Page 13 of Summer with a Ranger

“Hudson.”

“Sir?” I pivoted sharply on my heel.

“Careful with her. She’s had an abusive history. Not my story to tell.”

Smiling faintly, I stepped into the doorway. “I know.”

Archer nodded, the hint of a matching smile lighting his face as I pulled the office door shut.

I made it a good four steps to my desk, the one with my name on a damn engraved triangular thing, before Skye accosted me.

“You don’t touch me, or kiss me, or–”

I ignored her outburst, and the new set of rules she tossed in my face and clasped her shoulders gently. “You got your say last time when you claimed me as your beach bodyguard. No, I don’t care under what conditions.” I pressed a finger over her lips. “Here’s my rules. Tell me everything. Don’t hide shit from me. My side of that is I’ll always have your back, no matter what. But I want to give this thing a go, Skye. I want to see if we can make it work.”

“But what happened in Ti–”

“Was fucking amazing,” I said softly, tucking a stray piece of gold hair behind her ear. “And for the record, this Skye is just as sexy as gold tasselled Skye and Bikini Skye.”

“Objectifying,” she muttered, her colour heightening as she looked at me through her lashes.

“You bet your perfect fucking behind.” I leaned in slowly, giving her time to pull away and kissed the corner of her mouth. “Gonna try this with me?”

She turned enough for me to capture her mouth in full. When I kissed her a little harder she didn’t push me away, opening her lips and letting me in.

“Fine.” She pulled back, and gave me sassy eyes. I couldn’t wait to see what my handprint looked like on her ass. “Can we get to work now, Big Boy?”

“Keep it up, Skye. I’m keeping count.” I slammed my hand down on my thigh, the crack reverberating around the room.

She held my gaze and raised her chin. “Do your worst, Hudson.”

A grin spread over my face as I grabbed the file and started flicking through, my mind already headed in other directions. “Oh, I plan to. Hell girl, I might even be able to show you what real love looks like.”

Her eyes widened to the point of comical, and I pulled her to me for another heartfelt kiss, putting everything I was right behind that not-so-simple touch of lips on lips.

“You can’t be serious,” she whispered. “It’s been a week.”

I shrugged. Fuck it. What did I have to lose? Nothing but a stunning girl who happened to be my partner both day and night. “I’m all in, Skye. All for you.”

“Romantic ass.”

I huffed a laugh and tweaked her nose just to earn a glare.

Having Skye as both partner and girlfriend would be one hell of a challenge, but damn would I enjoy showing her all the ways a man could be romantic with a demanding woman he’d already fallen for, however long our partnership lasted.

Maybe for a long while.

Maybe forever.

There was no better way to test it than a road trip to South Carolina.

CHAPTER FIVE

SKYE

Hudson Whittingdon was a royal ass.

A sexy ass, an objectifying ass, and my brand spanking new partner.

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