Just because I couldn’t stop thinking about him, how his big arm had been warm and strong around me. How his rumbly voice had made my panties damp–yeah, it was difficult to admit that I was drawn to him and that my body had responded so quickly. That in itself was a surprise because I pretty much thought my libido got crushed by Marty. I hadn’t felt an inkling of arousal for a long time and now… out of the blue for Mr. Lumberjack?
I’d told him to let go, and he had. Immediately. Even apologized.
He was different from Marty because he hadn’t blamed his actions on whether I was dressed sluttily, and he couldn’t help himself. If my lipstick was too bright or it’d looked like I flirted with a customer.
Now that I’d calmed down, separated out that this guy wasn’t Marty–it was pretty obvious physically since Marty was a half foot shorter and probably a hundred pounds lighter–and reminded myself my ex was in a different time zone, I wanted to get a better look at his face. Because what I remembered was worth a second look. He was that handsome.
There. My heart started hammering when I scanned the room and saw him again. He stood at the cocktail station where I went to empty my tray and give Cody the new orders. I braced myself as I walked up for his fresh attempt to “seduce” me or whatever it was he thought he was doing, but he said nothing.
He remained still–like, statue-still–and watched me. I felt his gaze on me but nothing more.
As I did my thing, collecting cocktail napkins and straws, pretending I didn’t notice a handsome bearded behemoth wasn’t beside me, it occurred to me that his stillness might have been intended to soothe me. Like the way one moved slowly dealing with a skittish horse. That instead of freaking me out in his presence, he silently wanted me to know that I was safe with him.
Or was it him trying to lull me into a sense of security?
I knew what that was like, too. Put your guard down and then–
“Summer!” My boss beckoned me over while his hands moved quickly, pouring drinks for patrons three deep at the bar. His young wife, Riley, sat in front of him with friends her age, looking like she was having a great time. She was a few years younger than me, and there was no question Cody was smitten. While he tended to the customers, I saw him looking her way often enough.
I smiled at her as I approached and placed the ticket with my new drink orders on the bar before Cody, so he could make them next.
“I’m sorry Boone scared you,” he said as he shook the cocktail shaker then poured a chilled martini into a glass, garnishing it with an olive-laden toothpick. While most people here ordered beer or shots, occasionally a fancier drink was requested. I did know that he didn’t make anything with little drink umbrellas. Bar rules.
“He lives up on the mountain, and his manners must’ve gotten rusty.”
I glanced over at Boone. In the sea of people weaving, talking, or laughing around him, he appeared to be frozen in time. Like he’d been left out in the winter weather and turned to ice. Where he might have been frozen, I was heated looking his way. He was that attractive. One word? Rugged.
His hair was trimmed short on the sides and longer on the top, and his beard, while full, was equally groomed. His shoulders had to take up an entire doorway, and his flannel stretched taut over the expanse. I knew because I came up to his chest and eyed one of the buttons. He wore jeans that were worn and molded to him in ways Marty could never carry off.
“I want you to know–Boone’s perfectly safe,” Colt added, leaning my way as he set four shots of tequila on my tray. “I vouch for him one hundred percent.” Even though he was crazy busy, he stopped, tipped his chin down, and met my gaze. Held it. I didn’t see a lie there. He’d never treated me poorly, never lied to me. Never called me names like honey or sweetheart. He’d never given me a reason not to trust him.
“Okay.”
If he said that Boone was safe, then that meant Boone, the hulking giant, was safe. Something clicked inside me. Like the very sturdy concrete dam I put up between the part of me that had been instantly attracted to Boone and the part that said “no way” to another overbearing jerk just broke. Heat pooled between my legs because I was drawn to him. Because I got the green light from Cody.
I had no idea why I was attracted to a guy who was so big and growly that he could snap me like a twig. Marty hadn’t been this size, far from it, and that meant my instincts were terrible.
But… Cody was a bar owner. Saw lots of men trying every angle possible to get in a girl’s panties. He wasn’t a beer-goggling drunk girl who thought Boone was hot. His judgment wasn’t tainted by desire. The only interest I ever saw in his gaze was directed toward Riley.
I sneaked another peek at the giant man. What would it be like to be with such a virile specimen of manhood? He was as big as a tree. I could climb him like a tree.
That thought made my nipples even harder.
It had been years since anything had turned me on–I’d shut the sexual part of myself off with all the bullshit Marty put me through. Something about Boone made me come alive again. Like turning on a faucet or flipping a switch. Made me feel.
My desire went from off to ON. My panties were ruined.
But that felt dangerous, too. Instant need was scary. That was how it started with Marty. He’d seemed charming. Confident. Capable. Attractive in a clean-cut, I’m-not-remotely-dangerous way. He was a cop! I should have felt safest with him. He’d lured me in and put a ring on my finger, and before I knew it, the real Marty came out, and I was trapped with a whole police force standing behind him.
Cody rapped his knuckles on the bar top. “If you wanted something from him–”
My gaze whipped up to meet his at those words.
“–but felt nervous after what you’ve been through, I assure you that he’d follow any rule you set for him.”
Any rule I set for him?
Wait–if I wanted something?
