Crushing on Love (The Bradens of Peaceful Harbor, Book Four) (2 page)

“He’s a
friend
, Steve.” She narrowed her eyes as he drew the ax back. “Don’t even try to pretend you don’t bring women up to your cabin.”

He arched a brow. That would be a big
no fucking way
. He liked his privacy.

Her jaw gaped. “What? Don’t you ever get bored? Lonely?”

“Not really,” he said as he swung the ax. It was a damned lie, at least since Shannon had flitted into his life, making him feel things he’d once been adept at ignoring.

“Why not? That’s not normal.” She finished her coffee and set the mugs on the ground as he split the log and set another one on the stump. “What do you do for sex?”

He laughed under his breath. “Seriously, city girl?”

“I’d hardly call Peaceful Harbor a city. It’s a beach town, and you’re avoiding the question.”

“Maybe because you’re asking questions you shouldn’t be asking.” He swung the ax and split another log.

She smirked. “Look at you, all big and brawny and afraid to talk about sex.”

“What’s gotten into you?” He set the ax-head on the ground and leaned on the handle. Before she’d gone home, he’d gotten away with a strategically placed
Uh-huh
. “I’m pretty sure you weren’t this curious about my sexual habits the last time you were on the mountain.”

Her eyes rolled over him, and he couldn’t tell if she was assessing or enjoying the view.

“I don’t know,” she said with a mischievous grin. “You’re standing there like a lumberjack. Six…what?”

“Three,” he said with a sigh.

“Right. Six three of shirtless, sweaty muscle, with your hair all tousled.” She moved her hands around her head, causing her shirt to lift up again. “You haven’t shaved in who knows how long, and you look like the guys on ‘Seriously Sexy Hot Guys’ Pinterest boards. A guy who looks like you
can’t
be going without.” She shrugged and her cheeks pinked up. “It made me wonder…”

“How about you wonder a little less?”
Because hearing you talk about my sex life makes me want you in it. Front and center
. “Pinterest? What the heck is Pinterest?”

Her eyes widened with disbelief. “I forgot you know nothing about the
real
world. Pinterest is this awesome social media site—”

“Never mind. That’s so far from the real world it shouldn’t exist. People nowadays are content to sit inside and stare at screens, talking with people they don’t know instead of living their lives. Bodies are meant to
move
, Butterfly. Weather is meant to be
experienced
. If people were more like animals, the world would be a better place.”

He saw a hint of hurt in her eyes and felt bad. Sometimes he forgot that he wasn’t the only one protective of their lifestyle. He tried to change the subject to a lighter one.

“What are you doing out here so early anyway?” he asked.

“The company offered me a new project, and my boss at my real job gave me a leave of absence to do it. I thought that was pretty cool of him. I’m going to be comparing the habits of gray and red foxes, and I’m here to scout the grays. You know how red foxes prefer edge habitats and grays prefer mountainous forestland?” Edge habitats were the boundary of two habitats, like field and forest. She didn’t wait for him to respond before continuing with her explanation. “They’re similar in life and history in almost every way, except for grays being shier and slightly smaller and where they make their dens. I’m going to study them to see if their behavioral patterns reveal reasons for the difference in habitat preference. I was hoping you’d have time to show me where I can find them.”

The request took him by surprise. She’d spent weeks researching red foxes and hadn’t once asked him to help her.

“No can do today, Butterfly.” He had a busy day planned. He’d caught a group of twentysomethings partying by one of the rock ledges last week and he’d spotted a few of them again yesterday. He needed to make the rounds to ensure they weren’t back and getting into trouble, and he had to head down the mountain to meet with his old buddies Mack and Will Cumberland. Yesterday he’d learned the Cumberland ranch was going up for sale: two hundred acres in Weston, adjacent to the national park where Steve had worked as a ranger and wildlife consultant for a decade. Steve had grown up in Weston, and though he lived two towns away now, his small-town roots ran deep. He wanted to try to convince his buddies to put the land into conservation instead of selling.

“Bummer. I was looking forward to catching up on all the crazy shenanigans you were up to while I was gone.” She waggled her brows with the tease.

He smiled and shook his head. “Be careful out there. I caught some kids partying recently. They’re probably harmless, but guys and alcohol…Just be careful. You got that Mace I left in your cabin?”

“That was you?” She narrowed her eyes and said, “You do realize I’m a grown woman, right?”

Christ
, had he ever.

SHANNON WATCHED STEVE swing his ax. He was built like the very mountains he loved: strong and stable, with layers of hard-earned muscles born from honest, hard work.
Pure perfection
. And that hair?
Lord
. What would it be like to fist her hands in his hair and kiss him? To touch all those hard planes of muscle? To discover the man behind the walls? She told herself those were
wants
not
needs
, no matter how much they felt like it.
The kind of unrelenting wants that bring a girl to reach beneath the sheets and satisfy her fantasies.

Down, girl
.

Shannon had been surprised by how much she’d missed Steve when she’d gone home for her eldest brother Cole’s wedding. She and Steve hadn’t spent more than a few stolen moments together during the weeks she was here for her first assignment. Usually she’d catch him working on equipment, or in his yard, before she returned to her uncle’s ranch in the evenings. He’d captivated her with his passion for, and endless knowledge about, all things wilderness related. And he was different from most of the guys she knew. He wasn’t hung up on his looks or material things. He was
real
, with a strong set of values and priorities. Somehow, between their almost daily conversations and weeks of hoping she’d see him, she’d become completely and utterly taken with him.

When she’d been offered the assignment
and
the cabin, she’d accepted without hesitation. She’d missed Steve too much to deny the attraction, and she wanted to see if something might come of it.

Now that she was here, her body was thrumming at the mere sight of him. Given that she’d actually asked him about his sex life—and nearly died on the spot when the question slipped out—she desperately needed to rein herself in.

He wiped sweat from his brow, his tanned skin glistening in the morning sun. “Need anything from town?” he asked, setting another log on the stump.

She couldn’t pry her eyes from his rippling abs and his bulbous biceps flexing with every move. “Town?”

He cocked a smile and hoisted the ax again. “Town. You know, the place where people who like
Pinterest
live?”

She forced her eyes away, glancing at the trees swaying in the breeze, the rocks at her feet, anywhere but at him.

“I know what town is. I’m just surprised you’re going there.” Everyone knew Steve hated to leave his precious mountain.

“Gotta take care of some business.”

Going into town was a big deal. Unlike a quick trip to the store from her apartment in Peaceful Harbor, the drive into town took at least thirty to forty-five minutes, depending on which town he was going to. She’d realized last night she’d forgotten two very important supplies. Pop-Tarts and toilet paper. She could probably live with the single roll of toilet paper she had in the cabin for another few days if she needed to, but Pop-Tarts were pretty much a necessity. Besides, maybe she could convince Steve to help her scout gray-fox habitats at dusk.
Perfect!

“Can I come with you?” she asked hopefully. “I need to pick up a few things.”

“I’ll get them for you. What do you need?”

She bit her lower lip, willing herself not to fib. But if she asked him to pick up what she really needed, he’d leave and she’d have to go searching for habitats by herself. Now that she’d thought about going later with her yummy mountain man, she’d already settled on it in her mind.

“It’s girl stuff. You won’t want to get it.” So much for not fibbing. “Can I please go with you?” She gave him her best pleading look. “I promise not to talk your ear off.”
Fib, fib, fib!
She had no control over what came out of her mouth, especially around him.

He muttered under his breath and set the ax against the stump. “I’m not making a hundred stops.”

She leapt with delight and ran over to hug him. Her heel slipped out of her boot and she stumbled into him in a half hug, half full-body-draped-over-Steve embrace. His skin was hot, his body was hard,
and getting harder by the second
. He smelled like man and musk, and…she was still plastered against him.

She cleared her throat and managed, “Thank you.” Using his chest for leverage—
yum, yum
—she found her footing and pressed her heel back into her boot. “One stop. That’s it. Promise.”

“You’re excited to get those supplies.” He picked up the logs he’d chopped and piled them on his forearm like they were toothpicks.

“I’m just excited to be back. Maybe at dusk you can help me map out the habitats? It’ll be fun to scope them out together.”

He gave her a curious look. “Haven’t heard anyone describe hanging out with me as fun in a long time.”

“Then you’re hanging out with losers, and I’m taking that as a yes.” She grabbed the coffee mugs, unable to stop smiling.

“I’m leaving in twenty minutes.”

“I’ll be back lickety-split.” With a bounce in her step, she headed toward her cabin and heard him mutter, “Lickety-split,” followed by a chuckle.

BEFORE THEY GOT in the truck,
dangerous
wasn’t a word Steve would have used to describe sweet and effervescent Shannon, but as they drove down the mountain, the scent of her perfume filled the cab. It was simple, understated, and feminine, contradicting the complicated woman who hadn’t stopped talking since they left. As constant as her chatter was, something about the excitement in her voice, combined with her tantalizing scent, made him want to shut her up with a kiss.
Dangerous
quickly became synonymous with
Shannon
.

“You should have seen Cole and Leesa walk down the aisle. They were be-au-ti-ful!” She sighed as if she were caught up in a fantasy. “Oh, and did I tell you Sam and Faith got engaged? I can hardly believe it. I got to watch him propose over Skype while I was at my uncle’s. It was so romantic, and Faith cried, which made us all cry. Nate and Jewel are getting married in September. It’s so hard to believe I’ll have two married brothers and one who is engaged. It’s like cupid got arrow happy.”

Steve knew her close-knit family, and he liked hearing about them, despite the fact that they were a constant reminder that her life in Colorado was only temporary. If she’d moved there, wild horses couldn’t keep him away, but he was too drawn to her to open a door he might not be able to close.

“Hello?” Shannon touched his arm. “You were totally spacing out. Thinking about how many trees you had to hug or something?”

“Something like that.” He returned her smile, stealing a quick glance before pulling on to the main road. She’d changed her clothes, and looked hotter than the summer sun in her skinny jeans and a cranberry-red sweater. She wasn’t like other girls, who matched their shoes to every outfit and wore so much makeup it looked painted on. Shannon wore the leather hiking boots she’d had on earlier, with the pink laces tied this time, and just enough makeup to set off her hazel eyes and high cheekbones.

When did I start noticing women’s clothes and makeup?

“You’re a bit of a tree hugger yourself,” he said to distract himself from his thoughts.

“I know, but I’m kind of rethinking my career at the moment.”

“I thought you liked what you were doing. And you’re back again, so you must like something about it.”

She nibbled on her lower lip. “I love the work, but I’m not like you.” She looked at him with a thoughtful gaze. “I need people.”

“Most people do,” he admitted. Their differences were yet another reason he had to keep his lips to himself. Their families were too close for him to mess around with Shannon when it couldn’t lead anywhere.

“I still don’t get how you
don’t
need people,” she said. “It’s not natural to want to be alone all the time.”

He didn’t have to look to feel the heat of her gaze. He didn’t have an answer, at least not one he felt like talking about right now, so he focused on driving. Main Street in Weston was built to resemble the Wild West, complete with hitching posts in front of stores and old-fashioned, hand-carved wooden signs. To an outsider, life in Weston looked simple, quiet, easygoing, but that’s not how Steve saw it. There had never been anything simple about growing up in a town where everyone knew everyone else’s business and his father’s bad decisions clouded people’s judgment. At least that’s how he had always felt.