Chapter 4
A little after two p.m., Shanna pushed her sunglasses up onto her head and surveyed the shaded campsite as the canoe glided toward the shore. Though remote, it was clear someone used this place on a regular basis. Or regular enough to have set up an actual outhouse back in the woods—thank God.
Kevin’s response to her obvious sabotage surprised her. He hadn’t yelled, or gotten mad, or anything. She even suspected he’d smiled as he turned away to gather up his things and chase down the paddle floating away to freedom. Then he’d helped her load her things and let her get in first before he pushed them off the shore since his feet were already wet. A chivalrous act that strummed her guilt as they silently paddled across the water under the blazing sun.
Then she realized he was likely regrouping. Strategizing. Reality must have set in when he saw the extent of her supplies. He knew he would need some of her things when they got to camp, so might as well butter her up, right?
Wrong.
He was the one who said everyone for themselves. She’d chipped one of her newly manicured nails carrying all her stuff down to the canoe by herself. He wasn’t using anything.
A few feet from shore, he hopped out, splashing through the shallow water to pull the canoe onto the beach. He then actually helped unload as she handed things to him, and after the last of it, he turned back to offer a hand to help her out.
Shanna hesitated, glancing at the water, not putting it past him to shove her in the lake in retaliation.
“Tempting,” he said with a twitch of his lips, “but no, I’m not looking for revenge. Promise.”
His vow at the end eased her suspicion. One thing she knew and respected about him, he was a man of his word.
She gripped his fingers to step onto the sandy shore. A jolt of awareness knocked her off guard and the heel of her hiking boot nicked the side of the canoe at the last second. She lurched forward with a gasp, but he caught her before she fell.
Her pulse thundered in her ears as her indrawn breath filled her senses with Kevin doused in hot sunshine. The fresh air of the outdoors mixed with the scent of warm male was downright intoxicating. Her cursed heart wanted her to lean against his damp chest, with his strong arms holding her tight as she tipped her face up to his.
When her gaze connected with his beneath the brim of his cap, she realized with a start that she’d done exactly that. His irises darkened before his lashes lowered and his attention focused on her mouth. His large hands skimmed up her arms to grip her shoulders, leaving tingles in their wake.
Anticipation shortened her breath. She started to close her eyes, but all of a sudden, he set her back in an abrupt move.
“You good?”
She blinked. “Yeah.” Heat seared her face, and she cleared her throat to get out more than a throaty whisper. “Thanks.”
“Yep.” His voice was rough as he spun away while reaching down to swipe up his backpack. “I have to get my stuff dried out. Any chance you brought rice with you?”
“Rice?”
“My phone drowned.”
“Oh.” That gave her another twinge of guilt. “Nope, sorry, no rice.”
He huffed out a sigh and walked away.
She set aside her confused disappointment from the almost-kiss and spent the next hour organizing her things and getting her tent ready to erect. All the while, she snuck glances in his direction as he hung his sleeping bag, clothes, and anything else that needed drying on a nearby clothesline.
He set his phone out on a log near the fire pit, and next to it were three rolls of dripping toilet paper. A smirk twitched at her lips, but when she used the outhouse, she offered up an unspoken apology by leaving a roll from her stash in the ramshackle building.
When she returned to the campsite, she saw he’d taken off his shirt. And his shorts. Her breath caught.
Holy moly.
He stood there like a sculpted Roman god, using a knife to sharpen the end of a long stick while wearing nothing but a pair of dark boxer briefs that left little to the imagination. Problem was, she’d seen what was underneath, so her imagination didn’t have to work too hard to conjure a mouthwatering image. Not good after her moment of weakness by the shore.
Stop staring.
She lowered her sunglasses from the top of her head to the bridge of her nose.
Right, because it’s fine if he can’t tell you’re drooling over his body.
Ignoring the sarcasm in her head, she summoned some annoyance. “Seriously?”
He glanced up as he slapped at a bug on his arm. “What?”
Shanna jammed one hand on her hip, and pointed to him with the other, gesturing up and down. Behind her glasses, her gaze hovered at his midsection, vacillating between his defined abs and the bulge filling out the front of his snug briefs.
“Relax. I’m just letting my clothes dry.”
“They can dry just as well while you’re wearing them.” She knew firsthand his shirt had barely been damp when he’d saved her from falling before.
“Not when it’s this hot out.” He turned and bent to set one stick aside and reached for another.
She managed to force her gaze away from the carved excellence of his hard ass. “I don’t care. You need to put clothes on.”
“Why is it such a big deal?” A cocky grin curved his lips when he straightened. “Are you afraid you can’t control yourself?”
Maybe. “Hardly.”
She stalked over to swipe up the instructions for her tent.
“If you want to level the playing field, I don’t have any problem with you stripping down to your underwear,” he offered. “It’s not like I haven’t seen it all before.”
Heat flashed, fueled by anger and desire—the second of which angered her even more. She couldn’t believe he had the nerve to bring up that night. Worse, that he was teasing about it.
“Trust me,” she stated while jamming pole pieces together. “That was the last time you’re ever seeing it all.”
“Damn. And here I was getting all excited at the thought.”
What? He was the one who’d practically run out of her apartment the morning after. And he’d pretty much rejected her down at the canoe.
Thank God.
She turned to glare at him, only to notice the bulge in the front of his briefs was noticeably bigger. He really was excited. “You’re such a pig.”
And yet, the thought he did still want her made her inner core clench with arousal. Geez Louise, what the hell is wrong with me? The past month had been nothing but heartache. Why would she go back for more?
“You’re the one looking,” he pointed out.
She sputtered in exasperation and spun back to the tent.
“Makes me wonder if you didn’t plan the whole thing just to get me out of my clothes.”
“Dream on, jackass.”
Silence fell, until she realized she’d screwed up the pieces and had to start over. As she pulled the sections apart with a low growl of frustration, Kevin’s chuckle sounded behind her.
“I remember you being more adept at handling a pole.”
“Shut up.”
“I’m just sayin’.”
“You’re acting like a twelve year old boy. It’s very unprofessional.”
“And screaming to scare the shit out of me is the appropriate adult behavior?”
She concentrated on the tent, unable to argue against his point.
When she took the incorrect pieces apart for a second time, he asked, “Do you need help with that?”
“No.”
“If we work together, it’d go up a lot faster.”
Because you’re such an expert at erecting poles?
She bit her tongue to keep from speaking the pun out loud after seconds earlier accusing him of being unprofessional. And then, as she fought a grin, she had to go and picture her hand wrapped around him, his hand over hers, and the two of them stroking his hard length together.
Sheesh. Now she was hotter in the shade than when they’d been in the sun. She closed her eyes and swallowed hard against the flood of desire that dampened her panties and quickened her pulse.
“You’re only offering so you can get in my tent,” she accused as she finally got the first pole together and attached to the nylon tabs correctly. “You should’ve brought your own.”
“I want to get into more than your tent, Shanna.”
Her pulse skipped. “Could’ve fooled me with the way you ran out of my apartment like the building was on fire.”
Nooo! Just shut up and let it go. Ignore him.
“I had to get out of there before I got frostbite.”
She spun around to face him, all the hurt from that morning rushing to the surface. “What did you expect? First thing you said when you work up was, ‘Fuck. What the hell was I thinking?’”