Cody’s gaze flicked to the
fireflies in the bush, and she swore his eyes danced in the same way. “We used
to count them when we were little,” he chuckled. “Well, we tried.”
Heather tried it, just to silence
the voice inside. One, two. Three. Four? Hard to tell, the way they disappeared
from one place and reappeared in another. She noticed Cody slipping closer then
noticed something else. That Cody was the only man who could do that without
setting off a galloping fear. Ever since she’d been attacked, a man stepping
into line at the grocery store behind her was enough to make her flinch. But
Cody…the closer, the better.
Get
away! Just keep him in your dreams. Nice dreams. Intimate dreams, where he’ll
always be gentle and kind. Don’t let him close!
But he was close. Closer now.
Power glinted off him like the sun off the ocean—power and something more. Not
greed, not lust. Just…a yearning. That was it.
Heather searched for something, anything
to say. “Guess I better go.” She spoke the words, but her limbs refused to
move. Not when he stood so near.
“What’s the rush? Got a
date?” With his fair hair backlit by party lights, he looked like the son of
Apollo and not a mere mortal.
Heather shook her head. “No
rush.” Definitely no date. But didn’t he have one—the dark-haired beauty?
“You’re a good dancer,” she blurted as the image swung through her mind.
“Only with my sister. With
anyone else, I’ve got two left feet.”
His sister? Heather’s mind pulled
up the image of the woman. “That’s your sister?”
“My half sister, Tina.” Cody
cracked a smile. “Doesn’t mean she’s only half bossy to her poor, innocent
little brother.”
“Innocent?” Little? Sweet,
sensual, yes. But not innocent. And nowhere near little.
The golden smile of a guilty man
flashed. “Absolutely innocent.”
“Why do I doubt that?” she
managed.
“I don’t know. Why?”
“Oh, just because.” Because I see the laughter in your eyes.
Because of the way you hide behind your smile. Because that nick in your ear
tells a different story.
She’d been watching him the past
few days. At first, she fell for that happy-go-lucky cowboy persona. But every
so often, she’d catch his mask slipping, as it had when he watched his brother
dance. Underneath, Cody’s eyes flashed with fierce determination—to do what,
she couldn’t tell. Then he’d catch himself and paste the smile back on. How
often had she seen that in her students? Once a child assumed a role—class
clown, science nerd, beauty queen, whatever—it was hard to let it go.
Cody. Little boy, lost and
lonely, or grown man, tough and unassailable? He hadn’t quite found his balance
between the two.
Right now, the mask was firmly in
place. “I was a very good boy!” He winked. “If you leave out the time with the
skunk and the glue on the chair...”
She knew the type exactly. And
how hard it was to break out that self-imposed persona. She turned to the car.
“I really should get moving.”
“No dancing?”
Heather shrugged. Not invited.
She was an outsider here, just as she’d been everywhere else.
“What’s the hurry?”
“They said I shouldn’t stay
after dark.”
His voice dropped, face earnest.
“One dance before you go?”
She tilted her head at him. “I
thought you had two left feet.”
A grin, small but sincere. She
wanted to reach out and grab hold of him—the real Cody, now. “Let me prove it.”
The way the words hit the air made Heather wonder what else he had to prove.
He put his hand out, and the
gesture brought her to a different place, a different night. The night she
nearly died. For a moment, all her muscles threatened to shut down. Heather
swallowed the scream, blinking the panic away.
His eyes narrowed on hers, and
she caught her breath. Unlike the eyes of that terrifying night, these were
brown, tinged with gold. Safe eyes. “Everything okay?” His voice was soft,
coaxing her back from the edge of a cliff. Heather nodded robotically. She
could do this.
“I’m fine.” Right. Now she
was the one wearing a mask.
Slowly, carefully, like a man
handling a spooked filly, Cody led her to the small space between her front
bumper and a hitching post. His hands were callused and strong. Comforting,
even.
The spinster’s voice was back in
Heather’s head. Not so close! But
only her ears got the message; the rest of her was melting fast.
Cody stepped into a slow dance.
Not too close, not too tight, just…nice. They fit together just right, her chin
just over his shoulder, his arm around the curve of her waist.
Get
away! Get home!
Home? Home felt like right here.
Heather promised herself she
wouldn’t get carried away. She’d head home soon. She’d—
Snuggle her cheek against his?
The salty scent of the sea was there, so crisp and fresh she knew it wasn’t
just cologne. Music drifted past, maybe on the same magical ether that made her
feet so light. Her head felt light, too. The man who had turned down all of
those women wanted to dance with her.
Her skin was tingling. “You
definitely don’t have two left feet,” she murmured. He kept his nose to her
hair. God, that felt good.
Then he stopped dancing and
his eyes were on her lips, and it was impossible to heed anything but the call
to meet him halfway. He leaned in just as she rocked forward on her toes,
holding her breath as they kissed.
It was a meltdown kiss, long and
light. So perfect that she had to close her eyes to take it all in.
His lips were soft. Silky.
Innocent. Maybe the man hadn’t been bullshitting her, after all.
Masters Of The Hunt: Fated and Forbidden by Elianne Adams
