sight the target and when you have it, squeeze the trigger.”
A few seconds later, a shot exploded out of the muzzle and Lucy winced. “Did I hit it?”
“Nope.”
“But I always hit the target at the range.”
“Shooting at the range is a lot different than shooting when a bear is charging you. Or even with the wind blowing and the trees rustling. That can is about the size of the spot you need to hit to down a bear.”
“But it’s so small from back here.”
“Any closer to the target, you won’t have time to get a shot off.”
Eli glanced at his watch. It was almost three. The hike out would be quicker as it was downhill and he’d have an empty pack, but it would still be tight. And he hadn’t brought along a headlamp, so he had to reach the ATV before sunset. “I have to get going. But I want you to practice this after I leave. Every day. Until you can hit those cans in the blink of an eye.”
Lucy slowly turned. “Thank you,” she said.
His gaze fell to her lips and he fought the urge to lean forward and take a taste. “No problem. I wish we could work on it some more, but then I’d have to spend the night. I’m sure that’s against the rules.” He wasn’t sure what had possessed him to practically beg for an invitation, and he wanted to take the words back the moment he said them.
“Guidelines,” she corrected. “They’re really just guidelines. But I plan to follow them as if they were laws.”
They walked back to the cabin together and Eli retrieved his pack and slipped the straps over his shoulders. “Well, Lucy Parker, I guess this is goodbye, then. Have a great year and stay safe.”
“Won’t I see you next month?” she asked.
“What about your law? I thought a man was against the rules,” he said.
“You won’t be helping me with the cabin. And I don’t want to put Annalise out if she’s busy.”
“Then I’ll see you next month,” he said.
Lucy smiled, then pushed up on her toes and brushed a quick kiss across his cheek. “Thanks again. I enjoyed our visit.”
He smoothed his hand along her arm and caught her hand in his. “If I kissed you,” he murmured, “would that be against the guidelines?”
“It definitely would,” she said.
Eli nodded, the conflict between his common sense and his impulses raging on in his head. In the end, he stepped back, gradually moving away from her, their gazes still locked. “Stay safe,” he said, giving her a halfhearted wave.
She waved back and he turned and headed across the meadow toward the trailhead. Eli looked over his shoulder once and found her still watching him from the porch, her arms wrapped around the post, her hair tossed by the breeze. Riley sat at her feet, his head resting on his paws.
Eli tried to forget her the moment she was out of sight. But instead, she plagued his thoughts for the entire hike down the mountain, then the ride back into town and through the rest of his night. He’d almost convinced himself that it was simple worry that kept her on his mind. After all, she was a vulnerable young woman, alone in the wilderness with no one to protect her. He couldn’t just leave her to fend for herself.
But when his dreams turned into scorching sexual fantasies of naked limbs entwined and wild sensations racing through his body, Eli knew protecting Lucy wasn’t the only reason he wanted to go back to the cabin.
June
LUCY TICKED OFF the days on her calendar as the first of June approached. Though she’d tried to tell herself that it would be Annalise checking in, she held out hope that it would be Eli instead.
She couldn’t help but feel guilty over the attraction that had consumed her for the past month. After all, this whole experience was about finding the strength in being a woman. But instead the only thing she could think about was Eli Montgomery. He was just so...handsome and charming. And dangerous.
He was exactly the kind of man who could lure a woman into an affair without a second thought to what she might be giving up for him. The problem was, the more time Lucy spent alone, the more she seemed to dwell on sex.
It wasn’t just a nagging desire that came and went. She seemed to be obsessed with thoughts of raging passion and unfulfilled need, quite unusual for her. And the male subject in every one of these fantasies just happened to be Eli Montgomery, mysterious mountain man and destroyer of feminist ideals. It was a problem she’d never anticipated.
She’d been pacing the cabin for most of the morning, busying herself with bread-making and an attempt to make a vegan mac and cheese. After two months in the wild, she’d added dairy products to her list of things she’d begun to crave.
She opened the oven to check on the bread, then realized that she’d left it in too long. “Damn,” she muttered, grabbing a dishtowel and a potholder. Gauging the temperature of her wood-burning oven was an art that she’d not yet mastered.
She pulled the two pans out, setting the first on top of the stove and searching for an empty spot on the counter for the second. But the heat of the pan seeped through the towel and she screamed as she dropped it on the floor, the loaf tumbling out of the pan to land in front of a pair of well-worn hiking boots.
Lucy glanced up to see Eli watching her through the screen door. Either he’d left before sunrise or he’d run up the mountainside. It was barely ten and she looked as if she’d just crawled out of bed.
He opened the door and stepped inside, then bent down and grabbed the loaf of bread. “I think you dropped this,” he murmured, his gaze slowly drifting down to her mouth.
Lucy groaned inwardly. So he’d come back. Had it been his choice or had Annalise had another conflict in her schedule?
“Thanks,” she said, grabbing the bread with the towel, then slowly straightening. She was dressed in a faded T-shirt and nothing else. Thankfully, the T-shirt nearly reached her knees. “You’re early.”
“I figured you might need a hand with a few things, so I gave myself some extra time to help you.”
She shook her head. “I can’t—”
“I know, I know. But I thought maybe after two months on your own, you might have changed your mind.”
“Nope,” she said. “I haven’t changed my mind.”
He grinned, then turned and grabbed his pack from just outside the front door. He pulled a thermos from the side pocket and held it out to her. “Then you probably don’t want this, either.”
Lucy regarded the stainless-steel container suspiciously. “What’s that?”
“Caramel latte. Triple shot, I believe. Still hot. As I recall, you requested it the last time I was here. I’m just following orders.”
