Read How to Annoy a Mountain Man Online Free by Alana Gray

“Weird because of me?” I asked, pulling back enough to leave an inch of space between the two of us.

He tightened his arm around me and pulled me closer into his side. “Definitely weird because of you. Some of the other guys on the crew are working jobs protecting people from danger or solving murders, and I’m here doing surveillance on dead people.”

“Are you looking for a job with a little more danger?”

He looked at me and shook his head. “I don’t think I’d be able to think straight if you were in danger. Being a bodyguard, there’s a lot of rules you have to follow when you’re protecting someone. If it was you I was protecting, I could see myself throwing them all out the window.”

There was a raw honesty in what he said, and maybe if we hadn’t been in the dark, he would never have let the words pass his lips. I found myself being honest in return.

“I don’t think what I do will ever be dangerous enough to need a bodyguard, but I’m glad you’re here anyway.”

I’d never been someone looking for happily ever after, and I never found a guy who understood what it was I was trying to achieve. Anyone who was attracted to what I did was more interested in cosplaying a morbid life. They didn’t actually care about the people who were resting six feet under them as they messed around in a cemetery.

Jonah had taken up the mystery of the unnamed grave right alongside me, seeming to understand from just a sentence or two why it was so important for this person to have their name back.

“Are you warm enough?” he asked.

“Getting there.”

He let his arm fall from the back of the seat and wrapped it around my shoulders. His hand moved slowly up and down the top of my arm, maybe trying to keep me warm or maybe just wanting to touch me.

Either way, I liked it. Maybe a little too much. The warmth that spread through me was more between my thighs than anywhere else. My heart was pounding a little too hard in my chest, and I felt like a teenager on a first date, wanting to initiate a kiss, but not sure how to do it.

Our breathing was louder now in the confined space, as if the thin walls of the truck had separated us from the rest of the world.

Slowly, giving me plenty of time to pull away, he brought his other hand over and gently cupped my jaw. He tilted my chin so I was looking up at him, and then his lips found mine.

His stubble pressed gently against me, contrasting with the softness of his lips. If anything, the kiss was sweet. Gentle. Too much so.

He sucked in a breath as I slid my hand over his waist, gripping the thick denim of his jeans in my fingers. Careful of the steering wheel, I brought my leg over his lap, using his hip for leverage until I straddled him, his length hardening under me.

The heat of his body bled into mine and we froze like that for a long moment. Sharing the same air, taking in the other person in the dark. His hands came to rest against my waist, flexing subtly in a way that was equally possessive and sweet.

“What do you want, Briar?” he asked.

“You,” I said. “Just you.”

And then I leaned forward.