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I hate that he keeps making those.

The fire cracks softly between us while snow pounds harder outside.

“You really think he followed me here?” I ask.

Rhett leans one shoulder against the wall near the door, arms folding across his chest. “Yeah.”

No hesitation.

No false reassurance.

Just truth.

My stomach tightens.

“You don’t sugarcoat things much.”

“No point.”

“And the intense staring thing? Is that part of your ranger training?”

His gaze drags slowly over me again, deliberate enough that my pulse stutters.

“No,” he says quietly. “That part’s just you.”

Heat floods straight through me.

God.

I tighten my grip on the mug. “You flirt like a threat.”

“Maybe it is.”

The room suddenly feels much smaller.

Warmer.

His eyes stay locked on mine while the firelight flickers across the sharp angles of his face, catching the scar near his jaw I hadn’t noticed earlier.

I shouldn’t want to move closer.

I do anyway.

Just slightly.

Enough to notice.

Enough that his eyes darken immediately.

“You do realize you’re impossible to intimidate properly?” he asks.

“I’m from Seattle.”

“That explains the attitude.”

I laugh despite myself.

Actual laughter.