Page 6 of Toxic

Grabbing my shotgun from my truck, I slunk toward the barn. I could hear voices coming from out there. When I entered the barn, I heard a man talking in deep tones with Hank and Eris. He was absorbed in his work and he didn’t notice when my dog loped over to me doing a happy dance.

Her tail wagged as I racked my shotgun. The man froze. Then he turned toward me and it was like someone had punched me in the chest. He was gorgeous. Ridiculously handsome.

His dark hair had a loose curl to it and was too long, so it was hanging down into his eyes a bit. He needed a haircut. He had adark beard and intense brown eyes that seemed to look deep into my soul.

What was wrong with me? I wasn’t a poetic kind of woman. I was too damn practical for that. I tried to mentally shake myself out of whatever feelings this man stirred within me.

His hands were slightly raised, and I could tell he was trying to play as though he was innocent. I wasn’t stupid. This man was dangerous. It was like a coat of armor surrounding him. He was in jeans, boots, and a black t-shirt and there were tattoos all down his arms and over the backs of his hands and fingers. He almost didn’t strike me as the ranching type, but the way he’d brushed my horse with ease spoke of knowledge with what he was doing.

“Who are you?” I asked, voice low and threatening.

“A friend,” he said. “I’m here to help.”

Keely had said she was sending help, but she hadn’t given me any names. And I wasn’t the naturally trusting kind. “Bullshit,” I snarled. He shifted and I aimed the shotgun lower. “Don’t move.” If he didn’t care that I would blow his head off, I knew he probably wouldn’t want his balls eviscerated.

He froze again, wincing. “I’m a friend of Keely’s.”

It was my turn to hesitate. How would he know her name unless he really was a friend? As far as I knew there was no connection that Fission Solutions knew of between me and Keely. I was just about to drop my shotgun when someone else spoke.

“If you don’t drop that gun, I’m going to fill you full of lead and feed you to the horses.”

Frowning, I stared at the beautiful man in front of me, not daring to look over my shoulder at the other guy. “Horses don’t eat people, genius,” I said, not being able to help myself. The second man clearly didn’t have much knowledge of animals. “That’s pigs.”

“Whatever. I’ll feed you to something around here.”

“Butcher,” the man in front of me said, his eyes still locked on mine. “Put the gun down. She’s the one we’re here to help.”

“You fucking kidding me? She’s got a shotgun pointed at your dick, Toxic.”

“Not the worst thing to ever be pointed at my dick. Just…put it down. She’s not going to pull the trigger. I just told her that Keely sent us to help her out.”

“How do you even know this is the chick we’re supposed to be helping?”

Toxic’s eyes flashed over to his friend. “The dog.”

“What?” Butcher asked, sounding puzzled.

“Just put it down.” His voice was calm, deep, rich. Despite having a gun to his balls he was in total control. I wanted to sink into the sound and curl up against his chest while he lulled me to sleep talking about anything he wanted.

Wow.Seriously, what was the matter with me?

I didn’t react to men this way. Especially men who looked like him. Men who were that gorgeous were too flirty. Too smooth. They were trouble with a capital T and I always stayed away from them. Ever since Will anyway. I learned my lesson the hard way.

“Fine,” the man named Butcher grumbled. He stepped to my side so I could see that he’d put his gun away. His hands were empty.

“Your turn, Gorgeous,” Toxic said, voice soothing, like he was talking to a wild horse that he didn’t want to spook.

His earlier words about Keely were what made me drop the barrel of the shotgun. “Who are you?” I asked again, but with less menace this time.

“I’m Toxic,” he said with a grin that could melt the panties off a woman at twenty paces. “That’s Butcher. Keely called our president and asked if we could give you a hand for a few days.”

“President?” I asked, head spinning as I tried to figure out what was going on.

“Guess she hasn’t had a chance to explain yet,” Toxic said with a chuckle. “Butcher, can you go keep watch?”

“Sure.”

“And actually keep watch this time?” Toxic said in a sarcastic tone.

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