“I get it,” Todd says and holds his hands up in surrender. “But there’s nothing that says you can’t call her when this is over.”
He smiles smugly and I punch him in the shoulder, just for the hell of it.
“Ow! Bugger it.”
“Can we talk about the reason we’re here now?”
“Fine.”
Todd begins talking about seating arrangements and plans for the cocktail party at the end of the retreat. I’m listening with only half an ear.
Starting up something—physical or otherwise—with Charly is impossible, no matter how attracted to her I am. It would be career suicide. And how can I ask the other women here to trust and listen to me, if I’m carrying on with one of their peers?
I’m supposed to be here teaching them. Leading them. Helping them.
Not fucking them into the mattress.
Which is what I want to do with Charly, and only Charly, repeatedly.
“Are you listening?” Todd asks as we approach the lodge.
“No,” I reply truthfully. “I’m hitting the shower. I’ll see you in an hour.”
“You’re a pain in my arse!” he calls after me, but I ignore him and march straight to the elevator.
And there she is, already waiting for one. The universe keeps throwing her my way, and I’m not complaining in the least.
“Good morning,” I say, panting from the run. My shirt is soaked with sweat, and I can only imagine how I must smell.
“Good mornin’,” she says with a smile. “Did you have a good run?”
“No,” I reply with a laugh. “Todd insisted on coming with me and he talked incessantly.”
Charly laughs and leads the way into the elevator when it arrives. “Which floor?”
“Four.”
“Me, too,” she says and pushes the button. “Thanks again for the boat ride yesterday. It was nice.”
It was bloody amazing.
“You’re welcome,” I reply and lean on the wall opposite from her, willing myself to keep my hands to myself.
“Is it going to be another long day?” she asks as she leans against the wall, mimicking my stance.
“No. We’ll be done by early afternoon.”
“Oh, great.” She grins. “I told Savannah all about yesterday.”
“Really? Did she tell you to pack your things and run as quickly as possible?”
“No. She said it was good for me, but she was glad it was me and not her. So much for sisterly love.”
I smile and curse silently when we reach our floor. When the door opens, three women are waiting for the elevator. Their eyes widen when they see me, and I want to roll my eyes.
Many women are not coy when they see a man they find attractive. We’ll be discussing this next week.
When they’re in the lift and the doors are closed, I glance down at Charly and smile. “Do you have time for me to show you something?”
“We have to be in the conference room in an hour,” she replies, but I can see the curiosity in her eyes.
“It’ll be quick. It’s the perfect time of day.”
“Okay.”
I lead her to my room, at the end of the hallway.
“Hey, if you think you can just lead me to your room—”
I turn to her and cut her off. “I said this would be quick, darling. Trust me, if I were bringing you to my room to seduce you, it wouldn’t be quick. I’d be exploring you all day and night.”
She doesn’t act shocked at all. She simply raises a brow and smirks, like she did the first morning we were here. She’s all but saying, “Sure. I don’t buy it.”
So I lean in and press my lips to her ear. “Don’t press me, darling, or I’ll drag you in here and prove it to you.”
When I pull away, the smirk is gone, but the laughter is still in her eyes and I can’t help but wonder what I would have to do to truly surprise her.
I open the door and lead her into my room, then grab my binoculars and step out onto my balcony. “I just found them yesterday.”
“Found what?”
“Look.” I hand her the binoculars. “Look into that tree there, where we saw the bald eagle just the other day.”
She raises them to her eyes and is silent while she looks, then gasps.
“Oh my God! She’s a mama!”
“She is,” I confirm with a grin. “Are they sticking their heads up?”
“They are. Good Lord, they’re tiny little things.”
“And bald,” I reply and have to catch my breath when she looks up at me in wonder, her hazel eyes wide and happy.
This is what surprises her? Not sexual innuendos, baby eagles.
“This place is so cool.”
“I’m glad you like it,” I reply and take the binoculars when she hands them back to me.
“I need to get in the shower and ready for class.”
“Wait.” I have absolutely no idea why I don’t want her to leave. She needs to leave. I shouldn’t have brought her in here to begin with.
“What?”
I sigh and shove my hands in my pockets before I do something monumentally stupid, like touch her.
Because once I start, I won’t want to stop.
“Nothing,” I reply and shake my head. “Thanks for letting me show you.”
She watches me for a moment, then shrugs and walks toward the door. “See you in a bit.”
“See you.”
Chapter Three
~Charly~
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like this,” Heidi says beside me in the back seat of a Toyota 4Runner as we climb our way into Glacier National Park the next day. I’m in the middle, between Heidi and Violet, another member of Simon’s staff. Simon asked Heidi and me to join them yesterday afternoon after class, and I couldn’t resist my curiosity to see more of the area.