Page 92 of Recurve Ridge

He growled, all low and protective and sexy as all get-out. “That boy doesn’t know when to leave well enough alone.”

“He’s doing what the rest of you feel you can’t.” Okay, so I could add grump to my tired repertoire.

“Sassy girl.” He caught my hair, turning my head to the side, and traced his oiled fingertips across my bottom lip.

My eyes flew open, fixing on him as he arced over me. I shifted my hips, trying to alleviate some of the pressure on the body parts we’d been talking about that came to life all on their own.

“Don’t do that.” Robe’s voice deepened.

“Huh?” I twisted, but my body wasn’t having it. I flopped back down. His other hand rested in the middle of my back, stroking across the curve of my waist in an intimate caress. “Robe?—”

“This is a bad fucking idea today, Mari. My mood…. Stop,” he breathed, fingers fisted through my hair, holding me in place. “Distract me. Who do you like training with the best?”

“I don’t know.” I considered wiggling my hips again, but he’d asked me to stop. How many times had I said the same thing to him in the beginning?

So… training. Wasanyonean answer? I didn’t spend half as much time with Robe as I did the other boys, despite wishing I had him to myself more often. He might be intense as hell, but my connection with him overshadowed the ones I had with everyone else by far… even Alan.

All of them had their own brand of damage, each man broken like me.

Alan’s flirtatious nature concealed an intelligent boy who couldn’t trust anyone, and he kept his mind—and hands—busy behind the bar. Jon’s steadfastness melded with a savageness within that he let out in violent sessions with his axe. Will appeared soft and easygoing until I looked a little deeper and found a darkness welling beneath his shy smile. Not that I trusted a pretty face any longer, knowing his lethality made him as dangerous as the rest of them.

In fact, the only one brutal enough to train me the way I knew Robe wanted?—

“Miller.” The angry man’s name left my mouth and felt right.

“Miller?” He snorted. “You do have a death wish.”

“Maybe.” I didn’t have a better answer.

Robe resumed his massage. “Why?”

“He doesn’t go easier because I’m not one of you. I mean, you’re all nice and cute and look after me and spoil me, but… I learn more from him. Sure, he’s grumpy like you, and stubborn. Plus, he has skills. I respect that now that I know more of what and who is out here. I know he doesn’t like me, and I know he doesn’t trust me. Hell, in his place, I might not like me either. He’s protecting you. And he loves you. That makes him important.”

Robe didn’t answer me for a long moment, silent in his concentration. He pressed a hand between my shoulder blades that didn’t feel quite so slippery, like I’d absorbed most of the oil.

“You fit better than you know,” he said softly. “Despite the way you arrived, I’m glad you’re here.”

I smiled as he leaned down and pressed a chaste kiss to my temple. Tension melted from me as he shifted his weight, sitting at my side instead of on top of me, like he had no intention of moving all night. One hand trailed my ribs in the lightest touch, my lower body falling into sync with the gentle pressure there.

A heaviness pressed over me in an invisible blanket of security, my eyes drifting shut before I dropped into the realm of sleep and dreams.

“Me too.”

25

ROBE

I squinted into the darkness,balanced on one knee behind a small rocky outcrop not far from the house. “My night vision is shite. I don’t see anything,” I confessed, aware of the Mari-isms slipping into my speech.

Will crouched at my side, a wild grin spreading across his face. “Getting old,” he muttered, digging an elbow into my side.

Grunting, I shook my head. “Watch it, kid.” I nodded when he gestured to the pathway that led to the house, still struggling to see anything.

“Three, two… one.” Will shifted his weight and sprang up, his lean-muscled body arcing through the air before it collided with something that yelped as he landed.

A yelp too low to be feminine, but familiar. I frowned, pushing myself up on cracking knees as Will dragged the person forward.

“What damage did you do?” My jovial reply dropped as I recognized the bright blue puffer jacket bundled in Will’s arms. The body inside it seemed smaller than I remembered. Dark streaks covered a balding dome and the jacket in matching stripes.

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