Instant Temptation

CHAPTER 22

Outside, TJ and Harley helped Nick load up the coeds and all the gear.

“About fuckin’ time,” Nick whispered over the top of the truck as they tied on the kayaks. “Jesus, what the hell were you two doing in there?”

“Do we need to have the birds and bees talk again?”

Nick rolled his eyes. “But the closet? With Harley? Seriously, what is it with you guys?”

“Hey, I seem to remember you and Annie just last week in the snowcat.”

“That’s different.”

“Really? How?”

“Well…” Nick scratched his head. “We’re old married farts.”

“You just turned forty. Not exactly ready for the senior home.”

“Just trying to keep it interesting. Besides, Annie attacked me. It’s the pregnancy hormones or something. I can’t keep up with her. She’s like a cat in heat. She wakes me up in the middle of the night to-”

“Stop!” TJ covered his ears. “Christ. I do not want to hear this.”

Nick grinned, apparently over his mad. “What happened to the no nookie-on-the-job rule?”

TJ and his brothers had come up with that rule a long time ago, when they’d first started the business. No fucking around on the job.

Literally.

There’d been slip-ups, most notably Cam’s thing with Katie last year, but for the most part, the rule had kept them from being stupid. “Harley isn’t a client.”

At that moment, she came up beside them to help tie the kayaks down. Her cheeks were flushed, her hair a little tousled. Her shirt was still untucked.

Nick pulled her in for an easy, affectionate hug and sent TJ a long, level look of warning over her head.

Yeah, yeah. She was like Nick’s baby sister, and if TJ hurt her, he was dead. Got it. As for Harley, she was looking adorably flustered, and to TJ, sexy as hell. Just watching her fingers work the ropes reminded him of how they’d felt outlining his-

“I don’t understand why you need my help with this trip,” she said softly, gesturing to the coeds. “Looks like any guy’s idea of a wet dream to me, having those four Mountain Barbies all to yourself.” She met TJ’s gaze. “Explain it to me again?”

“I need you to protect me.”

Nick smirked, then smoothed it into a smile when Harley glanced over at him. As far as “protecting” went, Nick would go to great lengths to do exactly that for Harley. Hell, they all would, which reminded TJ that if he screwed this up and hurt her, there’d be a lot of people looking to strangle him. Specifically Cam, Stone, and Nick. And while he could take any one of them, he was pretty sure that against all three he’d get his ass kicked.

Nick drove them out to the trailhead at the start of the Snake River. The plan was for him to make a food drop at the halfway mark the next day, then pick them all up at the ending point in two days.

Katie had given Harley the trip details to read on the ride, though it was hard to absorb details when she was still quivering from what TJ had done to her up against the door in the closet-which she was absolutely not going to think about.

She forced herself to concentrate on the file. The trip was relatively simple. Kayaking. Two nights of camping. She was to record the trip with her camera, and maybe give out some wildlife facts while she was at it.

No problem. She was experienced enough for that. She could kayak to Mexico if she had to. Cooking might be a little bit of a problem, but hey, TJ knew going into it what her skills were. He could cook. She’d happily serve and clean up.

Simple.

TJ rode shotgun in the front seat next to Nick. He was slouched back, looking deceptively lazy and at ease as the girls chattered incessantly amongst themselves. He looked like he was breathing once every other minute or so, and maybe that’s what he had to do in order to survive the silliness coming from the back, lower his heart rate to hibernation level.

Lani and Tandy asked about the landscape and the river, and TJ opened a map and showed them the proposed route, passively pleasant and professional. But when Shelly and Kitty asked about him personally, like was he single, did he date college-age sorority girls, and what was his favorite drink, he didn’t respond.

Nick shot Harley a glance in the rearview mirror, and Harley bit her lower lip to hold back her smile.

At the staging area, the girls pulled off their shorts and T-shirts, once again revealing their teeny tiny bikinis as they put on the protective gear that TJ and Nick handed out and insisted on everyone wearing. TJ spoke to the girls in detail before letting them into the water, outlining exactly what he expected, and how they needed to listen and respond to him if he asked them to do something.

“Do you think he’s this alpha and dominating in bed?” Shelly whispered to Kitty, shivering with excitement.

Again Harley had to bite her lip to keep a straight face.

TJ shot her a look as he checked and rechecked the gear, then got everyone into the water, managing to avoid helping Kitty spread suntan oil on her limbs or helping Shelly tighten her vest across her enhanced and expensive breasts. Much to their disappointment, he let Harley do both.

That part of the river was wide, calm, and flat-which was why they were on it. Harley had her camera out, able to both steer and shoot pictures. The water was so clear and deep that they could see fish gliding through the currents beneath them in the sunny spots. It was like a whole other universe existed down there, and the coeds actually fell silent, soaking it all in, absorbing the beauty.

Until one of the fish broke the surface with a splash.

Startled screams abounded, and Tandy accidentally rolled her kayak. Her friends sat watching her attempt to right herself, tears of laughter streaming down their faces.

Harley got it all on digital.

TJ righted Tandy with ease, making the others sigh and look at each other, clearly wishing they’d thought to roll. Tandy was none the worse for wear, though she did have a brief hair crisis.

A coyote appeared on the shore, visible through the bush. “Wolf!” Kitty cried out. “What if it eats us?”

TJ looked at Harley across the water. Obviously, she was to field this one. “Actually, it’s a coyote,” Harley told her. “And he’s not going to eat you.”

“How do you know?”

“There’s been only one fatal coyote attack on record, and that was back in 1981, in Southern California. But to be safe, don’t ever feed one.”

“What if it comes up to us while we’re eating?” Tandy asked.

“It won’t.”

“But what if it does?”

“Then make a lot of noise to scare it off. Wave your hands, yell, throw a rock at it, whatever you have to do.”

The coyote bounded off out of view.

“Holy shit,” Lani said. “That thing’s moving.”

“They can run up to forty-three miles per hour,” Harley told her.

“Shh,” Shelly breathed. “It’ll hear us.”

“It’s already heard us,” Harley said. “They have better hearing than dogs.”

“It’s all alone,” Shelly said. “She needs a sorority.”

The others laughed. “He or she isn’t alone,” Harley said. “They travel in packs and hunt in pairs. You just didn’t see the others, but they’re there.”

“How do you know all this?” Lani asked, looking sincerely interested.

“I study them for my other job as a wildlife researcher.”

“Cool.” Lani smiled at Harley. “I’m a biology major.”

They spent a few minutes talking about that, after which the others seemed to accept Harley slightly better. She snapped more pictures and found herself enjoying it. Probably most of that came from their fearless guide, who happened to look damn fine in the lead kayak, wielding a paddle, his biceps flexing as he steered, the rest of his body relaxed and completely in control.

An hour in, Kitty needed-demanded-a potty break. The girls got out of their kayaks, accepted drinks from Harley, then stripped out of their wet protective gear down to their bikinis and plopped on the rocky sand at the water’s edge. Harley was wet, too, but left her shorts and tank top on over her bathing suit. TJ’s board shorts and performance tee were also wet, but they didn’t seem to bother him any. He once again checked the gear-while the girls checked him, whispering amongst themselves.

TJ’s shorts came to his knees, his shirt loose. While he looked damn good, his clothes were definitely hiding the true extent of how in shape he really was. After checking and rechecking everything, he peeled off his wet shirt and, in just the shorts, bent to his pack, probably looking for a dry shirt.

Kitty dropped her drink. “Sweet baby Jesus,” she whispered.

He wasn’t bulky. His body had been hardened and trained over the years the old-fashioned way, from lots of hard work.

“He’s even hotter than I thought,” Lani whispered.

“I don’t know what I’d do to him first,” Kitty whispered back.

Harley knew. She knew exactly. She’d lick that stomach, then drop to her knees and slowly ease those shorts down over his hips so that she could lean in and-

“Think he’s taken?” Tandy whispered.

“Yes,” Harley said without thinking.

They all turned and stared at her. “By you?” Tandy asked incredulously.

Okay, she was pretty sure that was not a compliment.

Shelly’s eyes were narrowed. Clearly they weren’t willing to believe Harley could catch a man like TJ-which led to a problem.

Harley was a horrible liar, always had been. The fact was, TJ wasn’t taken, not by her, not by anyone. TJ belonged to no one, except maybe the mountain.

“Is he with someone?” Tandy asked again.

“Can’t really say,” Harley whispered. There. How was that for the truth? She couldn’t say because she didn’t know exactly how “taken” he considered himself.

As if knowing that they were discussing him, TJ looked over, eyes unerringly locking in on Harley.

She forced a smile. He paused, then returned it before turning back to the gear.

Shelly was still staring at Harley. “Why can’t you say?”

“Yes, Harley, why can’t you say? It wouldn’t be right.”

Tandy and Shelly exchanged a look. “Why?” Tandy asked. “Are you insinuating that he’s…gay?”

Harley had to bite her lip to keep from letting the gust of nervous laughter escape. She hadn’t thought of that. But maybe if they thought he was gay, they’d leave him alone. “Can’t say,” she repeated firmly.

Lani sighed in disappointment.

Good Lord, they would actually believe that the big, edgy, obviously testosterone-ridden TJ was gay rather than believe that he’d be in a relationship with her.

Finally Kitty shook her head. “No. There’s no way he’s gay.” She narrowed her eyes at Harley. “If you wanted him for yourself, all you had to do was say so. But honestly, I don’t see him reciprocating. You’re not his type.”

The other three looked at Harley in grave disappointment, as if she’d broken some sacred sorority trust. She didn’t care, as long as she did her job, which, as TJ had pointed out with utter seriousness, was to protect him.

What can she say? She’d tried.

They all got back on the river, and an hour later came to a sharp turn where suddenly the water moved faster than half a mile an hour. Like one mile an hour.

Still, the coeds shrieked and screamed as if they’d come to the edge of the world. TJ called out directions, his voice filled with quiet but unequivocal command, which in turn forced the girls to shut up if they wanted to hear how to save themselves. He was calm and utterly authoritative, and they leapt to do his bidding, as if pleasing him was all that mattered.

When Harley found herself doing the same, she had to laugh at herself, then let out a surprised squeak when TJ let the girls pass them and snagged her by the back of her life vest, holding her and her kayak next to his. “You’re grinning like a Cheshire cat,” he murmured, pushing his sunglasses to the top of his head to study her. “Explain.”

She looked into his face, then snapped a picture of him, glancing down at her LED screen as the picture flashed there. His eyes readily revealed his intelligence, a sharp wit, and also an inner strength that never failed to give her a flutter. He had a strong face, a beautiful face, though he’d hate that assessment. Did she care to share that he turned her on like no other man ever had? Hell, no. “Inside joke,” she murmured.

He eyed the girls’ retreating backs, then Harley again. “You know sound carries over water, right?”

Oh, God. What part had he heard, that he was gay, or that she wanted him for herself? She looked into his eyes, but couldn’t see anything but the gleam of promised retribution.

Definitely the gay part. “One of us has to catch up with them.”

“Yes.” He let go of her. “I’ll do it. And I’ll catch up with you later.”

Oh boy.