Instant Attraction

Chapter 5

After flying their clients to Cascade Falls, Stone and Nick spent the day leading them down a series of verticals. By late afternoon, they’d tackled four different peaks and sat at the top of Mt. Paiute, looking out over what felt like paradise.

“Never gets old,” Nick noted.

“Nope.” Stone turned off his iPod. “Cam should have come.”

“Said he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do, whether he’d stick around or not.”

“Yeah.” They were both well used to Cam and his special level of bullheadedness. “I’ll call him.”

“Don’t,” Nick said.

“Why?”

“Because you’ll piss him off.”

“Will not.”

“You’re his brother. It’s what you do.”

Yeah, but it was worry that propelled him. Partly that was because Stone was the middle child, and that’s what he did, worry, and partly because their father hadn’t ever worried about Cam. In fact, he’d resented the hell out of the baby who had not only not been his but sickly too. Cam had eventually gotten healthy-no thanks to their father’s harsh discipline-and had ended up with Annie-a fact that Stone was convinced had saved Cam’s life.

The old man was long gone now, but Cam still took everything to heart, deeply to heart, and had a habit of just shutting down rather than feeling something, even before the quick rise to celebrity and fame had closed him off. And then the snow-boarding accident, which had taken away the one thing he’d loved above all else.

Without the rush of his sport, Stone knew Cam was flailing, lost, trying to find his place. What Stone didn’t know was how long it’d be before Cam figured out there wasn’t a physical “place” at all, only a mental one. With Nick shaking his head, he called Cam.

“You lost?” Cam asked dryly.

The relief Stone felt from hearing his brother’s voice made him instantly grumpy. It’d always been this way. Stone doing his damnedest to take care of everyone, especially Cam, and Cam doing his damnedest to make Stone not want to. “Nick wants to come back for you so you can ski with us tomorrow.”

Nick rolled his eyes.

“We could use the company,” Stone went on. “Our clients are a bunch of spoiled, rich punks who don’t want to ski as much as find a good view and sit and drink beer.”

“Sounds like you a few years back.”

“I was never more interested in beer than skiing.”

“Right. You were much more interested in women.”

Okay, true. “You coming or not?”

“Not.”

Stone tried to keep his cool, but as he considered Cam a flight risk, it was difficult. “You getting restless feet again? Because I swear to God, if you even think about leaving, I’ll attach cement blocks to your feet.”

“Jesus, relax. I’m not going anywhere.” Cam hesitated. “I went hiking. My knee’s swollen up.”

Cam’s pain after the accident had nearly killed him, and had nearly killed his brothers to watch him suffer through it. Stone hadn’t realized there was still that particular demon to fight. He swiped a hand down his face and fought to keep his voice even. “Have you been keeping up with your PT?”

“Yeah.”

“The meds?”

“Quit them at the same time I quit you.”

“Have you-”

“Stone.” Cam’s voice held frustration, and something else. Defeat? Whatever it was, he didn’t sound like himself. “It’s just a bad day.”

Sympathy wouldn’t work here, not on Cam, even though that’s what Stone felt. “Sorry, didn’t get that you were still so fragile. You just stay there and relax.” Beside him, Nick sighed, and Stone ignored him. “Take a nap.”

“You know what? Fuck you.”

There. There Cam was, and just like that, the tightness in Stone’s chest eased in relief. A bum knee they could deal with. An attitude-ridden Cam they could deal with. It wouldn’t be pleasant and there would be fights, but what they couldn’t deal with was Cam vanishing again.

“Look, I’m back, okay? I’m here, and I’m…trying. I’m trying to help like you asked.”

“I’d rather you want to want to be back,” Stone said.

“Yeah, well, I’m working on that too. I’ve spent the past two hours booking no less than four upcoming groups, all of which will bring in more money than you did in the last month.”

“Is that why you told Katie I’d triple her salary to shut up?”

“Mentioned that, did she?”

“She did.”

“She also mention that she survived the Santa Monica bridge collapse?”

“Yeah.”

“She’s…different.”

“You mean because she doesn’t worship the ground you walk on?”

“That doesn’t happen so much anymore,” Cam admitted.

And he didn’t know how to deal with that either, Stone guessed. “I’m not the chick police, but she’s not your type.”

“That’s never stopped you, amigo.”

A not-so-subtle reference to two summers back, when Stone had had a thing with the cleaning crew-two Puerto Rican sisters who’d come on to him one night after too many vodkas and a whole bunch of bad karaoke. The sisters had been excellent at their job and muy caliente, but unfortunately also muy crazy. “I was going through a phase, okay? It’s passed now.”

“Well, so has mine,” Cam said.

“Your pissy phase? Christ, I hope so.”

Cam let out a low laugh and hung up. Stone shut his phone and met Nick’s gaze.

“Hey,” Nick said. “At least he’s still with us.”

“Yeah, but for how long? He’s looking at Katie, which is interesting.”

“He said he hasn’t gotten laid since Serena dumped him.”

“A year,” Stone mused. “Unlike him.”

“Because he’s never had to make the moves before.”

“Yeah.” Stone shoved his cell into his pocket. “Who let T.J. go out on a month-long trek so he doesn’t have to deal with the day-to-day shit of the ranch, including our baby brother?”

“You. You don’t like to be gone for long periods of time, and you know it. You like to be in charge, bossing everyone around, making sure we all do your bidding.”

“Now you sound like Annie.”

Nick fell silent at that. He’d been with them since before Wilder Adventures, years before. He’d gone to school with Annie, had been in love with her since day one, and had helped her out with a young Cam. It’d taken a long time to convince Annie to marry him, because like all the Wilders, she tended to work hard at pushing people away, including the best person to ever happen to her. “The divorce sucks.”

A man of few words, Nick just nodded.

“You’d think it would make her happy since it was her idea, but she’s a bigger nightmare than before.” Stone slid Nick a glance. “Can’t you fix that?”

Nick shook his head. “She has a thing for the UPS guy.”

“What?”

“She likes his shorts.”

“Then get a pair of shorts, man.”

“She said I didn’t see her.” Nick shrugged his narrow shoulders. “Hell, I don’t even know what that means.”

“Maybe it’s girl code. Maybe she thinks you don’t love her.”

Nick looked completely befuddled. “How can she think that? I sold my Jeep to buy her a ring. I sold my Skycrane heli when she had that bad turn with her diabetes and got so sick. I sold my life to make her happy, and she says I didn’t see her?”

“So see her.”

“Yeah. Any thoughts on how exactly?”

“No, but she’s cranky as hell, and she’s scaring people. If you don’t start seeing her soon, we’re all going to pay.”

“So you’re saying I have to get my marriage back together for your sake?”

“For the greater good of Wilder Adventures,” Stone said.

“For your sake.”

“Yeah.”

Nick shook his head. “All of you Wilders are crazy.”

“You’re just now figuring that out?”

Recreation in the mountains was decidedly different than in the city, Katie discovered, and much more exciting. She still had trouble sleeping at night, but she managed to get enough hours to refresh her.

Or maybe that was the high-altitude air.

Every morning, she walked from her cabin to the lodge and looked around in awe. It seemed she could breathe deeper here, see farther. The skies were bigger, the landscape was brighter, a landscape that continued to execute mysterious rustles in the bushes, making her nearly jump out of her skin as she hustled to the lodge steps.

Big Foot her ass, but she had a feeling whatever stalked her was hungry. Still, she refused to run off like a scared little bunny. She stood firm and looked at the bush, which went suddenly still. “One of these days,” she told it, “you’re going to show your face.”

Stone came around the side of the lodge, his downhill skis on his shoulder, an amused look on his face. “Are you talking to the manzanita bush?”

“It talked first.”

He laughed and shook his head as he walked by her, up the stairs toward the front door.

“Seriously, what lives in these things anyway?”

“Wolf spiders, raccoons, coyotes…you name it.”

She’d rather not. She turned back and eyed the bush. “Okay, you win this round.” But in defiance, she stood there a moment longer soaking up the clear, crisp air. The mountains were still, the early-morning sun sparkling like glitter over the snow. It was so beyond anything in her experience, and so…absolutely soul-soothing.

That she had the bridge collapse to thank for this experience was an odd thought, but she had it anyway.

Her life was definitely no longer the same old boring routine.

Annie opened the front door and looked at her. “You going to stand there daydreaming all day, or are you going to get in here and eat the best omelet on the planet?”

“Yours?”

“Who else?”

Katie went inside, ate what was easily the best omelet on the planet, and then spent the day organizing trips, running the office, and helping Stone stock and catalog demo gear that many of the big-name sporting companies sent them.

That night, Wilder Adventures hosted overnight guests, and the living room turned into a bar. The fire was set to roaring, Annie put out food, and a local band set up, with Nick strapping on a guitar.

Stone was walking around, mingling with the guests, taking drink orders.

Cam stood behind the bar filling those orders, his long, lean, rangy body moving to the beat of the music as he poured drinks with an ease that told her he’d been bartending a good long time. He had a way with the guests too. There were three women standing in front of the bar, laughing, talking, flirting. When they moved away, other women in the room moved in.

Katie snagged a few hors d’oeuvres, smiled at Nick, who was surprisingly good on the guitar, and got stopped by Stone, who introduced her around, though the whole time her gaze kept drifting back to Cam.

He wore an opened plaid flannel over a blue T-shirt on his broad shoulders, half tucked into his trademark loose jeans, low on his lean hips. She couldn’t see his feet, but she’d bet he had his boots on, unlaced. Simple, typical mountain-man clothing, but nothing was simple or typical about the man.

When Cam’s audience shifted to the makeshift dance floor, she made her way over to him, watching as he worked up a pitcher of margaritas while singing along with whatever alt rock song Nick and the band were playing. “You seem like a natural,” she said

“At making drinks? I am pretty good, I have to admit.”

“Also at the people thing.” Her eyes slid meaningfully to the women, some of whom were still watching him with hungry eyes. “They’re falling at your feet.”

Over the blender, his green eyes met hers and she felt a little zing. “All of them?” he murmured.

“Well, I’m still standing.”

He let out a small smile. “Ouch.”

“Oh, it’s not you. I’m taking a little break from…falling.”

He poured the margarita mix into salted glasses and handed her one, watching her closely. “Because…?”

She shook her head at the drink. “No, thanks, I’m a lightweight. And to answer your question, I’m taking a break because the last guy I dated turned out to be married.”

At that, he winced. “Yeah, we’re pretty much all assholes.”

“Not all.”

“All,” he said firmly.

“We’ll have to agree to disagree there,” she murmured, trying not to be mesmerized by those eyes of his, the eyes that seemed to see a hell of a lot more than she wanted him to. “But just because I’m not good at the whole dating thing doesn’t mean I’ve given up entirely. I’ll get back to it.”

“No one’s good at it.”

“Oh, I don’t know.” She smiled. “I have a feeling you are.”

“Not me. I gave all that up.” He shifted away to hand out the margaritas and she figured that was it, the extent of their conversation; but when his tray was empty, he came back, smiling at her as he once again moved behind the bar.

And she had to ask. “You gave up sex?”

His mouth curved wryly. “Not on purpose. But as it turns out, it’s been a long dry spell.”

“Miss it?”

“Now that you mention it.” Shoving his shirtsleeves up to his elbows, he leaned on the bar, shifting close, shooting her a look of pure wicked trouble that shouldn’t have revved her engines but did. “Why? Are you offering to get me back on the bike?”

Something inside her quivered, but she hadn’t been born yesterday. She tore her gaze off his, but that meant soaking in his chest or his forearms, which were ripped with tough strength. His hands were as rugged as the rest of him, big and calloused and scarred. “Does that ever actually work for you?” she murmured. “That line?”

He chuckled softly. “Not in a damn long time, I can tell you that.”

Stone made his way behind the bar and looked at his brother. “You working your magic here?”

“Not with this one.” Cam’s gaze was still locked on Katie. “She’s immune to the Wilder charm.”

“Smart woman.”

Smart to steer clear? Was she really? Or, as she looked at the two brothers with their matching mischievous smiles, matching stun-the-brain good looks, was she being very, very shortsighted?

Several nights later, Annie dragged Katie out to Juniper Lake for ice-skating and a bonfire. It was a full moon, and the sharp, black outlines of the majestic peaks surrounding them in a full circle were enough to render Katie awestruck as they drove out on the narrow, curvy, almost nonexistent road. The high moon shined over the frozen alpine lake, but the best scenery was Nick, Stone, and Cam, skating as if they’d been born to it. “Look at them.”

“Yeah, they’ve been playing hockey for years,” Annie said, mistaking her excitement for dismay over their skills. “Don’t mind them.”

Nick flew past them so fast he was nothing but a blur, and for a moment, Annie stared after him with a look of such naked longing it hurt Katie’s heart.

Giving the chef a moment, Katie got her borrowed skates on and tested herself on the ice, eyeing Cam speeding around the lake.

Did he look good doing everything?

She thought maybe he did, then let her mind wander to what else he might look good doing-like her. Unbidden came the picture in her mind of him doing just that, stripping her naked one article of clothing at a time, smiling that wicked, naughty bad-boy smile as he worked his way down her body with his tongue-

And just like that, her feet flew out from beneath her, and with a teeth-chattering thunk, she hit the ice on her most padded spot-her ass-which didn’t make it hurt less.

Cam stopped on a dime with an ease that made her want to knock him on his ass, fine as it was. “Don’t say it,” she warned, pointing a finger at him. “Don’t say anything except how the hell do I skate like you?”

He flashed a smile and pulled her to her feet, and when said feet would have fallen out from beneath her again, he held her upright.

She’d just been picturing his hands all over her naked body and here he was, touching her. It had her brain’s wiring all crossed, and her nipples went hard.

Bad nipples.

With great concentration, she shoved the sensual images aside, because over the past week since his return, she’d begun to get to know him, and one of the things she knew was that he tended to be a hands-off kind of guy. Stone and Nick were forever shoving each other, and Annie as well. But they were also just as likely to hug, or even just casually touch.

Not Cam.

But he was touching her now, literally holding her up. And looking into her eyes. “You didn’t say,” he murmured. “Were you injured in the bridge collapse?”

“Just a few burns and a broken wrist.” It was her standard reply. Short and to the point, and didn’t encourage more questions. “Could have been worse.”

“Doesn’t always help to know that, though.”

No. No, it didn’t, and a little surprised at his sharp insight, she looked into his face.

He offered a solemn smile. “Ready to learn how to do this?”

She caught the intent in the flicker of his eyes a second before he put his hands on her hips, turning her so that she faced away from him. Before she could process the feeling of being snuggled up to his chest, he’d slipped his arms around her middle, his long legs pressing to the backs of hers. She felt the warmth of his chest; then the muscles in his thighs flexed and they were moving.

Fast. “Oh God.”

“Oh God good, or bad?”

“Good.” But she hadn’t meant the skating. The landscape whipped past them at dizzying speeds, not what was spinning her head. No, that was his hands on her, hard and firm on her belly and ribs as he took her entire weight against him, reminding her how long it’d been since she’d been touched by a man.

Too damn long.

She leaned her head back against his shoulder and looked up into his face. He wasn’t wearing a ski cap tonight, and his light brown hair was disheveled as if maybe he’d used his fingers as a comb. He hadn’t shaved. His scar slashing his left eyebrow didn’t look all that old, and yet the leather band he wore around his wrist did. Her fingers played with it, and at the touch, he looked down.

“From your travels?”

“South America.” He continued to steer her around the lake, the muscles in his body flexing against hers, the heat of him keeping her warm.

As if she could get any warmer. “Does this hurt your leg?”

His expression registered surprised at her question.

“I’m sorry. I’ve seen you limp sometimes.” Plus, he never took the physically taxing trips. Stone or Nick did those. But no one mentioned it, or why.

“It’s my knee,” he said. “But as long as I don’t do jumps, it’ll be fine.”

She couldn’t hold herself up and he could do jumps. She wanted to ask about his injury, about that hollow look that sometimes came into his eyes, about why the others never talked about it, or how they deferred to him, protecting him so much. But she didn’t. She sensed he was tired of questions, tired of a lot of things, and she didn’t want to make him think about it when there was actually a smile on his face. “Then you need to be careful,” she said, then remembered that being careful had never worked for her. “But don’t forget to live. Live as big as you can with what you’ve got.”

His lips quirked, his hands tightening on her. “Is that what you’re doing?”

She wasn’t watching where they were going, but his face. His mouth. It was a really great mouth. Wide and firm but not too much so. She bet it’d be heaven on hers-

“Don’t,” he murmured.

Her gaze flew to his.

“Don’t go there unless you mean it, Goldilocks.”

“How do you know I don’t?”

He shook his head. “It’s a bad idea. We’re a bad idea.”

“Why?”

“I have this thing. This no regrets thing. And while I wouldn’t regret a night with you, I’m not sure you’d be able to say the same.”

Would she regret a night with him? Hell no. But would she regret having to walk away in a few weeks once the job was done and her heart had engaged? Because her heart would engage with him, she already knew it, and that might be a problem.

At her silence, his mouth quirked and he set his chin on her head. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”