Page 48 of Stormswept Colorado

But I wanted to push my face against that pale hair. Pull her all the way into my lap and run my tongue along her ear. Suck on the tender skin of her neck.

Warm herallthe way up.

Despite the cold, my cock was thick and aching.Fuck. I was so close to the edge, about to tip over.

I lifted one of her freezing hands and kissed her fingertips.

SIXTEEN

Ayla

Teller touchedhis lips to the pads of my fingers.

It felt like I was under some spell, just watching what he would do next. I’d been half frozen a moment before, but now, lines of fire traced up and down my limbs and into my stomach.

Something was happening between us, though I had no idea what it was.

Teller lowered my hands, placing them in my own lap. His gaze moved to the windshield, though there wasn’t a thing visible with the snow covering it. “Better now?” His voice was tight.

When I spoke, I didn’t sound like myself either. “Getting there.”

It seemed like he was trying to give me some space. I thought of what he’d said earlier.Maybe touching you meant something different before.

But right now, it felt like the coziest place in the world was there in his arms.

I arranged my space blanket, but I snuggled up against his side at the same time. He had just seen one of my most embarrassing moments. I was feeling pretty shameless. Then his arm went around me beneath the blanket, pulling me deeper into the circleof warmth that radiated from him. My body went limp by a few more degrees. Like I just wanted to melt into him.

“This okay?” he asked.

“It’s nice.”

I rested my head in that small dip between his shoulder and his chest. It was getting darker in the cabin by the minute. We were both quiet, and I alternated between relaxing into the moment and nearly losing my breath from being so close to him. Like my body was at war with itself.

I settled somewhere between drifting off to sleep and tingling with excitement.

Very little about this drive had gone the way it was supposed to. And that whole disaster of going out into the snow because I was about to wet my pants? I’d rarely felt more ridiculous. But Teller had made me laugh through it. He’d actually dug me a path through the snow, plus my own personal bathroom area.

I mean, what guy would jump out and do something like that without even being asked?

Teller Landry, that was who.

On paper, he gave the impression of being a cruel, hard man. Like my father had been. Teller had come across that way the first few times we’d met. But that wasn’t the guy sitting here with me right now. Or the man who’d held his nephew on the roof last night.

I genuinely liked this man. I couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or a really inconvenient one. In less than two days, I would be leaving Colorado. I had no idea when I’d be back again.

But he was right here. Still larger than life, yet I felt completely at ease.

“Can I ask you something?” I said. “You don’t have to answer.”

He pulled back enough that he could look down at me. Pale green glowed in the dimness. “Go ahead.”

“You mentioned being wounded in a car crash. Was that…” I raised my hand, meaning to gesture at his face, but my fingertips brushed the silvery scars on his cheek. The skin was a mix of bumpy and smooth.

He made a sound in his throat and caught my hand. But he didn’t let go this time. “Yes. Are you asking how it happened?”

I nodded. “It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it.” I’d been around plenty of service members growing up. Many didn’t talk about their deployments.

“It’s not my favorite topic, but I don’t mind telling you. Can’t say much, though. It was a classified mission.” His thumb ran across my knuckles. “I was driving. Another of our Humvees was in front of us, with four other operators from our unit. Another Humvee behind. One moment, everything was fine. The next, the first vehicle lifted in the air and crashed back onto us. They’d hit a concealed IED.”

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