“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.
CHAPTER 21
The next morning TJ stood in front of the lodge doing a last-minute equipment check with Nick.
Stone had already left for his trip to Eagle Falls at the crack of dawn, and Cam had just driven off for his trek to Squaw Peak.
TJ looked at his watch. In half an hour he’d be gone, too. And yet all he could think about was not the trip, not the clients, not the shitload of work this was going to entail without help, but Harley.
“She coming?” Nick asked.
“Who?”
Nick gave him a don’t-be-stupid look. “The woman who left that bite mark on your neck who.”
TJ put his fingers to the base of his throat, vividly remembering lying on Harley’s bed with her hot little bod squirming all over his as she’d sucked on his skin.
“Annie see that?” Nick asked.
“No. Why?”
“’Cause if she finds out you’re just playing with Harley, she’s going to kick your ass. She loves that girl.”
“Harley’s a grown woman, not a girl, and she bit me. How do you know she’s not just playing with me?”
Nick laughed. “Play is your middle name, man.” He studied TJ a moment, and slowly his smile faded. “Huh. That’s interesting.”
“No, there’s nothing interesting.”
Nick was still looking at him, as if maybe he could read right through the bullshit and into his soul. “Are you, TJ? Playing?”
Yeah.
Fuck.
No. No, he wasn’t playing.
And he had no clue what that meant. All he knew was that for two nights running, he’d gone to bed with a bad case of DSB.
Deadly sperm buildup.
He thought he’d taken care of that problem in the shower this morning, but apparently not.
“So.” Nick was still looking at him oddly. “Is she coming or what?”
“I don’t know. She told Katie she would, but—”
“Look at that, the mighty TJ Wilder actually not knowing something. Even more interesting.” He smiled and clasped TJ’s shoulder. “She’s good for you.”
“How the hell did you get to that conclusion?”
Nick shrugged. “She keeps you guessing. Takes away your careful plans and control.”
Well, Nick had him there. Harley absolutely played havoc on his plans and shot his control all to hell. He heard her truck on the road before it came around the turn and exchanged a look with Nick. “She’s coming,” TJ said to Nick’s smirk.
Harley pulled into the driveway, turned off the engine, and hopped out. The early sun played with her shiny hair and fair skin as she stood there, hands on hips, eyes covered by dark sunglasses. She wore a pair of hip-hugging cargoes and a snug, long-
sleeved Henley, both of which were normal clothes for that type of life, but nothing about his heart rate felt normal. He slapped his clipboard against Nick’s chest and headed for her.
Her glasses hid her from him but he knew by her stillness she was watching him. As usual, she wasn’t showing much, but he knew her, knew to look past the exterior. She wasn’t quite sure why she was there, and was even less sure if she wanted to be. “You came,” he said softly when he was near enough that no one could hear them.
A small, slightly embarrassed smile curved her mouth. “Twice now, actually.”
He let out a low laugh even as his brain bombarded him with the memory of how she’d looked when she let go for him, how she’d clutched him close, as if she needed to assure herself that he was right there. And he remembered her eyes when she burst, those usually sharp brown eyes losing focus, practically rolling up in her head as she’d come hard.
And great. Now he was hard. He needed another shower.
“So where’s Stone?” she asked, looking around.
“He already left.”
She blinked. “I thought he needed a co-guide.”
“That would be me.” He paused, studying her face. “I thought you knew.”
“No.”
“Still interested?”
She didn’t answer for the longest sixty seconds of his life.
“I guess it’s fitting,” she finally said. “After all, I do owe you.”
“I like the sound of that, but it’ll have to wait, since we have an audience.”
She both blushed and laughed, and then met his gaze. “I meant about the backpack. And thank you, by the way, it’s perfect.”
He reached for her hand, ran his thumb over her knuckles. “Glad you like it.”
“You knew I would, but it wasn’t necessary. You’ve already done so much—”
“No tab.”
“So you’ve said,” she murmured. “But…”
“But what?”
“But you’re the one who keeps giving. Your time, your expertise, your resources…”
“Anything. Anything you need.”
“Now, see, that,” she said softly. Looking confused and a little anxious to boot. “I don’t get it. Because in return, I don’t give you anything. I mean I drive you crazy, I’m sure, but that doesn’t count.”
He shook his head. Then let out a low laugh and nodded. “Okay, yeah, you drive me crazy,” he admitted. Hell, he’d told her as much. “But you also make me laugh. You make me feel good. And sometimes, Harley, when you think I’m not paying attention, you look at me like…”
“Like what?” she whispered.
“Like I’m worth something to you.”
“TJ.” She stared at him, her eyes two fathomless pools he could have drowned in. “You always have been.”
Simple words. Simple sentiment. Both went straight through him and warmed him in a way he hadn’t realized he needed warming. “And you wonder what you give me,” he murmured, reaching for her. But the front door on the lodge opened, and his clients came out to sit on the porch.
“Is that them?” Harley asked incredulously.
“Yeah.” They were trust-funders and sorority sisters. Ranging in age from nineteen to twenty-one, all some form of bottle blond, and in spite of his firm and absolute instructions to wear comfortable outdoor weather gear, they wore string bikinis, short shorts, and enough coconut oil to grease the entire WWE.
He’d read their files. They were skating through Cal Berkeley on their daddies’ dimes. They claimed that this trip was a “back to nature” trek, and that they were matching the price of Wilder Adventure’s fee toward a suitable “outdoor” charity to be named later.
He hoped that was true.
Annie was serving each of them a mimosa, per their request. She looked like she was battling either morning sickness or an aversion to their discussion, which was currently stuck on the party they’d all been to the night before last, where three out of the four of them had “scored.”
Jesus. He was getting old. He and Harley headed toward Nick, and the three of them moved to the porch together. TJ introduced Harley as his co-guide and photographer.
The girls—Shelly, Tandy, Lani, and no shit, Kitty—eyed Harley with varying degrees of disinterest.
“We’re not that much trouble, TJ,” Kitty murmured. “You could handle us on your own.”
Harley turned to TJ and gave him a look that he wasn’t sure he wanted to interpret. “How about it, TJ? Want to…‘handle’ them on your own?”
Shelly—or was it Tandy—smiled. “We’ll be good, very good.”
Harley was still looking at TJ as she deadpanned, “Yeah, TJ, they’ll be good.”
“Excuse us a moment,” he said to the girls. “While I confer with my co-guide.” He grabbed Harley’s wrist just as she started to back off the porch.
No way in hell was she getting away.
“Nick will get you loaded,” he said over his shoulder. “Harley and I need a quick meeting.” He tugged her into the lodge and shut the door.
“Aw, they’re sweet,” Harley said as he tugged her through the main reception area and down the hall, walking fast enough that she had to run to keep up with him. “You can save all that money you were going to pay me and—”
“I’ll be saving nothing. I need the bodyguard.”
Her eyes went to his body. “A bodyguard,” she said doubtfully.
“You have no idea. They tend to think the guide comes as part of the trip. It’s awkward to fight ’em off.”
“Yeah, right. Are we really having a meeting?”
“Yes.” Right past the kitchen was a small pantry/storage area.
He opened the door and pushed Harley in ahead of him.
Harley turned in the small closet area to face TJ. “You always have meetings in here?”
He shut them in, gripped her hips, and backed her up against the door, pressing his lower body to hers, hard.
Apparently he was done talking.
And she promptly lost her ability to think clearly. Hell, she’d given up thinking clearly when she’d first parked and saw him. His look was your basic Gorgeous Alpha Outdoor Guy. Sturdy boots, cargo pants that fit across his butt perfectly, lightweight tech jersey—which looked and fit like a standard tee but was a quick drying, thin, webbed material that clung to his broad-as-a-mountain shoulders—and dark shades. He’d shoved those to the top of his head, revealing a slight sunglasses tan line on his temples and sharp green eyes, which softened whenever he looked at her.
He was drop-dead sexy.
He made her lose control, every single time. She couldn’t even think about it without feeling a rush of heat to her very core. It