Page 10 of My Ruthless Mountain Man

Kendall grips my hair and yanks my mouth down to fuse her lips to mine.

My heart is hammering in my chest, and every lungful of air imprints her scent into my cells. How did I go this long without her? Without touching and tasting her? Making her mine.

She pulls away, breaking the kiss.

I growl and follow her lips.

“Stone, wait. I think someone’s here.” She tenses in my arms, eyes wide as she looks at the front door.

Pound, pound, pound.

It takes a second to clear my head. Not the hammering of my heart in my ears but someone at the door.

The person knocks again, and I hear a familiar voice swear.It clears the fog of lust from my brain.

“It’s okay. Sounds like a friend.” Her shoulders relax a fraction, but I can tell she’s scared. I help Kendall off the counter, grab my Sig Sauer from the drawer by the door, then move to the side window for a look. It’s Bishop, the leader of the Hollow Point Rescue group here on the mountain.

I nod to Kendall, return my gun to the drawer, and open the door.

“Took you long enough,” Bishop grumbles. His favorite cowboy hat is pulled low, and dust covers his dark green Hollow Point T-shirt.

“Good to see you too.” I look over his shoulder at the empty porch. “Where’s your sidekick?”

“Dillon is not my sidekick. He’s my?—”

“Fanboy.”

“...intern.” Bishop says, sounding resigned. Dillon grew up in White Falls. At twenty, he knows the mountain trails almost better than Bishop. When the team leader moved here to resurrect the rescue program after a few hikers perished, Dillon appointed himself Bishop’s work-study.

I snort. “Whatever you say.”

“Fucker,” he mutters.

I wouldn’t call us friends exactly, because Bishop keeps people at bay, but he’s part of the growing group of ex-military guys who’ve moved here seeking peace. We understand one another as no one else could. “What brings you?”

“You weren’t answering your radio. When I drove by and saw your truck, I decided to check in.”

Damn, I think I left it in my truck when I returned home yesterday. I’d planned to go back for it after putting tools away, but then I saw Kendall.

Bishop’s gaze skates over my shoulder to the living room and stops. One dark eyebrow raises. “No wonder you didn’t answer.”

I glance back to see Kendall standing there in just my flannel, with her hair tousled and kiss-swollen lips. She looks like she just left my bed. I step in front of her, blocking Bishop’s view. Maybe it’s a caveman tactic. I don’t care. I don’t want him looking at her.

A grin flits across his lips. “Staking a claim, Colter? Afraid of the competition?”

I step closer. “She’s not your concern.”

He chuckles, then eyes me. “She’s too young for me.”

He’s four years younger and ribbing me for it. “She is. And way too fucking young for me, but...”

“But the age gap doesn’t seem to matter,” he finishes, and for a second, the teasing drops. Something like understanding mixed with commiseration flickers beneath his smile. Something that saysme too.

I shake my head. “Did you just come to give me shit?”

“That’s a side benefit. I came to ask if you’d heard or seen anyone around this morning. I had reports of some guys seen in the area. Someone thought they were hikers, but the second report said they weren’t wearing any gear. With the storm hitting in a few hours, I thought I should find them. Make sure they get back to town.”

“I haven’t, but I’ll keep an eye out.”

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