Instant Attraction Read online

  “You’re the only pie in town.”

  She sighed again. “Okay, one of these days I’m going to get through, Cam. One of these days.”

  Katie was clutching a bag in one hand, with a cookie in the other, and if he wasn’t mistaken, there were more than a few chocolate crumbs on the left corner of her mouth. “Saw the pliers,” he said.

  “Yeah. Only me, right?” She shook her head and licked the crumbs off her lips. She also took the last bite of the cookie, then stuck her thumb into her mouth and sucked the crumbs off of that, and he found himself hungrily watching the motion of her tongue. “Harley’s going to fix it.”

  “After I take a test.” Harley smiled in greeting and moved close for a hug.

  They’d gone to high school together and had spent many, many, many days together in detention. “You getting close to that degree yet?” he asked, affectionately rubbing the spot of grease on her chin.

  “Very close. So…” She hesitated. “How’s T.J.?”

  She and T.J. had spent considerable time together too. Not in detention. “Still in Alaska.”

  “Freezing his balls off, I hope,” she said sweetly.

  Thankful he wasn’t T.J. at the moment, he reached for the pies Serena had bagged up and eyed Katie. “So you’re stuck in town.”

  “A little bit, yes.”

  “Want a ride?”

  “Please.” She slid off the stool. “Do you have the snow-mobile?” she asked hopefully.

  “Sorry, no.” Up at Tenneman Falls he’d promised himself that he wouldn’t take advantage of her for the week she had left. If there was a move to make, she’d have to make it, and he’d just be there for her.

  Yeah.

  That’s what he’d promised himself. But now, with her right here in front of him, he wanted to grab her, toss her over his shoulder and into his truck, where he’d get her naked in two point zero seconds flat.

  Instead, he opened the bakery door for her. Outside, she lightly kicked her tire. “Probably I should have wished for grace and poise on that falling star.”

  He thought she had grace and poise in abundance, just not the traditional kind.

  “But actually, I’m glad about the wish I did make.” Her smile went just a little bit naughty. “Very glad.”

  He got hard. Shaking his head at himself—that wasn’t her making a move, he told himself—he opened the passenger door of his truck for her and managed to lean in for a sniff of her hair. Fucking pathetic, he told himself as he came around to the driver’s side and started the engine. He pulled into the street and relaxed marginally at the silence, because maybe she wasn’t going to talk. That worked for him.

  “What’s the matter?”

  So much for that. “Nothing.”

  “Nothing’s making you tense enough to shatter?”

  He silently pleaded the Fifth.

  “How about a kiss? If you don’t want to talk,” she said when he slid her a look. “Kind of like a hello-after-two-days thing.”

  “I’m driving.”

  “You could have kissed me before, when you first saw me.”

  “I promised myself you had to make the first move.”

  “What?”

  “Never mind. Listen, I’m clearly having a problem communicating today across the board. Maybe we could not talk.”

  “Pull over, Cam.”

  “You’re right. That was rude. I—”

  “Pull over right now, please.”

  He did, then reached for her so that she couldn’t escape, because that’s what he figured she would do. She’d slam the door on him, then go off and pout like all the women in his life ever had. Or maybe she wanted to throw something at his head. At least she didn’t have her own car, so he was fairly certain she didn’t plan on trying to run him over, which was a small comfort because he didn’t want her to leave his truck at all.

  But apparently this woman was not done defying his expectations or surprising him, because it wasn’t the door she reached for, but him. She reached for him at the same moment he reached for her. He opened his mouth to say something, anything, to make her stay, but then her mouth was on his. She bumped his nose with hers and dislodged her glasses, which she yanked off with an annoyed little sound; then she kissed him again.

  At the connection of their two bodies, his went on immediate overdrive. Before he knew it, he’d dove right into the kiss as if he hadn’t just been silently apologizing for all the others. He had one hand holding her head for his plunging tongue, the other inside her jacket, beneath her sweater, gliding his thumb over her breast, thrilling to the low, desperately hungry noises she made in the back of her throat. God. Her hands were just as busy, in his hair, on his chest, heading south, playing with the button fly of his jeans—

  “How was that for a first move?” she murmured, pulling back.

  He let out a breath. “I thought you were trying to get away from me.”

  “Did that feel like I was trying to get away from you? Really?”

  He looked into her glossy eyes, at her cheeks that were bright with color, at the mouth he could never get enough of, the one still wet from his, and felt boggled.

  “If you can’t remember,” she murmured. “Maybe I’d better kiss you again.”

  “Maybe you’d better.”

  But she was looking around them, staring at the windows, which were completely steamed up, cocooning them in their own world. “How long were we at it?”

  “I have no idea.” But he was going to need a minute before going back to the lodge.

  Maybe two. He had to laugh at himself. At her. And then she was laughing too. Their eyes met, the laughter faded, and in the next beat they dove at each other again, hands fighting to get inside clothing—

  At the knock on his window, Cam nearly bashed his head on the roof. “Jesus.”

  “Who—”

  “No idea—” Through the fogged windows he caught the tall outline of Stone.

  Katie was working frantically in the opposite direction now, trying to straighten her clothes instead of getting out of them. Cam waited until she gave a nod, then turned the key and hit the button for the window, and met Stone’s cynical expression.

  “You don’t care, huh?” Stone’s steady gaze flicked to Katie. Cam turned to look at her too. She hadn’t gotten her jacket zipped back up, revealing the fact that she’d misbuttoned her sweater. She looked like he’d cared all over her.

  Stone chewed on his tongue a moment. “I got the call about your tire, Katie. I went to go check on you, to give you a ride back.”

  “Thanks, but, uh, Cam found me.”

  Stone’s gaze once again slid toward Cam, whose hair was probably as messy as Katie’s. His shirt was rumpled, and let’s not forget the boner he was sporting.

  He looked like someone who cared a whole helluva lot.

  Stone merely patted the door, gave Cam one last long look, then walked back to his truck.

  “What did he mean?” Katie asked him.

  “Did I ever tell you Stone’s got a drug problem? I keep telling him crack kills but…”

  She laughed. “Cam.”

  “Okay, he’s got early signs of Alzheimer’s.”

  “Or…” she said, smile fading. “Shut up, Katie. Is that right?”

  Or that.

  “So this is like all the other times then?” she asked quietly. “Where I get too close and you need your distance?”

  “I—” Christ, he felt like he was spinning. “Maybe. Look, honestly? I’m an ass.”

  “I appreciate you realizing that.” She sighed. “But actually, this is my fault. I need to remember we’re just…What are we exactly?”

  At the look that crossed his face, she put up a hand. “You know what? Never mind.”

  Kicking his own ass, he started the truck and drove them back to the lodge. Katie started to get out, then turned to him, and he braced himself.

  “I’ve made it pretty clear how I feel,” she told him. “I’ve