Page 9 of Forever Theirs

“I called him out on being a grumpy dickwad to a new resort guest.” A heavy hand slapped my shoulder as the man in question folded into the chair to my left.

“You wouldn’t have cared if you weren’t trying to get into her pants,” Langston snarked, his gaze still locked on Juno as she talked with Hudson and Oliver. His glare darkened when her laugh sounded around the room at something Oliver said.

Fuck, the man had it bad, and he had no damn clue.

At the perkiness in my best friend’s tone, I shifted in my seat to face Aiden and angled my head, studying his face. He was in way too good a mood, considering he normally hated making resort guest runs and complained about it afterward. But instead of being pissy, Aiden looked happy—ecstatic even, if that wide smile was any indication of his real mood.

“He’s wrong,” Aiden said, reaching across me to shove Langston’s shoulder. “It’s not just about getting in her pants.” His smile fell. “She’s fucking amazing, man. The whole package, and there’s just something different about her, Miles. Whatever the fuck it is pulled me in the moment we met. I swear I could see her fitting in great here.”

I swallowed hard and nodded, trying not to let my disappointment show. If he wanted to pursue a woman on his own, he could. Just because I needed our unusual setup didn’t mean I would hold my friend back if he wanted this woman. And if she could chase away the demons he constantly fought, which seemed to have faded at the moment, then I was on board.

His light brown eyes searched my face, lips dipping into a deeper frown, telling me I didn’t do a great job of hiding my disappointment in knowing our past fun was done.

“Fitting in great withus, Miles.” I just nodded as relief flooded my veins and turned my attention across the table. “Don’t worry. You’ll see what I’m talking about tonight. I bet even you won’t be able to resist her pull.”

My neck cracked from how quickly I snapped my head around, eyes wide. The asshole just chuckled and slapped me on the back instead of explaining what he meant.

“What are you talking about?” I said through gritted teeth. “What about tonight?”

An uneasy feeling grew in my gut at the mischievous smile that tugged at his lips. The bastard had gotten me into too much damn trouble after that look.

“Tonight,we, as in you and me, are taking her out for drinks at Dave’s.”

“Why?”Sigh.I could tell he was excited, but fuck, he knew we didn’t mess around with guests. It was either locals, which were few and far between, who were okay with our specific needs or going to Anchorage. The hard-and-fast rule was created three months ago after a resort guest we messed around with grew concerningly clingy and outstayed her welcome here in Anchor Bay. After that shit show, we decided never again. “You know the rule. Or do you want a repeat of Jessica Scroggins?”

Aiden visibly shuddered and checked over both shoulders like she might pop up out of thin air. Which, to his credit, wasn’t too far off. The woman had followed us both around, appearing everywhere we went for a month after her trip to Anchor Bay was supposed to end. It was when we got home to our cottage after a four-day camping excursion and found it trashed that we finally did something about her stalking.

“She’s not like that, man?—”

“What’s put that dopey look on your face?” Ethan, our survivalist expert and trainer, said as he swiveled a chair around and straddled it, laying both arms over the back. “Did you finally see that bird you’ve been talking nonstop about?”

“There is no reason to make fun of me because I’m an ornithophile,” Aiden said with a smirk, knowing full well we hated it when he used that term. Which, of course, made my best friend use it in conversation any chance he could.

“Don’t admit that out loud with an officer of the law in the room,” Oliver, laughed from where he leaned against the wall. “Keep your kinks to yourself, Aiden.”

“What are you doing here?” I asked over Aiden and Ethan bantering back and forth.

“I asked him to attend the meeting with us.” Everyone stopped talking when Hudson stood. With Brandon away, checking out that potential new site in Montana, he’d put his old SEAL buddy, Hudson, as lead. I would say I resented the idea of us needing supervision, but sometimes it felt like Brandon ran a daycare instead of an adventure and rescue company staffed mostly with his military buddies and other veterans.

Like me.

Just thinking about my time in the service had the scarred skin on my back pulling uncomfortably. I shifted in the seat, trying and failing to hide the pain-filled grimace from my best friend. I waved off the concerned look he shot me and turned my focus back to Hudson.

“The remains of another male hiker were found early this morning on this side of the Soul Trail.” Muffled curses filled the room. Not wanting to miss a single detail, I leaned forward, resting both forearms on the long wooden table. It wasn’t much of a meeting room, but since we only used it once a week, Brandon didn’t see the need to make it pretty. “The remains are on the way to the coroner in Anchorage now. We won’t know anything official for several days, but I assume he’ll be like the others.”

“What the fuck is going on out there?” Ethan snapped, his anger-filled gaze locked on the single window as if monitoring for danger. “This is the third male this year alone. That’s not counting the female remains and those still missing.”

We all waited, breaths held, for Hudson to respond.

“With Hudson’s experience and my authority”—Oliver’s worried eyes flicked between Juno and Baylee—“we’ll figure this out. I’m working with the law enforcement rangers inside the national park to make sure we haven’t missed any victims, but that’s going to take some time. Until then, I don’t want anyone going out alone.”

Baylee held up both hands. “You won’t hear any pushback from me.”

Liam looked at her with concern and hugged her even tighter to his side.

“Or me,” Juno piped up while tying her blonde ringlets into a high ponytail.

“Shocking,” Langston muttered under his breath. I rammed an elbow into his side, hoping to hit his damn reset button.

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