“You think I’m being an ass?” He stood there, his mouth hanging open. It wasn’t like it was the first time she’d told him off for being an insensitive jerk. And she wouldn’t be surprised if he called her out for being a bitch, but he didn’t.
“Yes.” She took a step toward him, poking him in the chest. “Go home, Cody. Your wife needs you. Your daughters need you. I don’t need you to be in my face. I have a river operation to manage, unless you want to fire me.”
She stuck her hands on her hips and dared him to say anything more.
“Sure.” He shook his head. “Just don’t come crying to me when the guy breaks your heart.”
“Believe me, Cody, you’d be the last person I’d go crying to over some guy.” With that, she marched over and started taking down oars, piling them up to get ready for her day’s work.
* * * *
Kyle got the water ready for cleanup and gathered all the dishes, but he was more than happy to let the others take over finishing the task. He wasn’t shirking his responsibility. Cody had followed Fisher to the barn, and Kyle didn’t want to leave him alone with her. He also wanted to make sure if she needed help, he’d be the one to offer her a hand. Or anything else she needed. And if Cody didn’t like it, well, that was too bad.
Speak of the devil. Cody was heading this way. He looked a little frustrated, so Kyle just smiled his biggest full-of-shit smile. “Hey, how’s it going? Beautiful morning, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.” Cody looked like he wanted to punch somebody. Probably Kyle. “It sure is.”
“I hope Fisher doesn’t have everything loaded already.” Kyle continued his fake smile. “I got here as soon as I could to help.”
“She’s working on it.”
“That woman is too efficient sometimes.” Kyle smiled, this time for real. “She’s something special.”
“Yeah. She is.” Cody looked Kyle up and down, as if he was hoping to find him lacking in some way. “You keep that in mind.”
“Oh, I will. I most certainly will.” Kyle gave a nod, indicating the conversation was over, and he hustled on up to join Fisher. He couldn’t help it; he started whistling.
Chapter 11
At first, when Kyle found out that Fisher had assigned him to work with Tyler, he was a little disappointed. But he quickly realized her strategy. She mixed up all the groups, so that each of the guides would have the opportunity to work together. Fisher was one smart cookie. A tasty one, too.
It took a little getting used to using the heavy wooden oars instead of the lightweight paddles. But once he got the hang of it, he felt good about his ability to take the raft in the direction he wanted to go.
He was getting better at reading the currents, too. Starting to notice subtle changes in the pattern of the water as it moved over obstacles just below the surface. Yesterday, he and the others had learned the hard way that there was more to the river than the obvious. The giant boulders were easy to spot and sometimes easier to avoid. The smaller, submerged rocks were trickier. He couldn’t see them until he was almost—or in some cases already—stuck on top of them.
Today, he noticed the way the river curled around hidden objects. He was beginning to recognize eddies, and even when it wasn’t his turn to row he kept his eye on the river, soaking in every opportunity to learn.
The river wasn’t as crowded as it had been on the weekend, but there were still plenty of people enjoying the beauty and excitement of the river. Many people just set up their lawn chairs right on the edge, with their feet and their beer coolers in the water. There were several companies that ran commercial trips, and a few private boaters using ancient but still serviceable rafts.
And then there were the people using pool inflatables, which seemed like a really bad idea. Most of them put in on the river at the state park and they took out at the Bureau of Land Management access point just above the bigger rapids. The commercial rafts were made out of heavy-duty rubber with reinforced bottoms. The toys from the discount sporting goods stores didn’t seem like they’d hold up against submerged hazards.
Sure enough, just past one of the smaller yet still exhilarating rapids was a young woman standing on a small spit of land in the middle of the river. She wore a tie-dyed bikini and nothing else. No shoes, no life jacket. She was holding the shredded remains of some plastic sea creature. A penguin, maybe? No. It was probably an orca. She waved and shouted when they got closer.
“Hey there! Any chance I could catch a ride?” She didn’t seem to be too distressed, just stranded. “My friends made it downstream, but I had a little problem.”
She held up the deflated orca. On closer inspection, the markings were pretty clear.
With two quick strokes, they pulled up alongside her and she jumped into the front of the raft.
Tyler looked at him with an amused grin.
“Thanks a bunch.” She perched on the bow, her long legs stretched out, her back arched. She looked like she was ready to shoot the next issue of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. “Beautiful day, isn’t it? The perfect day to be out in nature, right?”
“Absolutely,” Tyler agreed.
“Beautiful,” Nolan added.
“Gorgeous.” Wyatt didn’t even hide the fact that he was checking her out.
“Yeah. Sure.” Kyle was trying to figure out where he’d find a safe spot to drop her off. But he’d been busy concentrating on learning the landmarks of the river itself, not access points where he could unload hitchhiking mermaids.
There was a time when he would have been much more interested in finding out where she was from or the significance of the tattoo on her ankle than figuring out how to get her to safety. Maybe she would have been better off staying on the island. Not that it was much of an island. If the water came up any higher, her pedicure would be underwater.
Damn, he should have paid closer attention to the fluctuation of the water flow. He’d quickly scanned the section in the handbook about when and how much water was released each day. He’d only read enough to familiarize himself with the vocabulary, so he could fake his way through a conversation. But he really couldn’t judge the difference between 1400 cfs and 1800 cfs. He just knew that it had something to do with cubic feet per second.
“Hey, there they are.” Bikini girl turned to wave at a group on the right bank of the river. Nemo, Dory, and a great white shark were beached alongside a couple of beer coolers and dogs running in and out of the water.
“Thanks for the ride. You guys wanna join me for a beer?” She seemed to be focused more on Kyle than any of the other guys. Maybe it was because he had command of the raft, or maybe she was just interested in him. Didn’t matter. His interest was in the boat behind him.
“No thanks. I’m working.” He angled the raft so they could slide onto the sandy riverbank just upstream of her group.
“Some other time, then.” She turned, sliding her feet over the side of the raft to hop out. “Maybe I’ll see you at the Argo?”
“If you do, I’ll be there with my girlfriend. Take care.” Kyle didn’t want to lead her on. Besides, he liked what he had going with Fisher. He had nothing to hide.
“You too. All of you.” She waved to the other guys in the raft who had been quietly watching her. Maybe they’d engaged her in conversation and Kyle was too busy trying to keep from flipping the raft or bumping a rock and ejecting her to notice.
Kyle backed the boat into the current and felt about a thousand pounds lighter.
“That was interesting,” Tyler finally said when they had gotten under way. “Man, I don’t think I’ve ever picked up a hitchhiker before. Especially not a hot bikini-clad one.”
He chuckled and the rest of the guys joined in.
“She was pretty fine, wasn’t she?” Nolan let out a low whistle.
The others murmured in agreement.
“I
thought maybe it was part of the test.” Kyle’s shoulders loosened. “And that I failed by not offering her a life jacket or at least suggesting she book a trip with Swift River Adventures next time. You know, for her safety.”
That brought howls of laughter from the rest of the crew.
“You’re all right, dude,” Tyler said. “Take this next rapid and then we’ll switch off.”
“Oh man, I should have offered her my life jacket.” Nolan shook his head at the missed opportunity.
“Are you kidding?” Wyatt joined in. “And cover up that view?”
They were all still laughing when Fisher’s crew came up alongside them.
“Who was that girl?” Fisher asked.
“What girl?” Nolan feigned innocence.
“The nearly naked one you guys just picked up in the middle of the river.” There was an edge to her voice. Was she jealous?
“Oh, that girl!” Wyatt nearly doubled over, laughing.
“She was stranded. And needed a lift to safety,” Tyler informed her.
“Is that what happened?” She turned her gaze on Kyle. He could feel the heat in her eyes even behind her dark sunglasses.
“Yeah. That’s what happened.” He noticed she’d left her busted inflatable orca in the bottom of their raft. “She was riding this discount-store raft and it popped or something. We couldn’t just leave her there in the middle of the river.”
“Sure.” She turned to Dana, who was at the oars. “Let’s put some distance between us and the other boats.”
Dana dug in her oars and rowed away from them.
“Whoa.” Tyler looked over his shoulder at Kyle. “You are in some serious trouble, mister. I’ve never seen her like that.”
“Oh shit. Is it against company policy to rescue someone stranded on the river? Did I make a major etiquette breach?”
“Nah. It’s no big deal.” Tyler chuckled. “But your girlfriend isn’t too happy about you picking up other women.”
Kyle started to say that Fisher wasn’t his girlfriend, but he’d been the one to label her as such just minutes before. Besides, he kind of liked the idea of her being his girlfriend. Even if he was in trouble.
“What?” He tried to keep the smile from his face. “I was just being a Good Samaritan.”
“Yeah, right.” Nolan joined in the ribbing. “Did you see the rack on that girl?”
“Not really, no.”
“Yeah, right, Hollywood. You are some kind of actor.” Wyatt laughed along at his expense.
In fact, they teased him mercilessly the rest of the ride. Nolan took a turn at rowing and then Wyatt. Tyler was a pretty laid-back instructor, only giving direction when needed. Once or twice he was almost too late, but they managed to make it to take-out in one piece. And Kyle felt a little like he was part of the fraternity. He didn’t feel like he needed to work as hard to impress them as he had when he was in Fisher’s raft.
Now he’d have to work even harder to impress her. He was looking forward to it. Maybe a little too much. But he’d already figured out that his strong blonde was a little too much. And that was why she still held his interest.
The sex was good. No. It was great. That wasn’t it. There was something about her that really got him going. She was so real. So what-you-see-is-what-you-get. And now she was pissed at him. For saving a woman’s life. Okay, so he hadn’t saved her life. Just her party time.
And Fisher was jealous. Normally that was the kind of shit that sent him running. But for some reason, in this case, it got him hot. Real hot.
When he got on the bus, she was already sitting up front. And there was no room for him to sit next to her. He made his way toward the back, where Wyatt and Nolan were sitting, telling the other guys about the hottie they’d saved. The way they were telling it, Kyle was surprised they hadn’t included the need for mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
He leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes just briefly. He wondered if this was what summer camp was like. The fresh air, activity, and comradery. It felt good to be a part of this. For a moment, he thought he could get used to this lifestyle. Spending his days on the river, his nights with his woman.
* * * *
Chocolate. That’s what she needed. A nice, sweet, nutty, creamy bar of chocolate. Fisher was the first one off the bus, and she told Brooke she’d be right back. Brooke could rally the troops, get them started at putting the gear away. They knew what to do by now. Maybe with the exception of the oar frames, but they’d figure it out.
And Fisher would figure out why she’d been so upset by Kyle’s hitchhiking bikini girl. After she had some chocolate.
She marched up to the store and pushed open the door a little too hard. The bell clanged against the door and Miranda looked up from behind the register.
“Oh. I didn’t expect to see you here this late in the day.” The last person she wanted to see her upset.
“I needed to get out of the house.” Miranda offered a warm smile. “Between the book and the babies, I needed a break.”
“Most women would go shopping, get a pedicure or something.” Fisher had given up the idea that she could hate Miranda. And she was close to accepting the idea that Miranda didn’t hate her.
“Yeah, well, we’re not like most women, are we?”
“I don’t know. In some ways, I think I am.” She headed straight for the Snickers bar.
“Rough day?”
“No. Yeah. I don’t know.” Fisher placed the candy bar on the counter.
“You want me to put this on your tab?”
“Yes, please.”
“Hey, before you go”—Miranda leaned on the counter—“I wanted to tell you how much I appreciate all you do around here.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. Cody’s under a lot of pressure these days.” Miranda laughed. “Hard not to be with twins. But I know that the only reason he’s able to sleep at night is because he knows you’ve got the rafting and the guides under control.”
“I hope that’s not the only reason he’s sleeping.” Did she just say that out loud?
“Well, actually, at night, we take turns sleeping. But there is naptime.” Miranda grinned wickedly. “You know, a lot of women might feel threatened by…well, by anyone who shared her husband’s loyalties. His brother, friends, some might even be jealous of the time spent with his children.”
“But we’ve already determined we’re not like most women.”
“Maybe we’re just not like the women we see on TV.” Miranda came around the front of the counter. “Since I’ve been here, the women I’ve met have been pretty great. Lily’s become a sister to me. And I hope you will too.”
“Me?”
“You are planning on sticking around, right?”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good. Then we should become friends. Family, even.” Miranda gave her a tentative hug. “I know Cody thinks of you as a sister, so I should, too.”
“That would be great.” Fisher didn’t know what to think. She waved good-bye to Miranda and headed up to the boat barn to make sure the equipment was all put away.
She wondered how Miranda could be so trusting. Here Fisher was flipping out over a stranger Kyle had met on the river. He would meet dozens, no, hundreds of women if he continued on as a guide. And many of them would be beautiful. Dressed in little more than a swimsuit. And they would laugh at his jokes, admire his skills, and even recommend him to their friends. Wasn’t that part of the training? Making people feel at home on the river?
Maybe it wasn’t training as much as natural friendliness. He’d certainly hooked her immediately. Kyle had a charisma that rivaled even Cody. In fact, the only person who hadn’t been drawn to him was Cody.
She wasn’t going to let herself think too long and hard on why. Little sister. That had to be
her only relationship with Cody.
Because she didn’t love him. No. She did. But it really was more like a brother than a lover. She had a lover. And now she understood the difference.
Cody had been nothing more than a crush. A useful one, especially when she was still in school. She’d seen too many of her classmates get caught up in relationships that sometimes derailed their plans. The roommate who’d dropped out to get married with one semester left to go. The classmate who finished her degree and took a job, supporting her boyfriend through grad school, only to have him dump her for his study partner because they had more in common.
In a way, Cody had protected her from a broken heart. She never got too close to any of the guys she met in school, because in some small way she’d compared them to Cody. And of course, she only compared those ways that they would come up short.
So what was the deal with Kyle?
That’s right. She was mad at him. For picking up a gorgeous girl in a bikini. The woman was stunning. All curves and femininity.
Maybe she wasn’t mad. Not really. But she’d had some kind of primal reaction. A lifetime of insecurities brought to the surface by a stray hitchhiker.
She remembered the chocolate bar in her hand and tore open the wrapper. One bite. Then another. Soon, she’d eaten half of the Snickers bar, and the edge seemed to soften, just like in the commercials. Folding the wrapper over the unfinished candy, she sighed before shoving it into her back pocket for later.
Still. She couldn’t let Kyle completely off the hook. There was a liability issue, for one thing. Yeah. She’d lead with that. Fisher wouldn’t want him to think she was one of those irrational females, jealous of him even looking at another woman. She’d make him squirm for a little bit, though.
Most of the gear was put away by the time she got there. And only a few guides and students lingered. Kyle was, of course, one of them.
She kept her smile to herself, though. He didn’t need to know she was pleased that he was usually the last to quit for the day.
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