The Snow Leopard's Mate (Glacier Leopards 1)

He shook the thought away. He’d been determined not to come on too strong with this woman. For some reason, he was having a hard time remembering that.

So instead of telling her, I’ll buy you nice things, he said, “I think you look as nice as any woman I’ve seen,” which was as close as he felt he could reasonably get.

She was quiet for a minute. He wondered if she was blushing, but the car was too dark for him to tell with human eyes.

“Thank you,” she said finally, her voice soft.

He hesitated. But there was something he wanted to make sure she understood. “It seems like the men around here might not treat women that well. I just want you to know that I don’t hold with that kind of behavior. If a man can’t respect a woman, he has no business being near her.”

“That’s good to hear.” The way her mouth curved was distracting him from the road. “Thank you again.”

“No need for thanks,” he said stubbornly. “A man shouldn’t be thanked for behaving like other people are human beings.”

“Thank you for telling me, then.”

The atmosphere in the truck was getting heavy. Grey was glad he was driving, or he might’ve made a rash decision. He wanted to kiss her, but he didn’t want everything he’d just said to seem like a line. It wasn’t a line. He believed it. He just wanted to kiss Alethia, too.

He put his full attention on the road to distract himself. There was a thick silence for a few miles, and then Grey noticed the turnoff coming up. “That’s the road to my cabin up there.” He nodded to it.

“Oh,” said Alethia. “Could we go there?”

He almost got whiplash snapping his head over to look at her. “You want to see it?” he asked cautiously.

She shrugged a little, bringing his attention to her mostly-bare shoulders, which made the eyes naturally wander down. “You’re the best man I’ve ever met in this town, and we’ve only known each other for half an hour. I want to keep getting to know you.”

Did she mean…?

He’d find out what she meant, he told himself firmly, when they got to the cabin. And if he still wasn’t sure then, he’d talk to her like a man who wasn’t afraid to hear a straight yes or no from a woman he wanted.

“I’d like that,” he said now to Alethia, and took the turnoff that led to his cabin.

The cabin was tucked away and invisible from the main road, but it wasn’t actually that much of a drive from Ryder’s Lodge. So it wasn’t long before he was pulling up to it. Though Alethia was peering confusedly out the window as he stopped; the building was almost invisible to human eyes without any lights on.

“This is it,” Grey told her, and got out of the truck, going around to help her out of the cab.

Which meant his hands on her soft waist, her behind brushing up against him, his face in her cloud of soft, delicately-scented hair.

He set her on the ground, and let go with a great effort. His hands wanted to stay right where they were. Or maybe start moving to the north or south.

Fortunately, his brain was in charge of his actions, so instead he took a step back and

said, “This way.”

Alethia peered into the darkness. “I can’t see anything.”

Grey reached for her hand. She curled her small fingers around his immediately, and he led her up to the door, giving her plenty of time to pick her way around loose stones and the occasional tree root. She walked confidently, though, even in her heels.

He murmured, “Steps here,” when they got to them, and opened the door for her and flicked on the light.

“Welcome to my home.”

***

Ali felt like she was in a dream, or something. This was all too good to be true.

All of the guys she’d ever met at bars in Ryder’s Lodge had been the same. They’d wanted to get into her pants, and they hadn’t much cared about anything beyond that.

Grey was attracted to her. She’d noticed from the moment their eyes met in the bar. But that wasn’t a problem. Ali was definitely, definitely attracted to him, too. The point was that he talked with her. He listened to what she said, he thought about it, and he responded with what he honestly thought.