Page 27 (1/2)

And then there was nothing but the sound of the front door shutting hard

Aiving you today off," Jan said

"Not necessary"

"You were stabbed on etting the story or pics The negative press will kill me Take a damn day off"

"I wasn’t stabbed!"

"Good Go with that"

"But--"

But Jan was already gone

Fine Amy loaded her sketchpad and a few snacks into her backpack If she couldn’t work, she’d clear her head and draw In fact, now that she thought about it, she needed thatshe could think of

Well… other than the need to be near Matt, the guy she’d promised herself she wouldn’t fall for Except she’d broken that pro at the North District Ranger Station? She could have gone out on her own patio to sketch, but she’d co out her grandrounds here were beautiful and peaceful, and she spent an hour sitting on a rock in front of a creek with her sketchpad, trying to clear herto Matt This distance between the her own happiness for a long ti with hi it wouldn’t

And if that wasn’t a terrifying thought For the first time in her life, she wanted to ride the train to the end of the line instead ju off before it even stopped

You lied to him…

Worse, she’d lied to herself All her life she’d lived with so in Lucky Harbor this year, staying in one place, e

She didn’t regret that

She liked having a decent place to live, a job that paid the bills and allowed her the freedo the kind of keeper friends she’d always drea

That’s what Mallory and Grace were to her, keepers

Matt, too, if she was being honest Yeah, she liked hi to have to face that sooner or later The truth was, she’d long ago given up believing or trusting in others

And then she’d co the damp forest air, she looked up and locked eyes on Matt He stood a football field away, on the porch of the ranger station building, his back to her as he talked to two other uniforh as hell, with his shirt stretched taut over his broad shoulders, the gun on his hip glea in the sun

Flustered to find herself aroused just looking at hiain, insistently drawn to hione

She forced herself to sit there another few moments He hadn’t seen her, she told herself Because if he had, he’d have come over He wasn’t a coward like her She inhaled a deep breath, found her backbone, packed up her things, and headed to the building "Is Matt Bowers busy?" she asked the ranger at the front desk

The guy laughed "Always But his office is the last on the right, go on back"

She found hi before his desk, hands on hips, jaw dark with stubble, looking down at asquad He see, and a little pissed off His eyes tracked directly to her and though nothing in his tough-guy stance changed, his eyes war within her warmed She didn’t really understand that, how it could still be this way, how it felt stronger each and every tih he didn’t even know it yet And still, she wanted him She wanted his hands on her, hisin the way only he could "A?" she asked

"Not even a little bit"

Given the stacks on his desk, this was an obvious lie His gaze roamed over her "How are you?"

"Fine"

"Truth, Amy"

Truth… The truth was that his shoulders were so wide they practically blocked out the light, plenty wide enough for her to set her head down and lose herself in hi"

"I drove by your place last night Everything looked dark and quiet You sleep okay?"

"Yeah"

"I cao to talk to Riley She wasn’t there"

"She had things to do"

Their eyesbeat

"You’re not okay," he finally said "You’re flushed"

"Sunburn I forgot sunscreen"

He didn’t say anything to that, and the silence just about did her in "It’s not just sex," she said "Not to me"

He still didn’t speak, but she knew by his absolute stillness that she had his undivided attention

"I’m sorry I let you think it," she said "And okay, maybe some of it is about the sex, but that’s because it’s the best sex that I’ve ever had But it’s not all about the sex"

Mattbut he wasn’t slow In three steps he closed the distance between theood she actually moaned, a sound he silenced with a kiss

She had no idea how a entle in the way he held her and yet at the sahly But that’s exactly what he was, both gentle and rough

It was exactly what she needed