Chapter 2
Knox
I slipped away from the party and into the shadows of the cool, wintry night. My eyes were adjusting to the dark out here, and I felt mostly blind right now looking out at the inky outline of the woods beyond the deck.
This mountain might be the darkest place I’d ever been. The only light for miles came from inside the house. And that was the one place I didn’t want to be.
Eric meant well, but he was a little too earnest, like one of those guys still living out his football years long after they were over. Except in his case, it was his military years.
The guy had greeted me on his front steps wearing an Army Ranger 75th Regiment battalion sweatshirt and a matching cap, his dog tags hanging visible around his neck.
Then tonight he’d trotted out a whole crew of ex-military buddies. And now that everyone had a few beers in them, the military stories were starting to come out.
It was the last thing I wanted.
Tonight I was bone-tired and shell-shocked from the rapid change to civilian life. I just needed some time alone to sort my head out.
“This was a fucking mistake,” I growled out quietly to the night air.
“What was?”
I held back the jolt of surprise that rocked through me as my head whipped around to the source of the voice.
It was Gwen. Gorgeous-fucking-Gwen.
How had a pampered civilian woman like her snuck up on me out here?
Well, technically it was an ambush rather than a sneak attack. She’d been sitting silently in a lounger on the back deck, looking up at the night sky. So quiet and still, I hadn’t even spotted her.
Never mind that there was snow on the ground and it was only twenty degrees out. She seemed perfectly in her element.
“You.” The word slipped off my tongue.
“Me? What did I do?” she asked.
Gwen had been as quiet as me all night long, holding a tiny, reserved smile on her face when people talked to her.
All she’d handed out were a few words here and there.
She’d looked like she wanted to run into one of the bedrooms and lock the door until the party was over. A tension had been coiled tightly inside her.
But none of the other guys had noticed that. They’d been lining up to get a few seconds of her time all night long, not noticing her discomfort.
Considering the party was a whole bunch of men, one married woman, and one gorgeous single woman, Gwen had been getting her fair share of attention tonight.
And it was no surprise. There was an air of innocence about her. And something timid. It drew men like me to her like catnip.
But that was the last thing I needed right now, so I’d been keeping my distance. Plus, I hadn’t wanted to pile on with the rest of the randy men who lived on this mountain. She was probably tired of swatting them all away.
“No, you’re not the mistake,” I clarified. “Coming here was.”
“You don’t like Arkansas?”
How could I tell this pretty young thing all the shit that was rolling around in my head? That I just wanted to be left alone. That Eric was trying to hammer in the Army-rah-rah-rah crap a little too strong for my taste.
I needed time to figure my shit out. I’d been a ranger for so long I didn’t know who I was without the tan beret on my head.
“Sorry,” I told her gruffly. “I came out here to get some quiet. I didn’t know the spot was already occupied. I’ll leave you to the night. I’m going to take a walk in the woods. Tell Eric not to wait up. I can find my way to the barracks on my own.”
Now that my eyes were adjusting to the night, I could see surprise spreading across her face, illuminated under the dim light of the moon.
As I turned to go, she scrambled over to me and said, “Wait. Take this. There are bears in the woods.”
Then, her soft, warm hand pressed a small canister into my palm. I tried not to notice how smooth her skin was, or the way the feel of her touch clocked straight down to my dick.
“If you’re going to be out long, you’ll also need gloves. Frostbite is a real threat on this mountain.”
For the first time since I’d left the service, a tiny smile quirked up on my face.
“All right, Mom. That’s enough hovering,” I growled out.
But I took the bear spray as I trudged off into the snowy wilderness.
Five minutes later, I was completely alone, surrounded by the hush of the winter woods.
At least I had this.
Eric wasn’t a bad guy. But… moving in with strangers?
When I took him up on this offer, I’d expected it to feel awkward at first. And I was right. It did.
I was hoping that he’d settle down tomorrow and stop coming on so strong.
Putting that aside I breathed in deeply, my exhale coming out as a frosty plume.
The snow was thick tonight. The night cool. The moon dim.
It was perfect walking weather for me to clear my head.
But Gwen was competing for space in there. Instead of thinking things through as I walked, I found my mind drifting back to her.
The scent of magnolias had clung to Gwen, and I could still make out a hint of her perfume, as though some of it had migrated onto me when she’d stepped close.
Or maybe it’s on the bear spray canister.
I pulled it out of my pocket and inhaled deeply. Yeah. It smelled like her. It smelled good.
What was a woman as beautiful as her doing out here in the middle of nowhere? And why was she turning down all the men’s advances as fast as they came in?
She had a story to tell. Just like me. I knew it in my bones.
But having my head turned by a beautiful woman was not on my list of things to do. I needed to keep my head clear and my dick contained. This was not the right time in my life.
And she looked like the kind of woman who’d make the perfect wife for some decent man out there.
The last thing she needed was an old army shadow like me sniffing around her sweet tits.