“What? Oh, yeah. My pickup broke down a few miles back, and I was hot.” She was hot, all right. But just not from the heat any longer. Reese was the one making her hot.
“Don’t you have a cell phone?” Reese slid off his horse and dropped the reins, but the horse stayed where it was, happily munching on the dried grass.
She eased lower in the water to cover her breasts. “Of course I do. But I couldn’t get any bars out here. This isn’t exactly civilization, you know.”
He picked up the gun, raised it to look through the sights, then lowered it again. “What’s the gun for? You planning on hunting?”
She narrowed her eyes and tried to keep her composure. He had her gun. Would he use it? “Maybe.”
“What’re you hunting for?”
The way his jaw worked as he spoke fascinated her. She could imagine his jaw muscles working as he shoved his cock into her pussy. “Whatever.”
He laughed, but it sounded more like a snort. “You can’t go around hunting whatever you want to shoot. You have to pick your game and get the right license. Providing it’s in season.”
She didn’t like the fact that he still had her gun. “What would you suggest I hunt? What’s in season now?”
“Don’t know. I don’t hunt unless it’s for food.” He picked up a stick on the ground and slid it into the side of his mouth but didn’t put the gun down. “We’ve got all kinds of game from rabbits to pheasant to”—he paused and zeroed in on her— “wolves.”
Her throat clogged up and made it hard to get the word out. “W–wolves?”
He tilted his head and stared at her just like he’d done back in town. “Wolves aren’t game unless they cause a problem for the ranchers. But I’ve heard some people like to shoot them for sport. Do you want to kill a wolf, Candy?”
At first, she’d forgotten she’d given him a fake name. “It depends.”
He was at the water’s edge, his gaze slipping from her to the water then back to her. His ocean-colored eyes locked on her face for a second then slid down to settle on her breasts. If she hadn’t known better, she’d swear he could remove her bra with that look. Despite the cool water, her pussy tightened, and she had to resist the urge to plunge her hand beneath the water and rub her clit.
“Depends on what?”
Was he toying with her? Did he know why she was here? “If I thought one or even two wolves were hurting me or my sister then, yeah, I’d kill them.” She’d emphasized the word sister just to see if she’d get a reaction. The reaction she got, however, wasn’t what she’d expected.
He tossed the stick to the ground. “You’d kill to protect you and yours? So would I.”
Was he threatening her? Or was he simply agreeing with her?
“Candy? Or whatever your real name is, you might want to get out of the water.” His face showed no signs of any emotion.
He knew. But she’d be damned if she’d admit she’d lied. She couldn’t tell him her real name. If she did, he could link her to Shannon and her sister’s werewolves might find out she was there.
“Why? I know the water’s not very clean, but it’s cool. I got very hot walking.”
He picked up her T-shirt and whirled it around on his fingertip. “I figured as much. But it’s not the dirty water you should worry about.”
She inhaled as a fish swam by, brushing against her calf. “What should I worry about?”
The tips of his lips lifted into the briefest of smiles. “Rattlers.”
“Rattlers?” She froze, suddenly aware that the fish that had touched her might not have been a fish at all.
“Yeah. As in rattlesnakes.”
She widened her eyes. She’d never even thought that something like a snake might be in the water. But was he telling her the truth or just trying to scare her? If he was trying to scare her, he was doing a damn good job of it. “Are you serious?”
“Don’t move too fast, but turn your head to the right. He’s about five feet away from you floating on top of the water.”
She held her breath. At first, she didn’t see anything. Then a ripple in the water drew her attention to a long gray snake resting on top of the water. It was about thirty inches long with a triangular head and darker diamond-like patterns on its body. She let out a slow breath.
“Are they poisonous?”
“Yep.”
She couldn’t move. “What should I do?”
“Don’t move.” In one swift motion, he lifted her rifle to his right shoulder, aimed, and pulled the trigger.