Page 88 of Colton's Last Resort

“Sure,” Noah said. He blinked when she was gone. For a moment, it had felt like he was talking to his sister again.

“Look at that ass work.”

Noah sent Doug a long scowl. “A little young for someone like you, wouldn’t you say?”

“I like them young,” Doug said as he worked his foot into his shoe. “Things tend to be more high and tight, if you know what I’m saying.” He chuckled nastily, cheered by his own imagery.

If the man didn’t shut up, Noah was going to shove both brogues down his throat.

Doug stood finally and grabbed the reins of his mare roughly. She rebuked him with a jerk of her head. “I knew someone with one of those.”

On the verge of telling him to can it, Noah looked warily to where Doug pointed.

To Noah’s wrist. He was pointing at Noah’s wrist and the evil-eye bracelet.

Noah felt his jaw clamp and his stomach tighten. “Yeah?” he managed to drawl.

“Yeah.” Doug lifted a brow. “That one... Ah, man. She was a real peach.”

Was?

Under the watchful gaze of a high-noon sun, Doug led his mount up the hill, limping a little as he went.

“Son of a bitch,” Noah muttered, clutching Penny’s reins. He fit his hat to his head and led her and Autumn to the cluster of riders, wishing hard for his badge.

“You’re supposed to be resting.”

Laura looked up from her desk and spied the dusty man framed in the open door to her office. She noted the Stetson and the wide silver buckle on his belt. Noah looked dirty and dangerous, and her heart caterwauled as he propped the heel of his hand on the jamb above him.

The man was the human equivalent of devil’s food cake.

Setting the papers in her hands flat against the desktop, she studied his comfortable scowl and smiled broadly despite the ache in her head that had persisted throughout the day. “You’re probably going to take what I say and run with it, but...you look good enough to eat, cowboy.”

The scowl wobbled, and warmth chased the moody slant of his eyes. Pushing off the jamb, he closed the door.

As he came around the desk, she turned the swivel chair to face him. Angling her chin up, she tilted her head. “I’m happy to see Josh didn’t bring you back to me in splints.”

Noah leaned over, pressing his hands to the arms of her chair, caging her in. He scanned the mark on her brow and its ring of dark bruises. Then he searched each of her eyes in a way that made her lose her breath. By the time his gaze touched her mouth, she was shivery with anticipation. She clutched the collar of his shirt to pull him down to meet her.

His arms locked, resisting, when he found the gold chain around her neck. Gingerly, he slid his first finger between it and the skin at the high curve of her breast and lifted it, so the pearl drop rose from the V-cut neckline of her plum-satin blouse.

His eyes crawled back to hers.

“I’ve been thinking about you,” she whispered.

He made a low noise.

Her chest rose and fell swiftly. She wished she could catch her breath. He made it difficult. “And I’ve missed you,” she admitted.

He tensed. Then he lowered to his knees. His arms spanned her waist, and he tugged her to the edge of her chair.

When he buried his face in her throat and pressed his front to hers in a seamless embrace, she melted. Spreading her fingers through his hair, she latched on.

She couldn’t handle him like this—urgent, tender, sweet. It disarmed her.

She swallowed. “Did something happen?”

His lips pursed against her skin. His breath across the damp circle left by his mouth made her skin hum all over. “I have to go back to Sedona.”

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