Page 17 of Cody (Maine Silver Foxes)

C ody

A week had passed since that steamy encounter with Alina in her kitchen, and I still couldn’t get her out of my mind.

If Joey Dobson hadn’t interrupted it, I would have ended up fucking her right there against the counter with the Dobson brothers just feet away.

I’d wanted her, and when I’d realized that I wanted her for more than sex, I’d quickly shut those thoughts down.

It was one thing to want a woman for company and sex, I was used to that, but the feelings that had run through me that morning had been a shock to my system.

Could I change my life for Alina? Christ, it was too soon to be thinking about anything that permanent.

We’d just met, and we knew nothing about each other.

It had been instant attraction, followed by intense lust. Nothing more.

It couldn’t be. I was determined to keep Alina in the same pool Tina and Brandy were in.

With that thought in mind, I decided to call Brandy later on that morning.

Dinner and a good fuck marathon sounded good.

I hadn’t fucked anyone since that day Alina and I had gone down to the brook.

Dinner with Tina the night that we’d run into Alina and Max had been just that.

After seeing Alina with Max and noticing how good they were getting along, sex had been the last thing on my mind when I’d taken Tina home.

I’d ruined the mood by reliving in my mind my time with Alina at the brook, while trying not to think about her and Max doing the same damned thing together.

I’d taken Tina to her house, fought against her attempt to kiss me on the mouth, and said goodnight with a quick kiss on the cheek.

Tina hadn’t been happy with the way our evening had ended. My dates expected my full attention all night.

“Brother?” Max’s voice broke into my thoughts, and I looked down at him. “You zoned out for a minute.”

Yeah, because I’d been busy thinking about a woman I wanted like my next breath, but I was determined to keep my emotions in check. “I’m good.”

We were in the process of cutting down a huge tree at the church everyone crowded into on Sundays.

Reverend Collins had been after us to cut it down.

It had been struck by lightning the year before and was dying, and it was too close to the church.

Our winters were brutal, and trees often came down with the weight of snow and ice, and he was afraid that if it did come down it would land on the roof.

The tree was a huge pine that could cause a lot of damage if left to come down on its own. We’d decided to cut off some of the upper branches before starting on the main trunk. I was working on what old loggers called a widowmaker, or broken branch, secured by nothing but a safety harness.

“I still say we should have brought the bucket truck. You know how King feels about safety.”

“Loggers do it this way all the time. I’m not going that high,” I reminded him.

“Yeah, they did it that way back in the eighteen-hundreds!” he argued.

I powered up the chainsaw and proceeded to cut the branch, yelling out, “Heads up!” right before severing it off completely.

It hit the ground with a heavy thud and caused a minor dust storm before settling.

That was the third dead branch I’d cut down.

I glanced back up the tree. There was another huge branch higher than I wanted to go, but at least it was facing away from the church.

The telltale sound of gravel crunching beneath the tires of a vehicle drew my attention back to the ground.

I recognized Alina’s car and watched her get out.

She started to walk toward Max, and he met her halfway.

Both were smiling. She had something in her hands, and her actions revealed that she was excited.

I narrowed my eyes until I could make out that it was her phone.

She pulled something up to show Max. I didn’t like how their shoulders touched as they stood close and talked. How natural and friendly they were with each other. He’d told me he was doing some work for her, and I assumed that’s what they were discussing.

I took a minute to examine her baggy, paint-stained clothes. I knew that she and two of her friends were painting at her store. Her hair was a mess, arranged in a loose style on top of her head, and yet somehow, she still looked sexy as hell.

Max had obviously forgotten that I was there, and Alina hadn’t noticed me yet, so I shamelessly listened in on their conversation.

“They came out to put the mural up today. I wanted to show you how it came out,” she said in an excited tone, handing Max her phone. I wondered how she knew Max was here at the church. “You might need to enlarge it.”

After a moment of concentration, Max nodded. “I like it.”

“It goes well with the color paint I picked out, right?”

He confirmed this with another nod.

“How is the furniture coming?”

“The bar table is ready. I’m waiting on the glass to arrive before I build the display counter. Is the floor down yet?”

Alina shook her head and put her hand on his arm. “They come tomorrow. If things keep going this smoothly, I should be able to open in a couple of months.”

“We’ll make it happen. So, you have a day off tomorrow?”

There was something in Max’s tone that I didn’t like, a tell that I recognized because I knew him so well.

He was getting ready to ask Alina on another date.

Before that could happen, I began to drop down the tree, making enough noise to scare a bear.

My feet hit the ground with a solid thump, and I released the safety harness to fall around my feet before turning to face them.

I could tell by Alina’s expression that I’d surprised—and maybe impressed—her a little.

I liked how her blue eyes moved over me with pleasure.

“Hi, beautiful.” I walked over to them, shooting Max a look I was sure he’d understand. If he hadn’t known that Alina was off limits before, he knew it now.

“Cody!” The pretty shine that appeared in Alina’s bright eyes in response to seeing me turned me warm inside. She hadn’t greeted Max with that much enthusiasm. “I didn’t even know you were here!”

She wouldn’t because I’d ridden with Max and my truck wasn’t there. I wanted to ask her how she’d known how to find Max, but I realized how childish that would come off. I let my gaze drop down her body in a lazy sweep, remembering those killer curves without clothes.

“I’m a hot mess.”

She was a beautiful hot mess. I was thankful when Max received a call, and he walked away to answer it. “It looks like you’ve been working. How’s the coffee shop coming?”

Alina’s smile grew wider, and it was clear that the topic of her shop was her favorite subject. “It’s really coming along well. The sign is up, and the window lettering is done. After the floor is put down tomorrow, the furniture will arrive. I’m sure Max told you he’s making a few pieces for me.”

He had.

She indicated the state of her clothes. “We just finished painting the walls.”

Grinning, I reached forward and ran a fingertip down a strip of green paint decorating her cheek. “I can tell.” My gaze followed the path my finger took as I continued over her chin, down her neck, and between her visible cleavage.

The slight catch of her breath caused my eyes to shoot back up to hers. Awareness flickered there as my finger disappeared beneath her shirt and between her tits. Her skin was warm and slightly damp. I turned hard with the thought of putting my tongue there.

As if reading my thoughts, her cheeks bloomed with hot color and a nervous laugh escaped her. “Crissy and Sarah have been helping me. You should stop by some time.”

Movement and a low mutter drew my gaze over to where Max was walking toward the truck. He was still on the phone, and I watched for a second as he opened the door and slid in. My gaze returned to Alina. “I will.” I removed my finger and held her gaze. “Been on any dates lately?”

Amusement spread across her features, and for some reason her reaction annoyed me. “No time for dates. You?”

Yeah, two dates that had ended with me not getting any kind of relief. But I wasn’t going to tell her that. I didn’t know what Alina did to me, but it was obvious I would have to get her out of my system. “You busy tonight?”

“No,” came her clear and simple response.

“Have dinner with me.” Damn, I hadn’t meant it to come out more like a demand than a question.

She hesitated briefly, and I wondered why. “Sure. Where do you want to meet?”

I couldn’t contain my smirk. That’s how the younger crowd did it these days. When I had a date with a woman, I picked her up, and I wanted to make sure that Alina didn’t have an easy escape if the situation between us got hot.

Like I knew it would.

I slowly shook my head, recognizing the slight unease in her blue depths. What was she worried about? “I’ll pick you up at seven.”

“That was King.” Max slipped his phone back into his back pocket as he rejoined us. I’d been so focused on Alina that I hadn’t even seen him coming. “He wanted us up on Stoney Ridge to help out.”

I gave him a questioning look.

“The guy who operates the skidder went home sick, and the only other guy who knows how to run it is on vacation.”

I shook my head with disgust, because it seemed King was having a lot of issues with his crew lately. “Do you know how to operate the skidder?”

Max shook his head.

“Neither do I.”

Max laughed. “Yeah, but King has faith that we can figure it out. Doesn’t matter anyway. I told him we won’t be done here ‘til five anyway.” He turned his attention to Alina. “Do you want to grab dinner tonight?”

What the fuck? I glared at Max, but he ignored me.

I guessed that my earlier look hadn’t made my intentions about Alina clear enough after all.

I was going to have to set him straight after she left.

It wasn’t lost on me that I didn’t know exactly what that would involve.

Telling Max that she was off limits would leave it open to interpretation, and possibly a misunderstanding.

I’d never shown possessiveness toward any other woman before now.

“I’m sorry, Max, I already have plans.” Alina smiled at me.

Max noticed her look and assumed correctly that her plans were with me. “Cody beat me to it, huh? Okay. Maybe tomorrow?”

Was he being purposely obtuse? I was going to hit him. I clenched my jaw and scowled directly at him, but once again he ignored me. However, I didn’t miss the slight twitch on his mouth that told my gut that he was messing with me.

A soft laugh trailed behind Alina as she walked back toward her car and tossed over her shoulder, “I don’t know. We’ll see. I’ve got to get back to the store.”

Not until her car was backing out of the driveway did Max look in my direction. He could no longer hold on to his amusement, and he let out a short laugh that I chose to ignore.

“Tell me, after all these years of knowing me, that you didn’t read the look I gave you earlier,” I snapped.

“Oh, I read it, Brother. But when have you ever cared about one of us dating the same woman you were dating?”

He had a point there.

He paused, and I didn’t like the knowing look that came into his eyes. The bastard knew, and he wanted to hear the words from my mouth. “Unless...are you saying you want Alina to yourself?”

I pressed my lips, spun around, and returned to the tree I was working on.

There was no way in hell I was going to answer that.