by Thea Devine
“Yeah, but jeans are heavy. Besides, you’re wearing shorts.”
“Just today and tomorrow while we’re kayaking. I’d suggest you do the same and then take two pairs of jeans with you.”
“For a week?”
“We’ll have a wash day.”
“Some vacation,” she muttered, and stuffed all but one pair of shorts and two pairs of jeans back into her bag. That’s when she spotted the two emergency candy bars she’d tucked in the bag’s side pocket. She quickly pushed the shorts back to conceal the treats. She didn’t know why. None of his business if she wanted to take them, but nevertheless…
“Let’s see the boots you brought.”
She eyed the pack and sleeping bag he laid on the table before pulling out the boots.
“Good choice,” he said, nodding. “Lightweight and waterproof.”
She didn’t deserve any credit. The woman who’d taken her reservation and credit card number had been quite specific. “Is that sleeping bag going to be enough?”
“Trust me.” He smiled, totally disarming her.
For the next week, she didn’t have a choice but to trust this man. Twenty-four-seven. Geez, it was going to be a long week. Her gaze briefly strayed to his muscular legs, before she turned back to sorting her things. When it was all over, she had her hidden candy stash, two changes of clothes, a T-shirt to sleep in, big wooly socks, a towel, basic toiletries—including toilet paper, which she didn’t dare think too much about—and some first-aid stuff and water-purification tablets Zach gave her, along with her sleeping bag, stuffed into her pack.
She traded the tennis shoes she’d worn on the plane for the hiking boots, pulled her hair back into a short ponytail and stuck a red ball cap on her head. Everything else that she’d brought, she jammed into a locker.
Too late, she realized she’d forgotten to change into the shorts and T-shirt she’d left out. Zach had disappeared into the back for a few minutes, and she quickly peeled down her jeans, the denim getting stuck on her boots for a few seconds before she kicked off the jeans. The running shorts were stretchy and not as tricky and she pulled them over her pink bikini panties pretty quickly. Changing from the expensive polo shirt to an oversize T-shirt she’d picked up in Acapulco last year took another couple of seconds.
Behind her, Zach cleared his throat.
“No use worrying about modesty,” she said, as she bent to scoop up the jeans, not quite as blasé as she tried to sound. “I’m sure you’ll see more than you’ll want in the next week.”
She turned around in time to meet his eyes, and her heart skipped a beat.
His eyes had darkened to a midnight blue. Heat spread between her thighs and she really wished she weren’t wearing Spandex.
“Right,” he murmured and turned away to slip the pack he’d carried out with him onto his back. “One last bathroom stop and we’re off.”
“Wait a minute.” She stared at his pack, the heat of a moment ago cooling significantly. His backpack wasn’t much bigger than hers. “Is that all?”
“I don’t follow.”
“Where’s our food, a stove, eating utensils…” At the growing amusement on his face, Jordan’s voice trailed off. No matter what kind of waivers she’d signed, she was pretty sure starving her was against the law.
ZACH GRABBED her pack off the table and then steered her toward the ladies’ room, while trying not to stare at her shapely legs. She looked great in jeans, but in shorts, well, damn, he couldn’t think about that. He kept his gaze at shoulder level, and noted that with her hair up, the graceful curve of her neck was someplace else he shouldn’t be concentrating on.
Better to think about that moment of recognition on her face when she realized he wasn’t exactly packing an assortment of gourmet meals. The truth was, he did have a compact fold-up stove and some dehydrated pasta and veggies, some oatmeal, a few protein bars, packets of nuts and some jerky, but mostly they’d catch their own fish and the occasional rabbit.
He wanted to get a head start before the sun went down. “I promise you won’t go hungry,” he said finally, and pointed to the ladies’-room door. “Last chance. This is it for a week. Enjoy.” He couldn’t hold back a chuckle. Not with the dirty look she gave him.
She stopped to shove the jeans and polo shirt into her locker and then shuffled into the restroom. She took hardly any time inside, and then came out with a white-cream-slathered nose. After she’d tucked the tube of sunscreen into her pack, he helped her secure it to her back.
“Comfortable?” he asked.
“Peachy.”
“Good.” He led the way to the waiting tandem kayak and then stood back to see how she handled herself with the backpack.
She did a pretty good job of climbing into the front, long, lean muscles defining her calves as she awkwardly balanced herself into a sitting position. At least she hadn’t landed on her backside or in the water. Not yet, anyway.
“Here.” He threw her a life vest that had been tucked in the back of the kayak. “You’ll need to wear this while we’re on the water.”
She glared at him. “So why do I have my backpack on?”
“Practice.”
She muttered something he didn’t quite catch, but he figured that was just as well. He got out his vest and followed suit.
Almost everyone had either left yesterday or this morning for their white-water rafting trips, which represented most of their business. Only Jeb, one of the newer guides, a first-year law student whose agility made Zach feel old, had just walked out of the office with his clients, a family of four. Zach acknowledged the group with a lift of his chin before pushing off and then getting in the kayak.
The Great Beyond hired a lot of college kids for the busy summer months. Most of them came back each season until they graduated, and then they disappeared among the sea of starched shirts and BMWs. Zach didn’t have a problem with nice cars, in fact, he had a brand-new blue Beamer himself. Top of the line. Cost him a small fortune. It was all the rest of the stuff that he hated and avoided. The pressure and long hours and the insatiable craving to make each professional success greater than the last until you lost sight of everything that was important.
“Am I supposed to be paddling?” Jordan asked, and he realized how far his mind had wandered.
Stay in the present, he reminded himself. Getting ahead of himself had gotten him into enough trouble to last a lifetime.
4
FOUR HOURS LATER, Jordan’s arms ached like crazy. The current wasn’t horrible but she wasn’t used to the upper-body activity, and she was tired from paddling, hungry and cranky. The only saving grace was the gorgeous scenery. Ponderosa pine and Douglas firs and a couple of kinds of trees she didn’t recognize started a few feet off the shore and blanketed the mountains on either side of the river.
About halfway from base camp, a fire had destroyed several hundred acres, leaving blackened stumps and charred earth, but already the forest’s resiliency was evident in the resurgence of tiny trees and clusters of orange and white wildflowers.
“Getting hungry yet?” Zach asked.
“Are you kidding? I’m way past hunger.” She glanced over her shoulder at him, but only for a moment. She’d already met her paddling mishap quota for the day.
“Another hour and we’ll set up camp.”
“Great.”
“Or we can go two more hours. Gotta make sure you get your money’s worth.”
“Uh, no. One hour and that’s it.”
Zach’s throaty chuckle seemed to crawl up her spine and seep deep into her skin, almost as if he’d reached out and touched her. “Okay, I’ll be gentle.”
She briefly closed her eyes, glad he couldn’t see her face. She didn’t blush often, but heat stung her cheeks and it had nothing to do with the hot, toasty sun that she’d pretty much had enough of for the day. It was kind of curious that she’d been paired up with a man. Hard to believe that there had never been a past problem with a sexual haras
sment complaint.
Oh, damn it, he was probably gay. The sudden thought explained a lot. But then she remembered the look on his face when he’d caught her undressing. No, definitely not gay. He lightly touched her arm and she nearly jumped into the water.
He pointed, and she scanned the area of interest and saw a bighorn sheep. The animal appeared to be headed for the river, traveling nearly perpendicular to the mountain. With effortless grace it leaped down the rocky cliff area where no trees dared to grow.
They moved past the majestic animal, and after that, the rest of the hour went by agonizingly slowly, giving her too much time to think about the advertising campaign that awaited her back in L.A. As soon as the thought of the lagging new slogan crystallized, the familiar fear clawed at her throat. She had to come up with something brilliant and fast or her career was over. And then all the people who’d thought her early success was a fluke would either laugh or regard her with pity that she couldn’t bear.
“You’re quiet,” Zach said after a while.
“Ah, just thinking about work.”
“You should be checking out the scenery. You just missed a black bear and her cub.”
“Where?” She jerked around, her heart thumping when the sudden movement of the paddle momentarily threw them off course.
“Too late. They were up on the ridge.”
“Oh.”
“Look, I’ll give you another hour to unwind. And then no more thinking about work.”
“That’ll happen.”
“It will. Trust me.”
Jordan sighed. No use arguing. A guy like Zach didn’t understand the pressures of the business world. His life and job obviously blurred. How could he even tell them apart? He didn’t even have to commute, for goodness sake.
“Hey, after this week,” she said, watching a fish flip out of the water in front of them. “After you’ve gotten me back in one piece,” she added. “What do you do? Turn around and take out another customer?”
“Sometimes. Depends what’s on the schedule. We all take turns maintaining the kayaks and the equipment, and manning the desk. And for the record, I haven’t lost anyone yet.”
“Good to know.” The water started getting a little choppy, the rapids swifter than they had been for the last couple of hours and she had to concentrate on her paddling.
The good news was the next hour flew by, but by the time they beached the kayak, the tension in her shoulders caused the area between her shoulder blades to burn. Big-time. Made getting out of the kayak awkward, but she managed to help pull the boat safely onto the shore, wincing only a couple of times when the pain got too intense.
“You okay?” Zach asked, eyeing her with concern as he secured the kayak by tying a line to a tree.
“Fine.”
His lingering look said he didn’t believe her, but he didn’t press the issue. He pulled off his life vest, waited for her to do the same and then stowed them both in the far end of the kayak, while she tried to stretch out the painful kinks in her upper back. He grabbed his pack, and then, bless him, scooped hers up before she had the strength and energy to get it herself.
“Don’t get used to the service,” he said, winking. “This is first-day courtesy.”
Her pride and competitiveness almost got in the way. But screw it, she really was one sore puppy and she had another six days to prove herself. So she meekly followed him to a clearing at the edge of the woods where he dropped both packs.
“How does this look?” he asked.
“Hard and rocky.”
“We’ll get some tree branches to put under our sleeping bags. You’ll sleep better than you do in your own bed.”
“Never doubted that for a moment.” How was she going to be able to move tomorrow? Not much didn’t ache. “What’s for dinner?”
He knelt beside his pack. “Again, since it’s the first day I figured we wouldn’t rough it too much.”
“Thank you, Lord.” She lifted her gaze heavenward. “Hey, look.” A rainbow arched from one peak to the other, the red, blue and yellow vivid against the emerald-colored trees. She adored rainbows. The same way she’d adored her grandmother. After Gramms had passed away when Jordan was thirteen, she’d decided that every time she saw a rainbow, Gramms had sent it to her. “It hasn’t rained.”
Zach stared at the colorful display, an appreciative expression on his face. “Up there it has. That’s why everything stays so green.”
She decided he had a good profile. Strong, prominent chin with just the right amount of stubble. Thick lashes any woman would kill for. “As long as it doesn’t rain down here.”
“If it does, we build a shelter.”
“Build? What about dinner?”
He chuckled. “I’m on it.”
She toed her pack, moving it to the side, loathe to actually try and pick it up. Now that she wasn’t clutching the double-bladed paddle she thought some of the pain between her shoulder blades would ease, but it hadn’t much.
Watching Zach pull out a compact stove and set it up, she really wanted to offer to help. She did. But that would likely require moving and she didn’t know if that was even possible at this point.
“How about filling this with water while I get a fire going?” He held out an aluminum bowl. Not that big. It couldn’t hold more than a couple of quarts.
But aye…“Sure.” She took it from him, and gingerly retraced her steps toward the river, doing a couple of neck stretches. Good thing she faced away from him because her contorted and undoubtedly hideous expressions would either scare the life out of him or send him into hysterics.
Squatting to dip the bowl into the ice-cold water was a whole other matter. Her thighs were in no better shape than her back after she’d sat in one position for over five hours. She grunted and groaned, softly so he couldn’t hear, and that somehow seemed to help. Straightening again required deep, even breathing and a few mental curses.
“Everything okay?” he called as she labored back toward him.
“Terrific.”
He’d not only started a campfire but had another flame lit under the stove.
“Don’t tell me you rubbed two sticks together.” She handed him the bowl which he placed on the stove and then added the purification tablets.
“Flint.” He grinned, showing off his perfect, straight white teeth, and then nodded at the stove. “Sterno. When we run out I’ll show you how to start from scratch.”
“Oh, goody.”
He dusted his hands together and then rose fluidly without even a single wince. “Let’s figure out where we’re going to bed down.”
“I vote for the Ritz Carlton.”
Amusement glittered in his blue eyes, making them impossibly more beautiful. “If you can find one, you’re on.”
“Don’t underestimate me,” she muttered and then followed him as he inspected the ground, occasionally kicking away a large rock.
“This isn’t a bad spot,” he said, using the side of his boot to push aside a dead branch and level the ground.
“If we were deer I’m sure it would be perfect.”
“Are you going to make wisecracks all night?” he asked, with raised brows and a sidelong glance.
“No, I’m hoping to get some sleep.”
He shook his head with mock disapproval, his gaze lingering on her. “From L.A., you said, right?”
“Born and raised. A true native. Why?”
“I bet you get mistaken for Sandra Bullock.”
“Yeah, a few times. But I’m younger.”
Zach laughed at her hasty qualification, and then he looked serious, his eyes meeting and holding hers. “At any age, that’s a compliment.”
Jordan felt the surprise warmth fill her cheeks and she quickly turned away. She hardly ever blushed, and now twice in one day. Frankly, she wasn’t sure why she had now. Maybe because she hadn’t expected that kind of comment from Zach. Not that he’d said anything too out there.
“So this is the
spot, huh?” She focused on the ground, still unconvinced that a few branches under her sleeping bag were going to make a comfortable mattress.
“Feel free to choose another area, but I would suggest staying close. To me and the fire.”
No problem there. She had no intention of getting too deep into the trees. Who knew what lay in wait? She kicked at the hard ground about six feet away from the opposite side of the campfire. This didn’t seem so bad, after all. Especially since she was dead-tired.
Zach continued to clear his area, prying a few good-size rocks from the ground with his pocket knife until he had a smooth place to lay his sleeping bag. She on the other hand, sort of shuffled her feet until she’d kicked most of the large rocks and dead branches away. Anything more would’ve meant stooping down without any assurance that she could get back up again.
“Let’s gather more wood and some branches while we wait for the water to boil,” he said, springing to his feet, which really annoyed her.
Of course it wasn’t his fault he was in so much better shape. That was part of his job. But jeez…
She trudged along behind him, tempted to tell him she needed to sit this one out, but pride kept her moving. Besides, she was getting stiff now and keeping mobile was probably in her best interest.
Nearly an hour later they had enough wood for the rest of the night, their sleeping bags were laid out and something that looked incredibly unappetizing simmered in the pot. She hadn’t asked what it was. If it was too nasty there were always her emergency candy bars.
“Dinner will be ready in five,” Zach said, peering into the pot. “You can go ahead and wash up if you want.”
“Where?”
One side of his mouth slowly lifted. “Where?”
She glanced around. “I guess the river is it, huh?”
“Yep, and the temperature is going to start dropping so you might want to take that into consideration.”
“Right.” Jordan sighed. She already knew the water was cold. No help for her aching muscles. But she’d feel better once she was cleaned up.
Slowly, she hunkered down to her pack, the short journey a torturous one. She got out a towel and loofah and the shirt she planned on sleeping in. Briefly debated a sports bra, and then decided against it. Just one more thing she’d have to wash. She was quite certain she wouldn’t be the first braless woman Zach had seen.
