Instant Gratification

Chapter 12

Stone racked the balls and gestured for Emma to take the break shot.

She gave him a slight bow and bent over the pool table, and he thought, oh yeah. Right there. There’s the best reason on God’s good earth to invite a woman to play pool. Who cared who won or lost when her pants tightened nice and snug across the sweetest ass on this side of the Sierras? Who cared who won or lost when-

She hit, hard and accurately, and three solid balls went in, the one, two and three balls consecutively.

A beautiful combo shot.

All eyes swiveled to him, accompanied by the low chorus of “oooooh.”

Like he didn’t know he was in trouble. He met her amused gaze.

“I’m solids,” she said sweetly.

“You’ve played. A lot.”

“I’ve played,” she agreed. “A lot.”

Oh, Christ, look at her, all cool and confident. It was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. As was that fitted shirt she wore, only two buttons undone. Cerebral and hot at the same time, which was blowing the synapses in his mind at the speed of light.

Not good.

She bent over the table again and blew the rest of his brain completely out.

“But it’s been awhile,” she muttered demurely, rocketing the seven ball in the corner pocket before casually aiming at the five. And making it. She got the four ball in before she missed her last, the six, and he knew he should be at least worried, but goddamn if he wasn’t smiling from ear to ear.

“You look like an idiot,” Harley told him ever-so-helpfully. “Stop grinning and get in the game.”

Right. He tore his gaze off Emma with much difficulty and did as Harley demanded. Luckily he really was good.

And lucky.

He hit every single striped ball in, until all he had left was the eight ball.

Emma was standing there, not so smug anymore. In fact, she now wore an “oh shit” expression. Yeah. She wasn’t always the best at everything, which must be new for her. Plus he could practically read her thoughts. She was wondering what he was going to want. Good, let her worry, because he decided he liked her a little off her game, a little uncertain.

He finessed the shot and the eight ball sank right in, winning him the game and hopefully the girl.

Annie sighed. “I thought I taught you to always let the woman win.”

“He can’t,” Nick told her. “He wants his spoils.”

Stone looked at TJ, waiting for his smartass comment. He was certain his brother had one, his brother always had one. But TJ wasn’t paying him the slightest bit of attention. He was leaning against the bar staring at Harley with a naked, love struck look on his face.

Great. So two out of three Wilder brothers were looking to get their hearts bashed in.

He tugged the cue stick out of Emma’s hand.

She raised a brow.

He raised one back.

“Now?” she asked. “You’re collecting your winnings now?”

Hell, yes, now. Though he had the oddest urge to toss her over his shoulder and take her back to his cave and pound his chest with his fists before sinking into her glorious body, he knew better.

She hadn’t yet decided to sleep with him.

Which made them even. Oh, he wanted to sleep with her. Actually, he wanted to pull off her clothes with his teeth, lick every single inch of her soft skin, bury himself deep in her body and take them both straight to heaven.

Multiple times.

It’d been a long time since a woman had gotten stuck in his head and stayed there. Since he’d felt the long, slow, curl of heat deep in his gut that he felt now. A very long time.

But more than anything, he wanted to talk to her. Peel back a few layers, find out what made her tick. What made her so tough and edgy.

So competitive, so remote. So unwilling to connect. He stepped closer and she reacted with a hard swallow and the sudden fluttering of her pulse at the base of her throat.

She hadn’t expected to lose.

He pulled her off the barstool and met her gaze, and in that beat at least, she was just a soft, gorgeous woman, suddenly looking at him as if maybe she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

Oh yeah, that worked for him.

She followed him outside into the tangible heat. It was only six thirty. They still had hours of daylight left.

Perfect for what he had in mind. “Trust me?” he asked her.

“Hell, no.”

He grinned and pulled out his keys. “You reneging then?”

She put a hand on her hip and gave him a long, even look that stirred him up. “On what exactly?”

“It’s a surprise.”

She stared at him, then laughed. “You are unbelievable.”

“So you are reneging.”

“My word is my word.” She eyed his truck, sighed heavily, and hopped into the passenger seat.

Unable to believe his luck, he stared at her for a beat, then jogged around to his door before she could change her mind.

Emma swiped her forehead on her arm. Lord, it was hot. Very hot. She looked around the cab of the bad boy truck. It wasn’t for show, the thing had dents and wear and tear, and was clearly well-loved and well-used.

And it had a/c.

Her secret fantasy upped a notch.

Stone started the engine, made her his friend forever when he cranked the air, and within five minutes they were out of Wishful. They made a quick stop at the lodge, where he vanished for a minute, then came back and loaded two bikes in the back.

“I’m not a mountain biker,” she said.

“You will be.”

He took them up a narrow dirt road that she’d never been on before. The going was rough, and she was grateful for her seatbelt as she was knocked side to side. The landscape was thick here, overgrown and wooded, and with the late afternoon sun making shadows, she couldn’t tell much about where they were going except that they were climbing.

And climbing.

“How about a hint about where we’re going?” she asked.

“It’ll take your breath,” was all he said.

Well at sixty-three hundred feet, that she could believe. She looked over at him, driving the nearly nonexistent road with ease in his loose and battered jeans and a t-shirt. His Nike’s looked as old and comfortable as his jeans. Once again, his hair was finger-disheveled and he hadn’t shaved.

Another secret fantasy, a man who wasn’t a slave to his razor. She wanted to know what that stubble felt like rubbing against her skin.

He glanced over at her. “What?”

“Nothing.”

“Oh, it was something. You looked…I don’t know. Hot.”

“That’s because it’s a million degrees.” She’d rather work at the Urgent Care for the rest of the year than admit she’d been picturing him running his face all over her body. “You’re not really a ski and bike bum, are you?”

He slid her another glance. “Is that what you were thinking about?”

“Sort of.” Indirectly. “You run Wilder Adventures. You lead treks by day, and by night you work on the business end; the reservations, the books, the scheduling. Annie seems to think you’re the glue that keeps your family together.”

He seemed amused by his aunt’s assessment. “That’s because I’m her favorite.”

She slid him a look. “She said Cam was.”

He laughed, and she couldn’t take her eyes off him. He was at ease, confident. Happy.

God, that was attractive. “You’re a close family.”

He slid her another look. “We are.” He pulled into a clearing and turned off the truck. “But we’re not exclusive.”

“What does that mean?”

He got out of the truck and came around for her, opening her door, waiting until she leaned forward to get out before stepping between the opened door and where she sat.

Her legs bumped his. She liked the feeling.

Slowly he crouched until they were at eye level. “It means I know you’re feeling alone. That you don’t think you fit in here. But you’re wrong about both. You’re not alone, and you can fit in.”

It was a nice thought. A comforting thought. It put others into her head, which meant her brain got a little fuzzy, what with the hot guy hunkered in front of her and his hot truck at her back. Anticipation hummed through her, and more shocking, a hunger.

Not the usual hunger to be busy, or the thrill of a new medical case.

But a hunger for a man.

For him.

Needing some space, she nudged him with a hand to his chest, and for one beat, he nudged back, his broad torso filling her vision, his eyes suddenly somber and filled with a hunger of his own, his heat and strength tantalizingly close. Just when her fingers were beginning to fist into his shirt, he backed off and held out his hand.

She followed him around the back of the truck. He pulled out the two mountain bikes and handed her a helmet, and when she just stared at it, he put it on for her, his fingers brushing her throat as he clicked her in.

“I don’t know about this,” she said. “It’s so damn hot.”

“It’ll cool down soon.”

“Is this the bet then? You want me to ride with you?”

“No.” He eyed her for a moment, scrubbing a hand over his jaw, which made an oddly erotic scraping noise. “You don’t like to do new things.”

She looked at the trailhead. It seemed narrow. Scary. “I do so.”

“No you don’t. And I know why.”

She turned back to him and put her hands on her hips. “Okay, Mr. Know It All, why don’t I like to do new things?”

“Because you only like to do the stuff you’re good at.”

She blinked, and he laughed at her softly. “Have you ever really had to try at something, Emma? Something important? Or does it all come naturally to you in your world?”

Okay, she resented that. “I worked my ass off to get through medical school.”

“Really?”

She stared at him, then deflated. “No. It came… easy, and I loved it.” He couldn’t be right, could he? “But residency was hard and exhausting,” she came up with triumphantly. It’d been hard and exhausting and…and exhilarating. “Oh, shut up.”

He grinned. “Can you ride a bike?”

“Well now’s a fine time to ask, but yes.”

“Are you better at riding than driving?”

Okay, that lit a fire under her competitive nature. “I drive just fine.”

“Well as I’ve seen you, we’re going to have to respectfully agree to disagree there.”

“Funny.”

He waggled a brow. “So how about a little race?”

“Is that the bet?”

“Sure.” He smiled. “That’s the bet. Think you can take me?”

She let her gaze slide over his leanly muscled, incredibly fit body. Nice. But she was in shape, too. Sure she’d been eating cheese casseroles for weeks now, all in the name of saving her father’s health, but she was the most determined, stubborn person she knew. Plus surely he didn’t plan to kick her butt twice in a row. He was a man on a mission to get laid so she figured he’d let her have this one. “I do think I can take you.”

He sent her a long, slow grin. “Care to make a little wager?”

“Another bet?”

“Uh huh. Unless you’re afraid of losing. Again.”

Oh, that was it. “If I win,” she said, pointing at him. “You’re taking me to find Thai take-out. I don’t care if we have to fly to Thailand to get it.”

“Deal. And if I win…” His smile turned bad boy wicked. “You’ll go swimming with me.”

“I didn’t bring my bathing suit.”

His smile spread, and her belly fluttered. “I am not going skinny-dipping with you in some lake or river, Stone.”

“So you think you’ll lose then.”

Oh, he was good. She threw her leg over the bike. “You know what? Bring it on.”

“I’ll even give you a head start.”

She’d take that.

“Start slow,” he told her in an easy, comforting voice that shouldn’t have sparked her competitive nature even more, but it did because he didn’t think she could win.

And she was so going to win. She was getting Thai, come hell or high water. “You just want to watch my ass.”

“Well, it is a sweet ass.”

She laughed, then prepared to take off, stopping as something occurred to her. “Okay, maybe you should tell me the difference between street riding and trail riding.”

“Comply with all signs and barriers.”

“That’s just common sense.” Which, not to be egotistical, but she happened to have boatloads of common sense. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Okay, you need to maintain a distance between the bikes.”

“Again,” she said. “Common sense.” The trail was thick with ruts and mud from the previous day’s rain. Distance was a safety issue. “If that’s all there is to this, prepare for your ass kicking.”

He put a hand on her handlebars, stopping her from taking off. “We’re going to try to avoid the trails that are too wet or muddy.”

“Good. I don’t like wet and muddy.”

“I’d like to assure you that wet and muddy have their place, but not with newcomers.” He turned her bike toward another trail that she hadn’t seen, a slightly wider one, that hadn’t been as damaged by the rains. “Ride in the middle and try to avoid side-slipping, which can lead to erosion.”

She stared up at him, her eyes going directly to that face she couldn’t stop looking at. The men in her world might be more refined, more attached to their razors, but she really liked how he looked.

She liked the rugged arrangement of his features, the way his mouth curved so generously-

“Ready?”

“Ready.” She pushed off into the heat and found her sea legs fairly quickly.

“Change gears,” he called out from behind her. “You want comfortable momentum but traction so you don’t slip-”

“I’m fine-oh, shit,” she gasped as she slipped, and quickly changed gears. Not good. If she was going to win this thing, and she planned to, she’d need to concentrate. She wiped her damp brow and did just that.

The trail turned sharply, then went on a decline, and on instinct, she hit her brakes.

“Careful,” he warned. “Don’t lock ’em up.”

“So as not to gouge the trail?” she asked.

“Or die.”

Good to know. She eased off the brakes. The ride wasn’t anything like she’d imagined. For one thing, it was a whole lot harder than she’d expected it to be. They were on a rocky trail and it was bumpy. She had to concentrate on not pitching herself over the handlebars. For another, as the trail widened and Stone came up alongside, she had to concentrate on not staring at him, at all those lean, hard muscles working, at the way his legs churned, how his hands held the grips as if he’d been born to it.

Oh man was she out of her league, so far out of her league, but luckily, he was just as enthralled watching her. He eyed her legs, her arms, her face, and smiled. “Damn if you’re not harder to beat than I thought you’d be,” he murmured.

Good. She planned on taking advantage of that. Finally, far up ahead, through the tree about a hundred yards ahead, she could see where the trail ended, and after half an hour on this seat, she was ready for it to be done. So she dug deep and sped up, taking the lead.

He let her.

When she stood up to pedal harder, she heard his low breath of appreciation at the view she was giving him, and knew she had the win in the bag. She smiled, because God she loved to win-

Suddenly something whizzed by her, and Stone came to a skidding stop on a dime.

Dammit. “You won,” she gasped, barely able to talk through her wheezing for air.

He modestly lifted a shoulder and got off his bike. “If it helps, you very nearly kicked my ass.”

Very nearly wasn’t going to get her out of swimming. She got off her bike as well, too, still huffing and puffing. Sweating. She couldn’t catch her breath, and sounding like a broken locomotive, she turned and looked at the view.

And went still.

Just ahead was an alpine lake, about a mile across, slightly wider than that. It was completely surrounded by towering mountain peaks lined with thick, lush growth. “Oh my God.”

“Hidden Lakes. We passed two others, hidden in the growth. This one’s the furthest, and the hardest to get to.”

She stepped closer to the water lapping at the coarse mountain sand, taking in the cattails lining the edge, the lily ponds in the shallow water, and shook her head. It was so beautiful she could hardly speak.

They were completely isolated, surrounded by three-hundred-feet-tall sequoias and pines.

And alone.

Stone dropped the small backpack he’d worn on the ride. Something inside squawked, and he crouched down, pulling out a radio. “Go ahead, TJ, over.”

“Where are you? Over.”

“Third Hidden Lake. Over.”

“That group going down Cascade Falls tomorrow showed up two days early. Annie and I rushed back to the lodge and they’re pissed. The schedule’s fucked up, and Annie’s bitching because her pies didn’t get delivered, and now I’m double-booked for tomorrow. When the hell are you getting back? Over.”

“If the schedule’s fucked up,” Stone replied, “it’s because you put your grimy fingers on it.” Sitting on his haunches, he sighed and shook his head. “Leave it alone. I’ll fix it when I get back. The two clients yelling at you can wait for me as well. You’ll just piss them off more. Send Nick for the pies. And you’re not double-booked for tomorrow. I’m taking the Alpine trip. Over.”

“You still didn’t say when you’d be back. Over.”

Stone glanced up at Emma and smiled. “I’ll be back when you stop yelling at me. Over.” With that, he tossed the radio to the ground.

“He sounded desperate,” Emma said. “You’re just going to leave him hanging?”

“Sure. He’s done it to me plenty of times. You okay?” he asked when she sank to the coarse sand.

“Just shaking. I think it’s the altitude.”

He opened the backpack and pulled out two bottled waters and a Ziploc bag full of cookies, which he handed over. “Some sugar should help. Try ‘em. They’re my specialty.”

She took a bite and moaned in sheer bliss. “Oh. My. God. This is better than the scenery, and that’s pretty darn amazing.” She couldn’t get the rest of the cookie in fast enough. “Seriously. You made these?”

“Yeah.”

“They’re the best cookies I’ve ever had.”

He looked amused. “They’re just basic chocolate chip.”

Yes, but when she wanted cookies, or any food for that matter, she went to the store. She used her oven as storage for the pots and pans she’d never used. “I burn water.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I’m not asking you to cook for me then, isn’t it.”

She looked up, caught the teasing light in his eyes and smiled. It was true. He hadn’t asked her to cook for him. He hadn’t asked anything of her.

Which should have made him the perfect man.

Did make him the perfect man.

Except for the fact that she didn’t want or need one. She didn’t want or need anyone in her life, thank you very much, she thought as she licked the last bit of chocolate from her fingers. “Omigod, these are better than…everything.”

He followed the movement of her tongue with his eyes, but smiled easily. “Life isn’t all about food.”

“True. It’s all about take-out.”

He laughed.

“Hey, I’m not kidding. After twenty hours on your feet and only a few coffees in your system, you wouldn’t snub your nose at Taco Bell, I can promise you.”

“You must work some crazy hours.”

“Yeah.”

“You miss it.”

“Yeah.” She sighed. “I do.”

“What do you miss the most?”

“Oh, that’s easy. I miss…” She blinked, shocked to find herself drawing a blank.

He arched a brow. “You miss…?”

So much. But suddenly, there in the last of a gorgeous, hot day, surrounded not by the smell of antiseptic and the nagging beat of her pager and cell phone, instead looking into a set of deep jade eyes which were smiling at her with affection and heat, she couldn’t think of a single thing.

How odd was that? “I miss…Thai food,” she said triumphantly.

There. She’d thought of something. A lame something, but still.

Looking amused, he slowly shook his head. “That’s reaching.”

Yeah. It was. Then, still looking at her, he stood up, tall and lean and damp with sweat, and her heart skipped a beat. “What are you doing?”

“Relaxing. Swimming.” He kicked off a shoe. “You remember who won, right?”

Oh, God. “Yes, but…but your brother sounded pissed. Maybe we should go back.”

“Serves him right. You didn’t answer my question.”

“Um,” she said brilliantly as he kicked off his other shoe.

“You lost,” he pointed out gently.

“Oh, that silly bet?” She swallowed hard as he lifted his T-shirt off over his head and tossed it aside. Sweet Jesus. She stared at his mouth watering chest as his fingers went to the button on his jeans. “Stone?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you wearing a bathing suit?”

“Nope.”