A Reason to Kill (Reason #2) (5 page)

I knew he had muscles, you couldn’t miss that about him, but seeing it in the flesh, flexing—no freaking words. Tanned from working in the sun, his chest was broad and chiseled like a statue, with a light sprinkling of chest hair. My eyes scanned down his body and saw tight abs defined like a boxers. But, his arms, the way those biceps and triceps flexed and released as he swung his axe warming up, Lord have mercy.

In a trance from all the muscle bound goodness, I found myself moving to, and sitting on, the grass near the water’s edge to watch. Okay, more like drooling rather than watching. But the crazy thing was, for a moment, I
swore
he looked my direction and held my gaze as his mouth twitched in a half grin.

When the announcer called out “Loggers ready,” I watched as he set his stance by measuring the distance to the log with his axe. Then he brought it down low, ready for his first strike. When the whistle blew, he swung with power as he chipped away strategically at the circle on the side of the three-foot smooth log. His blows were so powerful, after five swings, he moved to the other side and swung his axe again with the skill of a man who’d done it all his life. He was intimidating, seemingly godlike in presence compared to the other competitors and swung his axe with such force that he beat the others by a full thirty seconds.

When he was finished, he picked up his shirt, handed his axe to the next contestant, and to my surprise and utter terror, made his way straight towards me.

His eyes never left my face until he stopped at the water’s edge. Then he dropped his shirt and kneeled down dipping his hands into the cold water, cupping them. Since my ability to think, let alone speak, went south when all that muscle knelt down beside me. I said nothing out of fear he’d recognize me from the day before. Then, like it was my birthday and he was my present, he splashed water onto his sweat-covered face and neck, repeating this until the water dripped down his chest. Transfixed by the droplets, I watched the water run down all those hard nooks and plains. When he ran his strong fingers through his long hair, the front, curling down into his eyes, I stared spellbound, caught like a moth to a flame.

“You feelin’ better?” A deep rumbling voiced asked. My brain, which was firing at half capacity, slowly registered his words. When my eyes shot to his, he was staring at me as if he expected an answer. So I stuttered like a fool and asked, “Feeling, feeling better?”

“Yeah, babe, are you feelin’ better. I figured you’d have a headache after last night.”

Dread crept in at his words and I knew then I was missing something important. My confusion must have shown since he smiled, pulled his shirt back over that gorgeous body, then sat down next to me leaning in. Then he rocked my world when he said, “You don’t remember what happened between us, do you?”

Max chuckled as Mia’s expression paled, then turned bright red behind the dark glasses she wore. He figured she’d be fuzzy about the night before, but not so fuzzy that she wouldn’t remember him carrying her from the bathroom and out the door of the bar to her motel room. Jerry, who owned the motel, had let him into her room when they arrived. She’d been barely awake when he put her on her feet, then held her steady as she found her balance. She’d smiled dreamily at him as he held her close, slurring, “You have beautiful eyes, Paul Bunyan.” Then she’d pulled that damn Care Bears tee over her head and yanked off her sneakers and pants, showing him that stripper’s body as if she undressed in front of him every day. He’d had to ball his fists just to keep from reaching out to her. Then she’d stumbled forward, her ample breasts pinned to his chest as she’d reached up and caressed his beard. He locked eyes with her again as her tiny hand ran down his face and the sense of drowning returned as if he couldn’t catch his breath. Then she’d pulled his face down, got up on her toes, and kissed him softly on the cheek, whispering, “You’re like a big fuzzy bear. I love Grizzlies.”

“Jesus, you’re a cute drunk,” he’d chuckled.

She’d turned from him giggling and his eyes had moved to that firm ass of hers as she crawled into bed and passed out. He’d moved to the bed, positioned her on her side, and then watched her for a moment. When it was clear she was all right, he’d covered her and then left.

When he noticed her at the water’s edge, hiding behind those dark glasses, he figured she’d come to say thank you for seeing her back to her room. Now that he knew she didn’t remember, he decided to have some fun.

“What do you mean what happened between us?” she asked breathlessly.

Max leaned in, pulled the sunglasses from her face, and he replied, “Uptown girl, I’ll have to work harder next time if you don’t remember callin’ me your grizzly bear.”

“What?” she whispered, then continued flustered, “no, no I didn’t, I, I, you, you scowled at me and then, and then I saw you, I saw you at . . . oh, God, the bar.”

Like she was searching for an answer to all her questions, she leaned in and looked closely at his eyes. After a moment of searching, while Max tried to keep from laughing, she closed her eyes and whispered, “I’m never drinking again.”

Christ, that did it. Max laughed ‘cause he couldn’t help it. She looked miserable, but mostly adorable in another T-shirt with a Koala Bear on the front that read, “I’m over koalafied.”

When she looked away, color rising up her neck again, he decided to end her misery. Tugging gently on her ponytail to get her attention, when she looked back at him, he grinned a crooked grin and let her off the hook.

“The puking, I could have done without, but your ass in that sexy as hell underwear, not gonna lie, best view I’ve seen in years. And that’s sayin’ somethin’ considerin’ where I live.”

She gasped, and then surprisingly threw back her head and laughed deep and husky, fuckin’ fantastic and his body reacted to those sexy tones. When she turned back to him, her crystal pools sparkled with mirth. Then she stuck out her hand and answered shyly, “Hi, I’m Mia Roberts. Since you’ve seen my ass already, we might as well be on a first name basis.”

Feeling like an idiot, but trying to act as if it was no big deal, I watched as he wrapped his big hand around mine, dwarfing it. Then his crooked grin grew into a full-blown smile, dazzling me with its intensity. I was so dazzled, by the way, that I almost missed his reply.

“I'm Max, Max Hunter. Anytime you wanna show me that ass again the answer is yes.”

Now, I know I’ve mentioned that I’m awkward with men and this is a perfect example of how awkward. Instead of being, say, sophisticated at this moment and rolling with the proverbial punches, I, of course, rambled.

“Right, no, I mean, yes. Shit, what I meant to say is, we’re leaving this morning and, and.” Feeling flustered and a little dizzy at the idea of showing Max my ass again, I pulled my hand from his, stood abruptly, and then blurted out, “I have to find Lucy and get up the mountain.”

God, I’m an idiot.

My cheeks warmed with embarrassment when he chuckled at my stuttering mouth. Even so, I’ll admit to a tiny tingle down south just from hearing it directed at me. He knew he was making me nervous, I could see it in the width of his smile. Even knowing this, instead of trying to save face I wanted to evade and hide, so I rattled off “Nice to meet you Mr. Hunter, my ass appreciates your chivalry,” and I fled like a child.

Chivalry? Oh, God, please, just kill me now.

Then, of course, making a bigger fool of myself, I turned too quickly during my hasty retreat and stumbled up the hill as I left him standing by the water. When I looked back to see if he was watching as I pushed through the crowd, I collided headfirst with the blonde I’d seen talking with Max at the bar.

“Shit, sorry,” I mumbled, but the blonde only replied, “He isn’t the type to settle down. Fair warning if you go there.”

“Oh, um, no, no, not going there,” I laughed, “going up the mountain though. Excuse me, I
really
need to go kill myself now,” I mumbled as I hightailed it up the hill.

Unbelievable, so far this trip I’d gotten drunk, shown my ass, made a complete fool out of myself
and
managed to sing in front of a few hundred people. The way my luck was going so far, I’d be dead by the end of the day. I just wanted to find Lucy so we could get the hell out of Dodge, was that too much to ask?

Mumbling to myself, I headed towards the speed-climbing arena in search of my missing intern. On my way to the venue, I managed to get sidetracked once again when I passed an arena with a huge bull’s eye in the center.

I paused in fascination and watched as a woman, big in stature, picked up a hand axe and hurled it through the air towards the large target. It landed just off dead center, and the crowd broke into applause as the announcer called out her score. Impressed by her throw, for the first time in a long time, I wished I had some athletic ability.

Still watching, I clapped as the next contestant walked up. She was an older woman, middle to late sixties, I figured, with gorgeous silver hair that she wore long and braided down her back. As if she’d been doing it her whole life she raised the hand axe, concentrated on the target, and then wound up and let it fly nailing the bull’s eye dead center. More than impressed, I stuck my fingers in my mouth and whistled loudly for the woman as the announcer shouted “Bull’s eye for Maxine.” When she stepped back to let another woman have a go, I walked over to her smiling and told her “That was impressive, have you been throwing all your life?”

“I have, young lady. I was raised in Colorado and then swept off my feet by a dashing Alaskan who chopped trees for a living. I’m Maxine, by the way, and you must be Mia.”

Well, that confirmed it, small towns have no secrets and apparently my performance and subsequent puking on Max’s boots had made the rounds. Trying not to blush, I shook the woman’s hand while ignoring her knowing smile.

“It’s nice to meet you and yes, I’m Mia Roberts with SIOZ.”

Maxine was about to say something when her attention seemed to wander over my shoulder. I was about to turn to see what she was looking at when she moved to my side and asked “You ever throw an axe?”

“Oh, no, I’m not athletic. I’m pretty sure my parents removed all sharp objects from our house when I was growing up.”

“Nonsense, it doesn’t take any special skill to throw an axe, you just gotta envision someone you hate in the center of the bull’s eye. Works like a charm. I usually think about Mayor Madison when I’m aiming,” she explained as she grabbed my hand and hauled me into the throwing ring.

“Oh, no, no, really I . . . wow, that’s heavier than I thought it would be.”

“Now, just keep your eyes on the center of the bull’s eye and think about someone you hate.”

“But, I don’t hate anyone.”

“Sure ya do, everyone hates somebody.”

My eyes drifted over her shoulder as she spoke and saw Max heading our direction as the blonde from the bar kept pace with him. He was gorgeous, like a romance novel hero, and God help me, at that moment I hated the blonde.

For the first time in my life, I was jealous, even though I had no right to be. Therefore, when I turned to throw, I pictured the blonde's face on the target and let the axe fly. Then I watched in horror as it hit the side, flew a fair distance sideways, and buried itself in the ground near the feet of spectators. Everyone gasped when the axe landed and then jumped back.

Maxine chuckled “Mercy, never seen one take flight like that,” and I thought,
of course, you haven’t, I’m a walking talking danger most days.