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Reporter Smokey Powers has come to a small Oregon town to investigate a developer’s disappearance. But from the moment she wanders into a local art gallery, she’s captivated by a stunning photograph of a hawk in flight–and by her urgent need to meet the photographer, to touch him–to know him.
When Smokey comes face-to-face with Mato Hawk, a member of a local tribe, his masculinity overwhelms her. For once, this ambitious career woman is learning what it means to submit in every way. Again and again Mato takes her to the brink of release, becoming more dominant and demanding, awakening every inch of her body to pure sensation until she’s never felt more alive–or less in control.
Seduction was a way for Mato to stop Smokey from jeopardizing his people’s land with her investigation. Now their desire has become an unstoppable force that’s wild, risky, and deliciously unpredictable.
EXCERPT
“Just one more speaker,” the slight, balding man said in response to Mr. Jacobs’ question. “Mato? You want to get yourself on up here?”
As a broad shouldered, black haired, dark eyed man clad in work-worn jeans and an unironed flannel shirt emerged from the back of the room and took his place at the speaker’s podium, her mind stumbled. Male! One hundred and fifty percent male.
Just like that, she was no longer in this stuffy building but somewhere deep in the forest, walking alone down what might be a deer trail, her nerves on alert, ears tuned for any sound, eyes constantly scanning. She was being watched; she knew it!
By a man, a primal and possessive man.
Whether she walked or ran through the forest made no difference because when he was ready, he’d reveal himself to her. More than just reveal, he’d touch. Rub his body against hers, press his strength against hers, pull her into his space. And change her.
No, damn it! What are you thinking!
Most of those who’d preceded him had brought along notes which they’d frequently referred to. By their body language and the way their voices either turned shrill or fell away, they obviously were unaccustomed to public speaking. Mato was as casually dressed as the others, his thick black hair long and unkempt and begging to have her fingers in them, feet locked into sturdy boots which said he didn’t earn his living sitting behind a desk.
There the resemblance between him and the others ended. He was the first to fasten his unwavering gaze on the hearing’s officer, the first to use his own silence to quiet the room. The only to rattle her. She didn’t feel anger in him so much as determination, but that might be deceptive.
At least he was unaware of her existence.
So far.
“When my ancestors fished the Snake River,” he began. “nearly twenty thousand sockeyes returned each year to spawn in Redfish Lake. Now there are only a handful. Once the Columbia River watershed was one of the richest salmon producing areas in the world. Now those salmon are in danger of extinction.” He took a deep breath which expanded his chest and sent her fingertips to tingling from the need to touch him there. “Governmental agencies study and research, argue and assess blame while the clock ticks. A few more years and there won’t be a need for you people because there won’t be any fish left to mismanage.”
He paused, and she wondered if he was waiting for his words to settle in; it worked, at least on her. Heat pressed on her temples and crawled over her thighs. “That’s what the NewDirections corporation will accomplish,” he continued. “Tens of thousands of years of existence snuffed out because of man’s greed.”
To her shock, his gaze slid to her and held for a few seconds. There was a message, something, in the contact that turned her hot and cold at the same time. A warning maybe? A promise? Challenge? Just like that her skin from the top of her head to her toes burned. Oh my god. Turned on with a look.
Black hair, midnight eyes, body honed from physical labor, passion and power rolled together, hands—those incredibly sexy and dangerous hands.