When Rath moved towards his cabin, Flint followed, keeping an eye on
Yasmin as she noticed his brother approaching. Her smile faltered a
little, but it returned as Rath stepped up onto the deck and offered her
a warm one.
And a cold beer.
“Crack me one open too.” Flint
parked his ass against the railing to the left of the door of the one
and a half storey log cabin and shot Yasmin a charming smile. “So, a
doctor, huh?”
Her chocolate eyes lost all warmth as she leaned
back in her chair beside Ivy and folded her arms across her chest. “If
you’re dreaming up scenarios where I’m wearing my white coat, I
recommend you stop now, before you end up disappointed, and possibly
sexually frustrated.”
He rolled his shoulders in an easy shrug. “Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been sexually frustrated. I’ll take the risk.”
He
was frustrated ninety-nine percent of the time he was at a gathering.
He didn’t even find any respite in sleep. The damned females haunted his
dreams too, his cougar side so wound up by the urge to mate that he
dreamed about what he couldn’t have in reality.
She rolled her eyes at him and turned her cheek, glancing Ivy’s way. “Is he always like this?”
Ivy regarded him with cool hazel eyes, ones that didn’t give away what she was thinking.
He
waited, not with bated breath, because whatever opinion she had, he
could sway it. Just as he was sure he could sway Yasmin into spending a
night or two warming his bed. She wasn’t part of the gathering, which
meant she was fair game.
Beautiful fair game at that.
With
her olive skin, and lush glossy black waves tumbling down from her loose
bun, and those rich earthy eyes that held just a hint of spice, flecks
of gold that seemed to shimmer whenever she smiled, or burn hot whenever
he pressed a button and her temper flared, she was every inch a goddess
before he even took into account her killer curves and breasts that
could more than fill his hands.
“I think he’s salivating,” Yasmin
muttered nonchalantly to someone, a teasing note of warmth in her gentle
voice that convinced him that she was speaking to Ivy. “Does he often
drool over women?”
Firm fingers pressing under his chin to snap
his mouth closed had him frowning at Rath where he stood in the door of
the cabin to his left.
That frown verged on becoming a growl when he realised Yasmin had been speaking with his brother in that warm, light tone.
Rath
stared him down, a hint of gold colouring his irises around his pupils
that had Flint growing aware of the change in his own irises and the
pure undiluted anger that flowed through his veins, pushing him to
challenge his brother.
Over Yasmin.
He shook off the urge to fight and snagged the brown tall-neck bottle from his brother.
“Perhaps
he’s hormonal? Pent up?” Yasmin cast another teasing glance at him
before looking to Ivy and then Rath. “It’s my official diagnosis as a
doctor that this is a case of blue balls.”
He shot Rath daggers, warning him not to rise to the bait as he so clearly wanted.
“There
are plenty of women in the area. You could run along to take care of
business. I’m sure we won’t miss you.” Yasmin unfolded her arms, and if
she was going to shoo him away, he was going to make her regret it.
“Not
interested.” He crossed his left arm over his chest, gripped his side
and frowned as he swigged his beer. It was still early, the sun not
close to setting yet, but damn, he needed the drink, craved the crisp
coldness and the hot slide of it down his throat.
She chuckled at that, and he turned his glare on her.
She instantly fell silent.
He
couldn’t tell whether it was because she regretted her words, or
because his eyes were gold now, a flare of emerald emerging around his
pupils as his cougar side got the better of him, his temper stoked by
the irritating way she seemed to see straight through him.
Or maybe it was the way their eyes locked.
He
couldn’t look away, fell into the deep, soulful brown pools of hers,
drawn into them in a way he had never experienced before.
As if she had cast a spell on him.
He
had seen plenty of beautiful women, had bedded most of them, but
something about Yasmin had him losing himself whenever his eyes found
hers, or entranced by her whenever she moved. Gods, she was graceful.
Every action she made was fluid and serene, made somehow beautiful by
her.
Even when she broke eye contact and lifted her beer to her
rosy full lips. The way she brought her arm up, the tilt of her head,
the delicate movement of her throat as she swallowed.
Damn, she was grace embodied.
A fucking goddess.
Rath cleared his throat, jolting Flint back to the world.
“I
should thank you for teaching Ivy how to handle any problems that might
arise when she’s alone on an expedition,” his older brother said,
capturing Yasmin’s focus. Even the way she swung her gaze around and up
to Rath’s face was full of grace. Rath saluted her with his beer. “It
certainly helped me.”
“Ivy is resourceful. I’m sure she would have been able to help you without my training.” Yasmin glanced at her friend.
Was
she graceful in everything she did? She wouldn’t even take the praise
Rath had offered, had deflected it back on Ivy, as if she didn’t want
his brother’s gratitude.
“I know a little about field medicine,
but I wouldn’t say no to learning more.” Flint felt her gaze landing on
his as a hot shiver that tripped down his spine, sending warmth
spreading through him.
“You wouldn’t say no to much, I think,” she retorted and he frowned at that.
She
had been off with him since the woods, had changed markedly from one
moment to the next, and he wasn’t sure what he had done to deserve it.
He racked his brain, trying to recall everything he had said to her so
she could find out what had caused her to lose all the warmth she had
shown him when he had been trying to get her to leave.
And what had made her think he was some sort of pent up, sex starved male on the prowl to get his hands on her fine ass.
Which he was, but she didn’t need to paint him with that brush for all to see.
“Listen, Doc,” he started, but Ivy spoke over him.
“Yasmin,
I’d love to learn more while you’re here. I know you, and you probably
desperately need a vacation that you pretend you don’t, but I’d really
appreciate it. Please?” Ivy clutched her friend’s hand, her smile bright
and dazzling, and if Yasmin said no to that little angel, she was a
cold-hearted bitch.
“Of course.” Yasmin’s smile lit up the world,
sent a pleasant light sort of heat spiralling through him and had him
losing grip on reality again as he slipped back under her spell.
She had a smile that could fell the hardest of males.
The Devil himself wouldn’t stand a chance against her.
“Can I get in on those lessons?” Rath piped up and Flint barely bit back the growl that rumbled up his throat.
There his brother went again, trying to get close to Yasmin.
Wasn’t that
his job?
His brother had asked him to do the recon work on her, and now he was trying to butt in and Flint wasn’t going to take it.
“We could do a group thing.” He regretted it the moment he said it.
Yasmin
turned wide eyes on him, her horror clear in them, and Ivy looked
unsure whether to be as horrified as her friend or laugh at his plight
as he scrubbed a hand over his unruly black hair and frantically
back-peddled.
“Not an orgy… because that would be really wrong… I
mean… Rath is my brother for a start.” He glanced at Rath and caught the
flare of aggression he had sensed in him shining in his eyes too. Rath
curled his hands into tight fists at his sides, and Flint held his up,
palms facing him as he leaned back. “Ivy is all yours, Man. I’m not
interested… I meant like a group lesson… I really do want to learn more
about field medicine.”
Yasmin looked as if she was going to deny him again.
So he played his ace.
“I
run a tour guide company up north, in a very remote area. It would be
useful for me to know how to handle any incidents that might occur. I
mean, bears can be dangerous and while I haven’t had anyone attacked
yet, who knows when it might happen?” He grinned inside as her face
softened. If playing on the compassionate side of her that had probably
led to her choosing a career in medicine, and had led to her teaching
her close friend how to take care of any wounds she might end up with in
the wild, made him a bastard, then he was a bastard of the highest
order. He could practically see her will crumbling as he continued,
“I’ve had to treat a few sprains and stings, but what if someone is
attacked by a bear? I don’t know how to handle that. If I can’t do all I
can to help them, the person would probably die before the air
ambulance could reach us.”
“Fine, I’ll teach you.” She tilted her
chin up, her tone losing its softness as she held his gaze. “But the
second you try flirting with me over a suture kit or making an innuendo
about… well… anything… you’re out.”
Harsh, and not fair.
No
way he could stop himself from flirting with her, not over a suture kit
and not over anything. He wanted her, and she knew it. What she was
asking of him, it was impossible. He couldn’t just switch off this
attraction he felt to her, the burning she had ignited the moment she
had stood up to him in the woods, revealing a fiery side of her that had
made his instincts label her as a challenge.
He liked a good challenge.
Something told him that Yasmin would be the most difficult, most rewarding challenge he had ever known.
That only made him want her even more.
So he crossed his heart like a good boy, just so he could get closer to her.
Not because he wanted to spy on her for his brother.
But
because he needed to be close to her, needed to do everything in his
power, pulling out all the stops, until she gave in to him.
Enter the grand tour-wide giveaway to win one of a $75, $50 or $25 Amazon Gift Card at the Courted by her Cougar book page. This giveaway is international and open to everyone, and ends at midnight on September 23rd.
