by T. S. Joyce
Photo Credit: Colleen Rhodes
Bucks and Backwoods Magazine, 2015
“Oh, shit,” he murmured, pulling the magazine closer.
“Yep, and give me that waffle,” Lennard gritted out, yanking the fork out of Jenner’s hand. “You’re in the doghouse, and dogs don’t get my world-famous waffles.”
He muttered on about how his grandma’s recipe wasn’t going to be wasted on ill-tempered tour guides who chased away big clients. Jenner stopped listening. Several pages of the magazine had been dog-eared, and each one had a picture that Colleen, aka Lena, had taken. She was good. Better than good. And Jenner remembered all these photos because he read Bucks and Backwoods from cover to cover every month when he had downtime between tours.
“Where is she?” he murmured. Please say she hasn’t left.
Lennard jerked his chin toward the giant picture window in the great room behind Jenner. “Out there. Go tell her breakfast is on and apologize for being a dipshit while you’re at it. The last thing we need is bad press in her magazine.”
“Yeah, okay. I’ll bring her in.” Jenner walked out of the lodge, magazine still in his hand because he was feeling fifty percent bad for the way he talked to her last night and fifty percent dooped that she hadn’t just come out and name-dropped herself.
She was near the river, knelt down, shooting a photograph. He should announce his presence because she definitely wouldn’t hear his naturally quiet footsteps, but right now, she had him stunned. She wore a pair of jeans that clung to her curves and a V-neck sweater the color of late season blueberries that made it real easy for him to see the top part of her full breasts. But while his attention usually stopped at a woman’s figure, his body’s instant reaction to the rest of Lena shocked him to his bones. The early morning sunlight shone off her dark hair and drew his attention like a shiny lure in front of a fish. She’d put it up in some sort of black rubber band, high at the back of her head, and her ponytail cascaded to her shoulders in soft waves. The bottom few inches of her hair were lighter by a shade, a subtle auburn color in the saturated light, as though she’d paid someone to dye her hair that way. He hadn’t noticed it in his dim room last night, but he liked it. Wanted to touch it just to see if it was as soft as it looked. And if his attention on anything other than those perfect tits of hers wasn’t driving him insane enough, when she adjusted her position, the wide neck of her shirt exposed part of her collarbone near her neck. His favorite fucking part of a woman, and now his fingers were itching to touch her skin as well as her hair. Lock it down, Silver.
“What are you taking pictures of?” he asked as he approached.
She startled and stood so fast she fumbled with her camera and almost dropped it. “Oh, dear goodness, you scared me.” She gripped her little picture-taker to her chest and looked him up and down. “How are you so quiet? You’re the size of a barn.”
Right now he was. If she saw him right out of hibernation, she wouldn’t look so impressed. He’d been packing on weight and muscle for two full months already and was going to get even bigger as the warm season went on.
He lifted the magazine instead of answering. “Colleen Rhodes. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“What, you mean between the yelling, growling, cussing, and bleeding you did last night? You didn’t ask, and I don’t go around telling people I work for a magazine. That’s a dick move.”
Huh. Fair enough. “I don’t do this much, so bear with me.”
“Do what?”
“Apologize.”
Lena splayed her legs and locked her knees like she was bracing herself against a storm. “Okay, I’m ready.”
“Well…that was it.”
Lena pursed those pretty lips of hers and looked none too impressed with him. “That might be the worst apology I’ve ever heard. I’ll help you out. Repeat after me. I’m sorry I was a peckerwood.”
His inner bear balked against being told what to do, so he narrowed a glare at the woman. Five-foot-six with curves for days and that smart mouth on her, and why was the fire in her dark eyes turning him on so much right now? To hide his growing boner, Jenner bent down, picked up a flat pebble from the beach, and skipped it across the water. “I’m sorry,” he muttered.
“Me, too.”
Shocked, he jerked his gaze to hers just to see if she was joking, but her expression was completely serious. A smile cracked her face an instant before she lifted her camera to her eyes and snapped a picture of him.
Irritated, he gave her his back. “I don’t like my picture taken. If I’m going to take you out tomorrow, that has to be part of the deal. Point that camera of yours at the wildlife, not at me.”
“You feel like part of the wildlife,” she murmured so low he would’ve missed it if he didn’t have his heightened shifter senses.
Discomfort snaked in his gut as he looked at her over his shoulder. “What do you mean?” She couldn’t find out what he was. Not ever. If she found out shifters existed, she could put his people in danger.
Lena cast him a quick glance, there and gone before she answered, “Because you feel like some wild thing, Mr. Silver. All clawed up and big with those observant eyes. I bet you’re right at home in the wilderness out here.”
That pretty pink color tinged her cheeks again.
“This is a bad idea.” He spun on his heel and left her on the bank of the river. “Breakfast is on.”
“Wait, what’s a bad idea?” she called.
“Us tracking bears together.”
“But you’re still going to take me, right?”
His chest rattled with another snarl as he thought of telling her no. What choice did he have, though? She was important to Silver Summit Outfitters and could put their lodge on the map with just a few nice words. She had major sway in the industry that directly impacted the annual income of his business. Sure, she was dangerous as hell, and his inner animal had never been more in jeopardy of being found out thanks to her seeing things others just put off as an odd quirk or strange habit. But if she wanted him as her guide, how could he say no?
She’d just called him a wild thing and nailed him right on the head. She was right. He was about as wild as they came, and now he was going to spend days with her, unable to escape her questions and stares. Fuck.
“Jenner! You’re still taking me, aren’t you?” she repeated.
Lennard stood on the porch with his arms crossed over his chest, tossing mind grenades his way with his pissed-off glare, and Jenner was completely trapped by circumstance.
“I don’t have any choice in the matter,” he barked over his shoulder.
When Lena’s face dropped, Lennard smiled his approval, and Jenner wanted to shred a spruce tree with his bear claws just to hurt something.
He was some wild thing, huh?
Jenner pushed his way past Lennard and into the lodge, away from Lena’s too-sharp eyes.
She had no idea.
Chapter Four
With her mouth hanging open, Lena watched Jenner disappear into the lodge. His change in mood had been immediate and utterly baffling. Was it because she’d called him a wild thing? Well, he was! Lena scanned the vast wilderness that surrounded the log mansion. Jenner was an outdoor guide who seemed to be completely comfortable out in the wild, scouting by himself, and he was offended? She’d meant it as a compliment.
Feeling off balance, she made her way past Lennard into the lodge. Jenner was stacking his plate high with waffles, his back to her. Lightly, she touched his elbow, but he lurched away like she’d burned him with a branding iron.
Stifling her hurt at his reaction, she murmured, “I’m sorry if I said something wrong.”
As a response, she got a flash of those narrowed blue eyes and nothing more.
“Okay then.”
Jenner grabbed a mug of steaming coffee and, with plate in hand, he strode from the lodge and out to the deck near the river. Dalton cleared his throat from the chair beside her, and Lena blinked hard to d
rag her gaze away from Jenner’s retreat. When she looked down at the dark-headed man, he was grinning obnoxiously big.
“I have a question.”
Turning to the empty plate on the counter, she began to fill it with the remaining food the boys had left. “Let’s hear it.”
“What are you still doing here?”
“Eating breakfast, numbnuts. It’s the crack of dawn.”
“No, not here in the kitchen. Why didn’t Jenner take you out to brown bear country this morning?”
Resisting the urge to cast a look over her shoulder at the picture window where she would see Jenner eating his breakfast, she muttered, “Because of your no-period rule.”
“What’s that?”
Dumping syrup on her waffle, she answered without thinking. “The one where you won’t take a woman out who’s on her period, so I don’t draw the bears in.”
Chance gulped a bite and frowned down at his waffle, covered in bright red strawberry preserves. “Shit woman, seriously?”
Dalton sniffed the air near her, nostrils flaring. He nodded thoughtfully with his lips all pursed. “Huh. Makes sense.”
“Okay, why do I get the feeling that is just something Jenner made up to stall now? And stop sniffing me.” Lena sidled away from Dalton and made her way around the island to a pan of scrambled eggs.
“Would you like a heating pad?” Dalton asked innocently.
“Stop it.”
“Or perhaps some ice cream and chick flicks?”
Chance had given up on his red waffles, but he was snickering now as Lennard gave them both an exhausted look. “Boys, this isn’t appropriate talk with one of our clients. I apologize for their asshattery, Lena. You have my permission to slap them if they get too cheeky.”
“Oh, I don’t slap, Lennard,” she said through a grin. “I’m more of a punch and stab kinda gal.” She poured herself a mug of coffee and made her way to the door. “Chance, you enjoy those waffles now.”
The man groaned, Lennard laughed, and right before she walked out the front door, Lena looked behind her to see Dalton shove a spoonful of strawberries in his cousin’s face.
She held in her laugh until the door was firmly closed behind her so they wouldn’t hear. Those men did not need any encouragement from her.
At the top of the porch stairs, Lena hesitated. Jenner seemed to want to be alone, but she felt weird eating breakfast on the porch, basically staring at him as he ate near the river. His sexy, wide-as-a-canyon shoulders would be blocking half the danged scenery from here.
His back went tense long before she reached him, as if he heard her coming all the way from the house, which was impossible, of course.
She cleared her throat as she stood next to a lounge chair and asked, “Is anyone sitting here?”
He cast her a wary glance, then took a long pull of his coffee and returned his attention to the gentle rapids in front of them.
“That was a joke,” she muttered, sitting down beside him. She ate in silence for a while before she said, “I forgot to ask how your side is doing this morning. Do you want me to re-do the bandages later?”
“Woman, let me be. It’s not a good idea for you to be touching me anymore.”
“Why not?” she asked as anger snapped through her. “Am I disgusting? Does my touch make your skin crawl? I was trying to help, you megadick. Not traumatize you.” She clutched her plate to her middle and went to stand, but Jenner’s hand was suddenly on her wrist. She hadn’t even seen him move from his relaxed position on the chair, but instantly, he was pulling her back down. She gasped as her backside hit the cushion. Jenner Silver was as fast as a snake strike.
“You are the opposite of disgusting, and I’m not trying to piss you off, but we aren’t friends, Lena. I’m your guide. Nothing more, and last night was too…”
“Intimate?”
“Yeah, okay? It was too fucking intimate. I’m a professional. This is where I work and where I live, and you came in here and…”
She was arching her eyebrows so high, her forehead wrinkles hurt. “And what?”
He relaxed back onto his chair and gritted his teeth so hard the muscles in his jaw clenched. Jenner sighed. “It’s just best if we keep our distance, all right? You doing shit like dressing my injuries complicates feelings.”
Lena gasped, then pursed her lips to hide a smile that was trying to take over her face. Feelings? Now she knew she wasn’t the only one who felt the flaming hot sparks between them.
She kept her eyes directed carefully at the river, but in her peripheral vision, Jenner was staring at her. “What?” he asked.
“What what?”
“What are you smiling about?”
She arched her gaze to him. “Complicates my feelings or your feelings?”
His eyes narrowed to suspicious little slits. “Does it matter?”
To avoid the obvious answer that was bouncing around in her giddy mind right now, she shoveled a huge bite of waffle into her mouth hole and grinned as she chewed.
“You eat like an anaconda,” he muttered.
She shrugged, unoffended. So she was a messy eater. There were worse insults out there.
But now Jenner was staring at the southern half of her face with a dazed look in his bright eyes. “You have syrup on your lips.”
Oh, she knew she did because she could feel it. She wiped the wrong side just to annoy him. “Bether?” she asked around her food.
“Not at all.”
She gulped her food down and took a finger-full of whip cream from the side of her plate, then smeared it on the corner of her lip. “Better now?”
Jenner growled and shook his head like she was ridiculous, but she could see it now. There was a slight lift to the corner of his grumpy mouth. He gripped her chair and pulled it across the deck toward him until her knees were encased between his. With a challenging look in his eyes, he wiped his thumb gently over the sugary mess she’d made, then he drew his thumb into his mouth and sucked it off.
Lena’s smile fell from her face, and her heart stopped as he lowered that brilliant gaze to her lips again. He was only inches away, and now she couldn’t breathe. He leaned forward, so near she could feel his warmth as he ran his big hands up her legs. Squeezing gently at the tops of her thighs, he eased forward until his lips were at her ear. “It’ll complicate your feelings, Lena.”
Then he stood and carried his empty plate and coffee mug toward the lodge, leaving her staring after him and feeling utterly touched. Body touched, heart touched, soul touched, and now her breath came back ragged.
Jenner Silver was a complete stranger, but she’d never wanted to be kissed by a man so badly.
And from the swell of his cheeks that said he was smiling as he walked away, Jenner knew it, too.
****
Dalton Dawson was a flirt. Lena had spent the day fishing and hiking the nearby trails with the Dawson cousins because Jenner had done his damndest to avoid her. Now it was late in the evening, and Dalton had taken on the personal challenge of teaching Lena how to tie flies so when she returned, she could fly-fish with her own lures. At least, that’s what he’d told her, but right now, he was leaning over her shoulder from behind, arms wrapped around her, fingers on hers as he showed her the knots.
Lena had swatted him away about a dozen times today, but at this point, it was downright funny, and she was pretty sure he was paying attention to her because he found her amusing and easy to tease. He reminded her of Adam. That thought washed sadness and joy through her all at once. She closed her eyes and smiled at the memory of his face. Adam had been her best friend growing up, and Dalton’s fun-loving personality had given her a precious moment. It had been a long time since thoughts of Adam had made her happy.
“Ow,” she muttered as she stared down at the swelling red dot on her thumb where the tiny hook had pricked her.
“Well, you have to pay attention, girl. Stop falling in love with me and focus,” Dalton teased.
�
��Aw, piss off,” she said, shoving him with a laugh. “I’m married.”
Dalton jolted upward, spine straight as a rod, and Chance dropped the magazine he was reading from the leather couch near them. “You are?”
“To my work.”
“Ha!” Chance said, jamming a finger at Dalton. “You should see your face right now.”
Jenner strode through the front door and halted when his eyes landed on her. He dragged that sexy blue-flame gaze to Dalton and narrowed his eyes.
“He’s aliiiive,” Chance sang in a monster voice.
Something unfathomable sparked in the air between Jenner and Dalton for just an instant before the giant strode into the kitchen with his boots echoing across the wooden floors. “I’ve been packing.”
“I think she should ride Hatchet,” Dalton said, the tease melting from his voice.
“She’ll be fine on Gunner.”
“Gunner’s too wild,” Dalton argued.
“Uh, I’m experienced with horses,” she said, frowning her disapproval at Dalton. “This isn’t my first trail ride.”
Dalton crossed his arms over his chest. “Gunner’s young, and he’s only been doing this two seasons.”
“My tour, my choice. She’ll be fine,” Jenner gritted out, his back to them as he pulled the refrigerator door open.
“Yeah, but—”
“Careful, dog,” Jenner murmured low, twisting to give Dalton a lethal look over his shoulder. “Hatchet runs at the first scent of bears. Gunner will get her where we need to go. She can handle him.”
Dog? Lena was glad Jenner had more faith in her abilities than Dalton did, but the name he’d called him didn’t make any sense. She didn’t know whether to thank Jenner for sticking up for her or reprimand him for being rude to the guide gone rigid beside her. Best not to do either because from the way Dalton huffed a humorless laugh and met Jenner’s terrifying gaze, she didn’t understand the dynamics here.
“Dalton,” Chance said, warning in his deep timbre. “Back off this one. Jenner’s right.”
