Molly had said it was a simple log cabin outside Yosemite National Park. Under-fucking-statement of the fucking century.
My jaw dropped.
Oh, it was a log cabin, all right. It just sat on about a gazillion acres, with this insane wrap-around porch complete with actual wood railings, bark and all. And a moat! No lie, there was a fucking moat surrounding the property, with colorful little fishies swimming around. A nice blend of medieval castle meets Goldilocks’ B&E escapades.
But all that paled in comparison to…
My previously unhinged jaw clenched. Narrowing my eyes, I turned an accusing look on Molly, who was doing the whistle, rocking back on her heels, wandering gaze, innocent act. “Molly,” I snapped.
She batted her eyelashes. “Yes, Ethan?”
“Something you’d like to share?”
She twisted a lock of her flaming hair around her finger, widening her eyes, so innocent it was nauseating. “Oh, yeah. Did I forget to tell you Kieran would be joining us this weekend?”
I scowled. “Molly…”
“Ethan…” she mimicked. “It’s his cabin. We’re the interlopers here. He is being very generous allowing us to come here. How about some gratitude?”
“Gratitude? When I didn’t even want to come in the first place?” I scoffed. “Fat chance of that. You totally orchestrated this.”
Rick furrowed his unibrow. “Am I missing something here?” he asked.
“Yeah, a brain,” I told him, rolling my eyes.
Circumstances outside my control had me glancing over at the small drawbridge that allowed people passage across the moat, to the man standing so stoically with his strong hands grasping the thick rope along one side, his gaze intent as he stared down into the sparkling water. His silky black hair was tousled and even at a distance and not directed at me those crystalline eyes impacted me. The sun, in all its blazing glory, caressed the muscled contours of his body, his alabaster skin igniting with a golden hue.
I was suddenly envious of those golden rays.
Mmm, me likey, a part of my brain whispered.
Shut the hell up! the bigger and stronger part snapped.
Gulping with some difficulty, I averted my eyes, again with some difficulty. I didn’t need to be ogling that man. He was a man, for Christ’s sake. I should’ve been drooling over the way Molly’s tank top stretched to accommodate her buxom bosom. Hell, I’d seen that buxom bosom, tasted it, even. Knew it was a feast for a starving man. So why the hell did I find myself again dragging my gaze to Kieran O’Brien?
That brooding, introspective bastard.
Slowly, he became aware that he had an audience, and that intense, aquamarine gaze rose to sear me with heat. I was actually singed, no lie. Those eyes, always so devoid of emotion, his face always so expressionless, flickered with the briefest show of confusion. And, if I wasn’t mistaken, some heat of his own. But it was quickly eclipsed, his former blank mask reclaiming him.
I hated myself for hating the absence of that brief show of emotion. For actually yearning to see something other than that fucking calm neutrality.
Yearning. God, that was such a chick word.
“Why, Molly?” I demanded, not once allowing my gaze to waver from the perfection standing on that drawbridge. And he was perfection; even I couldn’t dispute that, as insistent as I was in my heterosexuality.
Jesus, he had that poorless, airbrushed look, like he’d been Photoshopped. Seriously, had the man never suffered acne? Ever had a pimple marring that smooth, alabaster skin? It didn’t appear so. Of course, he had a rich daddy who probably had the world’s best dermatologist on speed dial. Who said money couldn’t buy happiness? At the very least, it could buy the things to make you happy.
“Why what?” Molly asked.
“Why did you bring me here? Here, of all places, with him?”
“I’m not sure I understand, dear Ethan,” Molly said, still feigning innocence. She even allowed her delicate brow to furrow in mild confusion, but that glint had returned to pulse in her emerald eyes. She was enjoying herself. “Is there some reason I should be aware of that you would want to avoid my cousin? Hmm?”
“No, of course not. That’s ridiculous.” Shit, that came out too harshly, too quickly.
Molly’s lips twitched. “Uh-huh. Sure, Ethan.”
Poor, oblivious Rick was watching us, his face scrunching up more and more as he attempted to divine the meaning of our conversation. “Do Ethan and your cousin not get along or something, Mol?”
Mol. How cutesy. I tried not to gag.
“Oh, they get along, all right.” Molly snickered. “Too well.”
Rick’s eyebrows slammed together again, looking so much like our ape ancestors that it was like evolution had never happened. “Then what’s the prob—”
“Rick, don’t try to think,” I interrupted, and none too kindly. “You’ll strain something.”
My gaze had wandered again, I realized. I’d been successful in tearing it away from Kieran but it zeroed back in, meeting the jeweled, fathomless depths of his icy eyes. I gulped, feeling that intense stare of his reach deep within me, igniting a flame of unquenchable desire. It was horrifying and if you think having a boner because a guy just looked at you was flattering, well, you’re stupid.
While Molly soothed Rick’s bruised ego, we meandered our way across the clearing, each step bringing me closer and closer to Kieran O’Brien. He was pulling me, as surely as if he was magnetized and I was just a little paper clip too light to resist the pull. It sounded cliché, I knew, but it was impossible to ignore.
Allow me to be frank here while still being Ethan. I was never one to deny my urges. I was usually crude, rude and always in the mood but when your rampant libido was snuffed out to all others but one man, well, you tended to start wanting to curb your natural impulses. So even though the lustful beast inside me wanted to tackle the man and ravish him, the sensible, straight guy knew I needed to avoid temptation at all costs.
Kieran O’Brien was the biggest temptation of all.
I needed to remain vigilant, leery. I needed to keep distance between us so that magnetic pull couldn’t draw me inexorably closer.
Of course, it didn’t help that I was already swooning like some nancy schoolgirl.
“Kieran!” Molly screeched, dropping everything and flinging herself into her cousin’s arms. Kieran caught her, smiling ever so slightly, his firm, totally kissable lips puckering to press a smooch to Molly’s forehead.
“Hey, baby doll,” he murmured, his gaze going over Molly’s shoulder to pinpoint on me. I may have faltered, stumbling under the impact of that intense gaze, and I didn’t think it had anything to do with Nature’s usual antics.
Kieran and Rick did the perfunctory handshake greeting but I stood back, still caught and completely ensnared by his aquamarine eyes. Jesus, I was supposed to be doing the aloof, unaffected thing, but it wasn’t working. Especially not when his seemingly dispassionate yet blatant perusal of my body had me flushing. He took in everything, from my brand new flannel shirt down to my brand new hiking boots. I knew I looked like a miniature lumberjack in these stupid clothes but everything I owned wasn’t hiking appropriate. Molly had relished the shopping expedition. I, however, had simply endured it.