Instant Attraction

by Jill Shalvis

  Nothing else. Nothing personal. No “Hey, you’re still there,” or “I miss you.” Much as that hurt, she understood. A man was still missing, his life in jeopardy. A life Cam was responsible for. He couldn’t let down his guard or be weak, not now. Probably not ever again, at least with her. It broke her heart, but she got it. She was gone, or would have been except for the storm.

  And in truth, this had all been a fluke, a fantasy. A really great fantasy, but a fantasy none the less.

  And it was time to move on.

  Word came in at ten o’clock that night that Scott Winston had been found. He’d slipped down a snowy ravine on the opposite side of where Cam had done the same thing. Unable to climb back up, and equally unable to make himself heard over the wind, he’d decided to walk around and try to climb up another way.

  And then had gotten himself lost.

  He’d been picked up three quarters of a mile from where Cam had ended his search. He had frostbitten toes and fingers, but other than that was uninjured.

  In her cabin, Katie was alone with Chuck, who’d shown up for the last of the cheese in her refrigerator. They sat together looking out the window at the stars.

  And then, one fell. Katie looked at Chuck. “Did you see that?”

  He blinked.

  “A falling star.” She slammed her eyes shut, but she didn’t have to think, she knew what her wish was—Cam’s safe trip home. She also knew something else, that she wasn’t quite finished here. “I have one last thing to do, Chuck.”

  “Mew.”

  She reached out to scratch him behind the ears, certain he’d hiss, but he went very still and let her touch him. “I have to do this,” she whispered. “I have to try with him too.” She threw on her jacket and boots, and raced back up to the lodge, to the kitchen where she found Annie making more fudge. The Nextel was on the table.

  “Hey there,” Annie said in surprise. “What are you—”

  “I need to tell Cam something.” She picked up the radio. “Who has the radio out there?”

  “Cam. But—”

  Katie pushed the Talk button. “Cameron Wilder, are you there?”

  She got a return squawk but couldn’t hear anything but static. But somehow, she knew he could hear her. It was in her gut, in her heart. And so was a bunch of other stuff she had to get out. She took a deep breath and pressed the Talk button again. “Cam? Goldilocks here. I know, I’m gone, or almost, but I have to tell you this first.”

  “Katie,” Annie said. “I don’t think—”

  “It’s okay. I know what I’m doing.” Or so she hoped. She pressed the Talk button again. “You once accused me of holding back. Not risking my heart. You were right.”

  “Katie—”

  She held up a hand to Annie to hold her off a minute. “As you pointed out to me, I risked everything but my heart, and I can’t leave here until I fix that. So here I am, risking it all.” She paused, breathed, and let it out. “I love you, Cameron Wilder.”

  There.

  She’d done it. She set the radio down on the table and sent a shaky smile in Annie’s direction. “Sorry. I had to do that before I left. Besides, you already knew anyway.”

  “I knew,” Annie agreed. “But I’m not sure the rest of the guys knew. Or the entire Search and Rescue crew. Or the clients.”

  Katie stared at her. “I thought you said Cam had the radio.”

  “Uh-huh, but they’re all together in the snow cave.”

  “So I just told everyone in the free world that I love Cam?”

  “No, just everyone within sixty miles or so.”

  Chapter 27

  Cam stared at the radio in his hands, ignoring the whistles and “woo-hoos” all around him.

  She loved him.

  “Aren’t you going to answer her?” Stone asked.

  “He can’t.” This from T.J. “You know he can’t. They can’t hear us worth shit. Besides, look at him. He’s all wigged out.”

  “Am not.” Cam rubbed his chest. His heart felt too big, too full. And he couldn’t breathe. Simply couldn’t draw air. Having no idea what he was going to say, or if there was any way at all that she could possibly hear him, he pushed the Talk button. “Katie.”

  Nothing but static.

  “Katie?”

  More static.

  He bowed his head and pressed the radio to his forehead. “Shit.”

  “Probably you should have told her first,” Nick said.

  “Told her what?” Scott, their rescuee, wanted to know. He was wrapped in a blanket, fully recovered, the stupid ass.

  “That he loves her,” Nick said.

  “Jesus.” Cam tossed down the radio. “We need to get back.”

  “Agreed,” Nick said.

  But saying so and doing so were two different things.

  As if karma and fate had joined forces to shit on him, the climb out was ladened with technical difficulties. It was late afternoon the next day by the time they got back.

  And Katie was long gone.

  The drive back to Los Angeles was completely uneventful, at least once Katie got out of the wild Sierras that she’d never forget. Exhausted, she stopped halfway down Highway 5 in the middle of farmland country and stayed the night before getting back on the road.

  She didn’t have a nightmare, but she did dream. She dreamed that she’d stayed at Wilder.

  To be with Cam.

  And in her dream, they made it work.

  She made it into LA just in time to hit traffic, choke on the smog, and then drive into the carport of her apartment building.

  Back to her world.

  At least until she visited with her parents, bought a new map, and headed out again to her next adventure, where this time she’d risk all.

  From here on out…

  Her apartment was warm and stuffy. Wanting only to pass out for a few hours, maybe have one last pity party, she headed through the living room, pulling off her sweater. Already she missed the weather in Wishful. She missed Annie and the others. She missed Chuck, who was probably right this minute waiting for a handout from Annie.

  No regrets. She’d promised Cam no regrets.

  She came to her bedroom and stopped short at the sight of the black duffel bag on the floor that wasn’t hers. She might have panicked except for one fact. She recognized that duffel bag. Her head whipped toward the bed.

  Someone had beaten her to it.

  Cam.

  He rolled over and opened his eyes. “Goldilocks.”

  “Actually,” she said, nerves making her voice weak as she came into the room and kicked off her shoes, “that appears to be your name now.”

  With a small smile, he sat up, fluffed her pillows, and leaned back against the headboard.

  He wasn’t wearing a shirt.

  She wondered what else he wasn’t wearing.

  He looked as exhausted as she felt, but he held out a hand, which she took, allowing him to pull her closer until she was sitting on the edge of the mattress looking at him, running her fingers over the tattoo on his biceps, helplessly smiling at him. “What are you doing here? How did you get here?”

  “Scott Winston owed me. His brother’s a pilot and flew me down here in his Lear.”

  “Wish you would have picked me up on my way down.” Her heart was pounding, pounding so hard she was surprised he couldn’t hear it.

  “I’d have picked you up on the moon if you’d answered any of my calls.”

  “My cell ran out of battery, and I left my cord at the cabin somewhere, I think.”

  “Ah.” Eyes never leaving her, he nodded. “That explains that. I want to tell you something.”

  “Okay.”

  “I have this habit of quitting.”

  “Cam—”

  “No, listen. Boarding was never tough, it was easy, so damn easy. Until it wasn’t. And then I just walked away. Relationships got tough, and I walked away. Mentally, physically, whichever. The truth is, I walked away from Serena long
before she cheated.”

  “I…” She shook her head. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “I know. Believe me, I wouldn’t know either.” He looked a little worse for wear. He hadn’t shaved, there were dark circles under his eyes, and his mouth, that beautiful mouth, was grim. “But I met this woman. She’d been through hell but didn’t let that stop her. Nothing could make her quit.” He drew a deep breath, looking into her eyes, his so clear and green. “It made me want to be a better man. I don’t want to quit you, Katie.” He scooted over in the bed, tugging her under the covers with him. He was naked, and went to work making her the same. “You came looking for an adventure, but you turned out to be mine. The boarding, the skiing, the whatever…” He was un-buttoning her shirt. “They’re all things that I loved to do, so it was easy to hide behind the wild, free-spirit label. And yet, I never put myself out there, not once. Not like you did.” He smiled at her, a heartbreakingly real smile, and nudged her shirt off her shoulders, his hands slipping down her fluttering belly to her jeans. “You, Katie, are the bravest spirit I ever met. You gave me something to dream about again, you made me whole. Lift up.” When she arched her hips, he tugged her jeans off.

  Her heart felt full to bursting as he pulled her in close against that glorious, warm, hard body. He nuzzled at her throat and unhooked her bra, tossing it aside. Her panties went next, and then, finally, she was naked too. “And without you,” he said, “it all means nothing.” His hands slid down her back, pressing the core of her up against a most impressive erection. “Nothing at all.”

  When she opened her mouth, he put his finger on her lips. “I hurt you.” He looked tortured at the thought. “When you would never, ever hurt me. I hurt you, and I’d do anything to change that, but I can’t. That’s one thing I learned the hard way, you can’t change the past.” He drew a breath. “But I can change myself, and I can learn from my mistakes. My biggest mistake was letting you go home without telling you how I feel about you. I love you, Katie.”

  “Oh, Cam.” Her heart felt like it was going to burst. “I love you, too. But what do we do with that?”

  “I know you want to head out on your next adventure. But I also know you fell for Wishful. Riley asked Stone if he could cut his hours in half so he could stay home and be a full-time dad. Oh, and Serena looks like she has it together, but she keeps her accounting in a shoebox beneath her counter. And Harley? She keeps her books in an office that looks like a cyclone hit it.”

  She could scarcely breathe. “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying that Wishful needs you, Katie.”

  “You mean…run my own business?”

  “I mean whatever you want. Run a business, work for us…keep traveling if that’s what you choose. I’m a good guide in case you haven’t heard.”

  “You’d really come with me?”

  “Anywhere. Whatever’s in your heart. Which hopefully includes me.”

  In answer, she let out a sound that might have been a laugh or a sob, she wasn’t quite sure. Oh, God. He was real, this was real, and she knew. Her next adventure wasn’t a place but a person. “What I want is you.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Can’t tell you how glad I am to hear it.” Cam rolled her to her back and cupped her face, giving her one of his no longer quite-so-rare smiles, the one that warmed her from the inside out. He made himself at home between her thighs; then he slid inside her, making her gasp and clutch at him. “God, I love you.” He kissed her as he began to move within her. “Love me back.”

  If she’d been standing, his vulnerable smile would have brought her to her knees. But she wasn’t standing. She was surrounded by him, and there was nothing better. “I do.” She slid her fingers into his hair. “I always will.”

  With a groan, he rocked his hips, thrusting deep.

  “Is your client’s plane still available?” she managed to ask.

  “I think so.” He rocked again, and they both gasped. “Why?”

  “Because I want you to take me home figuratively.” Her eyes drifted shut with his next achingly perfect thrust. She was so full to bursting she could hardly stand it. “After you take me home in the literal sense, of course…”

  Don’t miss Diane Whiteside’s latest book, KISSES LIKE A DEVIL, available now from Brava….

  Doors slammed below and the train’s first passengers began to spill into the square, gaily bargaining for a ride to the town’s more upscale districts.

  Morro woofed deep in his throat and rose, wending his way between the two humans to look over the balcony.

  A single man stepped out of the station, isolated by a swirl of travelers. He was tall and broad-shouldered, clad entirely in black. His broad-brimmed hat readily identified him as an American, a rarity here in Eisengau despite its famous summer music festival and military maneuvers. His clothes were well-made yet neither dandified nor a uniform. Straight black hair brushed his collar, and his skin was tanned golden brown from the sun, something seldom seen amid these stone walls. His blade-sharp nose, high cheekbones, and stubborn jaw could have been carved by a master sculptor.

  He paused on the top of the steps to look around, graceful as a hawk scanning a meadow, yet utterly un-self-conscious. His brilliant blue eyes flashed over the crowd like light passing through the finest stained glass—and lingered briefly on the old pension, where Meredith stood.

  Her breath caught in her throat. How many newspaper articles about American adventurers had she devoured? How many cheap novels about men like him had she bartered for? And to finally see one in the flesh…

  Morro thrust his muzzle between the banisters and took a long, considering sniff.

  Despite any claim to logic, Meredith opened her mouth to hail the American.

  A British officer, shorter, stockier, and using a cane, rushed up to him. The healthier man slapped him warmly on the shoulder, his face lighting up in welcome—and broke the thread holding her attention.

  She closed her eyes for a moment and jerked herself back to the relentless present.

  And keep an eye out for THE EDUCATION OF MADELINE, by Beth Williamson, coming next month!

  “Do you play any games, Teague?” Maddie asked as they left the dining room after supper.

  He didn’t answer, so she turned to look at him. A mischievous grin played around those beautiful lips, and one eyebrow arched over humor-filled eyes.

  “What kind of games?”

  Madeline felt a bit flustered and she hoped it didn’t reflect in her cheeks. She didn’t want him to know that her self-control was melting like an icicle in July.

  “Checkers, chess, backgammon. Those kinds of games.”

  When his grin turned into a full-blown smile, Madeline gripped