“Why do we always fight?” she whispered.“You know why.” Yeah, she did. “It’s science.” “Combustible chemistry,” he agreed. “Dangerous.”

“Matt?""Yeah?""You okay?""Working on it." His voice sounded unusually tight."I thought you said you did this a lot.""Yeah. I do. But apparently not with anyone I'm wildly attracted to."This caused certain reactions in her body that were best not experienced in mixed company. "It's just panties," she finally whispered."And they're really great panties," Matt agreed. "But it's not the panties, Amy. It's you.”

“She closed her eyes. “Okay, here’s the thing. We have some chemistry,” she allowed.“Some? Or supernova?”“Supernova. But,” she said to his knowing grin. Good Lord, he needed to stop doing that. “I really did give up men.”“Forever?”“My gut says yes, but that might be PMS talking. Let’s just say I’m giving up men for a very long time.”“You going to try out women?”

“Together they crawled through the attic space, looking for the source of a roof leak they’d discovered in the last bathroom. Jax was out in front,braving the spiderwebs. Maddie was behind him, working really hard at not looking at his butt.And failing spectacularly.So when he unexpectedly twisted around, holding out his hand for the clipboard she was now holding, he caught her staring at him.“I, um—You have a streak of dirt,” she said.“A streak of dirt.”Yes.” She pointed to his left perfectly muscled butt cheek. “There.”He was quiet for a single, stunned beat. She couldn’t blame him, given that they were both covered in dirt from the filthy attic. “Thanks,” he finallysaid. “It’s important to know where the dirt streaks are.”“It is,” she agreed, nodding like a bobble head. “Probably you should stain-stick it right away. I have some in my purse.”“Are you offering to rub it on my ass?”

“He turned her ninety degrees. "To get back to the ranger station and your car, you want to go southwest," he said.Right. She knew that, and she stalked off in the correct direction."Watch out for bears," Matt called after her."Yeah, okay," she muttered, "and I'll also keep an eye out for the Tooth Fairy.""Three o'clock."Amy craned her neck and froze. Oh sweet baby Jesus, there really was a bear at three o'clock. Enjoying the last of the sun, he was big, brown and shaggy, and big. He lay flat on his back, his huge paws in the air as he stretched, confident that he sat at the top of the food chain. "Holy shit," she whispered, every Discovery Channel bear mauling she'd ever seen flashing in her mind. She backed up a step, and then another, until she bumped into a brick wall and nearly screamed. "Just a brown bear," said the brick wall that was Matt.”

“You, Lilah, scare the hell out of me." "Why?" she whispered.He met her gaze and held it. "Because I could fall for you, Lilah. Hard and deep and never want to come back up."She could scarcely breathe. "What's wrong with that?""We'd drown.”

“It’s good to see you as well,” she said, her mouth against his ear, her lips brushing the lobe.He went still at the contact, then instead of trying to pull free, merely folded her into his arms, trapping her against him. And damn if her body didn’t burst to life, as if all this time it’d been just waiting for him to come back.“Yeah, you’re different,” he murmured, doing as she had, pressing his mouth to her ear, giving her a shiver. “The little kitten grew up and got claws.”