Resisting Her Rebel Hero

Opening her mouth to tell him that she’d heard more original pickup lines from paralytic drunks and whacked-out druggies, Cassidy’s gaze locked with his and she was abruptly sucked into molten eyes filled with humor and sharp intelligence. Whether it was a trick of the light or the leashed power in his big, hard body, she was left with the weirdest impression that he wasn’t nearly as drunk as he seemed, which was darned confusing, since he smelled like a brewery on a hot day.

This close she could clearly make out the dark ring encircling those unusual irises, and with the light striking his eyes from the overhead fixture, the tiny amber flecks scattered in the topaz made them appear almost gold. Like a sleek, silent jaguar.

A frisson of primitive awareness raced over her skin and she tore her gaze from his, thinking, Get a grip, Cassidy. He’s the pied piper of female hormones. He seduces women to pass the time, for heaven’s sake. And we are so done with that, remember? Unfortunately, the appalling truth was that her hormones, frozen for far too long, had chosen the worst possible moment to awaken.

Annoyed and a little spooked, she drew her brows together and reached for his hand, abruptly all business. She was here to do a job, she reminded herself sharply, not get her hormones overhauled.

But the instant their skin touched, a jolt of electricity zinged up her arm to her elbow.

She yanked at her hand and stumbled back a step. Her head went light, her knees wobbled and she felt like she’d just been zapped by a thousand volts of live current. He must have felt it too because he grunted and looked startled, leaving Cassidy struggling with the urge to check if her hair was on fire.

Realizing her mouth was hanging open, she snapped it closed and reminded herself this was just another example of static electricity. Big deal. Absolutely nothing to get excited about. Happens all the time.

However, one look out the corner of her eye made her question whether the thin mountain air was killing off brain cells because Crescent Lake’s hotshot hero could hardly be termed “just another” anything. With his thick, nearly black hair mussed around his head like a dark halo, glowing gold eyes and fallen-angel looks, he was about as ordinary as a tiger shark in a goldfish bowl.

Giving her head a shake, Cassidy realized she was getting a little hysterical and probably looked like an idiot standing there gaping at him like he’d grown horns and a tail.

Exhaling in a rush, she looked around for the missing glove. And spied it on the bunk.

Right between his hard jeans-clad thighs.

Her body went hot and her mouth went dry because, holy Toledo, those jeans fit him like they’d been molded to...well, everything.

Tearing her gaze away from checking out places she had no business checking out, she reached for the latex glove and gasped when their hands collided. He picked up the glove and held it out, tightening his grip when she reached for it. Her automatic “Thank you” froze in her throat when she looked up and caught his sleepy gaze locked on her...mouth. After a long moment his eyes rose.

Cassidy’s pulse took off like a sprinter off the starting blocks and all she could think was... No! Oh, no. Not happening, Cassidy. Get your mind on the job.

Her brow wrinkling with irritation, she tugged and told herself she was probably just light-headed from all the fresh mountain air. Dr. Mahoney did not flutter just because some bad boy looked at her with his sexy eyes or talked in a rough baritone that she felt all the way to her belly.

“Excuse me?” she said in a tone that was cool and barely polite.

“I don’t bite,” he slurred with a loopy grin. “Unless you ask real nice.”

Narrowing her gaze, she yanked the glove free and considered smacking him with it. She was not there to play games with some hotshot Navy SEAL, thank you very much.

Setting her jaw, she wrestled with the glove a moment then reached for his hand when she was suitably protected.

“So...” he drawled after a long silence, during which she removed the blood-soaked bar towels to examine his injury, “where’s the cute white outfit?”

She looked up to catch him frowning at her pink scrubs top and jeans. “White outfit?”

“Yeah. You know...white, short, lots of little buttons?” He leaned sideways to scan the empty cell. “And where’s the box?”

“Box?” What the heck was he talking about?

“The boom box,” he said, as though she was missing a few IQ points. “Can’t dance without music.”

What?

“I am not a stripper, Major Kellan,” she said coolly, barely resisting the urge to grind her teeth. “And nurses don’t wear those any more.” She was accustomed to being mistaken for a nurse and on occasion an angel. But a stripper was a new one and she didn’t know whether to laugh or stab him with her syringe. Instead, she lifted a hand to brush a thick lock of dark hair off his forehead to check his head wound. He had to be hemorrhaging in there somewhere to have mistaken her for a stripper. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail and her makeup had worn off hours ago.

So not stripper material.

“You’re not?” He sounded disappointed. She ignored him. The wound only needed a few butterfly strips and he’d probably have a whopping headache on top of a hangover. Hmph. That’s what you get for making a woman flutter without her permission, hotshot.

His left eye was almost swollen shut and a bruise had already turned the skin around it a dark mottled red. She gently probed the area and found no shifting under the skin. No cracked bones, but he’d have a beaut of a shiner and his split lip looked painful enough to put a crimp in his social life.

No kissing in his immediate future.

Wondering where that thought had come from, Cassidy reached into the bag for packaged alcohol swabs. “He did a good job on your face,” she murmured, dabbing at the wound.

Something lethal came and went in his expression, too quickly for Cassidy to interpret. But when he smirked and said, “You should see the other guys,” she decided she must have been mistaken and finally gave in to the mental eye roll that had been threatening. Other guys?

Maybe he’d been listening to too many stories about his own exploits.

“And I guess the knife wasn’t clean either?”

He grunted, but as she wasn’t fluent in manspeak, she was unsure if he was agreeing with her or in pain. “Broken beer bottle. Talk about a clichе,” he snorted roughly. “And forget the tetanus shot. Had one a few months ago...so I’m good.”

Good? It was her turn to snort—silently, of course.

Her obvious skepticism prompted an exasperated grimace. “I’m not drunk.”

She eyed him suspiciously. “You’re not?”

He shook his head and yawned again. “Just tired. An’ it’s Friday,” he reminded her as though she should know what he was talking about.

“Been carousing it up with the boys, have you?”

His look was reproachful. “Fridays are busy and Hannah’s usual bartender has food poisoning.”

“So, you were what?” Cassidy inquired dryly. “Keeping the peace as you served up whiskey and bar nuts?”

His gold eyes gleamed with appreciation and his battered lip curved in a lopsided smile. “If you’re worried, you could always stay the night. Just to be sure I’m not suffering from anything...fatal.”

Flicking on a penlight, Cassidy leaned closer. “I’m sure that won’t be necessary, Major,” she responded dryly, checking his pupil reaction. The only fatal thing he was suffering from was testosterone overload.

She stepped back to pick up another alcohol swab, before returning to press it to the bloodied cut above his eye. His hissed reaction had her gentling her touch as she cleaned it. “How much did you have to drink?”

“A couple,” he murmured, then responded to her narrow-eyed survey with a cocky smile that looked far too harmless for a man with his reputation. “Of sodas,” he added innocently, and her assessing look turned speculative. For a man who slurred like a drunk and smelled as though he’d bathed in beer, his gaze was surprisingly sharp and clear.

“I don’t drink on the job,” he said, hooking a finger in the hem of her top, and giving a little tug. His knuckles brushed against bare skin and sent goose bumps chasing across her skin. “Beer and stupidity don’t mix well.”

“Mmm,” she hummed, straight-faced, turning away to hide her body’s reaction to that casual touch. “Do you need help removing your shirt?” she asked over her shoulder as she cleared away the soiled swabs. “I want to see your torso.”

He was silent for a few beats and when the air thickened, she lifted her gaze and her breath caught. “Your...um...torso wound, I mean.” It was no wonder he had women swooning all over the county.

As though reading her thoughts, his lips curled, drawing her reluctant gaze. The poet’s mouth and long inky lashes should have looked ridiculously feminine on a man so blatantly male but they only made him appear harder, more masculine somehow.