Page 14 of Brewing with the Mountain Man
I blink. Wow. I’m surprised. I didn’t meet many “good cops” as I went through the system. "He sounds like a decent man," I admit.
"He is." She smiles. "He taught me that law enforcement is supposed to be about protection and justice, not just punishment."
“That’s honorable,” I say. “I wish more cops went by that.”
“Well, my three older brothers do. They followed in his footsteps, all in various forms of law enforcement.”
Are you kidding me? “Soallof your family is in law enforcement?”
She grins. “My mom was an elementary school teacher.” She tilts her head, her expression turning serious. “But me and my family understand that protective instinct. The anger that consumes you when someone hurts the people you love.”
She shakes her head. "My brother, Kade, got put on leave for roughing up a guy who was hassling me at uni. Dad chewed him out and made him take anger management sessions. But I also know Dad bought him a beer afterward.”
She scoots closer, and now her knee is touching mine and Bear lays down between us.
I huff out a breath. "I couldn't face going back to normal life. Couldn't stand the way people looked at me. So I came out here. Anna's moved on, has a good husband now, two kids. She sends Christmas cards that I don't answer. Because I don't deserve?—"
"Stop." Sadie's hand covers mine, warm and soft. "Stop punishing yourself for caring too much."
“You’re unlike anyone I’ve ever met, Sadie.”
We stare at each other, her hand on mine, and damn, I want her so badly.
"We should check the supplies," I say quickly, voice rough. "Make sure nothing got damaged in the storm."
But I don't move. Neither does she.
Finally, she pulls her hand back and stands.
I follow, and we work in charged silence, checking windows, gathering wood from the covered pile outside. Every time we pass each other, we're too close. When I hand her pieces of kindling, our fingers linger. When she reaches over me for something, I feel the heat of her body like a brand.
She's standing by the window, checking the seal, when I come up behind her with the caulk gun. "Here, that corner needs?—"
I reach around her to point, and suddenly she's turning, and we're chest to chest, her back against the window.
"Ledger," she whispers.
"I'm trying to be good," I tell her, and it comes out like a confession.
"I know." Her hand comes up to rest on my chest, and I wonder if she can feel my heart pounding. "Me too."
"I'm forty years old, Sadie. Too old to start over, too set in my ways?—"
"That's horseshit and you know it." The profanity from her surprises me. "You have decades ahead of you. Stop acting like your life is over when all you need is a brand new start."
The sun chooses that moment to fully break through the clouds, flooding the cabin with light. It catches in her hair, turns her eyes impossibly blue.
"Sadie." My hand comes up to her face, as if I’m no longer in control of it. My thumb traces the line of her jaw and she leans into the touch, eyes fluttering closed.
And that's all I can take.
I lean down and kiss her like I'm drowning and she's air. Like I've been starving all this time and she's sustenance. Like I'm just now learning what wanting really means.
She makes a delicious sound—surprise or surrender, I’m not sure—and then she's kissing me back just as desperately. Herhands fist in my shirt, pulling me closer, and I crowd her against the window, needing to feel every inch of her against me.
She's soft and fierce at once, opening under my mouth, meeting every bit of my intensity with her own.
Fuck, she tastes like coffee and honey and everything I could ever want. My hand cradles the back of her head, and hers slide up to my shoulders, gripping hard. I suck on her tongue and she nips my lower lip, my cock like a steel rod.
