Close Enough to Touch (Jackson Hole 1)

She shot a glare at the man who now stood at Cole’s shoulder. His mouth was serious, but his eyes tilted up a little in subtle amusement. She was opening her mouth to tell him to fuck off, when Cole interrupted.

“Grace, this is Shane. He lives upstairs. Shane, this is Grace. Our new neighbor.”

“Oh!” His brown eyes widened. “Pleased to meet you. I heard there was a woman amongst us. Welcome.”

“Thank you,” she said stiffly, still prepared not to like him.

Cole elbowed his friend. Hard. “Apologize. You pissed her off with your stupid attempt to be funny.”

“Sorry,” Shane said, touching the brim of his hat. “I’m an idiot.”

He grimaced so sincerely that Grace almost laughed. Almost. But she didn’t want him to think he was off the hook.

“So what were you saying about this morning?” Cole continued. “Something about how the breakfast was spectacular, but the company far surpassed it?”

“No, I…” She looked from him to his friend and narrowed her eyes.

Shane put up his hands. “All right, I know when I’m not wanted. I’ll be over here. Out of firing range.”

She watched him wal

k away, and suddenly Cole’s voice was in her ear. “I think he’s scared of you.”

She turned and felt his chin brush her hair before he drew back. “He should be scared of me. So should you.”

“Yeah? How come? The purple hair?” He carefully reached up and rubbed a lock of her hair between his thumb and finger, then withdrew before she could knock his hand away.

“No.”

“The black suede pants?”

“They’re not suede, they’re just brushed to look… No. Not that either.”

He leaned closer again, and she felt very alone with him beneath the shadow of his hat. “Is it the way you look like you could punch me and enjoy it? Or the way your dark eyes get even darker when you’re really mad?”

Grace inhaled sharply at the husky appreciation in his words. She thought she might have swayed closer and hoped it was only the beer affecting her vision. “No, I…I just meant that if you weren’t nice I’d come by and hang out in the morning again.”

“And why would I be scared of that, Miss Grace?”

Yeah, his voice was definitely husky. And she was definitely swaying. Damn those drinks. She cleared her throat and stood as straight as she could. “You should be scared because of how I looked this morning.”

“You looked fine. Cute.”

“Cute? You’ve got to be fu—”

“Cole!” Jenny’s voice called from behind her. “You look tired. Want the usual, babe?”

“Thanks, Jenny,” he said, his smile widening when he looked past Grace’s shoulder. It was just the moment she needed to escape the pull of his low voice and warm smile. And the intimacy of looking up at him under the shadow of his hat. Secret cowboy trick, probably.

Had she actually been succumbing to the flirtations of a cowboy? Wow. Altitude, indeed.

She steeled her spine. “Anyway, I’ll see you around, all right?”

“Hey, where are you going? I was about to buy you a drink.”

“After you just warned me to take it easy?”

A moment of male confusion flashed over his face, but he recovered quickly. “A soda then. Or just some water. It’s important to drink lots of water here or you’ll get headaches.”