Page 60 of Mountain Man’s Mystic Touch

Neither of us moves. I remember his hand closing around my wrist. The restraint that returned after instinct released me. His mouth almost touching mine in the quiet of my booth.

My body responds to the memory before good judgment can offer an opinion.

“Do you want me to move?” he asks.

The question matters. He could decide for both of us with half a step, but he waits.

“No.”

His attention drops to my mouth. I could kiss him. I want to. Yet my energy still feels fragile, recently gathered and not entirely secure. A kiss from Rocco would not be a small exchange. I know that with the same certainty that told me the blood in my vision belonged to him.

I place my hand against his chest. His heartbeat remains steady beneath my palm, but not slow.

“I’m not ready,” I whisper.

Rocco steps back immediately. The loss of his warmth feels sharper than it should.

“But I wanted to be,” I add.

His eyes darken. “That does not help.”

“It wasn’t intended to.”

“Still counts.”

The echo of his earlier words draws another smile from me. He steps away from the sink, giving both of us room for the tension to settle. His radio comes alive before it does.

“Blackridge, we have a possible sighting near the south service entrance.”

Rocco reaches for it. Every trace of warmth disappears from him.

“Description.”

The response crackles through the cabin. Male, dark jacket, baseball cap, lingering near the vendor vehicles.

The employee gives an estimated height and build matching the man who photographed my booth. Rocco looks at me.

“Do not approach,” he says into the radio. “Maintain visual contact and send your location.”

He collects his jacket from the peg and checks something beneath it before pulling it on. His movements are controlled, but urgency fills the room.

“You’re leaving,” I say.

“My team may have spotted him.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“No.”

The word arrives with all the authority he has been trying to temper.

My eyebrows lift in questioning disapproval. Rocco closes his eyes for one brief second.

“Will you remain here until I know whether he poses a threat?”

“That was not much better.”

“It is the best I can do right now.”