He frowned. “You said one thing.”
“Okay. One thing a day.”
“You’re pushing it.”
“But you owe me.” She took a breath. “For the most incredible night of your life. For rocking your world.”
Hell, yeah. No one ever said she lacked confidence, either. Or, at least, was extremely good at faking it.
He gave her another slow smile, with a panty-melting heat in his gaze. “Point taken.”
Suddenly it was a little too hot in here, like August had landed only in the perimeter of this trailer and the approximate two feet of distance between them. She tried not to look at him. “You should probably go now, before the guys start to wonder.”
“Whether I’m in here being ravaged by the boss?”
“Or something.”
He opened his mouth to speak, and she could almost see the wheels spinning in his brain, but then he turned to go.
She suddenly had a fleeting and terrible thought. “You didn’t tell them about us, did you?”
He scowled, and she flashed back to that night and the same irritated look he’d had on his face until she’d given him something else to think about.
“Hell, no. That’s between you and me. Always will be.”
He smiled again, and then he was gone.
Chapter Four
When Sam woke before dawn the next morning, he did not immediately recognize his surroundings. He froze, his heart rate must have hit the triple digits, and sweat poured off him.
Tim and Dave were dead. They were gone.
“The threat’s been neutralized.”
No. That happened a while ago. It wasn’t happening now. He shook the memory off, tossing and turning, eventually kicking off the soft cotton sheets.
Man, how he hated this. Hated the fear that shot through him as he fought to slow his heart rate down. Fought to forget. Fought to remember. He was home. Safe. He was back in the Bay Area. Fortune, to be exact. In a trailer on Wildfire Ridge.
And just like that his thoughts turned to his Angelina. Angelina, who was not Angelina. She was Jill, and still every bit as gorgeous as he remembered. Since he’d thought back to that single night many times over the past three years, he’d recognized her the minute he heard her voice. Heard the sound of her nervous laughter. Saw her long red hair whipping in the wind. Her equally long legs curved around that flagpole. Told himself he had to be imagining things. A look-alike, maybe. He’d waited until she was inches away from him to be sure he wasn’t hallucinating.
The night they’d met, he’d been in San Francisco on leave. He should have dropped in on his parents, who were not that far away. Not a long drive to the other side of the bay and Berkeley. He could have called them, let them know he was stateside, and he’d struggled that night to make the right choice. In the end, he couldn’t do it. In the end, a tall redhead had made her way to his table and made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.
And good thing, too, because he didn’t think he would have made it through the next three years without the memory of her. Of that night. The knowledge that it was possible to get so lost in someone you forgot everything else. It was possible to forget the fear and the guilt and the pain. Possible to simply allow himself to feel something good again because she made it difficult not to do just that. He hadn’t wanted to hold back from her that night, but he had. Everything but the physical. And so had she. She’d been the one to suggest the fake names.
Just one perfect night.
Without the pressure of knowing he’d eventually drive her away like he had everyone else, he handled that one night. One day at a time was the only way he could manage his life.
Everything was different now. She was here, and she was his boss. A man did not mess with that.
He hadn’t expected the form to be a problem, but something told him she wouldn’t leave this alone. She wanted to know why he wasn’t in touch with his parents. Why he didn’t think enough of their relationship to put their names on a form.
Hell, it took a lot for him to put someone’s name on a damn form.
Right now, he wasn’t interested in talking to them, and he didn’t see that changing anytime soon. So no, their names weren’t going on her damn form.
He dressed quickly and went for a run, the cool spring morning air waking him so he was no longer groggy from lack of sleep. Then he hit the shower, and thought about coffee. Sure enough, his employer had been more than generous and stocked the kitchen with some essentials. He had his coffee and was out the door by 6:00 a.m. One by one, the men came out of their separate trailers on the grounds until all of them were gathered outside the office trailer.
No Jill anywhere in sight.
“What do you think ‘bright and early’ means to her?” Michael said.
“She didn’t give us a time,” Ty said with a shrug.
“Strikes me as being new to this boss thing,” Julian said.
It had struck Sam the same. Granted, he’d never asked about her occupation nor had any interest in knowing. In his fantasies, she’d had many jobs and not one of them had been owner and manager of an outdoor adventure company. Stripper? Yes. Masseuse? Hell, yes. Naughty nurse? Possibly. Porn star? Definitely.
“She’ll be here.”
And an hour later, as the guys stood around debating whether the Warriors would take the championship again this year, she drove up the hill. She parked her sedan a few feet away from the office trailer. When she noticed them all standing there, she did a double take, then seemed to mutter something to herself as she opened the driver’s side door.
“Hot damn, she’s cute,” Julian said.
“Yeah.”
Sam had been thinking the same thing. Thinking how she made him want to smile. Made him want to do a lot of other things, too, first and foremost making her smile. And scream out his name again. This time his real one.
“Usually I don’t even like redheads. Too bad she’s the boss,” Julian said.
“Exactly,” Sam said firmly.
There was some relief in realizing that he wasn’t the only one who couldn’t have her.
Jill walked down the path to the office trailer, carrying several plastic shopping bags in her arms. Her hair was up in a ponytail today; she wore long hiking pants and a tight-fitting black performance tee that read, Wildfire Ridge’s Outdoor Adventures in red stitching across her right breast. Hiking boots, too.
“Good morning.” She set the plastic bags on the benched picnic table near the trailer. “Everyone grab a shirt. Mostly large and extra-large, and they run small.”
Sam grabbed one first. He pulled off his shirt and tugged the other one on and the others followed suit. If Jill seemed shocked that they’d take their shirts off in front of her, she didn’t say anything.
She went into a welcome speech that, while it sounded sincere, also might have been scripted. She looked nervous to Sam, not that he should know. He’d never seen nervous Jill before.
Next was a discussion about equipment sorting.
“We had a delivery two days ago, and I need help inventorying. Next I’d like each of you to try out all the courses and give me your feedback. Is it challenging enough for you guides, and if so, is there a way to level it so that we can work with, um...”
“Different levels of fitness?” Sam offered.
She snapped her fingers. “Yes, exactly. And we’ve got our first group of testers coming out next week so we want to be ready.”
“We got you covered, boss.” Julian winked.
“Thanks! Oh, and another thing. I’ll eventually want to take photos of you guides doing some of the activities so I can put them on our Facebook page.”
The next few hours were like family camp on steroids. Leadership came naturally to him, so he wound up organizing the guys as they pulled equipment out of boxes, co
unted and categorized. The fun part was trying out some of the equipment. The zip line stretched across a small canyon that was nevertheless about 100 feet up and a long drop. It was obvious some great engineering had gone into it. After each of them had gone across the zip line twice, Sam decided they were having too much fun to be technically working. At least, he was.
“Next,” he found himself ordering.
Julian, Ty and Michael went ahead to the rock face that looked to have been partially man-made, working with some of the rockier and craggier areas of the hilltop. He was about to follow when he saw Jill staring at the zip line from a few feet away.
“Want a go at this?”
She shook her head a little violently. “Oh no. I’ve got paperwork to get back to. I just wanted to check on you guys. I see everything’s going smoothly.”
“Well...”
“Oh God. What’s wrong? Tell me.”
“You can dial back on the panic mode. The comm system has some bugs in it. You might want to look into that.”
“Not again. I’ve called twice and every time they fix it, it goes down again. Is that it?”
“And I was just going to suggest you have a rescue plan in place.”
She chewed on her lower lip. “Working on one. For the Sheriff. He wants me to get it to him soon.”
“How soon?”
“Tomorrow morning?”
He winced. “Okay, I can help. Let me look over what you have. It should be fairly simple.”
“Or I could ask Ryan for an extension. Again.” She blew out a breath. “I can tell you right now he won’t like it.”
“Your brother, Ryan? He’s the Sheriff?”
“I’m sorry, did I not mention that?”
“You didn’t. What does he think about all this?” He waved to the expanse of the hilltop and the land around them. There had to be a good two hundred acres or more here. A large man-made lake with a dock and an array of boats and kayaks. The land was mostly undeveloped other than the park and he had to wonder how difficult it must have been to get both the funding and the approval on a project this size.
“He’s supportive.” She folded her arms across her generous rack, which he had to admit was further emphasized by the rather snug fit of that shirt. He was beginning to love their new company tees. “Okay, see. That’s one more thing you now know about me. Your turn.”
He didn’t like this. It was a clear manipulation and he’d never been into these types of games with women. She was prying, and he knew it. He also realized she wouldn’t give up. Someone who’d taken on a challenge of this magnitude didn’t give up easily.
Using his equally strong manipulation skills, he ignored her. “We should talk about what you have for a plan so far. Let me see what you’ve got.”
“You’d do that?”
“I would.”
“This isn’t just your attempt to make us more than a one-hit wonder?” She held up finger quotes.
“Nah. I’m all business right now.”
She grinned, but he wasn’t sure it was certainty he saw in her green eyes or concern. “Drop by after you guys knock off. I’m sure I’ll still be in the office.”
She apparently spent too much time at work. Probably not healthy, but at the moment it would benefit him.
* * *
After the workday ended, the guys were headed down the hill and toward town and a bar called the Silver Saddle. He begged off joining them, as he was always more clearheaded without a drink. Instead, he hit the shower and changed. The light was still on in the office trailer, so he knocked once and let himself in. And found Jill doing jumping jacks.
This was not helpful to his all-business approach. She had her back to the door, turning slowly in a circle, and apparently hadn’t heard him come in. The earbuds, probably. But the way she was going, she’d turn in his direction any second now.
“It’s raining men!” she sang out.
He smiled as she bounced in the direction of the door and tried hard to appear... Wet.
“It’s...oh.” She stopped and pulled earbuds out. “Sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry about.” He bit back a chuckle.
“It’s just that I’ve been working so hard lately to get everything ready for grand opening that I never get to the gym anymore. Every hour or so I try to remember to take a break and do some jumping jacks.”
“Get the blood pumping.”
“That’s right.” Breathing hard, she walked back to her desk.
“On the other hand, there’s a lot you could do right outside the trailer door.” He pointed.
“Yes, and I’ll get to it. This is just easier right now. Convenient. But I can’t wait to try the zip line.”
“Looks like some good engineering went into it.”
“It cost us enough.” She opened up her laptop and pushed papers aside. “I’ve got the search and rescue plan in here. I had some help from a couple of firefighters from the rescue squad and I did some research of my own. I’ll just print it out for you.”
“No need. I’ll read from here.” He sidled up behind her, kneeling to see just over her shoulder. And smell her hair. Coconut.
She shot up suddenly. “Here, you sit.”
He took her seat, gratified he made her nervous. “You just continue with your jacks. Give me fifty.”
“Uh, no thanks. I’m okay for the next hour.” She stood behind him, looking over his shoulder. “And don’t think I forgot you haven’t told me your one thing yet.”
“Oh yeah. That.”
“You thought you distracted me, but you now know two things about me that you didn’t before. I have a brother who was in the service and he’s the Sheriff. I know you like dogs, which, BTW, is not big news. Everyone likes dogs! Now it’s your turn.”
“True enough,” he said, perusing her plan. “I like cats, too, and that one isn’t as common.”
She let out an exasperated sigh, which sounded like a cross between a groan and a moan. Again, not helpful to this all-business attitude he was trying to keep with her.
“That doesn’t count! Look, I know you’re from the Bay Area. It’s the one thing I knew about you that night.”
“Yeah?” He didn’t like where this was headed. If she didn’t stop pushing, maybe this job wouldn’t work out.
“Is your family in the Bay Area?”
He turned to look up at her. “I don’t talk to my parents anymore. It would be stupid as hell to put them on your damn form. And that’s your one thing. It’s big enough that it should take me through tomorrow, too.”
Shockingly, she seemed to agree, nodding quietly.
“Do you trust me?” he asked now. “Because you should.”
“You know I do. I realize you could have taken advantage of me that night, but you didn’t.”
“No more than you took advantage of me.”
“Yes, but you know. You’re a guy.”
“I’m aware of that, thanks.”
“Anyway, I feel like we both took advantage of the situation.”
“Equal opportunity advantage.”
“Right.”
An hour later, thank God, she’d quieted down and sat on the edge of the cot, reading from her Kindle. She looked up at him. “Are you almost done?”
“Almost. Just needed to dot some i’s.”
Liar. He’d pretty much revamped the entire plan to be much more in line with serious search and rescue. What she’d had was serviceable but did not account for all possibilities. Might as well plan for everything.
A few more minutes later, he stretched and leaned back in the chair, satisfied. “Okay. Done.”
No answer. She was asleep on the cot, clutching her Kindle.
Just the sight of her lying there, a lock of her hair covering one of her eyes, caused a strong pull o
f lust to flicker through him. He should get out of here. Nights in particular he didn’t feel human, and watching her sleep wasn’t helping. This felt like a moment when he should do something. Something helpful. What did a civilian do in a situation like this? He needed to remember how to be normal again. Should he wake her up so she could drive home? Let her sleep? Pretty sure he shouldn’t touch her. He didn’t have the right.
He took the Kindle from her death grip and set it on the desk. Drew the covers up to her neck, managing not to touch her. She didn’t move but continued to sleep like a rock. Her face, normally so animated and open, was now relaxed and strangely vulnerable.
And he couldn’t stop looking at her.
He’d never watched her sleep and felt a little voyeuristic doing that now. Like he had intruded on her private personal space. Not that she wasn’t trying hard to intrude into his private world. But she wasn’t going to get an all-access pass into his personal life. He couldn’t allow that. She was his boss now and nothing more. He shouldn’t want anything more.
“One-hit wonder.”
She could be right about that. Sure would make his job here easier. He couldn’t take care of anyone else when he could barely take care of himself. He hadn’t managed to get rid of the nightmares, had he? Waking up in a cold sweat had become the norm. And while the memory of her had been enough to get him through some rough nights in the past, her proximity now wasn’t doing the same. Instead of comforting him, she was making him itchy and wary of what he wanted. What he didn’t deserve and shouldn’t have.
Making sure her trailer door was locked and secure, he made his way next door to his trailer. Alone.
Chapter Five
“This coffee tastes like death! You know how picky I am about my coffee. Can’t you do any better than this?” Jill pushed the foam cup of black sludge across Ryan’s desk.
He had been hunched over her search and rescue plan for the past few minutes, reading. “Shh, woman. You don’t want to anger her.”
More than One Night Page 3