night, that’s all. The fire—”
“I meant that mild heart attack you had at the mention of a baby.”
Noel choked on his cola.
Rising to her knees, Lisa thwacked him on the back. “You did realize right off that she was talking about a baby, right?”
Yeah, he’d known—and he really wished everyone would quit throwing around that word. He wanted no part of it, not in conversation, not in reality. He coughed several times, cleared his throat and nodded.
“Such a reaction,” Adam said, coming up to join his sister...and heckle Noel.
“Not enough sleep,” Noel explained again, hoping that lame excuse would suffice. Just as Adam sat, Noel pushed to his feet. “In fact, I think I’ll—”
He turned to flee and almost ran into Amber.
She stood there, hands on her slim hips, that dark, thick braid over her shoulder, curved around one lush breast. Her beautiful blue eyes dared him.
Noel couldn’t help but grin. No one affected him the way Amber did. She left him in a heightened state of sexual awareness—and he liked it. Her ballsy attitude, as much as her sensual appearance, appealed to him. For such a slender, feminine woman, she had the air of an Amazon.
Amber cast a warning glace at her cousins, and they wisely departed, grins in place. Plastering on her own smile, she turned to Noel and, sounding uncharacteristically shy, said, “Hey.”
Mixed emotions kept him mum. That timidity didn’t suit her at all and told him she was about to go beyond her comfort zone. Probably all the blasted talk about babies.
He thought about making his excuses and removing himself from range, but he happened to look at her mouth, and the familiar urge to kiss her overrode everything else.
Murmuring, “Hey yourself,” he leaned forward and brushed his mouth over those soft, full lips he adored. He meant to keep it light, but her lips parted, which invited his to press more firmly, and suddenly he was lost to a full-blown, tongue-twining, hot and wet mating of the mouths.
Amber had snaked her slim arms around his neck. He mindlessly drew her closer to his body.
A deep breath filled his head with her heated scent and he shifted to her neck, tasting her velvety skin, quickly losing control.
Head back and eyes closed, she whispered, “Were you leaving?”
Reality slammed him back into the here and now.
He had been about to go, yeah, but now he shook his head. “Just trying to escape your family.” His hands rested on the top of her shapely hips. Amber was warm, soft, and her irresistible scent teased him.
If they were alone, he’d free her from that body-hugging tank top so he could get to her full breasts...
Rather than take it as a joke, the way he meant it, she softly chided him. “Don’t let them scare you off.”
So she’d seen the truth? Of course she had. Being far too perceptive, Amber often recognized things in people, things that others missed.
“It hasn’t happened yet,” he reminded her. But yeah, today the dynamic seemed to have taken a drastic shift.
Amber came from a family of overachievers, community leaders and really, really good people. From reputations alone, they could intimidate others. But meeting them in person, getting to know them, really sealed the deal. Her family was nothing short of amazing.
Her dad, especially, was impressive, not only in size—because Morgan Hudson was a man who, even in his early sixties, remained strong as an ox—but also as an icon who’d fulfilled the role of sheriff and now mayor. He was involved in just about every community program that existed in Buckhorn.
Hell, he ran most of them, fulfilling his main need to help those less fortunate and his equally obvious need to control his small corner of the world.
Noel didn’t want to be controlled. He’d had his hands full fending off Amber’s tendency to take charge. She, like her father, had a very strong will. But deep down, he knew Amber hadn’t gotten seriously involved with anyone, despite being a beautiful, smart, independent woman, because she hadn’t yet met her match.
He matched her, in nearly every way. Together they were combustible.
She stared up at him with those amazing incandescent blue eyes framed by thick black lashes. Her eyes were the feature that had first caught his attention, closely followed by her sweet body, and then her bold persona had finished him off. She epitomized a temptation trifecta and he couldn’t resist.
“Noel?” Her tongue licked nervously at her bottom lip.
Noel’s blood fired. Wanting to be alone with her, he glanced around, hoping for inspiration—and caught the smirking gaze of her brother and the “dare you to” stare of her father.
Well, hell.
“We’re drawing attention,” he told her and defiantly hugged her a little closer. At twenty-seven, Amber didn’t need anyone’s permission to be with him. And at thirty, he sure as hell didn’t ask for it, not even from the reigning family of the town.
Her gaze warmed. “Want to go swimming?”
“Where?” If she meant off the dock with everyone else, he’d have to pass. His reaction to Amber in a bikini wasn’t conducive to an audience.
She trailed a finger down his chest. “How about—”
“Amber, honey, would you mind helping me in the kitchen?” Misty Hudson, her mother, smiled sweetly at each of them.
Innate good manners came forward. It was one thing to ignore the men in her family, quite another to be that rude to her mother. Noel released Amber and stepped back respectfully.
“Mom,” Amber complained, “I was just going to—”
“Thank you, honey.” She hooked her arm through her daughter’s, then said to Noel, “I won’t keep her long.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said and watched the two ladies leave with a lot of regret.
Of course the second they were gone, the guys moved in.
Her brother, Garrett, a much larger, male version of Amber with the same dark hair and blue eyes, also happened to be his lieutenant at the fire station. Adam and Shohn were her cousins, and Gray was a cousin’s husband. At least her father chose to join the elders near the grill. He could be thankful to be spared the scrutiny of her uncles Sawyer, Gabe and Jordan, and her much older cousin Casey.
When the others were close enough, Noel stuck out his hand, saying to Garrett, “Congratulations.” The sooner he got this over with, the happier he’d be.
Garrett smiled with evil delight as he accepted the gesture, saying to his cousins, “Notice how he managed to spit that out without flinching?”
“Manned right up,” Adam said.
Shohn
