Instant Temptation

CHAPTER 17

TJ sat at his desk and looked at the mess on it. He hated paperwork. He hated filing. He hated sitting.

He hated not having fresh air in his lungs.

Huh. That was sort of fun. What else did he hate about office work? How about the fact that there were walls all around him instead of the elements? He hated walls. He hated being enclosed. He hated the electronic hum of the office equipment.

His phone rang. He hated that, too, but he answered it. Turned out to be a good call-a last-minute Alaska trip, leaving in a week. Didn’t get better than that.

Well, actually, it could get better than that. He could be back out at Desolation with Harley.

He looked at the paperwork again and decided it was time for a field trip. He headed to Cam’s office, intending to grab him for help cataloguing their inventory for month-end, and then they could go on a hard, fast, mountain bike ride.

Cam’s laptop was open on his desk. Next to it lay a cell phone and keys. Next to that, an iPod, with Radiohead blaring out of the headphones. There was also an opened soda and bag of chips.

Had there been some sort of emergency? TJ couldn’t think of another reason why his brother would leave so quickly with an unfinished bag of chips lying out, just begging to be stolen. Cam didn’t leave his food.

Just then, the cell phone rang. The screen ID’d Nick. “Yo,” TJ answered.

“TJ? Where the hell’s Cam? I’m out back waiting for him.”

“I have no idea.” Then he heard it. A rustle and a…moan? Both came from the closet behind the desk.

And then, a soft, husky female voice that sounded suspiciously like Katie saying, “Oh, God. Cam…” Something thunked against the closet door from the inside. And then a soft moan. “There, Cam. Right there.”

TJ went still. “Jesus.”

“What?” Nick asked.

A rough gasp came from the closet.

Fucking almost-newlyweds. TJ rubbed a hand over his face, even as he wished he was in a closet causing Harley to make those sounds. “Call it a hunch,” he said to Nick. “But I think Cam’s indisposed.”

“Ah, jeez,” Nick said with a sigh. “Again? That’s the third time this week.”

TJ shut Cam’s phone, dropped it back on the desk, and beat it to the door, but didn’t get out before hearing Cam’s low groan and roughly uttered, “Christ, Katie.”

Out in the hallway, TJ stopped to bang his head against the wall a couple times. When he straightened, Annie stood there, brow raised.

“You’ll shake something loose,” she said.

Yeah. That’s what he was hoping. Trying not to be jealous as hell that his brother was getting laid, and quite well from the sounds of it, he brushed past Annie. “I’ll be categorizing and inventorying equipment in the garage for month-end.”

He’d been at it twenty minutes, going through all the dirt bikes, helmets, and protective gear, when the door opened and quickly closed.

Stone.

Still facing the door, TJ’s brother crept backwards, farther into the shed toward him. Clearly Stone was sneaking around, and clearly he didn’t want anyone to follow him.

TJ waited until Stone had almost backed into him before he said, “What’s up?”

“Jesus-freaking-Christ.” Stone whipped around so fast he fell over one of the bikes.

TJ leaned over his prone body with a smirk. “Been walking long?”

“Shut up. And shh!” he whispered when the door opened.

Emma stood in the doorway.

From flat on the floor, and not yet visible to Emma, Stone sliced a finger across his throat in a clear gesture that meant he was not there.

“Hey, Teej,” Emma called out, holding her black medical bag. “I’m looking for Stone. He keeps postponing getting his shots for our Belize trip.”

There was only one thing in the entire world Stone was afraid of. Well, two.

Emma’s wrath.

And needles.

Still on the floor, Stone was giving him the desperate eyes, the please-save-my-ass eyes, and TJ knew that he could probably extract any price for his silence. And while there were times having his brother owe him a favor would work to his advantage, at the moment, he couldn’t think of a single one that would be more rewarding than watching Emma stalk and terrorize Stone with a needle.

Stone’s hopeful gaze narrowed as he read the intent in TJ’s mouth a beat before TJ pointed at him.

Emma gave him an Are You Kidding? look, and Stone flipped TJ off. Emma came around the bikes and found Stone, who lifted his head. “Hey, baby.”

Crouching at his side, Emma shook her head. “Seriously?”

“I was just taking a nap.”

“You’re marrying an idiot,” TJ said to Emma.

“Yes,” Emma said on a shake of her head. “And there seems to be a lot of that going around.” She sent TJ a knowing glare.

“What? I’m not getting married.”

“You’re still an idiot.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“To be clear,” she said, “I mean because of Harley.”

“What about her?”

“See,” she muttered to herself. “Idiot.” She smiled down at Stone still sprawled on the floor, then got down on her knees as he pushed up to a sit. She tossed aside her black bag and crawled into his lap.

He grinned and put his hands on her ass.

In the next second they were kissing as if they had three minutes left to live.

TJ rolled his eyes, grabbed his motorcycle, and rolled it out of there, then nearly ran it right into Cam.

Who was looking pretty damn loose and sated. “What are you, eighteen?”

“Jealous?” Cam asked.

Maybe. Probably. Then he realized that while Cam was looking quite thoroughly tumbled, he wasn’t smiling, and his eyes were somber. “What is it?”

Cam shook his head. “The Forest Service had a break-in at station four.”

Which was the sole ranger station in Desolation. It was remote and unmanned, and only three miles from where he and Harley had been.

“Nothing was damaged,” Cam said, “But it looks like several people camped out there.”

“Wonder if that’s who I saw.”

“Gets worse. Two more coyotes were found shot.”

Ah, hell.

“Is Harley going back up there for any reason?” Cam asked.

“I don’t know. Probably, when she hears this. She’ll want to take a head count on her groups.” Goddammit. “I’ll be back in a bit.”

“You going to tell her?”

“Yeah. She needs to take one of us with her if she goes.”

Cam arched a brow. “One of us? As in me or Stone?”

“Guess again.”

“Nick?” Cam was looking amused. “Or Nolan. Yeah, I bet Nolan would love to go with her and camp all night, alone in the wilderness.”

“You’re an asshole.”

Cam laughed as TJ straddled his bike. “And you are so screwed.”

Very true.

“You’re not really going to go to Harley’s and tell her that she can’t go back out there alone.”

“What?”

“It’s Harley, TJ.”

“Yeah. So?”

Cam shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “I’ll give you a minute to catch up to me. Go ahead and take your time.”

“Okay, so she hates to be told what to do.”

“Very good.”

TJ started the bike and revved the engine. “I’ll figure it out when I see her.”

“Good luck with that.”

Between Wilder Adventures and Wishful there was nothing but 75,000 acres of wilderness that TJ knew like the back of his hand. With the dirt bike roaring beneath him, he ignored the well-traveled road toward town and took off through the woods, making his own trail.

Back when he was a kid, he and his brothers would ride out there as often as they could, to avoid school, work, or their father’s fists. They’d ride until they ran out of gas, then push the bikes back. Sometimes Annie would be with them. Sometimes Harley, who’d been in the same grade as Cam.

Harley.

With the wind at his back and the sun on his face, he thought of her. She was probably working, either the internship or at the garage, or hell, maybe she was out with Nolan.

None of his business.

Except…except she felt like his business.

When he finally came into town, he idled at the end of Main and let out a breath. Wishful had been one of the original Old West mining towns, and its sidewalks were lined with nineteenth-century false-front buildings that had-back in the day-been wild saloons and lawless whorehouses. Mining was no longer productive, but the town lived on thanks to its proximity to Lake Tahoe and the endless stream of tourists looking for an outdoor adventure.

He’d made a lot of money off those people doing what he loved, and he still felt restless.

So fucking restless.

He supposed he’d go by Nolan’s garage first and if Harley’s truck wasn’t there, he’d check out her place, but before he hit the gas, a jogger came around the corner.

The sun was behind her, highlighting her sweet curves. She wore a tank top and running shorts, and though the sun cast her entire form in shadow, he knew exactly who he was looking at, knew the choppy layered hair falling to just above her shoulders, knew the even stride.

He’d like to say he could remember what that body felt like beneath his, but much as he racked his brain about that long-ago summer night, he couldn’t…quite…get his fingers on the memory. He had flashes of smooth, white skin, images of an intense connection that had seemed out of place at the time, and feelings of being warmed heart and soul in a way that had felt alien to him.

Nothing more.

He knew the exact moment Harley saw him straddling the bike in front of her because she nearly tripped. Her steps slowed. She shoved her sunglasses to the top of her head and put her hands on her hips, her breath coming in short pants. She hated running, hated exercise of any kind, and the sight of her doing it made him smile.

“It’s not funny,” she said. “My jeans are getting tight.”

He liked the way she looked in jeans. It was part of his problem. He liked the way she looked in damn near everything, but he’d especially liked the way she looked in her bra and panties, running like a bat out of hell around the campfire toward him.

“Stop that,” she said shakily, pointing at him.

“I didn’t do anything.”

“You’re thinking it.”

“Got me there,” he said on a smile.

She blew out a breath. Her skin was covered in a fine sheen of perspiration, making her glow. Still huffing and puffing, she bent at the waist and sucked in more air. Her top rode up in the back. Her shorts were low-riding, revealing a strip of smooth skin, and twin dimples right above what was a perfect heart-shaped ass.

“You have a way of seeing me at my worst,” she muttered, straightening.

Was she kidding? He wanted to put his tongue to those dimples and work his way down…

“Covered in mud,” she went on. “Drenched. Sweaty.”

“You look frighteningly sexy in all of those scenarios,” he told her.

“Humph.”

Taking another, longer, more careful look at her, he realized there was far more bothering her than her jeans being tight. He wondered if it had anything to do with the rumors swirling around town about the two of them, and then realized he was giving himself far more credit than he was probably due.

She probably hadn’t given him another thought.

“I hate running as a calorie burner,” she grumbled.

“I can think of a better way to burn calories,” he said.

She actually laughed, which he took as a good sign. Whatever was bothering her maybe wasn’t his doing then. “Want a ride?”

She eyed his bike with pleasure, but shook her head. “I don’t know if the gossip mill has room for any more stories about us.”

So she had heard.

“Could have been worse, though,” she said. “They could have said I was having an alien’s baby.”

“Well, hey, since it could have been worse…” He patted the seat.

“Yeah, but what about that whole calorie-burning thing?”

“How about if I promise to irritate you like I do so well?” he asked. “Irritation burns calories.” So did sex…

Something came and went in her eyes so fast he couldn’t place it. “Yeah, what the hell,” she said, surprising him again. “Since we’ve already entertained everyone, ruined the thing between Nolan and me, and possibly cost me my only paying job, why not?”

He caught her arm before she could get on behind him. “Nolan fired you?”

“Not exactly.”

“Then what exactly?”

She sighed.

“Harley.”

“Let’s just say I’m no longer sure where he stands on the idea of having me as an employee, especially since I won’t be getting to a third date. Or third base,” she muttered.

“What happened?”

She lifted a shoulder. “I realize it wasn’t exactly a thing with Nolan, but to be honest, I was really looking forward to one.”

She said this so wistfully, he felt himself wanting to smile again. “Define thing. Because I’ve got a thing.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re right. I can feel the irritation torching calories as I stand here.”

“Tell me what happened.”

She looked down at her running shoes. He waited patiently for her to elaborate, but she managed to hold her silence. Gently he touched her jaw. “Let’s try a different angle. What’s going on with you and me?”

She lifted her gaze. “Well, that’s the big mystery, isn’t it?”

Yeah, and he knew the problem. From the moment he’d woken up in his sleeping bag with her, he’d known. She didn’t do casual sex. Never had. Even that one time with him hadn’t counted as casual, not in her head. He’d not allowed himself to dwell on the implications of that, or even how she’d feel, after what they’d shared in Desolation. He’d only thought of how he’d felt, which was easy-he’d felt turned-on as hell.

Still did.

“When Nolan stopped by, he-I tried to-” She swiped the sheen of sweat off her brow with her forearm and sighed. “I ended up giving him the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ speech.”

TJ felt a twinge of sympathy for the guy. And relief. And an odd twinge of something else. Unease-which was asinine. He hadn’t wanted her with Nolan. And he didn’t want her single for yet another reason that he didn’t want to think about.

He was fucked up.

She was looking at him, her eyes suddenly sharp. “Look at you, all worried that I’m going to set my sights on you now. Don’t worry, TJ. I know better.”

He opened his mouth, but when she arched a brow, he shut his mouth again. When it came to women and permanence, he’d never had what it took, and they both knew it.

Hell. He should have left well enough alone, let her have her “thing” with Nolan. She deserved it, and Nolan was a good guy. He’d have taken good care of her.

“Christ, TJ,” she said. “Get over yourself.”

Good plan. They stared at each other for a moment. “I’m sorry about Nolan,” he finally said. “Was it because of what happened between us?”

“No.” But she didn’t meet his gaze. “Because there was no us at Desolation.”

Yeah, that was his story, too. He wondered how long they could go on keeping that delusion. He pulled off his helmet and handed it to her.

“I’m not taking your helmet.”

“Yes, you are.”

“Look, I realize your head is impossibly hard and probably indestructible, but you still need the protection.”

“Okay, I didn’t want to go there,” he said evenly, doing his best not to smile. It was hard. Even when he was completely baffled by his emotions for her, she made him want to smile. A lot. Something to think about later. “You owe me.”

“I owe you?” she asked incredulously.

“Yes. And this is how you can repay me.”

“Let me get this straight,” she said. “You gave me an orgasm and I give you…wearing your helmet?”

“You don’t owe me for the orgasm. You owe me for something else.” He just smiled and held out the helmet.

Harley blinked at him, feeling off her axis. She told herself it was from what had happened earlier with Nolan, but she knew the truth. It was TJ, straddling his big, bad bike, looking like sin on a stick. He wore another pair of Levi’s, soft and faded, torn in one knee and the other thigh, along with a pair of battered boots, a long-sleeved pullover Henley, and mirrored sunglasses. She had to suck in all the air in the entire county to even look at him, and when she did, she ached with that nameless need again.

Oh, who was she kidding. It wasn’t nameless. It was lust, pure and simple. “What do I owe you for exactly?”

“Well, you were mad at me for a very long time.” He pushed his sunglasses to the top of his head. “Years.”

His eyes were the color of moss on a rainy spring day, and she lost herself in the warm heat of them for a minute.

“But as it turns out,” he said softly, “you didn’t really have a right to be mad. You withheld your friendship. I forgive you,” he said magnanimously, his eyes lit with good humor. He was teasing her! “But the least you can do is this one little favor.”

“I didn’t have a right to be mad?” she asked.

“You climbed into my truck. You seduced me. If anything, I should be mad at you.”

She choked out a laugh and slipped on the helmet. “You really are a nut.”

He grinned. “Just being your friend.”

There was that F-word again. “So which kind of friend today? My funny friend?”

“Again, I’d prefer to be-”

“Naked friend. Yeah, yeah.” She laughed instead of admitting that that was sounding pretty damn good. She put a hand on his broad shoulder, feeling the muscles beneath as she used him for balance to swung a leg over the bike. Behind him, she stared at the expanse of his back stretching his shirt and her mouth watered as she tried to hold herself away from him.

“You’re going to need to hold on,” he said.

“I’m all sweaty.”

“As we’ve already established, I like you that way.”

She sighed and pulled herself closer, her chest, belly, and hips tight against him, not to mention her thighs straddling his so that it affected her breathing in a way she couldn’t blame on the running. Her arms encircled his lean waist, her fingers brushing up against his ridged, perfect abs.

“You know, Mariposa Canyon is a virtual biological wonder this time of year,” he said casually.

Mariposa Canyon was a hidden meadow about two miles from there, hidden because the only way to get there was by four-wheeling in, over natural hills and through crevices, making it a perfect balls-to-the-walls quad course. The canyon wasn’t a “biological wonder,” it was a four-wheeling gift from heaven.

He flashed her one of his wicked grins over his shoulder. “As a biologist,” he said solemnly, “you’d probably want to take the long way to your place, maybe take just a quick drive-by through the canyon to make sure you aren’t missing anything good.”

She couldn’t think of a single thing that could improve a shitty day more than being beneath the wide, expansive sky, surrounded by the majestic, glorious peaks, with 686 cc’s between her legs and the hottest guy in the universe to hold on to…“Well, if it’s not too much trouble,” she said demurely, making him burst into laughter.

God, she loved his laugh. It made her laugh, too, and she felt it bubble out of her with sheer joy, which backed deliciously up in her throat when he hit the gas. In three minutes they were off road and heading toward Mariposa Canyon, and then they were at the top of the basin, looking down at it.

“Hold on,” he said, and they leapt forward, for a minute completely airborne as they flew down the hill.

Her heart landed in her throat, in a very good way, in the best roller-coaster kind of way. Manzanita bush and wild growth whipped past in a blur as TJ followed the line of the trees straight down. She found herself screaming in delight, probably making him deaf, and she didn’t care. She leaned with him into the turns, her hands gripping him for all she was worth. Beneath her palms she felt the tight, hard muscles in his abs work as he maneuvered them up and across the steep, spine-tingling moguls.

“Crash, and I’ll kill you,” she yelled in his ear.

“You’re safe with me.”

“You’re the one without a helmet. It’s your thick skull that I’m worried about-”

She broke off with another little scream as he took them off a sharp cliff, then up and over the dirt moguls, through the brush and mud. She was still grinning an hour later when he pulled up to her place.

She slid off, pulled off the helmet, and eyed the bike. “Your bike’s all muddy now.”

“It’ll wash.”

“I guess since I enjoyed the ride so much, and we’re making such a concerted effort to be friends and all, I could offer to help.”

His eyes went all smoky. “What would you be wearing for this bike-washing event?”

“Oh my God. Are you going to turn everything back to Naked Friend?”

“Yes. But I’ll settle for a bikini top and short shorts friend.”

She couldn’t help it; she laughed again and turned to head inside, then found herself being slowly pulled back into him. “I don’t have any short shorts at the moment.”

He turned her around to face him. “You can owe me. Listen, I was actually hoping we could talk.”

Uh oh. His solemn expression sank in and her smile faded. “Just what I need. More talk, more trouble.”

“I’m sorry about causing you trouble,” he said quietly, all humor gone. “But I’m not sorry I went with you to Desolation, or that I learned what the problem was between us.”

She closed her eyes. “TJ.”

“In fact, we should work on that problem. I could fix it, if you’d let me.”

“Really?” she asked curiously. “How?”

He was quiet a moment. Lifting his head, he ran a finger over her shoulder. “By making a better memory.”

“Is this because I told you it was fine?”

He grimaced. “I’d like to think I’m not quite that Neanderthal.” He paused, then gave her a small smile. “But fine sucks, Harley.”

“We were teenagers.”

“Sort of my point. I do better now.”

She laughed softly and shook her head. “The Wilder ego,” she murmured. “Needing to be the biggest, the baddest, and the best in everything, especially bed. Nothing personal, TJ, but I’d rather have sweet, steady, and stable.”

“Like Nolan.”

“Like Nolan.”

“Then why did you cut him loose?”

“I told you, he-”

He just looked at her, and she let out a breath. Right. She could have turned that around-if she’d tried hard enough.

“But that’s not what I wanted to talk about,” TJ said quietly. “Can I come in?”

Had she ever been able to refuse him anything? “Yeah.”