When I woke in the morning, Parker was no longer in the middle of the bed. Instead, sometime during the night, I had pressed my body against Meleyna’s, and I’d thrown my arm around her and buried my face in her neck. I took in a deep breath of the sexy floral scent that clung to her and became all too aware of my morning erection pressing against her warm and slender body. It felt so damn good I didn’t want to move away. But I remembered that not only had she been hurt the night before, but also that she was still trying to get over a previous relationship, and I had to respect that. And, I reflected, we barely knew each other. All these things made it wrong for me to take liberties with the gorgeous beauty.

Last night when Meleyna was undressing, it was all I could do to keep my hands to myself. When she turned her back, and I saw the curve of her body, it undid me. I had to touch her. And I would have taken it further until her hesitation stopped me. Damn. My cock was waking up just thinking about what I wanted to do to her body.

Meleyna stirred under me and lifted my arm. She turned and set it down gently. I gazed at the rise and fall of her enticing chest, wishing I could run my fingers over the swells of her breasts and suck on the nipples I imagined under her shirt. Meleyna, however, didn’t notice I was awake, and she concentrated on moving my arm without disturbing me.

“Hey,” I said with a smile.

Meleyna snorted, and I laughed.

“Geez,” complained Meleyna, sitting up. “You could have said something.”

“I did. I like how your cheeks blush.” My eyes danced with amusement.

“You shouldn’t see my cheeks blush. Your dog isn’t much of a chaperone.”

“I think he is trying to play matchmaker.”

“Your dog?”

“Yeah, and I approve of his choice.”

Meleyna blushed again, which struck a chord in my heart. She seemed to hit every check mark on the list “what Matthew liked.” The trouble was that she was still stuck on her old boyfriend. The last thing I wanted was to be the rebound man.

Meleyna struggled with her jeans with her one arm.

“Need some help?”

“Depends. Does that offer come with sexual harassment?”

“Do you want it to?”

I saw Meleyna swallow hard trying her best to withhold her smile.

“Anyway, we should be getting back to the house. I don’t want my grandmother to be alone too long.”

“So, one order of help without sexual harassment.”

“Ha! Sounds good.”

I helped her with one of my clean shirts, trying not stare at her body and the curves of her tight body that wouldn’t quit. By the time we were ready to leave the motel room, Parker shot out the door, pulling me along. He needed to get out and find some relief. It didn’t take Parker long to find a place to raise his leg, which appeared to be his most pressing of needs. I scanned the surroundings and appreciated the wealth of bushes situated at the back of the hotel. I let out the lead to allow him to search for a spot to do the rest of his business, and he excitedly surveyed the territory.

“This is going to take a while,” I said to Meleyna. “Everything is so new to him.”

“Not a problem. It’s still early. We have plenty of time to get back to the house. Just don’t let him wander too far into the woods. There could be poison ivy there, and that isn’t fun for man or beast.”

“Good point,” I said. I reeled in Parker’s lead to keep him from bolting into the underbrush. The sun was beginning to poke up over the ridges of the peaks in front of us. The motel itself was situation halfway up one of these elevations, and the undulating waves of the peaks cut off the view in that direction. The north and east sported views of the valley below.

“This,” I noted, “is very pretty country. Very green.”

“Why,” Meleyna said. “Isn’t where you come from green?”

“It’s different. The air is thinner, the vegetation is sparser. Sure, in the cities, people plant more things, but it isn’t like this, where there are plants everywhere. And the green isn’t as vibrant.”

“As long as we get rain everything is lush. But sometimes that’s a bad thing too.”

“What do you mean?”

“Pollution makes the rain acidic. Up on the parkway, if you go into the park, or off-road, you’d see the damage. Some trees are plain stripped of leaves.”

“That’s terrible,” I said.

“The mountains themselves don’t help. They trap the airflow which concentrates the pollutants in the valleys.”

“What can be done?”

Meleyna picked up a rock and tossed it into the trees.

“Stop using cars and electric power plants. Give the land five centuries or so to recover.”

“In other words, it will never happen.”

“It could. But it would mean using alternate sources of energy that don’t stress the eco-system. How do they handle those things in Idaho?”

“I’m afraid we don’t. The rainfall isn’t the same, and the area isn’t as densely populated—yet. We haven’t had those kinds of problems, but they’ll come. Plus, fracking is everywhere. So, it’s not good.”

“People sure work hard to screw things up, don’t they?”

“They do. In all sorts of ways. Come on, Parker, buddy, finish up, or we’re going back.”

We had wandered far from the hotel, and I turned toward it again.

“This is still pretty country,” I said, appreciating the area. It really was different from my hometown.

“So, what do you plan to do?” she asked.

“Well, I’ve already said. If you don’t want me to stay—”

“No, I mean, what is it you want to do with your life?”

“Oh that. Max offered to sell me his dog training business, but I’m not sure that’s what I want to do for the rest of my days. I don’t know. I’ve been so busy trying to put my head together I haven’t thought much about the future.”

“So, what were you thinking when you came here?”

“Just to find you, and I have.” I leaned in as if to give Meleyna a kiss, but she backed away.

“Are my impulse control issues a problem?”

“No,” she said, her cheeks flushing. “It’s just these are still the mountains, and—”

“I get it. Public exposure.”

“Well, it’s a small town and everyone talks. I don’t know if I’m ready to be seen with someone else just yet. Randy is the only man I’ve ever been with. At all, I’ve never even dated anyone else.”

“No, I get it. In the Marines, most of the guys were cool, but there were still some real asshats, especially if we started to fall for a woman, rather than having one in every port. They didn’t bother me.”

“I can see why,” Meleyna said with an appreciative gleam in her eyes. “Smart guys don’t mess with a big man like you.”

“Some of the guys were pretty cool. But they went after some others who pined away for someone back home. The hazing and teasing—sometimes it wasn’t pretty.”

“You don’t have to explain. I know what happens to guys that don’t fit the military man mold.’”

“How it is it that you haven’t dated anyone else? What else did you do in school and after?”

“Played sports, or tried to. I wasn’t much of a cheerleader. I swear my father raised me as if I was the son he never had.”

“Where is now?”

“My father? Oh, he passed away after I graduated high school. He had cancer.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. My mother passed away giving birth to me. The only people I have left is my grandmother which is why I’m always on here about taking care of herself. Oh, and Randy I suppose.”

“I understand. Is that why you’re also not over Randy?”

“I guess. I didn’t talk about much with anyone else growing up—Randy was pretty much my main and only friend, and since we were already starting to date, none of the other boys bothered to ask me out. But everyone knew I had to help my grandmother, and around here, you better show your female relatives respect. So, no one thought about why I didn’t date. I was simply too busy.”

“And you had Randy.”

“Yes,” said Meleyna quietly. “There was Randy.”

We were on the blacktop now, walking under the overhang that sheltered the entrance of the office motel. Meleyna looked at me and smiled, and my heart did a flip-flop. I decided I was crushing on her, big time. If I wasn’t careful, this crush would turn into something more.

Did I want it to? I hadn’t had a steady girlfriend in a long time. Being in the Marines didn’t give me much of a chance to really get to know any females other than the ones we found in bars along the way. This was this first time I had really met anyone that made me think beyond a one-night stand. I didn’t know what I wanted to happen between us yet, but I knew our bodies were speaking for us.

We rounded the corner on the walkway that led to the rooms while I glanced at her again.

But Meleyna stopped short, and concern etched her face.

“What the hell is he doing here?”

My gaze followed Meleyna’s, then my eyes narrowed. A sheriff’s cruiser parked directly in back of my truck. Randy Barker was writing something in a notebook.

“Is there a problem, officer?” I said, striding toward Randy but stopping a few feet away. I knew my tone was cold, but I was not happy to see him, and immediately Parker stood at attention at my side.

Randy Barker’s hard eyes snapped toward me.

“I called the hospital, and Meleyna checked out hours ago, but didn’t make it home.”

“So?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

The sheriff walked to both of us and stopped just two paces in front of Meleyna.

“You okay, Meleyna?” he asked.

“Not that it’s any of your business, Randy, but I’m fine.”

“You didn’t go home last night.”

Meleyna arched her eyebrow at Randy.

“So?”

“Your grandmother was worried.”

“Did you call her?” she asked incredulously. Randy looked away, answering affirmatively by default to Meleyna’s question. “You woke my grandmother to announce I wasn’t in my bed? Are you freaking nuts? You want her to have a heart attack on top of her fall?”

“I would think you’d be more considerate of her.”

“Now, look, sheriff—” I started.

“No, Matthew. This is my argument.”

“Look, Idaho, this is between Meleyna and me.”

“Just what is between you and Meleyna, Barker?” I demanded, edging toward the sheriff. My posture straightened and my hands balled into fists at my side.

Parker licked at my hands, trying to draw my attention away from the sheriff. But I had no intention of backing down. As far as I was concerned, this half-baked excuse of a man didn’t deserve to have anything to do with Meleyna.

“Don’t get any closer to me, Idaho. I won’t hesitate to throw you in the slammer for assault.”

It wasn’t Barker’s words, but his tone that put me on high alert. I became hyper aware of my surroundings, of Meleyna’s breathing hitching in her chest, of Barker’s chest puffing out. In my mind, I calculated my first blows, where they would land for good effect, how I could throw the lawman off balance and toss him to the ground. Then I would pull the asshole’s arm up to twist it out of its socket to disable him. And if the man continued to resist, there were other things I could do. It was my training, what classified me as a deadly weapon. Despite the size of Barker, I already had it plotted out just how I would bring the man down.

Parker was going nuts, poking me with his muzzle. Finally, he stood on his hind legs and put his front paws on my chest, licking at my chin furiously.

But it was Meleyna’s hand on mine that jolted me out of this episode.

“I’ll take care of this, Matthew,” she said in a low, steady voice.

Meleyna stepped forward.

“I appreciate your concern, Randy, but I can handle my own affairs. I understand you’ve known me since we were kids and always have looked out for me. But now I suggest that you tend to your other business and let us get on with ours.”

“But Meleyna, you don’t know this man. Obviously, he is dangerous—”

“Matthew has told me all I need to know, Randy, which is far more than you’ve told me. Now, I suggest you get into your cruiser and get back to your job before I have to call your supervisor. Do you understand me?”

“You wouldn’t,” said Barker. “I know you.”

“Yeah? Well, keep bothering me and I will. You made it plain and clear the limits of our relationship or whatever “this” is. Now I’m telling you mine. Leave me and leave Matthew alone.”