“Pandora’s got nothing on you. Okay, I’ll trade. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”
“What an exciting game, Ranger Chuck. What do I get if mine is more impressive?”
Chuck’s eyes widened and his face flushed slightly. Jenna jumped on the slight crack in his armor. “I do believe you blushed. Surely you are past blushing at a woman’s private parts?”
“Only the virginal ones.” Chuck recovered gracefully and immediately. “And don’t call me Shirley.”
“That was a stolen joke, but luckily I love that movie, so I’ll let it go. Okay, what are we trading?”
“I’ll tell you why Karen calls me Charlie if you tell me how to fix your malfunction.”
“If you keep flattering me, I might just roll over and spread my legs.”
Was it her imagination, or did Chuck’s pupils dilate? Jenna suddenly wondered if throwing rocks at the beehive was really the game she wanted to play.
“You go first,” he said gruffly.
Jenna looked around and saw that Lewis was watching them. Great. He would take this conversation all kinds of wrong. “How about we just drop it? I’ll play nice.”
“Apparently you aren’t as curious as Pandora after all.” Chuck leaned back.
“No, wait—” Jenna reached out to touch his arm, and then pulled back. Lewis’s eyes were boring into the side of her head. She put her hands in her lap. “You’re still supposed to tell me. But I’ll drop my attitude and we’ll be good, so that solves your problem. Still a trade.”
“No dice.”
“Yes dice.”
Lewis got up. Jenna recognized the look of disgust on his face as he turned to walk away. He was pissed. She didn’t really blame him. She was out of control, and every time she tried to reel herself in, she slid another couple of feet into the naughty pit.
Jenna bit her lip, contemplating leaving the conversation. She didn’t really need to know why Karen called Chuck another name. It wasn’t important.
She met Chuck’s beautiful sunburst eyes.
On second thought, Pandora had already unleashed evil into the world, why not go with it? “Okay, fine. Trade.”
The one-eighty got her a squint from Chuck. He swiveled around, and then back, probably checking on Dale’s whereabouts. He lifted his eyebrows marginally, telling her he was waiting.
“See, that is nice. Facial expression. It helps communicate.”
He stared at her.
“Okay, never mind. Uh, where were we…oh, right, my malfunction. My dad was an ass. He made me call him ‘sir.’ I walked away from him with a big ‘F you, sir.’ It irks me when someone wants to be called ‘sir’ in exchange for telling me what to do.”
“We have that in common. About the dad wanting to be called ‘sir,’ I mean. I don’t require that level of respect from you.”
“Respect?”
Chuck threw up his hands immediately. “Whoa—sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. Truth: I was in the military. Followed in the old man’s footsteps. When I commanded men, I was called ‘sir.’ It was a form of respect that doesn’t easily transfer over to civilians. I meant that, as a civilian, you don’t have to call me ‘sir.’”
“Quick save. You almost caused another malfunction.”
“I am aware of that.” Chuck gave her a half-smile and a chuckle. Even at half-mast, he had a beautiful smile. It lit up his eyes from within. His hard, serious face melted into a puddle of striking good looks and boyish humor.
Jenna cleared her throat and looked down as she felt her face heat up. She was acting like a stupid schoolgirl. It was ridiculous.
“Your turn,” she said, to draw the attention back to him.
“She thinks that’s my real name. Well, Charles, actually. She thinks calling me Charlie sets her apart and gives us a level of intimacy.”
He was looking at her with a searching expression, his eyes roaming her face. She felt her cheeks get even hotter but didn’t know how to hide her embarrassment. Chuck’s eyes met hers and locked into place. It was a weird feeling. Surreal, almost.
“And it’s not?” Jenna realized she was whispering, like they were in a cocoon. The world dropped away, leaving just the two of them.
“No,” Chuck murmured. His eyes dipped to her lips.
“What’s your real name?”
Chuck’s eyes were hooded. His face moved closer. She couldn’t focus. Her body tingled. The lava in her core bubbled, pulsing heat through her body. She longed to reach out and touch, feel. Her breath came in fast pants, her heart racing.
“Joshua. My friends call me Josh.” His deep voice rumbled, vibrating her body, forcing a small moan out of her lips.
“Then why do you go by Chuck?”
“Because my name brings back difficult memories that I would rather forget. I wanted a fresh start. With no history.”
There was a sheen of sweat on his face. She realized she was hot, too. So close.
“What memories?”
Chuck’s—or Josh’s—eyes hit hers again. They locked with that weird click and her insides somersaulted. Burning up one second, freezing cold the next.
He leaned toward her, his full lips parting. She wanted his kiss. His taste. She wanted—
“Dale!”
Josh’s long lashes touched down twice, his pupils contracting, his body going rigid, as if he was waking from a deep sleep. He rose in a single fluid movement, the speed of which made Jenna gasp.
Dale was apparently trying to get a peek of Erika as she went off to the bathroom. When he saw Josh heading toward him, he cowered, like a scared, cornered animal. He didn’t even bother to run; he just froze.
“Come with me,” Josh said as he grabbed the back of Dale’s shirt and hauled him away.
Jenna sat shaking. Something really weird had just happened and she didn’t know how to deal with it. She’d had a lot of experiences in her life, but that wasn’t one of them. She had nothing to compare it to.
She surveyed the people and trees around her. Ada and Mike were chatting and eating, both looking tired from the walking they’d done so far. Erika was clomping back into the area with a livid expression on her face. Lewis was nowhere to be found.
Jenna figured the best course of action would be to soothe Erika.
She pushed off to get up, but her foot slid inside her boot, and a sharp pain made her cry out. She sat back down with a wince, covering the toe of her boot with her hand. She’d popped a blister. No doubt one of many she’d have before this trip would be through.
Don was a dead man.
“Did you see that?” Erika yelled down at her. “Freaking Dale was trying to watch me take a piss! How gross is that? Thanks, though.”
“For what?”
“Giving him one hell of a black eye. Have you not noticed the results of your handiwork?”
“I try not to look at him whenever possible.”
“Wise. What’s up with your feet?”
“These shoes suck.” Jenna sucked air in through her teeth as she wiggled her toes. Maybe two blisters.
“I told you they would. But nooooo, you had to look good.”
“They do, though. They’re really cute.”
“True. But at what sacrifice?”
“I’ll wear ’em in.”
“Before you lose a toe?”
“All right, gang, let’s go,” Josh called from somewhere behind the trees.
“What were you talking to him about so intently over here?” Erika held out her hand.
Jenna took it and let Erika haul her up. “He wanted to know why I was such a bitch.”
“Did you tell him you were born that way?”
“Yes. He wanted to fix it.”
“Heh. They all do, don’t they. Some things are permanent.”
Chapter Fourteen
Josh watched everyone spread out into the next clearing on their route. The tour groups hit this clearing at least once in every tour thanks to the ample space that allowed
larger groups—like this one—comfortable lodgings, while the surrounding trees, pressing in on all sides, still made it feel closed off and comfortable for the smaller groups. Two barbecues stood in the northeast section, with four picnic tables and two large metal lockers for food storage. A few patches of weeds fought to maintain a hold, but otherwise the ground was mostly packed dirt.
He unslung his pack and sat on the earth against a large tree. Closing his eyes, he tried to still his mind, blending it into his surroundings. He wanted to be forgotten for a minute to sort out what had happened at the last stop. It was eating away at him.
Somehow Jenna had pried his real name out of him. Witchcraft, that was. She’d practically spelled him into saying it. He would’ve spat out all his troubled past, one problem at a time, if she’d had more time. He’d just thought she was dangerous to his job, but now there was a new reason to stay the hell away.
As if he needed a reason. He couldn’t stop his eyes searching her body; he was desperate to get under those clothes and lick her raw. She made his world go foggy. He wanted to touch her so badly his hands shook.
If he wasn’t mistaken—and he hoped he was—she wanted it too. She had been leaning in, he could tell. While her boyfriend was looking on, she stayed shut tight, everything safely behind her rock-solid walls. When he left…
Josh shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck, breathing out a sigh of pent-up sexual frustration.
He needed to stay away. No two ways about it. If he didn’t pin her against a tree and take her, he would start running his mouth about his past. Was a quiet life too much to ask for?
Team Red were wandering about in two clusters. It looked as though the respective groups were going back to their individual corners to hash out a different plan of attack before they rushed back into the argument. They’d spent the last ten minutes yelling at each other, Jenna and Mike against the rest, their verbal warfare hot and violent.
Because he was an idiot and couldn’t help himself, his eyes slid past the various angry New Yorkers and stuck to Jenna. She was shifting gingerly from one foot to the other. He’d caught her wincing a few times as she stepped wrongly or turned. Those boots were tearing holes in her soles, he’d bet his house on it.
He had to admit, she was a tough chick. Tough and hardheaded. He sympathized with Lewis—the guy was out of his league. He had no hope of getting one over on that broad. Hell, Josh had tried for most of the day, and every time he came at her, she had a way to meet him head-on and weasel away. It was maddening.
There was a flurry of movement—Jenna gave the other group a scowl and nodded to Mike, before stalking away. Not a strut—that would probably tear her heel off in those boots—but a purposeful march out past the tree line. Dale watched her go, but couldn’t follow—Erika saw to that.
Jenna would win this argument. Even Josh knew it without knowing the subject matter. She would take the points of the other group and either incorporate them into her own thinking, or find a reason why they were incorrect. She would not admit she was wrong, and would not inform the rest that they were at least partially right. She was an excellent strategist, and, he had to admit, one hell of a manipulator. If she had been a man and had an interest in the military, she might’ve traveled along a similar path to the one he had.
Except she probably wouldn’t have fucked up, slunk away, and hidden in the backwoods with a new identity.
Just as Josh was about to settle into the usual self-pity that accompanied thoughts of his past, a ferocious rattle cut through his thoughts and had him on his feet before his brain had time to process it. A stab of worry pierced his chest, so intense he had trouble breathing. The snake sounded its alarm from the same location Jenna had disappeared into the trees.
He took off at a fast run, telling everyone to stay in the clearing and watch themselves. For every rattlesnake you saw, there were three to five nearby you didn’t.
As he broke through the tree line, he didn’t see Jenna immediately, but only an idiot would miss the rattle sounding off to his right. Before he took another step, he heard his name being called in barely contained panic.
He broke through another line of trees and saw Jenna half squatting, completely frozen, with her pants around her thighs and a look of frozen terror on her face. She wasn’t showing any outward signs of panicking, though her voice gave away what was happening beneath the surface, and she wasn’t moving. She was trying her best not to aggravate the snake any more than it already was.
So she had listened; she just chose when to follow orders. Interesting.
Jenna yelled for Josh for the second time as loudly as she could, having at least the presence of mind to use his guide name. She closed her eyes to focus on her squat, and when she opened them to yell again, she noticed him walking toward her slowly.
“How close?” he asked calmly.
“I don’t know. It’s behind me.” She wasn’t as calm.
“How long can you hold that position?”
She was still half squatting with her pants and undies around her mid-thighs. It was not the most elegant position. “As long as I need to.”
Josh tore a leafy branch off a nearby tree. “Okay, I don’t want you to panic.” His voice was honey. It could have quieted a wild mustang. “The snake is about two feet from your right foot. You are currently in striking range, but it does not want to strike. It wants you to go away. I am going to help you do that, okay?”
“Okay.” Jenna’s voice quivered.
Using the same slow pace, Josh approached her, positioning his feet even with hers. His face was pure calm, as if he was doing no more than watching leaves blow across the street on a summer’s evening. “It probably doesn’t help that your panties are shiny enough to catch and throw the light.”
“They’re silk.”
“Yes, well, good thing you didn’t have to pee worse. I don’t think the snake would’ve liked a golden shower.”
“We are not far from finding out, I can assure you.”
Josh was right in front of her now, his presence comforting despite the situation. “Okay, Jenna,” he said quietly with his lips right next to her ear. “I want you to hold on to me and slowly, ever so slowly, lift yourself out of the crouch, okay?”
She licked her lips and reached with shaking hands. Placing her palms on his meaty shoulders, so hard they might’ve been made of brick, she used both her legs and arms to straighten, as slowly as possible.
“Stop,” he commanded. His body flexed under her hands. “Your clothes are about to fall. I am going to grab them. Is that acceptable?”
“Only if it results in me not getting bit.”
She felt his large, warm hands skimming down her mid-thighs. His hot breath splashed her neck. His scent, woods and man, was tantalizing and delicious.
His touch made a firmer connection as he grabbed her pants and panties. She tightened her grip, painfully aware that she was half-naked, clinging to his hard body. Shivers racked her, first chilled, and then scorching hot. She broke out in a sweat and her insides started to boil. Her surroundings drifted away as she closed her eyes, tightening her grip around his neck, focusing on those hands, on her swollen core and the cool air on her sudden wetness.
“Jenna?” he said softly into her ear. His cheek touched hers, scratchy with stubble and warm. He was so warm. And strong.
His hair was soft through her fingers.
“Probably not a good time for that.” His chest rumbled with his deep voice, against her chest now. His thumbs slid against her hipbones before material was secured over her exposed areas.
She blinked in confusion. That wasn’t the way pants were supposed—
She yanked her fingers from his hair and pulled her other hand from tight around his shoulders. Angry rattling slapped her awareness.
What was happening to her? Did she have no dignity?
“Okay, I have the branch here,” he said in a husky voice. She squeezed her eyes shut in mortificatio
n. “When I say, I want you to follow my lead.”
“Okay.”
His arm slid around her waist and pulled her into his powerful body. A sharp pain pierced her lip where her teeth were digging in; she was desperately trying not to moan. His heat seared her, a certain hardness pressing against her middle that shocked her with electricity before pooling in her core, blazing. She longed to feel it moving inside of her.
“Hurry, Josh,” she said softly, begging. She wasn’t sure exactly what she was begging for. And that terrified her. “Please.”
Her breath hitched as he lifted her, taking most of her weight, before stepping back. She clutched him again, not able to stop herself from burying her face into his neck. Feeling that soft skin on her lips.
“Oh God, please hurry.” She clung to him, no longer able to think, letting him call all the shots.
They moved a step away again, and then another. Josh’s other arm came around her, having dropped the branch, now holding her tight. It was the best, most indescribable feeling she could ever remember, full of strength and comfort and, most of all, safety.
A tear came to her eye as silence rained down. His breathing was ragged; hers was fast and shallow.
“Are you okay?” he asked softly, her body still plastered to his. That hardness, so hot, making her sex throb.
“No,” she whispered. She took a deep breath before dragging her face away from his tantalizing skin. She pushed, making him step back.
This was all kinds of wrong. She didn’t know what was happening, and she didn’t know what she was feeling, but it wasn’t right. This was the wrong guy, for a million reasons.
“Sorry,” she said, not able to look up at him at first, afraid of what she’d see. Finally, when she did, she saw a war in those beautiful kaleidoscope eyes, full of fire and fear and regret. She didn’t understand any of it.
“I don’t like repeating myself,” he said with an edge. “Please pay attention to your surroundings.” Despite his hard voice and the turmoil in his eyes, his touch on her upper arm was gentle. “C’mon.”
She allowed him to walk her away from the snake and back toward a waiting crowd…who had seen the whole thing.
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