“The plan?” Pausing, I looked back to see she was still trudging after me, the weight of whatever she’d packed in her shoulder bag making her lopsided. A quick, full-body scan made sure her open-toed sandals held up to the forest floor, not that I wanted another look at her curves. Nope. They were already committed to memory and would probably star in any dreams I had tonight. After the nightmare, of course.
It had been close to ten years since I had left the service for the bright lights and golden streets of Hollywood. I snorted at the thought since those streets were anything but golden, and yet the nightmare, the same damn one, haunted me. Screaming men, children. I could still taste the Afghan dust and smell the spent mortar shells.
“Um, Kane?” Snapping my attention back to the pink-haired beauty, a look of concern had marred her earlier pretty, sassy face. “Everything okay?”
Blanking my features, a skill I’d acquired in my youth, I shrugged her worry away. “We’re almost there. And the plan? The plan is to keep you safe, out of the public eye and off of all social media for the foreseeable future.” Adjusting the blinged-out pink suitcase that surely held her entire closet, I turned toward my nearly finished home.
I’d taken maybe half a dozen strides when I sensed she hadn’t started up again. When I glanced back, she stood stone still, her mouth opening and then closing on repeat, like a goldfish gasping for breath, her cheeks enflamed to near cherry red.
“Are you insane? You realize my job is a hundred percent online. You’ve heard about social media, right? TikTok, Instagram?” Chassie enraged was a sight to behold. Truly. I’dheard the cliché about women being beautiful when they were mad, but goddamn, she was fucking glorious. As the sun set, its rays filtered through the trees, and she was backlit as if she were an actress in an epic fantasy. A bright halo highlighted her pink hair, and I nearly forgot myself and reached out to see if she were real.
If I hadn’t halfway fallen for her back at the lodge, I’d just tumbled headfirst down a ravine, with no hope of reaching a recovery point. I had no effing clue what to do, what to say next. Like a lovesick fool, I just stood there staring at the woman who was ticking off all the boxes on some perfect woman checklist I’d never made. Shit, I really had become a product of my former environment. Hollywood had turned me into a poet.
“And another thing.”
“There’s more?” I couldn’t help it. I had a devil on my shoulder pretty much twenty-four seven, and something told me I was going to enjoy this adventure much more than Finn could have ever dreamed of. I’d better prepare myself for a knockdown with him now.
Chassie threw her shoulder bag down. The noise it created filled the still air, and I watched fascinated as her face contorted comically before she let loose a litany of swear words even this former Ranger could appreciate.
“Dammit!” The word was whispered as she threw out her hands, tipped her head back, then unleashed an unholy scream, startling several birds and quite possibly a mama bear seeking one last honey binge before settling into her den for the coming winter.
I let her have the moment uninterrupted. She obviously needed the release. So, I let my gaze wander. It was fall in north Idaho, and on Pineville Mountain, that meant the weather could and did change on Mother Nature’s wim. Today, however, it was a beautiful, clear, crisp afternoon with the scent of wood smokefrom the other cabins drifting along the breeze. Just another reminder of why the decision to finally plant some roots here had been my best one ever.
“What was that?” She whipped her head from side to side. A bear’s echoing call faded. It was a good distance away, a safe half mile at least, but she didn’t need to know that, so I used it to my advantage. Grinning, I never claimed to play fair, but I was one of the good guys and I’d spend our time together proving to Ms.-Independent-I-have-to-have-to-be-on-social-media-even-though-someone’s-threatening-me, exactly how good I can be.
“Relax. You just stirred up a hornet's nest with that rebel yell. Nothing more. Look, we’re almost at my place. So, what’s this other thing that has you screaming to the wind?”
Chassie had the good sense to reset, smoothing out her features as she mastered her pique and placed her hands onto her squeezable hips and shook her hair off her shoulders. She had no idea of the vision she made, or the chain reaction happening within me.
“I’m hot.” She huffed.
Christ almighty. It was my turn to throw back my head, but I resisted. Instead, I mumbled, “Yes, you certainly are.” And as I continued to stare without letting her realize I was staring, the front of my jeans expanded with an intense immediacy I somehow hid with her foo-foo luggage.What the hell?
“It’s maybe sixty-five degrees out.” That’s all I had. The least sexually fueled comeback I could manage.
“Have you ever heard of perimenopause?” Her frustration rang out loud and clear as she fanned herself.
"Peri what? You mean menopause?" I wasn’t totally ignorant about some female stuff, but Chassie had me on this one.
"Close. It’s the time before a woman's period fully stops. And it sucks. It’s also why I do what I do. I mean, what I share on my TikTok and Instagram accounts. I'm an influencer of sorts, butreally my passion is educating women about our underserved and frankly ignored health issues."
The look on her face made me want to drop the damn suitcase and take her in my arms. I’ve never comforted a woman, but damn if the urge didn’t almost have me marching over to her. Those wide eyes along with her rigid stance, like she was expecting me to laugh or belittle what was happening to her, what she did, made me feel protective. And not in the bodyguard sense.
“And on top of everything, I'm in the middle of a forest, I’m hot, I'm sweaty, and a bit freaked about staying in a cabin with the 'fauna' all around us. And then there’s you. Even if my brother trusts you with my life, that doesn’t mean I automatically should, right?"
Smart woman. Although it may be a tad late to voice that particular concern. But I could tell that Chassie had run out of steam and just looked tired. Reassurance was now my priority. I'd figure out the rest later.
"Have you ever done this before?" Chassie asked, her shoulders had relaxed yet her eyes still conveyed a wariness I could appreciate.
"No. You ever need a bodyguard before?"Keep it light, London.She just spilled her guts. Make her laugh or something.
"No," she answered, her tone full of sass.
"Then I guess we'll figure things out as we go along. Deal?”
Chassie didn’t answer right away; she took her time. And her gaze took a long, openly curious journey over my still-vibrating form. It did two things to me. It made me even harder. And it gave me time to figure out why this woman was affecting me.
How had I lived my life without ever finding a woman that knocked my senses off their axis, made me want to protect at any cost, even if it meant defying her equally protective brother, and dammit, was this love at first sight? Was I living a tinsel townrom com in the mountains of Idaho with the sexiest woman even my most vivid and hottest dreams could never create?
