Finding West Read Online Free PDF Page B

trying to remember a recipe—any would do—but couldn’t come up with a single one. Either my memory was worse than I thought or I was just not the cooking kind. Frozen pizza it was.
    Figuring out her oven took a minute; I had a sneaking suspicion I’d never used one before in my previous life. After I slid the pizza into the oven I looked down at my hands, feeling the pads of my fingers and my palm. The skin was a little calloused but nothing that would indicate I was a man used to hard labor.
    The picture that was starting to form of my past was not one I liked.
    Kat’s shower took all of five minutes. She emerged from the bathroom looking fresh and wearing an oversize grey t-shirt and sweat pants, her long blond hair hanging wet down to the middle of her back. Even though she was hiding the curves I knew were there, my body reacted to hers with urgency. I was warm all over and there was a definite stirring in my crotch, which wasn’t helped by the fact that it was getting a denim fondling every time I moved.
    “You clean up nice,” I said with a lack of finesse, and turned back to the oven to hide my growing erection. The last thing she needed to see was the strange man in her home sporting a huge woody.
    Better than discovering I had a muscular body was finding out just how well-endowed I was. Monster python was a reach, but average was a huge understatement. Let’s just say I wouldn’t be ashamed to be caught having sex on film.
    Kat walked around the counter separating us and crouched beside me, peering into the oven. I could smell her Irish Spring soap and something else, something more feminine and sweet, a scent my body was definitely responding to. I squatted beside her to get a better smell, feigning interest in the pizza.
    “So you’re cooking me a gourmet pizza?” she asked with a hint of sarcasm in her raspy voice.
    Our faces were so close I could see the freckles dusting her nose and cheeks. “It’ll be good, I promise,” I said, not really talking about the pizza. My head filled with thoughts of the X-rated kind, and I had to avert my eyes out of fear I’d be discovered.
    I didn’t know how I knew, but somehow I sensed it would be electric with us, combustible.
     
    She took her pizza to the couch and turned on the TV. I sat on the recliner, as far away from her as possible. This woman was helping me; the last thing she needed was a horny amnesiac who was sexually attracted to her. If I acted on my impulses, I’d find myself out in the snow faster than I could blink. And that’s if her dog didn’t tear me a new one first.
    Said dog was sitting beside her owner on the couch, her eyes flicking to me every time I made a move. She didn’t trust me yet and with good reason. I could try to ply her with food, but something told me she was smarter than that. It would take time to earn her trust, just like her owner.
    “Thank you for taking me in for another night,” I said after some time.
    “I don’t really have a choice, do I?”
    “You do. I can sleep in the shed or the Jeep.”
    “And then I get to take your popsicle of a body to the morgue in the morning?”
    “Something like that.”
    She shook her head. “You can take my dad’s room.” She set her empty plate down and took a swig of soda then held up two fingers. “But two things: one, I sleep with my gun under my pillow and won’t hesitate to use it should you try anything; and two, Josie will rip your nuts off before you even get close enough.”
    “ Duly noted.”
    Her face was all seriousness when she said, “I’m not even kidding.”
    I nodded, not knowing how else to show her that I had no ill intentions. “This is your home and I’m a guest,” I said. “I would never do anything to hurt you.”
    “Then prove it.” The look in her eyes was a glittering challenge. I gave another nod in response.
     
    After dinner, Kat washed the dishes. I stood nearby, leaning against the counter with my arms folded across my