Page 50 of Snow River

“Yes.I just…wanted you to know that.”

Was this his way of saying he had feelings for her?It might be easier if he stated it outright, but she could read between the lines.Or maybe “sense” between the lines.“I think about you too.”

“When I saw my truck off the road?—”

She winced.“Sorry, again.”

“Fuck that.”

Her gaze flew to meet his.When he was this close to her, she had to crane her neck to meet his eyes.They blazed with more fierceness than she’d ever seen from him.“I don’t care about the truck.But when I thought you might be hurt…”

“I’m fine,” she assured him quickly.“I promise I’m fine.”She spread her hands across his chest and felt the slow steady thump of his heart.Bear’s heart was a thing of beauty.Big enough to encompass an entire Alaskan wilderness.

And one small-ish woman with white hair and some serious quirks.

He crouched down to lift her into his arms.She wrapped her legs around his hips, the feel of his strong bones and solid muscles sending waves of heat through her body.

It wasn’t that she was a sucker for big muscles.The opposite, really.Sometimes she felt nervous around powerfully built men.With Bear, her lust was based on what she knew about him, on how he used his physicality, tending to other people, keeping peace.No one wanted to mess with someone his size, so one of Bear’s stern glances could stop a bar fight in its tracks.

With their bodies sealed together, they dove into a deep and very conscious kiss.She was hyper aware of everything about him and around them.The heat of his body as it penetrated through all their clothing.The slight roughness of his lips from spending so much time in the chill air.The surprising silkiness of his hair as she ran her fingers through it.The smell of fresh air and salt that clung to his skin.The thump of his heartbeat getting faster.The hum of the generator in the shed outside the bar.The whistle of the wind.

The kiss seemed to reach inside her and pull something out of her she hadn’t known existed.Something deep and thrilling, as if she’d suddenly discovered the ocean and was being invited to dive in.And because Bear was right there with her, it was safe to do so.

She moaned into his mouth.He spun her around and moved her toward the bed.She tightened her legs around his hips, not wanting to be separated from him yet.“This feels so good,” she murmured against his mouth.

He gave a grunt that she hoped was agreement, then ran his hands down her back and cupped her ass, squeezing lightly with those big hands.She arched and cried out and suddenly she wanted nothing more than to be in his bed naked.

Surprising him, she twisted out of his grip and landed on the bed.It was just as comfortable as the rest of the room, with a firm mattress, a simple neutral comforter the color of beach sand and several pillows propped against a headboard.

Rising onto her knees, she beckoned him toward her.“This is such a huge bed, it’s like an entire country.‘Welcome to Bear-landia,” she proclaimed.“Watch out for an extremely handsome man with a panty-melting smile and a heart as big as a winter den.”

He cocked his head at her teasing.“Panty-melting smile?”

“Oh yes.Hasn’t anyone ever told you?I’m surprised you don’t use it more often.You’d have panties melting wherever you go.Maybe that’s why you don’t smile much, come to think of it.It could be a real problem at the bar.”She was being ridiculous, she knew, but she had to do something with all this giddy energy.

“Does it work on other clothes besides panties?”Still standing over the bed, Bear planted his hands on his hips and lifted one eyebrow.

“Only one way to find out.”

He smiled.No, it was more than a smile.It was a grin that completely changed his face from stoic to magnetic.

It definitely did the trick.

23

Bear should have knownthat being with Lila would be like breathing in laughing gas—which he knew about only because a long-since retired Fangtooth Gulch dentist used it for his frontier procedures.Bear had gotten to experience it once, and it had felt like bubbles racing through his bloodstream.

This was so much better.Especially because Lila was making a goofy comedy skit out of it, pretending that her clothes were literally melting off her body while she tried to keep them in place.

“Somebody help, I can’t keep my sweater on!Make that man turn off his smile!”

He laughed out loud.

“That’s even worse!I stand no chance now.Oops, there go my pants.”She bounced onto her back and kicked her low-rider wool pants off her legs.Lila’s favorite type of outfit involved low pants and a crop top; he too was a fan of that look, except in winter.Lately she’d been adding a layer under her short tops—a button down shirt, for instance—or a long sweater over them.He’d missed seeing those flashes of skin, though he’d tried not to think about it.

Now he feasted his eyes on the bare skin revealed by her “panty-melting” routine.Whatever tan she’d picked up over the summer was gone, and her legs were winter-pale.Also long and slender and delicate.He rested one knee on his bed and caught one fine-boned foot as she finished kicking off her pants.Cradling it, he dropped a kiss on the inside of her ankle.

She shivered and leaned back on her elbows.

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