Grady was herinstructor.
The spark was immediate, and they’d held out for a week. By the second week, they were actively flirting, stole kisses and touches the third week, and were sleeping together thefourth.
No one had known, because Grady was harder on her than he was on any of the other rookies. He ragged on her, rode on her, picked on her, and made her do all the worst drills under the worstconditions.
But behind closed doors, he’d made her body hum and trill like the whip and snap of a raging wildfire. And silly her, at age nineteen, she’d thought she’d snagged herself a real winner—a man she could bring home and play housewith.
She passed a slow-moving Prius and let herself indulge—just while she drove, of Grady’s dark masculinity, the tough alpha covered in soot and blood, charging toward blistering firestorms armed with a chainsaw. He’d been hard on her, on all of the rookies, but he’d also been fiercely protective, and surprisingly gentle. Like that time her roommate, Salem, had caught a flying firebrand in her leg. Grady had dropped everything to tend to her. He’d held her still while another crew member yanked the burning stick, then padded up the wound and cared for her until the Medevacappeared.
And then there were the more intimate moments, when Linx imagined she’d gotten behind that big, tough-guy wall, and he’d let down his guard and made love to her—so tender and yet raging, like a manpossessed.
Wrapped in those big arms of his, she’d felt desirable and special for the first time in her pathetic life, and she’d let the entire torrent of his power, his wildness, and his basic goodness flood into her naïveheart.
Stupid of her, wasn’tit?
Now, he was here—back in her hometown of all places. And he was tantalizing her, hiding their past from both of their families. And she couldn’t let it go—not until she’d gotten the answers sheneeded.
Navigating the mountain roads with ease, Linx stroked an idle hand through her straight, silky hair. He used to wake her by petting her, smoothing his rough fingers through her hair, twirling it around and reeling her in for kisses and caresses. He’d whisper in her ear, hot breath fanning embers into sparks, and she’d turn to him, sleepy-eyed, and gaze into those deep brown eyes, certain that she was cherished, nurtured, andloved.
Mornings had always been the most vulnerable of all times, and it was in those dimly lit moments that she’d glimpsed forever—until it wasover.
Linx swallowed at the devastation of unanswered calls, ignored texts, returned letters, and the weeks and months of waiting as her mornings turned into nausea and the baby in her bellygrew.
She’d needed to make a decision—needed an indication from him, anything, that he’d take responsibility, or in her wildest fantasies, swoop into town and take her away to a mountain lodge where they’d live happily everafter.
When he finally contacted her, he’d told her he didn’t believe it was his, and not to contact himagain.
He’d left her nochoice.
Linx swiped a stray tear and fortified herself for the meeting with her nemesis as she swung her SUV onto the interstate and jammed her foot on theaccelerator.
She made good time and checked into the Roadside Inn fifteen minutes before two. Her room faced away from the office, so it was easy to sneak Sam in. She set a bowl of dogfood for him in the bathroom, and he sniffed around the room, but didn’t jump on thebed.
After a bit of exploring, he made himself comfortable on the bath mat, watching Linx fix her makeup and dab perfume behind herears.
At exactly two on the dot, a knock sounded at her door. Linx preened her hair and eyed the peephole. A smile crept to her face as she shut Sam in the bathroom before opening the door to GradyHart.
“You came.” She tried to sound bored, but utterly failed. The spark that had always burned between them popped like a nest of burning pinecones, fanning flames up herface.
“Are you surprised?” He barged into the room and shut the door, then cupped her head with both of his hands, drilling a deep, tongue-tangling kiss that made her knees turn tojelly.
Moaning, she sucked on his lips and wound her hands around his strong neck, over his shoulders roped with muscles, hard andhot.
Did she want to talk? To get her answers, or should she let him spear her through andthrough?
But what about the answers she owed him? Was he even curious or the least bit interested in what had happened to her after he dropped off thescene?
She bit back a moan when his grizzled beard shadow trailed down from her lips to her neck, lighting every greedy nerve in its path. Oh, Grady. So unfair. He knew all the pathways to pleasure on her body, and she was helpless as she let the tangles of emotion ignite through her hot, needybody.
Closing her eyes, she harkened back to the base camp, to the utter exhaustion after a firefight, the sticky soot, the searing heat, and choking smoke, soothed by cascades of cool clear water, as they soaped each other and celebrated the aftermath of a successfulfight.
She might not want to talk, but she wanted an apology before he picked her up and smashed her on the mattress and pounded that desperately empty place inside of her, a void only he, Grady Hart, could ever hope tofill.
As he bent lower and looped one arm behind her thighs, she drew in a harsh breath and willed her arms to pushback.
He lifted a puzzled eyebrow, his deep mesmerizing gaze weakening her resolve and melting the last bit of ice from herveins.
“Tell me to stop, and I will,” he muttered with that low, growly voice ofhis.
