Instant Attraction

Chapter 9

Annie stood in the foyer waiting for Katie. “Kitchen. Now.” Okay. Kitchen worked. There were chairs in the kitchen and she needed to sit down. She followed Annie, noting the chef’s very baggy sweat bottoms and oversized T-shirt. Today’s apron read: WARNING-COMPLAINTS TO THE CHEF MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH.

In the kitchen, Annie handed over a plate loaded with lasagna, bread, and salad. “Sit. Eat.”

Katie’s hands were still trembling, but unfortunately no panic attack had ever stifled her appetite. She managed to stuff a bite into her mouth, then moaned in sheer pleasure.

“Yeah?” Annie asked, staring at her.

“Oh, yeah. Seriously, it’s great. It’s-”

“Yeah, yeah, I cook like an angel. Listen, I have a question.”

“Okay.”

“Did you see any of the guys today?”

Okay, so Annie had seen Cam hug her. “It’s not what you think.” Even if Katie wanted it to be exactly what Annie thought. “He was just…comforting me.”

“You mean Cam. You and Cam?”

“Well…yeah. What did you mean?”

Annie was frowning. “He’s not your type.”

“No,” she admitted. Her type was the laid-back LA guy who couldn’t be bothered to tell her he already had a wife, or the guy who didn’t call for a second date when he said he would. “He’s more alpha than I’m used to. And a bit dark and broody. And-”

Annie arched a brow. “And?”

“And nothing.” Shut your mouth, Katie. “Nothing. Subject dropped, sorry.”

Annie stared at her for another beat, then visibly shook it off. “Okay, when I asked about seeing any of the guys today, I meant Nick.”

Hey, good going. “I haven’t seen Nick today at all. About that Cam thing, I-”

“Forget it.” Annie looked like she was going to do her best to do the same. “Nick flew Stone and a group for a heli-ski, but they came back an hour ago. He usually comes into the kitchen to see me.”

“But didn’t you tell him not to talk to you ever again?”

“Well, I didn’t mean it, did I?” Turning away, Annie started rinsing dishes. Her hair, in a loose knot on top of her head, vibrated with tension. “This is so…asinine!” She poured enough soap into the sink to wash all the dishes in California. “He stopped seeing me, you know. He stopped looking at me.”

“Because you’re divorcing him?”

“No, it’s why I’m divorcing him-if he ever signs the damn papers. I told him to either look at me or find someone else. And he said he saw me just fine. He saw me standing between him and the damn TV. So I said get the hell out.” Her face went from anger to hurt bewilderment. “And he did. He moved into his own cabin.”

“Oh, Annie. I’m sorry.”

“Asinine,” she repeated.

“Maybe you could fix it.”

“How?” Annie waved her sponge and bubbles rose in the air between them. “The man didn’t see me! I’ve had a thing for him since second grade. I love him more than…more than cooking.”

Katie tread carefully, knowing how proud Annie was, which actually seemed to be a universal Wilder trait. “Maybe he needs your help to see you.”

Annie looked at her. “What? How hard is it? I’m standing right here.”

“I know, but sometimes guys need to be hit over the head, so to speak. They’re visual creatures.”

“Oh, Christ on a stick. Don’t say I need a damn makeover or some such shit like that.”

“How about new clothes?”

Annie looked down at herself. “There’s nothing wrong with these.”

“No, not if you’re a six-foot, two-hundred-pound teenage boy. You have such a great figure, but you hide it.”

“I’m chunky.”

“You’re curvy,” Katie corrected. “And if you dress for something other than the rumble in the parking lot, you could show it off a little. And-”

“Ohmigod. There’s an ‘and’?”

“A very little one. Makeup.”

“I’m getting hot flashes these days. I’ll just sweat it all off.”

“Just a swipe of black mascara. And maybe some gloss. That’s it. Maybe pick his favorite flavor.”

“Peach.” Annie sighed and went back to washing dishes. “His favorite flavor is peach. The damn skinny fool.”

“I have some peach gloss, I’ll give it to you. But it’s not just the clothes and the gloss.”

“I’m not doing anything crazy like Botox. I want to be able to look pissed off.”

“I was going to say it’s all in the attitude. And not a bad attitude.” She nudged Annie’s shoulders back. “Stand like you’re worth something. Walk the walk, talk the talk.”

“But I want him to see me without all the bullshit. The UPS guy manages to see me just fine.”

“Because you smile at him,” Katie pointed out. “You flirt. You don’t do that with Nick.”

Annie took that in a moment. “Well, hell. You just might be right about that.” Her eyes narrowed. “Are you using this technique on my nephew?”

“Honestly, I have no idea what I’m doing with your nephew.”

Annie’s brow crinkled in worry. “You’re only here for another two weeks.”

“I know.”

“Are you going to want to stay, and then eventually either run him over or screw him over?”

“Run him over?”

“Crazy ex. Don’t ask.”

“Okay,” she said slowly. “A big negative to running him over, and also on the screwing over. I have my next adventure to get to.”

Annie nodded, but her brow remained crinkled.

“What?”

“I’m just wondering what a guy who’s done nothing but take a risk all his life is going to do with a woman who’s never taken one until now, except get hurt.”

A most excellent question. “No one’s going to get hurt,” Katie said, wanting to believe it.

That night, Katie finished up her work for the day and headed out of the lodge, where she found herself swallowed up by the night. No streetlights, no city lights, no tall buildings for landmarks, nothing but the glowing snow and the black outline of towering mountains and the even blacker night sky.

As she always did out here, she felt like the only person on the entire planet. Just her and the wild animals.

When the now-familiar rustling sound came from a snow-covered Manzanita bush, she was not too proud to whirl to run. She might have fallen if not for the hands that grabbed her and pulled her up against a hard, warm body.

“Just me.”

That voice alone brought body parts to life, parts she’d almost forgotten existed. And let’s not forget her handy-dandy trusty fogging glasses. “Cam.”

“Expecting someone else?”

“Big Foot.”

“Ah. So the bushes are rustling again.”

“Probably hungry. I don’t want to toot my own horn, but I probably look good enough to eat.”

“I can vouch for that.” He took her hand and started walking with her, looking tough and yet somehow gentle-an intoxicating mix.

“I forgot to mention something earlier,” she said.

“You mean other than you think that I’ve quit my life?”

“I said I wasn’t going to quit my life. The thing I forgot to mention was that after going to the bank, I ended up in a bakery. Wishful Delights.”

And those eyes of his shuttered right up. It made her stomach drop, because up until that reaction she’d managed to hold out hope that she’d been mistaken about the emotion she’d seen on Serena’s face. “Serena wants you to go see her.”

He said nothing to that. Shock.

“You two were together,” she ventured. “Which I guess had me wondering if you still are. Together.”

At that, he looked at her, his eyes unfathomable, as dark as the night. “Do you think I’d have kissed you the way I did if I was with another woman?”

“I kissed you, remember?”

“Oh yeah, I remember.” That dark gaze heated and so did all her good spots. “And then I very nearly took off all your clothes right there on the snowmobile and had my merry way with you.”

“Yeah,” she said, knees knocking. “That was my very favorite part, actually. Look, I’m fishing, okay? You’re a puzzle, and I’m missing a lot of pieces, apparently one named Serena.”

“Let’s play a different game.”

“I don’t want to play games at all. Did you break her heart, Cam?”

“No.”

“She break yours?”

His silence spoke for him.

Dammit. Dammit, Serena had hurt him. “Did it have anything to do with your accident?”

He shot her a look.

“Sorry. I tend to fill silences with chatter.”

“Well, that explains a lot about you.”

“Funny. What happened with Serena?”

He offered a shrug that was meant to be noncommittal but felt like a lot more. It had her throat tightening for him.

“She left me.”

“Because of your mind-blowing conversational skills?”

“Ha. Yeah, that’s not how it went.”

“How did it go?”

“Guy traveled a lot. Girl got lonely.”

“Guy was a famous ski champion,” she pointed out. “Travel was par for the course.”

“Didn’t matter. She got tired of being alone and got herself laid. Then I got all butt hurt, crashed, lost my endorsements and entire future.”

Her heart cracked for him. “Oh, Cam.”

“Don’t. Jesus. Don’t pity me. I pitied myself plenty, all year long. And as you’ve ever so helpfully pointed out, I’m apparently still at it.”

“Not all women cheat.”

“True. The woman I dated before Serena tried to run me over with her car when I declined a third date.”

She gaped at him. Annie hadn’t been kidding. “Did she hit you?”

“Just nicked me. Luckily I’m fast.”

“My God.”

“Yeah, the woman before her took off after MTV’s special The Bad Boys of Winter. She was in it for the long haul, but after seeing my segment, she decided a Wilder was a bad risk for her investment. I told you, Wilders are bad news, Goldilocks.”

“The Wilders were all pretty badass in the past,” she agreed. “But how about in this century?”

At her mocking tone, he slid her a glance. “I’m trying to scare you off here.”

“Then tell me something scary.”

He let out a low breath. “You are the oddest woman I’ve ever met.”

“So I’ve been told.” The dark, dark night continued to cocoon them, giving a sense of intimacy that Katie couldn’t tell was real or her own hopeful imagination. The trees swayed in the wind, accompanied by the occasional hoot of something wild that she didn’t want to know about. “Serena made a bad error in judgment, Cam, and the women before her were idiots. So your ancestors raped and pillaged the landside. Duly noted. Now tell me how that makes you bad?”

“I disappoint the women in my life.”

“Not Annie.”

“Serena is a friend of hers, a friend she didn’t want me to date in the first place. She’s in the middle and hates that. I put her there.”

“Okay, maybe, but I don’t buy that Annie would choose a friend over you. What about your mother?”

“Not a factor.” He said this flatly, subject clearly closed.

When she just looked at him, he shook his head. “She left right after I was born.”

He stood there casually, hands in his pockets now, looking like this was all okay, even perfectly normal, but it wasn’t, and she felt something inside her crack open up to him.

He’d been so let down. Over and over again. “Putting aside the fact that none of any of that is your fault,” she said quietly. “The Cameron Wilder I know so far? I’m pretty damn impressed with. Even if he won’t have sex with me.”

He choked out a laugh as they came to her front door.

“Yeah.” She leaned back against the door. “I know you like that whole no regrets thing, but actually, I kind of feel the opposite. No holding back. Because if you hold back, it’s boring. You shouldn’t be bored with life, Cam. Not ever.”

“I agree with that.”

“So why aren’t we naked?”

He let out a breath. “My radar’s off,” he said so sincerely that she laughed; then he laughed, too, and tugged her in for a hug. Turning them so that he was the one leaning back against the door now, he held her against him. “Are you sure, Katie? Are you sure you’re not just saying what you think I want to hear?”

“I’m not that nice.”

“So you’re not out here looking for something permanent.”

“The job’s temporary. My being here is temporary. What could I be looking for?” At his expression, she had to laugh again. “Are you asking if I want a husband and two point five kids? Okay, you caught me. I do, but they’re for the future. Don’t be scared. In a week and a half, I’m out of here for the Real Adventures of Katie Kramer.”

“Where are you going to go?”

“I don’t know yet. I’ve saved every penny from my time here. I was thinking of doing that whole backpack across Europe thing.”

“By yourself.”

“Or that Alaska trip that T.J. is on sounds cool. Maybe I’ll book one of those.”

“What does your family think?”

“That I’m crazy. But in their defense, I’ve been the quite little Goody Two-Shoes all my life, never rocking the boat, never questioning authority…never doing any damn thing.”

“Okay, I get that. But, Katie, have you ever backpacked before? Or gone mountain climbing?”

“That’s sort of the point, big guy.”

“And what about after that?”

“A plan, Cam? Really? You want me to have a plan when you don’t?”

“Okay,” he said. “That’s not fair. You and I are different.”

“Not as different as you think. Look, I’m not Serena. Or any of those other women. I hardly ever run people over. But things happen. Life’s too short. Hearts get stomped on. We both know that better than anyone. It’s no big deal.”

“It is a big deal.”

“Only if you dwell.”

“Of which I’ve done my fair share of.”

She smiled up at him as she slid her hands up his chest and into his hair. “You about done?”

That dragged another laugh out of him. “I think so, yeah.”

She pressed her mouth to his jaw and nibbled. He groaned and turned his head, meeting her mouth with his, his tongue sliding against hers in a movement so delicious, so perfect, her knees wobbled.

That was new, having all her bones just sort of melt right out of her legs, which turned out not to be a problem because he had her. Then he turned them again, pressed her back up against the wood, a motion that freed up his hands, which she was all for. Except…She went still. “Did you hear that?”

He was kissing her neck. “I can’t hear anything over the roar of the blood in my ears.”

God, he was sexy. But she’d heard something. And if it was a hungry bear…“I think we should go in. You coming?”

“Hell, yeah, I’m coming. You’re going to come too.”

“You’re talking about-”

“Yeah.”

Her legs impersonated a bowl of jelly, and she yanked him against her, just as her door opened behind her, causing the two of them to fall inside.

Above them, still holding the door handle, stood Annie, staring down at them sprawled at her boots. “Oh, for the love of Pete.”

“Annie,” Katie gasped and sat up. “Hi.”

“Oomph,” Cam said when her elbow accidentally planted in his belly on his way up.

“I came to show you my new clothes.” Annie put a hand on her hips. The other held a plate of brownies as she stared at Katie. “I brought these and Will Smith’s latest DVD. Say you’re going to pick me, my brownies, and Will over my knucklehead nephew.”

Katie looked at Cam, who rolled to his feet. “Thanks,” he said to Annie. “Good to know where we stand.”

Annie sighed and lost her attitude. “I’m sorry. I think you two are a colossally bad idea, but Stone told me I had to stay out of it. I didn’t know you were going to be here. She’s the only girl here and I need a girl night. And you…” She divided a look between them. “You two need a cooling-off period.” She shoved a brownie in Cam’s hand, then pushed him over the threshold and shut the door in his face. “There. I thought he’d never leave.”

Katie let out a breath and reached for the entire plate of brownies. So close. She’d been so close.