Burn on the Western Slope (Crimson Romance) Read Online Free

Chayton acknowledged the customer and grabbed a glass from the shelf above him. He flipped the glass, poured a bit of alcohol, and squirted soda-like fizz from a fountain before resting a lime atop the rim. Sliding it across the counter, he hollered, “I’ll put it on your tab.”
    Slick. This guy over-exaggerated sexy. Tall, dark, and handsome edged by indescribable intensity. Reagan glanced at Naomi, whose dumbfounded expression announced she was also impressed.
    Leaning forward on the counter, Chayton set his elbows on the bar and entwined his fingers together. “Yeah, he had a cat,” he answered, his voice rough and difficult to sketch.
    “What happened to it?” Reagan asked. She liked cats but hadn’t had one since junior high.
    “He’s with me,” Chayton growled. “I’ve grown quite attached to him.”
    “Oh.” Reagan held up her hands. “I didn’t want … I didn’t mean I’d take the cat. I just thought … ”
    Chayton nodded. “Good. I’d like to keep him.”
    “Yes. Please.” Reagan felt like a jerk. An embarrassed jerk. Who could blame Chayton for his caution? As far as he was concerned, she was a long-lost family member only here for her uncle’s money. Someone who hadn’t bothered to be around when it really mattered.
    Relieved when Naomi took over the conversation, she listened halfheartedly as her cousin asked Chayton about the town, the skiing, the mountain peaks, and the weather. Her mind swam with questions, things she wanted to know about Ray, not the town.
    “I don’t even know what happened to him,” Reagan interrupted.
    Naomi and Chayton stopped talking and looked at her oddly. “What?” Naomi asked.
    “To Ray. I don’t know what happened to Ray.”
    Chayton steadied his gaze on her, but the narrowing of his eyes and the clenching of his jaw told her he still mourned his friend. She regretted interrupting. This guy didn’t know her and as far as she knew, had no reason to like her. As Ray’s neighbor and friend, he might even resent her.
    “He was killed in an ice-climbing accident.”

Chapter Two
    Garret scratched the cue ball and cursed. Stepping away, he handed the table over to Andy.
    He’d received Chayton’s text that Reagan was at Air Dog, but she was gone by the time he arrived. He played a game of pool and drank a couple bottles of Guinness. He couldn’t sleep anyway.
    Guilt hounded him on a daily basis, but most times he was able to stifle it with activity. After losing his partner the way he did, he might not return to work. He suspected that’s why Buchanan gave him this assignment.
    Ray had been a good friend. He’d left his niece everything, and only now did she decide to come down and see the place. Where was she at Christmas? On his birthday? At his funeral? He couldn’t say much. He hadn’t been at Ray’s funeral either, but his job was his excuse — as it was for everything else he’d missed in his lifetime.
    Andy steadied his pool cue, pocketed a solid, and whooped. He’d grown up with Garret and Chayton and, like Chayton, had stayed in Tanyon. The longer Garret stayed, the more he understood why.
    The town sat at the base of the mountain thirty miles off the interstate between Whitefish and Kalispell, the two closest cities. One ski lift toted skiers up the mountain, and that’s how the locals liked it. The larger resort towns with fancy accommodations attracted most visitors, and the locals preferred that, too. They didn’t want the stress of big city lights and crime.
    As Andy took another turn, Chayton approached and stole Garret’s cue stick. “She’s more beautiful in person than the pictures. Her friend is hot, too.”
    “Friend?”
    “Yeah, another girl was with her.”
    Great, who was this other girl? Another bedmate of Javier Mass?
    “Her friend was trying to cover a bruise on her cheek with makeup.”
    He knew Javier Mass liked to beat up women. Maybe the girls were hiding from him. If that was the case, they were in