Page 82 of 5 Golden Flings

He chewed slower this time, still watching her in a way that made her want to squirm. His attention was unnerving; her response was even more so.

Mostly because she couldn’t control it. And she didn’t like anything she couldn’t control.

“I guess being out in the snow is kind of like swimming as a kid...makes you feel like you’re starving.”

Oh wow, that wink.Talk about unnerving. “Funny how that works.”

“So, you know Maria?” he asked. “That’s really cool. She was such a nice woman...and she was so happy on her wedding day.”

He paused, as if waiting for her to fill the silence. Something she had no intention of doing. Not only did she not know Maria outside of the correspondence they’d had through the last five years over the farm and house, but she had told him she had no intention of getting to know him.

He took a couple more bites, then went on. “Terrible luck to travel here and have this storm hit?—”

Not from her perspective. At least, not until the storm blewhimin.

“I hope you weren’t planning on visiting around much.”

With a sigh, she started fixing herself half a sandwich. They were gonna have to conserve, after all.

He eyed the bread as if contemplating making another sandwich, so she reached in the cupboard and pulled out a bag of her homemade chocolate chip cookies.

Hers and her father’s favorite.

He smiled as he saw what was in the bag. The first cookie disappeared in seconds, but the second lasted long enough for him to frown at her halfway through. Why was he still just as sexy as when he was in full-on tease mode?

She mourned as yet another cookie disappeared.

“I didn’t think you were serious about that not getting to know each other bit, but I guess you were.”

Social pressure caused her to soften. “Look, no offense, but I don’t know you from Adam.”

“Oh, right.”

He chewed slowly, mulling that over. “Well, Igrew uphere in Thornbury Woods...”

I know that.She bit her lip to keep the admission in. She wanted to be irritated, but at least they wouldn’t be sitting in awkward silence.

“My parents worked out at the quarry,” he said between bites. “But if you aren’t familiar, there aren’t a lot of ways to better yourself in Childress County. I mean, we don’t have so much as a community college here. If you want to go to university, you go to Nashville or Knoxville even.”

She hadn’t actually known that, having left when she was around eight.

“You have to cross county lines to even go to trade school, and most people rarely come back. It can get pretty boring here, besides the usual beer and hunting.”

“Sounds exciting.”

He smirked. “Oh, it is...not. So when it came time, I moved up north and went to school for sports medicine, with a history minor. But I’ve almost always worked in rescue.”

He started cleaning up the sandwich makings.

“In the meantime, my parents moved to Florida. I hadn’t planned on moving back to the old birth-place, but my granddad got sick and needed someone to help him out.”

Brynn traced his movements between the counter and the other touchpoints in the kitchen, taking in the tall length of him that she hadn’t been able to truly appreciate when distracted by other...parts. Her cheeks burned just thinking about that moment of revelation.

But his current tight-fit thermals, which would have made other men look silly, skimmed his muscled legs while his flannel shirt emphasized broad shoulders that looked perfectly capable of rescuing someone. Not that she needed anything like that.

“Anyway, he passed on about a year ago now.” He paused at the center island, laying his hands flat on the clean counter now that he had nothing to do with them. “And I’m just here.”

“I’m sorry. I know how hard that is.”

---