Page 6 of Claiming Ours (Anchor Bay #2)

“Will I see you later?” Blush stained her cheeks as she peeked up through blonde lashes.

“If you want to see me, Little Bit, I’ll be there. Want me to come to your place?”

She nodded, biting her lower lip as her gaze slowly worked its way down my body. Oh fuck, this woman and her blatantly proving my point that the attraction went both ways might kill me by the worst case of blue balls in history.

Shaking off the idea of pressing her against the rough wood wall and kissing her until she begged for my hands to explore every inch of her tiny body, I thrust the packed cooler between us.

“Before I head out, I wanted to give you this.” I massaged the back of my neck and cleared my throat, suddenly anxious about how she’d react. “I made you breakfast.”

Shooting me a shy grin, she pushed open the lid and peered inside.

“Two hard-boiled eggs, a sliced apple, and one of those Nutella packets you love.” Baylee’s wide eyes met mine.

“Oh, and milk—whole milk, since, you know, it’s proven to be better for you and has more calories.

” I stopped rambling about fucking milk—oh, how the mighty playboy had fallen—at her slight headshake and disbelieving expression.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Nothing, it’s just that… well, you’re all kinds of adorable, Liam.”

After setting the cooler down at our feet, I folded both arms over my chest and widened my stance. “I am not adorable. That’s for kittens and panda bears.”

She silenced a soft giggle with three fingers pressed to her lips. “Pandas? Really? That’s what you’re going with? No puppies or bunnies.”

I shrugged, unable to explain where the hell that came from. Clearly, I needed to limit the amount of Animal Planet I watched.

“And sorry to burst your tough-guy bubble, but yes, adorable is the perfect word.” Pushing up to her tiptoes, she fisted the front of my shirt and pulled me down until our lips hovered close.

“The most adorable. But don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.

And thank you for the food. Your slightly odd obsession with people eating healthily is a nice perk in our—” She gestured between us, making me huff.

“—whatever this is.” Pressing a soft kiss to my lips, she lowered down to flat feet. “Really, thank you.”

I avoided her gaze at her remark. I had slightly lied to her about my passion for wanting people to eat healthily.

It wasn’t all people, just her. My fascination was firmly fixated on ensuring she was fed.

I literally couldn’t help it. From the first time we met, the woman triggered every protective instinct inside me, and her not eating enough to even fuel a sparrow drove me insane.

So, I might have mentioned that because of my amateur MMA fighting background and the health food regimen required to keep me at top training shape, I had a need to ensure people ate healthily because of how good I felt eating right.

Desperate for another taste of her, I wrapped my fingers around her chin to hold her in place and sealed a demanding kiss to her lips.

Her lids fluttered closed as I deepened the kiss, swiping my tongue along the seam of her lips, begging her to open for me, to leave me with something to daydream about while we were apart.

The vibrations of her soft moan had my own growl rumbling in return.

Taking advantage of the opening, I devoured her mouth, swiping my tongue against hers and exploring her like I wanted to do with my head between her thighs.

Fucking hell, did I want to taste her pussy, to lick up her sweet cum as she drenched my face.

My cock strained against my jeans, twitching behind the stiff fabric.

Arm wrapped around her shoulders, I sealed us together, the pressure of her soft frame doing nothing to relieve the throbbing ache.

Her small, delicate hands fisted the front of my shirt, tugging us even tighter together.

With an almost feral growl, I guided her backward until her spine sealed against the wall.

But before I could act on all the fun and utterly dirty ideas I had for Baylee, an exaggerated—and fucking infuriating—cough had me pulling back with a snarl.

Frustration and annoyance had me shooting a death glare toward the asshole who disrupted us, but the sound of Baylee’s soft laugh turned my attention back to her, the smile on her flushed face calming the rage mounting in my veins.

All irritation with Langston vanished at her shy grin.

Palm pressed to the center of my chest, she urged me back a step until she had the space to move around me.

“Go,” Baylee said with a shooing motion. “You two don’t want to be late for the meeting. You know Brandon hates that and will find some way to get back at you if you are. Last time, didn’t he make you take that Instagram influencer on that hike from hell?”

Damnit, she was right about Brandon being a petty jackass if I was late. With an agreeing grunt, I rubbed a hand down my face to clear the lust fog that clouded my thoughts, hoping I hid my disappointment at being interrupted.

With a grumbled and slightly pouting goodbye and promise to see her later, I stalked toward the asshole waiting for me at the barn door. The moment I was within reach, I slammed a hand against his shoulder, making him stumble to the side to keep from falling on his ass.

“Damnit, Liam,” he shouted as he righted himself and turned, bracing for another attack. “What the fuck was that for?”

“For being a motherfucking cockblocker, you little shit. Just because the woman you want would rather sleep with a Kodiak bear than be in the same room with you, don’t take your disappointment out on those of us who aren’t acting like assholes.”

A stormy expression crossed his reddening face. When his lips parted, no doubt ready to lay into me for bringing up his fucked-up feelings for Juno, I waved him off and started toward the side building where the Monday morning meetings were always held.

We had ten minutes before we were late, which meant less talking and more walking. Thankfully, the barn wasn’t too far away from the central area of our community, since every long stride had my still-stiff cock chafing against denim.

“She doesn’t hate me that much.” I shot Lang an incredulous look where he now walked beside me, keeping up with my quick pace. “Better than you and?—”

Without thinking, I lashed a hand out and wrapped it around his throat, cutting off his next words. His emerald-green eyes flared with annoyance before narrowing.

“I dare you to finish that fucking sentence, Lang. I fucking dare you to say one negative thing about my Baylee. I haven’t had a decent fight in a while.”

I released him with a hard shove, and he stumbled to the side, rubbing at the red marks blooming around his throat.

“Whatever, fucking asshole. I wouldn’t say anything bad about her, just you.” He glanced down at his phone and cursed. “Shit, we need to hurry the fuck up. We don’t have time for all this Jerry Springer drama shit.”

Gravel crunched beneath the balls of his feet as he twisted around and began jogging toward the meeting. Huffing a laugh at his random comment, I sprinted to catch up with him.

“You watch a lot of Springer reruns, do you?” Langston rolled his eyes, making me bark out a laugh. “You do seem one for the dramatics. I can see why it’s your favorite show.”

“Oh, fuck off,” he snapped, but I didn’t miss the slight curl of his lips in an almost smile.

Shaking my head, I increased my pace, pulling ahead of Langston, which of course the uber-competitive jackass couldn’t allow, so he did the same but added a little more.

A carefree smile tugged at my lips as I huffed and sprinted full speed toward our destination, with Langston keeping stride right beside me.

With neither of us okay with second, we didn’t slow until we were only a few feet from plowing directly into the side of the building.

Langston and I slammed into the cement block exterior with a grunt at almost exactly the same time.

Chest heaving from my rapid breaths, I turned a cocky grin his way, finding Lang smirking right back at me.

“I won,” we both declared at the same time.

“Pretty sure that was a tie, gents. You two act more like kids than the somewhat adults your ages suggest you are.” West, Uplift’s mechanic, chuckled as he approached from the opposite direction. “You’re both idiots, by the way, and too damn competitive for your own good. Now get inside.”

With a pointed look to the man beside me, West marched up the steps and yanked open the door, muffled voices and rolling laughter pouring out as he stepped inside.

I groaned at the pain radiating from my crotch. I should not have raced in jeans with a half-mast dick. After adjusting myself to lessen the rub, I slapped Langston on the shoulder to move him along and followed West, hoping we weren’t late.

Once inside, I did a quick scan around the room and cursed under my breath.

We were the last two to arrive. Miles and Aiden, our motor vehicle adventure guides, sat side by side at the very end of the round table, the former giving me a nod in greeting before turning his attention back to his best friend.

To their right, West flopped down onto a metal chair and leaned back on its two rear legs, fingers interlaced behind his head as he watched Langston lumber in behind me.

A bark of laughter drew my attention to Finley and Dax, both in their matching black flight suits, telling me they had either a float plane or helicopter tour later.

They were best friends, having served together in the Air Force, stationed outside Fairbanks, and came here after.

Dax poked Finley’s shoulder, making her swat his hand away with a wide grin on her face.

I really wish the two of them would just fuck and get it over with. Neither one had an idea that the other was helplessly in love with them, and it was grating on my nerves. Though not as much as the center of a different shit show that sat beside Finley, frowning at her phone.

Juno Jones. Thorn in Langston’s side and charmer of West. Those three… fuck, there wasn’t enough time in the day to even scratch the surface of the toxic mess they had going on.

As I made my way to an empty chair, Oliver, Anchor Bay’s deputy sheriff, and Hudson, a former LA detective Brandon knew from his SEAL days and had asked to come help investigate the missing women’s cases, hitched their chins in greeting.

The metal chair groaned as I sat, making me grimace. Hopefully, it would hold. I didn’t need another one breaking on me.

Brandon, the owner and founder of Uplift, stood at the head of the oval conference table, making everyone halt their individual conversations.

“I’ll let Oliver and Hudson go first since I know you’re all wondering what the hell happened after we caught Jasper Cain breaking into Caroline’s cabin last week.”

I smirked, remembering how the asshole screamed for help till he went hoarse after I caught him sneaking into a missing team member’s cabin and hog-tied the asshole. He was a flight risk, and I needed a nonlethal way to keep him secure while we waited for Oliver and his idiot father, the sheriff.

Oliver cleared his throat and scanned the room, making eye contact with everyone before speaking.

“Unfortunately, it’s a dead end.” The room went utterly silent at that admission. “He’s not responsible for Caroline’s disappearance or connected to the other missing women’s cases.”

A beat passed before shouts of outrage and disagreement erupted from everyone around the table.

Everyone except me. This wasn’t a surprise.

I had a feeling that weak ass couldn’t have done anything to Caroline.

She was capable and tough as hell. I knew if he had tried to hurt or take her, she would’ve kicked his ass all the way to Anchorage and put his body in the morgue herself.

No, there was something more sinister going on around our town and along the trail than Jasper fucking Cain.

Oliver raised both hands to quiet everyone down so he could finish.

“I questioned him extensively, and everything rang true. They were dating before her disappearance. The last time he saw her, she told him she was headed out on a solo hike for a few days to explore new cliffs to climb. That was the last he heard from her, which was two days before anyone noted that something was off. And I’ll tell you, I believe him. ”

“He’s not smart enough to pull one over on Oliver or me,” Hudson added. He and Oliver shared a conspiratorial smirk. “I was there with Oliver and his father when they questioned Jasper. I even ran him through my own interrogation.”

“Then why the hell was he in there?” Aiden asked, crimson highlighting his cheeks, exposing his rising anger over this revelation.

Oliver looked at Hudson, who nodded at whatever silent question he asked. “A journal. He said he was looking for Caroline’s journal.”

“What the fuck?” I muttered. “He wanted her fucking diary?”

“Showing your age, old man,” Dax said, leaning around Finley and Juno to shoot me a wink. “No one calls it a diary anymore.”

“Except young girls,” Hudson cut in. When all our gazes landed on him, he cleared his throat and adjusted the collar of his long-sleeve shirt.

“Sam has one with unicorns on it. Though it’s more of a doodle pad than anything, since she can’t actually write her thoughts yet.

” His eyes narrowed into slits. “If any of you shitheads have something to say about my girl having a unicorn diary, you can come to me about it.”

No one said a word. The fucker was just as scary as the rest of us—well, except me and Langston.

“Good. If we’re done talking about what to call it, I can tell you about this journal.

” Hudson gripped the back of the chair in front of him, knuckles going white.

“Apparently, your friend and colleague Caroline was running her own investigation into the recent disappearances and documented her findings in that journal.”

Miles stood abruptly and slapped both palms to the table. “So, where is it, then?” he demanded.

“That’s the thing,” Oliver stated. “Jasper didn’t find it, and neither did we after our own search. It’s gone.”

So it seemed their one lead in Caroline’s disappearance wasn’t a lead at all, and any clues she might have documented regarding the women going missing on the trail had vanished.

Wasn’t that fucking fantastic.