Although she was experienced in the hunt, it was this hunt and this hunt only she cared about, and with good reason. She had told him she no longer liked trekking, even with a camera. She had an altogether different lifestyle in the world of books and normal activities.
Tanner felt certain Brianna considered his lifestyle abnormal. So where did that leave them when the hunt was over? He knew the answer. It left her on the East Coast and him in Colorado or parts unknown.
Brianna moved closer to him, one long leg sliding over his thigh. Tanner’s body hardened in response. Grimacing in discomfort, he drew a deep breath, exerting control. It wasn’t easy, but he shifted back an inch, away from temptation. The need raging inside him subsided a little and he released a long sigh of relief.
He ordered his body, his emotions, to forget the ifs and might-have-beens and focus on the long day ahead.
His inner voice had one piece of advice. Go the hell to sleep.
Nine
The first pale light of predawn tinged the horizon when Tanner woke her.
“Brianna,” he said softly. “It’s time to roll out. You have enough time to dress and wash up before the coffee’s ready.”
“Mmm,” she answered. Kind of.
Tanner chuckled. “Is that an ‘okay’ or a ‘get lost’?”
The warm sound of his soft laughter tingled Bri into full wakefulness. She yawned before saying, “Okay, I’ll be out in a few minutes.”
She was true to her word…almost. It was a little more than a few minutes, more like eight or ten, and two of those minutes were used up simply getting her tired body out of the sleeping bag. Once she was upright, Bri pulled on jeans and a shirt over her long underwear and clean socks before pulling on her boots. By the time she finished, the soreness in her body from having sex after so long a time had eased to a mild ache.
After using her toiletries and pulling her hair back into a ponytail, she repacked her bag and carted it outside. She dropped it next to Tanner’s, then made a dash for the bushes.
His soft chuckle followed after her. Trying her best to ignore a tingle in response to him, she concentrated on the urgent business at hand.
Finished, she cleaned her hands on a toss-away sanitary wipe, then followed the aroma of coffee back to camp.
She found Tanner squatting over the fire, preparing two cups of instant coffee. He held one up to her and she took it.
As he worked to put out the fire, his muscular thighs stretched the denim of his jeans, reminding her of how impressive they’d felt against her last night. When he looked up and she saw his face behind the curtain of his dark hair, she remembered how his eyes had looked down at her with passion. She promptly dropped her cup.
Boyo jumped up, barking at the sound of the tin cup hitting a rock. Taking up the charge, the horses whinnied and restlessly moved.
“Now look what you’ve done,” Tanner said, standing. “You’ve gone and spooked the animals.”
“S-sorry, I don’t know what happened. I’m not usually clumsy.” Nor did she usually get affected like that by a man.
Tanner handed Bri his own coffee and, after calming down Boyo, went to settle the horses.
Bri watched his easy gait, his tight rear, and once again felt unsteady. She had to force her eyes away from his body and onto the horses. From a sack he’d pulled out of the pack, he sprinkled some feed on the ground for the two horses. His diversion worked. The horses went immediately to their feed.
He was impressive with the animals. Gentle, firm when needed but always attentive, just as he’d been last night with Boyo in the tent.
And with her, said an inner voice.
She managed to ignore the images that thought conjured.
“We’ve got to eat and get going,” Tanner told her when he returned to the fire. “I’m sure Minnich isn’t out there lingering over breakfast.” Before she could agree, he handed her an oatmeal bar.
She was so hungry she downed it before Tanner had the fire out.
When he got up and noticed her empty wrapper, he seemed surprised. “Would you like another one?”
Embarrassed, she looked up at him from underneath her lashes. “If we have enough.”
Chewing his own bar, he retrieved another and gave it to her. “We’ve got to get packed now.”
She followed his lead, picking up her coffee cup and loading her saddlebag on Chocolate.
“Here, I’ll take that.” Tanner came up beside her to heft the other pack she held. “It’s heavy.”
“I can handle it,” she said, but the words got stuck in her throat when she turned and found his face mere inches from hers. He lingered there, and, too awestruck to move, Bri drew in the scent of him. He looked even better in the light of day than he had last night.
When she found her voice, she asked, “What are you doing?”
“Me?” Tanner replied. “You’re the one who was batting those long eyelashes at me before. Are they fake?”
“Fake?” Bri nearly screeched but held back to not startle the animals again. “I’ll have you know, Mr. Wolfe, I have never in my life worn fake eyelashes…or anything else.”
Tanner’s face split in a grin. “I know. You’re the real thing,” he drawled as he ran a slow, heated look over her body from head to toe, allowing his eyes to travel where his hands had gone last night.
The slow burn in Tanner’s eyes gave Bri a hot flash. Steadying the uneven rhythm of her breathing, she croaked out, “Is there any water?”
Without stepping far from her, he pulled a bottle out of his saddlebag. She took it and gulped a mouthful. The cold water did nothing to calm her heated thoughts. Last night had been…everything. It was as if they’d suddenly become one…one body, one soul, one completed entity. Making love with Tanner had been the best experience of her life, and she couldn’t wait to do it again and again…
She couldn’t stifle the gasp that rose out of her throat. Oh, Lord, she was in big-time trouble.
“Are you okay?” concern shaded Tanner’s voice.
“Yes…I’m sorry,” she managed to say. “The breakfast bar must have gotten stuck in my throat.” At his skeptical look, she turned away, going to retrieve another pack.
Within twenty minutes they had their mounts ready, the packhorses loaded and were on the move.
They rode single file along the narrow track. When the path widened enough for two, Bri rode up alongside him.
“I’ve been thinking,” she said. “Suppose Minnich doesn’t follow the stream but moves high into the mountains?” She’d forced herself to ignore Tanner and focus on the reason they were here.
“Unless he knows exactly where there is more water, he can’t afford to do that. He has food, but eventually he’ll run out of that. Now he can last a good while without food, foraging for edible early-spring plants and berries. But water?” He shook his head. “The way I see it, he’ll likely stay with the stream.” He sent a sidelong look at her. “Naturally I could be wrong. The melting snow is filling many small streams and creeks. If he knows his way around these mountains, he’ll veer off. But I’m banking he doesn’t know them that well.”
Bri nodded her understanding. “But I know you enough by now to be fairly sure you thought he would stay on this course. You didn’t hesitate, you deliberately chose this way. Why?”
“Because this way leads into the thickest section of the wilderness, the least traveled by tourists, hikers and backpackers. And because this stream is well marked on maps of the area.”
“Makes sense. I should have known better than to even ask such a stupid question.”
“No.” Tanner shook his head, swinging the ponytail hanging out from under the wide brim of his hat. “You can ask anything you want, Brianna. There are no stupid questions, just sometimes stupid answers.”
“Somehow I don’t think you give many of them.”
He smiled at her compliment. Already soft, Bri’s insides went all squishy. She gathered the loose reins to drop back again, but his hand snaked out, covering hers.
