Unleash the Passion

by Karen Kelley

  Maybe I had misconstrued his actions. No, absolutely not. “You said we could save water and shower at the same time, remember?”

  He thought about my words for a moment, then brightened. “I did, didn’t I?”

  “Yes, you did. Now you’ve set up this whole seduction scene, but it won’t work. I’m not going to sleep with you.”

  “I actually didn’t create this scene to seduce you. I like a cold beer every once in a while, and there’s just something relaxing about a fire in the fireplace. I usually have the music or the TV on when I eat.”

  I studied him for a moment. He looked believable. Okay, maybe he wasn’t trying to seduce me. That was kind of disappointing. I took a bite of pizza and decided to let the matter drop.

  “But you will end up in my bed. You and I both know it’s only a matter of time. I know you’ve felt the chemistry between us as much as I have.”

  I choked on my pizza and grabbed one of the napkins, then glared at him. I finally got the pizza down and took a long drink of my beer. “I will not end up in your bed. I’ve sworn off men.”

  He leaned back against the corner of the sofa and casually took another bite of pizza. He thoughtfully chewed, then took a drink of beer after he swallowed. “Forever?”

  I finished my pizza. I was still hungry. I glanced his way. “Forever what?”

  “You said you’d sworn off men. I asked if it was forever. I mean, do you plan on entering a convent or something? One failed marriage and you’re going celibate, except for the occasional vibrator?”

  It was a good thing I didn’t have another bite of pizza in my mouth or I would’ve choked again. Now he was just being a smart ass. “No, I haven’t sworn off men forever, and I’m not going to enter a convent. Right now, I don’t want to be in any kind of relationship—even if it’s only one night. I’m still hungry. Do you want another slice of pizza?”

  He glanced at his plate. “Sure thing, but I’ll get it. I need another beer anyway.” He glanced at my bottle. “You do, too.” He stood and followed me to the kitchen, setting his plate near the pizza as he went to grab us another beer.

  I slid another slice of pizza onto each of our plates. He opened the beer, then held them by the neck, and picked up his plate. He didn’t say anything until we were sitting on the sofa again. I took a bite of my pizza.

  “So,” he started. “You’re not opposed to using a vibrator.”

  I choked again. I so wanted to kill him right now. He was screwing up a perfectly fine dinner by asking stupid questions. I took another quick drink of my beer to wash down the pizza. “What the hell are you talking about now?”

  “You said you weren’t swearing off men forever and you weren’t entering a convent, but you didn’t say anything about not using a vibrator. I was just curious if you used vibrators.”

  My face felt as if it was on fire. “No, I don’t use vibrators,” I lied. It was only a little lie, though. I didn’t use them very often.

  “Never?”

  “Even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”

  “Then you do use a vibrator.”

  I raised my chin and glared at him. “I no longer want to have this conversation, and I refuse to discuss my sex life with you. I don’t even know you that well. I’m not sure I even like you.” There, let him digest that.

  “Fair enough. We won’t discuss vibrators anymore. I see how uncomfortable it makes you.”

  I opened my mouth, ready to tell him that talking about vibrators didn’t make me uncomfortable at all, but then I realized he was baiting me. I snapped my mouth closed, then reached for my beer. I would not play his games.

  “But you do like me,” he said. “I can always tell when a woman likes me, and you like me.”

  He reminded me of an annoying gnat that wouldn’t go away.

  “You might as well admit that you like me or you won’t be able to sleep very well tonight.”

  The gnat was buzzing again. I really needed him to shut up. If he didn’t, I was going to squash him with my beer bottle. “I might like you a little,” I finally admitted.

  He smiled. “I knew you did.”

  “I said a little.” The man was absolutely impossible.

  “And we’re going to end up having sex. You might as well go ahead and get in my bed tonight.”

  “You’re full of shit.”

  He really had to stop smiling like that or his prediction would come true, and I’d end up in his bed. Nope, I was not falling for another sweet talking man.

  Absolutely not.

  Never going to happen.

  Chapter 17

  Makenna

  My head pounded. It felt as if someone had a jackhammer on the inside and was going at it like it was almost quitting time. What the fuck had I done last night?

  Oh yeah, now I remembered, sort of. Nash had brought me to his house. Kidnapped me, actually. I’d taken a shower, then we ate.

  I wiggled down in the bed a little more. It was so good to feel clean again. And I loved my tent mattress, but this bed was like lying on a cloud—utter luxury.

  What happened next?

  Pizza. And beer.

  And then?

  Oh, yeah. More pizza and more beer.

  My head began to pound even more as I tried to remember what came after that. I think he had a coconut cake in the freezer. The square kind. I was a sucker for those. Bring one in my house and dieting takes a nosedive. It was my favorite kind of cake. We cut off great big chunks and didn’t even bother putting them on plates, then grabbed another beer before going back to the living room.

  I couldn’t exactly remember what we’d talked about as we ate our cake and drank our beer. I vaguely remembered asking him if he’d robbed a bank to buy his house. He’d laughed and said something about owning a bunch of coffee shops with his brothers. He’d mentioned that before. Then we ate more pizza and drank more beer. We laughed a lot. Yes, I remembered laughing a lot. Everything seemed terribly funny.

  Then nothing. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t remember anything after that. Except that I slept wonderfully. It was probably the best night of sleep I’d had in like forever.

  Someone snored beside me.

  I froze.

  I was lying on my stomach. Very slowly, I turned my head toward the noise. Nash’s head was on the pillow next to mine. He was sound asleep and looking all sexy with a morning shadow of whiskers on his face.

  What the fuck?

  Then I remembered. We had a lot more beers. And ate enough to kill a horse. Then some more beer. Then we got sleepy and laughed all the way to his bedroom. I vaguely remembered him saying something about his bed being bigger.

  Bigger my ass. Indignation filled me. I scooted to my knees and grabbed my pillow. He’d gotten me drunk and then seduced me. He’d said the beer, the fire, and the soft music wasn’t to entice me into his bed. He’d lied.

  I slammed my pillow into his head. Then raised it above my head to hit him again.

  His eyes flew open. He scooted away from me. “What the hell are you doing?”

  “You seduced me!”

  He frowned. “Actually, you seduced me.”

  His arrogance knew no bounds. “I did not!”

  “Yes you did. Remember? I told you I would walk you to your room, but you said you didn’t want to sleep alone. So I offered you the other half of my bed.”

  I vaguely remembered saying that. Why the hell did I say that? Dammit, he was right, though. I had said that. But what had he said was big? I was sure he had said something was big. Maybe I didn’t want to know.

  But when I was wrong, I admitted it. “Then I’m sorry I hit you.”

  His gaze moved to the pillow I was holding above my head. “Are you planning to hit me again anyway?”

  I shook my head and dropped the pillow. I noticed he was staring at me. “Now what? I said I was sorry.”

  He sighed. “Naked looks damn good on you.”

  Well, fuck! I grabbed the pillow again a
nd pulled it in front of me. My eyes narrowed. “What did we do last night?”

  He sighed again. “Nothing, unfortunately.” He brightened. “Do you want to do something now?”

  “No, I don’t.”

  His face fell.

  I didn’t care if he was disappointed. He shouldn’t have given me so many beers, even though I didn’t turn any of them down. I spotted my robe on the floor at the end of the bed. I met his gaze once more. “Close your eyes.”

  “Are you going to hit me again?”

  “No, I’m not going to hit you again. I want to put my robe on. I need coffee.” I remembered him saying something about owning coffee shops. Surely he had coffee in the house. “You do have coffee, don’t you?”

  “Of course.”

  “Then close your eyes so I can get up.”

  “Do I have to? I mean, I’ve already seen everything anyway.”

  The look I cast in his direction should have left him a pile of ashes, but he only looked all innocent. Yeah, right. I had a feeling there wasn’t an innocent bone in his body. “Close your eyes.”

  He closed his eyes.

  “And keep them closed.”

  I waited about a half a second, then scooted out of bed and grabbed my robe off the floor.

  “Are they still closed?”

  “Absolutely. If nothing else, I’m a gentleman.”

  I slipped my arms into the sleeves, then pulled the sides together, turning around as I belted it. His eyes were wide open. I had a feeling they’d been open from the moment I got out of bed. I squared my shoulders and raised my chin. “You sir, are no gentlemen.” I waltzed out of the room ignoring his laughter.

  As I walked through the living room, I noticed all the beer bottles scattered around the room. I wished I could remember exactly what we had done last night. I shook my head. No, it was probably better that I didn’t. Damn, I’d never gotten that drunk before. It must’ve been due to everything that had happened over the last few days. The altitude was higher, too. That probably had a lot to do with my inability to drink very much. Yes, that had to be it. I’d have to remember to drink less when I was in higher altitudes.

  I walked inside the kitchen and came to a screeching halt. I only thought there were a lot of beer bottles in the living room. There were twice as many in the kitchen, along with an empty cake box. We’d eaten all of the pizza as well. Was that an empty wine bottle on the counter? I walked closer. Yep, that was exactly what it was. I shook my head. No wonder I felt hungover.

  I looked around the kitchen, but didn’t see a coffee pot. I started opening cabinets. No, not one there either. I found some coffee beans. Surely he didn’t eat them right out of the bag. He wasn’t a Neanderthal.

  I opened the bag of specialty coffee beans and inhaled the enticing aroma. Oh my God, they smelled heavenly. I hadn’t had coffee since I decided to climb the mountain.

  Nash cleared his throat. I turned around. Man, he looked good in the morning. There was something sexy about a man with the scruffy shadow of a beard and tousled hair. He’d pulled on the white t-shirt and plaid pajama pants that he’d worn around the house last night.

  My forehead creased in thought as I tried to remember what he was wearing in bed. I was pretty sure he hadn’t had on the t-shirt.

  “I sleep naked if that’s what you’re wondering,” he said.

  I set the bag of coffee down and crossed my arms in front of me, leaning against the counter. “I was so not wondering what you wore in bed last night.”

  He studied me a moment. “I think you were.”

  He ambled toward me and didn’t stop until there was less than a foot between us. His gaze latched on to my lips. Was he going to kiss me? Did I want him to kiss me? I thought I might, but I wanted to be the one to decide whether we kissed or not.

  “You’re in my space,” I told him.

  “Do you want coffee or not?” His words were sultry, a little raspy.

  Because he’d just woke up? Or because he was coming on to me?

  “What do I have to do to get a cup of coffee?”

  “Move out of the way.”

  “Huh?”

  “You’re blocking the coffeepot.”

  Sheesh. I quickly stepped out of the way. Oh, so that’s what that big metal contraption was. Good Lord, I only wanted a cup of coffee. This thing looked as if it was nuclear. He’d said he and his brothers owned some coffee shops. It stood to reason that he would have a fancy coffee machine. I watched with interest as he fixed my coffee.

  “What flavor?” he asked.

  “Just regular in the morning. Lots of cream, though. A little sugar.”

  He handled the coffeepot like a true barista. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee wafted to my nose. When my coffee was ready, he handed it to me. I lightly blew across the top, then took a drink. Nice. Very nice. I closed my eyes. I was in heaven. This was the absolute best cup of coffee I’d ever had.

  “What do you think?”

  “I think I want to marry you.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I wanted to draw them quickly back. “I mean, uh, it’s a really good cup of coffee. The best cup of coffee I’ve ever had.” I raised my irritated gaze and met his smiling face. “That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

  “If you think my coffee is good wait until we have sex for the first time. You won’t just be saying you want to marry me, you’ll be begging me to marry you.”

  Smart ass. His eyes were twinkling. “Have all the fun you want at my expense.” I took another drink. It was almost as if the coffee had awakened each of my taste buds. “And we won’t be having sex. You might as well get that out of your head.”

  He turned back to the coffeepot and started making his own cup. “It’s so sad when someone is in denial.” He sighed deeply.

  “Are you always this funny in the morning?” It wasn’t fair. I wasn’t myself until I’d had at least two cups of coffee. I decided retreat was my best course of action. I moved to the small kitchen table and set my cup down, then made myself comfortable on one of the cushioned chairs. I needed silence first thing in the morning. Apparently, he didn’t.

  I had just taken another drink of the delicious coffee when a machine gun went off. I jerked straight up, then dove under the table. “What the fuck was that? Is somebody trying to kill us?” My gaze swung to Nash. He was just standing there, looking unfazed and guilty. Guilty? The machine gun went off again. “Take cover! Someone is trying to kill us!”

  “Uh, actually that’s my doorbell.”

  I straightened, bumping my head on the table. Ow. I reached up and rubbed the sore spot. “Your doorbell sounds like a fucking machine gun? Who the hell does that?”

  “My brother. He was the architect who built my cabin. He has a weird sense of humor and he thought it would be funny. I keep meaning to get it changed, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.”

  I crawled out from under the table, shoving my hair out of my face. “I don’t think I like your brother right now.” The machine gun doorbell went off again. “Would you please answer your door? The sound is freaking me out.”

  As he left the room, I sat down at the table once more. I only hoped somebody wasn’t trying to kill us. If they shot at us, we wouldn’t know whether to take cover, or answer the damn door. Unless the bullets hit us, of course, then we’d duck or fall down dead.

  I took a deep breath, then exhaled. Now there was silence. I could deal with silence. And my coffee. I’d just raised it to take a drink when I heard the sound of voices arguing. No, there was only one really loud angry voice.

  Sam?

  Oh my God. What the hell was Sam doing here? I set my coffee cup back down and hurried to the other room. I stumbled to a stop when I saw her. Her clothes were rumpled as if she’d slept in them and her hair was beyond the windblown stage. She usually didn’t have a hair out of place. It was always slicked back away from her face. She was the thinker. The analytical part of our team. I was the doer, and didn’t
mind getting my hands dirty.

  “Sam?”

  Her gaze jerked toward me. “Makenna? Makenna! I didn’t know what had happened to you. I’ve been trying to call, but you didn’t answer your phone. I hopped on the first plane out to make sure you were okay. I went to your hotel room, and they said you hadn’t returned. That all your things were still there.”

  Major guilt trip! “I’m so sorry. I should’ve called you. I was going to call you. First thing this morning.” I went to her and wrapped my arms around her, hugging her tight. She was my very best friend, and I’d treated her badly.

  “Your hands. What happened to your hands?” she cried when she realized they were bandaged.

  “They’re fine,” I told her. “Just a little raw. No biggie.”

  “Are you sure?”

  I nodded. “Absolutely.”

  Sam sucked back the sob as she hugged me close. “Don’t ever do me that way again. I was so fucking worried. And then when I pushed the doorbell, it sounded like a machine gun. Who has a fucking machine gun for a doorbell?”

  “His stupid brother apparently installed it.”

  “I wouldn’t say Ryder is stupid,” Nash said. “He just has a strange sense of humor.”

  Sam took a step back, still looking me directly in the face. She gave a slight head point behind her. “Who’s the hot guy?” she whispered.

  “I can hear you,” Nash spoke up. “I tried to introduce myself before you came barging into my home. I’m Nash Hayes. I own and operate a company who takes hikers into the backcountry.”

  “Why are you here? I mean, at his house?” Sam asked me.

  “I thought it would be safer to bring her here,” Nash supplied.

  Sam frowned. “Does he answer all of your questions?”

  I still needed silence. I hadn’t even finished my first cup of coffee. Speaking of which, it was getting cold sitting on the table. “Do you want a cup of coffee? I’ll tell you everything then.”

  “I would love a cup of coffee.” Samantha glanced around. “Is everyone from your group staying here as well?”

  “No, why do you ask?”

  Sam raised her eyebrows. “Then why all the beer bottles?” She gave me another quick once over, then looked back at Nash. Her eyes narrowed. “Did the two of you sleep together?”