Rock Hard (Siren Publishing Classic) by Tatum Throne Page A

to her own. She kissed him passionately. “I like it when you lose control on me.”
    Wynn scooted over as he lay down beside her. His hand explored the curves of her body in a slow, lazy motion. She could sense him drifting off to sleep, and she soon followed.
    It was much later when Kade pulled her close and nibbled on the curve of her ear. “I have to go. I have to get into work.”
    She snuggled closer to Kade, not opening her eyes. “What time is it?” she asked.
    “It’s almost dawn. Go back to sleep.”
    “I thought you said a woman alone wasn’t safe in the Red.”
    “I suppose I was wrong about that.”
    Wynn was so tired she couldn’t keep her eyes open. She listened to Kade dress and unzip the tent. She was fast asleep by the time he zipped her back in.
    Two hours later, Wynn woke to the sound of birds singing. Her body ached in all the right places. She sat up and looked around her tent and frowned. Something was missing, and it just wasn’t Kade. She grabbed for her backpack and searched it fast. Her climbing shoes were gone.
    No shoes. Where the hell were they? They’d been clipped to the side of her backpack. It was then that it hit her. Kade didn’t want her to climb alone. She couldn’t climb without them. He knew that. If she kept up the ruse, she’d have to go after him for them.
    She grinned at the turn of events. That son of a bitch wanted to see her again.

Chapter Seven
     
    Kade often lived in his office at the station. As the agent in charge, he worked about fifty hours a week, more if there were climbing or hiking accidents in the Red.
    Kade wondered all morning if Wynn was going to come after her climbing shoes. He suspected she would. The field office was quiet as he pushed papers around his desk, trying to keep busy despite the thought of Wynn naked just hours before.
    There were things he needed to get done at his house, so he started to make a list of all the renovations and things to buy. That only lasted so long before he remembered that Kendra’s birthday was coming up, and he needed to buy her something special like a necklace. He’d have to go into Lexington to do that. There was nothing in or near the Red that would be special enough.
    Kade tapped his pencil and then tossed it onto his desk.
    His sushi sat untouched on his desk. He’d made the salmon sushi last night and packed it up for lunch this morning. He ate out of need, rather than hunger. Wynn was a distraction on all fronts today. That wouldn’t be good if he was out in the field.
    There was something bothering him about Wynn that he couldn’t quite place. It was her personality. There was intelligence and strength in her eyes that warred with her small stature and fear over storms. She was complex and complicated in a way that made him want to know everything about her. Wynn managed to get under his skin in the worst possible way.
    Kade was certain that he wouldn’t be able to let her go until he knew everything about her, from her favorite color, to what she loved to eat, to which side of the bed she preferred to sleep on. He had to know all of it.
    Something was still bothering him.
    Maybe it was the fact that most didn’t camp and climb in the Red alone. It just wasn’t safe. Maybe it was the fact that he couldn’t find any listings for her off Mountain Parkway. He was being nosy, but hell, he wanted to know more about her, like where she lived, for starters.
    He was starting to think she wasn’t local. That put a hitch in his chest that felt too much like a chronic case of indigestion. Kade picked up the baseball on his desk he caught when he’d gone with Kendra to a game in San Francisco. He worried the beat-up leather in his hands. Kade stared at his laptop and brought the Internet alive. He went to do a search. He was about to type in her name when there was a knock on his open door.
    Kade looked up to see one of his off duty dispatch officers. She was sporting a new bruise on her cheek. Bruises