Page 63 of Mountain Rescue
“I think I deserve a kiss then.” He halted Thunder, and Honey stopped when his horse did.
“Do you now?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He edged his horse next to hers, put his hand behind her neck, leaned over, and covered her mouth with his.
“Wow,” she said when he pulled away. “Kissing on horseback is sexy.”
“Stick with me, sugar, and I’ll give you all the sexy times you want.”
Yes, please.
As Dallas rang the doorbell of Noah and Peyton’s downtown loft Saturday morning, Rachel wished she could have come as herself and not in her college girl disguise. “It will be okay if I take this wig off while we’re inside, right? The thing is itchy.”
“And ruin my college girl fantasy?”
She rolled her eyes. “Men!”
He laughed. “Sorry, we can’t help ourselves. Give me a kiss before you do away with my college girl.”
“Lay one on me, dude.” She puckered her lips. He was grinning as he lowered his mouth to hers. He put his hand on the side of her neck, spread his fingers, and caressed her throat with his thumb. The man sure knew how to kiss. Another thing she was going to miss when it was time to go home.
“Should I check back in five minutes to see if you two are done?” Jack stood in the open doorway with a scowl on his face.
Rachel jumped back as heat warmed her neck and cheeks. “Ah, that’s okay. We’re done.”
“Says you.” Dallas winked at her, then put his hand on her lower back as they stepped inside.
She should have thought to ask him how she was supposed to act around his friends. Was it a secret that things had changed between them, or did he want them to know that? Since she didn’t know, she’d let him take the lead on what he wanted them to know.
“Oh, what have we here?” An elderly woman wearing leopard print leggings, a gauzy black top, and sparkly silver sandals aimed her thin body at Dallas.
Rachel almost laughed when Dallas grunted, then stepped behind her. She guessed that this must be the man-butt-pinching woman Jack and Noah had warned him about. This pancake breakfast was going to be fun.
Jack’s grandmother, who Rachel had met at the wedding, stepped in front of the first woman. “You’re scaring the poor man, Mary. At least wait until you know his name before you attack him.”
“Well, introduce us then,” Mary said as she tried to peek around Rachel.
Jack strode over and put his hand on Mary’s shoulder. “Mary, this is Rachel Denning, Nichole’s best friend.” With amusement in his eyes, he looked over her shoulder. “The man hiding behind her is Dallas Manning, one of my former teammates.”
“Nice to meet you, Rachel, but step aside and let me check out this handsome man.”
Dallas put his hands on her shoulders, keeping her in place, and Rachel was fighting hard to keep her laughter contained. Not that she blamed him for hiding considering that wicked gleam in Mary’s eyes.
“My friends call me Dirty Mary.” She grinned as if entirely proud of her nickname. “You can call me Dirty Mary, handsome.”
Nichole walked into the room with Peyton at her side, and forgetting that she was the barrier between Dallas and Mary, Rachel ran to greet them. She was in the process of hugging them when she remembered she’d abandoned him. She glanced back, and seeing that Mary was squeezing Dallas’s upper arm, apparently checking out his muscles, she hurried back to him. He didn’t like to be touched, and he was probably about to climb out of his skin.
When she reached his side, ready to do something to divert Mary’s attention, she met Dallas’s gaze and stilled. There was wonder in his eyes, and she felt astonishment coming from him. Well, how about that? He could bear Mary touching him. She wasn’t sure how to feel about that. She kind of liked that she was the only one who could touch him and wasn’t sure she wanted to share, even with a little old lady.
Unaware of the miracle taking place, Mary reached behind Dallas and pinched his butt. Rachel expected him to move away from her grabby hands, but he only laughed.
“While your new friend’s manhandling you,” Jack said, “I’ll introduce you to my grandmother. Grammie, this is my good friend, Dallas. Dallas, my grandmother, Lizzy.”
“It’s always good to meet a friend of Jack’s.” She leaned toward Dallas. “Do you have a higher rank than he did?”
“Actually, I did, ma’am.”
“Good, then I’d like you to order him to get his wife pregnant so I can have a grandbaby before I die.”
