Kayla Gabriel - Winter Lodge Wolves Complete Boxed Set

“Where were you stationed?” Penny asked. “If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”

“Where wasn’t I stationed?” Harlan said. “Germany. Aruba. Afghanistan. Syria. Kuwait, for a minute.”

“Oh. Uh, cool,” Penny said, feeling lame.

“What do you do?” he asked, leaning back and crossing his arms. Penny tried desperately not to ogle his sexy, tanned forearms. She dropped her gaze to her lap.

“I’m an art teacher. Or I was.”

“Past tense?”

Penny’s face began to flame again, but she wasn’t one to skirt around the truth of what had happened.

“I got fired. My ex was sleeping with the headmistress of my school, and when I caught them together, she fired me. The same day he kicked me out of our apartment.”

A growl rumbled through Harlan’s chest, and Penny looked at him with surprise.

“Some loser cheated on you ?” he asked. His eyes blazed bright, and for a half second Penny wondered if he might be teasing her in the cruelest way. But no, he was serious. Offended, angry, and confused on her behalf, for some unknown reason.

“Well, he was sort of…” Penny pursed her lips and twined her fingers in her lap, trying to find the right words.

“A worthless prick?” Harlan suggested.

Penny laughed, then nodded.

“Yeah. He—”

“I don’t need the details. Forget about him,” Harlan said, shifting again in his seat. The movement drew Penny’s attention to his upper arm, where a few spots of red were spreading across his white t-shirt.

“Harlan, I think you’re bleeding,” she said, hand flying to her throat.

He looked down at his shoulder, then hefted a sigh.

“It’s fine,” he said. “Now that you’re up, I’ll just grab another shirt from my bedroom.”

“It is not fine!” Penny said with a gasp. “You didn’t say you got shot!”

The idea of him sitting here chatting with her while having a wound made her angry.

“It’s nothing,” Harlan said, but Penny was already on her feet.

“Do you have a first aid kit?” she demanded to know.

Harlan gave her a measuring glance, then rolled his eyes.

“In the medicine cabinet,” he said.

Penny retrieved it and came back, putting on her best take no prisoners expression.

“Take off your shirt,” she ordered, giving him what she hoped was a steely glare.

A flare of humor lit his face, followed by more eye rolling.

“Fine,” he said, rising and pulling his shirt off, every muscle in his torso rippling as he moved.

Penny’s dry mouth and shaky legs returned, and she had to rip her eyes away from his obscenely flat, defined abs.

“Couch,” she said, pointing. Her cheeks and neck were red and hot with a mixture of hunger and ire. Thankfully Harlan dropped onto the couch, his eyes roaming up and down Penny’s body from head to toe.

It struck Penny that Harlan might actually be interested in her, not repulsed. It seemed insane, someone like him looking at plain little Penny, mousier than ever in her borrowed pajamas. But the look on his face was hunger, unmistakable hunger.

“Penny,” Harlan said. There was a dangerous edge to his voice, and it shook Penny to her core.

In that moment, she knew that if she really, really wanted it… wanted a hot, hard, single night’s fling, she could probably have it. With him .

No no no no. She’d just been dumped, she a sad little wounded bird. Getting horizontal with Harlan, no matter how incredibly hot he was, would not solve her problems. Probably.

“Penny…” he said again.

Penny jumped, dumping the first aid kit on the couch.

“Right! Sorry!” she squeaked, killing a bit of the tension. She busied herself opening some bandages and tubes of ointment, then hesitated.

She’d managed to forget that she was actually going to have to touch him. Crap.

Kneeling next to Harlan on the couch, Penny blew out a breath and leaned over to examine his shoulder. It was a bunch of tiny, deep cuts, not the gnarly wound she’d expected.

“It was just flying tree bark,” Harlan said, his magnificent chest rising and falling as he spoke.

“You were right. It isn’t that bad,” Penny said, gently probing one of the cuts with a finger tip.

Harlan didn’t flinch, though one of his pecs tightened.

“Told you,” he ground out, looking away toward the door again. Ignoring the potential awkwardness that might spring up between them any minute now.

“Alright. I’ll be quick.” Penny spread a little antiseptic gel over each of the cuts, trying to focus on her work. Her eyes strayed over his shoulder to his back, where black swirling tendrils announced a large tattoo of some kind. She peeked, and saw that it was a very simple rendering of a wolf howling at the moon. “Pretty serious about saving the wolves, aren’t you?”

Harlan grunted and shifted, not meeting her gaze or acknowledging her question. Penny grabbed some gauze and medical tape, then started covering his cuts. Her gaze trailed down his front side this time, dipping lower and lower.

Her curiosity earned her an eyeful, making her fumble and get tape stuck to her fingers. She jerked her gaze away from his crotch, but not before she saw the thick, long outline of his cock pressed up next to his fly, running all the way up to the waist of his pants.

Holy cheese and crackers, Batman .

Not only was Harlan packing some serious heat, he was hard as a rock right now. Penny bit her lip to stifle a laugh as she realized that all his staring off in the distance and shifting in his seat hadn’t been because he disliked her.

No, it was quite the opposite.

For the barest second, Penny almost convinced herself to lean over and cup his thick erection, just see how it felt against her palm. Or kiss his sinful, proud lips, maybe…

Harlan cleared his throat, and Penny realized that she was staring at his mouth, a blank expression on her face.

“Maybe you should head back to bed,” he suggested.

Penny’s mouth opened, her tongue darting out to lick her lips.

“—and get some sleep. You look, uh… worn out,” Harlan finished.

“I—” Penny faltered, her momentary confidence fading. “Uh, right.”

“I’ll clean this stuff up,” Harlan said, clearing his throat again. He was looking anywhere but at Penny, and making her more confused than ever. He might be hard for her, but he didn’t seem very happy about it.

“Alright,” she said, shoulders drooping. Maybe this whole thing was in her head after all, just exhaustion combined with some leftover breakup blues.

“You need help getting there?” he prompted.

“Uh, no,” Penny said, abashed. “I got it.”

“I’ll wake you up at sunrise,” Harlan said, plucking a few bandage wrappers from the couch, staring a hole into the first aid kit.

“Great. Sure.”

Penny lurched to her feet and propelled herself forward, glancing back as she hit the hallway. Harlan was definitely looking at her now, those green eyes of his practically glowing as he watched her walk away. His lips twisted when their gazes caught, but Penny didn’t stop moving.

She scooted straight into the bedroom and closed the door, then climbed onto the bed and sprawled out on her back.

What in the hell was happening between them?

Penny squeezed her eyes shut and prayed for sleep, though it didn’t come for a long, long time.

Harlan stepped back into the cabin, a growl rumbling in his throat. The whole world was coated in several fresh feet of snow atop the previously collected drifts, and it was almost as high as Harlan’s waist in some places. He’d made it as far as the main lodge before giving up and turning back.