Page 12 of Montana Rain

Jude’s fiancée hadn’t come to retrieve us alone.

Rayne was standing at the door, staring straight at me.

Chapter 6

Rayne

Cole Phillips stood in front of me, shirtless and glistening with sweat.

I would be a liar if I said I hadn’t imagined him with less clothing than I’d seen him in, but an imaginary image and a very not imaginary reality were completely different. My mouth was dry, and I couldn’t seem to take my eyes off him, nor he me.

“Get cleaned up and come inside. We’re not waiting,” Lena called, spinning away from Jude, her cheeks flushed from the way he’d just kissed her.

“Come on.” Lena turned me and looped her arm through mine, forcing me to break the stare.

I waited until we were outside. “Did you guys plan this? Cole and me?”

Lena laughed. “I didn’t. Promise. But don’t discount the men in this scenario. Now that they’re becoming husbands and fathers, all of them are acting like mother hens and matchmakers. I didn’t even know you were coming.”

“No, it was Evie who called and asked me to come.”

The Resting Warrior family dinner had been rotating through people’s houses. But since Lucas and Evie were getting ready to move, the dinner was at the lodge, the way it always used to be.

“She could be in on it,” Lena said. “Or Lucas. Either way, I approve.”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course you do.”

“What’s the real reason you don’t want to be around him?”

Pressing my lips together, I said nothing. Right before family dinner wasn’t when I wanted to get into all the details of why that would be a monumentally disastrous idea.

But my mind also had trouble recalling what any of those reasons were when all I could see was Cole’s naked chest and remember what it felt like to be pinned against his body. Now my mind could put the two things together and imagine what it might be like to be pinned without the clothing.

I was so screwed.

“There are lots of reasons.”

Lena snorted with laughter. “Sure. Okay, Rayne.”

“He’s arrogant, and he was awful to everyone.” She pushed open the back door to the lodge. “But we’ll discuss it later. I don’t want him thinking I’m talking about him.”

“Okay.” She threw a look over her shoulder that told me she didn’t believe me even for a second.

I didn’t believe myself either.

The main room of the lodge was all chatter, and I smiled over at the fire where Emma sat with Tyson, chatting with Evie, who watched little Avery, who was starting to pull herself up on the furniture. Grant was helping Cori set the table, and the whole scene was one of joy and warmth.

Only a couple minutes passed before the men came in from the gym, and Cole was thankfully dressed in normal clothes, with a shirt. But he still stared at me like we were locked in some sort of trance.

“Who won?” Grant called.

“Noah kicked my ass the first time,” Cole said, still looking at me. “But I got Harlan.”

“We’re both going to have rematches.”

Emma came over, Tyson in her arms, and Cole stiffened. A smile slipped on his face, but I noticed the tension. “Hello, Emma.”

“It’s weird to call you Cole and not ‘Agent Phillips,’” she said.

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