He nodded solemnly, and for a moment she thought she was getting her point through to him, but then he smiled. “That’s why people love to watch it.”
His raspy voice strummed something inside her, but Kendall was trying hard not to be swayed by it, or his enthusiasm. He made it all sound so natural, so...sane. “You’re talking about the rush of all this, but you have to understand that at some level this is stressful, both physically and mentally, even if it’s fun. You jumped out of an airplane with no parachute a few months ago, for God’s sake.”
Daxon flashed her a cheeky grin. “Did you watch?”
This man was incorrigible.
“Maybe,” she hedged. “Just to make sure you got to the ground safely.”
Daxon waved off the comment. “I trusted my partner enough to put my life in his hands. Besides, Calvin wouldn’t have shown the footage if I didn’t make it.”
“Good point,” said Kendall.
He winked at her mischievously. “Which is why my free climb of Moonlight Buttress is going to have a live broadcasting element. Everyone will be watching, wondering if I’ll make it. One slip of my fingers and...” He lifted his hands in surrender, adding, “It ups the stakes.”
“Aaaand now we have the answer to where your added stress level is coming from.”
Daxon’s smile turned cocky.
“Not a chance. I thrive on the pressure. And I perform best that way, too.” He lifted his eyebrows as that last sentence left his lips. “Just in case you’re wondering.”
It was the kind of thing a guy said right before he headed into bedroom talk. She could tell Daxon’s mind went there for a moment by the way his eyes glittered with heat. And despite the fact that it was one step away from a bad pick-up line, that tempting heat traveled right through her body. Don’t get distracted.
“I’m sure your performances are...fine,” she said evenly. His eyes narrowed at that last word. “But that’s still stress, and it has to come out somehow. In your case, it could be taking on physical manifestations.”
“Like tension, which means the slow healing of my calf muscles?”
“Exactly.”
“I see,” said Daxon.
He actually looked serious, like he was really considering what she was saying. He was quiet, staring out the open French doors at the ocean, but she got the feeling he wasn’t seeing it.
And for just a moment, she wondered what it was like to be Daxon Miles. He probably didn’t even let himself think about his own vulnerabilities two weeks before a free solo climb. He’d have to have shut all his doubts out long ago, build a wall so they didn’t creep in. Kendall knew exactly how people like this worked. She’d grown up with a man like this in her very own home.
She studied Daxon for an extra beat. “Can we rewind back to when you answered the door a bit ago?”
“Sure.”
“What would you have done if someone else had been standing outside your door, someone you didn’t know?”
Daxon laughed. “Well, for starters, I wouldn’t have dropped my towel.”
Yeah, right. Her face must have said exactly that because he tilted his head to the side, his brow wrinkling.
“Truthfully, I probably would have sent someone else away today. I’d also probably dodge them a few times this week, just for a little space.” His mouth turned up, sliding back into his signature grin. “But I’m definitely not going to dodge you.”
Damn. One-on-one with this man for seven days? He was already distracting her after fifteen minutes. It was time for a new plan, a better one. The plan she had decided on before she knocked on the door—resist his charm—wasn’t going to hold up for long. At this point, she wasn’t sure if she even wanted to avoid this particular brand of trouble anymore...
“My turn for a question,” he said. “At dinner that night in Costa Rica, you said you were traveling to Hawaii for your next assignment. Is that when you got this job?”
Kendall shook her head slowly. She was a little thrown off by the fact that he actually remembered a detail like that from their conversation. But she shouldn’t be. There was an intensity to him when they were alone, like every ounce of his attention was on her.
“That assignment never panned out,” she said. “But I couldn’t get Hawaii out of my mind.”
He looked out the window, and she did, too. Across the patio and his private pool, through the palm trees, the ocean spread out in front of them, a sparkling blanket of blue.
“I understand why,” said Daxon softly.
“Costa Rica was gorgeous, too,” she said. “That night at dinner, I got the feeling you loved it there, like you were considering staying. What’s stopping you?”
Daxon’s forehead wrinkled as he seemed to consider his answer. “I don’t have any desire to stop traveling, to stop exploring new places, but I wouldn’t mind a little beach house somewhere to come back to.”
“You could still get one.”
He tilted his head, studying her. “My turn again. And tell the truth.”
Kendall crossed her arms, trying to resist the twitch at the corners of her mouth. “Ask away.”
“I want to go back to that hallway in Costa Rica. That kiss was...” His voice trailed off, and his smile turned hungry. “You can fill in that last word yourself. But something made you stop. What was it?”
Of course he wanted to discuss that. Though she supposed it was better to get this topic out of the way from the start.
“The obvious. You hired me.” She shrugged, as if that kiss hadn’t been a big deal. As if she hadn’t replayed it in her mind too many times.
“But the job was over,” he said. “And I’m not into mixing work with pleasure, either. The idea of you feeling obligated in some way to have sex is a boner-killer for me.”
She shook her head. “Thank you for that TMI moment.”
Daxon’s laugh was so real, so deep and easy and infectious, and Kendall found herself smiling, too. His laughter waned, leaving a glint of determination in his eyes.
“Do the same rules apply between us now?” His voice was low and sexy, making this question even more torturous.
Lord, he was tempting. Could there possibly be a way to explore this attraction and still keep her principles firmly in place? Kendall sighed. “I haven’t decided.”
“If we chose to explore...mutual pleasure this week, could it in any way interfere with your career? In theory, of course.”
The word pleasure rolled off his beautiful lips, echoing through her. More physical memories came back. The hard, defined muscles of Daxon’s biceps moving, flexing beneath her hands as he slid his tongue over hers. She shook her head again. “Not that I’m aware of. Though it’s not exactly the reputation I’m cultivating here.”
“Noted,” he said, and he sounded a little more serious. At least he seemed to understand that part. “I can keep my mouth shut.”
“Noted,” she said, giving him what she hoped was a dry smile. “I’ll take it under consideration.”
His signature grin curved seductively at the corners of his mouth, like he was considering it, too. In detail.
His sharp gaze was on her again. His hand stopped halfway down his jaw. There was heat in his eyes along with something that looked an awful lot like resolve. He was deciding something, and she was almost sure it was about her.
He rose from the couch and stretched, his T-shirt lifting, exposing the sculpted abs and dark trail of hair that led into his shorts. Was she gawking at him again? Kendall swallowed and met his eyes.
He flashed her a smile, a mix of amusement and challenge. “Well, if stress is why my muscles aren’t relaxing, I think we should start right away with my welcome massage.”
Kendall’s face flushed as she leveled her gaze on him. “This isn’t the kind of massage that has a happy ending.”
When Daxon’s smile broadened, still hot and even more determined, she knew she was in so much trouble. “If anyone’s getting a happy ending today, it’s you.”
Copyright © 2020 by Rebecca Hunter
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ISBN: 9781488062186
Taming Reid
Copyright © 2020 by Juanita Margot Critch
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Taming Reid Page 18
