Regardless of her fears, she couldn’t be edgy or rude any longer. Women were quickly pairing off for the hike and if she didn’t act fast someone else would claim Natalie as their partner. Allowing someone else to claim her would probably be the best thing Kelsey could do. At the risk of being stuck with someone who made her even more uneasy than Natalie, if such a thing were even possible, or worse, being stuck alone, she wasn’t about to let that happen.
She hurried over to where Natalie stood talking with a small group of women and tapped her on the shoulder. Heat surged through her fingertips and she took an automatic step back and sighed. It was not awareness the subtle touch had evoked, it was simply a shock. The kind a person could receive from something as inanimate as a door or a pair of freshly washed jeans. Just a shock.
Natalie turned and smiled. Unlike most of the women who didn’t bother much with their appearance during this weekend away from the bulk of civilization, she wore makeup. Not enough to look garish, but enough to nearly conceal the slight hint of a mustache and bring out the golden hue of her eyes. “Hi. I thought you had already picked a partner and took off.”
Kelsey returned her attention to the slight trace of a mustache just visible beneath the brilliant rays of the morning sun and bit back a nervous laugh. It wasn’t enough she was having strange feelings for a woman, but she had to pick a woman who clearly battled to keep herself from looking masculine. “No. I thought you planned to partner with me today.”
Natalie’s eyes warmed. “I do. I’ve been looking forward to partnering with you since last night.”
Kelsey swallowed hard at the implication that seemed to be hidden in the response, and for the first time a thought occurred to her. What if Natalie didn’t just think she was a lesbian, what if Natalie was one herself and was using this weekend to meet a new girlfriend? Oh, God, what if Natalie had been awake this morning and not only enjoying every minute of it, but was aware just how into it Kelsey had been?
Anxiety lurched in her belly even as a rush of wet warmth gathered in her panties. She blinked back the shock that came with the unexpected stimulation the idea caused and drew a long breath of cool morning air. When words finally made their way out of her mouth, they weren’t even close to the ones she wanted to say. Those words were, “Sorry, I changed my mind about this weekend. I have to go home now and pretend we never felt each other up.” “Uh, okay. Well, if you’re ready…”
“Just let me grab my pack.”
Kelsey used the time it took for Natalie to round up her gear and rejoin her to take several more long, deep breaths and regain her senses. She was behaving like an idiot, letting her imagination run wild and turn something that was merely a blossoming friendship into something that she didn’t even want to digest. At least her mind didn’t want to digest the way Natalie roused her. Her body seemed to have its own plans. Her sex was still heavy from the memory of this morning’s encounter and as the thoughts assailed her now, her nipples stiffened as well.
Cursing her reaction, she crossed her arms firmly over her chest. She was building this up in her head, is all. She honestly didn’t feel anything sexual toward the other woman. She couldn’t, and if she didn’t stop thinking she did and get back to her normal self, the one that Natalie had first met last night, the other woman was going to get paranoid and stop talking to her altogether. She refused to let that happen. She liked Natalie, felt they had already started to bond, and she wouldn’t lose her friendship over foolish fears.
Kelsey took one last calming breath as Natalie returned and they started on their journey up the winding mountain trails. The first fifteen minutes of the hike they were accompanied by other women, then the group slowly dwindled until it was the two of them on their own narrow path. Kelsey managed to keep her edginess to a minimum and even that died away when the path opened up to reveal a valley of wild flowers and dried mountain grass. A Monarch butterfly with blazing orange and black wings soared past and she practically salivated as the photographer in her took over.
Using a knee-high tree stump as a table, she dropped her pack onto its lichen-coated surface and took out her camera. She attached the telephoto lens and repositioned the settings to best suit the area and lighting. Then unable to hold back a moment longer, she breathed in the untamed beauty of her surroundings meshed with the scent of the overnight rain and began snapping.
Nate was certain he had never witnessed anything more equally appealing and terrifying as the woman Kelsey had become the moment they stepped into the clearing. Her eyes were the color of smoke and a smile claimed her unpainted lips so widely that the dimple in her cheek looked ready to burst with pleasure. She was the embodiment of natural beauty, alive in her surroundings, so much so that warmth and excitement radiated from every inch of her. And he was harder than he’d ever been in his life.
The blood pumped in his veins and his cock was pressed so snugly against its tight confines he had to bite back a grunt of pain. A smart man would turn away until she was done playing photographer and that arousing as hell dimple left her cheek. Apparently he wasn’t smart, because he couldn’t make himself turn away for anything.
Moving her hiking pack aside, he took a seat on the stump and made a quick adjustment that took some of the pressure off his shaft and balls. He watched as she moved through the lush valley, taking pictures like a woman possessed. She circled around and returned to him some fifteen minutes later. She snapped a picture of him, then moved the camera from her vision and smiled.
The pressure Nate had managed to remove from his cock and balls returned stronger than ever and he found himself grinning right back, thinking the last things in the world a man out to establish a platonic relationship should be thinking. Things like how soft, sweet and sensual her lips looked right now. How the gleam of excitement in her expressive eyes and her wind tousled hair made it seem as if she’d just emerged from a lover’s arms and not a field of wild flowers. And by far the worst thought of all, how badly he ached to make his brother right about him and finish what she’d started this morning.
The setting was perfect. He would lay her back on the mossy ground and slowly strip away her clothes until only his hands and his body covered her ripe, rounded curves. He’d palm her breasts, suck on her distended nipples and then slide into her damp pussy with his fingers. He’d fuck her as she’d asked him to do this morning, not stopping until she was on the verge of exploding. Then he’d take her with his mouth, lick and bite at her swollen cunt until she couldn’t hold back a moment longer and she cried out her ecstasy while releasing her heady essence onto his tongue.
“That really gets you off, huh?”
Kelsey’s mesmerizing smile vanished. The camera fell to dangle from the strap at her neck and she pinned him with a distraught look. “What do you mean, gets me off?”
Nate blinked at the shock in both her question and expression. The words he’d spoken in the midst of his reverie registered and he bit back a groan. He’d thought his blurted comment over her belly button ring last night had been obtuse, but this one beat it hands down.
And once more it was her own damned fault.
She did things to set herself up for his ogling and out of place remarks. Things like taking pictures of ordinary butterflies and smiling so hard over the feat you’d have thought she’d captured Big Foot on film. Didn’t she see how that type of behavior could affect a man, make him lose his judgment and fantasize over things he knew damned well better than to imagine?
No, she most likely didn’t see it, because he was probably the only man on the planet who felt ready to come from such an innocent action.
Checking his thoughts, he stood. “I don’t think that came out quite right. I meant you enjoy taking pictures.”
Her gaze softened and she nodded. “Oh, yeah. It’s part of my job.”
Jobs. Now there was safe territory. There was nothing even remotely sexual in talking about jobs, and better yet, it would give him a chance to get to know Kelse
y on a more personal level—his whole point of being here. He hefted her pack over his arm and started slowly down the trail. “So, what do you do?”
When she didn’t respond, he turned back to find her standing where he’d left her, looking after him. An odd expression was back on her face. Not exactly distraught as it had been before, but not exactly relaxed either. “What’s the matter?”
She sent a pointed glance at his shoulder. “You don’t need to carry my bag.”
“Oh.” He swung the pack from his shoulder and handed it to her. “Habit, I guess. My brother and his wife and I take turns escorting my grandmother around. She’s had a lot of problems with breaks this past year. If I can help it, I try to stop her from carrying anything too heavy.”
The look Kelsey shot him said she wasn’t sure if she believed him. The irony was it was probably the first time he’d told her the truth all morning. Her lips fell flat after a few seconds and she moved past him along the path. When she finally spoke her voice was low and uneven. “That’s nice. I used to be close with my grandparents too.”
The ache in her tone was subtle, but Nate heard it nonetheless. It started a slow pressure building in his upper chest. A pressure that told him he’d been right about women and their feelings. How they dragged them into a relationship and let them all hang out. It also reminded him of the reason he’d hadn’t established a friendship with a woman in the past.
She made him feel sympathetic, made him want to ask even more questions in an attempt to soothe her. “They’re passed on?”
“Yeah.”
The one word answer was direct, enough so to make it clear she didn’t want to share more. And since he had no real longing to uncover any further emotions, he moved past the subject. “What about your parents? Do they live around you?”
Kelsey paused an instant, before saying in a tight voice, “Gone too.”
He bit back a grunt. He could dismiss her grandparents’ deaths, but not her parents’ quite so easily. Not when she clearly still grieved over their loss, and certainly not when he thought about how close he was with his own. “I’m sorry. I can’t imagine.”
“Don’t be, it was a long time ago. I just don’t generally talk about it.” She glanced back at him and smiled. “Anyway, you were asking about my job. I work for the Green County Conservation Department. While they’ve never given me an official title, I guess you could say I’m a naturalist. Mainly my work entails documenting nature in print.”
Nate didn’t miss the way she sped past the topic of her parents and while he was tempted to ask more, her latest revelation had him temporarily forgetting his questions. That and the fact she’d turned back to continue along the trail in front of him.
He followed the hypnotic sway of her firm ass, lust hammering through his bloodstream and any chance of his cock softening in the next twenty-four hours dying away completely. His mind filled with fresh ideas on how he might make her forget any lingering sadness she felt over her parents’ and grandparents’ death, and it was all he could do to stop himself from reaching out and dragging her to him. Not that sex would erase her sorrow permanently, but it couldn’t hurt things either.
Nothing but his peace of his mind, that is.
Kelsey might be a naturalist, and therefore about as outdoorsy as a person could get, and she might have a dynamite body and a smile that made him feel as randy as a teenager, but she wasn’t on his list of women to make his lover. Not that he actually had a list, but even if he did her name would have no place on it. He was here to make friends, and friendship is what he would have with Kelsey.
While it might be easier to move onto making friends with someone less tempting, it wouldn’t verify what he’d come here to prove. That he could handle having a nonsexual relationship with a woman he found attractive. And he had to prove it, because the closer he got to Kelsey and the more he learned about her on a personal level, the more he found himself doubting his claim.
Needing to eliminate any tension that might still be between them, he concentrated his efforts on making friendly conversation. “If you’re into documentation, does that mean I can expect to see that shot you took of me in some future paper?”
“Actually, it would be in a book if anywhere, but I doubt I’ll use that one.”
“I take it I’m not pretty enough for you?” The words were out of Nate’s mouth before he could stop them. It was a habit, casual flirting. One he wished to hell he’d have left at home this weekend along with his libido.
She stopped short and glanced back at him, shaking her head. Red fanned up her neck and streaked her cheeks. “Of course not! You’re a very attractive woman.”
While he wanted to eliminate the tension between them, the response was so unexpected he couldn’t quite contain his grin. “You think so, huh?”
The red in Kelsey’s face turned to deep scarlet and she looked away and started walking again. He could just hear her mumbling under her breath. It reminded him of the moment he’d first set eyes on her, floundering in the mud the evening before. He’d thought her clumsy at the time, the perfect distraction to take attention away from him, but since that moment she hadn’t done anything remotely awkward. Well, outside of sliding what she believed to be another woman’s hand down her pants and proceeding to grope that same woman’s ass. As far as being distracting, she did have that part down. Only the person she was distracting, namely him, wasn’t the person or rather persons he had intended to be.
“Should I take your silence as a yes or a no?” Nate asked when a few seconds had passed and she had yet to respond.
She glanced back again, the red was gone from her face, but her eyes still shifted from side to side, pointedly ignoring his. “I think you’re attractive, plenty enough to be in one of my books. It’s just that I don’t normally include people in them. It tends to be purely wildlife.”
He nodded his understanding. It was a reputable response. One that didn’t say much about the fact she’d admitted to finding another woman appealing and yet also didn’t put down his looks. He’d been right about that much in his initial assessment of her at least. She was a sympathetic woman where others were concerned.
“So, uh, what do you do?” she asked.
“I own an outdoor…” He droned off and shook his head. He did not own an outdoor superstore chain. Not this weekend anyway.
“A what?”
Good question, what the hell was it that he did? For some reason in planning this weekend Nate had put a lot of thought into how he would convince the women around him that he was one of them. He hadn’t put a single thought into what it was he did for a living. He’d just borrow Duane’s shop for the weekend. No way the man would mind. Or ever know for that matter. “I co-own a Sporties store.”
Kelsey responded without turning back. “They rent kayaks and things like that, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Which one?”
“What?”
She shrugged, but kept walking. “There are a few of them around here. One of them is only a couple blocks from my house.”
How convenient. Could he be so lucky as to have her turn up at it Monday morning asking where Natalie was? “Where do you live?”
“In Grayson City.”
“Nice area.” Not only was it over an hour away and not the city where Duane’s store was located, but it was both the perfect change in topic and the opportunity for him to develop their relationship a bit more. “One of my sisters used to live there. She moved out of state a couple years ago. Do you have any siblings?”
“Just an older brother.”
As it had when she’d spoken of her parents and grandparents, emotion entered her voice. This time it was edged with a happiness that suggested a smile lit her face. It also brought unexpected warmth into his heart. The reaction was about relief and nothing more, Nate assured himself. Relief to think she wasn’t alone in the world. That it mattered to him if she were or not was something he’d worry about later.
“You’re close with your brother?”
“Yeah. Though we don’t see each other nearly enough. Andy travels a lot. I used to go with him, but…” Her voice droned off and she hesitated a few seconds before continuing, as if trying to decide how much she wanted to share. “I didn’t have any real place to call home for so long I guess you could say I felt the need to establish roots. I still go with him whenever I can, but now I have a home and a job to come back to.”
Compassion erupted inside him with the answer. If she didn’t have any real place to call home then what did it say of her childhood? How long ago had her parents died and where was she raised? He shouldn’t want to know the answers. He’d never wanted to know such intimate details about a person before. It had to be his feminine side showing through, the side effects of getting close with a woman. “Your brother sounds pretty great.”
“He is,” Kelsey agreed, happiness once more apparent in her tone. “Actually, you’ve probably heard of him. Andrew Stuart. He’s on the sports channels quite a bit. ESPN2 aired a week-long special on him last month.”
Nate’s rambling thoughts came to a standstill, as did his feet. He stared after her in shock. “Andrew Stuart is your brother? The man who will take any challenge put before him no matter how death-defying it might be? The one who’s broken more bones in his body than most people even are aware they have and yet he keeps going back for more? The one who’s climbed Everest not once, but three times? That Andrew Stuart?”
Several yards in the distance Kelsey swiveled around. The gleam of sisterly esteem in her eyes was practically tangible and that sexy as hell dimple flashed in her cheek. “The one and only, and I’ll take it by the goofy grin you already know more about him than I could probably ever tell you.”
He might, and he might not. What Nate did know was the more he learned about Kelsey the harder he was finding it to resist her and the attraction that was practically screaming to life between them. Not that he wanted her more because of who her brother was—a man he’d respected to the fullest, but hadn’t yet had the pleasure to meet. It was the fact she was proud of her brother and not only fully supported his risky stunts, but did her best to tag along with him on his travels that had his heart beating harder and his testosterone shooting through his body at a potentially lethal rate.
Wild Hearts: One Wild Weekend Page 5
