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“You ready?” he asked in his low, rumbly voice.

My belly spun. My mouth didn’t even close when I nodded. And maybe, just maybe, his eyes darkened a little.

But that would be crazy.

Chapter Two

Lincoln Silver

Penance and plush curves

Chloe Malders stood in front of me, looking ridiculously cute. She had a riot of brown curls with streaks of blonde. She usually twisted her hair up in a knot and stuck a pen through it, which was adorable in a way that made it hard for me to think straight. But then, I suppose I thought everything about her was cute. Even though cute was not really my thing.

She had this sort of haphazard vibe to her, like she was spinning through life too busy to worry much about how she looked. And yet, somehow, she managed to be cute and sexy in a way that grabbed onto me and did not let go.

Tonight, she was wearing a pair of black fleece leggings, practical for Alaska in the winter, tucked into leather boots. Her boots were also practical and sexy as hell. Over that, she wore a silky blue blouse that made my fingers itch to touch her. I’d never seen her hair down before. It hung halfway down her back, the curls swaying with every move she made. I wanted to run my fingers through it, twist it in my hand, and kiss her senseless. I wanted to dust kisses along the slope of her neck. The button nestled just above the valley of her breasts offered a shadowed tease below it that made my jaw tighten.

I let out a silent sigh. Chloe was my penance.

She worked here every day. I saw her all the time, and I’d wanted her since the second I laid eyes on her. When she lifted her eyes to meet mine, there was always a jolt, rare and electric. Threads of vulnerability shimmered in the invisible cloak she wrapped around herself, but she made me feel lighter, and I hadn’t felt light in years.

I forced myself to breathe as I studied her. She tilted her head. “Are you ready?” she asked, her voice dipped in a soft Southern twang, sultry and low.

“Whenever you are, sugar,” I heard myself say.

Pink tinged Chloe’s cheeks. Fuck me. I loved it.

“Let’s go then,” she replied.

Moments later, we were buckled into my truck, driving toward town. The snow was falling, light and dry.

“Do you mind dropping me off at my dad’s house afterward?”

“I can drop you off wherever you need, but I thought you lived at Heartfire Falls.”

“I mostly do, but I like to check in on my dad whenever I’m in town. I can crash on his couch.”

“Oh.” I vaguely knew this, but I’d made a habit of not knowing too much about Chloe. I was drawn to her in a way that was discombobulating and threw me emotionally off balance.

As I drove, I discovered that being in a confined space with Chloe was combustive. The air felt heavy, the way it did before a thunderstorm breaks loose.

“So you’re glad you came to Alaska?” I asked, pushing through my tendency to fall quiet around her.

“Absolutely,” she said, her voice clear.

That was another thing about Chloe. She was so wholesome and sincere. Her presence was like a gust of fresh, crisp sun-warmed air.

“So, you’ve mentioned your dad likes to fish. How’s that going?”

“I tell him all the things I learned from y’all, and he goes out and fishes. Fishing is like air to him. He says Alaska is God’s country.” She laughed softly.

I chuckled. “Remind me where you’re from?”

“I grew up a military brat. We bounced around and last landed in coastal North Carolina where it’s hot and humid.”

“Beautiful area, I hear. I’ve never been.”

“It is beautiful. Very different from Alaska.”