Pull You In (Rivers Brothers #3) - Jessica Gadziala Page 0,6

way outside and into the relative safety of my rental car when the footsteps came into the kitchen.

And there he was.

Our sole male employee.

Rush Rivers.

The best looking man the entire world had to offer, if you asked me, anyway.

Tall and fit in a way that said he definitely hit the gym on occasion, with dark hair and these velvety smooth dark eyes that were framed with impressive lashes, he was in jeans and a black thermal, hair disheveled from travel.

His gaze fell on me, going almost immediately to the knife in my hand, making me drop it as though it was suddenly burning me.

"Little creeped out, huh, Katie?" he asked, giving me that boyish smile that made all the women in the office fawn over him.

Katie.

He was the only person in the whole world who called me Katie.

My hand went to my heart, and I couldn't be sure if it was from the fear or the excitement that filled my body when I was around him. Which was rare. And it had been a while since I'd seen him. Working the night shift, he and I rarely had cause to run across each other.

"I, ah, it's very, you know, empty," I mumbled, words tripping over one another. "And there could have been like... bears or cannibalistic mountain people."

"Cannibalistic mountain people, huh?" he asked, eyes dancing.

"I well, no, I guess not. Since, clearly, they would be toothless."

"Clearly," he agreed, lips tipping up.

"So maybe just... murder-happy. I watch too much true crime," I rushed to add even though I typically didn't, save for the occasional new documentary on Netflix that was too hyped up to ignore.

"It's a little creepy out here," he agreed, shrugging. "Especially if you are alone. I thought there would be a host or something. Someone to show us to our rooms and shit."

"Yeah, um, no. I don't think so anyway."

"Looks like we are the early birds then. Want to give ourselves a tour?" he suggested. "We can pick out the best rooms then," he added, giving me a conspiratorial smirk. "Do you want to grab your knife?" he asked, nodding down to it on the floor, all but forgotten since he turned my mind to mush by, you know, existing. "In case of toothless predators hopping out of closets or something," he added, smiling.

"I, ah, no. It's... I'll just hide behind you," I admitted, making a little laugh rumble out of him, way too sexy a sound in such a creepy place.

"It would be an honor to be a human shield for you, baby," he said. It was a throwaway endearment. From what I could tell, he called everyone by them. Honey. Sweetheart. Babe. It meant nothing.

To him.

My body, though, it had a mind of its own. It damn near melted.

"You alright?" he asked, brows furrowing when, I imagined, I stood there, gap-mouthed, wide-eyed.

"I, ah, yeah. It's just been a long day," I told him, it being partly true.

"Yeah. That ride in was a bitch. Especially without the directions. It was a guessing game most of the way," he said, shrugging. "Come on. Let's check this place out. Then I will brave the threat of bears and cannibals to fetch your bags," he told me, holding an arm out, waiting for me to fall into step beside him.

I'd had more than my fair share of fantasies about Rush Rivers.

Not one of them included him touring a creepy woodland cottage with me.

I had no mental script prepared.

This was going to be a complete and utter disaster.

TWO

Rush

I liked the outdoors.

Some of my favorite parts about being on the run with my siblings, hiding out after jobs, were all the places Kingston had managed to snag for us, usually in the middle of nowhere in rustic cabins while we recharged, planned our next moves.

After settling permanently in Navesink Bank, getting a job, setting up roots, spending time with my ever-growing family, I hadn't had time for things like going to the woods, enjoying the outdoors as much as I once had.

So when I got the invite from Fee about the retreat, I had pounced. Normally, the idea of a work retreat that would likely involve shit like trust-building exercises would have had me rolling my eyes, looking for any possible excuse not to go. But because of the location, and the fact that it was a free trip I was getting paid to go on, I saw no reason to miss out.

Besides, the work shit would likely only take a couple