dry."
He wasn't dry. In fact, water was dripping off of his blond hair, trickling down every single inch of his hard body, dripping right off the end of his—
"Please," Wren said, cupping her hands over her eyes in a last desperate attempt at civility. "I just—I don't—"
"Alright, you win," Dawson said. "Give me one sec."
Wren peeked through her fingers to see the park ranger diving off of the boulder into the pool. His lithe body moved in fluid strokes, his arms slipping through the water as he swam quickly across to the other side of the pool, thirty feet or so away.
Wren's lips parted as he pulled himself up onto the boulders on the other side, and her skin, already hot, burned fiercely at the sight of his taut backside, the muscled curve of his back. He dried himself off with his shirt, his hands rubbing over his body quickly, and she had to turn away to swallow whatever it was that had jumped up into her throat. By the time she turned back, he'd put on his pants. Thank heaven for small favors.
He walked back around on the narrow edge outside the pool, jumping from one boulder to another. His bare chest gleamed with moisture, his shirt slung around his neck just as it had been the first time she'd seen him.
"Now," he said, making one final leap over to the boulder where she stood. "Will you tell me what the hell you're doing here?"
"How about you put on your shirt first?" Wren said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Or don't you know what it means to get dressed?"
"You didn't let me air dry, and I'm not wearing a wet shirt," Dawson said, tossing the soaked cloth down onto the boulder. "How about you tell me what you're doing here instead? Or don't you know what it means to stay on the trail?"
"I got lost," Wren said, her skin still burning. "I was trying to find the trailhead."
"Sure. And you thought climbing up a creek bed would get you back down to the coast. I know you're a city girl, but still—"
"Okay," Wren said. "I was just curious." Her eyes flicked down involuntarily to his chest. The scars from an old wound stood out against his tan skin.
"So curious you managed to climb up twenty feet of boulders with one hand?"
"I wanted to see what was up here." I want to ask you about how you got those scars. I want to see more of them. Touch them. Wren blinked the thoughts away.
"They're from an accident," the ranger said. "When I was little."
"Oh." She didn't know how to respond. "I'm sorry."
"You wanted to see what was up here, well, that's all that's up here. Why did you bring a gun?"
"I always carry a gun in the city. And you said there was wildlife."
"So you came up here to explore. And the gun... that's just for shooting all the squirrels that might attack you." He arched his eyebrow in disbelief.
"That's right," Wren said firmly.
"Well." He seemed to be waiting for something from Wren. She coughed.
"Well?" she asked.
"Now you've found me," the ranger said.
He stepped forward and before Wren could say anything, his hand was brushing back the loose strands of her braid, cupping her chin in his hand. She could feel the strength of his muscles even in his fingers. His thumb ran across the line of her jaw. The touch thrilled her with its possessiveness, even as her mind recoiled. She couldn't do this. She had a boyfriend.
Her mouth opened in protest, but before she could speak he had pressed his mouth down on hers, hard. It was a quick kiss, forceful and insistent, and the shock of it raced through her nerves even as she pushed herself away. He didn't stop her from stepping back, although he kept one hand locked tightly around her wrist.
"Stop," Wren said, but the word came out weakly. He had already stopped, after all. "You can't—"
"I know," the ranger said. A slow smile made its way across his face. "I was just curious."
"Curious?"
"To see what you tasted like."
Her mouth went dry, and not because she had been hiking for more than five miles. The raw desire in his voice made her
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