Summer Wager

by Stacey Joy Netzel

  And then she stopped.

  He groaned in protest, but she dipped back down into the water and back-paddled into the shallows. He followed suit, his eyes just above the surface as he swam after her like an alligator stalking prey.

  “Trust me?” she asked.

  “Sure,” he said, ready to agree to anything.

  She urged him ashore until his hips were above the water, his ass planted on the sandy bottom—thank God this shore was sandy and not mucky. With his elbows dug into the sand behind him, he swallowed hard and waited for her next move. She crawled up on her hands and knees to straddle his hips. The sexy view of her cleavage made him wish he’d removed her bra.

  Still, he enjoyed the vision until she halted with her face about two inches from his.

  “Don’t touch me,” she warned.

  His gaze narrowed. “Uh…okay.”

  “I didn’t say thank you for taking care of me earlier. Consider this my thank you.”

  “You’re welcome?” It came out as a question because he was still not quite sure what she was up to.

  She flashed a smile, then leaned forward to give him a brief, intense kiss. Just when he pressed forward and lifted a hand to thread into her hair, she pulled back with a warning arch of her brows and tilt of her head.

  “Right. Don’t touch.” He lowered his arm back to the sand, then watched as she kissed her way down his chest, across his stomach, and lower.

  Sweet mother of God.

  He hated to say his next words, but… “Shanna, you don’t have to—”

  “Mmm,” her lips vibrated against his skin, “but I want to.”

  Well, if she wanted to, he was just going to shut the hell up.

  She took him in her mouth, her warm lips sliding down his shaft as her tongue swirled around his head. Knowing how buttoned up she usually was at the office only made the moment ten times hotter. Right there, he pretty much lost the ability to form a coherent sentence and dropped flat out on the shore, his fingers digging deep into the sand as he stared up at the bright blue sky.

  “Holy fuck,” was the best he could manage when she took him back to the edge and sent him careening over the cliff.

  Once the world came back into focus, he murmured, “For an uptight, straight-laced control freak, that was…incredible. Even in my wildest fantasies I could not have imagined a thank you like that.”

  Chapter 10

  Shanna heard the gentle teasing in Kevin’s voice, but the backhanded compliment still twinged something deep inside her chest. To mask the unexpected hurt, she quipped, “Maybe you need to expand your fantasies.”

  “There’s no maybe about it,” he agreed with a grin.

  Careful of her still-sore ankle, she swiveled away in the shallow water to search for the body wash and saw it bobbing near shore a few feet away. Once she had it in hand, Kevin sidled up behind her, hugging her back against his chest with one thick forearm while his other hand took possession of the soap bottle. His lips brushed against her ear, his warm breath sending a shiver down her spine.

  “You okay?”

  Shanna nodded. “Of course.”

  After a moment, he said, “Good, then I’m going to expand my fantasies right now. Soaping you up from head to toe goes at the top of the list.”

  That’s right, what started this all. You wash my back, and I’ll wash yours.

  The tightness in her chest eased as anticipation wound through her while he removed her bra and peeled off her panties. Of course, she’d known exactly what she was getting into when she decided to join him in the water. Despite their rocky start yesterday—and that stupid wager where one of them had to quit their job—ever since their hike, things between them had felt like the night of that client dinner. The night she’d decided to throw caution to the wind and follow her heart, only to discover the next morning she’d ruined her life plan.

  Now, she wasn’t so sure she’d ruined anything, though his comment about her being uptight kept some of her doubt in place.

  Talking and joking with him—having fun with him—came naturally when they weren’t at each other’s throats. She’d fallen in love over the years through brief glimpses of a man who was smart, loyal, and honorable, with a wry sense of humor she could relate to. Keeping her emotions concealed had been possible because those glimpses were frustratingly brief through miniscule cracks in his usual conceited arrogance.

  Since this morning, she’d been faced with the full-throttle version of the elusive man she’d fallen for. A man she could imagine spending the rest of her life with. Each moment together only strengthened her feelings.

  But could it last? Or would he go right back to being the boardroom jackass she’d had to deal with these past seven years?

  Unaware of her inner turmoil, Kevin tossed her bra and underwear into the canoe, then made good on his promise to soap her from head to toe. Her fears and doubts were once again buried as she gloried in the sensations of his large, soapy hands gliding over and kneading every inch of her body. Even as he was extra cautious with her ankle, sexual tension built, strumming along her nerve endings until her whole being vibrated with need.

  She sucked in a breath when his fingers brushed between her legs, but disappointment stung when the intimate touch didn’t linger. After a record-quick scrub of his own skin, he floated them out deeper to dunk them both, his hands skimming over her to rinse the suds away.

  Once back in shallow water, he helped her stand, then wrapped her in a towel and swept her up into his arms to carry her to the cushioned spot he’d set up earlier. She’d expected the tent, but her pulse increased when he laid her down and kneeled beside her. He lifted her left leg to elevate her injury and the corner of the towel slid down to pool on her thigh.

  She automatically reached to make sure she was covered, but Kevin brushed her hand aside.

  “Nm-mm,” he chastised. “My turn.”

  Her heart thumped in her chest, and her breathing went shallow as he braced one hand by her head.

  “Trust me?”

  She swallowed hard at the hungry glint in his eye, but managed a nod.

  He took her right hand and raised it over her head, then did the same with her left. “Don’t touch,” he instructed with a slow, sexy grin.

  Despite her instinctive reflex to rebel against such a blatant order, she bit her tongue and nodded again. Hard to argue when she’d done the exact same to him such a short time ago.

  He flipped open the towel, exposing her completely to the warm caress of the evening air as he trailed his gaze along the length of her body. Her nipples tightened into hard buds, aching for his touch. Heat built the longer he looked, and she fought not to fidget, her chest rising and falling with each tense breath she took.

  His gaze rose to hers. “I’ve never seen anything more beautiful than you in this moment,” he murmured.

  Emotion swelled at his sincere words. Her heart hammered in her chest as he leaned in to capture her lips. The tip of his tongue urged her to open for him, and when she did, he explored her mouth with possessive confidence, his kiss soul-consuming and intimate on a whole new level for her. When his hand skimmed past her belly to delve between her slick folds, she moaned her approval against his mouth. Fisting the sleeping bag with both hands above her head, she arched into his touch and begged for more.

  He gave her more with his fingers, then his tongue, until undulating waves of pleasure cascaded through her. Before the tremors subsided, he shifted his body over her, his erection nudging her entrance. She raised her left knee, hooking her leg up over his hip as he teased with short little movements of his hips.

  Her gaze locked with his as she lifted against him, begging with her eyes, body, and words. “Kevin, please.”

  He dipped his head for another kiss as he slid deep inside with one, sure thrust. His mouth muffled her gasp as the flood of sensation brought every nerve ending alive.

  Disregarding his order not to touch, she reached for his shoulders,
needing to hold on as he moved inside her with strong, measured strokes that had her climbing toward a second release. The rhythm changed as he braced himself up on his palms, his thrusts faster, harder, hitting just the right spot to send her reeling once more. He joined her seconds later, and then collapsed beside her, his chest heaving against her side.

  A little over an hour later, Shanna adjusted what was left of the ice pack on her ankle and watched Kevin’s second attempt to set up the grill tri-pod over the campfire.

  “You’re doing it wrong,” she noted for the second time. “You need to—”

  “I told you, I got it,” he retorted.

  The tightness in his voice gave her pause despite the almost irrepressible urge to get up and do it herself. She forced herself to take a deep breath and let it out again. She didn’t have to care how he set it up. Really, she didn’t.

  Did she?

  Well, yeah, if it was the difference between dinner on her plate or dinner dropped in the fire.

  But…anxiety and uncertainty had already crept in after their shared intimacy. Was it worth starting something that would put them right back to the animosity that landed them out here in the first place?

  The answer echoed swift and sure. No. She’d rather go hungry than fall back into that misery.

  So, she bit her tongue and watched—and bit her tongue some more. The man could be just as stubborn as her, which for them was like throwing gasoline on a fire. Though, unlike her mother, she could admit when she had a problem.

  Can you?

  Yes, she could. She could learn to give up control. She’d done it while they were having sex; she could do it now. Especially when it was over such a trivial matter.

  After a few more minutes, Kevin moved over to where she sat with her foot elevated once more. “Show me what I’m doing wrong,” he requested grudgingly.

  She fiddled with the rods and chain and saw the stupid thing was set up different than any she’d ever used.

  See? Sometimes even you don’t know what you don’t know.

  Once she figured out what should’ve been a much simpler construction, she silently made the necessary adjustments and handed the contraption back.

  “Thanks.”

  He positioned it over the fire, put three hamburgers on the grill grate, and lowered the chain for the meat to cook.

  Well, crap.

  After a moment of indecision, she cautioned, “That’s too low. They’ll burn.”

  He shot her a glance without lifting his head, but adjusted the level up by about six inches.

  Perfect.

  With only the crackle of the fire breaking the silence, she recalled when he’d said he didn’t sleep with just anyone. The significance of his words hadn’t fully registered in the heat of the moment, but now, she found herself analyzing what could be considered a confession.

  What did those words imply for their night together a month ago? Had it been an out-of-the-blue chance happening for him, or more of a long time desire like it had been for her?

  He’d left the next morning after his muttered curse, yet here they were again. The hour after.

  She didn’t want to be her usual self and drive him away, so after taking a deep, shaky breath, she spoke out in the quiet. “You’ve mentioned a few times about me being up-tight. The thing is, it’s not like I purposely try to be…um…”

  Bitchy.

  No. She searched for a word that wasn’t so unflattering.

  “Bossy?” Kevin supplied, his tone dry. “Opinionated? Difficult? Contrary? Adversarial?”

  Nope, definitely not the words she was looking for, though he’d gotten himself on quite the roll.

  “Any of them.” With a disgruntled frown, she met his gaze over the flames, a little miffed at the brutal candor after their recent intimacy. Then she winced at the truth. “All of them?”

  His lips curved into a surprisingly gentle smile that warmed his eyes to more green than brown. “I also know you’re brilliant and beautiful. And I’m learning you’re funny, kind, generous, and strong. I mean, you did leave me toilet paper in the outhouse. That tells me you can’t be all bad.”

  She smiled briefly at the toilet paper comment. “Well, I don’t always mean to be the other ones. Not anymore.”

  “But you used to?”

  “I’ve had to prove myself a lot.”

  “To your family?”

  “Not my grandparents. But to others, yeah.”

  “Your parents?”

  “My mother. Though, not exactly to her.” His eyebrows rose, and she searched for the words to explain. “I always felt the need to prove I wasn’t like her. I had to prove it to myself, and by extension, to you, and Nash. Our clients.”

  “What does the opposite of you look like?”

  Shanna pictured her mother, waving goodbye a year ago as she headed off to Florida with her latest boyfriend. They’d spoken on the phone only once since then.

  “She was a weird combination of dependent doormat and serial quitter,” she told Kevin. “She never stuck with anything, but at the same time, she never stood up for herself, either. The moment she decided she didn’t like something, whether it was a job, a man, a house, a state…she moved on. We moved on. The only thing I could ever count on was her inconsistency, and summers with my grandparents. I vowed to be different long ago.”

  His gaze held hers for a moment, then he shook his head with a smile, until finally a wry laugh broke free.

  Resentment rose at his reaction. “That’s funny to you?”

  His humor faded on a sigh. “Only insofar as my responses to you from the first day we met were based on my dad being the puppet my stepmother holds all the strings to. I have watched him cater to her every whim for years.”

  “So, your dad was the doormat.”

  “Still is.” He stuck the pointy end of his hot dog roasting stick into the fire to even out the burning wood under the grill. “It would be different if he doted on her out of love, but that is definitely not the case with them. Jessica says, ‘Jump,’ and my dad says, ‘How high?’ I’ll never be willing to bow down and let anyone control my life like that.” His mouth quirked in a wry grin. “From day one, you have been very…um…”

  “Bitchy.”

  “Assertive,” he corrected.

  Well, that certainly explained why every time she’d felt the need to assert her independence, he’d pushed back. Hard. He didn’t respect his father’s submission any more than she respected her mother’s inability to commit to anything.

  “Where was your dad as you were growing up?” Kevin asked.

  “No clue.” She shifted her gaze down to the coals, then looked up again. “My mother didn’t know who he was because she’d already moved on by the time she found out she was pregnant.”

  “Surely she could’ve narrowed it down through DNA tests?”

  “I explored that option when I turned eighteen, but she didn’t even remember names anymore.”

  He frowned at the fire as he poked at the wood some more. “I’m sorry. That sucks.”

  She shrugged. “I made my peace with that a while ago.”

  “I’m still sorry. At least I had my mom. She’s strong and independent.” He glanced up and gave her a grin. “You remind me of her in some ways, though a little more…extreme.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Like your evil stepmother?”

  “A few months ago, I might have said yes to that. But not now. Not even close. You need to understand not everything is a criticism, Shanna. Sometimes it’s just a suggestion, offered through a new set of eyes, from a different point of view.”

  “Like last week at the office.” When she’d assumed he was undermining her in front of their clients.

  “Exactly like last week at the office.”

  “I’m sorry I reacted so badly. I’m going to do my best to work on that. As long as you work on your delivery so those suggestions don’t sound like orders.”

  He laughed. “Yep. I c
an admit it, too. Sometimes I can be an arrogant ass.”

  “Most of the time.”

  “Used to be most of the time. Like you, I’m going to work on that.”

  Their gazes connected over the flames, and her heart pounded high up in her throat as she considered their words. “Did we just agree to cancel the bet and work together?”

  That beautiful smile warmed his eyes again. “Sounded like it to me. Wanna swap spit to seal the deal?”

  She nearly choked on her laugh. Happiness swelled as she gave him a cheeky grin. “Yes, but first flip those burgers before they burn, Princess.”

  Chapter 11

  Kevin’s eyelids drooped as he snugged Shanna’s naked body tight against his chest and tucked his chin in the crook of her neck. God bless her assertive nature and demand for equality. He might be thoroughly, wonderfully exhausted, but the woman gave as good as she got.

  A full day had passed since they’d agreed to give working together a try. So far so good. Better than good, actually.

  Her ankle had recovered enough overnight that he hadn’t felt the need to insist they return to civilization for an x-ray. Even so, with their wager nullified and no one in danger of having to quit, he had reluctantly offered to head back early. Her refusal had been a pleasant surprise.

  They’d made love that morning and again this evening, after he’d been schooled in how to catch, clean, and cook their fish dinner. She’d started out telling him what to do, then caught herself and waited for him to ask for her input. They made progress on both sides, since he was so used to automatically opposing her on principal.

  Team building turned out to be the best damn idea Nash had ever had. Well, Nash and Butch Walsh. He and Shanna were an unlikely pair, and yet once they got the rest of the crap out of the way, they fit. He smiled in the dark as a comparison sparked in his tired brain.

  “You ever see the movie The Cutting Edge?”

  “Hmm?” Sleep softened the sound as she turned her head the slightest bit. “What movie?”

  “That one about the hockey player and the figure skater. My mom loves that movie.”