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“That sounds nice,” she whispered, and when our eyes locked, a deep rumble sounded in my chest. Her hand rose like she was going to touch me, and my body vibrated quietly with anticipation.
Would her hands be warm? Cold? Would she let me warm her up if they were? Right as she was about to rest her hand on my body, her fingers closed in on themselves and she pulled the back. She shoved her hand into her front pocket, unknowingly making her breasts rise like an offering.
“It sounds nice, but I should probably go.” She blushed and shook her head. She stepped back and reached for the purse that had been sitting next to the grocery bag. “You don’t have to pity me or worry about Randall—"
“I wasn’t pitying you,” I cut in, but I knew she wasn’t listening.
“It’s starting to snow,” she pointed out. I simply nodded while batting away the dirty thoughts in my head of all the things I would do to the beautiful angel if I had her in my space.
“Right.” I rubbed the back of my neck and didn’t miss the way her eyes looked at my bicep and her little nipples seemed to stand up at attention even more against the tight mint-green turtleneck sweater she was wearing that made her eyes seem to pop even more. “I’ll take you home,” I offered.
“Thank you.” She smiled kindly. I led the way through the kitchen with the grocery bag slung over my shoulder.
“I should be the one apologizing. I don’t know why he’s—" I wasn’t able to say another word when she shook her head, her arm brushing against mine. There was something about her touch that felt almost electric. Her eyebrows furrowed for a second, and I wondered if she had felt it, too.
“We can’t apologize for other people’s actions. That’s not within our control.”
“That’s pretty deep for someone so young,” I noted. Her face was so innocent, and when her big doe eyes met mine and she smiled, I was freaking tempted to ask for her ID to confirm she was twenty-one. “Well… Let’s get you home.” I opened the front door and watched her slip past me.
A ten-minute car ride later, I knew I was in love.
Everything about Juniper Winters called to me like second nature. The excitement in her voice as she told me all about what she wanted to do with her life. She couldn’t contain her enthusiasm, and my poor old heart knew it.
My fate was sealed.
No one, no other woman, would ever do for me. She was a living, breathing angel.A forbidden one.Her smile and laughter filled me with a new sense of purpose.
Which was new for a man like me.
I kept to myself. I wasn’t a social butterfly. One of the many reasons things hadn’t worked out with Randall’s mom. We lived in a small town, and I knew what people said about me.
I was a recluse, a grouchy unapproachable asshole.
I went to work, not because I had to anymore after selling my company, but because I liked to work with my hands and enjoyed it. I worked and went home. That was it. I didn’t like people, and they usually didn’t like me.
On the rare occasion, I went to the Barrel into town, our local bar, and shared a drink with a buddy or two. And on the rarer occasion, I shared a night with a faceless woman for the release and quick connection. But that was it.
Not that that was going to happen anymore.
Juniper was mine.
By the time I walked her and her bags to the door and she hugged me with a soft thank-you, I’d fallen like an icicle after someone slammed a door.
Hard and fast. And it was way too dangerous.
I was seriously scrooged!
DASH
THREE YEARS LATER
Ihefted into my truck and shut the door. The temperatures were dropping, and before we would know it, snow would be all over Holly Burrows, coating us in a white sheet of frost.
But I didn’t feel it.
Not anymore.
Especially when I stared out my windshield, I didn’t bother to start my truck. Anyone who might have noticed me would think I was warming up before heading back up to my side of the mountain. The’d have no clue, no idea, I was watching and waiting for my girl.
