Page 40 of The Hero Within
And if Adam caught a glimpse of her speaking to a handsome young stranger, he'd be right over here, getting all up in her business.
There was possibly a reason she'd never seen a man this gorgeous before.
"A bounty hunter?" Johnny murmured, and paused a step.
"Don't worry," she said, crossing the narrow alley behind the general store and heading for the boarding house. "He won't like you, but it wouldn't be personal. Adam thinks every guy has ulterior motives."
"They probably do."
"And what are your motives, Mr. Colton?"
Johnny scrubbed a hand over the back of his neck, glancing behind him as if keeping an eye out for overprotective brothers. The bit about bounty hunters had clearly thrown him. "My motives include getting clean and keeping my hands to myself." He paused. "I probably shouldn't be doing this."
"Relax," she teased. "You're a paying customer."
Johnny arched a brow. "Paying, am I?"
"Water's scarce. So it will cost you half a silver."
A shy smile twisted his mouth. "You're a right regular hustler...."
Eden dragged her knees up to her chest. The image was as clear as a bell. Every moment of that day she met him had etched itself in her brain, like a scar. If you grabbed a boiling pot, you'd remember the flinch of pain, no matter how many years passed, and this was exactly the same. Simply seeing Colton again bought that pain to the surface.
But now she had a chance to reconsider events, she couldn't help remembering Colton's skittishness that day, as if he'd never had a chance to flirt either. There'd been a reluctance about him as he followed her, as if he simply couldn't help himself.
He'd also been nervous, his gaze constantly roving the horizon. She'd always thought it had been Adam he'd been looking for, especially after she stole a kiss.
But what if it hadn't been?
What if he'd known exactly what sort of evil overshadowed him, and he'd been trying to protect her from it, even as he simply couldn't resist?
Eden brushed crumbs off her fingertips, shooting Colton and CJ a guilty glance. Firelight danced over their faces. CJ's face was rapt as Colton murmured something to him, turning the wolf's head talisman that kept the warg at bay over in his hands.
Speaking of the kiss....
She could almost feel it on her lips still. A swiftly stolen moment when she'd opened the door to the washroom and found Colton shaving with deft, mechanical movements, his skin bare except for the white towel around his waist.
The sight of him had stolen her thoughts. She'd stammered her apologies. He'd used the screen to dress swiftly, heat darkening his cheeks, as Eden scrambled to collect the towels—and her wits.
"I should go," he said, as they both escaped that cursed washhouse.
Still reeling from her first encounter with lust, Eden grabbed his arm, reluctant to see this dream vanish. When he shot her a startled look, she wasn't able to help herself.
Lifting on her toes, she pressed her mouth to his, aware of the tension in his lean body.
He didn't move. Didn't kiss her back for such a long moment, she was about to lower her feet firmly to the ground, when he finally broke. Hands came up, capturing her face. A soft sound of pure aching need erupted from his throat, his chest, his toes—as if the sheer hunger to be touched came from so deep within his soul, it almost vibrated through him. And then he was shoving her back against the wall to the washhouse, his mouth capturing hers, and his body imprinting itself against every inch of her body.
It stole her breath.
Her wits.
Left her aching and vulnerable, despite the relative inexperience she couldn't fail to recognize in both of them. A clumsy, sloppy kiss, full of need and unspoken desire, and a burgeoning hunger on her behalf.
"What have we here?" a voice called, cutting through the haze of desire like a knife.
Johnny shoved away from her as if he'd been burnt.
"You should go." Johnny's soft smile turned hard all of a sudden, and he gave her a little push behind him as a stranger appeared out of nowhere, his malevolent shadow separating from the ones he hovered within on the veranda, and the ever-present glow of his cigar burning like hot little embers.
