“I never knew they could do that.”
Ian looked up from watching them eat. “You never come to the barns, so why should you? And why did you stop coming to the barns? You used to ride as a little girl.”
She tilted her head and seemed to consider his question. The light was long gone, and it seemed like the black sky was closing in on them. Only the halo of lanterns illuminated a circle around them. “You remember that?”
“I remember a lot about you. Your dad bringing you down. Yeah. Sure. You played around the barns and rode the smaller horses. What made you stop?”
She shrugged and crossed her arms over her stomach. “I don’t know. Things went bad. Dad got hurt. Mom left. Your dad died. Mine was different. I just didn’t feel comfortable going there again.”
“Yeah, but now? You work there. You can come for a visit anytime.”
She chewed on her lip. “Maybe I will now. This,” she waved her hand around, “has been interesting. Fun. So yeah, maybe I will. If it’s okay with you.”
He lifted his head and stared right into her eyes. She shifted her feet, as if uncomfortable with his almost heated perusal of her. “Your company is always okay with me.”
She kicked at the rocky soil, her gaze now falling straight down. “I didn’t think you liked anyone’s company. Except, maybe, Jack’s.”
His gaze was still right on her. She really didn’t listen to the not-so-subtle overtures he directed her way. “I always liked yours.”
She stepped back into the lantern light. “Well, sure, of course you do. I’m like the little sister you’ve always known, right? I mean you don’t have to pretend or be polite, after all, it’s me.”
He finished adjusting the last horse’s ropes, moving right inside her personal space. “No, Lynnie, I really don’t consider you a little sister. Anything but that.”
Her eyes grew weary with confusion. He made her uncomfortable as she shifted around. She was also shivering, and no doubt hungry and tired. He stepped around her, backing off to give her some more space. He hoped she would start thinking about what he was saying, and not dismiss his words as if they meant nothing. He quickly lit a fire in the fire pit. It sparked as he blew on it to get the flames licking the few branches he set atop it. There was fresh firewood off to the side of the tent under a tarp.
Jack and Ian could do the ride in three or four hours usually. They would leave at ten or noon and arrive no later than two or three. They’d have all afternoon to set up camp. But with anyone else, especially new riders, or a larger group, it could easily turn into a seven-hour ride, like today’s was.
He dug out the cast iron pot and hung it from the tripod over the fire before throwing some water and hot dogs inside it. She stared at it, slightly entranced.
“I know it’s crap food. But it’s quick and easy. I hope that’s okay.”
Her eyes met his in the odd glow of firelight. “It looks like a meal fit for a king. I’m starving.”
He smiled. The fresh air, the long ride, the heavy gear, took it out of anyone, but especially someone not used to it, like her. He quickly assembled the stove inside the tent. She came to the doorway and watched him. Propping the small, black box up on its stubby legs, he hooked the stove pipe swiftly through the hole in the tent roof. He started a fire that sparked and snapped as the dry wood began to burn.
“Oh my God! That’s so cool. I had no idea we could have a stove in here.”
Her face looked really bright and she seemed to truly be amazed by it all. She also seemed really into it. He didn’t think she was mocking him, although it could have gone either way. A girl like her could disdain a lot, and think all of it was stupid. Instead, she seemed completely impressed and delighted by it.
He quickly undid the cots and started assembling them.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t figure out how to set them up.”
“You don’t have to apologize. Why should you know?” He tossed the thermal pads at her. “Unscrew the cap on the end and blow these up. They’re not great, but they add a little more comfort.”
“Really? I didn’t realize we got pads too.” She started blowing, and her cheeks puffed out as she shut her eyes. When she blew, he stopped for a moment, thinking she was about the most adorable sight he’d seen in quite awhile. He ignored the thought and quickly got back to work. It was getting later and much colder. They needed to eat and sleep. He threw the sleeping bags and small camp pillows out, and she gazed around when it was all set up. The tent could have held another person. The other three would have set up the same tent, only a few feet behind camp.
She suddenly flopped down on the cot and sighed. “This is way more than I hoped for. I would have been so screwed with my pathetic, little sleeping bag.”
“You won’t get cold; these are suitable for zero degree weather.” He watched her nearly frolicking on the narrow bed with the puffy sleeping bag pillowing around her. Her hair fell down and he had to turn away before he thought it would be a good idea to lie down next to her.
She rolled up on her side, placing one hand under head and her elbow under her. “Why did you think far enough ahead to pack for me? How could my brothers not know everything I’d need?”
He finished pulling some of gear. “Because your brothers barely share one brain between them. You should know that.”
She shuffled around. “That’s kind of mean.”
“Kind of true too, I don’t hear you arguing.”
“Okay, kind of true.”
She got up then and started unpacking her duffel bag from under her bed while searching for personal items. He set up a small, metal table and indicated for her to put her stuff on it. She flashed a grateful smile. She was fidgeting around. Her strange behavior finally entered his conscious.
“You okay?”
“Um, yes. Just…”
“Just…? I told you I can’t read your mind. Speak.”
“I didn’t consider how… awkward this might me. You know, not a lot of privacy.”
“I warned you.”
“Yes, but at the time, I thought my brothers would be here, and I’d be staying with them. You’re not my brother.”
“No. I’m not your brother.” He kept his gaze carefully away from hers. She was the furthest thing from being a relation to him. All he could picture is what he’d like to do to her on the bed she kept frolicking on with so much girlish wonder.
She was still fidgeting, and acting weird, so Ian said, “Look, I’ll step out. Do whatever you need to do.” Maybe she was cold and needed to put on more clothes or something.
She followed him as he passed by the fire to warm his hands. Okay, she did not want to change. She was almost hanging onto the back of him, yet she would not meet his gaze.
He thought the whole tell me what you need talk could actually work. He sighed. “Kailynn? What do you need from me?”
Her gaze skittered around like a ping pong ball. “I need to… to pee.” She finally gasped it out as if saying a dirty word.
Well, yeah, of course, she did. He previously went off behind a tree before stringing up the highline and kind of figured she’d go somewhere in the camp while he was gone. He dug around his bag and found a flashlight. “Here.”
She took it, but stood there without moving. Then she clicked it on and stared at her boot toes. He nearly smacked his hand to his forehead. “You’re scared?”
She nodded. He could have guessed just by the way she blushed.
Grabbing another flashlight, he gestured for her to follow him. He walked her twenty feet from camp and then swung the light around, checking for any strange eyes peering back. Nothing as far as he could see. She stood there, anxiously nearly crossing her legs. Crap! How long had it been? Now that he thought about it, she never really wandered away at any point today. Shit. Did she have to hold it all day? They drank bottles of water getting in. “Did you wait all day?”
She nodded miserably. He had to cover his surprised laugh with a cough as
he held out a half roll of toilet paper. “Well, you can go now.”
She took it, avoiding his gaze, and nodded as she put her flashlight on the ground. He turned his back to her and heard nothing. Now what she was waiting for?
“I can’t go with you standing there.”
“Okay, I’ll go back to camp.”
“No!” she exclaimed, and quickly added, “you can’t just leave me out here.”
He turned at her loud protest. He had no freaking idea what he was supposed to do. He wasn’t the best at reading signals, but this was ridiculous. He spread his hands in a motion of giving up. “Then what would you like me to do?”
“Maybe, step over there, but keep your light where I can see it.”
He walked behind the tree she indicated. “Promise you won’t look?”
“On my mother’s grave, I don’t need to see you pee.”
She groaned in embarrassment or annoyance, he wasn’t sure. “Don’t use your mother like that. That’s gruesome. And never, ever again talk, or even think about me peeing.”
He was still chuckling to himself when he leaned his back on the tree where she insisted, for some reason, that he remain. After several minutes, she finally called out that she was finished. Her entire face was red when he returned. There was no more dancing around, however.
“Look, we both gotta piss out here. I go down from camp, and you come up, okay? So you don’t have to worry about it.”
“I didn’t consider that part.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “It doesn’t matter to me, but as we’ve just established, it matters to you. So pay attention when it’s getting dark and you’ll be fine.”
“You won’t wander up this way? I don’t really want to go any further from camp than this.”
“I promise.”
She trailed him back to camp and he set up the fold-up camp chairs. Scooping up the meal of hot dogs and potato chips, he set them on the tin plates. She took hers with a happy smile. He sat down and sighed with relief. He was tired too. The hot fire on his legs, and warm food in his mouth started to ease some of the exhaustion. She ate as fast and thoroughly as he did, even asking for seconds. Timidly. Huh. Kailynn was a little bit different out there in the woods alone with him. She was very unsure of herself. Half the time he spent with her were occasions when she snapped, or got rude over something he didn’t say. But out here, he surprisingly, commanded her respect, which was not easily earned. Except, of course, by Shane.
The food was in the ice chest they strapped to the pack saddle with special leather bags. When traveling they had the cooler on one side of the horse and a box of dry goods on the other.
Her eyes grew heavy after Ian took her plate and set it into the small creek that was five feet away from the fire pit. It was a small, glacier-fed stream that was only a foot wide and maybe three inches deep. The water was crisp, cold, and clear. Ian treated any water Kailynn drank with the SteriPEN, a device that uses ultraviolet rays to purify the water. He and Jack always drank straight out of the creek, and so far, nothing ever happened to them. In fact, the water was the best Ian ever tasted. It ran into Hunter Creek a hundred feet below camp. It was another a pretty spot that Ian intended to show Kailynn tomorrow.
He built the fire inside the tent up higher so it would be warm when they went to sleep. She went inside and Ian assumed by her shadow on the tent, that she was changing. He became sure of it when she took her bra off, and he detected the outline of her breasts. After another five minutes, he heard her shuffling around and settling into bed. She finally released a happy groan of contentment, similar to the sound one might make after a satisfying orgasm. He smiled. He got it. A warm bed after their long day felt every bit as satisfying.
He closed all the food containers and strapped up the horse packs. No sense in inviting wild animals. They’d never had problems before, but it was always a possibility, and one he would not inflict upon his tent-mate. He turned the lanterns off and entered the tent, closing the zipper door tightly. The fire cast funny shadows around the small area. The tent was snug and warm. Crazy to feel after the cold mountain air outside.
He didn’t look her way and assumed the sudden virginal shyness would keep her from watching him. He unzipped his coat and hung it on a nail he hammered in years ago on the ridgepole. Discarding his shirt, he unzipped his jeans and sloughed them off. The hot fire kept his skin warm as he slid into the flannel pants he wore up there to sleep in, and he pulled the long-sleeved thermal shirt over his head.
He turned and pushed the covers back, stopping in shock when he caught Kailynn’s gaze. She was facing him and her eyes were wide as they remained fastened on him. He was surprised she bothered to look at him, since she seemed to avoid it most of the time. Now alone, in a tent, she watched him change? Weird girl.
“Need anything?”
She shook her head, and her long hair fell into her mouth. She shook it away and turned flat on her back. Ian sighed with relief too when his head hit the pillow and his body became enveloped in the soft down of the sleeping bag. The dark now seemed very quiet. Only Hunter’s Creek gushed and bubbled, doing a good job of keeping other sounds away. It always helped him sleep easier.
He rolled onto his side and closed his eyes, but never really expected to go to sleep with Kailynn Hayes in quite this way. A ball of contentment lodged in his chest, and eager anticipation for the next few days. It was all new for him, but very welcome nonetheless.
He wasn’t sure how to proceed with her and couldn’t get a read on what she thought, wanted, or even considered doing with him. He didn’t usually make a move on a woman unless he was relatively sure it was welcomed. It just wasn’t his style. But with Kailynn? Ian had no idea.
Chapter Seven
KAILYNN NEVER FELT SO exhausted in her entire life. Every muscle in her body ached or felt thoroughly fatigued. She was also never so exhilarated. The entire day became a smorgasbord for her senses. There were ten miles of mountain and wilderness views to drink in. Glimpses of high, majestic mountain peaks, rushing waterfalls, and moss-laden creek banks. When the sun shone, it looked like a magical forest straight from a young kid’s imagination. Never mind the hours upon hours she spent on high alert while scanning for bears and wolves, and only after Ian mentioned it, cougars as well. She was always concentrating hard while riding the horse; and whoever thought you could just sit there, had never done so. Her entire body was tense and at the ready; especially after the psychotic jump Tommy did out of the creek. She could have died if she hadn’t been clasping the saddle horn with every last ounce of her strength.
Her butt did feel like it had been through a meat grinder, not to mention her thighs and inside her legs. Her toes were swollen with blisters and her shoulders hurt from hoisting the gear that always managed to take her breath away whenever she tried to help Ian.
She did not expect Ian to be as strong as he was. So lithe and lean, she never really noticed that his leanness was actually due to whipped-smooth muscles. His arms strained and she couldn’t detect an inch of fat. She didn’t know how she missed that about him.
She missed a lot of things about him. He was so different out here. He was kind of dominant and in control. He was kick-ass, actually. There seemed no end to what he knew how to do and did. At least, it seemed that way to her. He was nice too. Very considerate. He didn’t expect her to do anything, but in his quiet way, made her want to please him by helping whenever she could.
Why, though, did she watch him undress? Well, first, because considering how quiet he was most of the time, she naturally assumed he was shy. “Bashful” to put it in his words. She assumed he would have tried to cover himself while changing. But holy crap! He did not. He whipped it all off before she could blink an eye. His thermal shirt was tightly across his chest and hugging his stomach. His lean, narrow hips held briefs and she could barely see the outline of him. The same thing she was forced to witness in Drew, and which so horrified her with him, now had her stari
ng hard at Ian in the shadows of firelight. He lifted a leg to put his pants back on and she saw they were lean and long, spotted with freckles and soft hair. He might have even been bigger than Drew down there. The thought of Drew’s naked penis made her toss the sleeping bag over her head. Why would she have stared at Ian like that? Much less, even thought about Drew’s again? Gross. Yuck. She knew she did not like penises, so why did she gawk at Ian Rydell’s?
“Need something?” Now, she wanted to shrivel up inside her chest. He caught her gawking at him. She didn’t expect him to glance her way, although he didn’t seem the least bit perturbed to find her staring at him like a big-eyed barn owl. But… she was.
She needed to have sex. She had to get over her belief that the parts involved were some kind of mythical, magical parts of human anatomy. She needed to grow up and be like everyone else: blasé, if not bored, by sex. If only she could have imagined that sucking on a penis was pretty casual these days, and no big deal. Or stop blushing because she vaguely saw a male’s genitals through his underwear.
But sex was that big of deal to her. She was that naive and stupid about it. She was also that innocent.
She forced her brain to think of something else. The camp. It was awesome. Like a little, secret oasis tucked inside massively thick trees and towering mountains. It was a tiny pocket of perfection in the world, and no one else knew about it. The big creek was a good twenty feet down a small slope from camp. But next to the camp ran the cutest, little, curving trickle of water. Ian just went for it, and drank it straight off the mountain. She wasn’t sure about that yet, although it was very cold and crystal clear. The way Ian instantly popped up their camp out of nothing, was still a near miracle to Kailynn. She slept in a comfy, warm bed, with heat, and she never expected that.
The night was really dark up there, with nothing to break it up, but the trees, which seemed to further enclose it. His lanterns were like magic. But now, the fire began dying low. The trickling creek filled her ears, but she could also hear the brush of branches on the tent’s canvas. The twittering of something. She tensed. What was that thump? That little scurry? What if a mouse got in there? What if it crawled inside her sleeping bag? What if a bear suddenly grabbed the tent and tore it down? Or started scrounging around the food supplies? And the horses… clomp, snort, thump. They never stopped making noise; and she never imagined they were so loud.
River's Escape (River's End Series, #2) Page 10
