Page 50 of Recurve Ridge

“With all my heart. I thought it broke, you know. Shattered into a million worthless pieces.” He looked straight at me, leaving my heart thundering in my chest. “Until you arrived.”

“You’re not worthless. And you don’t know me.” The words fell out as I processed his response. “Wait, you mean like a… a… ward, or a friend or a niece or something. Right?” I swallowed hard, desperate for that nod, because the dark intent in his eyes said otherwise.

I couldn’t be the feature of a man’s wet dreams when I sort of suspected—okay, that was me lying to myself head-on—when IknewI belonged with Robe. Alan… he was a different beast. Literally. But Jon was his own person. He was Robe’sbest friend.And I was meant to be with Robe. My head knew it. My heart knew it. Having his best friend want me, even when I felt so safe in his arms, presented a huge problem. No, I’d read the whole situation wrong.

What sort of an insensitive, narcissistic bitch thinks like that?

“We share every important moment, Mari.”

Robe’s words from before dropped me into a spiral of my own making while Jon hauled me out, giving me a free pass.

“Yeah, sure. Like a niece.” Jon huffed a cloud of condensation that hovered between us, obscuring my vision for a moment. “C’mon. I wanna show you how to build a shelter in winter.”

“I’d freeze to death first. Not like I’ll be here for the next one, you know. I have to go home sometime,” I said reasonably.

Or maybe totally unreasonably, as his broad back stopped halfway up an incline. I pulled up a breath shy of plowing straight into his hard-as-nails ass. I knew it was tight and hard because, like a prepubescent kid in a movie, my progress ended on a sudden halt. I tumbled toes over teakettle, but instead of grabbing handfuls of breasts, I got ass.

A whole lotta fine, hard ass.

Damn, he’d be good in bed.

If I’d learned anything about a man’s physique, it meant that a solid, warm chest meant unconditional love. A neat, hard ass, on the other hand, made for an excellent, long-lasting lover.

I swallowed, prying my fingers free as Jon—Robe’s best friend, I kept reminding myself—turned to face me.

“I’m so sorry,” I stammered. “I?—”

“Why don’t you go first?” Jon offered, standing aside to clear the path. “I promise I won’t go head over tails like you just did.”

“Um, of course,” I whispered weakly, trying not to imagine him without clothes in bed with Robe—and me.

I squeezed my eyes shut and edged past him.

A threesome, Mari? After the bathroom incident with Alan? Are you shitting me?

Where the hell was my head at? Left up a mountain man’s tight behind, for one thing.

We made a wide circuit that took us first north and then farther along the ridgeline, but Jon assured me we’d still be in time for whatever was being cooked back at the cabin that would slip inside the frozen barrier of my senses and send my stomach rumbling.

At a rocky outcrop, a glimpse of an imposing fortresslike building sent my blood thrumming too fast through my veins, overheating me and freezing me all at once. I stumbled over my own feet, wondering if Jon had done it on purpose, but as I’d kept my mouth shut about Gideon’s identity for self-preservation, how would he know?

Because there’s no one else out here, Mari.

Of course they knew. But I couldn’t bring myself to talk about it.

Jon caught me as I wavered on the edge of the path, my gaze fixed firmly ahead, my attention on the monstrosity behind me and who resided within those granite walls. Hell, even the building looked lifeless and overcast, a vacant castle on the hill.

A hand between my shoulder blades steadied me and propelled me forward all at once.

“The tree line is safest,” Jon explained conversationally while my emotions swirled in an uncontrolled maelstrom. “Winds can kick up fast, and they pummel the cliff face. Stay within the forest. It’s warmer, and you’re less… exposed there.”

I nodded and said nothing.

The mantle of silence seemed more comfortable this time. Jon’s presence at my back remained a sturdy shield between me and Gideon’s shade that followed me into the trees. Jon gave a murmured direction where the path split, crouching to show me tracks, and directed me how to look between the trees rather than at them.

The knowledge eked out an extra degree of power, building my confidence with every mile. I smiled for the first time in hours, nibbling my last strawberry as each step became less torturous.

And all the while, I thought about the boys and how they behaved.

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