Page 171 of On A Manhunt: Complete Series

SILAS

Mav and Theo bailed on me. When we were at the inn, Mav mentioned that Bridge had a make-up day Physics Fair at school where they dropped specially designed egg protectors off the roof to see if their precious cargo could keep from cracking.

Since it had snowed the past few days and today was warmer and dry, it was happening.

What Mav had to do with the event, I had no idea.

But whatever Bridge needed, Bridge got. He was whipped. Hard core.

As for Theo, he’d been pulled into some kind of medical training with the fire department. So I didn’t feel abandoned, he’d invited me to participate, saying they were looking for volunteers for IV stick practice.

No fucking way. I asked him if Mallory had offered her veins and she’d said no fucking way as well.

So my last night in Hunter Valley was solo. I was at the bar nursing a beer. I’d put in an order for a burger, but it hadn’t been dropped off yet. For now, I was working my way through a bowl of baby pretzels.

Someone slid up to the bar beside me. I picked up a hint of coffee and… citrus. “Hey, can I get a glass of your house white?” the woman asked the bartender.

She shifted, then looked my way. Her eyes widened as if she saw a ghost.

“Holy shit,” she whispered, eyeing me. Then eyeing me some more. Her gaze raked down my body in hot perusal. Like she knew what I looked like naked. Or wanted to.

I offered her a small smile, enjoying her heated and complete study. Not from this woman. Hell, no. She could look all she wanted.

And touch, too.

“I don’t think I’ve seen anyone look something over quite so thoroughly since the cattle auction at the county fair back in July,” I murmured.

She blushed and that sure as hell looked pretty on her. It was completely opposite of how she looked at me just seconds before. Sultry and sweet. Quite the combo.

“Oh, um,” she said, glancing away. “Sorry. I… um, I thought you looked familiar.”

She didn’t look familiar to me. I’d have totally remembered her. Clothed, naked, there would be no forgetting. No fucking way. She was stunning.

While she was flustered, I took my time studying her in return.

Gray eyes fringed with dark lashes, pert nose, full lips.

Her skin was pale and flawless, except for a little freckle or mole by the corner of her right eye.

Long, dark hair framed her narrow face. Silver earrings dangled from her ears.

She wore a blue dress that hit right at the knee beneath a plum-colored fleece coat.

She must have just come in. With the jacket unzipped, I couldn’t miss her perfect handful-sized breasts, ones my palms itched to cup.

Neither could I miss the rest of her curves, and there were plenty.

And fuck me, to complete the casual outfit, she wore western boots.

She looked absolutely nothing like the corporate women I met at the various James Corp offices or hotels around the world. I doubted any of them owned boots like those. Instantly, I imagined her wearing them and nothing else.

I liked what I saw. I liked it a lot. The way she’d literally fucked me with her eyes, it was clear she was into me. It didn’t feel like a pick up, but more like seeing me was a shock. As if she saw me and BAM. Hit by the hots.

When I finished a thorough onceover of my own and met her gaze again, I felt it. Sizzle. Heat. The way she squirmed wasn’t from embarrassment. It was need.

My dick perked up because… hell yeah. Sitting was becoming really fucking uncomfortable.

She cleared her throat and looked away first. “County fair? You were never in 4H,” she said and her lip quirked.

I put my hand on my chest. “Is it because I’m not wearing a snap shirt?”

I didn’t own a snap shirt, but I’d buy a bunch of them if it was her thing.

Her eyes widened in mock surprise. “Total stereotype. You don’t have to be a cowboy to wear a snap shirt. You just have to–”

“—want to get your shirt off quickly?” I finished, smiling fully now.

She grinned. “Exactly.” Her gaze lowered to my chest, and I had to wonder if she was wishing I had on a snap shirt so she could tug it open. The shirt I wore had buttons and I’d sacrifice every one if she wanted to yank at it.

The bartender slid a glass of wine toward her and she looked his way. “Thank you.”

“On me,” I told him. He nodded, then went to help someone else.

“Join me?” I asked, tipping my head to the empty stool beside mine.

Flirting with a woman was better than hanging with my loser brothers.

And she was a fuck-ton prettier. “Unless you’re here with someone.

” I glanced around, looking for whomever she might be with, then leaned close.

“Although the way you were checking me out, I’m guessing that’s a no. ”

She tucked her hair back and she blushed some more. “No, I mean, yes… I came in alone. And yeah, sorry about that.”

“Don’t be. Nothing wrong with seeing something you like.”

She’d started this whole thing with her imagining what I looked like without clothes.

I was just pushing things along. If she wanted to see me naked…

perhaps as much as I wanted to see every perfect inch of her, I was all for it.

I took another moment to take her in from top to bottom as if taking inventory.

“I really like what I see right back. Join me,” I repeated.

Her eyes met mine. Held. What was it about her?

About those eyes? Why was I flirting with a woman at a bar?

I didn’t do that. Especially when I wasn’t at home.

Oh yeah, stood up by my brothers. I was too old for random hookups, but there was something different about her that called to me.

Or maybe I was just tired of fucking my hand.

“Okay,” she whispered, maybe to herself. She dropped onto the stool beside me.

“I’m Silas. I’m not a cowboy and I’ve never been in 4H. I really did go to the county fair in July though.”

She took a sip of her wine and studied me. “Eve.”

“What brings you in for a drink, Eve?”

She frowned at her glass of wine as if it had done her wrong. “Overbearing family. You?”

“Mine ditched me for falling eggs and bloodletting.”

She frowned. “I’m not sure if I want to know what that means. Should I be freaked out or intrigued?”

I laughed. “Intrigued, although my brothers are not all that exciting. And it means they have weird priorities.” I signaled the bartender, then looked at Eve.

Fuck her eyes were now a slate blue. How did they switch colors like that?

“Talking about families calls for something stronger. You like tequila?”

This was where she could turn me down. Say no thanks and savor her glass of wine. But she didn’t. Instead, she was all in. “As long as there’s a lot of lime.”

“Two shots of tequila with lots of lime,” I told the bartender.

A minute later, we held up our shots. “What should we toast?” I asked.

She looked to me with those sparkling gray eyes, thought for a moment. “Anything but family.”

I met her gaze, then let it rove over her pretty face. “To liking what we see.”