“Good. I’ll wet the cloth again and you can hold it on for a bit longer. You should cool a burn for ten minutes.”
“First aid training?”
“Something like that. I’ve lived in places where it pays to know how to take care of simple injuries.” He fixed the cloth for her. “You wait here. I’ll go upstairs and get a shirt for you to wear. As enticing as the tea towel is, I assume you don’t want to drive home in it.”
“Ah—no. I think that would definitely give the people of Stump River something to talk about.”
Ryne left to find her a shirt and Mel moved to stand by the window, staring out at the pouring rain. It was raining heavier by the minute and becoming harder to even see across the yard. Something flashed by the window and for a moment she was sure it was a pair of wolves, but that was ridiculous. What would wolves be doing out in the rain, running around the house? Surely, they’d hole up in a cave or a burrow or wherever they made their home. She shook her head. No—she was just imagining things.
A door slammed, the noise coming from the back entryway just off the kitchen. She could hear male voices laughing and then two very damp, scantily clad men entered the room. When they saw her, they came up short and fell silent. Mel stared at them speechless. At one point she believed she’d said that good looking men didn’t grow on trees; apparently that wasn’t quite true in Stump River.
Chapter 16
Both of the men before her were amazing specimens; tall and lean, with well defined muscles. She watched, fascinated, as little rivers of water cascaded down their bare chests, rising and falling over the well developed abdominals. Some drops were lost in the indent of their navels, while other luckier ones travelled even lower, disappearing below the waist band of their shorts. Said shorts were sopping wet and clinging to their bodies, hinting at the interesting anatomy hidden beneath.
Tearing her gaze upwards, Mel felt her face flush with embarrassment and hoped they hadn’t noticed the direction of her eyes. Unfortunately, from the smirks on their faces, she strongly suspected they had. Both men appeared to be around twenty and had blonde or light brown hair; it was so wet at the moment, it was hard to determine the exact shades. Their heights were comparable, though the one with hazel eyes carried himself in such a way, that he seemed the larger of the two.
He was the one that moved first, stepping forward, his hand extended.
“Hi! I’m Bryan. We met out by the road the other day.”
Realizing she was basically ogling them, Mel gave herself a little shake and accepted his hand. “Sorry, I didn’t recognize you at first, with you being so wet and nearly naked...” She let her voice trail off, feeling her cheeks growing even hotter as he laughed lightly.
“That’s okay; it’s always nice to be appreciated. You’re Melody Greene, right?”
She nodded. “You can call me Mel.”
“Mel is good with me.” He gave her a friendly smile and she lost some of her initial embarrassment. Giving his head a nod to the side, Bryan introduced his companion. “This is Daniel.”
The man in question waved lightly. “Nice to meet you.”
Mel noticed that he had the most amazing eyes. They were a deep liquid brown, the kind that made her think of rich cafe mocha with pools of melted chocolate on top. He seemed like he’d be the quiet sort, but not in a way that made you think you could walk all over him. It was more like he was a deep thinker. She smiled kindly at him.
Bryan cleared his throat and she brought her attention back to him. “I see you and Ryne have had an interesting afternoon.”
“Interesting?” His comment puzzled her. “Well, we talked a bit and he showed me the house.”
“Uh-huh. I always like a game of ‘show and tell’ myself.” Bryan gestured towards her with his hand. Mel frowned, not getting his meaning at all. He chuckled. Reaching forward, he flicked the edge of her makeshift shirt—also known as a tea towel—and Mel gasped. She’d completely forgotten she was shirtless and barely covered. She crossed her arms protectively over her chest and struggled to not blush, yet again. Good heavens, her blood pressure had never had this much of a work out before!
“Hey! No need to be embarrassed.” Bryan grinned. “I—”
“Bryan!” A low growl followed the utterance of his name and Bryan underwent a complete transformation. The grin disappeared and he seemed to shrink down. He turned to face the speaker, tipping his head down.
“Ryne, I was just—”
“I know what you were just doing. Keep your hands to yourself. Both of you get upstairs and dry off. And don’t forget to clean up the puddles you undoubtedly left all over the floor.”