Off the Map (Winter Rescue #2) Read Free Page A

any situation, and it always came down to this.
    The two of them standing opposite one another. High noon. Guns drawn.
    Carrie fired first. “You mean, what am I doing here with the friends you’re so close to, you didn’t even know Max had a daughter, let alone one he was struggling to get custody over?”
    Scott staggered but didn’t fall. “Of course I knew he has a daughter—I’m not a monster. I just don’t feel a compulsory need to meddle in the personal business of everyone in my life.”
    “You don’t feel a compulsory need to do anything related to human beings. Dogs, on the other hand—”
    “Stop right there. You better not bring my dogs into this.”
    “Why not? You bring them into everything else.” She debated for only a second before finishing her statement with a flourish. “Including the bedroom.”
    This time, Ace and Max didn’t breathe collectively so much as suck all the air from the room. It was difficult to tell if their reaction was the result of shock or laughter, but she assumed the latter.
    Laughter, unfortunately, was the last thing on Scott’s mind. He lowered his arms and was looming in front of her in a matter of seconds. If it had been difficult to be in the same room with him before, what with all his brooding jean-shirt manliness mocking her, it was damn near impossible when he was so close she could feel the heat emanating off him. Like his dogs, he seemed to operate at a basal body temperature of just over a hundred degrees, rendering him an ideal comfort in cold weather like this. He made a girl want to strip down to nothing and dive into the snow with him. He made this girl want to command him to sit and beg and roll over until they were both nothing but a furious, panting mess.
    It was just like she said. High noon. Guns drawn and cocked and ready to get off.
    “One time,” he said, his voice dangerous. “One time, I let a dog in the room with us, and you know it was because Queenie was having issues with her crate.”
    “It was twice, and she barked at us both times.”
    “No. She barked at you both times. And that was only because of the howling sound you make when you—”
    She clapped a hand over his mouth. There were strict rules in place about when and where it was appropriate to touch an ex on the lips, and this was probably breaking all of them, but there was no other way to shut this man up.
    Well—that wasn’t strictly true. She knew of one other highly effective way to shut him up, but if the firm press of her palm against his lips was unsafe, she didn’t want to think about what that other method would do to her resolve.
    “Don’t you dare finish that sentence,” she warned.
    She felt his mouth curve into a smile, that rare manifestation of joy she’d once considered her favorite sight in the whole world. This man’s grin was both an invitation and a promise, and she didn’t have to see it to understand the implication. You know you want me, Carrie. It’ll be so good, Carrie.
    Nope. No way. Never again. You could lead a woman to temptation but you couldn’t make her drink.
    She lifted her hand away. “And don’t you dare smile at me either. This is my poker night. I started it, I planned it, and I intend to keep coming for as long as I want. If you don’t like it, you can go home and bark all alone with Queenie.”
    “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” he said. “For me to roll over and go home, letting you take everything?”
    Oddly enough, she wouldn’t. She hadn’t come here with the intention of taking over his friendship with these men. She just wanted him to share. One Wednesday night ritual might not seem like much to Scott, who had a job and friends and roots in this city, but he had no idea how bleak things looked over on her side.
    Considering she’d lost her job and the man she loved within the span of a month, it seemed fair to say it was pretty freaking bleak.
    Prudence warned her to take a different tack before the