Page 7 of Her Mountain Rescuer

“Still are,” I say, a teasing note in my voice. The tension from a moment ago seems to have faded, thankfully.

She turns to look up at me, her brown eyes meeting mine. “I can’t help it,” she says, a small smile playing on her pretty lips. “It’s in my nature.” Our eyes hold, and I suck in a breath. I can smell her, the sweet, delicate scent of her skin mixed with the faint smell of rain and earth still clinging to her. I could get drunk on the smell of Hailey’s skin.

I smile back at her, my heart pounding so hard in my chest I wonder if she can hear it. “I know. It’s one of the things I l…” I cut myself off. “It’s one of the things that makes you, you,” I finish. I can’t believe I almost said that I love her. It might be true, but I can’t say it. Christ.

She watches me for a moment, little lines digging in between her brows. Her eyes search mine, and I wonder what she sees there. If I’m successfully hiding everything I’m feeling.

“You’ve always taken care of me,” she says softly. “Whenever I’ve needed you, you’ve been there, including today.”

The corner of my mouth kicks up, and I fight back the urge to brush her damp hair behind her ear. “I’ve always thought of myself as an honorary uncle.” That’s not entirely true. It might’ve been when she was a kid, but I haven’t thought of her as anything but a woman I can’t have for the past two years.

She wrinkles her nose. “I definitely don’t see you as an uncle.” She sighs and lays back down, snuggling into me. Her ass brushes against my cock, and I swear I see stars. One stroke of her little fingers and I’d come. “Maybe sort of when I was a kid, but…I’m not a kid anymore.”

“I’ve noticed.”

She goes tense again. “Have you?” There’s a bite to her words that I don’t understand.

“Hailey, what’s wrong? Are you pissed at me or something?”

She shakes her head. “No.”

I’m unconvinced. “What’s going on? Talk to me.”

Her shoulders tense, and silence fills the room. After a long moment, she blows out a breath. When she turns to look at me over her shoulder, I’m stunned to see her gorgeous eyes shining with tears.

“I saw you, Beau. On your date. I saw you, and I have to accept that you see yourself as myuncle.” She lets out a choked little laugh, shaking her head. “You say you’ve noticed I’m not a kid anymore, but seeing you on that date showed me that you’ll never look at me the way I wish you would.”

Oh, fuck.

Three

Hailey

“What are you talking about?” Beau frowns, looking so completely baffled that it’s almost cute. “Date? What date?”

“The date I saw you on yesterday.” I turn around to face him fully, realizing half a second too late that I’ve just given him a glimpse of my boobs.

Not that it matters.

His frown deepens, and then understanding dawns across his stupidly perfect face. The firelight flickers across the masculine planes of it, highlighting his square, bearded jaw and chiseled cheekbones. It plays across the dips and valleys of his ridiculous muscles, making his tattoos look almost animated.

“You saw me having dinner with Kelly yesterday.”

My stomach churns, a sour taste rising up in my mouth. Kelly. I hate her.

I nod, forcing myself to meet his gaze. Not hiding under the weight of all of this, as much as I want to. Beau doesn’t say anything for a moment, and I can feel myself sulking. Pouting.

“She probably won’t be too happy that you’re huddled up naked with another woman.” I glance away. “Not that that’s how you see me.”

Beau slips a finger under my chin and raises my face, forcing me to meet his eyes. I suck in a breath at the heat shimmering there. I may be inexperienced, but I know lust when I see it.

Which makes absolutely no sense.

Beau’s gaze holds mine. Outside, another crack of thunder booms and rain starts to patter harder against the roof and windows. Tension stretches between us, thick and sweet like honey dripping from a spoon.

“Kelly’s an old colleague, sweet girl. She used to work for the Mountain Rescue Service before moving to Edmonton a few years ago to be closer to her family.” He leans in a bit closer. “And her wife might have a thing or two to say if she thought our dinner was a date.”

Relief floods through me, swift and dizzying in its intensity. “Her…wife?”

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