“Sure. We can do that.” He breathed in her hair again. From now on, strawberries were going to make him hard.
“You know, I appreciate that you had a crush on me, but you don’t really know me.” She sounded almost sleepy.
She was trying to reject him, but she was all but plastered against him. He teased her. “You don’t really know me, but you like me.”
Her lips curved against his neck. Target acquired and locked. He'd made Jenny Craft smile. “You think so?”
He tightened his grip. “You aren’t pulling away.”
“Do you want me to call your bluff?”
“Nope.”
She laughed. “I can’t help it that you’re attractive. I don’t really know if I like you, but you’ve got it going for you in the looks department.”
The words shot out without him thinking. “You don’t prefer Thor?”
“Not at all.”
He considered the definite quality of her response. “He’s a good guy.”
“Better than you?”
He made himself sound doubtful. “Of course.”
“I appreciate brotherly loyalty.” She lifted her face and gave him another chance to stare into her eyes, to catalog the diamond shape of that tiny flaw in her iris. “But he’s not my type.”
“Am I?”
“You are every woman’s type.” She stepped back, releasing her hold around his neck, took a quick glance down his body. “Time to pull yourself together, stud. You aren’t going to be able to bike in that condition.”
He lifted his eyebrows. “I like directness.”
“That’s all I have to offer,” she said. A tiny frown appeared between her brows.
He chuckled. “And humor. You’re such a funny person.”
She lost her smile. He had no idea why, but maybe the events of the morning were catching up with her. She probably needed a minute to regroup. “I need to change and secure my recorder first. We’re staying at a friend’s house in Laguna Woods.”
“I can meet you at your friend’s house in an hour or so. It’s closer to the trail than here.” Her voice had gone flat, but he could hear raised voices in the kitchen. She probably needed to intervene.
“Yeah, perfect. I’ll write down the address.” She handed him an order pad and he wrote down his friend’s address, then followed her into the busy kitchen.
Crowe stepped onto the porch of his friend’s small, ranch-style, red tile–roofed house when he heard the SUV approach that afternoon. Jenny opened her car door. Her long legs emerged first. She wore black bike shorts and two layers of tank tops in yellow and pink. He could have her undressed in the span of time between two heartbeats. But they weren’t there yet.
“I hope you’ve slathered yourself in sunscreen,” he said as he came toward her.
“I’m going to do it again when we get there.” She smiled at him and touched her ponytail. It was tucked through the back of her Dodgers ball cap.
He stroked a finger down the tail when she let go of it. “Love that fiery hair. Matches your personality.” When she didn’t protest, he wrapped his arm around her lower back and pulled her in for a hug. “Did I remember to tell you how glad I am that you decided to spend the afternoon with me?”
“I’m sure we’ll have fun,” she said, squeezing him and then releasing him, her expression a funny mixture of pleasure and what read to him like fear.
He decided to hold off on the jokes, deciding not to suggest she join him in the bedroom before they left. “Should I transfer my stuff to your vehicle?”
“Yeah, that’ll work.”
He picked up the pack he’d left on the porch containing his helmet, gloves, glasses, shin guards, and hydration pack, then tossed it in her rear seat. She helped him clip his mountain bike into place on the back of her SUV and they were on the road in ten minutes, heading past the country club.
She didn’t say much, just mentioned the weather, a monotonous subject in Southern California, and the earthquake. Of course, he couldn’t expect her to be funny all the time and he wasn’t helping much, since he found himself lost in admiration of her perfect profile. When he hardened again, he forced his gaze to the window, so he’d calm down before they reached Serrano Ridge. His biking shorts didn’t hide much and he wouldn’t be able to ride in this condition. He was a numbskull for suggesting biking for their first date. She’d been right to question the idea.
“Not too many people out today,” she commented as they pulled into the parking lot.
“That’s great. We’ll be able to talk,” Crowe said as they began to pull their equipment from the back of her vehicle. “Want help with your sunscreen?”
“You can do my back and shoulders. I’ll do your neck and arms if you like.”
He grinned, then did the awkward one-foot hop as he changed shoes, trying to keep pebbles from embedding into his socks.
She rolled her eyes. “Sit down already.”
“You have lots of freckles,” he said, finishing up and taking the spray bottle she’d handed him. He sprayed the part of her back left uncovered by her shirts then smoothed the lotion just under her tank, then stroked up her neck. Next, he put his hands on her elbows and slipped the lotion up, his thumbs running up the outsides of her breasts.
“Try not to enjoy that so much,” she said when he began to dust more spray along her arms.
“You have your fun and I’ll have mine.” He leaned forward and kissed her cheek.
She jumped away. “That’s enough, buddy. Daylight’s a-wasting.”
“We’re three weeks from the longest day of the year,” he protested.
“I get crabby when I’m overheated.” She took the bottle from him and sprayed her legs.
He admired the lithe way she bent over. Yoga, maybe? She had an easy athleticism that really turned him on. “Then you should have left Southern California.”
“Hmmm.” She finished with her legs and handed the bottle to him. “I’ve lived here my entire life. It’s basically paradise.”
He applied her sunscreen before she took the bikes down and put her hydration pack and other equipment on.
“You didn’t get my neck and arms yet.” He wiggled the bottle.
She held out her hand and he placed the bottle in it. But unlike him, she didn’t play a sensual game, just quickly greased him up. He couldn’t understand her mixed messages. Was she into him or not? She seemed to run hot and cold. He let the mating dance go so he could focus on the ride.
The gray, cracked-dirt trail was sun-bleached and dusty, the only shade at the edge where tall brush blocked a little bit of the heat. But it rode easily and the pure blue sky was beautiful. Since the trail was slightly elevated, they could look out over the California landscape as they rode. Other bikers and hikers clustered in little clumps as they rode past, looking out over the highest points. They spoke little, given the heat, until they arrived back at her vehicle.
“Sweaty enough for you?” she asked, pulling off her hat and wiping her forehead.
“It wasn’t that big of a deal,” he said, noticing that she wasn’t even breathing hard. “I enjoyed it. I’m outdoors a lot. It’s how I kept myself sane as a grad student.”
“I need to get out more often,” she admitted. “This shouldn’t have kicked my butt. I must be eating too much pizza.”
“Workplace hazard,” he agreed, not that she was right. Jenny was very self-deprecating. Her form, especially given that she was over thirty, was practically perfect. He could see most of her legs and her arms. Everything was toned. “What’s your favorite kind of pizza?”
“The zero-calorie kind, obviously.” She climbed off her bike. “So, if your show gets off the ground, where are you going to search?”
He kept it general. “I have permission to check out private land near the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park. Some documentation I’ve seen, old journals and newspaper reports, makes me hopeful. I also want to check out a cave system that’s also on private land.”<
br />
“What are you going to do first?”
He tried to force a laugh, but it came out as more like a chuff. Concern had weighed him down despite the pleasure of a good ride with a pretty girl. “Wait and see if Thor’s camera gets fixed. I want everything we do filmed in case the show gets picked up. I hate reshooting. It looks so fake. I can always tell.”
She looked directly at him, as if trying to discern all his secrets. But he didn’t have any. “Why is this show so important to you?”
“It’s my life’s work, I suppose. Treasure hunting, what my father and his father and his father before him did. I want people to know I have the same talent. I’m not some dumb kid who hurt his big brother.”
“But that’s not really what happened.”
“No.”
She peeled off her gloves. “I don’t get why you care. Your family knows you didn’t do anything wrong. Why does the opinion of strangers matter to you so much?”
Dust wafted into the air as a Dodge Ram pulled up beside them. Four beefy teenagers piled out, chattering and good-naturedly insulting each other.
“Why don’t we go somewhere else?” he suggested, uncomfortable with the question. “Want to go eat? Or we could hang at my friend’s place.”
“I have to get back for the dinner rush.” She turned away, unlocking the car, opening everything to release the heat inside. “Teenaged employees need a boss with eyes in the back of her head and a heart three sizes too small to be made to work.”
He grinned. “You’re the boss. You don’t have to do anything.”
She tossed her hydration pack and helmet into the open hatch then held out her hand for his equipment, not responding. He watched her, confused. What was he doing wrong? Did she really have no interest in him? She’d said he was attractive.
When she walked to the driver’s side door and unlocked it, he stepped right behind her. She turned around. Her lips were positioned inches from his.
“Hey,” he said. He put his hand behind her head and pulled off the elastic holding her hair back. Soft waves fell around her face, instantly subtracting ten years as it hid the laugh lines just starting to emerge around her eyes.
She forked her hands through the hair around her temples. “I need a new bike helmet. That one is giving me a headache.”
“We’ll go shopping,” he murmured and placed a light kiss on her left temple. When she didn’t protest, he did the same with the right side.
The sounds of the college-age kids receded as he centered his face on hers. He leaned forward and nuzzled her nose gently with his own. Her lips curved up.
No time like the present. Slowly, he moved in for a kiss. Her lips met his, still damp from her last sip of water. She tasted like the spearmint gum she’d chewed for part of the ride. He dipped his tongue into the corner of her mouth, getting a hint of faded sugar. “So sweet.”
Her hands slid from her own hair to his shoulders, then along the back of his head, fingering his sweat-soaked hair. She angled her mouth against his, deepening the kiss. Her happy moan made him smile. It seemed like they’d be settling in for a good long makeout session against her truck. He moved against her, her breasts rubbing on his chest. Their shirts were damp and he imagined steam rising between them.
A wolf whistle came from the truck and a couple of the young guys laughed. Crowe had thought the SUV was blocking them from view, but he’d pushed her against her own window. He pulled away, guessing she’d be embarrassed by a display.
When he stepped back, he saw her lips were puffy from their kiss. Her eyes were unfocused and she still had her forearms propped up on his shoulders.
“Let’s go back to my friend’s place,” he urged.
Her gaze sharpened. “I’ll drop you off, then I’ve got to shower and go back to work. It was really fun, though.”
One of the youths made a loud “Har-har-har” sound, as if he had heard her. She winced and pulled open her door. “Let’s get going.”
He nodded and walked around the SUV, giving the guys a hard stare after he made sure the bikes were secure. “Way to ruin my good time,” he muttered as he climbed in on his side.
Jenny dropped off Crowe, then returned to town and parked her SUV behind the restaurant. Walking in, she felt strangely unanchored but didn’t want to examine why. She threw herself into work, not a hard thing to do since one of the waitresses had called out sick, probably to party on the beach. Between managing all the orders and half the tables, she didn’t have time to think about that kiss, or Crowe’s obvious desire to hook up with her. He was still chasing the fantasy of the waitress from Laguna Nights he’d crushed on a dozen years ago. Typical shallow male. Real women might as well not apply.
Of course, she had her own level of shallow, appreciating him for his body and voice. If she could find someone with his appeal in a local businessman, she might have the perfect guy.
“Hey!” She glanced up from the table she was quickly clearing so that another party could be seated and saw Thor, Crowe’s brother, speaking to her.
“Hey back. Say, what’s your real name?” she asked.
“It’s actually Thor. My parents had a real sense of humor,” he said, pushing his hair out of his eyes. He looked like a Hemsworth brother, and the name didn’t change her image of him very much.
“If I hadn’t seen you guys on TV back in the day, I’d never have believed Crowe was your brother.”
“He takes after our mother’s father. It’s obvious from old family pics.”
“He’s the family throwback?”
“Exactly.” He sat down at the table, giving her a friendly smile. He was a bit more weathered than his younger brother, with sun-bleached hair and lines around his eyes and mouth.
“It’s the elephant in the room, isn’t it?” she asked after an awkward pause. She moved her bin of dirty dishes to her hip. “How’s the camera?”
“Good, I think. We’re going to test it tonight. Do you mind if we try shooting here?”
“What are you going to shoot? Another interview?”
“Dad is coming down. We want to film him giving his blessing to Crowe for the hunt.”
“Kind of dramatic,” Jenny said.
Thor grinned, looking more like a Hemsworth than ever. “Yeah, but it’s that dynastic thing again. Say, how did your date go?”
Jenny shrugged, her arms starting to burn with the weight of the dish bin. “It’s strange, spending time with a guy who likes you because you were on a show a dozen years ago. Usually I avoid that kind of thing. Especially since I can’t do him any good, you know? I don’t have any contacts to help him get his show.”
Thor’s words came out more precisely than before. “If he thought you could help, he’d schedule an appointment. He’s not going to mix business and pleasure.”
“Then why is he pursuing me?”
He lifted his hand in a lazy circle. “What’s not to like? You’re pretty.”
“That’s shallow.”
His eyes narrowed. She’d offended him. “Crowe isn’t shallow. His whole deal with getting redemption is because he wants to do school programs, and if they think he’s some kind of dick who got his brother hurt, no school is going to book him. He needs a new platform.”
Crowe hadn’t shared this with her, but it made sense. If she’d been worried about his reputation thanks to the show, he had to have that much more anxiety about it. “So that’s what he wants to do?”
“Well, that and funding his doctorate. He’s full of ideas. Books and stuff, but a doctorate will help. He can write his first book during the program.”
“So he’s not doing all this for fame and fortune?” She shifted the bin. Had she misunderstood him?
Thor’s shoulders moved up and down. “Hey, I wouldn’t mind it. How about you?”
She shifted her bin again. “A little fortune, I could manage.”
“Can’t you afford a busboy?”
“He didn’t show up to work, along with a wait
ress.” She cocked her head. “Huh. Maybe they’re dating now. I need to pay more attention.”
He pushed back from the table and took the bin from her. She didn’t protest, just lifted a brow.
“So, can we try filming here? If my camera works.”
“Sure. Go for it. After you take those dirty dishes back to the kitchen.”
His grin was as perfect as his hair. “Yes, ma’am.”
Several pairs of female eyes followed Thor out of the main dining room. But as tall and perfect as he was, Thor Erickson didn’t do it for her. Unfortunately, it seemed like that honor was reserved for his younger brother. The thought of Crowe made her insides run hot. And after speaking to his brother, she was starting to really like him, too.
An hour later, Crowe met his father and Thor outside of Laguna Gold Pizza. “You’re sure this is okay?” Beau asked. His once-blond locks had turned steel gray, but they still had a natural bounce and curl that gave their father an eternal youthfulness. He straightened the collar of his light blue button-down shirt and pushed his thin-rimmed glasses up his nose.
“Sure, Dad. We’ve shot here before,” Crowe said.
“Jenny gave us specific permission to be here tonight,” Thor added, lifting the camera to his shoulder.
Crowe knew he should be watching the camera to see if it worked, but he was distracted by Thor’s comment. “Wait, you talked to Jenny?”
“Sure, man. I came in for a slice after I got the camera fixed.”
“How did she seem?”
“How bad did your date go?” Thor asked, laughing. He turned the camcorder on.
“I’m not going to answer that on camera,” Crowe snapped.
“Oh, I’ll delete it. What happened? Any action?”
Crowe’s jaws locked. “None of your business. I like her.”
“That’s cool.” Thor fiddled with his controls.
“Who is this?” their father asked.
“Crowe went biking with the owner of this restaurant this afternoon. Jenny Craft?” Thor explained.
“That name sounds familiar.”
Laguna Beach: A Treasure in Laguna (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 3