The Wolf Marshal's Pack (U.S. Marshal Shifters 3)

“I still can’t believe you knew who I was.” She pointed to a pine tree up on their left. “That’s where I went off the trail.”

They veered into the woods.

“I can’t believe I never knew you were local,” Colby said. “What are the odds??

??

“Maybe fate wanted to bring me together with my number one fan.”

She’d said it teasingly, but there wasn’t anything the least bit jokey in Colby’s voice when he said, “Maybe it did.”

All right. Aria might have been only on the sidelines of the dating game for the last eight years—she only barely knew what Tinder was—but she wasn’t naïve enough to think that most men went around honestly believing fate had meant for them to meet plus-size single moms whose high school nicknames had been things like Granola Breath and Photo Express. No one did that. Not with someone they just wanted for a one-night stand.

If Colby was really breaking out the idea that they might be destined to meet, then he might like her just as much as she liked him.

As if he could hear what was she was thinking, Colby said, “So this is a weird time to ask this, you know, on one of the worst days of your life and right in the middle of hunting a fugitive, but—would you like to have dinner with me sometime?”

Fourth of July sparklers seemed to light up inside her, letting off fizzy bursts of warm golden light.

“I’d like that a lot,” Aria said.

It was a shame that no one really made sweeping, dramatic declarations anymore, because she would have loved to say anything from the very sweet, “I don’t know why, but I think I’d like to have dinner with you every night for the rest of my life” to the very explicit, “Yes, but first I’d like you to pin me against one of these trees and have your way with me.”

That would be great. Unfortunately, she just had to settle for using her tone to convey both of those ideas.

It made her sound a little like she had a frog in her throat.

How could he possibly be charmed by her?

And yet he was, undeniably, because he was now standing still. He had an absolutely beautiful smile on his face.

Colby touched her cheek, caressing it just a little. His hand felt cool against her flushed skin, and the slightly rough, masculine calluses on his fingers brought her immediately to imagining what those fingers would feel like elsewhere.

What would it be like if he really were to pin her up against one of the trees? She’d have rough bark at her back, but Colby’s smooth, hard chest in front of her. His work-roughened hands would stroke her, freeing her from her bra—

She didn’t know that she’d ever been so turned on in her life. She hadn’t even known it was possible to get this aroused without so much as a kiss.

“You feel like velvet,” Colby said.

“You feel like... you feel amazing,” Aria said breathlessly.

She was more of a pictures girl than a words girl.

He traced the shape of her mouth with his thumb, looking as hypnotized as if he thought her lips were perfectly soft and smooth and colored even without a trace of lipstick on. His dark blue eyes showed something beyond desire and beyond fascination.

Aria had always liked the idea that a picture captured a thousand words. Most photographers did. When you were faced with something like the Grand Canyon—or your own newborn child—what words could possibly do the sight justice?

She had that same feeling now. She knew she was committing every detail of Colby’s face to memory.

“Let’s save the first kiss for when we’re on the other side of all this,” Colby said.

That made sense. They shouldn’t be getting distracted.

But God, she wanted to kiss him. She really did.

At least he had said first kiss, like he was hoping there would be many more after it. With something like that to wait for, she could put up with a little delayed gratification.

“You’re giving me a lot of motivation to help you find this fugitive,” Aria said.