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Having her around all the damn time had become torture. And now she was going to live just feet away from my cabin. What had begun as temporarily helping us out, had turned intoa more permanent choice. She’d recently returned from a year overseas where Lauren had said she’d been trying to find herself, her purpose. What if she one day decided that wasn’t here, and she took off again?

My gut ached just thinking about her leaving. The thought of not having her around was…well, I had a hard time picturing this place without her now, and that was a whole other level of torture.

Dylan had been staying with her mom and stepdad, who also lived on Pineville mountain about a mile away. So, I got her urgency in wanting her own space.

Especially since her stepdad was Beckett Rivera. Beck had also been in our Ranger unit and had retired a couple years before I did. And it made the fact that I wanted Dylan all the more complicated since West, Rigde and I had looked up to Beck when we served. Still do.

Sure, she didn’t grow up with him as her stepdad. Her mom, Taya, had only met and married Beck a few years back. Rumor had it they were still in the honeymoon phase and that made for a very awkward home life for any twenty-six-year-old.

Dealing with Beck and his possible disapproval was just one more thing to consider and keep me from making a move with her. Let alone how completely opposite we were.

Dylan was chardonnay and fancy hors d'oeuvres; I’m beer and corn dogs.

Dylan was candlelit three-star restaurant dinners; I’m takeout on the floor in front of a fireplace.

Dylan’s adventurous and fluent in French, and I’m rooted deep into this mountain like a Ponderosa pine.

The only thing I was fluent in was disassembling and re-assembling my sniper rifle in less than a minute. And sawdust. Lots of sawdust.

So, yeah. Dylan and I are opposites with a capital “O.”

Didn’t keep me from wanting her. But it should have. But it made me realistic. So, her and I? Not gonna happen. She’d eventually get bored. Someone as smart and talented as she was would eventually get bored here.

So, like every day since she’d arrived, I’d grin and bear the near daily torture of having her so close yet just out of my reach. It had been four months of head scratching, erection camouflaging and beard stroking. Although that wasn’t the only thing I’d been stroking more of lately.

Looking around to see why the room had gone quiet, West, Ridge and Lauren had left. And taken the food with them.

“You can continue to ignore me, Mr. Olsen. But there’s something you may not know about me. Even though we’ve interacted quite a bit in the last few months—for work—I still don’t feel we really know each other. I’ve been wanting to change that. But since you’re a man of few words, I’m going to employ my secret weapon. Want to know what that is?”

Her words, like her very presence, spurred me into action. I set down the spray gun, crossed my arms, and gave her my full attention. Secret weapon? This I had to hear. I do my damnedest to maintain a bored look on my face as I waited for the big reveal. Where was she headed with all this? Hell, if I’ve ever been around a woman who talked as much as Dylan Davis did.

“Nothing? Huh, guess I shouldn’t be surprised since you’re a lover, not a fighter. Which makes teasing you no fun at all, by the way.” Dylan shifted her body as her brown eyes shifted from blazing to teasing along with her sexy, sassy smile.

She’d blown the wind right out of me. I lost it when she said, “you’re a lover, not a fighter,”releasing a low groan I couldn’t hold back. Her eyes flared hot again at my whatever the hell sound that was, and…dammit.

There were a few enemy soldiers that would beg to differ with her. She had no idea what type of fighter I’d been. Pushingall those memories way, way back down, they were less painful now but not forgotten. I’d dealt with them soon after returning stateside with an amazing therapist and a shit ton of heavy lifting as we remodeled the ancient hunting lodge the last few years. But I had no plans on sharing any of it with her. Some things were better left unsaid.

Don’t take the bait, Olsen.

“Fine, don’t guess. I can tell by your curious nature that you’re dying to find out. I, my favorite mountain man, can read minds and I know exactly what you’re thinking. What you’re thinking when you don’t think I notice you looking at me.” Her lips pursed in a perfect cupid’s bow and all I wanted to do was lick them apart and devour that sassy mouth of hers.

She kept speaking, but I was lost to desire once again. I imagined stripping her form fitting slacks from her heart-shaped ass, yanking down her panties then right before I backed her into the nearest wall, free my aching cock and with her urging me on, I’d guide myself deep into her wet pussy and finally put myself out of the fucking misery I’d been living in and?—

“Lars?”

Her soft questioning tone pulled me back to reality only to witness a deep bloom of red on her cheeks. Her unique feminine scent reached me, confirming she really could read my mind. “Tell me?” I asked as I stepped over the equipment scattered between us. “What was I thinking just now? What’s put that sweet blush on your face, Dylan?” I stopped short of touching her, but close enough to hear her ragged breathing.

“Um…yeah.” Her tongue flicked out, wetting her lips and dammit, I’ve never wanted a woman as much as I wanted Dylan this very second.

“Cat got your tongue, pretty lady?” My voice, rusty from so little use, or maybe it was her? She made me sound like astarving man who was presented with the tastiest of desserts, just out of reach. Because if I made another move, I’d do all those things I’d just pictured in my bloodless skull. All that blood once feeding my brain now pulsed in my dick.

A sharp bark filled the air, causing us both to jump. Mood. Killer. PJ, my Newfie, had a knack for sensing my emotions and although he was crotchety to almost everyone but me, he also had an inner compass when it came to Dylan.

He was the ultimate cock blocker covered in fur.

As the dog cozied up to Dylan, we remained frozen. I couldn’t even blink. That’s how badly I didn’t want this moment to end. Because I knew this was the closest I was going to letting myself get to having her.

Dylan absently ruffled PJ behind his ears and, if a dog could smile, mine did. He also had a gleam in his eye. I took it as “she likes me better than you, blockhead.” Yeah, even my own dog knew how special this woman was and had no trouble asking for her attention.