“Whoa, there….easy,” his voice
breathed in her ear. His strong arms encircled her tiny waist as he
prepared to do the Heimlich maneuver.
Faith didn’t choke, but instead
launched into a coughing fit as the cherry went down the wrong way. The
coughing wasn’t helped any by the Ranger's leap over the bar to rescue
her, all in the blink of an eye.
Now that he had his hard body pressed
against her back and his thick arms around her mid-section, she wasn’t
faring any better. This man was hot and she was horny. It was as simple
as that.
Given her unique ability to see the
good or bad in folks put a huge damper on her sex life. She couldn’t
bear to be with one loser after another and good men were hard to find.
That was a fact of life.
She finally pushed herself away from
him and nodded. In between coughs she managed, “I’m…fine…thank…you.”
He nodded and then slowly walked to
the end of the bar, let himself out of the pit area, and strolled back
over to his waiting stool. He moved in smooth strides and Faith was
drawn to how graceful he managed it, given his large size.
Before her mind could conjure up more
dirty images of just how smoothly his body could move, she smiled at him
and asked, “What can I get you?”
He looked at her with questioning eyes
and smiled.
It was the first time she’d seen him
smile and it was breathtaking. His teeth were so very white. It was
mesmerizing. She definitely had the hots for the Ranger.
“I’ll take a bourbon and Coke.”
Faith cleared her throat and began to
prepare the drink. She wondered what he was doing here. Surely, he
hadn’t come just to have a drink and lick cherry juice off her face. Her
luck wasn’t that good.
She sat the drink down in front of him
on a green Guinness coaster. He took a small sip and smiled again at
her. This time he didn’t show those amazing teeth but his smile had the
same effect on her as before.
She felt butterflies in her stomach
and a tingle between her legs that she hadn’t felt in such a long time.
She almost didn’t recognize this feeling of being utterly attracted to
someone.
“Miss Harper, I’m here to talk to
you," he began. "About what you saw today.”
“Wait a minute. How do you know my
name? You never asked me my name this morning,” she said as she ran the
events of the morning through her mind.
“I know who you are, Miss Harper,
because I’ve done some checking around about you,” he continued.
She felt her face flush red with heat
and she looked down to straighten the apron that was neatly covering the
front of her tight, black jeans. Uh oh, here comes the part where he
tells me he knows I’m some nut who has special abilities.
“I know you can see things and there’s
nothing wrong with that,” he said softly.
She looked up at him with startled
eyes. No one had ever told her that. In all her years, she’d only heard
snide comments and snickers from people who knew about her gift.
“I’m sure you’ll agree that some
things are better left unsaid. If for no other reason than that folks
just make a big deal out of things they don’t understand.”
She didn’t know where he was going
with this but she nodded just the same.
He seemed satisfied with that and
paused to take another sip from his drink before saying, “I need for you
to keep what you saw today between us for now.”
He’d said this last sentence with such
a low voice that Faith wasn’t sure she’d even heard him correctly. She
looked up at him and searched his eyes for more meaning.
“What do you mean?” she asked as she
ran her fingertips through her hair and then tucked a strand behind her
ear. Then she leaned closer to him and placed her hands on the bar in
front of her.
“I mean that I need for you to keep
quiet about what you saw in the woods today…the body. I need for you to
trust me.”
Faith laughed. She laughed out loud
and the Ranger looked a little surprised at her response, but he
remained silent.
“Are you serious?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said, and reached forward to
take her hand in his. She looked down at those enormous, strong hands
and how her hand looked so tiny and fragile under his.
“Miss Harper, I’ll explain everything
to you when the time is right, but if you don’t keep quiet about what
you discovered today…your life will be in danger.”