Page 22 of Mystery at Rescue Ridge

Her heart argued she could kiss him, sate the desire, and then move on.Her brain knew differently.It was anyone’s guess which side would win out.

“Evie…” Owen started.

She lifted her gaze to meet his, and a bomb detonated in her chest.

“Yes,” she managed to croak out.

“Kissing would be a mistake.”

“Yes,” she confirmed.Logically, he was right.

And then it dawned on her that he might want contact as much as she did.

“There would be consequences,” he said, his voice gruff.

“Yes,” she said.

“Can we handle them?”

“Yes.”

Her one-word response was all it took for Owen to lift his hand to cradle the back of her neck and then draw her lips toward his.A thrill of awareness skittered across her skin.His clean, masculine scent—a mix of woodsy aftershave and peppermint toothpaste—filled her as she breathed him in.

The man had always smelled amazing.Been amazing.

When his lips touched hers, her stomach went into free fall, and the world tipped on its axis.

It took two seconds for things to heat up.Their mouths fused together, moving in a dance they’d choreographed years ago.A dance that had been waiting too long for its time in the spotlight.Evie brought her hands up to his shoulders to anchor herself against the onslaught of emotions washing over her in wave after soul-igniting wave.

A crack overhead, thunder, brought her out of the trance and back to her senses.

Evie stood up, pressed the back of her hand to her mouth, and then shot toward the master bedroom like a guided missile.She closed the door behind her and then hopped into the bed, pulling the covers up to her neck.

She was delirious.She needed sleep.She needed perspective because kissing Owen had felt like the most right thing she’d ever done in her life.

For the next half hour, she did nothing but toss and turn.Part of her was ecstatic.The other part, the reasonable part, said she’d made a mistake.A high like she’d never experienced warred with worry that she’d just lost Owen for a second and final time.

Thunder rolled overhead as she tried to relax enough to sleep.She was about as successful as a fish trying to breathe out of water.

Sleep was far away for many reasons.The dual threat she’d faced yesterday, first from the mountain lion and second from the unknown hiker.Owen coming back into her life at the exact moment she needed him was a classic move.He’d always seemed to have some kind of radar tuned in to when she needed him most.

The bags cradling his eyes said he hadn’t been sleeping after his ordeal.The need for solitude after the experience had her concerned on his behalf.The friend in her wanted to do whatever was necessary to help him as much as he was helping her.The side of her that had much deeper feelings warned her not to get too close.

The kiss.It was different from others she’d experienced.It had felt as though they’d claimed each other.

The intensity of it should scare her, except this was Owen.She trusted him with her life.And, sure, he seemed attracted to her, too.That was a given after the kiss.But where would this go?He’d been clear about not wanting anything or anyone to tie him down.The man had had surgery to ensure he wouldn’t accidentally have a family.

Evie had too many responsibilities to even think about starting to date at this moment—a thought which struck her as odd that she was having it in the first place, considering they hadn’t talked about what had happened between them long ago.She glanced at the clock.Four-thirty?

Hours had slipped past with her mind bouncing back and forth about what the kiss had meant.

As exhausted as her body was, her mind spun like a top on steroids.The intensity of her attraction to Owen was nothing more than a distraction, she decided.She was still trying to process her loss, and her heart was desperately searching for someone to fill the void left by Simone.

That had to be why Evie couldn’t stop thinking about Owen when facing so many other curveballs.Like, caring for the kids every day.Like, what she was going to do about her job in Dallas?Like, how was she going to live in the house where she’d been broken as a child for not fitting into the mold her parents believed she should?

School hadn’t come easily for Evie.It hadn’t been until her early twenties that she’d realized she was dyslexic.Color blocks made letters difficult to make out.Words moved off the page.She might never have realized she had a reading challenge if she hadn’t met George.Her first boss had the same issue.He’d pointed out the spelling errors she’d made when she’d handwritten a note to him and had asked if she needed accommodations at work.She’d blinked at the man, unsure what he was talking about.He’d explained his issues, and they’d resonated with her.

Evie couldn’t count the number of times she’d been punished for getting a C on a test instead of an A.

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