Chapter 5

“I want to thank you for having the foresight to get the place cleaned for us,” Kenzie said as she put the last of the perishables into the refrigerator and closed the door.

“Yes,” I added, “I thought we’d be spending our first few hours getting it livable. It was a pleasant surprise to see it so neat and clean.”

“I’d like to take the credit,” Oscar admitted as he sat down in one of the overstuffed chairs in the living room section of the great room and accepted the wine glass that Kenzie offered him, “but it wasn’t my doing. Noah uses this cabin a lot. He never knows when he’ll be able to come or if he’ll arrive in the day or the night so he has a cleaner from the nearby town come in biweekly to make sure it’s all up to snuff. The man hates dust.”

“That explains why I didn’t need to prime the generator to get it going,” Kenzie mused.

“Yes, it would,” Oscar agreed.

“Does Noah live nearby?” I asked with genuine curiosity.

“His house isn’t that far from here,” Oscar replied, “but he travels a wide area for work so he doesn’t have a schedule like most would for using the place.”

“He’s a wildlife trooper, isn’t he?” Kenzie asked.

“He’s actually a game warden,” Oscar corrected her, “but he sometimes doubles as a trooper during the heavy tourist season.”

The sound of tires grinding up the winding mountainside dirt road caught our attention.

“Speak of the devil. I’ll wager that’s him,” Oscar enthusiastically said as he stood up.

He carefully set his wine glass on a nearby table before briskly walking out of the cabin to watch the vehicle’s arrival from the front porch.

Kenzie was quick to follow her friend, but I lagged back. That feeling of nervous dread that I’d experienced when I’d first met Oscar had come back at an alarming intensity.

I went to the kitchen and freshened my glass of wine. Leaning against the counter, I slowly sipped my pinot noir while listening to Oscar introduce Kenzie to his brother.

Noah’s voice was similar to Oscar’s with its deep richness as he said, “I thought you said that there would be two staying in the cabin.”

I suddenly felt very foolish about hiding in the kitchen. I was in the process of frantically trying to figure out what to do or say to explain why I hadn’t gone out onto the porch to greet him along with Kenzie and Oscar when the trio wandered into the cabin.

“Kenzie said that you were a quiet people watcher, not that you were also shy,” Oscar light-heartedly said as he sauntered up to the counter with a type of regal confidence that was impossible to ignore.

I gave a slight shrug and emitted an uncomfortable giggle as I looked past Oscar at his brother. As if on cue, my body instantly reacted to the pheromones that his brother was emitting. My legs literally buckled beneath me. I did my best to inconspicuously grab hold of the counter to prevent myself from falling while praying that no one noticed what was happening.

No such luck.

“Are you alright?” Noah asked as he moved with impressive speed to place his hands on my waist in an effort to set me aright.

The feel of his strong, extremely warm hands sent shivers of delight through my body from head to toe. I inhaled his musky scent as if he was wearing Roja perfume for men. It took me a moment to find the courage to look into his deep-set dark eyes. When I did, they had the same effect, if not more so, as Oscar’s had. They bore into my inner core and held me firmly in place. His dark hair was cut short and allowed to lay as it pleased in a way that made it obvious that he was a man who was either clueless of how handsome he was or simply didn’t care.

Noah placed his face so close to the side of my head that the heat of his breath caressed my flesh. His words reverberated in my ear canal as he said in a low voice that I doubted Oscar or Kenzie heard, “You’re trembling.”

“I…I’m okay,” I stammered in a hoarse whisper that surprised me. “I think I just need to eat something. I’m feeling a little light- headed.”

“If that’s the case, is wine a wise choice of drink?” he asked in a way that made me feel like a foolish child.

Suddenly annoyed with this hot and sexy guy who had the audacity to judge me, I indignantly pulled from his hold.

“There’s no need to worry about me,” I snapped in a low tone that was meant for his ears only.

“Okay, then,” he said with mild amusement. “I won’t.”

He turned his attention back to his brother and Kenzie without giving me a second glance. To my annoyance, his dismissive behavior only served to infuriate me more.

After a few minutes of conversation with my friend and his brother, Noah excused himself as he asked to speak with Oscar alone.

With the men no longer monopolizing her attention, Kenzie turned to me.

“So, what do you think of the brother?” she asked. “It’s my first time meeting Noah. Oscar spoke of him often, but he didn’t do him justice. He’s pretty hot, don’t you think? I mean, Oscar is good looking enough, but there’s something about Noah. It’s an underlying thing. Exciting. Maybe even mysterious. You know?”

I simply gave a slight nod while I stayed planted where Noah had left me in the kitchen. I still didn’t trust my legs. To add to that worry, I had to hope that my astute friend didn’t realize how utterly thrown off and annoyed I was from my little encounter with the handsome and sexy brother of her equally handsome and sexy friend.