by Angel Payne
Everyone respected his growl of punctuation. His tirade at the boy was understandable, too. God, how I wanted to wrap my arms around him, pull him near, comfort the man inside the king. Instead, I jabbed my hands between my thighs to hold them down, enduring the heavy silence along with everyone else.
“What happens now?” Beth asked softly. “Did they break a law? Are they under arrest?”
“Regretfully, no,” Evrest replied. “Outlawing the Bull Rocks would heighten the allure of the quest.”
“Good point,” Crowe added. “The kwan gets more glamorous when it’s dangerous and illegal.”
Evrest pointed at a military Hummer that pulled up. “One of Samsyn’s deputies will take the three back to Sancti. They will spend the afternoon looking over video footage and coroner’s photos of the idiots who did not survive their trips.” A satisfied sound prowled out of him. “That is usually the magic key into their thick skulls.”
“Also spoken from firsthand experience?” Crowe quipped.
Evrest grunted. “Memories that haunt…to this day.”
Crowe hummed in understanding. “So alternative kwan will look pretty good to them by tonight.”
After we all shared a light chuckle, Harry declared, “I’m sure Evrest had no problem coming up with alternative kwan.”
“Harry Kaimana Dane!” Beth whacked his shoulder.
“Wha-a-a-t?” he protested. “Just tearing it down to the truth. Right, Evrest?”
I pretended my boot lace was untied. If Harry wanted truth, I was certain my face betrayed a healthy chunk of it. You have no idea what kind of kwan this man is capable of.
“That might be a discussion for another time and place,” Crowe inserted. “But I’ll sure as hell bet Evrest has climbed a few other risky rocks in his time, in the name of a few lucky ladies.”
“Maybe more than a few.” Harry’s supplement was practically an engraved invitation for my glare. Crap. He’d detected my evasion with the bootlace and now dove for my jugular—or in this case, my jealousy.
And dammit, did I burn to jump at his beat.
Which meant admitting…I was jealous.
Which meant admitting that I felt more for Evrest than I’d thought. Much more. Certainly more than the “this is just lust and you’ll get over it in a couple of days” line I’d been force-feeding my heart all day.
Which I forgot the next moment, anyway—as he wrapped fingers around mine long enough to whisper three perfect—and petrifying—words. “No. Just one.”
Chapter Fifteen
‡
I’d adored him for it—and damned him for it, too. Fate wasn’t going to let an admission like that go undetected. I doubted karma would, either. The pair gave us a “special treat” by joining forces, conspiring to throw us into each other’s path no matter how we conspired otherwise.
The positive first. Asuman Beach more stunning than I’d expected—and I’d expected a lot, having gazed at hundreds of photos of the area with Joel and Leif to coordinate a workable shot list for the days we’d be here. But what we’d seen on monitors was diluted beer against the perfect cocktail of the real thing. The water was as brilliant as stained glass, the foliage drenched in Thomas Kinkade color. Even the sunlight looked retouched by the angels themselves, airbrushing the gold of their wings onto the balmy breeze. And I’d thought Sancti was incredible…
Our “glamp” bungalows were unexpectedly awesome, too. Each structure was like a luxury hotel room on a platform, raised a couple of feet off the sand. Though guys shared a separate bathing house and girls another, each of the bungalows had a basic sink and vanity for its two occupants, along with writing desks and futon-style beds with pillow-top comforters. For all intents and purposes, we’d all be sleeping well tonight.
I’ll take “Premature Assumptions” for the Daily Double, please?
Sleep and I weren’t going to be friends tonight. Not after the first thing I saw after dropping my bag off in my bungalow.
Evrest slowly peeled his shirt off his sweaty torso while helping the crew unload the vans.
Hell.
I wasn’t the only one struck dumb by the magic. Dottie, emerging from the bungalow after me, stopped in her tracks and muttered something about fucking, ducks, and chests like Mack trucks, but I was too concerned about averting my stare from the man to make sense of the poem.
Like that was going to happen.
By now, I wasn’t alone. Female whiplash broke out all over camp. Nobody could be blamed. Angel-airbrushed sun and the V of this man’s torso…uuuhhh, yeah…the bronze statues of Italy definitely had a contender to worry about. His splendor was only heightened by the powerful grace of his movements. It was like watching a ballet, only the surf was the music and no man tights were in sight.
Thank God.
And ohhh, God.
No tights. Only Evrest and those damn faded jeans, clinging to that perfect place on his hips…high enough to be considered decent but low enough that every woman here secretly begged a few buttons would magically slip free.
But only one who knew what they’d see if that miracle occurred.
In breathtaking, burning detail.
I barely held back from licking my lips. The taste of his penis, erect and masculine and spicy. The feel of his length in my mouth, full and pulsing. Then the feel of him—all of him—inside my body…places that still ached from how he’d stretched them, imprinted himself on them…
“Cam.” The shout belonged to Joel—who thankfully stood next to Evrest in front of the supply trucks. I could actually look like I paid attention to him.
“What’s up?” I called out.
He jogged his head, indicating he needed to communicate at a distance shorter than twenty feet. Ta-ta, gratitude; hello, dread. Ogling Evrest from afar was one thing. Having to stand next to him and not trace those sweat rivulets down his chest with a finger? I was parched in the desert of desire, and he was the oasis—with a sign on the front reading VIPs Only.
But I wasn’t a VIP anymore.
He’d agreed. I’d agreed.
Then somewhere in the shadows between midnight and dawn, he’d kissed me with the intensity of goodnight and goodbye in one. An embrace also meant to be forgotten. Ha. Even now, with the noontime sun casting the only shadows around, every moment of that kiss was a relentless memory.
Not good. At all.
Because as I neared, one truth screamed with abundance.
The air between us…hadn’t changed a damn bit.
Every second was still a ticking time bomb of lust, every minute a skirmish of need. Who the hell were we kidding? I barely knew how I was going to keep my hands off of him through the next ten minutes, let alone the next five weeks.
“Hey.”
Joel’s terse tone had me pulling in my chin. “Uh…hey.”
“We have a slight issue.”
“Other than the fact that every female out here is worth shit for productivity because of you two?”
During my walk over, Joel had pulled off his shirt, too—becoming the yin to Evrest’s yang in the perfect Tao of hotness. But my praise didn’t flap a feather with Joel, who normally loved strutting it like the Italian peacock he was.
“How ‘slight’ of an issue?” I asked.
Joel braced both hands to his lean hips and peered into one truck. “How much of this equipment do we need tomorrow?”
“All of it,” I retorted. “Why are you asking? We’re scaled way back already.”
He dragged a hand through his hair. “I know.”
“What the hell’s going on? For the way Harry wants to capture the light, plus the intricacies of the fight scene, we have to have full—well—everything we brought. AKS, CYA, every ABC in between.”
“Well, we need to drop a bunch of letters.”
I threw my stare from him to Evrest. Ohhh, God. Looking at the view means dancing at the edge, girlfriend. The plummet would be worth it. He was so damn delicious as shirtless cowboy
crew dude. If the whole king thing didn’t pan out, I wagered Faye would get him some good gigs as a steamy romance cover hero. The titles practically wrote themselves.
Arcadian Outlaw
Wild Asuman Nights
Climbing Evrest
“Shit.” Forget the scenic viewpoint plunge. I was going straight to hell.
Yin and Yang construed my utterance as commentary of a different kind. After they traded a tense glance, Evrest stepped forward. “I regret this, sev—Miss Saxon—but this situation could not be helped.”
His near-slip didn’t help my tension level. “What situation?”
Evrest went steel rod with his posture. I cocked a brow. He’d have to try a different tactic—like getting dressed again—if he wanted to make me think of him in something halfway resembling his doublet. I humored him, forcing my eyes to his face. Not that it was a horrid chore.
“This morning, I took the liberty of sending out an advance team to pre-inspect the road you would normally use for tomorrow’s shooting needs,” he stated. “It proceeds through the ravine between the cliffs,”—he pointed toward the highest point of the bluffs—“and on the other side, ascends to the precipice that Harry wishes to use for filming.”
While every word registered, I mentally bookmarked his first sentence. “What do you mean, the road we’d normally use?”
His face went as rigid as his spine. “There was a reason I sent out the inspectors. We had heavy rains this spring, and I was uneasy about the stability of the ravine walls.”
“Why?” I darted my glance between him and Joel. “We were told about the rains already. We were also informed that they hadn’t overtly affected the ravine.”
“They hadn’t—at the time of the report,” Joel said. “Which was nearly a month ago.”
“What’s changed between now and then?” I challenged.
“About twelve feet of a rock slide.” Before I could fully gape, Joel flipped open his smart pad. The image that appeared, time-stamped just a few hours ago, looked like something from—well—a disaster epic movie. As Joel had asserted, the chasm was consumed by a wall of boulders, mud, and even a couple of small trees. The adjoining mountainside appeared as if a giant ogre had strolled by, dragging his ax behind.
“Damn,” I murmured, scrolling the rest of the images. Where was CGI magic when it mattered most?
The facts came together fast after that. Using the vans wouldn’t be a possibility—but Joel’s question about consolidating the equipment already told me he was working on an alternate plan. I was grateful for the forethought and told him so with a sisterly clap on the shoulder. “All right. Let’s cut the foreplay. How are we going to do this bitch?” I felt myself coloring when Evrest’s brows jumped. “My—err—apologies for the salty language, Your Majesty.”
His lips twinged. I was tempted to join, if only for a second. The irony was hilarious. I was really mentioning salt sprinkles, when what we’d said—and done—to each other last night was a hundred-gallon saline flush?
“Sometimes things need salt, Miss Saxon. And I believe you will be happy with how Mr. Bell has ‘fixed the bitch’.”
Weirdly, Joel winced. “That…may be a little premature, Majesty.”
“Premature…how?” I fired.
Joel pulled in a deep breath. “We can still get over the ridge tomorrow morning. Maybe even make better time than we would in the trucks. Lighter payload.”
“Right.” I frowned. “So why do you still look like the four riders of the Apocalypse are going to gallop in any second?”
Joel cringed again. “Funny that you brought up horses.”
My turn for stiff.
Really stiff.
That was the default a girl felt kicked in the stomach, right? By a damn…horse?
Make that a Horse. Capital H. As in, animals that were better for me to look at than interact with.
“H-horses?”
Joel pivoted around, looking me straight in the eye. “We can get up and over the ridge by packing over it…on a bridle trail.”
I responded like a sleep walker. Dread—the gut-deep, nerve-frying kind—did that to me. “Okay.”
Translation: shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit.
Chapter Sixteen
‡
“Cam? Are you sure?”
“Yeah. Yes, dammit, of course I’m sure.”
The words were as good as telling Joel to fuck off. I tossed him a contrite glance and he smiled his understanding—right before Evrest pushed in, protectiveness dripping thicker than his sweat. “You do not sound sure.”
I stiffened and dove my gaze to his feet. Back off. Oh Evrest, please back off, before I lunge at you and beg for a long, hard kiss to banish this damn lump in my gut.
“She’s trying to be noble.”
“Joel!” Screw the shoulder claps. I hauled back and kicked him.
“Or maybe just in denial.”
“Shut. Up.” Slow seethe. “They’re—they’re nice horses, right? Gentle? Old? Named Buck or Buddy or Bart?”
Joel turned to Evrest as if I were on mute. “Tell me you’ve got nutcases like her here in Arcadia too, man. The ones who suck it up for the team, even when it means compromising their health—or shoving down their legitimate fears?”
Evrest snorted. “That would be my younger brother, Shiraz. Last year, he worked thirty-six hours straight, through weather that was damn near a medicane, to make certain the island’s faster speed internet was installed properly.”
“Yep. Perf.”
I shifted backward as Evrest pressed closer. What the hell did he think he was doing? Apparently whatever he wanted, judging by the long fingers he clamped around my wrist, halting my retreat. “Which is it for you, Camellia?” He pressed into my pulse point, a man who already knew his answer. “Your heart races like a bird fighting a window,” he stated. “What are you afraid of?”
Fume. Let him have a nice view of the top of my head. Maybe my forehead. Focusing on the middle of his magnificent torso was a hell of a lot easier than gazing at the bottom of his jeans and the toes of his boots. “This isn’t the time or the place.” I seethed it at Joel as much as him—and meant it. One off-on-the-wrong-foot—wrong hoof?—experience with a horse shouldn’t and wouldn’t dictate how I related to another.
Evrest’s hold tightened. I dared a look up. The same determination hardened his stare.
I wasn’t getting out of this.
“Evrest! Darling!
Unless rescue arrived in the craziest form I could imagine.
Blink. Blink again. Yeah, a third time. This was too important a sight to screw up.
Sure enough, Chianna and Novah came strolling across the sand, looking right at home in their jeans, cowgirl blouses, and boots. Both wore cowboy hats with lace bows around the brims, matching the ties on their loose fishtail braids. While shoving strands beneath the beat-up Pentatonix cap on my own head, I wondered where their stylists were hiding. No other reason explained why they appeared newly changed out of evening gowns, including the pristine pendants still shimmering on their necks. Salt and sweat were the fashion call for everyone else out here.
Evrest yanked his shirt back on—crap—before leading the way in welcoming our new arrivals.
“Merjour, Distincts.”
“Merjour, Our Majesty.” Novah invoked what seemed like a standard protocol response. Chianna didn’t echo it. Alpha Distinct, smooth and cool, was clearly convinced her first hail had done the job fine.
“Well, well, well.” Joel instantly tapped into his suave Italian act. “Look what we’ve found. A pair of gorgeous sea sirens, trading their tails for legs, all for us.”
Novah swatted him, demure and charmed, while Chianna forced a smile. Her grappling hook was already primed, ready to take aim for one person alone. And gee, were we all waiting breathlessly to find out who.
Not. Helping. I elbowed my inner snark into silence.
Evrest tilted his head. “To what d
o we owe the pleasure of your presence?”
Sweltering afternoon, meet frosty undertone. I remembered Evrest’s increased tension in his office yesterday, when Chianna leaped on the news we’d be doing a location shoot so close to her hometown. There was a good chance he’d seen this coming—with dread.
“I phoned Papa to ask him if everything was proceeding well with the film shoot.” Chianna looked like she’d practiced the line a hundred times in the mirror already. “As First-Past Regent Mayor of Colluss, he is still very involved with the management of our region. He has his fingers on the pulse of everything that happens here.”
“I’ll bet.” Had to let the snark at least peek out for that one. Only Joel noticed, anyhow. I flew clean under everyone else’s radar, even smoothly blending back to cordiality. “It’s great to see you too, Novah. Do you come from Colluss, as well?”
The blonde bit her lip, looking like a blinding spotlight had been aimed at her. “I—I do.”
“She hails from the far side of the city.” Less than ten words and Chianna had turned into the dad from Dirty Dancing with slightly better hair. In her eyes, Novah was clearly as shameful as the dancers in the cabins on the other side of the creek.
“Northern Colluss is my birth home,” Novah confirmed. “I come from a little village not far from here, also located on the coast.”
“Is it as beautiful as this?”
I hoped to ease her nervousness with my praise. It worked a little. She smiled warmly. “Even more so. The sky seems kissed by stars, even when the sun is out. And the water is as magical as liquid sapphires.”
“She speaks the truth.” Evrest chucked an affectionate thumb to Novah’s chin. “Maybe that is why all the girls from Nor-Col are so pretty.”
For once, the smart pad latched to my side came in handy. Checking the emails was a great excuse to cold shoulder the jealousy that nipped. If only they didn’t take forever to load.
The wait gave me the chance to observe Chianna’s coping method—refocusing the spotlight in her direction.
