Rescue My Heart Read online

  perched a hip there, leaning in. The pulse at the base of her neck was fluttering, and her skin seemed dewy. “I have to know,” he murmured, “what the hell you’re listening to.”

  With a screech, she jumped up, her eyes flying open. She gaped at him, then tore the ear buds out of her ears. “Adam.”

  “Me,” he said. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “I’m working. I—” She drew in a deep breath and smoothed the front of her dress.

  Her nipples were hard.

  “I’m really busy,” she said.

  “I can see that.”

  “I was just listening to an audio book,” she said, sounding breathless. “For my book club. I’m behind on the book. I didn’t hear you come.”

  No, but he had the feeling he’d almost heard her come. “You were listening to your book club read?” He knew that Jade and Lilah belonged to the same book club, and they’d both been complaining about this month’s read, which was supposedly pretentious, boring, and had a sucky ending.

  Her eyes slid to the iPod on her desk, still on play. “Um. Well, actually…”

  He picked up a forgotten ear bud and pressed it to his ear.

  A sultry, sexy female voice was narrating, her voice low and suggestive: “He worked his way to her nipple, giving the tight tip a long, leisurely lick before sucking it hard into his mouth. Satisfied with her shaky moan, he slid his hands to her hips, catching the sides of her panties, dragging them down her long, luscious legs. His lips followed, her hips jerking as he got close to the promised land…”

  Adam grinned up at Holly. “I didn’t know you guys read porn at your book club. No wonder Lilah’s in it.”

  Holly made a grab for the ear bud, but he held it out of her reach.

  “Fine,” she said. “So it’s not a sanctioned book club read.”

  “No?”

  “No, the book club reads are boring.”

  Adam stuck the ear bud back into his ear and wasn’t disappointed.

  “She writhed beneath him,” the sexy narrator continued, “while he deeply inhaled her rich scent. Bending low, he nuzzled her waxed mound and said…Trust me.”

  Adam snorted and looked at Holly. “FYI—never trust a man who says, ‘Trust me.’”

  She snatched the iPod, practically climbing up his body to do so, not that he minded one little bit. “What are you doing here?” she snapped.

  “Dropping off your dad.” He stroked a damp tendril off her forehead. “You look like you need a man, Holly.”

  She raised her chin and looked him in the eye. “I’ve discovered I don’t need a man to be happy.”

  “Is that right?”

  “Yes,” she said. “And besides, you’ve made it perfectly clear that you don’t need me, either, so…” She moved to walk around him but he caught her wrist.

  “You’re right. I don’t need you,” he said. “I don’t need anyone.” He pulled the struggling, pissed-off woman in between his legs, waiting until her flashing eyes met his. “But I want you, Holly. Always have, always will.”

  She went still, staring at him as his cell phone rang, with the tone that told him it was an emergency. Still holding her gaze, he pulled his phone from his hip and glanced at the screen. Shit. Reluctantly, he let go of her.

  She fisted her hand in his shirt. “Wait a minute. You’re just going to say that and then leave me? In this state?”

  He looked down at his own erection. “If it makes you feel better, you’re not the only one.” He pressed a hard, fast kiss to her very kissable mouth. “Have to go.”

  “But—”

  He slid the ear bud back into her ear. “This seemed to be taking you where you need to go,” he said. “Finish listening to it. I’m going to like thinking of you, here, getting off on it.”

  She blushed and bit down on her lower lip. He groaned and leaned in for one more kiss and then forced himself out the door.

  The emergency call from Kel turned out to be a countywide drill. A fucking drill. But it was mandatory, and it kept him out at Bear Lake for the rest of the long hours of the night: cold, icy, miserable.

  Well, except for the one thought that warmed him every time it crossed his mind, which was constantly—Holly at her desk, hot and bothered, listening to that book.

  Two days later Holly was in the Reid Ranching offices, neck deep into quarterlies, when Grif called her on Skype. She answered with a huge smile, waiting as her brother’s pixelated image swam into view. He was in army cammies and dark wraparound sunglasses that he pulled off at the sight of her.

  As always, she studied him carefully, heart in her throat, but he looked good, she decided. Then again, he usually did. Unlike Holly, he’d taken the best from his ancestral gene pool: their dad’s height, dark good looks, and quick smile and quicker wit, plus their mom’s unusual gray eyes and ability to see right through any and all bullshit. He’d gone into the military about the same time as Adam, choosing army. It hadn’t been trouble that Grif had been running from, though; it had been Sunshine itself—and ranching.

  And their father.

  This life here in the Idaho mountains might seem idyllic and slow and perfect to her, but the very thing she loved about it was exactly what Grif had never wanted. Unfortunately, as the only son of a ranching icon, he’d faced a lot of pressure to stay.

  But he’d gone, and though he’d come back on leave whenever possible, he never remained in Sunshine for more than a week or two without going batshit crazy. Though Holly would never push him to stick around when he clearly didn’t want to, she missed him. A lot.

  “You’re a sight for sore eyes,” she said.

  “Same goes.” His usual fast smile faded. “Been trying to get you for a few days.”

  She’d missed his call yesterday. “Dad’s okay.”

  “He had a fucking heart attack?”

  Dammit. “You’ve talked to Adam.”

  “Yes, but only because he answers his phone.” Grif blew out a breath. “I heard it from a friend of a friend who works at the hospital. When I couldn’t get you, I called Adam—who didn’t want to tell me, either, by the way. You’re all on my shit list.”

  She winced. “You called at three in the morning. I’m sorry, I had my ringer off.”

  “It was the only time I could get through. Tell me, Holly.”

  She sighed. She’d like to wring Adam’s neck, except then she’d have to see him again. And after the other day and her most embarrassing moment, her current plan was to lie low. “Apparently he had a mild heart attack three months ago. I was in New York and you were…well, somewhere. He managed to hide it because his hospital stay was only a few days. He says he’s been following doctor’s orders and doing everything he’s supposed to. But from what I can gather, Deanna dumped him because his mortality scared her.”

  “Or because it reminded her that he was an old son of a bitch.”

  “Or that,” she said dryly. “In any case, he was suddenly alone, and depressed. Or was, anyway.”

  “Was?”

  “Well, once we got him back, news sort of spread that he was a free agent. Now he’s got both Mrs. Graham and Mrs. Rodriguez visiting all the time, cooking for him.”

  “Mrs. Graham, the hot forty-something redhead mayor?”

  She laughed. “Yes.”

  Grif shook his head, looking both appalled and impressed. “Go, Dad.”

  “I guess…”

  Grif let out a breath. “Now tell me about you.”

  “What about me?”

  “Your divorce.”

  “Dammit! Adam has a big mouth.”

  “What is all this, Hol?”

  “Well, let’s see. You and Adam have been gossiping like a pair of little girls, so it must be middle school recess!”

  He smiled and immediately looked younger, softer than the hardened soldier he’d turned himself into.

  “It’s not funny,” she said, but seeing him smile made her smile, too.

  Her off