The shower ishot and steamy and doing nothing to cool down the heat that’s rushing through my veins. My entire body feels like it’s on fire when Griff looks at me. Never mind when he touches me. And don’t get me started on the easy way he held me in his arms as if I weighed nothing.
With more than generous thighs, huge boobs and a stomach that has more padding than I would like, I’m not a small girl and I’ve never been the girl that boys pick up, let alone carry around like it’s no big deal.
The thing is, Griff is so big and strong I feel downright tiny when I’m near him. It’s not a feeling I’m used to.
Then again, there’s a whole lot of feelings I’m not used to when it comes to Griff.
Maybe if I had any real experience with guys, no, correction—with men—I might know if it was normal to have my stomach flip and something low in my belly contract when he looks at me.
I hardly even know the man, but when he touched me with his strong yet gentle hands, there was an unfamiliar ache between my legs that made me want things I had no business wanting with someone I’d just met.
But why not?
Why not indeed? I’ve spent so much time living for other people—my dad and step mom specifically—it was going to take some time to remember whoIam and what it was thatIwant now that I’ve made the decision to walk away from law school and a future I never wanted.
Maybe now is finally a good time to start tuning into my instincts and listening to my gut.
CHAPTER FOUR
Griffin
The knowledge that there’s only a door separating me from a naked and wet Sophie is making me crazy. Just the thought of her wet, soapy body standing under the stream of water has my cock hard and demanding release.
It’s not everyday I have a woman in my house. Hell, besides Ma I couldn’t remember thereeverbeing a woman in the cabin. I’m not an angel, and I certainly don’t live like a monk, but on the very rare occasions I sought out female companionship for an evening, that’s all it was, an evening.
I’ve sworn my life to William and being the best father I could be and that does not involve bringing random women home to meet and confuse him. It was always going to take a very special woman to earn the right to be in my home and meet my son.
Sophie’s a special woman.
I don’t know how I know, but I know. From the moment I’d laid eyes on her at the campfire, I could tell there was something special about her. It’s a feeling that’s only grown stronger withevery moment that passes with her and my instincts are rarely wrong.
My body is moving towards the closed bedroom door before I stop myself. “Fuck.” I run my hands through my hair, tugging on the roots. “Pull yourself together, man.”
Because I need to do something to keep my mind off of Sophie’s naked, soapy body, I return to the truck to grab Ma’s cinnamon buns and busy myself with pulling a container of chilli from the freezer. I set it in a pot and turn the stovetop on low.
She must be starving. Those morons she’d been with probably hadn’t packed any real food for their camping trip. Again, I can’t help but wonder who they are to her and why she was with them. Or why she’d left. There are so many questions I want answers to. So much I still want to know about my girl.
The water is still running in the shower so I grab my phone from the counter and walk to the front window that looks out over the valley. In the daylight it’s a stunning view. On a clear night, like tonight, there’s nothing but a blanket of stars. I press the button to call my little brother, Briggs.
“Hey,” I say the moment he answers the phone. “You’re on call tonight, right?”
“You know it.”
Rock Creek Search and Rescue isn’t a big operation, with most of us volunteering as many hours as we can, it’s almost always myself or one of my four brothers on call at any given time.
“Everything okay, Griff?”
“I think so.” I scan the darkness and a flash of something in the distance catches my eye. It could be fire, but it’s too hard to tell. But I can’t ignore the fact that those assholes might have sparked up their bonfire as soon as I’d driven away. “Had to deal with some stupid city kids earlier down by the river,” Itell Briggs. “It’s so dry out there, I worry that they might have ignored my warning.”
If they had, they certainly wouldn’t be smart enough to keep their fire small and controlled the second time around. I know their type a little too well.
Briggs mumbles something to someone before turning his attention back to the phone. “I’ll take care of it, Griff. Don’t worry.”
“You got company?”
“Nah. Nobody important. You know how it is.”
I shake my head and bite back a laugh when I hear a woman who obviously doesn’t like to be referred to asnobody importantshout an obscenity at him. Like the rest of us, my little brother is a single man. But unlike me, Briggs fills his nights with what seems like an endless supply of females willing to warm his bed.
