Instant Gratification Read online

  She stepped closer to the water lapping at the coarse mountain sand, taking in the cattails lining the edge, the lily ponds in the shallow water, and shook her head. It was so beautiful she could hardly speak.

  They were completely isolated, surrounded by three-hundred-feet-tall sequoias and pines.

  And alone.

  Stone dropped the small backpack he’d worn on the ride. Something inside squawked, and he crouched down, pulling out a radio. “Go ahead, TJ, over.”

  “Where are you? Over.”

  “Third Hidden Lake. Over.”

  “That group going down Cascade Falls tomorrow showed up two days early. Annie and I rushed back to the lodge and they’re pissed. The schedule’s fucked up, and Annie’s bitching because her pies didn’t get delivered, and now I’m double-booked for tomorrow. When the hell are you getting back? Over.”

  “If the schedule’s fucked up,” Stone replied, “it’s because you put your grimy fingers on it.” Sitting on his haunches, he sighed and shook his head. “Leave it alone. I’ll fix it when I get back. The two clients yelling at you can wait for me as well. You’ll just piss them off more. Send Nick for the pies. And you’re not double-booked for tomorrow. I’m taking the Alpine trip. Over.”

  “You still didn’t say when you’d be back. Over.”

  Stone glanced up at Emma and smiled. “I’ll be back when you stop yelling at me. Over.” With that, he tossed the radio to the ground.

  “He sounded desperate,” Emma said. “You’re just going to leave him hanging?”

  “Sure. He’s done it to me plenty of times. You okay?” he asked when she sank to the coarse sand.

  “Just shaking. I think it’s the altitude.”

  He opened the backpack and pulled out two bottled waters and a Ziploc bag full of cookies, which he handed over. “Some sugar should help. Try ‘em. They’re my specialty.”

  She took a bite and moaned in sheer bliss. “Oh. My. God. This is better than the scenery, and that’s pretty darn amazing.” She couldn’t get the rest of the cookie in fast enough. “Seriously. You made these?”

  “Yeah.”

  “They’re the best cookies I’ve ever had.”

  He looked amused. “They’re just basic chocolate chip.”

  Yes, but when she wanted cookies, or any food for that matter, she went to the store. She used her oven as storage for the pots and pans she’d never used. “I burn water.”

  “Well, it’s a good thing I’m not asking you to cook for me then, isn’t it.”

  She looked up, caught the teasing light in his eyes and smiled. It was true. He hadn’t asked her to cook for him. He hadn’t asked anything of her.

  Which should have made him the perfect man.

  Did make him the perfect man.

  Except for the fact that she didn’t want or need one. She didn’t want or need anyone in her life, thank you very much, she thought as she licked the last bit of chocolate from her fingers. “Omigod, these are better than…everything.”

  He followed the movement of her tongue with his eyes, but smiled easily. “Life isn’t all about food.”

  “True. It’s all about take-out.”

  He laughed.

  “Hey, I’m not kidding. After twenty hours on your feet and only a few coffees in your system, you wouldn’t snub your nose at Taco Bell, I can promise you.”

  “You must work some crazy hours.”

  “Yeah.”

  “You miss it.”

  “Yeah.” She sighed. “I do.”

  “What do you miss the most?”

  “Oh, that’s easy. I miss…” She blinked, shocked to find herself drawing a blank.

  He arched a brow. “You miss…?”

  So much. But suddenly, there in the last of a gorgeous, hot day, surrounded not by the smell of antiseptic and the nagging beat of her pager and cell phone, instead looking into a set of deep jade eyes which were smiling at her with affection and heat, she couldn’t think of a single thing.

  How odd was that? “I miss…Thai food,” she said triumphantly.

  There. She’d thought of something. A lame something, but still.

  Looking amused, he slowly shook his head. “That’s reaching.”

  Yeah. It was. Then, still looking at her, he stood up, tall and lean and damp with sweat, and her heart skipped a beat. “What are you doing?”

  “Relaxing. Swimming.” He kicked off a shoe. “You remember who won, right?”

  Oh, God. “Yes, but…but your brother sounded pissed. Maybe we should go back.”

  “Serves him right. You didn’t answer my question.”

  “Um,” she said brilliantly as he kicked off his other shoe.

  “You lost,” he pointed out gently.

  “Oh, that silly bet?” She swallowed hard as he lifted his T-shirt off over his head and tossed it aside. Sweet Jesus. She stared at his mouth watering chest as his fingers went to the button on his jeans. “Stone?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Are you wearing a bathing suit?”

  “Nope.”

  Chapter 13

  Stone’s eyes were full of mischief and a wicked intent, both of which had the same effect on Emma’s insides as his bad boy truck. “Stone. You can’t just—”

  He could, and did.

  He toed off his socks.

  “Yeah, now see—”

  Ignoring her stammering, he unbuttoned his Levi’s, and she nearly swallowed her tongue. She’d seen him without a shirt before. On her examination table up close and personal, though of course this time he was void of all the dirt and blood. He still had some scrapes and bruises, which in no way marred the utter perfection of his broad shoulders, chest, and six-pack abs that she suddenly and inexplicably, desperately wanted to lap up like she’d lapped up the last of the chocolate.

  His jeans were low-slung and loose enough that they pulled away from him, leaving a tantalizing gap that a woman could stick her entire hand down and—

  “Your turn,” he said, pausing from his stripping down.

  “I am not going skinny dipping with you.”

  “Now here’s one thing I don’t get about women. They always make blanket statements like that, and then change their mind. Wouldn’t it be easier to say nothing at all?”

  He wasn’t wearing a belt, so when he finished unbuttoning his jeans, they sank even lower, nearly to indecent levels, and she stared at what he was slowly revealing. “I don’t make blanket statements as a rule, and I always mean what I say.”

  “See?” He smiled. “Another blanket statement.”

  “I do mean what I say. Look, it’s…late. I need to go back.”

  “It’s seven thirty.”

  “Almost my bedtime.”

  “You said you were hot,” he pointed out reasonably.

  Yes. Yes she was hot. Holy smokes…

  He added one of those panty-melting smiles. Oh God, she was in trouble.

  “I’m simply offering you the solution to your problem,” he said.

  “Yes,” she managed. “While creating a whole new one.”

  “Which would be?” he asked innocently.

  Ha! “You. Naked.”

  He shoved off his jeans and kicked them aside, leaving him in a pair of dark blue knit boxers that clung to his tough thighs and lean hips. When she managed to lift her gaze to meet his, she found his eyes both hot and amused.

  If she thought she’d been sweating before…

  Then, without a word, he turned from her, stepped a few feet into the lake water and dove in.

  Vanishing beneath the smooth surface with hardly a splash.

  A few drops hit her and they were so deliciously, deliriously cool, she actually moaned. Goddammit.

  He surfaced facing her, just his perfect chest, shoulders, and head popping out of the water. He shook his head, and water went flying. He looked at her, hair crazy, face streaming water, smile so contagious she had to work to keep solemn. “Stone—”

  “You los