Page 24 of Hot Winter Nights (Bear Mountain Rescue 1)

“Fine. A little tired and my feet are killing me.”

Hunter sat down in the other office chair and scooted around until he was next to her. He picked up one of her feet and held it in his lap.

And then, with the pad of his thumb, he pressed into the arch of her foot and started rubbing away all the aches.

Allie melted into her chair, whimpering with every squeeze, every press of his hands.

“Does that hurt?”

“In the best way possible,” she said huskily.

For several more moments he continued massaging her feet, and then, suddenly, he was pulling her toward him so her legs straddled him on either side of his chair. Her eyes flew open as her simple black pencil skirt rode up her thighs. His arm wrapped around her waist and he dipped his head toward her lips.

“Someone could come in,” she protested.

“I locked the door.”

Such a bold move was surprising from Hunter, and as he gave her a hard, passionate kiss, Allie had to admit that it did stir something inside her. But was it really him or his assertiveness that was affecting her?

Allowing herself to sink into the kiss, to lose herself in it, she waited…and waited for more.

But besides that momentary flutter, this kiss was the same as all the others they’d shared. A sweet, pleasant kiss. It didn’t make her body hum with need or cause her toes to curl.

Damn it.

Don’t be discouraged. There is something here. It might not be an over-the-top, runaway passion, but it will grow.

Allie had never had anything that was real before, nothing that would last. She just needed to be patient.

Allie pulled away and gave Hunter a reassuring smile. “We shouldn’t do this here.”

“Fine, I’ll be a good boy, but what do you think about you and me grabbing a beer after work?”

“I would love to, but I have to get home and relieve Penny. She has to work at the Grizzly tonight.”

Hunter stood up, running his hands from her waist down the sides of her thighs as he released her.

“Another time, then,” he said, shooting her a wink before he unlocked her office door and slipped out.

Allie got home to find Dex up on the roof, hammering.

“Hey,” she called.

He’d barely glanced up when she pulled in the driveway, and his indifference was starting to grate on her. How could he say all of those things and then ignore her? He hadn’t even thanked her for bringing him home when he was too drunk to do it himself.

Looking around for something to throw, she decided upon a pinecone. The goal was to toss it up onto the roof next to him to get his attention.

Instead, she’d hit him in the ass, and with more impact than she knew she had the ability to generate.

Dex jumped and looked at her over his shoulder with a glare. “What the hell?”

“Don’t you have a job or something?”

“I told you I took some time off to fix all the things on the cabin. Is that why you tried to knock me off the roof?”

“Oh, please, it hardly touched you.”

With a shake of his head, Dex turned back to his hammering. Heat crawled along Allie’s skin, pricks of anger tightening her muscles as she worked herself into a full-on rage.

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