Burn on the Western Slope (Crimson Romance) (7 page)

“I mean, I would rather you go first,” she continued, this time a little calmer.

He smiled a beaming, accommodating, amusing smile as if he couldn’t wait to show her how silly she was to be afraid. He plunked the sled on the ground. “Okay.” With no effort, he climbed in and slid down the hill before she had a chance to catch her breath.

Anticipation shot through her as she watched him reach bottom. She pinned her hand to her mouth, chortling like a child and doing a little dance-jump. He waved and began to scale the path to where she stood, her rickety legs threatening to fold under her as he came closer.

“That looks like a lot of fun.”

“You ready to give it a try?” he asked as he approached and handed over the sled.

She managed to control her fear and get on, screaming the entire three-second run downhill. Excitement erupted into a giggly spear of laughter when she slid to a stop at the bottom.

She glanced up at Garret. He waved and before she knew it, he was sliding down the hill on his butt.

She clapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh my God.”

“Come on,” he said as he stood and reached for her hand. “I have some other places to show you. If you don’t mind the walk.”

“No. I don’t mind.”

Her clothes swished as they hiked. Garret wasn’t kidding, it wasn’t far, but she had to keep her breath steady and focused so as not to pant like an idiot.

After a while, he stopped and linked his heavily gloved hand to her heavily coated arm. “You okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t push yourself if you think you’re getting altitude sickness.”

“I won’t,” she agreed, though being near him even on stable ground made her irrational. That could explain her attraction to him. Wasn’t she looking for new adventures?

Within minutes, nothing but mountainous valleys opening into wide-open skies, white peaks, and looming trees surrounded them. She could no longer see the town or the ski lift. They climbed a small knoll that bent and swayed to level ground. Mountains stretched out like jaws, open and ready to devour her. One look made her fear she would fall, and she wasn’t anywhere near the cliffs.

They took turns sledding down, and she watched him sideswipe trees and bypass craters. After a few runs, he retrieved a camera from his pack and shot pictures of her as she trekked up the hill she’d previously plummeted down. Her calves burned, her lungs hurt, and her mind raced at what Garret must be thinking.

“What are you doing?”

“Taking pictures,” he answered. He snapped another picture and let the camera fall, a cord keeping it attached around his neck. “Of you.”

Was he flirting with her? He’d removed his shades and placed them on his forehead to get a better view through the camera lens, but it gave her a better view, too. Pink tinted his crystal clear complexion. The artist side of her appreciated the sharp angles and lines and shades on his face.

His eyes held the universe in their depths, as if his pupils had absorbed the colors of everything surrounding him and emitted the energy back out into the world. When he looked at her, her body absorbed that energy and left her warm and fuzzy. Warm as if his presence was a snuggly soft comforting blanket. Fuzzy as if his presence was the aftermath of a powerful storm buzzing along her spine.

What an understatement.

“Oh,” she replied as the sled slipped from her fingers and fell to the snow. Stepping closer to him, she tussled with the camera around his neck. The cord stuck in the crevices of his parka.

Placing his gloved hands over hers, he helped remove the camera. The gloves made things awkward as they both struggled with the strap. Laughing, she dropped her hands and let him deal with it.

Her body tingled as his breath lightly cupped her cheek.

Why, after her first night here, did she have to meet someone so captivating? He handed her the camera, and she chased away the awkward
oh please kiss me
feeling with a smile.

“My turn,” she said as she raised the camera. He grabbed the sled and slipped down the hill, his broad shoulders making the orange gadget appear smaller. Her nerves stretched and quivered as she watched him.

Reagan sucked at relationships. Kyle dreamed of being police chief one day and was a safe anchor as they both focused on their careers. But he’d been a selfish lover. That must explain her knee-jerk reaction to Garret.

Kyle’s affair no longer bothered her once she realized she wasn’t in love with him, but she wouldn’t mind proving she was not only able to turn on a man, but to fulfill that desire as well.

Garret came to mind as a possible candidate for her experiment. She snapped pictures of him, the unexpected flash like a lightning bolt warning of a bad decision. He was her next door neighbor and she didn’t want things to get awkward. When it didn’t work out — and it wouldn’t — they would resort to avoiding each other. She didn’t want a reason to leave.

A relationship was not on her agenda for this trip. Sex, maybe. Definitely. Eventually, if she got up the nerve. But a relationship?

She took another picture as Garret sideswiped a tree and almost hit another dead on, stopping in the middle of the two. She ran down the hill after him, practically tripping and tumbling as she slid, giggling, into a heap beside him.

“You okay?” he asked, his eyes flashing.

“Yeah. You?”

He gazed at her, a smile on his face like it belonged and he was perfectly happy with it. Like he didn’t have any worries, cares, or concerns except how to get to his next adventure. She forgot where she was, what she was doing, and the goals she set for this trip. Have fun, but remain realistic. Don’t get too comfortable, but don’t balk at every opportunity.

She had a feeling with Garret in the picture, she wouldn’t have to worry about getting too comfortable.

He leaned against the tree. Reagan snapped a picture of him sprawled on the snow against the tree, his hat askew, the sled beside him.

She’d have to get copies of the digital pictures later so she could ogle him every night. Or use the photo as a basis to sketch his portrait. Yes, that was her plan. She wasn’t a crazy psycho stalker woman to obsess over him and flutter at his every move.

No matter how much she wanted to.

Steeling her mind against the onslaught of delusion, she snapped one more photo as he posed with the sled. “You enjoy photography?” she asked.

“Yes, it’s a hobby of mine.”

He tore his cockeyed beanie from his head, mussing his hair. Combing it with his fingers, he only tousled it more. She clicked another picture, wondering if she ran her fingers through his hair if it’d be as soft as it appeared.

“Did you take those pictures on my mantel?” she asked.

“Some of them.”

“Some?”

“Your uncle took a lot, too.”

Reagan paused, wondering how to respond. She wanted to learn about her uncle, but she didn’t want to spoil their mood. She didn’t know how well Garret knew Ray, if he was still grieving over his neighbor’s death, or how to speak of his loss when she knew nothing about his life.

“So you know my uncle?” she asked softly.

“Yeah, I knew him.” He stood and dusted snow from his pants. Holding out his hand, he grabbed hers and pulled her up, then dropped her hand.

But he didn’t move away. They were close — so close — close enough for her to see the rise and fall of his chest behind his heavy layers. His jaw twitched as he glanced at her lips, his eyes darkening when his gaze latched to hers. His back was practically against the tree, but she didn’t step away. He could have moved to the side away from her, but he remained where he was.

Neither moved to break the space between them.

• • •

She wasn’t at all what he expected. Okay, he’d thought it before, but he couldn’t get her out of his mind, even when she wasn’t standing right in front of him.

She was cute, flirty, not afraid to speak her mind but surprisingly shy and vulnerable, like she wasn’t as self-confident as she should be, as she had every right to be. She wasn’t manipulative, or at least that personality hadn’t materialized yet. He had a lot to learn and it was too early to judge, but he liked her.

Problem was, his job didn’t include appraising her character. His job was to investigate her knowledge of a very dangerous man. And Garret knew that even the most innocent and infallible women could know a lot about danger.

And dangerous men.

“It’s time to eat.” Garret stepped away, tamping down on his lust before it got out of hand. “You hungry?”

Her eyes narrowed and she stepped away. “Starving.”

He took her hand and escorted her to Tanyon Creek, hoping she appreciated the beauty of the outdoors. The sun glistened across diamond-tipped water. Ribbons of ice punctuated the creek, making their steps crunch as they walked along the bed. Once they reached his favorite spot where a stream gushed through clusters of ice and rock, he dropped his backpack and spread a blanket on the ground. Reagan laughed as a bird nosed down and skated across icy patches of land only to swoop up, spin around, and do it again.

Garret removed a thermos of hot chocolate from his backpack and poured some into a thermal cup. She smiled her thanks when he handed her one.

“You’re a planner, aren’t you?”

“You always have to plan here.” He unwrapped two sandwiches and handed her one. He tore open a bag of chips and set the bag between them to share. “In the summer, you have to plan for bears.”

“Bears?”

“You have to be cautious on outings like this, just in case. They’re usually not dangerous, but you don’t want to sneak up on one.”

“You mentioned you were here visiting. So you don’t live here?”

“I grew up here.”

“This is beautiful,” Reagan said as she munched on a chip. “I recognize the site in one of the pictures back at the condo.”

“Yes, four eight-by-tens hang in the hallway of your condo, depicting each season of this exact area.”

“Did you take those?”

“Your uncle and I both did. We hiked every chance we could and never left without our cameras.”

“So you knew Ray well?”

He stared into her eyes, unsure what to say. Better to just say nothing. Nothing about how he knew Ray enough to know that he loved her as a daughter. She’d been five the last time he saw her, but she probably wouldn’t remember.

After listening to Ray cry in his beer many nights over the family he lost, he knew a lot but then again not much. For no reason, or at least reasons Ray never admitted, Reagan’s mother didn’t want to have anything to do with him. Her father wouldn’t allow him within ten feet of his daughter, but he didn’t want to tell her that.

“I knew him a long time.” Garret reached for a chip.

“What was he like?”

“A lot like Chayton.” Garret paused. She knew Chayton as well as she knew Ray. “Rugged, like these mountains. They both harbored restless energy. He and Chayton were kindred spirits. I swear they were more like brothers than Chayton and me. They were practically attached at the hip, but there was a part of Ray he kept private.”

Ray and Chayton reminded him of the panorama he viewed now. With ice in their veins but beauty in their hearts within a moving river that wasn’t quite frozen. Afraid to open up and share the deepest part of themselves, but willing to die for those in need.

Hiding, always hiding from their wounds.

He wasn’t any different.

Chapter Five

The next evening, Reagan and Naomi went to Air Dog for a Super Bowl party. They’d spent the day exploring the town and meeting more people. So far, everyone she met had known and loved Ray. She still had no idea why her mother didn’t.

After sledding yesterday, Garret took her to Air Dog for another hot buttered rum drink, where she’d hooked up with Naomi. Chayton had invited them to this party, and she and Garret parted ways. He hadn’t walked her home, hadn’t given her a kiss on the cheek. Hadn’t asked to see her again. Nothing. It was like their outing was just that, an outing. Not a date.

He’d never said it was a date.

He acted cavalier about the whole thing. Treating her as he would any female friend he knew forever. It shouldn’t have bothered her. She didn’t need to get involved with anyone. Being friends was the best idea. She barely knew him.

But it did bother her. Every time she stepped into Ray’s condo, she grew restless. Lonely. This quiet little town made her wish for things. Things like curling up on the rug beside the fire with a mug of hot cocoa and a man.

A man like Garret.

Air Dog was decorated to the hilt for the Super Bowl. Lighted footballs hung from the ceiling. Streamers ran across the tops of the wall on all sides. The flat screen TVs behind the bar aired the game. Bowls of popcorn and nuts enticed snackers from every table and a table full of appetizers perched against a back wall. Several people entered, carrying more trays and bowls of food.

“Ladies.” Chayton sidled up to them on the other side of the bar and winked at Naomi as they plopped themselves on bar stools. He reached above him for two glasses. “Our special today is Super Bowl Sundown. Something I made up myself. You want to give it a try?”

“I’m game,” Reagan said as she shrugged out of her jacket and gloves. “Were we supposed to bring something?”

“Just yourself.”

“What about those people?” she asked, pointing to a couple who carried several plates of food.

“Some of the regulars pitched in to help feed the crowd. It’s an annual party and usually gets pretty crazy.”

She looked around but didn’t voice the question if Garret would be here.

“I’ll take your jackets.” Chayton deposited their drinks on the counter and stretched out his hands. “I don’t let just anyone keep their jackets back here, but I did it for Ray and I’ll do it for his niece and her friend.”

“Thanks,” Reagan said. “Actually, Naomi is my cousin. On my dad’s side,” she added after noticing the quizzical arch of his brow.

“Oh.” Chayton stowed their coats, gloves, and hats behind the bar and tended to the next customer. It was getting busy and impossible for him to hold a conversation at the moment, so Reagan and Naomi picked up their drinks and roamed.