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“This isn’t a conversation I want to have with you.”

Malachi dumped the bag of groceries he’d been carrying into the front seat of his pickup truck and eyed the woman across the small car park. Even without his enhanced hearing abilities, he could have heard her conversation from a mile away.

Her cheeks were red, and she looked fit to burst with anger and frustration. He didn’t know whether that would come in the form of screaming, tears, or something equally as feminine.

He did know that he didn’t want to stay around to witness it.

Malachi slammed the passenger door closed and brought the woman’s attention towards him. The chocolate brown eyes locked and held his gaze and he felt his length swell inside his jeans.

She was a mess. The unruly mop of brown hair was somehow tossed up into a clip on her head with curling tendrils escaping whatever they could.

She was dressed for winter in a high neck sweater with a loose scarf wrapped around her neck, but she didn’t have a jacket on to protect her from the icy winter winds that were blowing across the mountain.

Her curvy hips and backside were clad in jeans and tucked into a pair of ankle boots with thick socks peeking out from the top. She looked vulnerable, kind of cute, messy, but definitely lickable. At least in his mind, she did.

Malachi told himself to shake it off, but until the woman snatched her gaze away from him, he couldn’t. The bear within him grumbled to life. Normally a solitary beast, Malachi couldn’t understand its interest.

“Because you said we’re done,” she practically growled into the mobile that was being held a little too tightly in her hand. “No, we’re done.”

Malachi felt something stirring within him that wasn’t his beast. He was curious to know who she was talking to. He had a desire to find out who she was done with — who was done with her, and why.

He didn’t poke his nose into human business. He’d been burned that way before. It’s cost him everything. His clan. His family. His home.

He was trouble. He was the bad seed. He’d had no choice but to leave everything behind him.

He wasn’t going to make that mistake again. He was in a new town – new people — and they might not have trusted him, yet, and that was okay. He wanted to keep himself to himself and that way he could stay out of trouble.

She was trouble. That meant he needed to stay away from her.

Malachi forced his feet to move. He circled the front of the truck and yanked open the driver’s door – the sound of a loud screech of annoyance made him turn back towards her, and he watched as she pitched the phone into the wasteland beyond.

She reached up and ran a shaking hand through her hair without thinking of its bindings. More hair spilled free, and she looked an even bigger mess.

Cuter too. His hardening length protested the restriction of his jeans.

Malachi allowed a low rumble within his broad chest.

Her eyes locked on his once more. Her mouth parted just a little, her eyes narrowed, he thought she was going to say something, but instead, she turned and walked away.

Malachi stood there for a long moment watching her go. Her curvy hips swayed even as she stalked with anger towards the store. His length twitched — he needed to get home.

Malachi went to fold his large body into the cab of the truck. His brain was working too hard, turning in circles, swilling the thoughts of her, her conversation, and even her discarded phone.

“Damn it!” He grumbled and growled.

He slammed the door of his truck closed a little too hard. He stalked across the parking lot with a little too much menace.

He was going to retrieve the damn phone. For the life of him, he didn’t have a clue why.

She looked like trouble and trouble was the last thing he needed.

Who is he kidding? He was a trouble magnet.

He’d seen exactly where she’d pitched her phone. He bent down to retrieve it, staring at it as if it held the answers to every question that he had, and then he grumbled another growl as he stalked back toward his truck.

 

~

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~

 

Donna had gone to the store with the intention of buying a nice wholesome, healthy, basket full of groceries, and sure, there were a few vegetables in there — somewhere. There was also way too many sugar ladened foods, too many calories, really good tasting, slices of heaven that she couldn’t wait to get home and devour.

Life sucked. Not always — but right then it did.

Donna had spent the last few weeks wondering how the hell she got herself into that kind of the situation. She’d moved across the country, picked up her life and transferred it into the middle of nowhere.

She was okay with that. After all, it wasn’t just her life anymore, her choices, her considerations — she had a daughter to think about — put first, and that was what she had done.

Donna wasn’t about to take advice, orders, or anything else from her family. She was her own woman.

She’d been making a living from her online business since she’d left school. She didn’t need her family’s money — connections — or their sense of duty.

One thing she certainly didn’t need in her life was Barry.

How dare they tell her how to live her life.

She grabbed the groceries and headed out of the door. Her eyes were drawn toward the big man that stood with his back against his big black pickup truck.

Her heart tapped her on the ribs. Her pulse said hello big guy.

He was certainly a sight to behold. Black jeans, a black shirt, legs crossed at the ankles, and big muscled arms folded across an impossibly large chest.

He wasn’t her type. She certainly wasn’t his type.

He looked like the kind of man that spent all his time pumping iron in the gym. She had to wonder if there was such a thing as a gym in the middle of nowhere.

Perhaps it was just long days and hard work that had toned up his body. She’d seen men like that on glossy magazines and TV shows.

She’d often wondered how it would feel to trace her fingertips over the ridges of muscles that were sure to be beneath his shirt. But that was all it was, thinking, a little daydreaming, and then putting it out of her mind to deal with real life.

Donna went to wrench her gaze away, but he moved, uncrossed his legs, dropped one arm, and held up a mobile in his hand.

Her mind twisted and turned. The mobile looked familiar.

Could it really be — hers?