Page 24 of Mountain Rescue
Noah and Peyton came around the corner of the house, saving her from having to respond. They were holding hands—which was really cute, and she was expecting to see a wedding announcement soon—and they took the seats on the other side of Nichole.
“I didn’t know you were in town,” Peyton said.
“It’s kind of an unplanned trip. It’s good seeing you again.” They’d become friends during the week she’d been here for Nichole’s wedding, had bonded over her maid of honor duties and Peyton’s bridesmaid tasks.
“Well, whatever the reason, it’s a nice surprise. The three of us girls need to have a play day.”
“No,” Dallas said.
Peyton’s eyes widened. “Who are you?”
“That’s Dallas Manning, a teammate of mine and Jack’s,” Noah said. “He’s usually better behaved.”
“Really? I’ve not seen that side of him.” Rachel glanced at Dallas. “So you can play nice when you want?” She laughed when he only grunted.
“Well, since no one seems inclined to introduce me, I’m Peyton Sutton, Noah’s fiancée. Nice to meet you, Dallas, even if you don’t play well with others.” She grinned to let him know she was teasing. “Why can’t Rachel have a play day with Nichole and me?”
“We’ll talk about that after dinner,” Jack said. “For now, let’s just kick back and enjoy some good brew with friends.” He pulled a beer from the ice bucket and handed it over to Dallas. “Peyton’s a master beer brewer. This is one of hers.”
Dallas eyed the label. “Not My Grannie’s Tea. Interesting name.” He twisted off the cap and took a swallow. “Damn good.”
“Thanks. There are some other flavors in the bucket you might want to try,” Peyton said.
As Dallas held the bottle, Rachel noticed that two of his fingers were misshaped, as if they’d been broken and not set right. Was that from when he’d been held captive? While the others talked, she subtly studied him. Jack and Noah had on short-sleeve T-shirts, but Dallas wore a long-sleeve Henley. She’d never seen him in anything but long sleeves. Again, she wondered about his time in captivity.
She probably wouldn’t have thought much about it if not for a stuntman she’d worked with whose arms had been burned in a stunt gone wrong. After that, he always wore long-sleeve shirts, even on the hottest days. Was Dallas hiding scars?
Her gaze was caught by the way his throat flexed as he swallowed, by the long fingers wrapped around the beer bottle, by his mouth when it pressed the bottle to those full lips, and...Stop it! Just stop drooling over his body parts.But they were such mouthwatering parts.
“You keep staring at me with those soft eyes, and we’re going to leave this party and go get down and dirty.”
“Asshole,” she hissed. The others were talking and not paying attention to them, and he’d kept his voice low to not be overheard. That was good, but she’d go after him with her tree branch again to keep him from discovering how down and dirty she’d like to get. With him.
The dratted man laughed.
Jack swung his gaze to Dallas. “Good to hear you laughing, brother. Want to share?”
She narrowed her eyes at Dallas in the deadliest glare she could manage. If he gave one hint as to why he was laughing, she would sneak into his room later tonight and smother him in his sleep.
“Nothing to share,” he said, staring back at her as hard as she was staring at him. He could melt icecaps with the fire he was directing at her. Rachel vaguely wondered if Jack and Nichole had a fire extinguisher handy.
There had never been this much chemistry and heat between her and any other man in all of her twenty-nine years. Why—seriously why—couldn’t the cowboy have stampeded into her life when she wasn’t afraid of Robert killing her and anyone associated with her?
She tore her gaze away. No good could come of anything happening with the sexy as all get-out man sending her heated looks. Would it seem odd to the others if she moved her chair to the other side of the table? Yeah, that would look weird.
“Time to get down to business,” Jack said when everyone had finished their dinner. His gaze settled on Rachel. “I’m not real happy with you, girl.”
Nichole glanced between the two of them. “What’s going on?”
“Your best friend is running from someone who wants to hurt her, and she wasn’t going to tell us that she’s hiding out at the cabin.”
“What?” Nichole reached across Dallas and grabbed her hand. “Is that true?”
“Yes.”
“But why wouldn’t you tell us?”
Dallas pushed his plate away. “She didn’t want to bring trouble to your door.” He looked at her. “Admirable but misguided.”
