Even as he appraised her with that nearly glowing orange gaze, she found herself looking away from him for fear of getting too many ideas about him.
After all, she was just a stranger to him, and he was just being nice.
They got everything together, and she put her goggles on before going to start the ATV, but when she turned the ignition, nothing happened.
Huh?
She tried again, but it wouldn’t start. When Dallas noticed, he came over to evaluate the situation.
“I broke it. I’m sorry,” she said, hopping off so Dallas could take a closer look. But ten seconds later, and before she could fret too long, he pulled a small bundle of wires from somewhere beneath the seat, showing her where several wires had been frayed by use or by an animal.
“Not your fault.”
What a relief. “Phew. Whenever something breaks, I start blaming myself right off the bat. Though, what will we do?”
He stood and nodded over at the ATV as if insisting she take his back to the truck. “You go. I’ll walk.”
It was her turn to make a stand, though. “That’s a silly idea. Here…” She walked over to Dallas’s quad, sat on it, then scooted backward until there was enough space for him too, though they might be a bit cramped. “We go back together, or we walk together. That’s my offer,” she said with a wink.
Dallas’s eyes went a little wider as he watched her, seemingly incredulous she would offer something that seemed like plain logic to her.
“What, you scared of riding on the same seat as me?” She teased him, hoping he’d take the bait.
And if she wasn’t mistaken, she could see a red tint flush across his high cheekbones as she patted the seat for him to take. Then he looked away, scratching the back of his head nervously.
Seeing him get nervous about it made her get nervous. Thankfully, he joined her, and the ATV rocked up and down as his heavy weight shifted the small vehicle.
There was just enough space for the two of them on it, and she wrapped her arms around his midsection and pulled herself close to his strong, muscular back and taut ass.
Big. Mistake.
Mel felt a blush that was probably a hundred times more obvious than Dallas’s had been warm her cheeks and chest, and she was grateful he couldn’t see over his shoulder right now, or he’d see just how embarrassingly turned on she was.
After all, it wasn’t every day she got to wrap herself around such a tall, handsome, protective, thoughtful…
“Ready?” Dallas called over the hum of the idling engine.
“Ready!” she called back, reinvigorated and, thankfully, a little distracted from the sensation of his back muscles pressing against her breasts as Dallas pulled away and roared down the trail at full speed.
With more confidence than she’d probably ever have in her whole life, Dallas carved along the turns of the trail while the engine squealed. At one point, he revved hard just as they hit a bump, and Mel felt the ground fall out beneath her feet like they were on a rollercoaster, but the wheels smoothly connected with the ground.
If he was showing off right now, it was definitely working.
And Mel was having the time of her life.
She whooped and yelled in excitement, and Dallas grinned over his shoulder at her a few times as they made their way back to the truck in double-time.
And as the excitement of their adventure continued to fill her soul, Mel wondered how her mission to find wild, gigantic beasts out in the hills of the Texas range had somehow led her to find an altogether different kind of beast.
A sexy, mind-blowing beast of a man named Dallas. One that, if she could have one wish, she would use it to get her hands on this very second.
But that was just wishful thinking, right?
8
Dallas’s thoughts were going a mile a minute, much faster than the ATV, as he drove them both back to his truck parked at the head of the trail.
Granted, he couldn’t have anticipated the technical issue that had suddenly popped up with Mel’s vehicle, not that he had any complaints. He’d send Reno out to pick up the dead ATV later since it wasn’t going anywhere right now.
No, what had shocked him most was Mel’s firm, kind insistence that he be included. All his life, he was used to being on the outside of the conversation, at the edge of the group. Always watching, never including himself.
Someone who wanted to be with him, even if it meant cramming two people onto one ATV so they could go together…
For some reason, it made his heart thud against his ribcage.
That, along with the feel of her curves pressed against him. Her cute arms, wearing the orange shirt he’d bought earlier that day, wrapped around his midsection, barely able to reach all the way.
Even her little shouts of anticipation and glee were too cute to bear. And if he wasn’t careful, his animal would tear out of his skin at any moment roaring, “MATE!” if he didn’t keep his distance.
He had something else on his mind too, though. Something he’d found that, alone, could be distracting enough from thoughts of Mel.
A short distance from where the basilisk burrow had been, he’d seen something he never would have expected out here in the middle of nowhere.
Footprints. Human footprints. No shoes, just the impression of huge (by human standards) feet that were headed away from where the basilisk had been. They’d been headed south, toward the city, though the impressions had disappeared only a few feet from where he’d spotted them. And any scent he might have used to track whatever it was had long ago dissipated with the weather.
He hated hiding things from Mel. But then again, he was hiding so many things they couldn’t be crammed into a
