The hell with subtlety, he decided. “Are you two together?”
She took a long drink from her water bottle, a nice delay tactic, he noted. “I’m not sure that matters,” she said carefully.
Reaching out, he put a hand on her arm and stopped her progress, pulling her around to face him. The others were all still far enough back that no one was in danger of overhearing. “You can’t see why it would matter to me?”
“You’re a client,” she whispered.
“For a few days, that’s all.”
She licked her lips. Now that was definitely a nervous gesture, but he liked it. He liked her.
Much more than he’d intended to, when it’d once been a purely physical thing.
“We need to keep moving,” she said, her gaze dropping for the briefest beat to his mouth.
Yeah, he liked that, too, but then she pulled free and began walking again.
She’d picked up her pace, and he had to hurry to catch up with her, which stole his breath and kept him, temporarily, from asking anything more.
“Your bio says you’re some sort of electronics wizard,” she said, because apparently she still had breath. “After seeing some of your toys so far, I believe it. How many did you bring, anyway?”
“Uh…”
She slowed down and let out a disbelieving laugh as he passed her. “You know what? Don’t tell me.”
“Okay.” Turning to face her, he walked backwards, smiling as he thought of the iPod and the PDA he carried. Not to mention his Sidekick…“I won’t.”
“Hey, watch out-”
He turned forward just as she pushed past him to shove a large branch out of the way. If she hadn’t, he’d have walked right into it, head first.
Feeling just a little bit stupid and a lot awkward, neither new when it came to beautiful women, he shot her a sheepish smile, which faded.
She’d gotten scratched across her neck.
“Ah, hell.” He reached for her. “That was my fault. I’m so sorry.”
She put a hand to her neck, then looked at her fingers, which had a little smear of her blood. “It’s nothing.”
He put his hands on her arms to stop her forward movement, and studied the scratch. True, it wasn’t bad, but it bothered him just the same. He shrugged off his pack and squatted down to go through it.
The folded piece of paper fell out of his pocket again.
She looked at it. “I know. Your grocery list.”
“It’s a list, but not groceries.”
“A to-do list.”
“Sort of.” He called it his To-Do-If-He-Didn’t-Die list.
“What does a guy like you put on a list?”
A guy like him? What the hell, he handed it to her, then reached into the front zippered pocket of his pack for a tube of antiseptic and a Band-Aid.
She laughed at the first aid stuff. “You’re kidding.”
“See? And you thought I’d be totally unprepared. I’ll have you know I also have sunscreen, waterproof matches, moleskin and aspirin.”
“Nice.” She peered into the pouch. “And a snakebite kit?”
“Yep. And also water purification tablets.”
“And the kitchen sink?” She unfolded his list and began to read.
He watched her face, and when she was finished, she handed the paper back to him.
“What do you think?” he asked, unable to help himself.
“I think that maybe everyone should have a list.”
He’d never thought so until he’d made his. He had it memorized. One, take a guided trek in the mountains. Two, sail the Greek Islands. Three, eat less fast food and more seafood, even if it’s slimy. Four, remember to smell the flowers. Five, tell the people in your life that you love them.
What would be on yours?” he asked her.
“You know, I have no idea.” She lifted a hand. “All my life, if I’ve wanted to go somewhere, or see something, I’ve just done it.”
“That’s an amazing way to live,” he agreed. “But there’s got to be something you’d like to do that you haven’t.”
A shadow crossed her face, and she grabbed the antiseptic.
“Here. Let me.” He took it back and stroked some of the cream over her skin, which felt like warm silk beneath his fingers.
Warm silk. He was thinking of warm silk. To take his mind off that, he reached for the Band-Aid, but she pulled away.
“It’s just a scratch.” Her body language said back off because she could take care of herself. Her eyes said he’d gotten too close, and not just proximity-wise.
What had spooked her, he wondered. The list? No, she didn’t understand the significance of the list. Maybe it’d been the way he’d tried to take care of her scratch. Had no one ever fussed over her before? And why did that make him want to do just that? “Does it sting?”
“No,” she said, a bold lie that made him laugh softly. “Here.” Putting his hands on her shoulders, he looked into her eyes as he tilted his head and leaned in. She inhaled sharply as he blew very gently across her neck.
“Jared-”
“Shh.” He waited to see if she would, and when she clamped her lips shut, he took that as approval and did it again, blowing yet another breath over her flesh, which he noticed was now covered in goose bumps.
She shivered, and he knew damn well it wasn’t from pain. “Better?” he murmured.
“Um-”
He lifted his head. “Because I have one more trick up my sleeve,” he said, and kissed her neck, right above the cut.
She slapped a hand on his chest. “What are you doing?”
“Kissing it all better.” He lifted his head and smiled into her shocked face. “Did it work?”
“I…” Looking adorably perplexed, she put her hand to her neck. Her voice came low and throaty. Incredibly sexy. “You kissed me.”
“No.”
“No?”
“Nah. Now this…this a kiss.” Sliding his hand around to the back of her neck, he pulled her in, then stopped with his lips a mere whisper from hers. He absorbed the way her breath caught, the way his own did the same, including his heart.
Then he closed the distance…soft, wet, warm lips connected, her body an arousing heat against his.
She hadn’t budged, not even to breathe since that initial little panting sigh, but he could feel her heart stammering against his, and then…then she took the hand on his chest and fisted it in his shirt, right above his heart.
He liked that, liked that so much he pulled her closer, and-
And from down the steep trail, Michelle called out. “Lily?”
With a sigh, he made himself ease back.
Lily didn’t take her eyes off Jared’s. “Here! We’re up here!”
The others straggled along while Lily continued to stare at Jared.
He smiled.
She touched her neck again, as if not sure any of it had really happened; the scratch, the kiss…“Just about there,” she called out, and with one last look at Jared, she turned and kept walking.
With the taste of her still on his lips, he followed, the walking helping to clear his muddied-up heart. As far as the eye could see lay peaks and valleys and wide alpine meadows like green inland oceans, blanketed by a sky of sheer azure blue. The falls crashed loudly ahead, dropping into one of those green seas.
