Alaskan Adventure (Destination: Desire) (3 page)

She glanced over her shoulder. “Do you have a reason for invading my personal space, Gabe? I’m guessing harassing passengers isn’t in your job description.”

He took an infinitesimal step back, a gleam of challenge in his gaze. Oh yeah. This one liked competition too.

Her heart tripped and beat a little faster, and she had to fight her own instinct to answer that unspoken challenge. She should not engage. “I’m going below deck. Excuse me.”

“You don’t want to do that,” he replied implacably.

“Yeah, I really do.” She tried to step around him, but he feinted and dodged so she couldn’t. She growled, “What the
hell?
”

He set his hands on her shoulders, tightening his grip when she tried to jerk back. “You
don’t
want to go down there. One of our passengers yarked in the dining room and then all the way down the hall to his cabin.”

Oh. Ew.
She scowled up at him. “You could have just
said
that right up front.”

He leaned in a little, dimples digging deep grooves into his stubble-covered cheeks. “But then I wouldn’t have gotten to touch you.”

It took a lot of effort not to grin…and not to kick him in the shin. He was equal parts cute and obnoxious, which should not be as appealing as it was. The heat of his fingers began to seep through her clothes, and she had to suppress a shiver. She cleared her throat. “You can stop now.”

His thumbs moved in a slow sweep against her collarbones. “Stop what?”

Her breath caught and she tried to cover it with a cough. “Touching me.”

“Where would the fun be in that?” He backed her up a few steps, until she felt the press of the railing on her spine.

She tilted her head to meet his gaze. She was a tall woman, used to towering over others, but he made her feel petite. She wasn’t sure if she liked that or not. “Aren’t I supposed to be the one having fun here? Of the two of us, I’m the one on vacation.”

“You’re not having fun?” Pure innocence radiated from him, and his eyes widened in surprise.

Yeah, right. He didn’t do the innocent look very well. Then again, neither did she. She had to suppress another grin.

Letting his hands fall from her shoulders, he set one on the railing just to her right. She wasn’t trapped, because she could slide left, but she certainly felt
surrounded
. Their chests almost touched, and if she took a deep breath, her breasts would be pressed to his well-defined pecs. Her nipples went hard and her mouth went dry. The burn of chemistry hit her, and reluctant attraction exploded into something much more dangerous. Tingles went down her skin, and she opened and closed her mouth, but nothing emerged.

This was insane. She was never speechless with men, but her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth, pure desire pouring through her veins. He was absolutely the wrong man to be fascinated by.

It irritated her that
his
voice managed to be easy and conversational. “So, what made you want to spend your vacation on a boat in Alaska?”

Forcing herself not to think about her traitorous hormones, she responded, “I like being outdoors.”

“Good choice, then.” His gaze moved over her face, coming back to stare into her eyes as if he could see all the way down into her soul. “Let me guess…corporate America, looking for an escape from the stressful rat race of a job you don’t really like very much, but the money is too good to quit?”

Since her mother was more of a life sentence than a job duty, she didn’t even have to lie when she made an obnoxious buzzer sound and said, “Nope. Wrong on all counts. But thanks for trying to diagnose me, O Camper Guru.”

He ignored the guru jab and shook his head. “Not diagnosing. Just recognize the overstressed signs a lot of our guests have when they first get here. A little
too
overjoyed to be here. Almost relieved, you know what I mean?”

Well, that observation hit the nail directly on the head. “Any stress I have is not currently job related. I’m a PE teacher. I’m on summer break.”

His eyebrows went up, and he straightened his arm a bit, pushing away. “So, where’s the stress coming from? Family? Boyfriend?” A hesitation. “Husband?”

That made his interest clear, didn’t it? Not that he’d been subtle so far. She smirked. “No husband.”

He leaned slightly closer, his green eyes crinkling at the corners. “Boyfriend?”

“Nope.”

“Thank God,” he said feelingly.

She laughed at that one, she couldn’t help herself. It was rare she met anyone as outrageous and mouthy as she was. Then again, his mom fit into that category too, so he came by it honestly. “You think it’s going to matter to you if I’m single?”

“A man can hope.” His lids dropped to half-mast, somehow looking slumberous and smoldering at the same time. That was exactly the kind of look a woman wanted to get across a pillow in the morning.

“Aren’t your parents on this trip too?” She’d hate a man who ignored his family. Family was the most important thing in Anne’s life. She’d sacrificed a lot to keep hers together and happy.

“Yes, they are, and I can’t wait to spend time with them.” His smile showed genuine affection laced with wry humor. “And apparently they like you and intend to keep you around. Mom and Dad always bring me the
best
presents.”

She bit her lower lip so she wouldn’t give in to the grin that wanted to form. “You have really nice parents.”

“I’m incredibly lucky.” There was no mockery or sarcasm in his tone. Then his expression softened. “Are you?”

“Excuse me?” Because, of course, the word “lucky” associated with this man took her brain to dirty places, but they were talking about parents, right?

The way his dimples flashed told her he knew exactly how she’d misinterpreted him. “If your stress has nothing to do with your job or your significant other, that leaves your family, right? Does that mean you’re not quite as lucky as I am with my parents?”

How to answer that question? She sighed.

His eyebrows rose. “That bad, huh?”

Shrugging, she looked away. “It’s complicated, and not really something I want to talk about with someone I barely know.”

“A shame.” He tilted his head to try to meet her gaze again. “Maybe by the end of the trip, you’ll be willing to tell me about it.”

She cocked a hip and propped her hand on it. “So, Camper Guru, this attitude you have…would you call this confidence or arrogance?”

“A little of both, probably.” He winced. “You’re not going to let the Camper Guru thing go, are you?”

“Why?” She felt an evil grin curve her lips. “Am I bothering you?”

Because that might be the answer to getting him to go away. The problem was, she was far too attracted to him, and he was exactly the kind of guy she always avoided. She didn’t do unreliable slackers, because, hello,
her mother.
It would be just her luck if she fell in love with the first one she bumped uglies with, and spent the rest of her life supporting his freeloading ass. He could hang out with Dinah all day. Wouldn’t that be great fun?

So, if she couldn’t avoid being attracted to him—and on a ship this small, short of hiding in her cabin, there was no way she could evade him if he wanted to find her—maybe she could poke him with the proverbial stick often enough that
he
avoided
her
.

Game on.

Chapter Three

Three days later, hell, yes, she was bothering him.

And he’d reached new levels of pathetic.

Gabe had had a non-stop hard-on since he’d had her pressed up against that railing, and as she showed no sign of wanting to do anything other than argue with him about every-damn-thing, it was unlikely he’d get relief with anything other than his own fist in the foreseeable future. It was just too bad he found her mouthy attitude a turn-on. Then again, it wasn’t as if he didn’t enjoy going toe to toe with her.

Pushing away those thoughts, he focused on steering the boat toward shore. The El Capitan Cave tour awaited. He’d volunteered as a secondary guide to tag along after the official US Forestry Service guide, who would take them through the twisting system of caves. Normally, he let one of the newer guys on the crew handle this excursion since Gabe had been on it a dozen times already. Except he knew Anne had signed up and, thus, here he was.

Yep, a whole new level of pathetic. He was only grateful his parents had decided to sleep in, so he wouldn’t be harassed.

He throttled down the boat so it came to a gentle stop as they bumped against the dock. After hopping out, he tied the watercraft down and turned to help the passengers.

“Let me give you a hand, Bridget.” Gabe smiled at the forty-something soccer mom who’d gotten up early to come on this fieldtrip. Minus her husband and teenage boys. She’d been cracking jokes with Anne since they’d boarded the boat.

“Um… Thanks.” Bridget stammered and blushed when she took his hand to let him haul her onto the dock.

Anne, of course, bounced out with no assistance, propped her hands on her hips, and took in a deep breath while she looked around.

Mist curled over the water, up the shore, and around the old growth trees. Between those trees wound a wooden staircase that went up the mountainside until the steps eventually disappeared into the fog. Gabe had to admit, the beauty of the area never ceased to awe him, no matter how many times he’d been here.

The smile on Anne’s lips and the dreamy look that crossed her face told him her thoughts might have flowed in a similar direction. Damn, she was lovely. He was getting addicted to seeing her smile. He’d watched her mobile features and easy laugh at every meal for the past three days. His parents didn’t have an ounce of subtlety between them, so they’d made sure to rope Anne into sitting with them, throwing her together with Gabe. Not that he minded, and she’d been good humored about it, which made him like her more.

“Okay, folks. It’s about 40 degrees in El Cap Cave, and dark as pitch. Make sure you’ve got your coat, sweater, or other layers to keep warm. Does everyone have their flashlight?” The five people on the tour all nodded and showed him their flashlights. Of course, Anne took the opportunity to shine a beam right in his eyes. He grinned and shook his head. He was definitely getting her back for that later. “Excellent. Let’s go meet with the Forestry Service guide.”

Within fifteen minutes, Gabe was bringing up the rear as they all huffed and puffed their way up hundreds of stairs to get to the mouth of the cave. He could feel it in his glutes, so he knew those who weren’t in the kind of shape he was would be hurting tonight. Since Anne and Bridget were right in front of him, he couldn’t complain about the view. Anne had one hell of a nice ass—round and perfect and made for a man’s hands.
His
hands, if he had anything to say about it by the end of this cruise.

He kept one eye on the group as they worked their way up the mountainside. Eventually, Anne and Bridget passed some of the slower climbers while Gabe had to stay behind to make sure the stragglers got to the top safely. Too bad about the loss of view, but he took his job seriously.

Once they reached the platform outside the cave opening, the Forestry Service guy started on his spiel about the depth of the cave, the geological history of the area, and safety measures they needed to take because of the moisture that dripped from the ceiling and made the ground slick.

Gabe’s gaze went to Anne, as it always seemed to whenever she was around, and he watched a wistful expression cross her face. Wistful? Anne? The emotion seemed so out of character, he sidled sideways to close the few feet of distance between them. “You okay?”

She blinked and looked at him. “Sure, I guess.”

“You just looked…like you saw something you really wanted but couldn’t have.” And he had difficulty believing she’d feel that way about the skinny grad student giving them the tour.

She shrugged sheepishly. “When I was in high school I wanted to be a forest ranger. I applied to the Forestry Management program at Oregon State and everything.”

“You didn’t get in?” He slanted her a sympathetic glance.

Her face scrunched up. “I got in, but my dad died my junior year and someone had to help my mom with my little sisters, so I double majored in Kinesiology and Mathematics at San Francisco State University instead.”

There was a lot more to that story—he’d bet his entire savings account on it. “That’s a bit of a jump from forestry. They didn’t have an ecology program or something?”

Her shoulder twitched. “Not a ton of reliable jobs for that in Half Moon Bay. I knew I’d have to stay in town until my sisters grew up. Nora was in kindergarten when Dad passed, and Hazel and Camille weren’t even in preschool yet.” Her gaze met his, her voice matter-of-fact and without a hint of regret. “I knew teachers would always be needed, so I got certified for both Math and Physical Education. Drove up to SFSU for classes every Monday and Wednesday, came home, then worked Tuesday, Thursday and Friday to help my mom make ends meet.”

The fact that she was philosophical about the kind of sacrifice that most people would have refused to make left Gabe blinking in shock. From what little he knew of her, he understood that she’d be defensive if he praised her. So instead, he asked a question. “If you were helping your mom out, how did you afford college?”

“My grandmother—Dad’s mom—died just after Cami was born and left all of us girls money to pay for university. And that was the
only
thing we could use the funds for.” She took a hard hat from the guide and plopped it on her head, giving Gabe a jaunty smile. “There wasn’t enough for anything too fancy or expensive like Harvard, but it paid for a state school, which is where all of us have gone.”

Setting his own hat on with one hand, he pressed the other palm to the small of her back and urged her toward the cave. “There’s a huge age gap between you and your sisters.”

She nodded, ducking through the entrance into the cold dark behind the rest of the group. They all clicked on their flashlights. Anne glanced back at him. “Eleven years from me to Nora. Then two more to Hazel and one-and-a-half more to Cami.”

So his voice wouldn’t echo, he whispered back, “Why the gap? Do you all have the same mother and father? Not halves or steps?”

She hesitated. “My parents split up when I was a toddler and I shuffled back and forth between them until I was nine and they remarried.” Her mouth tightened. “I…think my dad took her back for me.”

His chest squeezed in sympathy. Her mom sounded like a real piece of work and he said a silent thanks to his own mother for being her obnoxiously amazing self. He and his brother had been damn lucky to have both their parents. He reached out a hand and squeezed Anne’s shoulder. “Sounds like it was a rough way to grow up.”

“Other people have it way worse. It’s not like we were homeless, starving or abused.” Her muscles tensed under his palm.

Defensive, as he’d suspected, but he was going to say it anyway, “Giving up your dreams for your family is a big deal, whether you want to admit it or not. You’re pretty awesome, Anne.”

Her shoulder hunched. “Thanks. My sisters were worth it.”

“Let’s catch up to the others.” He stroked a hand down her arm, just for the pleasure of touching her. “It’s far too easy to get lost in the switchbacks of this cave system.”

“Okay.” The relief in her voice made him smile. For all her opinionated bravado and sass about every taboo topic under the sun, she was self-conscious about having her merits pointed out. An interesting contrast. Then again, everything about her seemed to interest him. Maybe more than it should, but he’d worry about that when and if it actually became a problem.

The guide had stopped and the group gathered around him to hear about the formation of the rocks over time and the types of artifacts that had been found during exploration. Dripping water echoed through the cave, and the flashlight beams caught the droplets and made them sparkle as they fell.

The group walked for almost two hours in those caves, Gabe bringing up the rear, Anne always one step ahead of him, and Bridget flitted around to chat with everyone. Every so often, the USFS guide would stop to point out a geological feature or give them historical tidbits. Gabe tuned most of this out since he’d heard it many times before, enjoyed the beauty of rocks, and made sure to watch the group so no one wandered off. They were on their way out when the guide made the last stop before they left the cave. Gabe grinned. When they continued on, he made sure to direct his flashlight into Anne’s eyes just as they turned.

“Hey!” She planted her hands on her hips.

“What?” He arched an eyebrow. “You think I didn’t notice you doing that to me earlier?”

Her teeth gleamed white in the murky darkness. “You’re supposed to rise above that sort of thing, Camper Guru.”

“Sorry, sugar. I’m not a saint by any stretch of the imagination.” He swept another quick glance over the tourists in front of them. Anne and he lagged behind a few steps. He lowered his voice and leaned closer to her ear. “And if you keep calling me that stupid name, I might have to spank your ass.”

He felt her shiver, and a curl of lust filled his belly.

“Sorry, sugar,” she mimicked him, though her voice came out a bit breathy. “I’m not into that
Fifty Shades
shit.”

Laughing, he shook his head. “It’s too bad for me that I’d really like to know what you
are
into.”

She twisted at the waist to say something when her foot slipped. His heart seized, but he snapped his arm around her waist. He hauled her against him to keep her upright. The side of her hip hit his groin and her helmet collided with his, which sent his flying off to bounce against the rocks. For a moment, they hung there in silence, nothing but the sound of their harsh breathing and the dripping water coming to his ears.

A shudder ran through her and her gaze met his. “That was close.”

“Yes.”

She tried to step back, and her foot slipped again. Reflexively, he tightened his grip on her, and she clutched at him. Her breasts flattened against his chest, her thighs pressed to his, and he clenched his teeth on a groan. He’d wanted her in his arms for days, but this wasn’t how he’d imagined it. Still, the feel of her slight curves molding to his body made heat rip through him.

“Are you all right?” he asked, his voice a low rasp.

Her head came up and her gaze fastened on his lips. She licked hers, and he couldn’t hold back the groan this time. Tension jumped between them like a live wire, electrifying the moment. Instead of pulling away again, she tightened her fingers on his shoulders. It was like inviting a starving man to a banquet. He had to taste her. He just had to.

His hand lifted to bracket the nape of her neck, keeping her near, and he felt the tickle of her short hair against his fingers. “Say no.”

A laugh huffed out of her and her eyelids dropped to half-mast. “I can’t.”

“Good,” he growled and then captured her lips.

This was no slow exploration, but a fiery taking. His tongue plunged into her mouth, and the flavor of her exploded over his taste buds. Coffee and sweet strawberries she’d had for breakfast, as well as something that was pure female. Pure Anne. His palms roamed down her back, memorizing the feel of her slender form.

She shoved her fingers into his hair and twisted them tight. The slight pain just sharpened the pleasure pounding through him. Her tongue dueled with his, her teeth nipped at his lower lip, and his cock was so hard it ached. He ground himself into the soft cradle of her thighs, craving more, craving
her
. She arched into him, a strangled little sound bursting from her.

Jesus, it was all he could do not to drag her to the ground. Desperate need dug vicious claws into him. If he’d thought he’d wanted her before, it was nothing compared to how he felt when he finally had her pressed against him. White-hot lava poured through his veins. He bit back a groan, curving his hands over her ass to pull her tighter into him. Her breasts crushing to his chest while she wriggled to get even closer was mind-blowing.

A rumbling crash sounded, an agonized shriek ripped through the cave, and Gabe’s heart slammed against his ribcage. Anne and he jerked apart, lungs heaving. Bending, he grabbed his hard hat and slapped it back on his head and then they hurried toward the sound. They found Bridget and the Forestry Service guide sprawled amidst a pile of large rocks a few yards from the cave entrance. The other guests huddled around them.

“What happened?” Gabe asked, striding over to kneel beside the fallen people. Damp mud immediately oozed into his pants where his knees touched the ground. He ignored the discomfort. Bridget had her leg wedged between a couple of boulders. He had to crouch forward to get a better angle to check on her condition.

The guide scrambled to his feet and winced. “I stopped to say something and she ran into me. We both went down on the rock. Slipped in the mud.”

Pale and a little wild-eyed, the guide wrung his hands. Gabe would guess that while the kid had had first aide training, he’d never dealt with an actual injury.

“It does get muddy,” Gabe agreed. One clear look at Bridget’s leg and he could tell it was broken, possibly in more than one place. He ran his hands over her other leg and she cringed when he got to her ankle. One broken and the other possibly sprained. Awesome. He glanced at the USFS guide, keeping his voice calm so he didn’t spook the kid. “You need to radio this in, make sure there’s a way to transport her to the local medical clinic. This isn’t going to be something we can deal with on the ship. We’re going to need a stretcher to carry her out of here. Got it?”