“Fucking hell,” he muttered again and followed her inside. He wasn’t sure what he expected, that wasn’t true. He expected lots of bright colors and girlie shit, but he was pleasantly surprised. She made the focal point the beauty of the log home, her décor enhancing, not competing with it. She also looked completely moved in.
“You’ve been busy.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not working, so I have the time,” she said, her head in the fancy fridge when he entered the kitchen. His eyes drifted down to her ass again. It really was a pretty spectacular ass. She wasn’t skin and bones, which was so popular these days. The woman had curves, and from where he was standing, in all the right fucking places.
She turned to him; he slowly lifted his gaze to her face. A light pink covered her cheeks. She swallowed, which looked difficult. He was tempted to cross the room, push her up against that fancy fridge and kiss her breathless. The thought surprised and annoyed him. He clenched his jaw, reached for the bottle she put on the counter for him, drinking half of it in one long swallow.
“You got a lot of land here,” he said, walking to the slider door and the hill that was just off the deck.
“I’m going to leave most of it alone, just tend the lawn by the house,” she said, then added, “I was thinking about putting in a vegetable garden, using the space over the garage as a kind of greenhouse, but that ranger was out—”
His focus snapped to her. “Sebastian?”
“Yeah, him…he kind of scared me off the idea.”
“What did he say?”
“He told me about rattlesnakes and mountain lions and bears. I was worried about deer and rabbits eating the vegetables, but bears.”
“The bears around here stick mostly to the river, picking off fish. They eat plants, more than people know, but they rarely come this far in.”
She didn’t hide her relief. “And the mountain lions?”
“Never had a problem with them, and I’ve lived here most of my life.”
She leaned back against the counter. “I’m really happy to hear that. I’ve been wanting to take a longer walk around the property, but to be honest, I’ve been a little scared.”
“Living out here alone, you might want to think about getting a dog.”
“I went to the shelter, but there are no dogs at the moment. Natalie will call if that changes.”
A movement out of the corner of his eye had him turning to see a black cat strolling into the kitchen.
“That’s Lucifer,” she said. “He was the only animal in the shelter. He’s mean and belligerent, but the idea of him all alone...”
She had a soft spot for animals. He did too. The cat strolled up to him and rubbed up against his leg.
“Are you kidding me?” she said, coming from around the counter. “I feed the little shit, and he doesn’t give me the time of day.”
“Guess he just likes me more,” Killian said, hunching down to scratch behind Lucifer’s ears.
“Unbelievable,” Cedar muttered then finished off her beer.
He stood, drained his bottle and placed it on the counter. “Thanks for the beer.”
“Thanks for bringing my grill home.”
“I’ll set it up before I go.”
She opened her mouth to object but closed it again. Good girl. “Thanks.”
He nodded and walked out because the thought of fucking her on that nice quartz countertop was becoming distracting.
A half an hour later, he was pulling up to the Wildlife Ranger office. Pulling the door open, Sebastian was on the phone. He glanced up and finished his call then stood.
“Killian, what brings you here?”
“Just curious why you fed that bullshit to the New Yorker about mountain lions and bears when you know we don’t have that kind of trouble where she lives.”
Sebastian smiled. Killian wanted to punch him in the face. “Have you seen her? She gets scared, she calls me.”
“Leave her alone. She doesn’t need your kind of attention.”
“What makes you think she needs your kind?” Sebastian challenged, not hiding his anger.
“Not offering it,” Killian said, moving to the door.
“You’re such a prick,” Sebastian said. “A self-righteous prick.”
Killian reached the door. “She’s off-limits,” he warned then walked out.
Liam was behind the counter when he arrived at the tavern. “Hey, man. You hungry? I got a new burger for you to try.”
Killian walked around the bar, grabbed the whiskey and poured himself three fingers, drinking it back before he said, “Sounds good.”
“Mickey, one of the new burgers for Killian,” Liam called to the cook. “So, Cedar was in here earlier, trying the burger you’re about to have. She’s making me dinner tomorrow night as a thank you for helping her that first night, but she said she had a business proposal.”
She was loaning him money? He knew the ladies loved Liam, but Jesus, they’d known each other not even a month. “You think that’s smart?”
“What do you mean?” Liam asked.
“Going into business with your current fling. Things go south…”
Liam laughed out loud for so long, he felt the urge to punch him in the face, too. “What the fuck is so funny?”
“I forgot,” Liam said, nodding to the waitress who called an order to him.
“Forgot what?”
“There’s nothing going on with Cedar.”
“I found her in my bed, Liam. I’ve dealt with enough of your morning afters.”
He chuckled. “Nothing happened with Cedar. She had raccoons, then we saw the inside of her place, and it wasn’t inhabitable, so I offered her your bed. I never even walked into the apartment with her.”
Killian bit out his next words. “That was not the impression you left me with.”
“Yeah, I was fucking with you.” Liam filled the waitress’ tray.
“Why the fuck would you do that?”
He turned to him. “Because she moved here from New York but didn’t even know the condition of the place she was moving into. Because if you look close enough, behind those green eyes, you can tell she’s been through something. That shit with Frank…”
“Yeah…” Killian agreed. “I took care of Frank.”