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THREE
HAYDEN
She startedscreaming. Who in their right mind would scream and run from a big cat? It was almost a certain death sentence.
I watched her tumble, almost sprawling out onto the dusty trail. Her heavy pack tumbling her forward, breasts almost spilling from her sports bra.
With my rifle in hand, I jumped to the trail from behind the trees where I hid. Pressed the gun to my shoulder and aimed toward the cougar. She watched me with intelligent eyes, lips peeled back and showing fierce white fangs, giving me a low growl of warning.
The woman stood, her head almost blocking my view. She raised her arms in defense, expression confused. Even with dust and dirt smeared across her face, hair askew, she was gorgeous.
My protective drive kicked in, sending bolts of urgency through my muscles.
“Don’t move.” I said, my voice a low growl, sharp and commanding. The woman froze, face red with fear.
I squeezed the trigger, the shot from the rifle exploded an echo through the mountainside. The woman ducked, slapping her hands to her ears with a sharp cry.
The piercing echo resounded off the hillside until it faded into the wind. As the dust from my bullet strike dissipated, birds began singing again.
The woman stood, wincing with a hand pressed to one side of her face. “The hell are you doing!?” She screamed at me. With three enraged steps, she stormed in my direction, angry as a spring downpour. “I can’t believe you killed a mountain lion!”
My voice was a mixture of shock and anger. “What? Killed?” I tore my gaze away from where the cougar had run, the big cat long gone. Who was this woman willing to take on a park ranger? “What the hell are you doing?” I asked, glaring down at her curvy frame.
She was so close to me, her body inches from mine. I could just smell the soft fragrance of her shampoo where her head came right up under my chin. This woman was a thunderbolt, fierce and brave.
“You could have killed the mountain lion, firing like a fool like that?”
I wanted to press my fingers against those lips, let my tongue explore her mouth. Instead I ran my tongue over my own dry lips, “Cat’s fine. I scared her off is all.” I slung the rifle over my should and stepped away. She smelled sweet of vanilla sunscreen, and the temptation to stare her down was almost too much. But my body had other ideas.
My mind was racing, sending shock waves to my cock.
Distraction. I needed a distraction. A crackle of static followed by a beep reminded me of the radio clipped to my belt. This woman stared me down, eyes a forest fire of golden brown, chest heaving from the adrenaline.
“Report.” The radio groaned. I tore myself away from her, not trusting myself any longer.
I called in, “James, you there?” Another crackle at the end of the line, breaking before the voice came through the bored static.
“Here.”
I made my way around the woman, who still stood in the middle of the trail with a face of frustration and confusion. Probably the adrenaline wearing down to the remains of shock.
“Single shot fired, scared off cougar P-98. She seems to just be passing through down the mountainside.”
“Note taken. Hurry, other work to be done.”
“Got it. Hayden out.”
Clipping the radio back into my belt, I turned to the woman and really look at her with my own eyes. She seemed stressed, brimming with all the emotions all at once, but stood strong with defiance. Even with her eyes glistening on the edge of tears, she was perfect. Her ponytail hung loose, dirt smudged across her cheek. I wanted to bury myself inside her and feel every part of her surrounding me.
What was wrong with me?
An itch crawled across my palms. I wanted to reach out and claim her. Let my fingers run across the smooth skin of her body or let a hand grip her hair and press a thumb across her soft lips.
Instead, I cleared my throat and waited. “Hey, you okay?”
She let go a sigh that had caught in her chest and let her shoulders drop. “I think so.”
What was I supposed to say? What do people do in these situations?
“So, uh, first in-person mountain lion?”
“Oh yeah.” She sucked in air and breathed out hard, running a hand through strands of hair that pulled free of her ponytail. “Only pictures in magazines, really.”
“Bit different out here.”
She gave a sharp chuckle. “You could say that.”
A quiver in her lip, but she stood taller, back straight, breasts pressing against her tight bra. She was defiant even in the face of uncertainty. Her dark hair pulled free from its ties with every stroke of her fingers and I wanted to grip those locks in my fist, pulling her downward.
This woman riled me down to my core, and I wanted to make her mine.
