Instant Attraction Read online

  “You’re just now figuring that out?”

  Recreation in the mountains was decidedly different than in the city, Katie discovered, and much more exciting. She still had trouble sleeping at night, but she managed to get enough hours to refresh her.

  Or maybe that was the high-altitude air.

  Every morning, she walked from her cabin to the lodge and looked around in awe. It seemed she could breathe deeper here, see farther. The skies were bigger, the landscape was brighter, a landscape that continued to execute mysterious rustles in the bushes, making her nearly jump out of her skin as she hustled to the lodge steps.

  Big Foot her ass, but she had a feeling whatever stalked her was hungry. Still, she refused to run off like a scared little bunny. She stood firm and looked at the bush, which went suddenly still. “One of these days,” she told it, “you’re going to show your face.”

  Stone came around the side of the lodge, his downhill skis on his shoulder, an amused look on his face. “Are you talking to the manzanita bush?”

  “It talked first.”

  He laughed and shook his head as he walked by her, up the stairs toward the front door.

  “Seriously, what lives in these things anyway?”

  “Wolf spiders, raccoons, coyotes…you name it.”

  She’d rather not. She turned back and eyed the bush. “Okay, you win this round.” But in defiance, she stood there a moment longer soaking up the clear, crisp air. The mountains were still, the early-morning sun sparkling like glitter over the snow. It was so beyond anything in her experience, and so…absolutely soul-soothing.

  That she had the bridge collapse to thank for this experience was an odd thought, but she had it anyway.

  Her life was definitely no longer the same old boring routine.

  Annie opened the front door and looked at her. “You going to stand there daydreaming all day, or are you going to get in here and eat the best omelet on the planet?”

  “Yours?”

  “Who else?”

  Katie went inside, ate what was easily the best omelet on the planet, and then spent the day organizing trips, running the office, and helping Stone stock and catalog demo gear that many of the big-name sporting companies sent them.

  That night, Wilder Adventures hosted overnight guests, and the living room turned into a bar. The fire was set to roaring, Annie put out food, and a local band set up, with Nick strapping on a guitar.

  Stone was walking around, mingling with the guests, taking drink orders.

  Cam stood behind the bar filling those orders, his long, lean, rangy body moving to the beat of the music as he poured drinks with an ease that told her he’d been bartending a good long time. He had a way with the guests too. There were three women standing in front of the bar, laughing, talking, flirting. When they moved away, other women in the room moved in.

  Katie snagged a few hors d’oeuvres, smiled at Nick, who was surprisingly good on the guitar, and got stopped by Stone, who introduced her around, though the whole time her gaze kept drifting back to Cam.

  He wore an opened plaid flannel over a blue T-shirt on his broad shoulders, half tucked into his trademark loose jeans, low on his lean hips. She couldn’t see his feet, but she’d bet he had his boots on, unlaced. Simple, typical mountain-man clothing, but nothing was simple or typical about the man.

  When Cam’s audience shifted to the makeshift dance floor, she made her way over to him, watching as he worked up a pitcher of margaritas while singing along with whatever alt rock song Nick and the band were playing. “You seem like a natural,” she said

  “At making drinks? I am pretty good, I have to admit.”

  “Also at the people thing.” Her eyes slid meaningfully to the women, some of whom were still watching him with hungry eyes. “They’re falling at your feet.”

  Over the blender, his green eyes met hers and she felt a little zing. “All of them?” he murmured.

  “Well, I’m still standing.”

  He let out a small smile. “Ouch.”

  “Oh, it’s not you. I’m taking a little break from…falling.”

  He poured the margarita mix into salted glasses and handed her one, watching her closely. “Because…?”

  She shook her head at the drink. “No, thanks, I’m a lightweight. And to answer your question, I’m taking a break because the last guy I dated turned out to be married.”

  At that, he winced. “Yeah, we’re pretty much all assholes.”

  “Not all.”

  “All,” he said firmly.

  “We’ll have to agree to disagree there,” she murmured, trying not to be mesmerized by those eyes of his, the eyes that seemed to see a hell of a lot more than she wanted him to. “But just because I’m not good at the whole dating thing doesn’t mean I’ve given up entirely. I’ll get back to it.”

  “No one’s good at it.”

  “Oh, I don’t know.” She smiled. “I have a feeling you are.”

  “Not me. I gave all that up.” He shifted away to hand out the margaritas and she figured that was it, the extent of their conversation; but when his tray was empty, he came back, smiling at her as he once again moved behind the bar.

  And she had to ask. “You gave up sex?”

  His mouth curved wryly. “Not on purpose. But as it turns out, it’s been a long dry spell.”

  “Miss it?”

  “Now that you mention it.” Shoving his shirtsleeves up to his elbows, he leaned on the bar, shifting close, shooting her a look of pure wicked trouble that shouldn’t have revved her engines but did. “Why? Are you offering to get me back on the bike?”

  Something inside her quivered, but she hadn’t been born yesterday. She tore her gaze off his, but that meant soaking in his chest or his forearms, which were ripped with tough strength. His hands were as rugged as the rest of him, big and calloused and scarred. “Does that ever actually work for you?” she murmured. “That line?”

  He chuckled softly. “Not in a damn long time, I can tell you that.”

  Stone made his way behind the bar and looked at his brother. “You working your magic here?”

  “Not with this one.” Cam’s gaze was still locked on Katie. “She’s immune to the Wilder charm.”

  “Smart woman.”

  Smart to steer clear? Was she really? Or, as she looked at the two brothers with their matching mischievous smiles, matching stun-the-brain good looks, was she being very, very shortsighted?

  Several nights later, Annie dragged Katie out to Juniper Lake for ice-skating and a bonfire. It was a full moon, and the sharp, black outlines of the majestic peaks surrounding them in a full circle were enough to render Katie awestruck as they drove out on the narrow, curvy, almost nonexistent road. The high moon shined over the frozen alpine lake, but the best scenery was Nick, Stone, and Cam, skating as if they’d been born to it. “Look at them.”

  “Yeah, they’ve been playing hockey for years,” Annie said, mistaking her excitement for dismay over their skills. “Don’t mind them.”

  Nick flew past them so fast he was nothing but a blur, and for a moment, Annie stared after him with a look of such naked longing it hurt Katie’s heart.

  Giving the chef a moment, Katie got her borrowed skates on and tested herself on the ice, eyeing Cam speeding around the lake.

  Did he look good doing everything?

  She thought maybe he did, then let her mind wander to what else he might look good doing—like her. Unbidden came the picture in her mind of him doing just that, stripping her naked one article of clothing at a time, smiling that wicked, naughty bad-boy smile as he worked his way down her body with his tongue—

  And just like that, her feet flew out from beneath her, and with a teeth-chattering thunk, she hit the ice on her most padded spot—her ass—which didn’t make it hurt less.

  Cam stopped on a dime with an ease that made her want to knock him on his ass, fine as it was. “Don’t say it,” she warned, pointing a finger at him. “Don’t s