“Amazing.” Not fooled, Cam eyed them both. “Do you two need to go to your separate corners?”
“No.” Nick had always loved Cam as Annie had, and that had never changed. He clasped a hand on Cam’s shoulder. “We’re good.” Then with one last look at Annie, one that held frustration with a glimmer of an old heat-which sparked a matching one burning inside her-he left.
Cam turned to Annie. “You’re good?” he repeated. “Since when?”
Annie handed him a mug of coffee. “We’re going to try to see each other.”
“Okay.” He took a sip of the coffee. “And what the hell does that mean?”
Annie sighed. “I really haven’t a clue.”
“Whose idea was this?”
“Some idiot’s.”
“Some idiot by the name of Annie?”
Annie slid him a glance. “Dammit. Yes.”
Cam burst out laughing, and the sound was so beautiful, so unexpected yet longed for, she just stared at him. “I thought you’d be mad at me.”
“I was. You are a nosy, bossy, mean, mean woman.”
“I try.”
He laughed again, and she could not stop staring at him. “What’s coming over you?”
“Nothing. I don’t know.”
“Huh. Well, whatever it is, I like it.”
He just sipped his coffee, and so did she, somehow feeling a little easier at heart for the both of them.
Cam left later for a two-day trip with Stone, taking a group snow climbing up to the frozen Jackson Lakes, a trip he’d planned and organized. And as Annie went on with her day, something different happened. Instead of the usual resentment and anger eating her up during the hours, she had something new stirring in her belly.
Hope.
For all of them.
Cam and Stone climbed mountain peaks all day with a group from the Bay Area, and it was good. It would have been great except Cam couldn’t think of anything other than getting back to Katie’s cabin to continue their whole getting naked thing.
Actually, he thought of a lot of other things too. Things like maybe she’d been right to call him on his shit. He hadn’t moved on.
He needed to move on…
Two days later when they returned to the lodge, Katie was at her desk, and as he passed by, she smiled at him. He returned it, and her glasses fogged, which was fun.
She’d missed him too.
While she dealt with the ringing phone, he went to his office to change. He’d just stripped out of his shirt when she knocked on his open door.
“Hey,” he said, turning to face her.
She was staring at his chest. Admittedly gratifying. So was the blush working its way up her throat to her cheeks as her eyes caught on the narrow tribal band tattooed around his bicep. “You have a tattoo,” she murmured. “It looks…” She bit her lower lip. “Tribal.”
“I got it in Africa.” He pulled on a black long-sleeved thermal. “How’s it been going?”
“Great.” She swallowed. “Except I can’t seem to find my tongue.”
Oh man. He wanted to strip down again, and then strip her. But first things first. He reluctantly pulled on an outer shell with WILDER blazoned across the front.
“You have a good trip?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“I saw the schedule. You’re giving boarding lessons tomorrow.”
“Not really. Just meeting a few local kids to go over technique and style, and how to get sponsored. They’re on the team at school and their coach doesn’t have a lot of experience at that end.”
“That’s sweet of you.”
He looked at her, feeling decidedly unsweet. “Come here.”
She swallowed again. “Really? Here?”
He wished. But he gestured her closer and she nearly killed herself to get across the room. He took her hand and opened his closet. It was filled to the brim with outdoor equipment for any kind of adventure one could want.
She looked around. “There’s no place to-”
“Pick one.”
“Um…what?”
“Pick your next adventure.”
She blushed, then pushed up her glasses. “OH! Oh, you want me to pick out equipment. I thought-”
“Yeah, I know what you thought,” he said, nearly groaning at the look of disappointment on her face. She’d wanted him in the closet. Just the thought made him hard. “That’s next. This first.”
She stared at him, then tore her gaze from his and touched a pair of skis. Downhill skis. His gut clenched.
He’d figure she’d pick snowshoes, or cross-country skis. Despite his numerous attempts, he still hadn’t been on downhill skis or a board since his crash, managing to avoid both like the plague, and everyone had let him.
“These are nice,” she said, running her fingers over the edges.
Skiing and sex.
He’d once been great at both. Okay, well it seemed as if Katie wasn’t the only one taking a risk today. He pulled out the skis instead of facing the truth.
He was actually procrastinating sex.
God, that was a tough one to swallow.
He had no doubt he could turn on the charm and get her in his bed right this very minute-hell, she would have taken the closet-and it would be great.
But then…
Yeah, it was the but then tripping him up. It could be any of a hundred things, he had no idea exactly, but he could guarantee it would end badly.