Then she pulled back, cheeks flushed, and climbed out of the truck. I watched her sweet ass as she walked up to the front door of the bed-and-breakfast, those soft curves swaying with each step.
Once she disappeared inside, I grabbed myself through my jeans and tried to readjust. I was still throbbing so hard for her that I almost came on the spot just from the pressure of my own hand.
But there wasn’t time for that either, damn it.
I put the truck in gear and headed toward Brady’s apartment on the other side of town.
The kid would be excited to go on his first real mission, one where there weren’t six experienced men handling everything. But I also knew this might be exactly what Brady needed to get the stars out of his eyes.
SAR work didn’t always have a happy ending.
Rescuing people had its own rewards, and it wasn’t just the money that kept me doing it. But there were serious downsides too.
My heart grew heavy as I thought about a mission from two winters ago, a hiker who’d gotten lost in a sudden storm.
We’d tracked him for six hours through whiteout conditions, following footprints that kept getting buried under fresh snow. By the time we found him, we were too late.
Tourists shouldn’t be allowed out in these mountains in the dead of winter. Too many sad outcomes.
I pulled up at Brady’s apartment complex and killed the engine.
For a moment, I just sat there, thinking about the gorgeous Amelia Edwards. Had I really only known her since this morning? It seemed impossible. Somehow she was already the center of my universe.
Then I kicked into gear. We had a person to rescue.
I killed the engine of my truck in front of the Summit House and sat there for a moment, letting the silence of the night settle around me.
It was two in the morning, and I was dog-tired. Every muscle in my body ached from the hours of hiking through rough terrain, and my eyes burned from straining to see in the darkness. But we’d found the hiker.
He’d been disoriented and cold, with hypothermia setting in, but it was nothing that a quick trip to the local hospital couldn’t fix.
The mission had been a success.
And Brady had gone up in my esteem. The kid had kept his head, followed instructions, and hadn’t complained once, even when we’d had to scramble up a near-vertical slope in the dark.
Marla would be happy to know that I’d give a begrudging recommendation for the young man to join the SAR group.
But right now, I had other things to attend to.
I stared at the old Victorian through my windshield. A single porch light glowed near the front door, casting a weak circle that barely touched the rocking chairs lined up along the wraparound porch.
All I wanted to do was see Amelia again.
I pulled out my phone and hesitated, thumb hovering over her number.
It was late.Waytoo late.
Any sensible person would be asleep by now, and I’d be an asshole for waking her.
But Ihadto see her, so I dialed her number.
Five seconds later, a light went on in an upstairs window. My heart kicked against my ribs as the phone rang once, then twice. On the third ring, she picked up.
“Grayson?” She was breathless, like she’d been waiting for my call.
“Is it too late?” I rumbled.
“It might be too late for dinner,” I could hear the smile in her voice. “But there’s plenty of time for dessert. Would you like to come up?”
