Instant Temptation

CHAPTER 20

Harley and Skye shared the last of the ice cream on Harley’s porch as the sun sank below the horizon.

“So,” Skye said. “You and TJ.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“He looked hot without his shirt.”

“Yeah.” Even more so with his low-slung Levi’s unbuttoned, revealing his-

“Is he as good in bed as he looks?”

Yes. “Not talking about it, Skye.”

“Okay but tell me you nibbled on those abs ’cause I want to nibble those abs. Our dead aunt Trudy would want to nibble on those abs.”

“Skye!”

“Right. Not talking about it.” She pouted. “But if I had a guy that hot, I’d let you drool over those abs.”

“Can we talk about something else? Anything?”

“Oh, come on. It’s not fair. You have all this…excitement in your life. I’m just trying to live vicariously through you.”

Harley turned and stared at her sister in utter shock. “Excitement? My life?”

“Hey, I’m not the one becoming a fancy biologist marching through Desolation, harboring the sexiest single guy in all of Wilder in my bedroom, naked to boot.”

“Half naked,” Harley corrected, but suddenly she realized Skye was right. Her life didn’t suck nearly as badly as she’d thought.

“So are you really going to co-guide that kayaking trip for Stone?”

Harley licked her spoon as she tried to find resentment over having to take the trip, but the truth was, she couldn’t wait to get back out there. “Yeah. I’m going.”

Skye fell asleep on the couch, hugging the pillows, looking young and vulnerable. Harley covered her up with a blanket and went to bed-where she dreamed about a certain gorgeous Wilder with magic fingers and mouth.

She woke up before dawn and put in several hours at her laptop processing data and getting caught up so she could head out the next morning on the two-day trip for Wilder Adventures. Then she eyed the pile of unpaid bills still stacked there, waiting to be paid. She wasn’t the only one who needed this trip. Her bills needed it, too.

If she still had a job with Nolan, she was due to work two half shifts on the weekend, so she needed to ask him if she could postpone those. He hadn’t returned her call yet. It was too early to try him again, plus she didn’t know what to say, so she called the lodge to deal with her other problem. Katie answered with a crisp, sweet “Good morning, Wilder Adventures.”

“Katie, it’s me. I sort of need a new employment application, I got…something on the back page and-”

“Yes! You’re going to forget Colorado and stay here.”

“Actually, I won’t know if I even got the Colorado job until spring.”

“But TJ said you’re a shoo-in for it.”

“Well, I hope that’s true. But in the meantime, I’m filling in with you guys as needed.”

“Oh, you’re needed. I’ll have another application out and ready for you.”

“Thanks.” Harley drew a breath. “Listen, about the kayaking trip…”

“Not much to tell yet. The departure date’s only tentatively set for next week. TJ’s waiting on the client, and on some sort of special permit he needs to get on to a parcel of private land because this time they’re going to be climbing some peak that-”

“Whoa.” Harley shook her head. “I meant tomorrow’s trip. What are you talking about?”

“We just took on two big Alaska trips. TJ’s going to take both. One is a partial kayaking thing. I thought that’s what you were talking about.”

Okay, so TJ was usually gone more than he stuck around. She knew that. Everyone knew that.

And yet she’d allowed herself to forget. “He mentioned he might be leaving.”

“Yes.” Some of the smile went out of Katie’s voice. “But then again, eventually so are you.”

Right. Yes. Yes, she was.

Katie was quiet a minute. “Harley, I know you two have been…different lately. Closer.”

Harley found she couldn’t get her throat to work, so she nodded, which was ridiculous, as Katie couldn’t see her.

“You know,” Katie said very quietly. “I’m going to step out on a limb here and give you some advice on the Wilder men.”

“Not necessary.”

“They’re big and bad and strong,” Katie said anyway. “Mind and body. You know that. They’re tough, capable, and…well, sexy as hell. You know that, too.”

“Katie-”

“But they’re also a little slow on the uptake. It’s not their fault really. They barely had a childhood, and certainly had no softness in their lives. I mean they had Annie, but hell, she’s as tough as they are.”

“You don’t have to tell me,” Harley said. “I grew up with them. I know-”

“Do you? Do you know that if you want him, all you have to do is tell him? Because he grew up where there was no unconditional love, where being cared about was rare. You’re going to literally have to hit him over the head with love, Harley. And to do that, you’re going to have to put yourself out there.”

“I-”

“I mean you have to step on the edge of the cliff, toes hanging off, and take the plunge. It’s the only thing he’ll understand.” Katie’s voice gentled. “I know it seems terrifying, especially for you. You’ve been through a lot, too, and you’re careful. You like to think things out. Hello, you’re a research specialist, it’s what you do. But in this case, all you need is faith. If you make the jump, he will catch you.”

Harley swallowed the huge lump in her throat. “That seems like a huge leap of faith.”

“Trust me, it’s worth it.”

Harley closed her eyes and let herself pretend for a minute that it could be that easy. “Fact is, we’re soon to be geographically incompatible, so really, there’s no leap to make.”

“Honey, there’s always a leap to make. Just think about it.”

After promising to do just that, Harley disconnected and cleaned up her table. Not wanting to wake Skye, but feeling restless, she opened her front door, planning to sit on the front porch with a mug of tea.

Instead, she stared down at the large plastic bag with a big green bow on it.

“Is it Christmas?”

Harley turned and faced a groggy-looking Skye, who smiled sleepily and took the mug to sip for herself. “Yum. Who left you the present?”

“Don’t know.” Harley sat next to it and pulled off the small folded piece of paper taped to it. The paper was notepad sized and imprinted with WILDER ADVENTURES across the top. In pen was TJ’s unmistakable scrawl. He’d written:

Your own magic bag of goodies.

“Bag of goodies?” Skye took another sip of Harley’s tea. “Think it’s full of sex toys?”

Harley choked out a laugh.

“Because if it is, wow. And I bet he knows how to use all the good stuff, too.”

“Skye!”

“What, you think the guy doesn’t know his way around a sex toy? Please. He’s a walking orgasm.”

Harley felt her face heat. Yes. Yes, he was.

Skye arched a brow. “Something you want to share with the class?”

What could Harley possibly say? That every single time he’d gotten his hands on her she’d gone up in flames with embarrassing, horrifying, shocking ease?

Skye pulled her lips inward as if greatly amused. “You’re blushing.”

“I am not.”

“You told me nothing happened. I’m no longer buying it, Harl.” She continued to eye her sister speculatively. “So you did do it with the sexiest Wilder of them all? Holy smokes, and to think I believed you when you said I interrupted you guys before anything happened because you’re such a prude, but-”

“Excuse me? A prude?”

Skye smiled with affection and fondness. “Do you want to admit how long it’s been since you got naked in a social setting, at least before TJ?”

No. No, she did not.

“Let me get this straight,” Skye said before Harley could open the bag. “So you and TJ did the deed?”

“Depends on the ‘deed’ you’re referring to,” Harley muttered.

Skye burst out with a joyous laugh. “Ohmigod, it’s working! He’s lightening you up already! I love it. Okay, obviously it wasn’t the Deed. But there are plenty of smaller deeds leading up to it. Kind of begs the question though-which one did you do?” She tapped her lower lip with a finger as she studied Harley’s face. “Let’s do this. You tell me how many deeds you know about and I’ll guess which one you did.”

Harley rolled her eyes. “I am not playing that game.”

Skye grinned. “You can’t even think of more than one, can you?”

“I’m older than you, of course I can think of more than one.”

Skye sat down next to her, a wide smile on her face. “Name three sexual acts, Harl. Hell, name two.”

“I’m trying to open a gift here.”

“I’ll go first. A blow job.”

Harley choked. “Skye-”

“Now you. Name one.”

Harley closed her eyes.

“How about the opposite of a blow job,” Skye said helpfully. “You know, when he uses his mouth on you to-”

“Okay, we are so not talking about this.”

Skye was still grinning. “Is that what he did? ’Cause, baby, if that’s what happened, let me just say lucky you. And also, you’re going to owe him.”

Harley stared down at the bow in her hands. She did. She owed him big-time…Worse, she’d started dreaming, both night and day, about ways to repay him.

“And since he’s a Wilder, maybe he’ll want something kinky. Like a threesome. Or some butt-”

Harley covered Skye’s mouth. She could feel the huff of her sister’s laugh, so she narrowed her eyes and tightened her grip on Skye’s mouth. “When I take my hand away, you are going to be silent. You are not going to talk about blow jobs or threesomes or butt-stuff,” she finished. “Understood?”

Skye smiled.

Harley pulled her hand away.

Skye opened her mouth.

Harley pointed at her. “Not a word. Not a single word. And give me my tea back.”

Skye handed her the empty mug.

“Go make more,” Harley demanded as she opened the bag.

Inside sat a brand-new backpack, and she stared at it in surprise.

“Maybe the sex toys are on the inside. You know, like a sex toy adventure pack.”

Harley glared at Skye, who laughed and held up her hands. “Sorry. Not another word.”

The backpack was full of everything Harley could ever need on any trek, and more importantly, it was completely organized. She went through it in marvel, smiling warmly at the can of soup he’d replaced, at the brand-new utility knife. “What do you think?” she asked Skye.

“I think it’s badass. I think he’s badass. And you? You’re a stupid ass if you don’t go for the Main Event with him. Not to be confused with the Deed, mind you. The Deed is sex. The Main Event is bigger.”

“What’s bigger than sex?”

“Love.”

“Oh my God. Why do people keep flinging the L-word around? We’re not-I’m not-” She broke off and found Skye watching her with a warm, little smile on her face.

“Ah, Harley,” her sister said very softly as she dropped to her knees and hugged her tight. “All this time I thought you were just having fun driving him freaking nuts. I mean, you’re so good at it. I also thought you might be in lust. I didn’t know it was love. I’m sorry I gave you such a hard time.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Skye just smiled. “Does he know? What am I saying? Of course he doesn’t know. You’re not exactly forthcoming with your feelings.”

Harley ignored that. One, because while it might be true, she was not in love, and two, because she’d just found the small bag of “magic tricks” that TJ had put together in a side pocket.

“Sweet of him,” Skye murmured.

“Yeah.” Dental floss and Fritos. At the sight of the chips, Harley’s throat tightened. Feeling a little wobbly in the heart region, she sat hard on her butt right there on the step. Without even knowing if she was going to help out Wilder or not, he’d put this together for her, just for her. She looked out into the still dark dawn and wondered when he’d brought it.

And what it meant exactly.

It meant he cared, she decided. It meant she was on his mind.

She decided she could live with that, quite nicely.

But it wasn’t love. It wasn’t.

At least not if she could help it.