It was just past noon when Forest Ranger Mackenzie Smith, known as Mack, pulled into Grayslake. She looked around the town and rolled her eyes. It wasn’t much to look at, but thankfully she wouldn’t be seeing it up close and personal for too long. Her job was to observe the growing wild animal population in the area and wild animals were rarely seen in the center of town.

The United States Forest Service had been tracking certain species for years. It was important to understand migratory habits, track birth and death rates, and watch for overpopulation—something this area was getting a reputation for. The reported sightings of bears, and wolves had increased ten-fold in the last few years making it dangerous for both the human residents and their animal counterparts.

The problem was most of the land in and around Grayslake was privately owned, and only the surrounding lands were overseen by the Forest Service. It was her job to scout that area.

Mack was here to meet Ranger Marks, who said he’d be at the diner at twelve-thirty. Her timing was perfect. She pulled her green Tundra into the parking lot and took a deep breath. When she hopped out of the big truck she stretched her road-weary body. It was a long arduous drive from Montana. A drive that felt every pothole for the last several hundred miles in her back and bottom.

She wondered about the accommodations she would get here. In the distance, she could see the tree line and hoped she would be tucked up into the forest. Her job would be easier if located just outside her front door.

With the sun at her back, she walked into the air-conditioned diner and searched for a khaki-shirted man wearing forest green pants.

“Take a seat anywhere darlin’,” an older woman said as Mack walked inside.

“I’m looking for a man.” She searched the booths to her right.

“Aren’t you all? I’ve never seen a generation so man hungry in my life.” The woman who had a name tag that read Nellie said.

“No, you misunderstood. I’m supposed to meet Ranger Marks here. Do you know him?”

Nellie laughed. “Know him? I nearly raised him.” She pointed to a corner booth on the left where a tall handsome man sat reading the paper. “That big ole bear of a man is the one you’re after. Make yourself known before you sit so he don’t growl at ya.”

Mack thought it funny that she’d described the man like a bear. Although from this distance, he appeared to be the size of one, and his hair was the tawny color of the local breed. Hopefully he was more pleasant than the ones she expected to come into contact with. Most bears weren’t all that happy when you shot a tranquilizer into their ass cheek and pierced their ear with a tracking tag.

She stood next to the table and cleared her throat. This was her first real assignment and she wanted to make a good impression. Her uniform was clean, and except for the creases caused by hours in the driver’s seat, it was regulation worthy. “Are you Ranger Marks?”

The man dropped his paper and stared at her. She wondered if maybe there was something on her face or a bug in her hair because he never moved his eyes from hers. Those big beautiful brown eyes that made her heart beat like the bass drum in a marching band.

“I’m Finn Marks and you are?” His head tilted to the side, letting the light of the window pick up the red undertones of his hair.

“I’m Mack Smith.” She held her hand out for a shake, but the man looked at her like she’d grown fur.

“You’re Mack Smith?” He folded the paper and slid it to the side of the table.

With an unobstructed view, Mack could see that the man was enormous and his tailored uniform fit his body like a glove. His shirt had to be custom made because she’d never seen one hug the chest of a man so perfectly.

“Yes, I belong to you for the next few weeks.” She wanted to club herself over the head. Sometimes her words didn’t come out right. Her mother told her it was because she was a half-breed, half her mother’s and half her idiot father’s, but she didn’t remember much about the man and refused to tarnish what little memories she had of him.

“I expected…” he looked her up and down settling his eyes on her chest or maybe on her name tag. They were in the same vicinity. She wasn’t sure. Then those enormous brown orbs looked at her and her knees buckled.

He was out of the booth with his hands around her waist in seconds. “Are you okay?”

She shook her head trying to clear her thoughts. Her hands rested on his granite hard chest. They slipped down and traced over the mountains and valleys of his muscles before they dropped to her side.

“Yes, perfect. You’re perfect.” She let out a grumbly growl. “What I meant to say is I’m perfectly fine. It was a long drive, and I’m most likely dehydrated.” He released his hands from her waist and Mack slid into the booth uninvited. It was a safer choice than falling to the ground at his feet. “You said you were expecting…” She left it open ended so he could fill in the blank.

He took his seat across from her. “I expected something different.”

That was a word Mack heard most of her life. Different had become synonymous with Mackenzie Smith. She looked different with her thick black hair that was more like fur than actual hair. Eyes that were as dark as coal. Sometimes they looked midnight blue when the light hit them just right and other times onyx. Wide hips, tiny waist, and a bosom that could comfort an army of men all at the same time made her stand out from the crowd. It made her different. Different wasn’t always a bad thing, but with the way Ranger Marks jaw twitched she wasn’t sure this time it was a good thing.

“I’m excited to get started.”

Nellie walked over and placed a glass of water on the table. “You better watch out for this one, Finn. She came in saying she was looking for a man. Now what will it be?”

Mack could feel the heat rush to her cheeks. She grabbed for the menu and quickly perused the offerings. “I’ll have a burger with fries and a soda. Follow that up with a slice of peach pie ala mode please.”

She laid down the menu only to find both Nellie and Finn looking at her again.

“I’ll have the same,” he said. “It’s nice to be with a woman who’s not afraid to eat.”

When her chin hit her chest, she mentally chastised herself. This wasn’t a date. This was a job, a hard job that required a good supply of energy only found in a hearty meal. “I like pie.”

Finn smiled and Mack thought the room got brighter. “I like pie, too.” He leaned back and patted his stomach. “More than I should.”

Without much thought, because candid random thoughts generally burst forward like a burp from Mack, she said, “Pie looks good on you.” Rather than crawl under the table, she took a long drink of water hoping the ice would paralyze her tongue so she couldn’t say another embarrassing thing.

A flicker of a smile rose at the edges of his mouth. “When I was told a ranger named Mack was coming to Grayslake, I expected a man.”

She let out a long soft sigh. “Yes, I get that a lot. My name is Mackenzie, Mack for short.”

She watched him nod his head for a good long minute. “Well, Mack for short, I’m happy to have you here, but it’s a wasted trip. The numbers have been exaggerated. There isn’t a growth problem in Grayslake.”

Nellie dropped off plates with enormous burgers and an overflow of fries. One lone fry fell from Finn’s plate and Mack swooped it up and ate it. “I hate to waste.”

“By all means help yourself.” A distressed look flitted across his features. “As I was saying, your time here won’t be that eventful.” He picked up his burger and took a bite. Mayonnaise pooled at the corner of his lip and she began to salivate. Mack didn’t understand her reaction to this man. Good looking men were a dime a dozen, but there was something about Finn Marks that ate at the core of her. Something internal and feral that she couldn’t explain.

“The data proves otherwise. Wildlife cameras and telemetry devices are indicating an upward surge in this area. Did you know you have a twenty-five percent increase in the likelihood of an animal attack in the area surrounding Grayslake? That doesn’t bode well for the human population.”

He picked up a fry and skimmed it across his lips. “I’m telling you the numbers are skewed and attacks are over-reported. We had a problem in the past with hyena’s, a few wolf issues, and a random bear incident here and there. Nothing out of the ordinary. When people move into animal territory there is always a risk.”

“My job is to tag the bears. The ones with red tags will be monitored. We’ll watch the migration and hibernation patterns. The green tags will be for the bears I deem fair game for this years open season.” It broke her heart that she’d have to tag a percentage of the population for termination. “The goal is to terminate one tenth of the population.”

His fist hit the table with such force that the glasses hopped and their liquid sloshed over the sides. “You won’t be marking my bears for termination.” A furious voice, lifted to a shout, made the hair on Mack’s skin tingle and itch. Again, she was different. She didn’t cower in fear. When she felt stress or danger, her hair stood up and her body itched like something was trying to break through her skin.

“Your bears? Who are you, Grizzly Adams?”

“No, I’m the guy who lives here and knows the bear population like the back of my hand, and I won’t let you pick and choose who lives and dies. These bears have families. They each play an important part in their community, and I won’t let an outsider influence my inner circle.”

He controlled his voice with an effort, but Mack could see he was a hair’s width away from losing his temper. The muscles in his jaw tensed, and he seemed to get larger in her presence, the cotton of his shirt stretching the limits against his chest. Something told her that he would be scarier than coming face to face with an angry bear.

“It’s not personal.” She said, trying to take the conversation back to work.

“It’s personal to me.” He pulled his wallet from his pants and slapped down a twenty-dollar bill. “You’ll be bunking at the B and B in town. I’ll meet you at the Ranger Station on Hwy 36 at eight in the morning.” He turned to leave and then stopped abruptly, his nose lifted into the air. When he swung toward her, he leaned forward as if to attack, his eyes opened wide and then blazed with anger. “Don’t you take one step into the forest without me.” He turned and walked away.

“Looks like that went well.” Nellie said sarcastically as she swept by and cleared Finn’s plate. “What did you say to the man?”

“Nothing.”

“Well, darlin’ your nothin’ meant a whole lot of somethin’ to him.” She looked at her near empty soda. “Need a refill?”

Mack nodded. She needed something to calm the burn that chaffed her senses. She was just doing her job—a job that wouldn’t need extra manpower if Finn Marks had done his. He might be hot as hell, but that temper of his burned off any attraction she had for him. Or so she hoped because disliking him would make it easier to do what she came to Grayslake to do.