“You don’t?”

He gave a slow negative shake of his head.

She was still taking that in when he reached out and ran a finger along her temple and then her jaw. “It’s no secret that I want you, and I want you bad,” he said with a small wry smile. “But the truth is that probably isn’t smart, for either of us. I work twenty-four-seven and am emotionally unavailable, and you…”

She’d sucked in a breath at the emotionally unavailable part. That was indeed a huge doorstop. “I what?”

“You live two hours away.”

She blinked. “That’s it?” she asked. “That’s the worst thing you can think of about me?”

He smiled. “Nope, but here’s the problem. The fact that you’re a smartass and even more stubborn than I am? It totally works in your favor.”

“Oh,” she breathed, having no idea why that was so… well, arousing. He was attracted to her biggest flaws. How do you not fall for a guy who likes your flaws? “And I’m supposed to resist?”

“It’s your call,” he said.

“Great.” She blew out a breath. “You should know that I’m not real good at resisting.”

He flashed another smile, but she never got to hear what he might have said to that because his radio went off. She was torn between thinking, Dammit, and Oh, thank God, because he had to go. There was going to be no time to do anything stupid, like keep talking and forcing them to put a name on this… thing between them. Her heart was ever so much safer just as things were. No complications. Just a few admittedly hot stolen moments. No real intimacy.

But he didn’t rush off. He stood there and looked at her very seriously. “What’s it going to be, Bailey? We going for this?”

Oh boy. So he wasn’t the sort to put off a decision. She should have known that about him.

I’m not emotionally available…

Those words haunted her. She wanted him, but she wanted more than just his body—didn’t she? Or at least she wanted the chance at more. Holding his gaze, she gave a slow shake of her head. She wasn’t exactly looking for The One right this minute, but if she was going to get intimate with someone, she wanted him to at least have potential to be that person. She would need to protect herself against Hud since he’d taken himself out of the race. “You aren’t The One,” she whispered.

Hud held himself still for a heartbeat before letting out a low breath and nodding. “Smart choice.” That said, he hauled her up to her toes and kissed her with a whole lot of tongue and frustration, and by the time he pulled back she had his shirt in two tight fists.

Good Lord. Forcing herself to let go of him, she smoothed the wrinkles she’d left. “What was that?” she whispered.

His mouth curved slightly. “That was one part damn-I’m-an-idiot-for-letting-you-go and one part good-bye.”

And then he turned, leaving her standing there dazed as he lithely climbed down and vanished.

Chapter 12

That night Hud was actually alone in the old lodge, something that almost never happened because Kenna rarely went anywhere off the premises. But Lily and Penny had dragged her out for girls’ night, something about dinner and an indie theater viewing of Fifty Shades—which they’d already all seen a dozen times.

Hud didn’t understand going to that particular flick without someone to get laid with, but Penny had told him that since he was a penis-carrying human he couldn’t possibly understand. He was going to trust her on that one.

Aidan and Gray were both still at work. Hud would’ve been, too, except he’d been on the graveyard shift the past two nights in town and could hardly keep his eyes open.

He’d ordered a pizza, which would arrive any second. He intended to inhale that, snag a few of Aidan’s beers from the fridge, and crawl into bed for no less than eight straight hours of sleep.

When the knock came, he’d just gotten out of the shower. Wrapping a towel around his hips, he grabbed the money he’d left on the foyer entry table and pulled open the front door.

But it wasn’t the pizza guy.

Instead, Bailey stood there. She’d been looking at her clasped hands in front of her, but she lifted her head, slowly, her gaze taking in his body as she did.

Her mouth fell open.

Gratifying, he had to admit. “Not that I’m not enjoying the way you’re looking at me like I intend to look at my pizza when it arrives,” he said, “but what are you doing here?”

Her eyes were still locked on his torso, her teeth sinking into her lower lip.

“Bay,” he said.

Her eyes heated at the shortening of her name, and he let out a rough laugh and gripped the doorjamb at either side of him rather than reach for her. “You can’t look at me like that and tell me nothing’s happening.”

“Yeah, and while we’re on the subject…” She lifted her gaze to his and blushed. “I might have been… hasty in some of the things I said last time I saw you. That’s why I’m here. I came to retract part of it.”

He stilled. Or most of him did. One particular appendage did the opposite of being still. “Which part?”

She swallowed hard and stepped into him, setting her hands on his stomach. Head bent, she stared at her fingers on his bare skin, her brow furrowed in concentration.

Up or down, babe. Either way works, but I pick down…

She drew in a shaky breath. “The whole point of me even being here in Cedar Ridge was to gain experiences I couldn’t have before.” Her fingers shifted slightly, driving him crazy. “Things I thought I’d never get to do because my only focus was surviving.”

Aw, hell. “Bailey—”

“No, please, let me finish,” she rushed on. “I’m twenty-four and I’ve lived so damn sheltered that I didn’t even know some of what I was missing. But when I’m with you…” She smiled and bit her lip again. “I feel things. You make me feel things.”

“Like irritated? Annoyed?”

“Yes,” she agreed, and laughed. “But also warm. And…” Her fingers flexed and so did his libido. “Fuzzy.”

“Warm and fuzzy?” he repeated, running the unexpected adjectives through his brain. “I’m not a pair of slippers, Bailey.”

“No—I know that,” she said, and seemed to get flustered, lifting her hands from him and waving them around like that might help her find the words she was looking for.

Feeling his chest constrict, he caught her hands in his. “You’re trying to tell me something.”

“Yes!” She sucked in a breath. “I’ve never had a… fling.” She grimaced. “I bet people don’t even use that word anymore. But whatever they call it, hot, up-against-the-wall sex, or gorilla sex, or—” She broke off and stared up at him when he choked on his own breath of air. “What?”

He shook his head, not wanting to interrupt her, but God, she was the sweetest, sexiest thing he’d ever seen and she had no idea. Not a single one. “Are you a virgin, Bailey?”

She sighed. “No, but I can see why you’d ask me that. I don’t know how to say this, that’s all.”