. To build up his muscles. Red meat. She needed to add a lot to her original list.

Chapter Ten “COLT.”

SHE CALLED out, rounding the corner to get to the kitchen. And slam, all her air was gone again. Colt was shirtless, his back to her. An amazing tattoo of some kind of tree—twisted trunk and branches—speared up his spine and spread out across his shoulders. Woven within the branches she could see the hint of other images, a crest of some sort. Words. And the musculature of his back—he could have been a model for a human anatomy book.

“We were a bit too premature,” he said, turning around, holding his shirt in his strong hands. Talon stared at all that tanned skin, the flex of muscle in his pecs, his arms, and then when her eyes drifted down to his abs she could feel her lips part like she was going to take a bite, and even though she told herself to close it, her mouth hung open. She was counting. Actually counting his ridges like she was in a math class. Ugh. She was not twelve and she wouldn’t act like it. “Look what I got.” Colt approached her. She could see what he had! “This little guy was just taking his

time coming around.” “Oh,” she said, stupidly looking at the little ball of squirming wet, white puppy. Pull it together. She was a professional. Or working on becoming one. “Let me…um…” Where was Parker and his interrupting when she really needed it? There was a strange buzzing in her brain, making it nearly impossible to think. And speaking? “Let me wash and suction this little guy, and we’ll get him to his mom and see if she accepts him.” “Why wouldn’t she accept him?”

Why did stern sound so sexy? She’d always imagined she would like easygoing guys. Guys who were open books. Colt was complicated with a capital “C” and she couldn’t get enough. “He’s smaller than the others. Weaker. And she’s going to need all her energy to nurse the other three. I really need to get her fed and fattened up.” She quickly wet one of the towels with warm water and rubbed the pup Colt held to stimulate it. She hissed a breath in when a few drops of water trickled down his bare chest and abs to land in the waistband of his pants. She was now envying a drop of water. And was so thirsty.

She stepped in close to Colt, determined to be detached. In control. She suctioned out the pup’s mouth and nose. “Let’s try to reunite them.” She said, proud that she managed to turn away from all the top choice, prime fabulousness like she was the most virtuous vegetarian in town. She tucked the pup up against his mother, but he didn’t suckle. Talon tried to latch him on, but the mom pushed him away with her nose. “No, no, no,” Colt said softly, but with a thread of tension in it. “I’ll keep trying,” she said, not surprised by the mother dog’s rejection but a little bit by Colt’s investment in the

proceedings. She added a few things to the list. “There’s a feed store in town and—” She broke off. “You know all that. The basics haven’t changed all that much.” Basics of man and woman. Basics of skin warm and firm under fingers. She tucked the pup back close again. Crossed her fingers. Whispered a little prayer. “Your tree tattoo is beautiful,” she said. “Does it symbolize anything?” “Yeah.” His voice was merely an exhale that mingled with hers and Talon stared at his mouth never wanting anything more. Gone was the good girl who thought

she should apologize for her lust-addled thoughts. Instead, there was just Colt and how he made her feel and how she wanted to make him feel. She reached out tentatively and touched his sternum right where his heart would lay. She wondered if he’d ever been in love, been loved back. He didn’t shrink away so she let her finger slide down the middle of his body, dividing him in two. Left and right. He still didn’t stop her, but he sucked in a breath and seemed to be holding it, waiting for what came next. In the small room, where the washer and dryer fit tightly and the dog crate made it crowded, it seemed like all the air to breathe had been sucked up

already. “What does it mean?” She tried to gather at least one coherent thought to her. “Later.” He hissed in a breath and arched into her. She reeled with the closeness. And the power to affect him. “You’re so beautifully made.” She breathed. “Do you have other tattoos?” His lips tilted a bit in what might have been a smile at the beautiful word, but she was not exaggerating. “Do you really want to know?” he asked. “Yes.” “Do you?” He challenged.

“Yes.” “Where?” His eyes flared with excitement, and the fact that she was having just as much effect on him as he was on her, charged all her cylinders. “No.” She corrected. “I don’t have any. But your tats, I want to see them.” “You need to search.” He held his arms out a little as if in permission and she gulped at the opportunity. Eyes on his, she flattened her palm against his pec and let it slide over his skin. He briefly closed his eyes and then opened them again, and they focused on hers, burning hotter than before. “Can I touch you?” She asked.

“Anywhere.” “Really?” “Absolutely anywhere.” Her thumb stroked one of his nipples and her tongue lightly ran around the inside of her lip simulating what she wanted to do to his nipple and other parts of him. She let her other hand rove over his shoulder and down his arm to feel each muscle, and then both hands did what she’d been dreaming of, caressed over his back down to his waist, her fingers tucking into his waistband. She let one finger circle his waist, and he sucked in a ragged breath as her fingers brushed the tip of his erection.

“Talon.” He hissed. “Do you like that?” The power she felt from his reaction was heady and addictive. “Yes.” The snap of his teeth was like a shot in the small room. His hands gripped her waist, and he pulled her in tight. “Me, too,” she whispered. “I like feeling you a lot.” His fingers tugged off her bandana head wrap, pulled off her elastic band, and tangled in her curls. She nearly wept when he finally closed the distance between their mouths. There was nothing gentle or exploratory about their kiss. He sucked

on her mouth, demanding entry, his hands rocking her hard against his erection and his tongue mimicking the motion in her mouth. She loved how his body was so hard. She kissed him back, feeling almost frantic, her hands moving over him, trying to memorize and incite. Her head fell back against the wall, bouncing limply when he broke the kiss and fastened his mouth around her breast and sucked hard through her shirt. She felt like she’d been shot into orbit. “Yes, yes, yes.” She chanted, feeling the tension start to coil in her lower body, only this time she didn’t panic, she fell into the sensations racing through her

and held his head to her. Crying out as he bit lightly down. “Is this what you want?” He demanded. It so totally was. “Tell me.” “Yes,” she said, totally forgetting where she was, who she was. “Yes. I want this. I want you. Take off your pants.” She tugged at his button, but the fabric was still and didn’t yield. She cupped him through his jeans and felt a thrill run through her. Whoever said that size didn’t matter didn’t have a clue what they were talking about. Colt felt large and she wanted to see him and taste him and feel all of that pumping

inside of her fast and hard and right now! “I want to taste you.” The words burned between them as he kissed her again. “Later,” he promised as he roughly popped the button on her jeans and his hands slid inside of her underpants. “Yes.” She hissed as his finger found her jackpot. She hiked one leg up around his waist to give him better access. He brushed her clit back and forth, tweaking it with his fingers and then soothing it so she was jacked up so fast. He lifted her so both legs were wrapped around his waist and she was completely open to him.

“You have no idea what I want to do to you.” He ground out, his eyes burning holes through her, his face lined with tension. “Please.” She breathed out, tortured. “Please do it.” She was so close, but he kept slowing down. Laughed a little when she grabbed his hand and tried to force him into her rhythm. “Jesus.” He jumped and untangled her legs from his waist and dropped them so her feet hit the floor. He held her loosely around her waist and his forehead rested against hers. His breathing was ragged, and he felt a million miles away.

“Sorry,” he said, “sorry.” “For what?” She nearly cried in frustration. “I don’t want to…I promised myself I wouldn’t take you like that, against a wall like…like—” He broke off. “Like what?” Anger overrode her disappointment and embarrassment that she’d done something wrong. He swore. She pushed him away and he let her. Even though she’d wanted the distance, now she hated it. She was shaking. Her body not fully getting the message that no, he didn’t want her. Not that way. She’d thrown herself at him and his body had responded until his head

kicked in. It was another rejection in a long string of them.

* “SORRY, TALON.” The words were so him he thought derisively. Cold and utterly inadequate. What the hell was wrong with him? She was so beautiful and kind and tenderhearted and he’d practically fucked her against her laundry room wall, fully clothed and with her kid upstairs looking for a damn box to bury a dead puppy in. And last night, hell, he’d probably bruised her with his eagerness. Could he be more of an animal? He

couldn’t be around normal women. She needed a man who would hold her and kiss her and take her to dinner not maul her at the first opportunity. She had a kid. She wasn’t someone he could get off and then walk away with his usual head bob of thanks. “What just happened?” she asked, and he hated how small her voice sounded. “Again.” That word drove the stake deeper into his guilty conscience. She should slap him. Curse him and throw his ass out on the gravel drive. “What did I do wrong?” He could finally suck in enough air to get his brain to function and the confusion and hurt in her voice was like

a knife in his side. “Nothing.” He breathed and placed his hands gently on either side of her cheeks so he could look into her beautiful blue almost violet eyes. “You did nothing wrong. You’re perfect.” He kissed the top of her head, trying to keep sex out of it and telling his cock to stand down, but it was standing at such painful attention that he was unable to walk away like he needed to. He needed some distance so he could corral his thoughts and force his body to behave. “I don’t feel very perfect. Why’d you stop? You make me feel so amazing, and I want to make you feel amazing.” He huffed out a breath, completely

out of his element on how to deal with this situation. He pulled her body against his. Physically, she took him to the moon just when she touched him with her gentle hands, but there was not going to be an amazing moment for him. He was a jerk. He didn’t know how to make love to a woman all slow and sweet with a slow build and candles and music and soft sheets with flowers and whatever the hell else was involved in that. He was all about quick hookups at bars or parties on base or at clubs. “You deserve better, Talon. A man who’d stay around. Not some random stranger who throws you up against a door jamb the first day he meets you and

can’t keep his hands off you even when you have a newborn runt that’s been rejected by its mother in your arms.” “That sounds like a country song,” she said, and he was relieved to find the hint of a smile and a light back in her fathomless eyes. “Why don’t you let me decide what I deserve?” He stared at her, a bit shocked at that statement. “And I blame your potent maleness. I completely forgot Parker and the dead puppy. We haven’t had the sex talk yet, and I don’t think he’s quite ready for that visual. They don’t teach that in school until fifth grade.” “Actions speak louder than words,”

he said. “That would have been yelling.” He found himself smiling. He liked her. Even when things were intense, she could still find the humor and share it. When she wasn’t making him feel like he was burning up inside or that he’d explode if he couldn’t pour himself into her body, she made him feel relaxed, part of something. Not so separate. Not good. Still, the urge to get the hell out of town was nearly offset by the desire to stay. To learn more about her. To watch her eyes light up and her sexy, pouty lips turn up in smile after smile. Despite the fact he wanted to cool things off, he

leaned forward and kissed her lightly then caught her lower lip with his. He stroked her inner bottom lip with his tongue. “You have a delicious mouth,” he murmured against her lips wanting to lose himself in her all over again. “There are so many things I’ve been fantasizing about your mouth.” “Keep fantasizing,” she said. “But be warned. I intend some of those fantasies to become real so you’d better be creative.” “Are you propositioning me?” “You’re the one without your shirt,” she said, letting her hands slide over his body. “No way can I resist that

invitation. “You’re killing me,” he said, his voice husky. “I am trying to behave. You could help me out.” “I could,” she said. His mouth twisted. “I think that was a smile,” Talon said. “I think you said something about a list.”

Chapter Eleven COLT LOADED THE supplies in the back of his truck, turned around, and surveyed the parking lot of the feed store. He’d been here so many times as a kid, helping his uncle load the truck, and then as a teen when he’d been driving, he’d made the trips himself, savoring the time alone, listening to the radio, and watching the miles unfurl behind him, imagining himself just driving and driving, not turning around, never coming back.

Well, he was back today. “Was there an ice cream shop in town when you were a kid?” Parker asked, his voice so innocent it practically had wings and a halo. Colt looked down at the kid, who’d begged to go into town with him and had been quite helpful gathering up all the supplies for the dogs. Talon had added a grocery list for dinner. He probably shouldn’t have committed to staying, because he was committing to a lot more, and his body couldn’t wait. Last night, everything in his body had recoiled in even the thought of driving by his uncle’s house, but sitting in the kitchen this morning and eating

pancakes, watching the puppies be born and then whatever had caused him to spontaneously combust with Talon in the laundry room had been one hell of an exorcism. “Might have been.” “It’s still here.” “Really?” “I could show you.” “Show me?” Colt found the kid’s earnestness cute, his enthusiasm infectious. “Sure. We can walk. It’s just down the block and around the corner. We could walk by and see if they have your favorite flavor.” “Sure.” Colt closed the tailgate.

Parker nodded. Fell into step beside him. “Although if they have my favorite flavor, I might not able to walk by.” Parker fairly danced beside him. “I hope they do. I hope they do.” “What’s your favorite?” “I have a lot of favorites,” Parker said. “Smart.” So they bought ice cream. Colt could have made a trip to the grocery store and back in the time it took Parker to settle on bubble gum. He couldn’t remember the last time he had ice cream, but the double scoop of pistachio and rocky road was definitely hitting him right.

They walked out of the store, licking their cones. Parker already had ice cream on his chin and nose and Colt went back in for more napkins. When he came out, he walked right into Nick Palotay and Code Mathews. “Wow.” Nick commented. “You move fast, brother. Bought last night for the hot waitress and this afternoon you have a kid. Congratulations.” “You got game.” Code body-bumped him in the shoulder much like he used to do in high school after a great play. “And skills,” Nick said, but clearly his eyes were asking questions. “Parker,” Colt said after a brief pause and a hard “watch it glare” that

merely had Nick grinning. “This is Nick Palotay and Code Matthews. We played football together in high school.” Parker licked his ice cream and, without missing a beat, shifted his cone to his left hand and shook each man’s hand. “Parker James Reese,” he said. “I wanted to sign up for football through rec league but my mom said no because of head injuries.” “Good plan,” Colt said. “That’s what happened to these two.” “Does it still hurt?” Nick laughed and Code high-fived Parker. “I like this guy. Maybe you should both join us for lunch.” Parker’s eyes lit up. Colt wasn’t

going to fall into that trap. Nick’s eyes burned with curiosity, and no way was Colt sharing any info on Talon even if he did know what the hell was going on. Nothing. Nothing’s going on. Not now. Not later. “Sorry, we have to hit the road— ranch errands.” He couldn’t believe those words had come out of his mouth. Again. “Lame, Colt, lame,” Code said. “There’s nothing at the ranch except for a damn emu, I asked.” Colt looked at Parker. He hadn’t seen an emu. How the hell was there an emu on a desolated cattle ranch? He wasn’t quite sure he knew what an emu

was. “We haven’t seen you but a couple of times over the years and your emails are even less informative than your vocal chords,” Nick said. “It’s top secret. And if I tell you I get to kill you.” “Contain your glee.” Code shot back. “So what’s the deal?” Nick demanded. “Your Lady’s Choice date is babysitting? Gavin’s going to love this.” “I’m not a baby,” Parker said, in between licks of ice cream. “Colt and I climbed a tree today and delivered puppies. Colt saved a life. And he’s going to build a pen for the dog and her puppies and then he’s going to help me

fix up my broken tree house.” “Army strong,” Nick muttered and rolled his eyes. “I heard a rumor you were good with your hands.” “Most romantic date ever.” Code’s shoulders were shaking as he tried to hold back his laughter. He pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of Parker and Colt. “For Gavin. He’s going to dig the kid and the puppy aspect of your formerly badass, new whip-assed self. Lady’s choice.” He snorted. “Should have thought that one out better.” Parker shifted his stance to mirror Colt’s, which was radiating tension. Nick and Code definitely noticed. “Careful bro,” Code said in a low

voice. “You and the three of us, Wolf Den, tonight,” Nick said. Colt shook his head. “What? Why the hell…lonious not?” He demanded after looking at Parker. “Hot date?” He taunted. “Yeah, hot,” Parker said. “We’re grilling out.” Even Colt had a hard time not smiling. “Not another word,” he said to Nick and Code. “Tomorrow. Maybe.” “Tomorrow, definitely. 8 pm, got it. Gavin will be there, too. And I want the goods. All the dirt.” Colt touched Parker’s shoulder and they turned and walked down the street.

He could feel the two men’s scowls behind his back so he flipped them off. “Oh, I’m so hurt,” Nick called out. The unspoken “asshole” hung in the air. It was only after Colt and Parker loaded the truck up with groceries, far more than what Talon had written down that it occurred to him that meeting up with Nick and Code would have been a great opportunity to ask where they were bunking in town, and if they had room for him. But that hadn’t even crossed him mind. And he couldn’t blame the desire for privacy this time. He paused. A foreign thought entered his brain. “Hey, P,” he said, “we got ice cream. What does your mom like for a

treat?” Parker thought about this for a while. “She bakes me cookies.” “But this would be a treat for her. She shouldn’t have to bake her own treat.” Parker stared at him, and Colt recognized the self-centered, blank expression. He’d never been the present buying man. “Does she like cookies? Is there a bakery in town still?” “There’s a coffee shop my mom likes, but we don’t go there very often because it’s expensive and she gets free coffee at the diner.” Colt tapped his foot. Seemed like Talon did so much for others, but not

much was done for her. No, not completely true. Her friends had bought her a guy at an auction. Fucking unbelievable. And one thing he needed to make clear was that if anything was going down between them, sex was not going to be the Lady’s Choice date. Code had been right about one thing. He should have definitely planned that one better. Parker looked up at him, halo on again, and Colt was beginning to suspect he was seriously being played. “There’s a chocolate shop in town. Sage Carrigan owns it and she gives out samples so customers can make better decisions.” He looked at the kid and then

laughed. “You gotta handshake that you’ll eat all your dinner so your mom doesn’t bust us.” Parker shook his hand and then they completed a pinky swear to seal the deal.

* “UM.” TALON PAUSED and twirled a lock of her sunshine-blonde curls around her finger. Her face colored pink and Colt stopped, fascinated, in the act of drying a dish. “Ah, we haven’t talked about sleeping arrangements.” The dish towel stopped mid-swoop. “I mean—” Talon knew how that

sounded and for more than a moment she wished she had the nerve to say what she really meant, deep inside her heart. “I mean while you are in town you can stay in the cabin or the main house or where ever you want because, really, it’s your place, and we really should talk about me paying back rent and…” “It’s not my house.” She stopped mid-conversation. “But…” She stopped as his face darkened forbiddingly, but Talon ignored that. She paid her way. Always. “Hear me out.” She held up her hand and blew off his stare down. “Parker and I can move out, but I will need at least a week to pack and find

something.” She wouldn’t have her financial aid check yet for the summer semester of school, but she’d figure out how she’d come up with first or last month’s rent and a deposit. She had been putting money in a separate account because she knew that at any time Mr. Meizner’s heir could show up. She also had the issue of transportation. Her car was dead and she’d have to have it towed to the garage, which would cost a lot before repairs even got started. Anxiety began to crank up. “Or we can move into the cabin, and you can rent the house out. Or sell it, and I can take care of it, keep it up, and clean

until you have a buyer. I would pay rent of course.” “Why do you think I have a say in this house?” “Didn’t an attorney contact you?” “Yes.” She nodded. “She contacted me as well, saying that Mr. Meizner’s heir had been notified, although obviously,” she hastened to add not wanting him to think she was nosy. “She didn’t tell me anything.” “He wouldn’t leave me anything,” Colt returned to drying the dishes and putting them away. “And if he did, I wouldn’t take it.” “Colt, he was your family. Not

everyone gets to have that.” “Not everyone wants that.” “Do you have any other family in Marietta?” she asked curiously. The alarm on his watch went off. He pressed it and again Talon marveled at how intense his watch looked. A serious watch for a serious man, the kind of watch in a Bond movie or one that looked like he could pilot a plane with it. “Saved by the bell,” she said cheerily and prepared another bottle for the puppy that was still being rejected by its mother. The rejection made her ache inside and she’d twice had to wipe away tears this late this afternoon and now

evening. She knew it was nature and that when she’d set out to pursue a career where she worked with animals, she’d have some dead ones. Still, this one she seemed to be taking a little too personally. He didn’t answer her question, and his closed off expression didn’t invite any more. He scooped up the pup that was now wrapped in a flannel pillowcase instead of his shirt, which Talon had washed for him while she’d made a salad and he’d grilled out steak kabobs. “How many times do you have to feed him at night, every two hours,

really?” Colt asked. “Yes. For the first week. Then three hours the second through fourth weeks,” she said. “They don’t have any glycogen stores so once the milk is digested, they need immediate energy.” She took the bottle out of the warm mug of water and tested it against her wrist. “I’ll do it this time,” Colt said, taking the bottle and tilting the puppy horizontal like she had showed Parker and him earlier in the day. He squeezed both sides of the bottle and watched a drop drip into the puppy’s mouth. The puppy began to suck, weakly at first but then a little more strongly.

“You workin’ tomorrow?” “Yeah. Breakfast service. Six to ten, since Deanna worked my dinner shift last night so I could volunteer.” “Oh-six-hundred,” he said. “Ouch. I’ll play a bugle for you.” “Please don’t. My alarm is obnoxious enough. He’s doing well.” She reached over to stroke the puppy, but instead her hand touched his chest. She snatched her hand away. “Sorry,” she whispered. “Um Colt?” He still held the puppy, but was in the process of cutting off the feeding as she’d told him too much of the milk substitute protein could aspirate the puppy.

“Listen, I know we’re sort of strangers, but…” “Have you come up with a date yet?” “A date?” “A choice. You need to choose something for us to do together.” “I kinda did that,” she said. “We spent the whole day together almost.” “Today wasn’t a plan.” “You don’t have to plan the best days.” She objected. “They can just happen. Like the pancakes and the walk and climbing the tree. Then we rescued the dog I’ve been worried about but not able to catch in the live trap. And the puppy that didn’t die.” “And the one that did. And now

you’ve got one you need to feed every two hours on top of your work, school, and mom schedule.” “Somebody’s a glass half empty guy,” Talon said. “We’re going to have to work on that.” He still was holding the puppy, looking down at it. She watched him in profile, marveling at how classically handsome he was in a pure, masculine way. High-cut cheekbones, long, narrow nose, stern mouth, a bit hard, but his fuller lips were sensuous and then his square jaw, determined chin with the cleft really put an exclamation point on the whole hero thing. He could have been in an ad for the

military. Military recruiting offices would have been overwhelmed by young women shedding their panties and signing up with no idea what they were really in for. “I’ll take him tonight,” he said, turning his golden-brown eyes on her. “So you can sleep.” Her lips parted in surprise. “Yes, really.” He walked across the room toward her. Even with his boots, and his bulk, he made no sound. “Colt.” She put out her hand as if to stop him, but that would have been the stupidest thing she could have done because who in their right mind

wouldn’t want all that six-plus foot of masculine beauty and muscle coming at them, golden eyes burning? “We should talk about some things,” Talon said. There was so much up in the air. “I’m more a man of action.” She could definitely be down with some of his action right now. He was close enough to kiss, and she could feel her breathing elevate, her nipples peaked, visible through her thin t-shirt, and she could feel heat uncoiling deep within her body, her vagina quickening. She moistened her lips and watched him, watching her. Her body felt heavy and hot, and she let her eyes walk down him and thrilled that her

perusal made him adjust his pants a little. “You have no idea what I want to do to your mouth.” His deep voice was practically a growl. “You can show me.” He sucked in a breath and then took a step back away from her. “We should go slow.” “That’s a role reversal,” she said. “Don’t tell that to the three stooges I ran into in town.” “They give you a hard time about being with Parker?” “Nothing we couldn’t handle, but I couldn’t help noticing that on your shopping list you didn’t put down

condoms.” “Seemed presumptuous.” She blushed. “And Parker was with you and I figured that you probably had a jumbosize box in your bag.” “You over estimate my appeal.” “I don’t think that’s possible,” she said dead serious. “It’s the puppy.” He swaggered across the room, puppy in the cradle of his arm. “Women love puppies.” Watching him, Talon swallowed hard. The puppy couldn’t compete with him. “I had fun today,” she said. He looked down at the puppy then up at her, his expression impossible to read. “I did, too.”

“No need to sound that surprised,” Talon said. He looked at her for a while. “Think of a date, yet?” “A date? I’m not really sure what that means, Colt. We spent the day together. You don’t owe me anything beyond that.” Unless you want to. Please want to. Talon hated that voice inside her. The one that craved a deeper connection always, and when he didn’t answer, she felt her stomach sink, but like with everything in her life, she wasn’t willing to just walk away without trying. Go big or go home. He might say no and she’d be

disappointed, but she’d be in the same place where she would have been without trying. “Today doesn’t count,” he said. “It counted for me.” He focused on the puppy, gently stroking its belly in a circular motion. “I didn’t mean it like that, Talon. I’m not… I’m not good with words.” “You’re fine with words,” she said. “And if you are set on me thinking of some experience that will free you from your debt.” She made a face, because she didn’t want to be an obligation like she’d been her whole life. She wanted to be a want. “There is something I’d like you to do, that if you’d agree, that would

be my top choice.” “Yeah?” He looked up and, for once, his face was fairly open, not remote. “Shoot.” Talon even thought she saw a hint of a smile and her whole body woke up, and she almost lost her nerve because she didn’t think he’d go for it, and she felt stupid for suggesting it and ruining the mood, but she gulped in a breath. “I’d like you to work with Parker to help him make a tree house.” Whatever he’d been expecting, it was not that. Up went his guard. Down went the light in his eyes, out went the sexual interest. “Parker.”

She pressed her lips together and her hands to her side to keep anything from trembling. She nodded. “I’m not expecting anything fancy. Maybe just the platform being safe and a railing all the way around and, if it’s possible, a little roof part. Nothing like the tree house show on cable.” He stared at her for the longest time, and she really had no idea what he was thinking. Not arousal like last night. A totally different look. Cool calculation. “There’s a TV show about building tree houses?” “Yes.” She sighed in relief because he hadn’t barked a no at her. “This guy in Washington state has a whole business

and a crew, and they go around the country and build these really amazing tree houses, and it’s so interesting because—” She broke off, embarrassed by her enthusiasm over something he must think was ridiculous. He had faced horrendous circumstances in war. She must seem stupid and selfish to be sitting back in Montana, safe, watching shows about tree houses. “I just thought it would be special for Parker because it really took off in his imagination when Mr. Meizner would walk around with him before he got too sick. He would tell him stories. Parker doesn’t get a lot of experiences with men, and this would be something special, and then he’d have a

place where he could hang out and read and dream and maybe have a friend over on a weekend like a normal kid,” she said. “Something that could be done in a day or two. And I’d like him to participate.” “I thought you wanted to move out.” She tried to swallow the dread lump, but there it squatted. Cold. Bitter. Familiar. “I don’t want to, but obviously you are going to need to do something with the house and the land. If you want a caretaker, I’d apply. If you want to sell, I’d love to rent from you until it sells. But deciding to stay without knowing your plans is not within my realm of

choice.” She bit her lip. She was totally rambling again. And dreaming. She was spinning out a scenario as if Colt would be staying in the cabin for his leave, not traveling or camping with his friends. Meeting women in the Wolf Den because that was where men like him went. “I was just thinking that if Parker could build something with a man, you know, a project, it would be an experience he could have like a regular kid. With my schedule at the diner, I can’t sign him up for scouts so he doesn’t get to do boy things except sports.” She couldn’t sound more pathetic

and inadequate if she took a college course in it. The tree house idea was dumb. She was meddling. Trying to mend things that were broken. She wanted something for Parker. But she also thought if Colt finished the project he’d started as a kid, maybe he’d build a good memory here. Maybe he’d feel like someday he could come home. “I’m shipping out in less than a month, Talon.” “I know.” He stared at her. That look. That said so much if she could just read his mind. But maybe she could and that was the problem. “I know it would just be one thing, a

memory of something good. Something he built and could be proud of. Like a mentor experience.” “So Parker and I build a tree house. What do you get?” “Parker would… have an accomplishment. Someone else take an interest in him for a couple of days.” Even to her it sounded pathetic and inadequate. “And then I walk away.” Those words. Always those words. Talon nodded. “Yes. Parker would understand that.” And she would, too, she told herself bravely. The air between them seemed to

stretch and grow and growl, fraught with an entirely different tension than before. He walked towards her. She counted the steps. Six. And wished she had the right to touch him. To be held by him. “I don’t think it works that way, Talon.” She knew it didn’t. But still she’d had to try. “Something’s better than nothing,” she said in low voice, forcing the words out even though she knew they were useless. And the words fell on the floor between them like dropped jello, quivering obscenely, impossible to clean up easily. “Your car’s broken, you said.”

She nodded. She wondered if he knew anything about cars. That would have been a more practical ask. But expensive. But maybe he could tow it into the shop with his truck, and she would have at least saved the towing fee. He picked up the bag of supplies for the puppy. “You need to be at work by six?” “Yes, but…you don’t have to…” She trailed off. “I’ll pick you up at 5:30.” “Colt, I’m so sorry.” She could barely stop the tears from pooling in her eyes. She pinched her leg hard and reminded herself fiercely that crying

never helped and only made her feel powerless. “All your friends are having a fun time and you…” She waved her hand to encompass the whole thing. The bad memories of his house and childhood, her with her stupid ask for a tree house for her kid, the stray dog giving birth, and his run into town for supplies and groceries that he hadn’t let her pay for. And what had she given him? Dinner that he’d grilled. He’d given her a precious memory and a present, a mixed box of chocolates from Sage’s. “I’m sorry,” she said again, wishing she could rewind the whole thing. Be normal. Cool. Beautiful. Sexy. Ask for

some reasonable experience that wouldn’t be a hassle and dredge up bad memories. “It’s too big an ask and you’ve already given so much.” He brushed past her, opened the front door and paused. “No, Talon, it’s too fucking little.”

Chapter Twelve COLT

SANK HIS

final ball in a corner

pocket. “That’s it,” Gavin said, handing off his cue to Code. “Even though you made it tonight, you buy the next round.” Colt went to the bar and ordered three more beers and a club soda with three limes for himself. “So that’s why you’re so sour,” Gavin said. “That’s the secret. Limes.” They returned to the table where Nick and Code were in a spirited game.

“So?” Gavin took a long pull at the local microbrew. “Your date call your bluff? Did she choose anything? Tell me she chose a long weekend of nothing but sex.” “She chose a long weekend of nothing but sex.” “She has a kid,” Nick said. “A funny, mouthy kid who has one of those goofy hairlines like Colt’s. Maybe he’s been making secret trips to Marietta all these years.” “Kid’s not hers biologically and they moved here only a year ago.” “Damn, there goes my hope for scandal.” Nick missed his shot and Code walked around the table.

“The hot mama chose babysitting and to have Colt, with all his expertise, to run errands.” Code sounded mock disgusted. “And from the tight look on Colt’s face, sex isn’t in the offing.” “So what does she want?” Gavin asked. All three of his friends from high school turned and looked at him, and Colt felt a strange sense of disconnect. He knew them in the past. But not really. He hadn’t told anyone about his life at home. His uncle’s drinking binges. Rages followed by silence for weeks at a time. As an adult, he understood it better. A disease. Alcoholism. Another disease. Depression. He’d felt so

separate from other kids so he’d separated himself further. Football had been his only outlet because his uncle had respected and understood and accepted football, so Colt had played hard, even though he had no particular love for the game. Another thing that had separated him. “Her name is Talon. She lives in my old house.” He finished his club soda. “She helped to nurse my uncle when he died a few months ago. Like a housekeeper person for room and board.” “That’s the most I’ve heard you speak in one go,” Nick said. “Must be love.” He hit a shot and missed.

“She wants me to build a tree house for her kid,” he surprised himself by saying. “Come again?” Gavin demanded. “A tree house?” Colt expected them to laugh. To mock his manhood and all the other things guys did except talk about the real issues. They’d already teased him about “Dude,” the puppy he had in a box in his truck and had left to feed about half an hour ago. Now he stared moodily into his empty club soda glass and debated another beer. He’d only had one. But he didn’t want to feel the need for one. “What’d you say?” Code asked. “You gonna do it? That would take some

time. Wouldn’t be bad to have you back in town a bit. Can’t do the army forever.” Colt thought about that. “I’m up for reenlistment. I got six more months.” “Gonna do another go around or go for the full twenty?” Nick asked, pausing in his shot, straightening up, and even putting down his cue as he waited. “I don’t know,” Colt said slowly. “I thought I might as well. What else am I gonna do?” “There’s a million things you could do,” Code said decisively. “If you’re even questioning it, time to go. Once the lines get blurry, that’s when it starts to

mess with your head.” Colt met Code’s eyes. Yeah, he knew. He understood. They all did. And for him, the line had started to blur on an average August day last year when the target hadn’t stayed just in the target zone. When the target had become a person with a history and a life and a family and all of those things had climbed into his brain and followed him home. “Colt.” Nick looked at him. “Take your full leave. Keep that runty dog. Build the damn tree house.”

*

TALON LOOKED UP from entering a breakfast order and her heart flipped so fast it took her breath. This must be what a heart attack felt like or maybe it was just the effect Colt had on her stupid heart that wouldn’t get the message, but, damn, he looked good, striding in the Main Street Diner at seven in the morning, and she wasn’t the only one who noticed. She flipped the switch on the coffee pot and met him before anyone else could. “Hey,” she said like she was some middle school girl crushing. But did he have to wear running shorts and a tee that was soaked in sweat so that she

could see the definition of his shoulders and pecs. “You want breakfast?” “Among other things.” Close mouth. But she was pretty sure it was still hanging open. And unable to form any words, not usually a problem for her. “Thought I’d clean up a bit.” He indicated an athletic duffle bag he carried. “And have breakfast with Parker. You said he eats around seven?” He looked at his watch. It was seven exactly, but Talon was caught up in the shape of his fingers, and the sheen of sweat on his arms. “Uh huh.” He nodded and went towards the

bathroom. Talon swallowed but the lump remained and the flutter of her stomach built. He was in the men’s bathroom taking off his shirt and who knew what else to rinse off and change and…it was all she could do to not moan. She wanted to check on him. See if he needed anything. Like her under him. “Get a grip.” Her life was a hot mess compared to his. He was organized, neat, clean, knew where he belonged and where he was going. She knew where she wanted to go and where she wanted to belong, but she sure was taking the long way around. “More scenery.” She reminded herself and went to get coffee.

She was about to go wake Parker from his makeshift bed under the desk when she saw him chatting with Colt as they walked into the main part of the restaurant. Gina, one of the newer waitresses, hurried up, her eyes devouring Colt, and Talon couldn’t blame her, but still the desire to call dibs was hard to resist even though it was childish and not true. “Usual Parker?” Talon asked as she brought coffee for Colt. “Something different today,” Parker said, sounding all grown up, studying the menu like Colt did. “Sure, but decide quickly. Bus comes by here at 7:45.”

Colt looked at his watch. “What time’s school?” “8:15.” “Bacon and eggs and short stack and a water,” Colt said. “Me, too!” Parker closed his menu. “No chocolate sauce?” Talon asked. Parker looked at Colt and his expression was so open and honest that her heart wept a little. Nothing inscrutable about her little man and how would the world treat that? She thought of Jenna with her bruised heart, loving a man who hadn’t stayed long enough to know they’d made a baby. “You could have it on the side,” Colt said into the silence. “We could share.”

“Yes! And hot chocolate with lots and lots of whip cream. Do you like whip cream?” Talon could hear him ask Colt as she walked off to place the order and seat more customers. She tried not to watch them too closely as she worked, but it was hard. Colt seemed less guarded around Parker. They were looking at something on his phone very intently and by the busy way Colt’s finger kept swiping, it wasn’t a game. When she came with their food, Parker actually tucked the phone under the table. “More coffee?” “Yes, please. Thank you, Talon.”

And she tried not to be effected by his deep voice and his manners, but she was failing miserably. On her second trip she saw movement in Colt’s duffle bag and heard a plaintive mewing sound even above all the talking at the diner. “Did you bring Dude?” she asked. Colt looked a little embarrassed and it was so sweet she just stood and stared. “He cries when he’s alone.” Parker offered, stuffing a piece of bacon in his mouth. “He misses his mama so Colt’s being his mama.” “I’ll just ignore the health code violations and hope everyone else does, too,” she said trying to sound severe, but

failing. It was sweet to see them together, but also made her heart pinch a bit. They could be father and son. Colt’s hair was coppery brown with a hint of wave if it weren’t cut so tight, whereas Parker’s was much darker and straighter, but they each had a widow’s peak and when they were sitting side by side, staring at the phone, Parker talking intently and Colt answering more deliberately and without all the hand waving that Parker punctuated his conversations with, their profiles were similar. Colt would be a good dad, she thought, forcing herself to turn away, because that was so not where she

should let her mind go ever.

* “HEY, COLT. COLT Ewing, right?” Colt looked up from the loading dock at Big Z’s to see a tall man with an open, familiar face striding towards him. “I was ahead of you in school, but I’m….” “Paul.” Colt shook the proffered hand. “Paul Zabrinsky. You’ve really expanded Big Z’s since you took over for your dad.” “Yeah. Adapt or die,” Paul answered with an easy smile. “But business is good. We’ve started taking on bigger and

bigger projects with our contracting end of the business. Can’t complain and lately can’t seem to keep up.” “That’s great.” And that was where Colt’s conversation ended, but Paul had always been more socially adept. “Coach was so grateful you and Code, Nick, and Gavin could make it back and throw yourself into the bachelor auction. Did you hear a final total?” Colt hadn’t even thought to ask. He shook his head. “I think with that over the top bid for Code by Hayley, it brought in maybe more than last year. I think last year there

was a bid for ten grand, too.” He shook his head. “It’s a good town. Generous.” Colt hadn’t remembered it like that, but even in the three days he’d been home, he’d been challenged to reevaluate. “You thinking about moving back?” ‘No’ was on the tip of his tongue. He’d always said that when Nick asked or when someone in the service asked about home on one of the long, boring, challenging nights. “I’m up to reenlist,” he said. “But haven’t yet. Have six more months active.” Paul looked at him, and Colt wondered what he saw. Did he think

damaged? Unpredictable? Dangerous? “I know folks are hoping that now that your uncle’s passed that you’ll come back to the ranch. Cattle in your blood?” Colt shook his head. “Don’t think so.” “It’s a hard life but rewarding. Helps to have a family,” Paul said easily, and Colt thought of Paul’s large family that always had each other’s backs. He’d been so envious of that even though he hadn’t gone to school with the Zabrinskys. “I know Mia’s thinking you’re going to stop by and discuss your uncle’s will.” He tensed. And there was the bad part of small town living. Everyone

knew his business or thought they did and had no trouble butting in. Now Paul would tell Mia that he’d seen the elusive so-called heir even though he was sure his uncle would have gasped his last breath without a single thought for his estranged nephew. “Looks like you got quite an order. Let me help you load.” They carried some wood planks and other lumber to the truck as well as a few tools Colt had been unable to locate in the barn. “Building project.” Paul commented. “Not much of a vacation.” “No rest for the wicked,” Colt said lightly.

“Have you been claimed for your date yet?” Colt looked at the load of lumber. He guessed he had. “You’re smug. You should have gotten up there.” Paul laughed and flashed his ring finger. “I finally got it right. I married Bailey; we have a baby.” “Congrats.” “Take care. Let me know if you need anything. We got a project out by you so I can easily bring an extra load of whatever you need someday. I know how these small projects start,” Paul said. “Small, which is not how they end.”

After looking at about thirty tree house designs with Parker this morning and watching a tree house builder’s excerpts on YouTube, he had no doubt small projects could morph into ginormous albatrosses. But first he had a goat or horse pen to modify. And then a car to look at.

* TALON THANKED NOAH Gallagher for dropping her off at the elementary school where Parker had an hour long baseball practice after school Monday through Thursday, with games on Friday. Then they usually walked over to the Main

Street Dinner for her evening dinner shift. Today, she was tired because she’d worked morning as well to make up for the shift she’d worked at Grey’s, but she was all caught up, and she was grateful that she’d been so busy she hadn’t had too much time to dwell on Colt and what he was up to. She was early and was happy because she’d be able to watch Parker play. Usually, she was hurrying back from her internship, which could be frantically busy or mind-numbingly slow. The sun was glorious and the day was warm for April without a hint of chill. Her eyes scanned the field for Parker. She saw him, but she also saw

Colt. Parker was holding something in his arms and a bunch of boys were gathered around. Colt stood outside of the knot of boys, his hands tucked easily in his pockets, his body relaxed. Her eyes just drank him in and suddenly she wasn’t tired anymore. She wasn’t worried about her car or where she and Parker would move. She had always managed. So she might as well enjoy the view. And right then the view looked up, his gaze meeting hers. She couldn’t help herself; she hurried forward and felt as if her whole body started to smile. Colt said something to Parker and Parker looked

up, waved, and then he and Colt met her halfway. “Hey, buddy, you have Dude, huh? How’s he doing?” “I think he’s growing. Colt let me feed him and he drank the whole bottle. We looked it up online. That’s a good sign, huh, Colt.” Colt Ewing. Hottest man alive and little boy and runt puppy whisperer. “Hi,” she said. “Good day?” “Productive.” For some stupid reason her body wanted to make a sexual innuendo out of that, but just breathing the same air with him seemed like a sexually intimate experience.

“Colt and I are going to go do boy things.” Parker announced. “No.” Colt corrected. “Colt and Parker are going to ask your mom if we can head back to the house to work on creating a safe pen for the mama dog and her pups.” “Can we please?” This was what she wanted, right? Parker to have a male-bonding experience? So why was she feeling left out? “Parker, say goodbye to your friends and get your backpack. I’ll hold Dude for a second.” Talon held the puppy in her hands, savoring his feel, small, snuffling noises,

and warm, milky, cedar shavings smell. “Long day for you,” Colt said into the silence. She shrugged, trying not to lean in towards him so she could smell his skin, feel his heat, and feel warmed by his concern. Dude wiggled in her hands, and she held him against her cheek. One more thing to love and love her back and, if he made it, she knew that she and Parker would have a dog. Colt leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “I’ll text you later.” “Parker will have homework, and he’ll need to eat. There’s—” He smiled. “I can forage for food in any environment. We’ll be good. Need a

lift?” “I can walk.” The thought of being in the truck with him was delicious, but she wouldn’t want to get out to go into work. She’d want to drive home with them and help build the pen and cook dinner and eat with them and…and it wasn’t just going to be Parker who was missing Colt in three weeks, but to be able to have him for that long or for any time would be worth any pain or disappointment when he left, and Talon resolved right then, looking up into his chiseled features and golden eyes that could look so heated and sexual and then so remote seconds later, that she would seize every moment

with him no matter the consequences to her heart.

Chapter Thirteen THE NEXT MORNING, Talon knocked on the cabin door and wished her heart weren’t thumping so hard. She was terrified of rejection, but more frightened of not trying. But last night, seeing Parker and Colt talking on the playing field and then finishing her shift at work and seeing her car in front of the restaurant with a note to meet them for ice cream made her want to take the risk. Then when Colt and Parker followed her home to make sure the her car made it, she gathered up

her nerve and decided that in the morning, if Colt were still at the house, fingers crossed, she would try to seduce him or was it more like proposition him? That sounded more modern and in line with who she was. Beautiful actresses, spies, and femme fatales could seduce the hottest man of their dreams. She was stuck with asking and hoping. Colt swung the door open and leaned up one arm up on the door jam. His jeans were worn and hung low on his hips and she could see a strip of paler skin peeking out of a ribbon of dark red and blue boxers or briefs, she didn’t know. Her words stuck on her tongue because his flannel shirt hung open and all that

smooth toned golden skin of his torso was on display, and his shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbow. “I…wow…hi,” she said. He stared at her, his eyes hooded, his body so still he looked like hewn granite. “Can I come in?” For a moment, she was afraid he’d say no. “Need to borrow some sugar?” She shook her head. “I need to borrow something more savory,” she said. His lips tightened a fraction, but there was a sexy glint in his eyes when they walked over her body, from her

flushed cheeks, to the pulse going crazy in her neck and down to the “V” in her western shirt. He reached out a lazy finger and stroked the hollow at her throat. She made a sound of surrender. “Sure you know what you’re doing?” She nodded. “I know it’s temporary.” He stepped into her, his golden eyes searching hers. “Very temporary.” She nodded, even though she felt the words like a jab to her sternum. “That’s what I’m looking for,” she said, jamming her fingers in the back pocket of her jeans so he wouldn’t see then tremble. “I have a few more years of school and Parker to take care of so I’m not looking to build anything. So I was thinking…”

She gulped in a deep breath. “Because of Parker, it’s better if we… you know…hang out when he’s, um, at school.” “Hang out?” He was going to make her say it. But ‘have sex’ sounded so clinical. And ‘make love’ sounded like an emotional connection and even Talon, with the wishes and dreams she’d dragged into adulthood from her childhood like a tattered blanket, knew that the odds of Colt falling in love with her and being part of a happily ever after were the same as winning the lottery. Although she didn’t play the lottery. At least with Colt, she was throwing herself in the

game. So instead of staring into his eyes, where she felt like she was always striving to reach him, she looked at his chest, the golden skin, the defined muscles, the strength and tension and sheer sexual heat he radiated as effortlessly as he breathed. “Talon.” His voice was a rasp that shot straight to her core and made it spasm in anticipation. “You deserve a good man.” She stepped into him, one hand snaking out of her pocket to caress his chest, and then the other to trace a circle around his waist, dipping below the elastic of his barely visible underwear.

“I think you will be more than good.” She nipped at his nipple. He caught one of her hands in his stronger one. “A man who will stay.” She brought the hand that held hers to her mouth and nibbled at it with her teeth and let her tongue play. She was rewarded with a groan, but he was still holding himself military-rigid, leaning a little away from her as if he would say “no.” That they should keep it platonic, but the hell with that! “I hope you have a lot of staying power.” She crouched down and caught at his button front fly with her teeth. She looked up at him, loving the tension in

his body, in his face, his eyes closed and his body arched a little and triumph began to slay her nerves. “Do you have a lot of staying power, Colt?” She tugged and his jeans unbuttoned. “If you want a rule about no bra, then I want a rule about no underwear,” she said, her hands pulling both jeans and underwear down past his hips so his cock sprang free. She sat back on her heels and stared. He was just as hard there as the rest of his body, she marveled at his size and aggressive thrust. It had been such a long time for her, and those had been boys, just as eager as she had been, but inexperienced.

Colt was a man. A tiny drop of moisture trembled on his tip and she caught it with her tongue, but before she could take him more deeply into her mouth, he ground out her name, tangled his fingers in her hair as he yanked out her elastic band holding it into a messy bun and pulled her hair loose at the same time he hauled her back up to standing. “You’re sure?” He held her head hard in his hands, his eyes fierce, and something primal in Talon rose up to meet that same drive in him. It was like being hit by a wave of lava that ignited a burn deep in her body that lifted her and crashed her into him.

“You have to be sure,” he said fiercely. She crashed her mouth against his in answer and kissed him, wanted more of his hunger and intensity like the last time he’d kissed her on this porch. He cursed, kicked off his jeans and underwear easily since he’d been barefoot and then pulled her inside, kissing her back as fiercely as she was kissing him. He kicked the door shut and it thudded and shook the cabin a bit. “Boots.” He demanded against her mouth. She tried to step on one of the toes and pull her foot out, but she wobbled.

He pressed her down into the couch, following her, their mouths still fused and hungry. He pulled off each boot, tossing them in towards the kitchen. Then he ripped off her jeans. “Damn,” he said when he saw she wasn’t wearing panties. “If I’d known that, you wouldn’t have gotten a word out.” She cried out as he splayed her legs wide and looked at her. That turned her on almost as much as when he touched her. The way he stared at her. It made her feel so important to have his total focus. She could feel herself liquefy even more as he watched it happen. She started to unbutton her shirt and

his eyes flicked up to hers. “Leave it,” he said, his voice hard, and she felt thrilled. “Hands behind your back.” His eyes darkened and the look on his face when she complied made her want to do more to please him, but it was hard to sit still and watch his eyes burn over her body when she wanted to touch him. He slid his finger along her seam and it glistened. He traced her lip so gently with his finger and then licked the same path. “Mmmmmmmm.” He hummed against her lips, which felt like darts of electricity shooting through her body. “I

can’t decide.” He kissed his way slowly down her body, sucking then nipping with his teeth and then brushing his lips against her skin so softly she trembled and felt strangely near to tears because it felt so intimate. “If you taste more like peaches or strawberries.” His mouth skirted her mound and she trembled beneath him. “Colt, please,” she whispered, quite desperately. Her hands jerked free because she craved to touch him. He straightened up. “Hands.” She swallowed, excited by his command. “I can’t,” she said. “I have to touch you.”

He just looked at her and her core wept in anticipation. She tucked her hands behind her body again. He leaned over her, his face etched in sensuous passion. Eyes glittering and almost dark. One by one, he unbuttoned her shirt and parted it just enough so that the curve of her breasts was revealed, but not her nipples. His rough hands caressed her through the fabric. She cried out when he sucked one of her small breasts into his hot mouth through the fabric. Her hips thrashed underneath him. “Hands.” She hadn’t even realized she’d pulled them free again. She quickly

tucked them under her body again, pressing them against her bare butt, hoping that would keep them in place. “You are so sensitive.” He breathed against her other breast, flicking the fabric aside and launching a gentle, sensual assault that had goose bumps climbing all over her body and had her kicking her legs out further and wrapping them around his waist to pull his cock against her body. “I want you. Now. Now.” She insisted. “You need to wait. I’m just getting started.” He breathed against her mouth, kissing her again, but he didn’t pull away and she ground and rocked against

him, trying to pull him inside her body. Unable to be passive, her hands grabbed, cupping his bare ass and dug in, one massaged his balls. “Hands.” His voice was harsh in her ear and she cried out as he pinned them behind her back, this time holding them. “Colt, you can’t expect me not to touch you.” She moaned. “I want to more than anything.” “It will be worth it,” he said. “I promise. Wider.” He slid down her body and spread her legs wider and inhaled her scent. “I love how you get so wet for me,” he whispered seductively against her, his tongue taking long licks that sent her

crashing nearly to the edge in just a few strokes. He powered back a little, then let go of her hand so both of his could grip her hips and go down on her in earnest. Talon lasted less than a minute jumping over the edge and screaming, but instead of stopping, he changed his rhythm, and she started the build again. “You have to come inside me,” she begged. “You have to.” Pushing up off the couch so she could leverage herself on top of him, they both rolled to the floor. Colt laughed a little. “You really need me make me work for it a little harder, baby.” “Pace yourself. You’re just getting

started.” She tongued the top of his straining erection and then pursed her lips and slid him inside of her mouth inch by inch.

* HE’D BEEN DREAMING about her mouth almost nonstop for three days, which had created a painful, almost perpetual hardon, but the reality of watching her lips slide up and down him, creating a friction that was almost unbearable was so over the top better than he’d imagined it was like an entirely different act. She let him tunnel his hands in her hair and guide her, and he wanted to be

gentle, kept reminding himself to go slow, that she deserved his best, but the pressure of her lips and the patterns her tongue drew as she worked him had him almost helpless in her hands, a slave to his desire as well as hers. “Fuck.” He pulled out so desperate to be inside her he couldn’t be smooth about it. “Jeans. Condom.” He bit out as she crawled back up his body, her eyes glazed with desire and her mouth so pouty he thought he could come just looking at her. She palmed him and then slid sensuously up and down, letting the underside of his cock rub against her seam and clit. He swore again. Gripped her hips

hard and rolled them over, his hand catching her head so it didn’t hit the wood floor as he managed to grab one leg of his jeans and pull them towards them. With a shaking hand, he worked a condom out of his pocket cursing his clumsiness because he felt like, if he didn’t thrust deep inside her now, he was going to go insane. He tore open the wrapper with his teeth and as he sheathed himself he went to thrust up inside her but paused as Talon partially sat up, her arms slid his shirt the rest of the way off his body and she kissed his shoulder sweetly. “I love the way you taste,” she said, and her smile undid him. Reached inside

him and seemed to stoke something to life. “And the way you feel. All of you.” She then laid her fingertips against his cheekbones and looked at him as if she could see through him. He knew he should say something, but he just stared at her, so touched by the gesture, the intimacy, he didn’t know if he should proceed. “Take my shirt off.” She told him. He did. Tossed it somewhere. She sighed as her chest brushed against his and then she lifted herself on to his lap and slowly impaled herself. Usually, he liked to watch himself slide in and out of a woman, but with Talon, they held eye contact and, as he lost himself in her

ocean of blue, it was like floating away. The most erotic and tender moment of his life. Not that he’d had a lot of tender, but even that didn’t bother him as Talon moved slowly at first, twisting a little and then clenching her inner muscles, and he ground his fists against the floor worried that he’d wrest control from her and be too rough. “Let go,” she said. “Like you want to.” “I want you to be happy.” He could barely squeeze the words out as she quickened her pace. “I’m blissed out.” He caught the breathy sigh of her

words with his mouth and deepened the kiss, matching his tongue to his cock and Talon dug her fingers into his back and he welcomed the pinch of pain. “Yes.” She hissed as he rolled her over and deepened his thrusts until she was crying out under him, pushing back against the couch and arching up so he could deepen his penetration and just as she lost total control and he tipped her over, he came in what felt like a blast and he could swear he lost consciousness for a second it was so intense. He lay on top of her naked, sweaty, and spent and all he could think of was that he wanted more, but he needed to move. He was too heavy and

she was on a wood floor, but when he tried to roll over she wrapped her arms around him tightly. “Stay,” she whispered. “Just for a bit. I want to feel you inside me.” And he did. Their breathing slowed and she traced a pattern on his back that soothed him, made him feel connected in a way he hadn’t been before. Usually after sex, he started thinking of how best to leave. Sooner was always better. He’d never liked after. But then, he didn’t like strangers, and he’d made sure that he and the women were strangers. That they wanted the same thing. Intense physical sex. But he was starting to know Talon. So it was different. Her

hair spread around his face, down her back, and he couldn’t stop touching it, playing with it. It was soft, fragrant, beautiful, and sexy and when he looked at her curly halo of sunshine contrasted with her sinful mouth, it was all he could do to not think about sex. “That big watch of yours has a timer right?” “Yeah.” Whatever he’d been bracing himself for as far as post sex conversation, that hadn’t been it. “Set it. I want to see how fast you can recover.” “Talon?” He was a little shocked. He’d expected her to feel guilty or to start talking about feelings after sex,

which was only one of the reasons he’d tried to avoid this moment. During was awesome. Afterwards was almost unbearable. She pushed him sideways so he slid out, and he immediately felt lost. She pulled off the condom. “Ready, set, go,” she said, and before Colt could even think about what that meant, she had him in her mouth again, way more assertive than last time. “Jesus, Talon,” he said, shocked and turned on to his bones. She sucked him deep and he arched and hissed. She looked up. “Yes?” “Hell, yes.” He propped himself up

so he could watch. “Anywhere, anytime and as much as you want, but don’t you want me to shower first?” “No. I want you sweaty and ready.” He could only stare. In three days, he’d seen her be sweet, fun, maternal, and professional, and he’d seen her looked shocked by her near orgasm the other day on his porch. He’d seen her hurt, but the gritty and highly sexual Talon was going to be impossible for him to resist. “Timer.” “You’re joking, right?” “No.” He laughed but set it and then fell back to the floor when Talon took over.

* COLT LAY ON the bed that until this morning he hadn’t used. Talon was draped over him. His hand stroked down her back and he stared at the ceiling. If this were going to be the pattern of the next few weeks, he was going to have a hard time finishing the project that he and Parker had talked about. His watch beeped. He started to get up. “Where are you going?” Talon asked, her voice husky. “Time to feed Dude.” She sat up and the sheet fell down to her waist. She sighed happily watching Colt pad across the loft and then down

the stairs. She followed him. “Are you really going to call him that?” “That was Parker not me.” Talon started to make coffee, humming a little. He warmed up the bottle and watched her measure the fresh grounds, add water, and then pull out some chiabatta bread from the fridge that he hadn’t even checked if there were food in there. He picked up Dude and tilted the bottle into his mouth. Talon cut the bread, slathered on some butter and put it in the toaster oven. Then she leaned against the counter and watched him. He watched her back. “I like how you’re comfortable with

your body,” he said. “I like how you look naked,” she said. “You can parade around me naked any time.” “I will if you ask nicely.” “Please.” She walked toward him and even though he’d had her three times in the last two hours, his cock jerked. “Please, Colt.” “You’re going to turn me into a sex maniac.” He warned. “And I’m feeding a puppy, pervert.” “Sex machine is better than a maniac, and everything you do is erotic to me.” She walked toward him, intent in her eyes. She touched him, her hands

appraising, exploring. He liked how she wasn’t shy. That she appreciated him. He worked out because he had to, not because he wanted to look a certain way. He had to be fit for his job, but also his sanity. He needed to clear his head. Exhaust himself so he could sleep. “You’re so beautiful,” she said. “I wish I were an artist.” “Men aren’t beautiful, but you are. I’ll show you how much after.” Talon lifted herself up to sit naked on the kitchen counter. “Dude’s not hungry,” he said quickly. She laughed. “Finish feeding him, and I’ll feed you some toast and you can feed me you.”

“Deal,” he said, staring at her stupidly with the runt puppy making little contented sucking noises in his arms and Talon naked on his counter staring at his stirring erection while she drizzled honey on the toast. “Hungry?” She quizzed, letting a drop of honey fall on her breast. He made a strangled sound and put the puppy, which had fallen asleep while suckling, back in its bed and stalked over to her. “Starved.” She held up the bottle of honey looking at where she wanted to put it and said, “Me, too.”

Chapter Fourteen TALON SLUNG HER tote over her shoulder and waved at Noah, who was talking on the phone. His office was small as most of his business was ranch calls. They had spent most the day at a horse training facility out towards Livingston with a dressage-trained horse that had been rehabilitating from an injury. She loved the work but more and more was wondering if she could really commit to entering the vet program. The program at Washington State

was strong and offered exactly what she was looking for, except it was in Pullman, Washington. Seven hours from Marietta. The first year of classes would be in Bozeman, but after that she’d have to move. The thought of uprooting herself again, meeting all new people again, having Parker change schools again only to come back three years later made her feel sick. Lately, she’d been thinking about just trying to get a different degree so she could just assist Noah like she’d been doing, but he’d pushed back strongly, urging her to get off her butt and apply to the Washington State program because it focused on livestock vet practices and

favored students looking to commit to rural areas of Montana. But Noah hadn’t grown up with her life, changing every six months, sometimes more. She was so down in the dumps, feeling like she was going to disappoint him and herself, Talon barely noticed Tanner McTavish sitting on the hood of her car. “Howdy, stranger.” “Tanner!” Talon stared at her. “C’mon, even my dad isn’t that unhappy to see me.” She smiled and tossed her bright red banner of a ponytail over her shoulder. “Dish, dish, dish about Colt. Is he as yummy as he looked? I saw him at Big Z’s yesterday

all yack, yack with Paul. He’s got the tightest ass. Did you get to ride it?” “Tanner!” Talon looked around guiltily but no one was near enough on the street to hear her. “I thought we could go for a drink. It’s Saturday, so you’re not working tonight. You can tell me all about your experience or experiences. I heard he actually went to one of Parker’s games with you.” “Ummmm, I really need to study,” Talon said. She’d planned to have dinner with Parker and Colt. It was one of the few nights they could spend together. It was scary how quickly the last two weeks

had passed and how easily Colt had fit into her life. She would drop Parker off at school and then meet him back at the house for a couple of hours together for amazing sex, which seemed to get more intense each time, before studying or meeting Noah for her internship work. Colt had started picking Parker up from school after his baseball practice. They were working on the tree house, but weren’t allowing Talon to see it. “Study, schmudy.” Tanner dismissed. “Have you had your Lady’s Choice date?” And then some. “Say yes, say yes.” Tanner chanted. “I need some juicy news. I’m trying to

buy some new breeding stock so the Triple T Ranch can be a stock contractor for the top tier bull riding events, but my dad’s being a shortsighted, misogynistic tight wad. It’s not like men are expert bull breeders just because they have a penis,” Tanner said. “I’m the one with the masters in genetics, not him. So…” Tanner looked Talon up and down. “I’d have to say that Colt is a fine specimen and you look totally blissed out. So no to the drink?” Talon felt guilty. Tanner had made it possible for her to meet Colt, but she didn’t want to talk about her time with him. That was their time. Special. And when he left, she didn’t want to see the

pitying looks and know that people were talking about her behind her back. She couldn’t explain their relationship. It went way beyond sex. He had become a huge part of her world in such a short time, and she wasn’t letting herself think about when he left. But she wasn’t good at hiding her feelings. And Tanner had been a good friend. Fun and kind and welcoming, especially when Talon had arrived in town knowing no one. “Tanner, can you keep a secret?” Tanner’s green eyes rounded. “Yes, of course.” “I really like him. He’s nice. He’s fun to hang around. He’s kind. He’s

perfect.” “Awesome.” Tanner popped off the roof of the car and fist pumped the air. “The Lady’s Choice thing I chose was for him to help build a little tree house thing with Parker.” Tanner stared at her, her mouth pursed in a question but, for once, she was speechless. “That’s so you, Talon. Giving to a fault.” “But you gave me the date. And I’ve had a great time, but he’s going to be leaving in a couple of weeks going back to the army so I thought since I had tonight off I’d make him dinner.” Tanner gave in with good grace. She

hugged Talon harder than usual. “Are you falling for him? Falling hard?” Talon tried to say “no,” but she just froze in Tanner’s hug. Tanner pulled away and looked into Talon’s face. “But, Talon, that’s wonderful. If you’re that over the moon for him, he’ll feel the same. He’s from Marietta. He’ll be back after his manly army thing. Is he being deployed?” She sighed. Colt didn’t tell her anything about his job. All she knew was that he was a Ranger and that was pretty badass. Although, she hadn’t researched it because if Colt wanted her to know, he would have told her. And he’d never said anything about coming back.

“So maybe after he’s left we can do something?” “There’s that much to tell that you gotta wait two weeks?” Tanner quirked one eyebrow, her signature look. “I can always hope,” Talon said lamely. Tanner crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. “Okay. You win. But afterwards”—Tanner hugged Talon hard again—“I want you in one piece, heart whole, you hear me?”

* COLT SHOOK PAUL Zabrinsky’s hand as he got out of his truck. “That’s a lot of

reclaimed wood,” Colt said, walking around to the flat trailer. “One of my crews is doing a big remodel out toward Livingston,” Paul said. “It’s a family of horse trainers and they are expanding their equestrian facilities so they wanted the old barn pulled down, and I thought of your request for reclaimed wood.” “Thanks,” Colt said, shifting Dude in his arms so he could examine some of the wood while Parker looked at it as well. “It’s beautiful.” “Is it what you were looking for? Do you think it will work?” “What do you think, P?” “Awesome,” Parker said. “Our tree

house is going to be the best in Montana.” “Tree house, huh?” Paul asked. “Come see,” Parker tugged Paul toward the stand of oaks. They stared up at the work in progress. Paul whistled. “I was thinking fort, but you were thinking Swiss Family Robinson.” Colt looked at the platform that now had a deck with a tire swing below and a hammock. The roof had two skylights and it was almost finished, and two of the walls had two cut outs for windows and one for a door. The stairs were complete as was the railing, which was made from fallen branches on the

property. “Can I go up?” Parker led the way. A second room was started in another tree, and cable had been drilled in so that there would be a suspension bridge. Paul looked at everything. The way the house blended into the tree and conformed to the shape of it. Parker showed off shelves that had been built and other details. “You do construction in the army?” He asked Colt. “No.” “We used You Tube and the internet to design plans. I helped,” Parker said proudly. “Wow. Just wow.” Paul walked

around, checked the corners, the roof. “Beautiful work Colt and Parker.” Colt felt himself tense as Paul looked some more at the roofline and other aspects of the build. “Hey, Parker, can you show me where the fireman’s pole will go?” Paul asked. “It hasn’t come in yet.” Parker dashed off and ran to the other tree house room that wasn’t yet finished. “I don’t know what your plans are,” Paul said. “But if you ever decide to leave the service, there’d be a job for you at Big Z’s, if you were ever interested or looking for something to get started. I know transitioning isn’t always

easy. You are very skilled at carpentry, and the construction end of our business is growing. The town’s growing.” “I don’t know my plans yet,” Colt said. “Still got six months active. And I’m not sure if I’ll reenlist or not.” He felt stunned by the offer. “I just wanted you to know that there will always be a place for you in Marietta if you want to come home,” Paul said. “You could even set up your own specialty construction business if you wanted, building tree houses and such and work with us on the side to supplement your income as you get started.” Colt stared at Paul. “That’s a bit of a

stretch from one project to a business.” “Have you thought of other careers?” Paul asked curiously. “No,” Colt said slowly. He hadn’t even tried to speculate. “It would have to be physical. Outside a lot, but…” The rest was left hanging as Parker bounced back in again. He showed Paul the blueprints, talked about changes they’d made. Colt let Parker tell the story. He should be irritated that someone he barely knew was offering him a job without very much information on him. He didn’t need charity. He didn’t need people trying to suck him back to Marietta, back to the ranch. Only he wasn’t as bothered as he would have

expected. Spending time with Talon had banished so many of the bad memories from his childhood. He tried to tell himself it was just the intense and frequent sex, but it had become so much more than that from the beginning. She had a strength and sense of fun and tenderness that he had never been exposed to, and he soaked it up. He’d always lived his life moment by moment, keeping it tight. But now, he’d started planning ahead. He had to— ordering building materials, picking up Parker from baseball practice, feeding Dude, making dinner with Parker. He was getting into a different routine and,

for the first time in his life, he felt almost normal. He would have thought hanging out with a kid would have been far beyond his skill set, but Parker made it easy. He was wide open, easy to read, natural. And he forced Colt to socialize. He’d even met some of the parents of other kids on Parker’s team. Unimaginable a few weeks ago. And the clock was running out. His watch beeped. “Hey, Parker, I got a quick meeting in town. Let’s roll. Thanks for the wood, Paul. Invoice me.” “On the house,” Paul said. “No one else wanted it. Besides, I’m considering it an investment.”

Colt swung himself down to the ground, Dude tucked into his side. “You really ought to get a baby sling for that beast,” Paul said, hopping down beside him. Parker ran ahead. Colt could just imagine Nick’s reaction to him carrying around the runt puppy, which was not so runty anymore, in a baby sling. They’d all think he’d lost his mind. And considering how he’d been living these past few weeks, so would his team. But it was a good crazy.

* “I DON’T REALLY understand what this means.” Colt stared at the neat pile of

papers in the dark blue folder. Mia Zabrinsky sat next to him at the oval conference table. “Your original adoption papers are sealed by the court,” she said. “Mr. Meizner and his wife were the second couple to adopt you. They had lost their son. But she left him, taking you with her, and then she brought you back to the ranch after a few years and she left on her own sometime later. We could try to get the first set of documents unsealed if you wanted to pursue that with the intention of finding your birth mother and father, but…” Mia’s words were lost in his churning thoughts. Why the hell would he

want to know who his birth parents were? They’d given him up to a couple who’d then adopted him to the Meizners. And then Mrs. Meizner left. Everyone had had their reasons. He’d had no control over it and he was who he was. Mia had given him a handwritten letter from Meizner, which he hadn’t opened. And probably wouldn’t. Water under the bridge. And as he sat there facing Mia, he realized he wasn’t angry anymore. And that it was time he stopped acting like an angry, hurt boy. Talon had been right. He was the heir. And if he wanted, he could come home.

Chapter Fifteen TALON SKIDDED TO a stop, a poof of dust danced around her feet as she looked up in the trunk of the tree to see Colt, arms wide, holding a window frame as he maneuvered it into position. Wow, he was beautiful. It still hit her like a punch how physically beautiful he was; it hurt her to look at him. He was infinitely precious, and she couldn’t quite believe she was so lucky that he was hers. The whispered warning that it was only for a few weeks had been silent for

several days now. Talon knew his leave would end, and he’d need to go back to Texas, but she didn’t think about it. And they hadn’t talked about the future. Oh, she’d wanted to, but she’d been too scared to bring it up. She didn’t want him to say “Thanks it’s been fun,” and then add that he’d never come back. Never. And before she’d gone to the cabin that glorious afternoon almost three weeks ago and taken off her shirt, she’d asked herself if she could do this, have a physical relationship without involving her heart? And she’d known the answer had been no, but she’d done it anyway, because at least now she would have the memories of being in a

relationship. Doing normal things and extraordinary things. Cooking. Watching Parker play baseball. Walking around town. Grocery shopping. And she’d kept telling herself to notice everything, cherish everything, because it was finite, but somewhere she’d started hoping that it wasn’t. Colt could fall in love with her and Parker. He could want to stay in his childhood home and build a life with her and not reenlist. Or he could reenlist and visit them when he was home again. Falling in love and staying did happen to people, she’d told herself fiercely. It could happen. Why not her? Now Colt was nailing the window

frame in and Talon noticed his movements didn’t seem as graceful and efficient as usual. They were choppier. And he hadn’t noticed her yet. Usually, he was so attuned to everything he heard the truck on the gravel drive and her footsteps as she hurried through the small oak savannah that separated the house from the start of the pastures. But not today. She watched the flex of his tattoo across his broad shoulders. The twisted trunk of the juniper tree as it “grew” up from the low-slunk waistband of his pants. She remembered what he’d told her, the tree represented many lives and she loved to trace the lines in the trunk

and the branches as they grew. Colt stopped work suddenly. Seemed to freeze and then square his shoulders before turning around. Talon felt like she’d been forced to mainline ice water. Everything in her seized up and froze. His expression was shuttered. Dark. She had no idea how to read him like this, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to. She hadn’t seen him this far away since the first night she’d driven him here. “Hi.” She wanted to smile, to recapture the happy mood from earlier when she’d dropped Parker off at school and Noah hadn’t needed her for a couple of hours so she’d raced home.

But even Talon, who’d spent most of her life pretending that things were fine when she was afraid they weren’t, couldn’t go there. “What’s wrong?” she whispered. “Nothing.” He looked so wary. Tears pricked her eyes, but she wouldn’t go there either. “What happened?” “I need to keep working,” he said breaking eye contact. She nearly stamped her foot in frustration. He was shutting her out and the one thing she couldn’t bear from him was distance. “This was supposed to be a fun after

school project with Parker not a mission you have to complete in twenty-four hours like a contestant on Amazing Race or something.” “There’s always been a deadline, Talon.” And didn’t those words just hypothermia the parts of her that weren’t yet in deep freeze. “I’m coming up,” she said, walking around the tree to the stairs that he had built with the help of one of the contractors who worked at Big Z’s as well as three of his other bachelor auction buddies. She knew Parker and Colt had told her not to visit the tree house until it was finished, but when he

hadn’t met her at the cabin after she’d texted, she’d been worried. The cabin was their spot. Colt ate dinner at the main house with them, but that was it. He wouldn’t make love to her there. “You’ll distract me.” He walked through the house, that didn’t yet have a door to the other expanded deck that was the first thing he’d completed. “Good.” She marched up the stairs determined to at least fight, to not just accept. “Spill it. What’s bothering you?” “Nothing’s bothering me, Talon.” “Insert swear word here,” she said. “Yes, something’s up. Stop playing hero. And stop using building a tree house as a

shield.” She grabbed the sides of the Dutch door that he’d picked up as if he were going to frame it while she stood there, trying to get him to talk to her. She held on tightly, her eyes glaring into his cool ones through the dirty glass pane. She was pulling the door towards her with all her strength, which he matched, although he didn’t look as if he were making nearly the effort. Probably not any effort at all. She narrowed her eyes at him. Suddenly he swung his leg out below the door, knocking her off balance, and even as he caught her in one-arm before she hit the deck, he used his other hand to easily prop the door against the outside

wall of the house. Talon was looking down at the sanded planks of the deck while Colt leaned in close above her. He lifted her so she came in contact with the hard, long length of him that she was beginning to crave with the intensity of a long term addict. Her breath hitched. With his free hand he pulled the band out of her hair so that it tumbled over her shoulders and in front of her face. He hissed in a breath. She reached up and wrapped her fingers around his arm, not to push him away, but to hold on tight. “I don’t want to talk.” His voice was a growl in her ear that hit her like a flamethrower and, when he turned her to

face him, she was already slicing her fingers through his hair and slamming her mouth into his in a desperate kiss that burned through both. Something was wrong and she was terrified, but she continued to kiss him, even as her fingers unbuttoned his pants and started to tug them down his hips at the same time he pulled apart her shirt, westernstyle snaps popping. He unclipped her bra and tossed it aside with her shirt, his mouth fastening hot and hard on her breasts while his hand cupped her ass and ground her into him. She whimpered in pure pleasure. “How do you do that?” His ragged voice demanded against her breast. “Get

me so jacked up for you in an instant?” There was no way Talon could answer because his fingers made short work of her button fly jeans and they were already pooled around her ankles and his thumb was parting her slick seam and she moaned against his mouth as he expertly pressed and flicked her clit. “You’re so ready for me,” he said, satisfaction hard in his voice. He lowered her to the wood floor and lifted her arms over her head so they brushed the branches that Colt had cut to be the railing of the platform deck. “Hold on to this.” He commanded, his voice low and intense. Talon was so excited she could

barely breathe, and she watched him almost in a haze of need. Her fingers curved around the wood. He already had her boots off, socks, panties, and jeans and had tossed them over his shoulder where they landed in a scattered pile behind him. His hands circled her ankles and he pulled her legs wide, his burning gaze fastened on her glistening, swollen feminine core. “Don’t let go.” He commanded as she did so she could sit up and reach for him. “Why?” she asked breathlessly. His eyes bored into hers with the same intensity he’d been watching her physical arousal build.

“Because then I’ll stop.” His fingers began a seductive dance at her core that had Talon arching off the wood deck. “And you’re not going to want me to stop.” She thrashed trying to arch more fully into his hand. She wanted, no she needed him to… “Please, Colt, please.” She chanted as he brought her quickly to the brink and then he backed off, and then each time she let go of the railing he stopped and leaned back on his heels utterly out of reach. “You’re so wet,” he whispered when her hands anchored to the railing again, and he watched her erratic breathing, the pulse beating in her throat, and the flush

spreading over her face and neck and chest. He leaned forward, brushing her parted lips with a gentle kiss so sweet her eyes pricked with tears. “And I’m so, so thirsty.” He scooped his hands under her thighs so her legs were over his broad, muscled shoulders, and she was completely exposed to him. “Don’t let go,” he said, his mouth an inch from her throbbing, weeping mound. “Promise.” “Okay.” She could barely get the word out. He inhaled her aroused scent and his eyes drifted shut sensuously before he opened them again and the fierce, commanding warrior was back. “You

didn’t promise.” “I promise,” she said quickly. “I won’t let go.” Of you. And then he lowered his head and Talon was awash in waves of the most powerful pleasure that dragged her further out to a sea of roiling sensation. She had no idea how she kept holding on to the railing because she felt like she was drowning and Colt was the only safe port in sight. She thrashed under him as her first climax crested but he only renewed his sensual assault by sliding two fingers deep into her core and stoking the front of her vaginal wall, which he’d discovered one morning as

her most intense erogenous zone while his tongue and teeth continued to work her clitoris. She could hear herself screaming his name and her vision seemed to dim and narrow so the canopy of branches and leaves and ribbons of blue shy greyed and fuzzed for a moment as her second climax swamped her and seemed to continue to push her toward some unseen shore. “Keep holding.” His voice seemed far away and his mouth left her for a moment as he dug a condom out of his pocket and barely had time to sheath himself before he rammed into her. “Yes.” Talon bit out. “Yes, yes, yes.”

He powerfully surged in and out of her. “Push back into me.” He ordered. “With all of your strength.” She used the branch as a springboard to try to push into each thrust that seemed to increase in strength and speed so she felt like she was just trying to hang on to her sanity so she could stay on this ride. A Six Flags roller coaster couldn’t be this thrilling. He lifted her butt off the ground and angled her so, as he surged in and out of her, he was hitting her spot over and over again and all the tension coiled up like it was one of those retractable tape measures. “Like that?”

“Yes, oh, God, yes.” And she had no idea what else she said, except everything seemed to start and end with Colt and she never ever wanted to stop calling out his name. It was easy for her to read him now when he was about to come, but she needed him to hang on just a little longer, so she leveraged herself a little high and pushed back harder to match his thrusts and just as her climax hit, she could feel his and he collapsed on top of her and his heavy weight was the best thing she’d ever felt in her life. Her fingers were numb and blistered from holding on to the railing and she pried them off so she could wrap her

arms around him and hold him close, feel his heart slam into hers and his sweat mingle with hers. Like usual, Colt recovered first and too soon he rolled away from her and the separation pierced her heart. He lay on his back, staring up at the sky. Talon curled into him, but this time he didn’t slide his arm around her and pull her close. “You were right.” She tried to find her voice and strive for a lighthearted approach after she felt like he’d reached in and touched her heart and soul with his intense, aggressive lovemaking. “That was definitely better than talking any day.” “I got a call this morning, Talon,” he

said after a long moment of tense silence. “I have to report to base tomorrow.” Her breath caught. It was worse than she had imagined. Tomorrow. The word was like a stage four diagnosis to her fragile heart. “I thought you had another week,” she whispered. “Me, too.” And then he threaded his fingers through her curls and pulled her into his body. She could feel him trembling and somehow that helped steady her so she wouldn’t cling or cry. He was feeling it, too, and she wouldn’t make it harder for him.

“Is it…” She paused and gathered her courage so she could understand because she would have to deal with this like an adult and be strong for herself and Parker. “Is it a long mission?” For a moment, hope flared. Maybe it was just a meeting or a couple of days thing and then he could decide, or… her imagination spun out as it always did, possible scenarios where the bad news wasn’t so devastating. “I don’t know, Talon. They won’t tell me anything on the phone and everything I do is classified.” She nodded like she understood. She should understand, only she was feeling so cold and vulnerable and alone even

though she was still pressed into his body. “But I don’t work much in the states, Talon, except sometimes when I’m training.” He was going. This was it. What she’d tried to steel herself against. What she’d told herself she could handle. And she would handle it. She had to. “If this is your last day, do you want to do something special?” “That was pretty special.” She closed her eyes and breathed him in, and then let her palm skim over his body, wanting to memorize everything about him from the way he felt under her hands to the way he

smelled and looked and talked and…“I meant you might want to meet your friends for dinner or beer and pool at the Wolf Den.” “Yeah, exactly how I want to spend my last night before going back to work, with a bunch of guys from my past who talk too much trash when I could be having dinner with you and Parker.” She squeezed her eyes shut and wrapped herself around him like she was a koala clinging to a bamboo branch. Still a few tears leaked out. And a few more. “Sorry,” she said. “Sorry.” “Yeah, me, too.” But instead of closing her out, he

continued to hold her and stroke her and this time when they made love he was as sweet and gentle as he’d been desperate and rough before, his gaze intense and never wavering from hers.

Chapter Sixteen THEY DRESSED IN silence. “I want to get the windows and doors in for Parker this afternoon,” he said. “And the safety net to cover the hole I cut for a fire pole to run through in the middle of the house. I didn’t find a pole yet that’s long enough to reach so he can have a rope ladder and I can install a safety net with hooks so that none of his buddies will fall through when they play up here this summer.” His voice was calm, measured like

each word wasn’t a bullet to her heart. Her fingers wouldn’t function to snap her bra or her shirt. But he was dressed and he helped her. Summer. It was still a few months away, and he was talking like he wouldn’t be back. “He’ll love it,” she said, trying to find some enthusiasm but coming up empty. “It’s so much more than I was expecting. I just thought you could make the platform safe and add a railing, but you built a house.” She gestured sloppily with her hand. He pulled her to him and kissed the top of her head then he deliberately took a step away. “I can bring you up lunch while you

work,” she said. “I’d like that.” He had the door in his hands again, far away from her again. She’d never be able to look at that door, walk through it without remembering this afternoon where she’d totally exposed herself and given her heart and soul to Colt but he still had to walk away. And she’d known from the start he’d had other commitments and a job that would take him far away from her physically and emotionally, but even though she’d lost so many people and places in her life, she didn’t get better at saying goodbye.

*

TALON MADE HIM two sandwiches, cut up an apple, and added a cup of chili, which she had made in the slow cooker for dinner since Colt had started picking up Parker after baseball practice and bringing him home to work on the tree house and eat dinner instead of Parker hanging out at Main Street diner and eating there and doing homework. He was going to miss Colt, she acknowledged and wondered again if she should have kept her distance if not for her sake, for Parker’s, but she’d always lived her life willing to try new experiences and going for her dreams, and she wanted Parker to be fearless, too. Yes, she’d lose Colt, but she’d had

him in her life and in Parker’s life for almost three full weeks. She’d fallen in love. She’d hold on to her memories with both hands and that was definitely better than wondering what might have been. Better than never loving a man. She walked carefully up the stairs. “I would have come down,” he said, taking the tray from her. “I know the height still bothers you.” “Just don’t look down, right?” “You’re not eating?” he asked, setting the tray down and noticing there was only one glass of lemonade. Her stomach was too knotted and the lump in her throat too hard to get anything around. She shook her head.

“I’ll eat later.” He sat down, legs stretched out, and she sat next to him making sure her legs touched his. “I might be persuaded to share,” he said, snagging an apple slice, which he fed to her. “With the right motivation.” She watched him eat. She liked doing that. He was so neat. Precise. Efficient. And he always seemed to enjoy everything she made, which was giving her more confidence to look up more recipes online and not just rely on meals from the diner. He finished the first sandwich quickly then drained the lemonade. Then he started in on the chili. “So chili for

dinner?” he asked. “And baked potatoes. I have the timer for the oven on so you don’t have worry about anything.” It was such a normal conversation for them for the past few weeks, and yet it wasn’t normal at all. He’d leave. Do his duty to his country, and she would adjust. It was so strange how he had fit so easily into her world. How he’d become a huge landmass in her life in just a few weeks. “Before I leave, I want to talk about the house.” “Okay.” Talon wanted to make an excuse, scurry down the stairs and do something, clean the kitchen, call Noah

to see if he needed her, throw herself on her bed and cry. “You know I saw the attorney, Mia Zabrinsky.” She drew her knees up to chest and rested her chin on them and picked at a fraying seam of her jeans. She nodded. “You don’t have to tell me anything personal, Colt,” she said to reassure him. “There’s something I didn’t understand,” he said, clearly choosing his spare words carefully. “I need to think about it, but when I’m on a mission I’m focused. I don’t think about anything but that. The mission.” “That makes sense.” He seemed like

that kind of man. “And I hope it keeps you safer.” “Everyone safer. So I’m not going to make any decisions about the house and land now.” He finished the chili and pushed the tray off to the side. “What do you want, Talon? Do you want to stay on here with Parker or would you rather move into town?” “Stay,” she said. This felt like home, the longest she’d been anywhere. “But I will be paying rent.” “You won’t be able to reach me.” He turned his body so she was forced to meet his searching gaze. “At all. So if something goes wrong with the house

you’ll have to handle it.” She nodded, feeling her eyes glass over with tears. He cupped her chin and brushed his thumb across her lips. “I’ve paid the property taxes for last year and this year so it’s all caught up, and I left some money in an account so that you will have some cash for repairs and other things that come up.” “You don’t have to take care of us,” she whispered. “I have been on my own since I graduated high school.” “I know. But you will be taking care of the house. Keeping it running. And you can pay rent; just put it into the account I opened. I left the debit card on your nightstand with the pin number.

That way you will have enough.” She nodded, again, feeling like a puppet. This was not what she wanted to talk about. “I’m leaving the truck here as well,” he said. “I added your name to the insurance policy and bought a yearlong maintenance plan at the garage in town. I left some information with the lawyer in case you need it. Her card is with the debit card. “Colt, please stop.” Her voice shook as she pressed her hand against his mouth. “These are all things. The house, the car, money. Just things that don’t really matter.” He moved her hand, linked his

fingers with hers, and she tightened her grip as if she could somehow hold him to her. “They matter. I’ll worry if I don’t square with you.” It was all about his focus. He was responsible. He wouldn’t roll into town, have a quick fling with a single mom, and then ride out again without making sure she was set up as well as she had been before he’d arrived. Bitterness filled her heart. He was leaving, and he wasn’t coming back, except maybe for his truck. “I’m going to worry,” she said and jumped up. “I’m going to worry because I won’t know where you are and I won’t

know if you’re safe, and I won’t know if you’re ever coming back. What about us? What about you and me? Do you even want to see me again? Be with me again?” “It’s not that simple, Talon.” He stood up easily. He tried to cup her face in his hands but she swung away from him, so many emotions ricocheting inside of her that she felt like she was going crazy. “It is that simple. Is this forever goodbye? Yes or no? “I’m not the kind of man to have a family.” “Why not?” She demanded, swinging back to face him. She placed her hands

square on his chest. “What does that mean? Explain that to me because you have been a better companion, better friend, better lover, better man, better father figure to Parker than anyone I’ve ever met before.” “It was three weeks.” His voice was bleak. “Three amazing weeks,” she practically shouted. “And if you didn’t have to leave tomorrow, it would have been four, right?” He reluctantly nodded. “But a month is not a relationship.” “Of course it is. It’s a start. And then we’d just take it one day at a time. That’s making a relationship. Just trying.

Every day to create a life together.” She stopped, not able to continue with the words clogging her throat and her inability to drag in enough air to talk. She couldn’t do this. Be all calm and rational and talk about money when he was leaving and she might never see him again. “Are you coming back?” she whispered, every atom in her body seemed to stop quivering and held its collective breath. She wanted to add ‘for me,’ but she lacked the nerve. “I can’t promise anything, Talon. I won’t make a promise I’m not one hundred percent sure I can’t keep.” “Nothing’s one hundred percent.”

She glared at him. “But you won’t even say you’ll try or that you want to, forget it. Forget I asked.” She spun away from him; the burst of pain seemed to give her wings as she rushed to the stairs and bolted down the first flight. Tears burned, which made her want to cry harder in frustration. She hadn’t cried this much since before she’d hit puberty. She managed her life. She made it work. Kept her eyes on her goals. She didn’t fall apart. “Hold up. Hold up.” He barked the command, which made her move even faster. He swore and grabbed her before she made the second flight down. “I’m sorry. I’m acting stupid,” she

said unable to look at him. “I just thought we had another week.” He held her arms and bent his head to try to get her to look at him. “I’m going to go meet Noah for a case,” she said sullenly, avoiding eye contact and lying to him for the first time as she had no case with Noah. “Take the truck.” He urged, fishing the keys out of his pocket. She shook her head. “It’s your last day with it for a little while. Enjoy. Will you still be able to pick up Parker or are there some things you need to do before you leave.” She sounded so formal. Like they were coworkers or something.

“I’ll pick him up. I’m always packed and ready to ship out.” She nodded like that was a normal way to live. Anger came to her rescue. She’d been deceiving herself. He hadn’t been opening up, letting her a little into the cracks of his armor. It had always and only been sex. Really awesome sex and she’d turned that into a frigging fairy tale. She so could not do this. Come home from the diner with to-go meals and see them playing a board game or video game, Dude cuddled in Colt’s lap, just like the past few nights that had started to seem like a routine. “Look, Colt. Never mind. I’m going

to have Parker come to the diner after baseball. I’m going to have to tell him. Let him adjust to the idea because it happened faster than I’d told him it would.” Guilt clawed at her and she had to force the next words out. “I think it’s better that way. You can do whatever you need to do tonight and tomorrow morning we will come by and say goodbye before I take Parker to school, if that’s okay.” His face was tight, closed, but the tension simmered off him. It was killing her to pretend she didn’t care or didn’t notice. “I don’t have a choice, Talon.” His

voice seethed with frustration, and he tried to lift her chin so she had to look him in his eyes. She jerked away from his touch. “I know.” He blew out a breath. “Is it better for Parker if I don’t say goodbye?” No. It would be better for Parker if Colt were forever a part of his life, and that instant thought was enough to snap her spine straight. She’d gone deep. Really deep. And that was why she should steer clear of all relationships. She was too needy. And she had to focus on Parker and on building them a secure life. “I don’t know. No.” She thought of

all the foster homes she’d been pulled out of without getting her things or being able to say goodbye or find out what had happened, why she was being sent away. “No,” she said softly. “It’s always better to say goodbye. Closure.” At least he was offering closure. He wasn’t running out in the middle of the night. “It will have to be tonight then. Nick’s taking me to the airport at four am.” She nodded and forced herself to look at him. His beloved, familiar face. Without thinking, she reached up and touched him. His warm skin, hint of stubble.

“I’ll miss you, Colt, and say a prayer every night that you are safe,” she whispered.

* IT HAD BEEN a beautiful morning. A terrible afternoon and an even worse night. As expected, Parker was devastated that Colt had to leave early. He’d cried, but what had happened next was what really knocked Talon down. “When’s he coming back?” he asked, sitting in the battered Subaru. “I don’t know if he is,” she said. “Why not?” Here it came, the barrage of

questions she couldn’t answer because it would hurt Parker, but not telling him, letting him wait and hope, would be worse. She also knew that from experience. “He doesn’t know if he will come back,” she said. “He might rejoin up with his unit in the army. He loves serving his country. And they travel a lot.” “He gets vacations.” Parker had told her as if she were the child and he the adult. “He’ll come back. It’s his house. Besides, he promised to finish my tree house. That was the deal, and he still hasn’t put the windows in and the door, and even a skylight cut in the tin roof.

It’s gonna be awesome, and he’s going to hang out in there with me and eat cookies.” “That sounds like a lot of fun, and I’m sure you’d both enjoy that, but that may not happen, Parker.” “Yes it will. He promised.” Parker’s jaw was tight like it got when he was stubborn. “He promised that we would sit up there together and eat cookies and have hot cocoa with whipped cream.” Talon swallowed her tears. She pulled into the long, winding driveway and drove slowly up to the house. Usually, she was so happy to get home. She’d thought of it as home almost from the moment she and Parker had

moved in. Now she dreaded it. It would remind her of Colt. All the places they’d made crazy, desperate love and longer, tender love. And the meals they’d cooked. How he was such an organized neat freak who’d forced her and Parker to raise their home cleaning skills. “There’s Colt.” Parker jumped out of the car before she’d come to a complete stop and Parker raced across the space and threw himself against Colt, who one arm hugged him while holding something else above his head. “Mom said you have to go away tomorrow.” Parker’s voice was muffled against the Colt’s clothing. “I don’t want you to go, but I know you’re going to be

brave and serve our country so I’m going to be brave, too.” He slid down Colt and slipped his hand into his so confidently. “I’m sorry you didn’t get the tree house finished, but we can finish it when you come back and drink hot chocolate and eat cookies inside just like you promised.” “Hope you’re hungry,” Colt said, lowering the plate. “Because I have a thermos full of cocoa and a plate of cookies. Thought we’d have a picnic in your tree house to send me off.” “Yeah!” Parker fist bumped Colt and then ran to the mud room to grab his head lamp that Colt had picked up for

him one day at Big Z’s where Colt seemed to have been spending even more time in the past week. “I’m ready. C’mon, Colt. Mom you come, too.” Talon had a hard time moving her feet because she remembered that Colt had said he never said anything he didn’t mean, and he never promised something he couldn’t deliver, and he had promised her sweet, trusting, loving boy cookies and cocoa in the tree house, and he was delivering that promise. But not to return.

Chapter Seventeen TALON

teeth and stared at her queen-size bed that was going to feel lonelier even though Colt had never stayed in it with her. They’d always been at the cabin. It was strange. She’d known Colt was leaving, but like other moments she’d dreaded in her life, she’d managed to push his looming departure out of her mind. And here it was. She pulled at the snaps at her shirt, remembering how Colt had ripped it open this afternoon. She kicked off her BRUSHED HER

jeans, and tossed them along with her shirt into the laundry basket like she was shooting hoops. She went to the dresser to pull out something to sleep in and saw the khaki t-shirt she’d pulled off Colt the other afternoon when they’d been so frantic for each other because they only had half an hour before she was due to meet Noah at a ranch west of town. She tugged it out and pulled it over her naked body, reveling in his scent and the soft cotton. She stared again at her bed. This was so stupid. She could have one more night with Colt. Instead, she was spending it alone feeling miserable. One

more night was one more night, one more memory. Not even bothering to check the mirror, Talon slid her feet in her cowboy boots and grabbed a flashlight and a long goose down parka, because spring evenings were still chilly, and left the house. She took a moment to tilt back her head and savor the explosion of stars across the night sky; much like the three of them had done on the deck of the tree house tonight after Colt had showed Parker all the bells and whistles he’d added. She took in a deep breath of air, fragrant with pine, grass, and the early blooming Daphne she’d planted in a few old half wine barrels she’d found in the

barn a little over a month ago and then hurried along the path through the trees towards the cabin a few hundred yards away. Women were allowed to change their mind, she told herself. She only hoped Colt didn’t say no.

* COLT LOOKED AROUND the one room cabin with the large loft where he’d been sleeping on a king-size bed Talon had set up for him. The cabin was surprisingly cozy with a large fireplace, openbeamed ceiling, and a full kitchen, eating nook, and great room. Hard to believe that a group of high school students in

Livingston and Marietta had refurbished the cabin with the help of the vocational teachers at both schools and with some donated and sold at cost materials from Big Z’s. Paul Zabrinsky was really building up his family’s hardware store business and had weathered the threats of the big but generic box stores that were threatening so many small town main streets and family businesses. His kit was packed. The cabin was clean. Everything was set. Except him. He missed Talon. He missed Parker. He missed Dude. He’d left him at the main house in Parker’s room. Colt pulled out the cube Talon had returned to him and turned it over and

over in his hand. Blew out a breath. He’d thought he’d be relieved to get out of town, whether or not he decided to reenlist. But Talon and Parker had buried the ghosts he thought would haunt him here. Instead, he had memories of feeling part of something bigger and better than himself. He’d felt part of a family. The military had given him that somewhat, but with Talon and Parker, he’d felt he finally belonged somewhere. Building the tree house, planning it out with Parker, and teaching him how to use the tools, working with Paul and some of the other builders to learn how to do something had shown him that he could make a different life for himself. One

that would challenge him and he could learn to excel at. So why hadn’t he told Talon he wanted to come back? She’d wanted a promise. He’d lived with too many broken promises to make any, but did he want to come back? To try and work construction or ranching again? To try and be a husband and father? He’d never imagined himself in either role and still wasn’t sure he could pull it off. Talon thought he could. Her optimism in the face of a life that had been so difficult filled him with awe and respect. Whereas he had become angry and cold, she’d become accepting and determined. Her heartbroken insistence today that all

a relationship took was committing to try one day at a time had really started him thinking. He hadn’t wanted to hurt her. But he had. And wasn’t that why he’d always steered clear of relationships? Women wanted connection. He was incapable of that, but Talon and Parker were the closest he had ever come. There was a tentative knock on the door. He swung it open not quite believing that his brooding over Talon hadn’t inspired his imagination, but no, there she was, hair curling around her face and shoulders. “Hi.” Her voice was tentative and she shrugged out of her black jacket and

stood before him only in his shirt she’d offered to wash for him a few days ago. “I wanted to return your shirt.” She pulled it over her head. Her smooth, pale skin, gleamed in the light as she held out the shirt. He closed the distance between them, taking her tenderly in his arms. “It’s definitely my favorite shirt now,” he said, already hard, but wishing he could put his needs last and just hold and comfort her. “But it looks better on you.” Her hands smoothed under his flannel shirt, untucking the Henley beneath to explore his bare skin. She sighed and laid her head against his chest.

“Can a woman change her mind about tonight?” she whispered. “Always.” He picked up her coat and slid her arms back into the sleeves. “You’ll have to wrestle the shirt back from me.” He warned. “I’m pretty slippery.” He zipped her back into the coat and briefly held her close, dropping a kiss on the top of her head. “I noticed.” He picked up his backpack and kit, tucking the cube in one of the zippered pockets and locked up, handed her the keys. “Are you sure you want to go back to the main house?” she asked.

He nodded. One more dragon to slay. He walked beside her, watching how she tilted her head back to stare at the stars. He loved the long line of her throat, the determined thrust of her chin and the soft pillow of her lips that had brought him such pleasure so many times. “I was thinking while I was walking over here that the stars will be different where you are, the constellations, but I hope you will still get a chance to look up at the sky at night and think about our big sky here, and I hope you can think of it a little bit as home.” He slid his arm around her waist to pull her closer. He wished he could tell her that she felt like home to him, but it

was too soon, and it could mean something to her that he wasn’t sure he could deliver. He still wasn’t convinced he could be the man she thought he was, the man that now that he’d had a glimpse of, he wanted to be. Once in her house, he followed her to her room. They quickly checked on Parker. He quietly put something on Parker’s pillow and then, hands linked, they returned to her room. He’d expected it to bother him; but instead, all he could feel and think about was Talon. He took her coat off and kissed her lips. Let his fingers tangle in her hair. This afternoon, he’d been so desperate to be inside her. Now he wanted to take his time.

Remember the sounds she made when she was nearing orgasm; watch her expressive face when she went over the edge. “Take a shower with me,” he murmured against her lips. “I was working almost until you and Parker came home.” “And you still managed to bake cookies.” He laughed. “I cheated and bought those at the bakery, and there might be something from Sage’s Chocolates I might leave on your pillow later.” “If it’s hot fudge, I want it now, so I can lick it off your body.” “Damn. Hindsight’s a bitch.”

She laughed and knelt at his feet, untied his boots, which he kicked off. Then she unbuttoned his pants, and her fingers walked down his body pulling his clothes off, and her lips followed her hands. “One shower coming up,” she said and, taking his hand, led him into her bathroom where she soaped up his body and massaged him while he braced himself against the tile on his forearm and let her have her way with him. Her magic hands left nothing unexplored and before the water began to cool, she pressed herself against his back and teased his erection to the point of bursting several times and then backed

off again. This time, she wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed light kisses down his spine. He shivered and ached for more, loving the feeling of her small firm breasts pressed against his back. “I’m going to miss you, Colt.” He turned around and cupped her breasts, played with her nipples with his thumbs. There was so much he wanted to say, probably could have said if he were a different man, a better man. Instead, he turned off the water, gently toweled her dry, and took her to bed, taking his time with her quivering, responsive body, and when he leveraged himself above her after long, leisured kissing and stroking,

he entered the slick heat of her body, feeling more intensely connected to anything and anyone is his life. She clung to his arms, fingers digging in as he moved reverently in her. “Are you okay?” “Better than that.” His eyes held hers as he wanted to read and remember every nuance of her expression. He built the heat between them slowly until Talon was restless beneath him, trying to urge him to a faster pace. He held himself up with one arm so he could slip his other hand between her legs. Talon cried out as he found her sweet spot and began to stroke her, varying the rhythm to drive her crazy. He

bent closer so he could kiss her lips, stroke in and out of her mouth like he was doing to her body. She trembled beneath him and he loved how the sweat broke out on her like it did on him. “You’re so strong,” she said against his mouth. “I love that so much.” Her hands were frenzied on his shoulders and back, tracing the muscles, gripping him, trying to move him faster, but he controlled the build so Talon cupped his balls and massaged and squeezed a little, eliciting a low moan from him and a curse as he began to lose control. “Witch.” She arched up and he thrust into with

more power, causing her to hiss “yes,” timed with each thrust. He tried to hold himself back, not wanting it to be over, but watching himself glide in and out of Talon was one erotic ride. “Keep your eyes open. I want to watch you go over the edge.” He grit out and Talon, her eyes hazy with desire and skin flushed, obediently looked at him. “I love you,” she whispered, cupping his cheek. It should have been a buzzkill, terrify him to his toes. Instead, he kissed her, captured her words, and managed to pull away just in time to watch her body convulse in orgasm seconds before he joined her.

“Talon.” He lay on top of her, bracing himself a little so she didn’t take his whole weight. “It’s not that I don’t want to try,” he said. “I’m just not the man you think I am.” Her hands cupped his face. “You are the best man I’ve ever met.” She kissed him. “The best. You are kind and responsible and respectful and everything I…” “I’ve killed people, Talon.” She sat up. “I know.” Her voice was soft. “You’re a soldier.” “A lot of people.” She looked at him and he wasn’t sure what she saw. “It was your job, Colt. You were

following orders.” “I had a choice.” He tried to put some space between them but she sat up further, pressing her bare chest against his back, and he didn’t have the willpower to pull away. She felt so perfect, made him feel whole in a way he hadn’t before. “I joined the army to get away from my…uncle,” he said the word even though what he’d learned from the attorney and the will put everything he’d believed in doubt. “And I scored off the charts on shooting. I shot a lot at targets as a kid. It was the one thing I could do with my uncle that didn’t cause problems, but I couldn’t bring myself to

kill an animal like that until…” She wrapped her arms around him more tightly. Kissed her way up the trunk of the juniper tree on his back. “I liked the challenge, Talon. I loved finally being good at something. Fitting in. Being needed.” She smiled. “It was a job, Colt. Not who you are.” “Do you know what they call me? I got a nickname. Other rangers think it’s cool. They want to be like me. Like I’m some sort of legend.” He forced himself to turn and face her. Her sweet smile would have broken his heart if he had one. “I think a lot of men get nicknames.

You probably had one for football. Still, isn’t who you are in here.” She touched his chest and laced his fingers in hers and kissed his hand. “I want you to know.” She didn’t let go of his hand. “Okay, tell me.” And then he found he couldn’t say the word out loud in this bed that had become almost a sacred space for him. A place where he had loved a woman as much as he had ever imagined possible and beyond. And still she hadn’t rejected him. She hadn’t judged him once. He leaned forward and whispered the word in her ear. “That sounds like a stupid video

game avatar,” she said in disgust. “They should show more respect. It’s not a game, what you do.” And then she climbed up on his lap and wrapped herself around him, laid her head on his shoulder, and, after a beat of surprise, he held her back. “Are you afraid of me now?” He asked after a long time. “You’re still you. You’re not some juvenile testosterone-fueled teenage videogame fantasy, stalking homicidal maniac, shooting people indiscriminately. Slayer, my ass.” Colt pulled back and stared at her in disbelief. It was the first time he had heard her even remotely swear, but her

eyes were sparkling with indignation. “I’m glad you told me,” she said, curling back down on the bed and tugging him to join her. He lay on his back and she tucked her leg over him. “But I think it’s a stupid name. You have an important job. You take it seriously like you take everything. You respect your job, and what you need to do, and the other soldiers should respect you and your skills and the unfortunate fact that there are lives you have to take to keep others safe.” “It’s not a lack of respect,” he said, still reeling at her response. He thought she’d be repulsed. Frightened. Not want him around Parker.

She saved lives. She wanted to be a vet and have an animal sanctuary where both animals and people who volunteered could heal. And he had taken many lives. And most likely would again. “You have an early flight,” she said, nestling into him more deeply, her head on his chest now. He played with her hair. “You should get some sleep.” He smiled as she hit a remote that took the dimmer on the light all the way down so the room was dark, the moonlight wouldn’t come until later, as dawn approached. “Not that easy to sleep with a naked woman in my arms.” “You don’t have to sleep.” She

invited. “I just said you should.” He sighed, feeling more content that he had in a long time. He hadn’t wanted to tell her at first, and then he’d thought there’d be no reason, but he’d kept so much back from everyone for so long, that he’d wanted to share this piece of himself with her. Maybe she was right. It was just a piece of him. Not the whole of him. “Was it hard to do?” she asked in the darkness. “There’s a lot of learn,” he said, thinking of the weapons, and working with his spotter, and adjusting for wind and other factors and the knife-edge of waiting. The focus had come naturally.

The drive for absolute precision, for perfection had been instilled in him at the ranch the hard way. The only thing good to come out of his childhood. “Colt, you told me you didn’t even hunt as a child, which is such a normal thing for a Montana kid. And I’ve see you take spiders outside.” “I thought of them as targets,” he said after a long time into the silence, not even sure if she were still awake. “Not people. I never think of them as that. And that’s why I can’t try to contact you or think about you. I have to get in my zone to operate like that. To do the job. To function like that. I have to be totally separate from myself. And I won’t be

able to function properly if a piece of me is still here with you and Parker.” He could feel the pulse in her neck kick up, and she swallowed hard, and that killed him. Just killed him. Her eyes searched his in the darkened room for the longest time. He wanted to look away, but if she were brave enough to try to look into whatever soul he might have left, he should have the stones to let her. But then she surprised him, by smoothing her hand over his heart in a rhythmic circle. Then she placed his hand over her heart. “You will always be here, Colt. I will keep you safe, and I’m glad you know how to do your job and keep

yourself safe. Keep thinking that way, and if you don’t come back to me, back to us, back to Marietta, I want you to find that sense of home and of belonging where ever you decide to go, Colt. You deserve a lot of happy.” He stared at the play of the shadows on the ceiling and walls for a long time while he listened to Talon breathe deeply beside him.

* “TALON,” HE WHISPERED. Talon woke up disoriented. She opened her eyes and saw Colt dressed and standing beside the bed. “Oh, is it

morning?” she asked, confused. She sat up. Registered his two bags by the door, the fact that he’d showered. She caught his hand. “I’m sorry to wake you.” He sat on the edge of the bed. “I wasn’t going to, but I want you to hold on to something for me.” “Of course.” She tried to pull her scattered wits together. He was leaving. Leaving. And she wanted to remember every moment and every detail and every word. “Anything.” He had something in his hand that glimmered in the faint moonlight peeking through the window. “This is the one thing I have from my

past,” he said. “The only thing I kept that’s part of me.” She reached for a light, but he stilled her hand. “I was wondering if you would hold on to it for me. Keep it safe.” “Of course.” She looked down at it but all she could see was a square or rectangle of worked and etched silver and then some sort of stone in the middle. “Will you wear it?” She nodded, overcome. She’d never had a gift from a boyfriend before, and it was something from his past that he wanted her to keep safe, to wear. That had to mean something, didn’t it?

Please let it be symbolic. He put the chain and pendant around her neck and then threaded the complicated clasp together. She crossed her fingers under the sheet and mentally chanted “please, please, please, come home safe to me.” The silver was warm against her skin as if he’d palmed it for a while before putting in on her neck. His thumb traced her cheekbone. “Go back to sleep, Talon. You can catch another hour before your shift. I fed Dude so he’s good for a while.” But she got up. “I’ll walk you to the door,” she said. “I can make you breakfast.”

“I’ll get something at the airport. Besides,” he said as she followed him into the kitchen. “Nick just drove up and I don’t need him to see you naked. I’d have to kill him.” She rolled her eyes. “Not funny.” He laughed and then ducked back into the bedroom and came out with the khaki t-shirt. He looked at her then the tshirt. “It definitely looks better on you.” He slipped in over her head, and she hugged the fabric to her, hoping it would retain his scent forever. “Bye, Talon.” His lips briefly touched her cheek and then he was gone.

Chapter Eighteen TALON TRIED NOT to tick off the days on the calendar, or the weeks or months, or notice it was still more than a month away from Colt finishing his six months active duty requirement. One more month before she could wait and hope. Her hand, like it so often did, wrapped around the pendant until the fused glass ball, swirling with different blues, streaks of green, and a hint of metallic glint seemed to warm. She read the inscription daily, “you are my world”

and even though Colt hadn’t had it made for her, he’d given it to her for safe keeping. Something from his childhood, which had to mean something. Had to, even though most of the experiences from a childhood had been disappointments and change and what had felt like abandonment, this time, this man could be different. He wasn’t at fault for what had happened before. And she was an adult now. In charge of her life as much as a person could be. She couldn’t lump him in with her past pain, although some days it was easier to talk herself off that ledge than others. Parker made it easier. He was busy even though school was out, and he was

fired up about the rodeo that was coming to town this week. Almost all the downtown businesses had decorated their storefronts, and Talon had heard the chamber was hosting a contest for the best themed window display. Of course, the Main Street diner had participated, and Talon had enjoyed the whole process of brainstorming ideas and then working on painting the wood cutout cowboys on bucking horses, which one of the brothers of the diner’s chef had made in his home woodworking shop. She’d always loved art classes and had taken an embarrassingly long time with one of the cowboys making him look as much like Colt as possible,

which had brought her a lot of pride and pleasure and more than a little embarrassment and sympathy when Tanner, Meghan, and Leanne had noticed the resemblance. She knew she should start the process of emotionally moving on sooner than later, but there was always time to grieve for lost dreams. Hope was something to hold on to. She heard one of the line chefs call one of her table numbers and she jumped guiltily. Usually, she was too busy during her work to get lost in her thoughts. She served the breakfasts and then returned with the freshly brewed coffee to choruses of thank-yous. She cleaned off another table, tucked the tip in her apron

pocket and looked up as the bell on the door rang. An arrestingly beautiful woman hesitated for a moment, scanning the diner and then she moved forward. “Hi, welcome. Table for one? Do you want to sit at the counter or a table?” Talon asked, cheerfully grabbing a menu. Hard to believe this women went anywhere alone. She was so beautiful in an ethereal and exotic way if there could be such a combination. Talon chided herself for staring. “Wow, that’s a beautiful necklace,” Talon said, noting the turquoise and silver necklace that nestled on her bare skin between her exposed cleavage. “And belt. Are you an artist?”

“An attorney,” she said, sitting down at the table. “There’s an art to arguing.” The woman smiled, just a quick twitch of her lips, and Talon caught her breath. She really had it bad if she started picking people’s features apart and noticing little things that reminded her of Colt. “Sorry,” Talon started. “Coffee?” “Yes, please, and lots.” Talon laughed and returned with a large mug and an assortment of sugars, natural sweeteners like agave, since this woman didn’t look like she was from around here. Bailey Zabrinsky dressed a little fancy like this and definitely wore

a lot of jewelry to advertise her jewelrymaking business, but this woman was wearing a silky, black button-up shirt that was not buttoned up very far, which showed off her lightly tanned torso far below where a hint of a lacy bra would break the deep plunge of the V-neck and exotic necklace that also had, were those claws, like from a real animal? This wasn’t LA. And it was 8:45 in the morning. Late by diner breakfast standards on a weekday, but way too early for that much skin. Talon pinched herself. She sounded like a small-town hick and a prude, but she wasn’t the only one who was staring, and why not? The woman’s thick, long, dark hair fell down

to her waist, and the extreme widow’s peak framed her small, heart-shaped face and classically beautiful features. Hard to tell her age. Mid-thirties? Midforties? Her body-hugging, short skirt didn’t come close to mid-thigh and the flashy black and gold cowboy boots screamed “look at me”. And everyone had when she’d strolled in. “What do you recommend?” The woman asked in a low voice that was musical. Talon found herself almost mesmerized by the woman’s unusual eyes. They were very light blue, almost mercury-colored, and heavily lashed,

and had almost a hint of Asian shape. She had a very direct stare that seemed to size everything up in an instant. Whatever kind of attorney she was, Talon had no doubt almost everyone would wilt under her cross-examination. Talon inwardly sighed. She felt so average next to the woman. If she’d been blessed with an eighth of this woman’s beauty and charisma, Colt would have come running back. “Well.” Talon paused and leaned over to look at the menu, seeing it as if for the first time through the eyes of this exotic stranger, who was so slim and elegant she couldn’t eat very much to keep that figure, but maybe God had

blessed her with a fantastic metabolism along with everything else she seemed to possess. “I always like…” “Where did you get that necklace?” “What? Oh.” Talon straightened as if she were guilty of something. Involuntarily, her hand crept up and covered the pendant, then she forced her hand down, resisted tucking it back into her shirt because she didn’t want to show it off and have to answer questions about it and how Colt had given her such an unusual piece but had never come back or emailed, skyped, called, or even texted. “A…a…friend,” she said.

“Who?” The woman reached out to touch the pendant, but Talon stepped back. “It was a gift, well…” Colt had asked her to keep it for safekeeping, not necessarily forever. Which meant he was going to come back, her heart jumped. But maybe he’d just send for it. And his truck. Her stomach bottomed out. “It was given to me.” she amended. “That usually implies a gift.” The woman raised one perfectly arched eyebrow and one corner of her mouth followed suit. “It’s quite beautiful.” She looked at Talon more closely. “And unusual. Often individual art pieces like

that are inscribed by the artist.” “Oh,” Talon said, feeling more nervous now. What if the woman accused her of stealing it or accused Colt of stealing it as a child although she couldn’t even imagine that. She didn’t know where he’d gotten it. He’d said it was a piece of his past. That he’d had it since he was a child. What if he’d found it or… Her mind refused to go there. The past was the past, and it needed to stay there. “Is it inscribed? Signed by the artist?” Talon felt like she was hearing the woman from a long way away. What if it

was hers somehow? What if she demanded it back? How would Talon prove that it was Colt’s? That he’d given it to her as a goodbye present? “There’s no inscription.” She lied. “I love it. He gave it to me a while ago. I recommend the…” “Who gave it to you, a boyfriend? What was his name? Does he live locally?” “He grew up here but is away now,” Talon said coolly. She wanted to ask some questions of her own, but this woman oozed wealth and sophistication. She said she was an attorney. Talon had no doubt if this necklace and the woman were connected

somehow, she would come out on the losing end. But what if this woman knew Colt? He hadn’t told her much about his trip to the attorney, but she knew he had more questions than answers. Indecision clawed at her. “Where did he get it? Did he say?” “No.” “Pawn shop? In Marietta? When?” Talon huffed out a breath and held her order form in front of her like a shield. “It was a gift from my boyfriend. I didn’t grill him about where he got it, but he’d never steal anything. Never.” She drew herself up to her full five-ten, taller, if she put her hair up in a messy bun, but no, it was down in her youthful

ponytail, darn it. “He’s a soldier who’s serving our country.” “A soldier?” The woman repeated the word in astonishment. “Are you going to order or not?” The woman seemed flustered now. Her hand went to her neck and touched the silver engraved discs, turquoise stones, and some other kind of stone before she pushed the menu away. She dug out her purse and pulled out a ten. “Thanks for the coffee. Sorry for bothering you.” She stood up and Talon felt bad to see that the woman’s hand shook as she ran her slim fingers through her thick hair. Head high, her eyes bored through

the fused glass on the pendant, and then she woman strode out of the diner and just as they had when she’d entered, all eyes followed her progress. “What was that about?” Deanna, one of the other servers, demanded. Talon tucked her necklace back inside the neck of her western-style shirt. “No idea. Changed her mind, I guess.” “Never thought I’d see her back in town again.” Gene Roberts, one of Talon’s regulars, commented darkly and indicated he wanted more coffee. Talon poured. “You know her?” Gene snorted. “Always know trouble

when it walks through the door,” he said. Talon could believe the beautiful stranger had caused her fair share of problems over the years. Probably a lot of bar fights if she were the type to frequent bars, but that didn’t seem very likely now. Surely, the problems she caused now were of the more professional variety although the woman still oozed sex appeal. “Trouble on two legs,” Gene said, shaking his head. “Haven’t laid eyes on her in over thirty years but if she’s back, things are going to change and not for the good.” Talon felt a chill of foreboding, but then she shook it off. Gene was an old-

timer and loved to tell stories, and flaunted his flair for the melodramatic with pride. Marietta was a wonderful town. Nothing other than a bar fight could happen here. “What’s her name?” she asked curiously, wondering if somehow she could be related to Colt. A cousin, maybe? “Samara Wilder. But most folks called her Whim since she was a bitty thing and because she was so impulsive, but when she hit her teens she just became Wilder.” He shook his head. As the week wore on, Talon was exhausted. The diner had been so busy she’d been picking up extra shifts. The

town was becoming more of a tourist destination for all seasons, and the rodeo was a huge celebration. She’d promised Parker they would go tonight to see some of the cowboys and animals arriving, especially the bulls, which fascinated him. She’d started picking up more morning shifts, so she could do more with Parker after his sports practices, and he wouldn’t have to hang out at the diner while she worked. Since she hadn’t accepted the placement in the Washington State vet program that Noah had bullied her into applying for, she wouldn’t need to keep her days open for study since she’d finished her BS degree online. Noah was

disappointed in her. He felt like she was giving up too easily and that three years was a small price to pay for the rest of her career, which he assured her could happen in Marietta. She couldn’t explain to him how she felt unable to move forward. Leave Marietta. Leave Colt’s house. Start all over once again. She had just taken a tray of food over to a group of cowboys, who’d been flirting with her shamelessly, when she looked up and out through the window. Across the street a gorgeous, shiny blue truck had pulled up to the curb. “Now that’s a ride,” one of the cowboys said and whistled in appreciation.

“Bit flashy for me,” another said. “A bit girlie. I’m all about big black trucks and big black motorbikes and big black stallions.” “More like black and blue ass the way you got tossed by Diablo last week.” Everyone at the table laughed except Talon because the truck’s door swung open and Colt stepped out like a blockbuster movie star, well-worn jeans, combat boots, V-neck, long sleeve, blue tee pushed up to his elbows and leather jacket dangling by a finger. He looked better than anything Talon had ever seen and her empty tray clattered to the floor as she ran out the door, and

across the street to fling herself into his arms. “You came back.” She buried her face against his broad should and held him as tightly as she could. “You came back. You came back. You’re really here.” She burst into tears. His hands smoothed down her body. “I guess that answers my first question that you’re glad to see me.” His voice was low and amused in her ear. “But the tears are beyond my skill set.” She linked her arms around his neck and cried harder. “I can’t believe it,” she said. “It’s not yet six months, but you’re here. You’re really here. I missed you. I missed you so much.” She speared her

fingers in his shorn hair, making a face because the little length he’d had was gone. He laughed. “It’ll grow. Uh, Talon, breathing would be good.” “Sorry.” She managed to peel herself off him a little bit so that she could gaze into his face. He looked the same mostly. Tanner. Thinner. And so wonderful she could hardly believe he was real. That he was here. That he was hers. Her hands explored his body, making sure he was in one piece even though he looked fantastic. His thumb stroked across her lower lip, which parted, and she sucked his

thumb into her mouth. Her eyes shone and she held eye contact as her tongue played with the pad of his thumb. He groaned. “Two minutes in town, and I’m going to be arrested for lewd conduct.” She stepped back into his body and sighed. “I wanted you to come back so much,” she whispered. “I missed you. I thought about you every day. I prayed that you were safe and happy and totally focused on your mission.” His hands settled on her waist “That was the dumb ass in me talking,” he said. “The minute I walked out of the house that morning, determined to clear

my head and complete my six months, all I could think about was walking back in.” “Why didn’t you tell me?” “I didn’t know if I could, Talon. Stay in one place. Be the man you think I am. Be a partner. Build a life with you. I have no idea how to do those things.” “You just have to commit to try,” she said tearily. He held her tightly, squeezing out her breath, and she felt his body tremble. “I’m going to do more than try, Talon, but I’m going to make mistakes. Shut you out sometimes.” “I don’t care,” she whispered. “I just want you. I’ll make mistakes, too, but it

doesn’t matter because they will be our mistakes, and I forgive you in advance.” He smoothed the tears off her cheeks with his thumbs. And then he kissed her even though they were on Main Street with traffic and half the diner staring at them. Talon stood on tiptoes to deepen the kiss and press more tightly against him and lost herself in his mouth. He leaned his forehead against hers, his breathing ragged. “I had pictured this with me being more civilized and romantic and not mauling you in public,” he said ruefully. “And I was too nervous to stop for flowers.”

She sighed, hands smoothing over his arms, his shoulders, his back. “It’s perfect.” She breathed. “You are so perfect.” “Hold on to that thought when I fuck up,” he said. “And go all silent and moody, and build my walls.” She just gazed up at him, stars in her eyes; hardly able to formulate a thought other than he was back and in her arms. She didn’t even know if he was back to stay or only on a weekend leave. He’d said six months minimum away, but that didn’t matter now. He’d come back to her. He’d come back home. “So you’re happy to see me answers my first question. And now for the

second. What do you think of the truck?” “Hmmmm.” She was too preoccupied with brushing her palms against his shorn head and down his body. “The truck looks great with you against it, but the cowboys in there think it’s too girlie.” “I hope so because I got it for you.” “What? Why?” “The blue reminded me of your eyes.” She looked at him doubtfully. “That’s crazy.” “Maybe. You’re right. Your eyes are much more beautiful.” “Colt,” she said breathlessly. “You can’t drive to Bozeman for

school every day in your Subaru. It won’t last through September.” “Oh.” Her face fell. “I’m not going.” “Why?” “I just…” She twisted her fingers together. He covered her hand. “You’re going to school. I busted ass to get back here before the term started, but we can talk about it later,” he said. “Today.” There were so many questions to ask, but she could see most of the staff peering at them through the window. Even Gene had gotten off his usual barstool and was staring at them. Colt looked at back at them. “I hate an audience.”

“I love them.” “Should we give them something to look at?” Talon flushed. “Maybe not.” She clung to his hand, not willing to let him go. “Want something to eat?” “Yes.” His golden gaze was positively wicked and burned up and down her body. “I should be off in another hour or so.” “I waited this long. I can wait another hour.” She swallowed hard. “You’re here,” she whispered. “You’re really here.” He opened the door of the diner for her, but they didn’t even get through the

door before Deanna was waving her away. “Get out of here. Gina and I can handle this.” “But…” Talon began. “Just go. You can return the favor some other day.” They turned around and, once outside, Colt handed her the truck’s keys. “Can I catch a lift?” She looked down at the keys. “Colt, it’s too expensive of a gift.” “You’re my girl, right.” She liked the sound of that. “And I have it on good authority that real men don’t drive blue trucks.”

*

THE EARLY AFTERNOON sun slanted in through the windows, highlighting the muscles that chorded along Colt’s back. While he slept, she traced the lines of the tree branches of his tattoos that stretched across his upper back. She loved the way his eyelashes were so long and feathery. The only hint of softness in his face and body. “Like what you see?” he asked, eyes still closed. “I love what I see.” She leaned over him, reveling in the sensation of his skin against her nipples. He rolled to his side so they were facing. “I’ve never done this before, Talon,” Colt said. “A relationship, but I

want you to know that I’m all-in. I want to do whatever it takes.” She traced her finger along his eyebrow and down his straight nose. “Me, too. All in. I want us to be a family.” “The thing both of us never had.” He cupped the back of her head and pulled her in for a kiss. He touched the necklace and rubbed the stone between his thumb and forefinger. “You and Parker have become my whole world,” he said softly, his golden eyes warmly searched hers. “For me, too.” There was so much to talk about. So much to learn but, for now, Talon was

happy just to be with him, to have the promise of a future together. Even though Colt seemed determined to push her out the door to school to the program in Bozeman. He’d even had her call the school to see if she could still accept her placement since he’d argued she wouldn’t have to relocate the first year and they could decide if they should all move temporarily to Pullman, Washington in a year or she could come home on weekends, but they’d be a family so she wouldn’t be deciding or doing anything alone anymore, and Talon could definitely get on board with that. She leaned over him, draping her body over his, still needing to feel him

so close and the pendant nestled between them. That reminded her. “There was a woman who came in the diner the other day. She was really curious about the necklace. Who gave it to me? Where they got it?” His hand tangled in her hair. “She asked if it had an inscription and an artist signature so I got freaked out.” “Why?” “I thought she’d accuse me of stealing it, and I had no proof that you gave it to me or where it came from. You asked me to keep it safe for you, and I got scared.” He continued to stroke his hands

lightly on her skin, but his strokes became a little more sensual in intent, and Talon found herself melting again. “But what if she’s related to you in some way?” “Who cares? I’ve got you. And in an hour, we’ll have Parker back so we have to be quick.” Talon sighed, losing herself in his kiss. She smiled. “I told her my…hope you don’t mind”—she blushed a little—“boyfriend gave it to me.” “Boyfriend?” He echoed, one eyebrow arched up, and he rolled her over and pinned her. “I think I’m going to change that description pretty damned

fast.” “Promises.” Talon teased. He braced both arms on either side of her. “And I warned you I never promise something I’m not one hundred percent sure I can deliver.” The End You won’t want to miss more by Sinclair Jayne….

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About the Author

Sinclair Jayne has loved reading romance novels since she discovered Barbara Cartland historical romances when she was in sixth grade. By seventh grade, she was haunting the library shelves looking to fall in love over and over again with the heroes born from the imaginations of her favorite authors. After teaching writing classes and workshops to adults and teens for many years in Seattle and Portland, she returned to her first love of reading romances and became an editor for Tule Publishing last year. Sinclair lives in Oregon’s wine country where she and her family own a small vineyard of Pinot Noir and where she

dreams of being able to write at a desk like Jane Austen instead of in parking lots waiting for her kids to finish one of their 12,000 extracurricular activities. … Find her on Twitter@SinclairJayne1

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