“My pleasure.” Brian grasped her hand in his larger hand. Her soft skin felt cool against his, as if she’d just washed her hands.
Her nostrils gave a slight flare as she inhaled, and he took in every nuance of her face. He was aware of her scent as well, and their first touch was almost electric.
As he continued to clasp her hand, he liked the way it felt, holding her hand in his. He gave it a gentle squeeze before letting go.
“Likewise,” she said, her face looking up toward his with a radiant smile. She couldn’t know he was three inches taller than her, though she directed her face toward the sound of his voice.
It’s a shame she can’t see me.
He was used to how women reacted to meeting him for the first time and the way they responded to his fitness and good looks. Even before they learned he was a Recon Marine. For the first twenty years of his life he had eaten up the attention and the comments, but being a Marine had taught him discipline and maturity and over the last few year the comments had finally grown old.
Cecelia was the first woman he’d met who’d had no reaction to how he looked. It was refreshing not to have a woman fawning over him.
And yet, while they’d held each other’s hands, he’d felt something and was pretty sure she’d felt it, too. That chemical reaction of attraction wasn’t dependent on sight. Pheromones were scented, drove attraction.
The ranch house they stood inside still bore the odors of the fire which had nearly destroyed the back of the building before the volunteer fire department had arrived to put it out. Workmen were here to rebuild the ranch house, the only building with fire damage, and Brotherhood Protectors were providing security until construction was completed and a good security system installed.
From what Hank had explained to Brian, when he’d hired him for the job, crazy men who’d been after one of the residents had set the Three C’s Ranch on fire to smoke the woman out.
Afterward, the management back east had taken the security of the ranch more seriously and no longer assumed a remote location was enough protection for the women. From now on, the ranch would have security guards and cameras.
Brian was one of four men who would work security shifts, rotating days and nights to make sure the residents were protected during the build.
He’d be introduced to all the female residents and staff, so they’d know him and be comfortable with his presence when he roamed the grounds at night.
Outside the main building of the Three C’s Ranch lay several charred log timbers from the lodge, which had been removed. Brian had seen them as they drove up to the ranch. Reconstruction of the lodge would be completed by next month.
Brian watched Cecelia walk to her desk and then settle in, fascinated by the way the pretty woman found her way. Once her hand was on the chair it, appeared she knew just where everything was located.
Cecelia went backto her desk and put on her headset again, increasing the volume. The noisy workers were at it again, she could hear them, even with her headset on—every single sound they made, sawing and hammering, and the popping of their nail guns. She’d been getting headaches from all the noises, and it had been making it hard for her to do her job well.
She answered a call and tried to forget about the man she’d just been introduced to, whose voice had made her stomach flutter and whose touch gave her tingles and warmth all at once.
Her hand still felt the remnants of his touch, and she could still smell his scent, which was clean and nicely male. Not every male had a good scent. His made her want to draw closer. He was still much on her mind, even though she was trying hard to focus on her job.
One thing she prided herself on was doing her job well.
“Hold just a minute please,” she said, to the young woman on the line. Placing the call on hold, she reached for the braille keyboard attached to her computer, typed in ‘oral surgeons’ and did a search for the closest ones in the area, using a program for the blind, which read information from any website on the internet.
The young woman wanted to come to the ranch and go through the program, but she’d just been told she needed to have all four wisdom teeth removed. So, she was worried she’d lose her spot and have to wait again to be let in. With only two centers in the U.S., the wait list could be long, even once a woman jumped through all the hoops to qualify.
It wasn’t unusual for one of the women scheduled to come to the ranch to need some kind of medical care, but this was the first one who’d needed oral surgery.
Feeling the braille keyboard, Cecelia saved the information to her list of medical and dental contacts, and then picked up the call again.
“Yes, there are a couple of dental surgeons to choose from. You’ll have to go to Bozeman, Montana to have any dental surgery done. One of us would drive you there and back. You wouldn’t be alone, and we would make sure one of us was able to look after you while you recovered here.”
Cecelia loved this part of her job. Making things better for the women and helping them step into a better future for themselves, one in which they were empowered, gave her great satisfaction.
If asked what she liked about her job, she would have said, putting things together, making plans for the ladies and keeping everything running smoothly. There wasn’t anything about her job she didn’t love.
* * *
Brian had been workingsecurity at the ranch for over a week when he asked Cecelia out. He waited until it was break time and she’d gone into the ranch kitchen for a glass of lemonade and an oatmeal raisin cookie.
She looked up at him as he entered the room. “Would you like a cookie, Brian?” she asked.
Somehow, she always seemed to know when he entered the room, despite the quiet way he moved.
