He spit out water and bellowed, “Why the hell did you tickle me?”
“I wasn’t tickling you. I was trying to show you what’s coming right at us!” Sprawled on top of him, she curled her fingers around Mitch’s granite jaw and turned his face toward the approaching shadow.
Mitch’s ribcage expanded beneath her chest. “Damn, he’s close.”
The bear paused mid-way into the back yard, its breath coming out in streams of steam like a black fire-breathing dragon. His muzzle turned toward the deck and a stream of iridescent spit dripped from his mouth.
Jaye grabbed the edge of the hot tub and pulled her torso off Mitch.
Two wet palms latched around her waist. “What are you doing?”
Jaye tried to wriggle out of his grip, careful to keep her tone low so the bubbling water might mask her voice. “I can beat him to the house.”
“No, you can’t. He’s faster than you, city girl.” Mitch pulled her away from the edge with an easy swing of his body.
“Let go!” She pushed his hands off her, lowering her bikini bottoms halfway down her hips by mistake.
Big hands clamped under her armpits, lifted her, and plunked her into his lap so she straddled his thighs.
Jaye glowered at the vein bulging in his temple and hastily tugged her bikini back into place.
The bear’s round ears angled toward the house.
Mitch manacled an arm around her waist and whispered. “I saw this guy last winter. He’ll back off.”
“He looks hungry.” Jaye’s heart squeezed into her throat. She gripped the heavy cord of muscle running along Mitch’s shoulders and watched the animal’s nose twitch. “I think he smells a hot vat of people soup.”
“Bears don’t eat people.” Mitch’s tone was calm. “Once he figures out we don’t have any food, he’ll leave.”
“What if he doesn’t?”
With a narrowed gaze, Mitch sized-up the animal. “I’ll get out and distract him while you walk into the house.”
The bear swung its head toward them.
Jaye curled her hand around the back of Mitch’s neck, terrified he’d get out of the water in some misguided, heroic attempt to save her.
Under the swirling water, he splayed his palm against her back to draw her close.
She let him press her chest to his. Against her ribcage, she felt his heartbeat pound. The rhythm was steady and strong, like he’d do anything to protect his factory, his home, his woman.
They watched in silence, waiting.
The bear huffed, turned, and galloped into the forest.
“He’s leaving.” The rigid tension along Mitch’s neck loosened.
Jaye let out a breath and stood but her feet slid, sending her skidding along the slick fabric of Mitch’s swim trunks until her crotch thudded against his. A full-blown erection nestled between the vee of her legs.
He muttered an oath and gripped her hips.
“Do hungry bears turn you on?” she sputtered, aware of her own nipples hardening into two rigid points under the thin layer of her wet bikini top.
A red blush flamed up his neck. “You were clinging to me, practically naked. How do you expect me to react?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I thought you were distracted by the bear standing twenty feet away.” She took one look at the steely blue-eyed gaze drilling into hers and kissed him, hard.
His tongue mated with hers and he took her rump in both hands, pressing her soft center against his hard sex.
Out of her mind with want, Jaye caressed his short hair and flattened her breasts against his chest. Dragging away her mouth for a quick breath, she murmured, “I need this.”
He let out a strangled laugh. “You don’t need anything, thanks to a gigantic trust fund that would make an oil tycoon envious.”
She pushed away. “Can’t you get your head out of my wallet?”
“Kind of difficult to do when your wallet is the size of Manhattan, but I can think of something else to talk about.” A snarl curled his upper lip. “Why don’t you tell me why you’re running back to David?”
An invisible fist squeezed her throat, reducing her breath to a thin, wavering trickle. “I’m not running to David.”
“Don’t lie to me, dammit. In ten days, you’ll collaborate with him even though he treated you like crap. Your actions don’t make sense.” Mitch leaned over her with slitted eyes. “Or did you lie to me about what happened between you and David, too?”
Grief arced through her. “I didn’t lie about anything.”
“Bullshit.” He shoved back against the tub’s wall, sending large ripples across the water’s surface. “I’d hoped you’d forget about David. Hell, I even thought you’d change your mind about setting up a marketing plan that would condemn me to years of making the same thing, day in and day out. What a joke.”
“But I changed—”
“Just tell me where you’ll be a few months from now in case I want to bitch about the fact I’m sick and tired of making stemware.” Mitch rubbed his forehead and let out a bitter laugh. “Assuming you consultants care about what you’ve done to your clients.”
There was that word again—consultant. Whenever he was angry, he tossed that word around like a vile curse. Jaye bit her bottom lip and had a sudden epiphany. “Your mother left with a consultant, didn’t she?”
“He was a damn fine one, too. Reorganized our shipping department and updated our database in four short weeks.” Resentment hardened the muscles along Mitch’s jaw into stone. “My mother left the same day he did.”
“That’s why you hate consultants. You blame them for tearing everything apart.” Jaye backpedaled until her shoulder blades bumped against the tub’s hard plastic wall.
Mitch lowered his head and shot a tortured look across the bubbling water. “You’re not far enough. I can still reach you.”
She lifted her chin. “But you won’t, because you think I’m no better than the man who broke up your parent’s marriage.”
“You’re just like him. A self-serving, manipulative liar.”
That ugly word made her throat tighten so hard, she could only breathe in short,
