Snowy Mountain Nights by Lindsay Evans Page A

position or risk being homeless.” She gave him an arch look. “I’ve never tried being without a place to lay my head, but I hear it sucks.”
    â€œI don’t think that lifestyle suits anyone.”
    â€œTrue enough.” Reyna toyed with the handle of her mug, her slender fingers hypnotically stroking the white ceramic. “I’ve been working at the studio for about five years now.” Garrison watched her fingers, their slow and seductive motion leading his thoughts astray. He wondered how they would feel against his skin, or tangled with his as he sank between her thighs and she sighed his name.
    He forced his attention back to their conversation. “But you say it’s a pit stop.”
    â€œYes. I’m a graphic artist. I have a degree in it and everything.” She seemed almost embarrassed to share that with him. Her head dipped, and her lashes fanned down to hide her eyes. “I’ve been tightening my résumé and getting ready to shop myself around to ad agencies in the city.”
    â€œThe tattoo studio thing getting too old?”
    â€œNo, I’m getting too old for
it
. The boys there are kids. I’ll be thirty-three in a few months. Way too old to be hanging around what feels more and more like a frat house.”
    â€œYou’re beautifully seasoned.” He stroked her with his eyes. “Hardly too old, but certainly too talented to stay in a place you’ve outgrown.”
    The flirtatious words flowed easily from his lips, surprising him. But his body had always been light-years ahead of his mind, knowing what he wanted and reaching out to take it before his always overprocessing brain could finish its particular set of analyses.
    â€œTalented?” She toyed with her necklace again. “You don’t even know my work.”
    â€œI’ve seen your sketches. I know your talent,” Garrison said. “But I’d love the chance to know
you
.”
    The light from the flames flickered over her skin, creating shadows on her face, pulling him closer to her seductive warmth. She licked her lips and watched him.
    â€œWill you give me that chance?” He held out his hand.
    At first, he thought she would refuse him, fight the impulse that had drawn her to his cabin in the first place. He could feel the longing in her. He understood what she needed. Her friend had fallen apart in the wake of her shattered heart; Reyna wanted to prove to herself that she was stronger than that, that she did not rely on a man’s ring on her finger to hold her together.
    He could already see that she was strong. She had rebuilt herself from a shell-shocked new divorcée into a resilient Circe who commanded his attention and interest like no other woman before. She didn’t need a man to hold her together, but she wanted a man,
this
man, to hold her.
    When she took his hand, the breath left his lungs in a silent rush. Her fingers curled around his, as if he was a cool mug of apple cider, and she longed to taste. She was warmer up close, her clothes and skin crisp with the scent of pine. Reyna smelled as if she belonged out there in the wilderness with the snow and trees and all the untamed beauty beyond his doors. He felt privileged to hold her in his arms.
    â€œI’m glad you came here tonight.” He kissed her.
    The sweetness of her lips nearly undid him. Reyna sighed into his mouth and pressed her beautiful length into him, her fingers scratching the back of his neck as their lips pressed hotly together.
    â€œI didn’t come here for this,” she whispered. “I promise.”
    He nibbled her lower lip, slid a hand under her shirt. “Whatever the reason, I’m glad you’re here.”
    Garrison kissed her deeply, her mouth soft under his, the passion building between them quickly, a steady fire that rolled heat beneath his skin, flared a wick of lust in his middle and made him gasp with the surprising power of