No. Not yours, idiot. Get rid of that idea straightaway, Marine. Not. For. You.
Unfortunately, it was entirely possible that his body had not responded quickly enough to the order he’d just given it. Because, though he’d planned to turn away from the sight of the two of them flirting, he hadn’t done so fast enough for her not to notice. Jill met his eyes and took a large step back from the firefighter, putting at least two feet of distance between them.
A movement that would have made “normal Sam” feel encouraged. But instead, the move disturbed him and he looked away. He had no intention of influencing her decisions. No intention of changing her life or rearranging her plans. If she wanted to flirt with a man, she had every right to do that. He just wasn’t going to be able to watch it.
By the time they were ready to get going, Sam was chomping at the bit for a real challenge.
He got one.
They’d leveled the activities and Sam got assigned the highest level, which meant he had all the guys. Julian and the others had the women, for which they seemed particularly ecstatic, especially when one of them had to coax a nervous Zoey across the zip line, holding her hand.
Sam was gratified to give the men a good workout. That always meant a fun time to him so he had to assume it would be the same for these guys. He demonstrated first and set the tone as he put them through their paces. Whether hiking, rock climbing or zip-lining the guys were up to the task. Even fifteen-year-old Hunter. He was already as tall as his father and clearly as strong. To make it more fun and challenging, Sam divided them into teams. Not surprisingly, this seemed to light a fire under them. He put one of the firefighters, Stone, Matt and Hunter on one team. In the other, Jimmy, Levi, another firefighter and Ryan.
The men hurled insults at each other as “encouragement.” Made Sam feel right at home. All of them were appropriately sweaty and filthy. Levi and Matt had challenged each other to see who could get to the top of the rock wall first. Just when he’d thought that Levi and Matt would come to blows and their Sheriff might have to arrest someone today, Jill joined them.
“We’re breaking for lunch.” Interestingly, she not only still looked fresh and clean, but like she’d just walked through a shower of sunshine and rainbows.
He on the other hand was filthy and loving it. Only thing wrong with this picture was that she should be dirty with him.
“Not fair,” Sam grunted within her earshot.
“Fair is the weather, Sam.”
“Uh-huh.” He gathered ropes and harnesses. “You might have to get your hands dirty sometime.”
“I’m aware of that,” she said, her green eyes flashing. “And don’t worry, I can get as dirty as the next guy. You of all people should know that.”
That last part she said in a half hiss, half whisper to him. No doubt she didn’t want any of her friends to know of their prior relationship. He wondered if even her girlfriends knew about them.
He wanted them to know. Hoped maybe some night after a few too many drinks she’d told her friends about a memorable night with a stranger she’d named Chris.
“I remember,” he said. “Far too well.”
Understatement.
Worse, now he had more than memories of an incredible physical connection. Now he saw a strong and smart woman who had plenty of friends and was obviously well liked. That would be because she was kind and loyal to her friends and family in addition to being incredibly beautiful and strong.
The guys followed Jill as she led the way to the picnic lunch she’d had set up lower on the hill. Most stopped to thank him for the best workout they’d had in years.
Ryan in particular had a strong grip as he met Sam’s eyes. “Thanks. The most fun I’ve had in a decade.”
It took Sam a minute to realize he had a straggler. Hunter, Matt’s look-alike teenage son stood by gathering equipment.
“You don’t have to do that,” Sam said. “Chow is waiting on you. Aren’t you hungry?”
“Yeah, but I’m in no hurry. There’s plenty of food.” He looked at the ground. “But I was wondering...can I ask you a question?”
“Something wrong?” The kid had Sam concerned. He looked far too serious for a teenager.
“No.” He shook his head. “You’re a Marine, right?”
“Still shows, huh?”
“My dad said something.”
“Oh yeah?” He would guess half the town knew by now. Word seemed to get around in these parts. “What did he tell you?”
Hunter shoved both hands in his cargos and rocked back on his heels. “That you might be a good person for me to talk to. See, I want to be a Marine. I’m ready to sign up as soon as I graduate.”
The words hit Sam harder than he wanted them to. It wasn’t difficult to think back to the time he was a snot-nosed kid who knew better than anyone else.
He chose his next words carefully. “You’re fifteen, right? Still have time to think about it.”
“Sure, but there’s not much to think about. I’m doing this.”
“Your parents?”
“Well, my dad’s cool with it. My mom’s another story. I’m working on her.”
“Uh-huh.”
Wise words, chump. But yeah, Sam was so far out of his comfort zone that he would soon need a map. But yet the kid kept talking. For a jarhead prospect, he talked too much. Then again, he was young. A kid. Sam remembered that passion and energy far too well.
But it wasn’t his job or business to recruit anyone to the Corps. He was neither going to encourage or discourage. He was about as interested in this conversation as that pebble a few feet away in the dirt and would talk as much as the rock would. After a few minutes of listening to the kid, with appropriate grunts in all the right places, Sam was saved again by his favorite boss.
“Hunter. Here you are. Your dad’s looking for you. Better get up there before lunch is all gone. We have some hungry men up there.”
The kid took off at a near run, which meant maybe there was already some of the jarhead in him. After a few seconds, he noticed Jill studying him.
“Cat got your tongue?”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It means I heard him asking you questions. You weren’t very friendly.”
“Maybe he needs to get used to that.”
“Sam, he’s just a kid. Just a few encouraging remarks, and send him on his way.”
He quirked a brow. “And maybe if I had any I would give them.”
She studied him a little bit more, almost like she was performing an X-ray. Yeah, he didn’t like that. Didn’t like the way she seemed to see inside him. It had been rather convenient that one night, when she knew exactly what he needed and why. Knew how to please him, almost like she understood the geography of his body. But he should have known that when two people had that kind of connection it went further than the physical.
Right now that amazing connection was a pain in his behind.
“Are we okay?” she asked.
“Should be asking you that question.”
She studied a patch of grass. “We’re okay. You were the smart one. Thanks for taking the high ground.”
He wondered for a moment if he should be allowed to get away with that. If he should continue to let her think that he was this honorable man who’d done the right thing. Who had not taken advantage of the situation and the moment. She thought she knew him. But she only knew the best parts of him so far. She didn’t know the animal that lived inside. While he was here, she might as well find out.
One battle at a time.
But when Jill turned to go, he simply followed her up the hill. What he needed right now, other than a clear head, was some chow.
Chapter Nine
After all her friends had left and Ryan personally spoke to each of the men, to further check them
out Jill assumed—as if the agency’s background checks hadn’t been enough—she had a moment with her staff. She was really proud of them.
All of them.
“Thanks to you guys, our friends and family day was a great success.”
She’d have everyone who attended today fill out a questionnaire with input as to what she could improve, if anything, but going by their comments today, she didn’t think they’d have anything negative to report.
Maybe this would work after all.
Hard work had paid off along with a vision that she wouldn’t give up on no matter what others said. And now she would have the privilege of having her parents eat their words on opening day. She didn’t need their approval for success. She’d proven it. Now all she wanted was a way to get along with one grumpy and sexually frustrated Sam. Without having sex with him. Today, the waves of sensuality rolled off him and it seemed he would take her in the woods if she gave him half the chance.
Or maybe that was her.
After dismissing the men, she retired to her trailer and to one of the many Excel spreadsheets starring in her life. But within two minutes of the blinking cursor, she was on the phone with Zoey.
“So. What did you think? Now, be honest.”
“Yeah,” Zoey said on a sigh. “He really does peg the Chris Scale. But wow, he’s just so...intense?”
Sweet Zoey. Probably didn’t want to come right out and say, “holy crap, Jill what were you thinking having sex with that dude? This guy is just...scary. Yeah, drop-dead good-looking, but let’s just be real here. He could have killed you.” Zoey wouldn’t say any of that, even if she was thinking it.
“I asked you to be honest,” Jill pressed.
“Okay, okay. So maybe intense is another word for...scary?”
Bingo! “Thank you for being honest. There’s hope for you yet.”
Zoey snorted. “You’re welcome. And are you sleeping with him?”
“No! We both decided that wouldn’t be very professional, now would it?”
“Just be careful. You know I work with rescues.”
Great. Hopefully Zoey was not getting ready to tell Jill that Sam needed rescuing. He did not. Not from her, and certainly not from anyone else, she would imagine.
“He doesn’t need rescuing.”
“I know. It’s just that there’s something about him that reminds me of...”
“What?”
“A wounded animal.”
“I was going to say the big, bad wolf. Or, you know, maybe a lion.”
“Hmm. I can see why you’d say that, and he does look a little bit like a cross between a wolf and a lion. But only when they’ve been hurt. When they’re, you know, nursing their injuries. Do you remember when Boo got hurt one time? He might be big but he’s the sweetest dog on the face of the Earth. But then there was the time he stepped on a nail. I tried to help him and he practically bit my head off.”
“Okay... Sam is Boo in this scenario. Like he stepped on a nail or something?”
Jill did sense underneath all that oozing sexuality, which was all he’d allowed her to see, there was something else going on. She sensed the mystery of the rift with his family was just the beginning. However, she’d seen him interacting with the men easily. He might be on the serious side but she certainly didn’t sense that he was in genuine pain. When he’d been with her he behaved normally, like they’d formed a baseline long ago and he felt comfortable there.
Today she’d seen firsthand what a difficult time he had relating to Hunter, who, even though a teenager, was one of the nicest people she’d met. She’d excused it, realizing despite his own experience or maybe even because of it, he might have misgivings about encouraging someone as young as Hunter to join the Marines. She wondered if he understood that whether or not Hunter joined the Marines, in the end it would not be Sam’s responsibility if he did.
“Exactly,” Zoey continued. “Like he’s in a really bad mood. Licking his paw. In a corner.”
Then again, it was just like Zoey to relate every human emotion to an animal. “Hmm. I don’t see that.”
Jill carefully moved to her trailer window and brought back the edge of the curtain. There was no one out in the now-black night. Seemed like the men had all gone back to their trailers, but from where she stood she could see Sam’s trailer and inside it was dark.
She hung up with Zoey, asking her to check in on her pet bunny rabbit Shakira and promising to check back tomorrow. Jill took a quick shower in the barely one-person-sized unit in her trailer. She dressed in her yoga pants and a T-shirt. Then eyed the desk filled with paperwork and figured this was another night she wouldn’t make it home. It didn’t matter. She felt safe here on the ridge, despite the fact that Zoey believed a wounded lion lived right next door.
Jill didn’t buy that. It wasn’t that she hadn’t expected he might have some issues. On the night they’d met, it was clear he was pretty much oblivious to the rest of the world. Hell, she’d had a bad day, too. At the time, she thought they could comfort each other. And she was pretty sure they had. Of course, she could only speak for herself, but that night had helped her forget for a little while. Helped her forget one more failed business venture, one more family dinner in which she had nothing to share. No real accomplishments to speak of.
But now he lived next door to her trailer, he worked for her, and even though she wasn’t a rescuer like Zoey, of either people or dogs, she wasn’t sure she could stay away. What that said about her she didn’t know, but Sam didn’t make himself easy to ignore. He’d been thoughtful enough to protect her from making a mistake with him on the day by the lake. That meant he’d considered more than his own physical desire. He’d thought of what it might mean for her. The action had been selfless, and in the light of the next morning she’d understood. Respect was important to her and Sam had given her that.
She grabbed her jacket and stepped outside her trailer into the black night. The lights were still out in Sam’s trailer, which probably meant he was asleep. Made sense. He was such an early riser. All her guides were.
On the ridge, the only way the stars were ever covered was due to overcast skies. Tonight they winked back at her, clear and gleaming. Would it be crazy to live up here? Maybe if this business took off she could sell her place in town and build a house somewhere on this land. She had no idea how to build a house or where to begin, but Matt Conner was some kind of contractor so she’d start there.
She was in the middle of dreaming about how many rooms she’d have and where she’d put the kitchen when a large hand clamped over her mouth. Instead of attempting a muffled scream that might not get her far, she bit the offender’s hand hard enough to draw blood. Rough calloused hands slipped down her arms and she was released.
“Good girl.”
“Sam!”
He stood behind her, only a beam of the full moon and the ambient light from inside her trailer framing him. In the next moment, he drew his hand up to suck some blood off his finger. Mortified that she’d hurt him, she still couldn’t take her eyes off the fluid moves of his tongue and finger.
“W-why did you do that? I hurt you! Let me see.”
“I’m good,” he said, and if she wasn’t mistaken he was grinning at her in the semidarkness.
“You scared me.” She went to him anyway, grabbing at his hand, which he did let her take and inspect.
“It’s nothing.”
She inspected his rough and calloused hand, drawing him farther into the light coming from her trailer window.
“What do you mean it’s nothing? I bit you hard because I didn’t know it was you. I thought it was some stranger creep who made his way up here. Do you see what you and Ryan have done to me? I’m jumpy now when men come up behind me and clamp a hand over my mouth.”
She’d meant him to laugh, but he didn’t. And he was right. She
’d barely nicked him.
“It was a decent start. But if that were to really happen up here and none of us were around—”
“No! We’re not going to discuss some possible scenario that might happen only because you were trying to... I don’t know, what were you trying to do?”
He shrugged. “Short answer? Trying to prepare you for anything.”
“And the long answer?”
He cocked his head. Studied her. “Wanted you in my arms again.”
She couldn’t help but bite back a smile. “That’s the long answer? I think it’s shorter.”
“Whatever.”
“Sam.” She wanted to be in his arms again, too, knowing this time she wasn’t going to die a horrible death. Without the sudden fear—and the biting. “We decided—”
“Pay no attention to me. I like to tease myself.”
They’d actually decided, come to think of it, to see if the whole spark between them had been a happy accident. Then he’d shut her down. She understood why now and it only made him more endearing.
She let go of his hand, but he reached to thread his fingers through hers. “I’m actually glad I ran into you. You owe me another thing about you today.”
He groaned. “Not this again.”
“One thing a day. That was our deal.”
“Right. Because we shared all the crazy sex but we don’t know each other.”
“Stop stalling.”
“One thing about me.” He pulled her back into his arms. “I have a thing for redheads.”
Her palms went flush against his chest and she decided that a little harmless flirting wasn’t going to hurt anyone. “Ah. That explains why I was able to get your attention that night when the cute and flirty waitress did not.”
More than One Night Page 7
