by Tawna Fenske
“That’s the spirit.”
“Now can we talk business for just a minute?”
“Fire away.”
As Miriam launched into a discussion of marketing plans and ad campaigns, the back of her brain was still hung up on the simmering attraction she felt for this burly, ridiculously sexy lumberjack lookalike beside her.
The whole thing was stupid. Considering what happened with her dad, she kept her distance from guys who fed on adrenaline like it was oxygen. She’d sworn six ways to Sunday she’d never get involved with a guy like Jason Sanders.
So what the hell was she doing?
And why did she kinda wish spelunking was a sex act?
Chapter Three
Jason rapped on his sister’s front door and reflected on the fact that it was also sort of his door. He’d purchased the duplex when he moved them all to the city two weeks ago, and though he lived three feet away in the adjacent home, he liked to think there was enough separation between the two dwellings to give them each a bit of privacy.
That was especially handy when his five-year-old nephew, Henry, practiced his drumming skills with a collection of his mother’s pots and pans. Though the sound didn’t carry through the walls when Jason was safely in his space, he could hear it now as Ellie threw the door open to reveal a gleefully percussive little boy and one frazzled-looking mom.
“What?” barked the frazzled-looking mom, who also happened to be Jason’s baby sister.
He felt a rush of fondness for Ellie, mingled with the absolute certainty he was put here on this earth to care for these two remaining members of his family.
But he was a big brother, of course, so he opted to show his fondness by tousling her hair.
“Good morning to you, too, sunshine,” Jason said as she ducked out from under his hand and smacked it away. “I take it he found the drumsticks?”
“No, he’s using my wooden spoons again.”
“I thought you hid those.”
“I did. Apparently his desire to be Alex Van Halen outweighs his fear of climbing up on the counter to reach the top of the fridge.”
“Climbing’s in his genes,” Jason said with a twinge of pride. “Maybe I’ll buy him a harness and a set of crampons for his sixth birthday.”
“And maybe I’ll be attending my big brother’s funeral after I murder you in your sleep.”
Jason laughed and glanced at Henry. “How’d he sleep?”
“Really well. Hopefully that means the new meds agree with him.” Ellie turned to look back at her son, who had reached a musical crescendo and was using a pair of stainless steel lids as cymbals. “Maybe that’s the problem,” Ellie said. “He’s well-rested and feeling good and ready to take on the world.”
“They said that might be the case at this stage in remission.” Jason peered around Ellie and called out to his nephew. “Hey, big guy! You gonna be good for your mom today?”
Henry nodded and dropped his cymbals, then scurried toward the door. He wrapped his small body around his uncle’s leg with the fierceness of a small anaconda, then released it before Jason had a chance to stoop down to proper hugging level.
Henry looked up at him, beaming, as he shoved his glasses up on his tiny freckle-spotted nose. “Uncle Jason, I have a penis and you have a penis but mommy and Mrs. O’Reilly have fa-chynas.”
“Right,” Jason agreed, unfazed by his nephew’s typical entrée to conversation. He looked back at his sister. “Mrs. O’Reilly?”
Ellie shrugged. “A woman we met at the park yesterday. One who seemed taken aback by receiving an anatomy lesson delivered by a five-year-old.”
They both looked at Henry, who seemed unconcerned by the whole thing. He’d scampered back to his makeshift drum set and was rearranging Ellie’s Dutch oven beside an overturned saucepan. Henry giggled and picked up the wooden spoons again, looking so happy and healthy that Jason’s heart squeezed in his chest.
This is the most important thing in the world. Taking care of these two, making sure Henry gets healthy and Ellie stays happy and they have everything they need. Nothing else matters more.
“So why are you here?”
He turned back to Ellie, remembering why he’d come in the first place. “Do you still have that helmet I loaned you when Henry was in his Iron Man phase?”
“I think so. Why, you planning to build yourself a powered suit and spend your days fighting terrorism and corporate crime?”
“Maybe, if the executive team pursues this stupid plan with the layoffs.” He grimaced, then shook his head. “Forget I said that. It’s a confidential personnel issue, not something I should be talking about with my sister.”
“My lips are sealed,” she said. “Not that I was planning to go post it on the Facebook page for my mommy-and-me play group.”
“I know, but I have to be careful now. Being the CEO of a major international company is a little different from running a regional outdoor adventure firm.”
“I can only imagine.” Ellie studied him a moment, her pale blue gaze so intense, he was tempted to look away. “Jason, I still feel bad about you giving up the job you loved just to support us through—”
“Don’t,” he said, clapping a hand over his sister’s mouth the way he used to when they were kids and she ran around the yard telling everyone he had cooties. She responded by biting him, which was also par for the course.
“I hope you’ve had your rabies shot,” he muttered as he drew his hand back. “Come on, El. Don’t say that stuff. The new job was a good career move. The fact that it happens to help you guys through this stage of Henry’s treatment is just a bonus.”
“I know, but I still wish I could contribute more.”
“You are contributing. Remember how much you were paying for babysitters and day care before?”
“Right.” She glanced over her shoulder at Henry, her expression softening a little. “It is nice watching over him all the time. Knowing one of us is always there in case something happens.”
“Exactly. This way we don’t have to trust some uneducated babysitter or—”
“Hey, it wasn’t Karen’s fault about the PICC line. That could have happened with one of us watching him, too.”
“I know,” Jason said, not totally believing it. “But this just feels safer. Not having to worry that someone else won’t take care of him the way we would.”
Ellie frowned but nodded. “In any case, we owe you big-time.”
“So pay me back by finding that damn helmet. Come on, I’ve gotta go.”
Ellie quirked an eyebrow at him. “Hot date involving a helmet?”
“Kinda,” he said, which earned another probing look from his sister. “Not a date, exactly. Just going caving with the owner at our PR firm.”
Ellie grinned like he’d just handed her a spa gift certificate. Come to think of it, he should probably do that. Being a single mom was a thankless job, and since the men in Ellie’s life hadn’t always been kind to her, Jason damn well ought to be.
“Oooh!” Ellie said. “Is this the same woman who saw your baloney pony?”
Henry looked up from his drums and giggled. “Baloney pony! Baloney pony! Baloney pony!” The boy dropped the wooden spoons and began galloping around the house like a horse while Ellie and Jason looked on fondly.
“Baloney pony!” Henry shouted again. “I’m a baloney pony! Yee-haw!”
“Nice one,” Jason said. “Like he wasn’t already fixated on the whole penis/vagina thing.”
“Well until you said that, he probably had no idea what a baloney pony was.”
Henry giggled again and pointed at him. “Uncle Jason has a baloney pony.”
“That I do, kiddo.”
Ellie leaned closer, lowering her voice. “So you didn’t answer my question—you’re spelunking with the PR girl?”
“Miriam,” Jason said, liking the way her name sounded rolling off his tongue. “Yes. It’s just business.”
“You mean so you can giv
e her pointers on caving or so she can give you pointers on being a refined and polished CEO?”
“Once again, yes.”
Ellie snorted. “If you come back here wearing a three-piece suit and lifting your pinkie when you drink tea, I’m calling the cops.”
“Actually, that’s the cool thing,” he said as he remembered his conversation with Miriam in the conference room the other day. “She doesn’t seem to want to change me much at all. She thinks the whole scruffy mountain man thing is good for the Urban Trax brand.”
“No kidding?” Ellie slugged him in the shoulder. “I hope she at least gets you to do something about your hair.”
“What’s wrong with my hair?”
“Nothing, if you want to look like Sasquatch just rolled out of a tent after sleeping in a beanie all night.”
“Maybe that’s exactly the look I’m going for.”
“In that case, you nailed it.” She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into the house. “Come on. I think the helmet’s in the toy box.”
Ellie led him through the living room and into a corner of the small space she’d designated as Henry’s playroom, for all the good it did. The whole house was essentially Henry’s playroom, as was the world at large.
“I know it’s in here somewhere,” Ellie called from the depths of the red-and-yellow hand-painted toy box Jason had made for Henry when the boy was barely two. Back before cancer and chemo and all the heartache that came with it.
“It’s gotta be in here,” Ellie said, tossing out a plastic dinosaur, a mini basketball, and a broken lightsaber. “Here it is!”
She stood and held up the helmet triumphantly, her hair rumpled and wild and her face sweet and lovely and familiar as the back of his own hand. Jason was tempted to tousle her hair again, but he settled for taking the helmet.
“Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.” Ellie nodded at the helmet. “Was this what you always meant when you used to remind me to bring protection on dates?”
He laughed. “I was thinking more along the lines of a Glock or a Magnum, but a condom would have sufficed.”
“I’m glad it didn’t,” Ellie said, shooting a loving glance at her son, who was back to tapping cheerfully on the pots and pans. “Even if his dad turned out to be a d-i-c-k-h-e-a-d, I got the better end of the deal.”
“That you did,” Jason agreed. He glanced down at his watch. “Look, I’ve gotta run. Call me if you hear from the doc with any new info?”
“It’s Saturday. I doubt we’ll hear anything until at least Monday.”
“Okay, then call me if you need anything. Or he needs anything. Or you run into any trouble with—”
“Go, Mr. Overprotective,” his sister said, shoving him toward the door. “We’ve got it covered.”
“I know you do,” he said, but he let her propel him back toward the entryway. “But I still worry about you.”
“And we appreciate that. We appreciate everything you’ve done for us, but you can relax every now and then, too, you know. Especially since he’s in remission now.”
Jason started to argue. To tell her there was no way he could ever let himself relax. Not when his family needed him, or when they’d come so close to losing Henry last year—
“Have fun today, okay?” Ellie said.
“Roger that,” Jason said, swallowing the lump in his throat as he stopped at the front door. “I’m just a phone call away if you need me.”
“Got it.” Ellie stretched up to give him a kiss on the cheek, which Jason made a big show of wiping off.
“Cooties.”
She rolled her eyes and gave him a fond smile. “You’re a jerk.”
“You’re a brat.”
“You’re a smelly boy.” She shoved him again. “Enjoy the spelunking. Behave yourself with your PR lady.”
“I’ll give it my best shot.”
“I’m sure you will.” She gave him a suggestive eyebrow wiggle, which just made him laugh.
Laugh and think lecherous thoughts about Miriam.
He was still grinning as he made his way down the walkway.
…
Miriam stood shivering at the mouth of the cave, her fingers clenched around the helmet Jason had just handed her. She couldn’t recall the last time she’d worn a helmet for anything, which didn’t make her a wind-in-the-hair, helmet-free daredevil. On the contrary, she never did anything that necessitated cranial protection.
“I still can’t believe you wore high heels to go caving,” Jason muttered, shaking his head as he adjusted his own helmet.
“They’re not high heels, they’re wedges.” Miriam turned her foot to the side to admire her tan leather calf-high boots. “It’s only a two-inch wedge, and they’re made by Keen—that company that has all the hiking stuff?”
“I know what Keen is. We sell their products through Urban Trax, and those boots are not for hiking. Walking on flat ground, maybe, but we’re going to be trekking over lava rock and crawling on our bellies through tunnels.”
Miriam glanced toward the cave and frowned. “If I’ll be crawling, my footwear seems irrelevant. You should have warned me to wear full body armor.”
“Here,” he said, prying the helmet from her hands as he thrust a pair of sturdy-looking boots at her. “I thought this might be an issue, so I brought a whole stash of women’s hiking boots.”
“You keep that beside your stash of women’s underpants?”
“Very funny. I used to run an outdoor adventure company. I probably have more boots and jackets in my closet than you do, though mine are a helluva lot more practical.”
“Depends on the occasion, doesn’t it?” She took the hiking boots from him and sat down on a boulder to swap out her footwear. “I’d much rather go into a board meeting wearing Manolos than these.”
“Lucky for you, we’re not going into a board meeting.”
“You’re going to have to explain at some point how that’s lucky.”
She yanked off her existing boot, throwing off her center of gravity. Before she could topple off the boulder, Jason slipped into the space beside her, bracing her shoulder with his hip.
“Steady there,” he said. “I’d rather not have you breaking an ankle before we even get inside.”
“If breaking an ankle will get me out of going in that cave, I might have to give it a shot.”
Jason laughed and Miriam went back to tying her boot. Sarcasm aside, she really was a little freaked out about the cave. She didn’t like to admit it, but she’d always had just a touch of claustrophobia, and the idea of being in a cave with all those spiders and bats and—
“There are no spiders,” Jason said, reading her thoughts. “It’s too dark in there, and there’s no reliable food source.”
“What about bats?”
He shook his head. “Not this time of year, and not in this cave. Bats are amazing, though. They eat mosquitoes and pests, and the ones in this area are actually very cute and fuzzy.”
“In that case, I’ll run right out and get one as a pet.” Miriam gave a small shudder at the idea of fuzzy bats as she cinched the laces on the boots and stood up. “Let me put my other boots in the car and I’ll be right back.”
“I’m keeping the keys in case you’re plotting an escape,” he called, and she turned around to see him checking out her ass.
Okay, so at least she wasn’t the only perv ogling someone she shouldn’t be. She’d done her very best to keep her eyes off his anatomy the whole way here, not letting her gaze stray below his belt even once.
As she returned to his side, she wiped her hands down the legs of her jeans—pricey, True Religion jeans she’d prefer not to destroy crawling through a cave, but she was going to be a good sport about this. “Okay, so—spelunking.”
“Spelunking,” he said as he plunked the helmet on her head. He began to cinch the straps and maneuver the little wheels over her ears to tighten the straps around her head, and Miriam leaned into his hand just a
little. “How does that feel?”
“Really good,” she answered, then realized he was asking about the fit of the helmet and not about his fingers brushing her face. “I mean—I think you have it tight enough.”
He palmed the top of her head and wiggled the helmet, then adjusted the dials again. “There. That’s better. You want to make sure it’s not going to come loose when you bonk your head on a rock.”
“Should I be concerned you said ‘when’ and not ‘if’?”
He shrugged. “It’s kind of a given. We’ll be going through some low caverns and with the helmet on, it’s inevitable you’ll underestimate where the top of your head actually is.”
“So you mean I probably wouldn’t bonk my head if I weren’t wearing the helmet?”
“Maybe not.” He grinned. “But I don’t like taking unnecessary chances.”
He reached out, and for a moment, she thought he was going to touch her face, maybe stroke the side of her cheek. She almost leaned into his palm, then realized he was reaching for her headlamp.
“There,” he said, flicking it on. “Now you can see.”
“That I can,” she agreed, thinking she was seeing a lot of him in the bright, high desert sunshine. His caramel-colored hair glinted in the sun where it curled out from beneath his helmet, and his bright blue eyes were twinkling. The stubble on his jaw made him look rugged and a little dangerous. He was definitely in his element here, and something about that started to dissolve Miriam’s anxiety. To her own amazement, she found herself feeling a tiny bit excited about this whole spelunking thing.
As if sensing her shift in mood, Jason grinned at her, then turned and strode toward the mouth of the cave. Miriam scurried after him, moving at a speedier clip than she was accustomed to. She didn’t usually move this fast unless there was a clearance sale at Barneys. As she hustled across the uneven terrain, she had to admit she was grateful for the boots. They gave her better balance over the bumpy rocks, and the fact that Jason’s presence left her a little weak-kneed made steady footing all the more crucial.