Just Trust Me…

school. We traveled by coach bus. We had bathrooms.” She turned toward him, and there was no missing the dread in her eyes. “Did you go to camp?”

Brett nodded. “A different one every summer. Science camp. Space camp. Chemistry camp. My favorites were the ones where we got to blow stuff up. We had bathrooms, but we were guys so we used to go outside and pee in the woods anyway.” He chucked her under the chin. “It’s not that bad, princess.”

“Uh-huh. Says someone who can pee standing up.”

He shrugged and grinned. “One of the advantages of being a man.”

She gave a derisive snort. “As if there aren’t already enough.”

“Oh? Like what?”

She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped the toe of her boot on the dirt, raising tiny poofs of dust. “You mean besides the fact that you don’t have to deal with makeup, hair, high heels and cellulite? That gray hair and wrinkles make you look sexy and mature instead of matronly and wizened? That you don’t have to worry about your boobs and butt drooping as you age? That the glass ceiling doesn’t apply to you? You mean besides those things?”

He winced. “Okay. Filing my question under S.I.A.”

“What’s that?”

“Sorry I Asked. But, hey, men pay more for car insurance.”

“Uh-huh. That’s because men tend to drive like Mario Andretti-without benefit of an actual racetrack.”

“You two sound just like Bill and I when we first fell in love,” Eileen said with a laugh. “But be warned-we just celebrated our twenty-seventh anniversary, and we still have the men-versus-women discussion.” She shook her head sadly. “Take my advice and save your breath, Kayla. Men just don’t get it.” She patted Bill’s knee. “No offense, honey.”

“None taken.” He grinned at Brett. “I’m perfectly happy not understanding the intricacies of makeup and high heels. I prefer to just reap the benefits when Eileen uses them.” He plucked her hand off his knee and planted a kiss against her palm. There was no missing the warm affection in his gaze as he looked at his wife.

It took Brett a few seconds to recover as Eileen’s unsettling words were still echoing through his mind. Did she believe he and Kayla were in love? In love…the words gripped him by the throat and wouldn’t let go. Is that how they appeared to other people? Would their fellow hikers be surprised to know that he and Kayla had only met…

Yesterday?

The reality hit him like an open-handed slap. How was it possible that she’d struck him so fiercely, so completely and quickly? That he felt so in tune with her, liked her so much, after such a short acquaintance? Was already thinking about continuing their relationship once they returned to New York?

He was normally much more cautious with women, especially lately, when he didn’t know who he could trust, wasn’t sure who wanted him for him, and who wanted him for his formula. But there was no worry of that with Kayla-she knew nothing about his breakthrough discovery. He’d experienced mutual attraction before, but nothing like this. So for him, there was only one logical explanation to explain the profound way she affected him, one fully supported by his research: their scent-communicating chemical compounds were fiercely attracted to each other.

Ashley joined them, her arrival interrupting his thoughts. She laid a comforting hand on Kayla’s arm. “Feeling your pain about the restroom situation, Kayla. I was kinda grossed out by the whole thing on my first camping trip, but Shawn’s such an outdoors nut, it was either get with the program or find a new boyfriend.” Her gaze flicked toward Shawn who stood a short distance away, engrossed in a conversation with Dan Smith, then she smiled. “Turns out I made the right choice. Just make sure you stay away from poison ivy and vegetation with thorns. And snakes.”

Brett swore Kayla’s skin paled. “Ah, yeah. You can bet I will. Yup. Absolutely.” She cleared her throat. “I’m guessing that since the bathroom facilities are…primitive, a shower isn’t available, either.”

“Have buckets,” Alberto called from where he was unrolling tents about fifteen feet away. “Fill from river. Dump over head.” He flashed his brilliant white smile and pantomimed doing just that. “Good shower.”

“Very cold,” Miguel added, his smile just as wide as his brother’s. “Very nice.”

“Very cold, very nice?” Kayla repeated. “Clearly we have a translation problem here.”

“Use bucket for shower,” Alberto repeated with an encouraging nod. “I give you towel.” He nodded toward Brett. “Man make you warm.”

“Works for me,” Brett said, struggling to keep a straight face.

“Me, too,” chimed in Bill. “Hear that, Eileen?”

Ashley and Eileen chuckled, then headed toward the path where Paolo indicated the bathroom tent was now assembled.

“So you’re up for one of these cold showers?” Kayla asked him.

Before answering, he stepped forward and drew her into his arms. “Sweetheart, I’ve been up all day long and could have used a cold shower long ago, what with staring at your gorgeous ass for hours. I took a few pictures of it, by the way.”

“Of my ass?” She leaned back in the circle of his arms, her hands resting against his chest. “You were supposed to be taking pictures of the scenery.”

“I did. I snapped a few pics of the flora and fauna, the ruins at Llaqtapata and your ass. What did you take pictures of?”

She laughed. “You’re impossible.”

“Better be nice to me, or man won’t keep you warm after cold shower.”

“Man better keep me warm or man won’t get erotic massage.”

He chuckled. “C’mon. Let’s grab that bucket, a change of clothes and our towels. We’ll get cleaned up before the sun goes down and it turns chilly.”

While Kayla pulled clothes from her backpack, he walked over to Alberto who handed him two thick, white towels then said in an undertone, “After bathroom tent, big rock. Follow path this way.” He curved his hand toward the right. “Private place.”

Brett’s brows shot up. “How private?”

“You be alone,” Alberto said, nodding. “Always send hikers different paths to wash for privacy. No one bother you-unless you late for dinner. Then send search. Dinner in one hour. No be late.”

He smiled at the young man, then said, “Gracias,” one of the few Spanish words he knew.

Alberto grinned back, then returned to his tent-pitching duties. Brett made a quick stop at his backpack, then, with the shower items in hand, headed with Kayla down the curving path leading toward the river.

And privacy.

12

IMPATIENCE PULLED at Brett, and he quickened his pace.

“Whoa, where’s the fire?” Kayla asked, tugging on his hand. “Slow down. I need the restroom tent, but not bad enough to actually jog there.”

Damn. The words privacy and Kayla had collided in his mind, and the almost painful anticipation of making love to her that he’d suffered through all day had instantly morphed into full-fledged rampaging desire. The knowledge that he wouldn’t have to wait until they retired to their tent to make love had fired heat and lust and raw want to his every nerve-ending. It was all he could do not to fling her over his shoulder and break into a sprint.

“Sorry,” he said, slowing down-an effort that cost him.

They rounded a curve in the path and saw Eileen and Ashley heading toward them. “It’s just a bit further,” Eileen said. “Good luck!”

“Okay, you know it’s not going to be good when you need luck to use a bathroom,” Kayla said with a sigh. Just