She’d been hauling ass, hoping to lose him. In spite of the quickly cooling afternoon, a few damp tendrils of hair were stuck to her face, and she was breathing hard. Her eyes were flashing with heat and not the good kind.
He understood that perfectly. He felt the heat of a rare temper himself. “How was your phone call?”
She had the good grace to blush. “Great. Fine.”
“You could have just told me you didn’t want me to come with you, Harley.”
“Helloooo, I did!”
“Is my company that bad?”
She hesitated, and her gaze skittered away. He might have conceded the battle right then and there, and faced the fact that she’d really rather be alone-except for one thing.
Actually, two.
The pulse at the base of her neck was tattooing a frantic beat.
And her nipples were hard.
Since he doubted very much she was cold after that run she’d just taken, he got his first flash of satisfaction for the day.
Harley knew that TJ was a tracker at heart. What she hadn’t known was just how good he was. It’d taken him less than five minutes to find her, and when he did, she’d nearly swallowed her tongue. She was trying to be cool, when in reality, she was sweating, huffing for breath, and very close to nervous laughter. “It actually took you longer to catch up with me than I thought it would,” she said. “You must be losing your touch.”
“You lied to me.”
Oh boy. His eyes were glittering dangerously, which seemed in direct opposition to the slight quirk of his mouth, as if she was amusing him almost against his will. “I omitted,” she corrected. “Big difference. Though to be honest, I was thinking about lying to you. I was thinking about telling you that I hurt my ankle and that I needed you to go back down and get help.”
“You’d do that?”
“Yes, but Cam said that wouldn’t work. I called him to complain about you, but he wasn’t too sympathetic. He said there was a pool going, to see who would kill who first. I put a ten in on me. Killing you.”
She had no idea why she was baiting him. Except it was giving her a rush she hadn’t felt in a long time.
“I wouldn’t have left you,” he said. “I’d have carried you out.”
“Yeah, that was con number one.”
“What were the others?”
“Having you hold me again.”
“Again? What-” He gritted his teeth as his cell phone vibrated. “Search and Rescue.” He looked at her as he dropped his pack. “I have to take this.”
“So take it.”
“If you take off on me, I’ll find you and I’ll-”
She arched a brow, having no idea why the words sent a dark thrill through her instead of sparking her temper. Probably the aforementioned lack of orgasms. “And?”
“And…Jesus. Just stay,” he commanded. “Or I’ll…something.”
It was a desperate, empty threat, and worse, they both knew it.
TJ had to move back down the steep, narrow path about fifty yards to get clear enough reception for his cell conversation. The Search and Rescue team was shorthanded, so he agreed to be on call for the next two days. He then made his way back to where he’d left Harley, holding his breath.
She’d dropped her pack and was sitting on a rock, eating an apple. She laughed at the expression on his face.
Laughed.
He supposed it shouldn’t turn him on to be standing there while she mocked him, but it was Harley. She’d been turning him on, upside down, and every other possible way for so damn long, he was at a loss as to whether he wanted to strangle her or kiss her.
She looked up then and met his gaze, seeming to read it perfectly, because her own went bright with intelligence and wit, and something else.
Awareness.
In that beat he knew exactly what he wanted from her, and it would only start with a kiss. Walking right up to her, he pulled her to her feet, tugging hard enough that she hit his chest with a little “oomph.” He stared down into her face, so close to his. The grimness of her mouth conveyed annoyance rather than the easy amusement she wanted him to believe she felt.
She was pissed.
Well, get in line, because he was pissed first. She had no reason for not wanting help this weekend, and it scared him. All the things that could happen to her scared him. “You let me think you needed privacy, and I fell for it hook, line, and sinker.”
“Yeah, you should really work on that.”
He just stared at her.
She opened her mouth to say something, probably to rip him a new one, but then she seemed to realize that they were practically in each other’s arms, and suddenly her arms wound around his neck.
Worked for him. He gripped her hips hard.
She stared at his mouth. “God, TJ. You make me so…”
“Yeah.” His arms tightened on her. “Ditto.” And then, even as he said it, she shifted her body to his and he felt his frustration and anger melt into something far more dangerous. “Harley.”
Her eyes were twin pools of ravenous hunger. She licked her lips, and he couldn’t help it, he groaned and bent his head, until their lips were gently, almost sweetly touching.
“This is insane,” she whispered in one beat, and in the next they were kissing, hard and wet, and just a little bit desperate.
She moaned her pleasure into his mouth and then sank her fingers into his hair and let out a soft, sexy, demanding little mewl. He shifted so he could press her back against a tree, freeing up his hands to thread into her hair, to draw her in deeper.
Jesus. He was out of control, unaware of their surroundings, completely gone, lost in her, until two loud birds squawked at each other right over their heads, fighting over something. Harley jumped and pulled back, slipping down the tree trunk a few inches as if her knees had gone to Jell-O before she locked them into place.
He took his hands from her and braced them on the tree, on either side of her shoulders, as he tried to draw air into his lungs and tighten the tenuous grip on his sanity.
It wasn’t easy.
“So I’m guessing all is forgiven,” she said, her voice a little ragged.
He pressed a finger and thumb into his eyelids and took a deep breath.
“You look like you’re torn between kissing me again and spanking me.”
He dropped his hand and stared at her. “Good idea. How about both?”
Her eyes widened, then he hauled her up and kissed her again.
For a beat she was utterly still, then met him halfway, melting into him, over him, fisting her hands in his shirt as things went instantly wild. She came up for air first, but even then her lips clung to his before she slowly pulled away.
Looking as completely perplexed as he felt, she stared at him. “What the hell was that?”
A category-five hurricane. “A hell of an adrenaline rush.”
“And?
“And”-he finally went with total honesty-“I have no idea. You drive me fucking crazy.”
She let out a sound that managed to convey frustration, amusement, and temper all in one. “Same goes.”
“You should probably slap me the next time I do that.”
“Yeah.” Her gaze dropped to his mouth again. “TJ…”
Ah, hell. He was going to do “that” again, slap or not, and they both knew it.
In fact, they lunged at each other.
But instead of wild, this time the kiss was deep and soulful, and devastatingly necessary as air. He felt her knees give, and gliding his arms around her, supported them both as her fingers wove into his hair at the back of his
