Teri’s brows went up. “Wow. That’s not like any job I’ve ever had.”
“Me, neither,” Zach said fervently. “I’ve worked at places that claimed that their company was ‘like a family,’ but that usually just means that they expect you to work overtime without getting paid extra. Cal would never say that the rangers were a family”—the idea of terse, businesslike Cal saying anything of the kind was a little ridiculous—“but I’m starting to think that’s what it is.”
“Good thing you brought your actual family there with you, then,” Teri said with a soft smile.
Zach decided he would never, ever get enough of Teri’s smiles. “Good thing,” he agreed. “The other guys are good people too, though. Grey doesn’t talk much, but he’s utterly dependable. He’ll have your back no matter what. Jeff is like—I don’t know, he’s such a cheerful guy. Always happy, always thinking the best of people, always ready to say something kind. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone that positive before, like, really and truly positive, not faking it.”
Teri’s eyes were wistful. “You’re making me wish I could be a ranger.”
“No reason you couldn’t be,” Zach countered. “I mean, you have to apply to school, and pay for it, but why not? You’re an experienced hiker and you know Glacier like the back of your hand, right?”
“Well, I wouldn’t go quite that far. It’s a big place. I’ve spent a lot of time there.”
“So? Don’t think they don’t take women—we’re all guys here so far, but that just means we don’t have enough women on the team.”
That got him another beautiful smile. “That’s not what most men say about all-male professions, I don’t think.”
“None of us are ‘most men,’” Zach said firmly. “We’re all shifters, for one.”
He hadn’t thought about the implications of that, but Teri caught him on it. “I’m not a shifter,” she pointed out.
“It’s not a rule or anything,” he protested, but she was shaking her head.
“I can’t think about any kind of job that requires school just yet,” she said. “I can’t afford to pay for anything. I need to get a job I can start right away, so I can save up enough to move out and pay my own bills.”
Well, that was a point he couldn’t argue with. “Okay. I just meant—don’t count it out as something that could happen, someday.”
“All right.” Teri’s smile was small, like she wasn’t sure if she could really be happy about something so far away.
Zach wanted to wrap her up in his arms and tell her everything would be okay. Warring with that, though, was the desire to see her standing on her own two feet, taking on the world and succeeding at every turn.
The waitress picked that moment to come by with their check, and Zach was started to see that it was almost nine PM. They’d been talking for over two and a half hours.
“What do you want to do?” he asked Teri, after he’d handed the waitress his card. “I can drive you home, or we could get drinks, or dessert, or whatever you want.” He hoped Teri didn’t want to go straight home. He wasn’t ready for the evening to be over.
And sure enough, she said, “I wish I never had to go home. Let’s stay out a bit longer. Or a lot longer.”
“Any all-night places around here?” he asked with a grin.
She laughed. “If only! No, we’re not an all-night kind of town. I will eventually have to go home and sleep in my own bed, sadly.” Then she glanced up at him and blushed.
Sadly. “I’ll stay out with you as late as you want,” he said, “and if you want to come back to my place for a drink, or dessert—I think we have some ice cream in the freezer—we don’t close at midnight. And I promise you that I won’t take that as meaning anything but a drink or dessert.”
Much as he’d like to. The thought of kissing Teri, touching her, feeling those soft curves pressed up against him, getting his mouth on her everywhere—
Zach forced himself to stop thinking about it. As attracted as he was to Teri, he wanted her to be sure that if she came over to his and Joel’s place, she’d be absolutely safe and there was no chance he’d do anything she didn’t want.
Anything she did want, now...well, that was another story.
“That...actually sounds wonderful,” Teri was saying. “If your brother won’t mind me barging in without an invitation.”
Zach waved a hand. “Joel won’t care. He might even be camping out tonight, he was talking about wanting to be close at hand in case any of the tourists got into trouble.”
“Then, sure! I’d love to.” Another brilliant smile.
The waitress showed up again with his card, and Zach gave her a generous tip and slid out of the booth. “Let’s get going, then.”
As Teri stood up, Zach was treated to another full-on view of her gorgeous body in the tight dress she’d worn. The dress was a dramatic dark blue and hugged her curves, outlining her breasts and her hips in a way that made him long to unzip it and find out what everything looked like underneath.