She had one night with a marine

And now she’s in command

A one-night stand so incredible, Jill Davis couldn’t forget. Memories so delectable, they sustained Sam Hawker through his final tour. Three years later, Jill is unexpectedly face-to-face with her legendary marine lover. And it’s clear their chemistry is like gas and a match. Except Sam is her newest employee. That means hands off, sister! Except maybe...just this once? Ooh-rah!

HEATHERLY BELL tackled her first book in 2004 and now the characters that occupy her mind refuse to leave until she writes them a book. She loves all music but confines singing to the shower these days. Heatherly lives in Northern California with her family, including two beagles—one who can say hello and the other a princess who can feel a pea through several pillows.

Also by Heatherly Bell

Wildfire Ridge

More than One Night

Heroes of Fortune Valley

Breaking Emily’s RulesAirman to the RescueThis Baby Business

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

More than One Night

Heatherly Bell

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09134-3

MORE THAN ONE NIGHT

© 2019 Maria F. Buscher

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

MILLS & BOON

Before you start reading, why not sign up?

Thank you for downloading this Mills & Boon book. If you want to hear about exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions, sign up to our email newsletter today!

SIGN ME UP!

Or simply visit

signup.millsandboon.co.uk

Mills & Boon emails are completely free to receive and you can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email we send you.

Note to Readers

This ebook contains the following accessibility features which, if supported by your device, can be accessed via your ereader/accessibility settings:

 Change of font size and line height

 Change of background and font colours

 Change of font

 Change justification

 Text to speech

“I’m here to make sure you don’t screw up.”

“Thank you.” She pressed her forehead to his. “But...you and me. That could screw things up. For me.”

With no words to make his case, he kept quiet, because she was right. More than she could have known. In his current condition, he’d ruin her. Just drag her down into the dark depths with him.

All her optimism and exuberance would be gone. And that would kill him.

“Unless it’s just one more time.”

Again, he thought perhaps words were going to get in his way at this point. Especially when he liked where this was headed.

“Sam?”

Great, now he was going to have to say something that might possibly risk this. “Right there with you.”

“So, you agree? One more time? Just to see if—”

“If it was a fluke.”

“Right. Because maybe it was that night, or the mojitos, or the city, or the fact that we were both lonely.”

He knew it was none of those things. Not for him. “Sure. We could tell ourselves that.”

“Or we could find out. For sure.”

* * *

WELCOME TO WILDFIRE RIDGE!

Dear Reader,

Welcome to Wildfire Ridge and the romance between two soul mates who might have never seen each other again after one special night. But fate, or kismet, whichever you prefer, intervenes and throws these two together again.

Jill is a secondary character from This Baby Business, so engaging and entertaining that I knew I’d have to tell her story. I love writing about strong women, and Jill Davis is just that. She’s the CEO of her own company, confident and capable. But when her one-night stand shows up to work for her company, she’s not certain how to react. She’ll never turn away a military man in need of a job, but it’s going to be a challenge to be around Sam and keep it professional.

Sam Hawker is a former US marine in need of a job, but he’s surprised to find his boss is the woman who got him through a very difficult time based on the memory of one single night. Because Sam needs far more than a job, even if he won’t admit it.

I hope you enjoy this first book in the Wildfire Ridge series as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Heatherly Bell

To

Sergeant David Mock, USAF, WWII 1943–1946

and

Tim Buscher

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

Introduction

Dear Reader

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Epilogue

Extract

About the Publisher

Chapter One

Note to self: should you ever again decide to hang the American flag on a rusty old pole, do not wear shorts when doing so. Definitely going on her long list of “Things to Never Do Again.”

Stuck. She was 100 percent stuck. Story of her life.

Jill Davis clung to the metal pole on which she’d hung the flag, eyeing the ladder that had toppled to the ground with a mixture of longing and plain old disgust. Her legs were wrapped tightly around the pole, her arms clinging like it was the last box of shoes on clearance at Macy’s.

It was a beautiful late spring day in Fortune, California, the sun shining brightly, the temperature in the mild and comfortable midseventies. Hence the shorts, which had seemed like a good idea at the time. Not so much now.

She could shimmy down the pole, but she’d likely cut up her inner thighs doing so. Someone would come along soon. She was almost sure of it. Her new employees would be showing up in a couple of hours. Big, strong and brawny veterans from Home at Last, the nonprofit veterans employment placement agency. She had a lot of work ahead for them if she ever expected to get Wildfire Ridge’s Outdoor Adventures ready to open in a month’s time.

She should have probably waited for them to show up and had one of them raise the flag. That would have made sense. Instead, she’d had the grand idea that she wanted them to enter onto the grounds of Wildfire Ridge and be welcomed at once by the majestic American flag.

And now she was stuck.

At first, she heard only a deep rumbling sound in the distance. But when Jill turned, from her unique bird’s-eye view she caught a puff of dust kicked up by a motorcycle headed up the small dry dirt road that led to their entrance. Salvation in the form of a Hell’s Angel? No matter, she’d take it. Jill blew out a breath. She was probably going to look a little silly up here. But hey, it wouldn’t be the first time in her life she’d been left hanging. See? She still had her sense of humor intact.

The motorcycle was definitely headed her way, picking up speed as it rounded the curve. She hadn’t expected any of the four men to arrive for a couple of hours, so this might be someone else entirely. Someone curious about Wildfire Ridge. Ever since she’d been dealing with the city council, and the various hoops they made her jump through on a regular basis, curious residents would drive up the hill known for wildfires from time to time to see how much progress she’d made.

This motorcycle rider, he or she, was probably a bit of an adrenaline junkie, being that they rode a motorcycle. Her perfect client. When the place was open and running, they’d be providing plenty of extreme sports and activities for the Silicon Valley set.

The motorcycle slowed and the rider’s helmet tipped up, seemingly to take in the view. Now Jill could see that the rider was definitely a man. He was built like a running back, tall, with long legs that slid from the motorcycle after he shut it off. The scuffed black leather boots he wore thudded against the hard ground. He still wore his helmet so she couldn’t get a good look at his face. Even so, she heard the smile in his voice.

“Hey...what’s up?”

“That’s funny. Would you mind giving me a hand, please?”

It only took him a second to right the ladder and place it close to the pole. He held it steady with both hands while she reached for it and made her way down one rung at a time. She felt a little self-conscious the closer she got to him, as she realized that from his position he was getting a real good look at her bottom. Not to mention her bare legs. Good thing she regularly tortured herself at the gym. But as soon as she got Outdoor Adventures open, she was going to do all the fun kinds of exercises like hiking and zip-lining, along with everyone else.

Anyway, what should she care what this guy thought of her butt? She couldn’t answer that, except for the fact that she liked the way he walked. There was something so familiar about it and... Dare she say it? Sexy. Unfortunately, that was probably more of a testament to the fact that she’d been celibate for three years, so every man was beginning to look good to her. Even this easy rider dude.

He still hadn’t taken that damned helmet off, which gave him a bit of a storm trooper look. On second thought, more of a Darth Vader look, seeing that he was dressed all in black. The only thing missing was the cape. If he started to sound raspy and out of breath, she was going to scream.

On the last rung, she turned to thank Darth Vader. “I really appreciate this.”

“What the hell? Angelina?” He pulled his helmet off to reveal a gorgeous head of dark blond hair and a set of bright blue eyes she’d never managed to forget.

“Chris?”

He grinned, slow and easy. “My real name is Sam.”

For a moment, Jill couldn’t take in a breath. Her Chris. She’d given him that name and asked him to call her Angelina. Her one-and-only one-night stand from three years ago. San Francisco. Too many mojitos. A Marine on leave. Jill, far too patriotic for her own good. One night. It wasn’t supposed to follow her into her carefully arranged life. She coughed, a choking sound.

He squinted. “Are you okay there?”

She didn’t speak for a moment, simply nodded. “My real name is Jill.”

“I’m going to guess that you’re Jill Davis, owner of Wildfire Ridge’s Outdoor Adventures.”

Jill found her voice, weak as it sounded to her now. “And you must be Sam Hawker, my new employee.”

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Jill had “Chris,” aka Sam Hawker, in her office trailer filling out paperwork. W-2 forms, emergency contact forms. As he straddled the chair, she flashed back to the night three years ago, when she’d straddled him.

Oh boy.

Humiliating. The only time she’d ever taken such a huge risk with a guy, and now she had to be his boss. She wasn’t sure how this could work, unless she put some parameters in place. No way would she turn a Marine in need of a job away. But if they were going to be working together and getting this place into shape, they were going to have to forget... Something.

“Um...want some coffee?”

He glanced up, his lips twitching into a smile. “Sure.”

“How do you like it?” She’d had wild monkey sex with the man and didn’t know how he liked his coffee.

So wrong.

“Hot.”

Well, she could have guessed that. She poured him a mug of black coffee and set it down next to him. He slid over his emergency contact form, blank. “There’s no emergency contact.”

“Why not? That’s usually where you put in family. Like a...spouse or significant other.” She slid it back to him.

“Nope.” He slid it back. “No spouse. No significant other.”

“What about parents? You have those?”

“Yeah. They’re not my emergency contacts.”

In-te-res-ting. The tone in his voice told her it was a subject best left for another lifetime.

“What should I do if something happens to you?”

“Nothing’s going to happen to me. I’m apparently hard to kill.”

She swallowed hard and pointed to the form. “I think I need to put something here.”

“Call 911 if something happens.” He lifted a shoulder.

“Okay.” She made a note, feeling silly. Of course she’d call 911. But wasn’t there anyone who’d care to know if he was hurt?

He took a gulp of his coffee and set it down, then stretched his arms out and she nearly drooled as muscles bunched up under his black tee. She had a distinct memory of those muscles. Muscle memory. That was a thing, she understood, just not the way she was thinking about it.

She cleared her throat. “I think we need to talk about it.”

He set his pen down and leaned back, those deep blue eyes studying her. “Might be best.”

“I mean, we’re grown-ups here. Nothing to be ashamed of, yada yada.”

“Agreed.”

“But if we’re going to be working together... I’m your boss. So we should talk about how that’s never going to happen again.”

“Huh.”

“What does that mean? Is that a ‘yes’ huh, as in you agree?”

“With the way you’ve been staring at my ass, I thought you were going to go another way with that.”

“I have not been staring at your...butt!”

“A little bit.” He held his finger and thumb about an inch apart and sent her an easy smile.

“Okay, fine! But no more than you’ve been staring at mine.”

“I won’t deny it.”

“Let me see if I can explain this to you. Do you know those bands that have one big hit and you never hear from them again? Kind of like all they had in them was one really fantastic song. And then—poof! That was the end of it.”

“I see where you’re going with this.”

“We’re a one-hit wonder.”

“I’m going to have to disagree with you there. What you’re forgetting is that a lot of the time those bands keep playing their music for their true fans. Great songs. Maybe no more hits because no one else hears about it. But believe me, their fans are enjoying the music.”

Her face flushed. “I can’t enjoy your...music. Not anymore.”

“If that’s how you want it.”

“That’s how it has to be.” She picked up a set of keys. “You can finish the paperwork later. Let me show you to your trailer.”

He picked up his duffel bag and followed her out the door. She led him to the section of live-in housing trailers she’d set up for the men. Unlocking the trailer, she climbed up the few steps.

“This is the biggest trailer. Might as well give it to you since you got here first. As you know, all you men have housing while we get the park ready to open. Meals included. You should have everything you need in here. If you need anything else, let me know. I’m in the office all day and even some nights.” She took a breath. “By the way, I wanted the flag to be flying when you all arrived.”

He quirked a brow. “Thanks.”

“Okay.” She moved to the door, ready to go. “You just get settled. We’ll have our first meeting tomorrow morning bright and early.”

She’d no sooner shut the door and headed down the steps than he opened it again. “Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“What do you I call you? Jill? Boss? Ms. Davis? Angelina?”

“Jill is fine.”

“Jill, thanks for the job.”

And with that he shut his door.

Chapter Two

Sam Hawker might be a man of few words, and granted, he was often at a loss for them around beautiful women, but today? He had a few: dayum, for starters. Angelina’s real name was Jill; she was now his boss; and how the hell did he get so lucky?

She smiled and then she was off, those long legs walking in the direction of her office trailer.

He shut his trailer door and took another look at his surroundings. This trailer with a small kitchen, wood cabinets and table, bathroom and cot in the back was more than he needed.

When he’d been hired through Home at Last to work for a woman named Jill who needed experienced hikers and guides for her outdoor adventure company, it sounded like the perfect job for him. The organization was an employment agency but because it focused solely on hiring veterans, Sam couldn’t shake the feeling it felt like more “thanks for a job well done.” He’d had enough thanks from well-meaning civilians. But since leaving the Marine Corps, he’d had trouble holding down a job. He’d dabbled in construction, done some roofing and a little welding. Nothing steady. He’d been feeling a little self-destructive for a time, searching for the hardest physical challenge possible, to make him feel accomplished. And nothing ever seemed physically punishing enough.

Just when he’d begun to wonder if he’d ever adjust to civilian life again and lead a normal life, this job had come up through the agency. The owner and operator wanted guides to take groups of clients on challenging hikes, zip-lining, rock climbing and wakeboarding at the lake. Sounded like a paid vacation to Sam.

He’d never expected, nor could he have expected, to run into the one woman who’d managed to get him through some of the roughest times of his life, both during and after deployments. Nights when he didn’t care whether he lived or died.

She just didn’t know it, nor would she ever. But he remembered her.

Unfortunately for him, far too well for a woman who would now be his boss. He had a distinct memory of the way she tasted, sweet and juicy as a peach in September. Of the way she’d moved in a steady and pulsating rhythm with him all night, not missing a beat, as if she, too, couldn’t get enough. Couldn’t go fast enough or hard enough. She’d given him the single most erotic night of his life.

And now she was his boss.

* * *

Late that afternoon, after the rest of her employees had been checked in and filled out their paperwork, Jill took a break from permits and W-2s and occasionally staring at Sam’s butt. She drove the short distance into town to meet her two best friends, Carly and Zoey, at The Drip. A few years ago, all three of them had worked at the coffee shop together, enjoying three o’clock dance-offs and plenty of gossip. But now Zoey had taken over her aunt’s pet store. Pimp Your Pet was doing well these days, and Zoey was rarely away from the store or a pet. Right now, her large rescue, Boo, a Great Dane, sat like a horse just outside The Drip. He had the patience of a Saint Bernard.

Carly had sold her mother’s baby supplies and clothing company last year and now worked at home designing baby clothes. She was married to the walking Viagra for women, local pilot Levi Lambert. The angel currently bouncing on her knee was his baby daughter, Grace.

Jill had only stopped working the occasional shift here two months ago when all the funding had gone through for the park. She had several investors that truly believed in her vision and were counting on her to make them their next million.

No pressure.

Everyone had careers, and Jill was well on her way, to either a major success or a major disaster. Her scientist parents and big brother, Ryan, thought she was nuts. And, she had to admit, Wildfire Ridge had been a huge undertaking with a chance at an equally spectacular fail. But with her organizational skills and inability to take shit from anybody, Jill was one month away from making her dream come true.

She just hoped there would be no complications with Chris, er, Sam.

When he’d flashed her that easy grin, she had to admit she thought about their one night together. A lot. She was thinking about it so much it was hard to let another thought into her head. And if she couldn’t talk about this to her two best friends in the world, who could she talk to?

“Remember the Chris sighting three years ago in San Francisco?” Jill said.

“How could I forget?” Carly took a sugar packet away from Grace. “You talked about it for weeks.”

“That was the last Chris sighting until Levi came around,” Zoey said.

On one particularly long and boring afternoon at The Drip when they all still worked together, after their three o’clock dance off, Jill had devised a complicated scale for rating men. It was called the Chris Scale because the mean was based on all the well-known Chrises: Pratt, Evans, Pine, Hemsworth. For a man to rate high on the scale meant he’d passed the mean. This was a big deal, naturally, as the mean was already high. Not that she thought all men had to offer were their looks, far from it. But the Chris Scale was, to this date, the only way she liked doing math.

“I have a confession to make.” Jill moved the sugar packets away from Grace. Her reach was getting long.

“Oh, this should be interesting,” Carly said.

“I may have done more than simply rate this ‘Chris.’ I may have spent some time with him.”

“How much time?” Zoey narrowed her eyes.

Jill inspected her fingernails. She needed a good manicure. “Um, all night?”

Zoey slapped the table. “Dude! You said you’d never done that before. A one-night stand?”

“Well, it was just this once. I figured... I needed it. Deserved it.”

“Right on.” Carly laughed.

“Look, I’m the one who’s been celibate for three years. That night has had to last me a long time. Three years!”

“It’s been even longer for me,” Zoey protested. “I’m not even going to say how long.”

“Aw,” Jill said, hugging Zoey.

Jill and Zoey both turned to Carly.

“This morning, before Grace woke up.”

“You’re not even supposed to be able to have morning sex when you have a baby!” Jill said.

“I know, right?” Carly kissed Grace’s plump cheek. “She’s possibly the best baby ever.”

Zoey glanced lovingly to Grace, then outside to Boo. “I don’t see why you can bring her in here and I can’t bring Boo in. He’d behave.”

Carly wrinkled her nose, but apparently chose to ignore the comparison of her stepdaughter to a well-trained Great Dane.

“So what are the men like who showed up today?” Carly said. “Anyone to help you, um, get over that dry spell?”

“Funny you should mention that,” Jill said. “Because Chris? He’s one of my guys. Except his name is Sam.”

“Get out! Chris is here?” Carly squealed.

“His name is Sam.”

“Sam, Chris, what’s the difference if he’s hot?” Zoey said.

“You forget,” Jill said with great patience. “I’m now his boss. As in, he’s my employee. As in lawsuit waiting to happen.”

Carly snorted. “Technically, Levi was my boss for a while when I was Grace’s nanny.”

“But you and Levi fell in love. Maybe I don’t want to get sued.”

Both of her friends looked at her expectantly. She’d never been one to doubt equality, both in the workplace and the bedroom. But now... Well, it was a little icky to come on to her employee. And there was the whole ethical/legal dilemma. She couldn’t ignore that issue even if she wanted to. If her investors were to find out they might think her less than professional.

Besides, she’d be twenty-eight this year. Even if she’d never had a one-night stand before Sam, she had a past filled with go-nowhere relationships with Class A commitment-phobes. And for the first time, she wondered what that said about her. Why did she always wind up with men who were in some fashion or another unavailable? While her mother might have something to say about that, Jill was sure she didn’t want to hear it. Point being, she had to learn to want a man who was available to her, and that certainly wasn’t her employee.

And that night in San Francisco, it hadn’t been Jill in Sam’s arms. It had been her alter ego, Angelina. That Angelina was a wild woman. She was fearless.

“It was one night.” One wild and crazy night she allowed herself. A little fun for once with no strings. “He wasn’t supposed to be a part of my daily life.”

“Well, now he is,” Carly said.

“Thanks for the 411,” Jill deadpanned.

“Oh my God, you’re not going to fire him, are you?” Zoey looked on the verge of tears. “He might need this job.”

Jill patted bleeding-heart Zoey’s hands. “No, of course not. I’ll just make it work. Take a hands-off approach. Lay down the law and all that.”

“You’re so good at that,” Zoey said.

“But wait,” Carly said. “Maybe there’s something you’re not telling us.”

“Right.” Zoey turned to Carly. “Like...what?”

“Like he wasn’t any good.” Carly set Grace back in her stroller and handed her a set of plastic keys. “Looks aren’t everything. Maybe he was high on the Chris Scale, but um, you know, was ‘lacking’ in other vital ways.”

That would have been nice. Or rather convenient. Not then, but now.

“No.” She cleared her throat. “Not lacking. At all. In any way.”

Carly grinned. “I see.”

Wrong though it seemed for someone she’d met once, Sam had been the best she’d ever had. And if it was going to be difficult to work with him, day in, day out, watching him all sweaty, challenging himself physically, working hard... Well, she was up to the task. She would look but not touch. A woman had to get her kicks somewhere.

Hers was a tough job, but hey, someone had to do it.

Chapter Three

Later that evening, Jill went back to the office trailer as she often did, this time to work on the bookkeeping she’d been avoiding. She had stacks of receipts to enter into a spreadsheet so the accountant could put together the next financial report for their board of investors. The board already wanted her to hire a general manager to report directly to them. They really needed a receptionist and scheduler since lately the phone had been ringing off the hook for bookings. Now that they were a month away from opening, all their advertising was coming to fruition and they were booked six months in advance for the most popular events. The bookings could be outsourced but Jill did this herself, too.

The office phone rang, and heck, since she was here at nine o’clock, she picked it up. “Wildfire Ridge Outdoor Adventures. How can I help you?”

“Hi! I thought I was going to be talking to a machine. We’re having a big family reunion and want to water-ski and kayak. You guys do that?” a woman’s voice said.

“Absolutely. Our Anderson Lake here on the ridge is equipped for all that. Where did you hear about us?”

“Your Facebook page and one of my friends.”

Good to know all her hard work for the business was working. She should probably spend more time on social media. She spent several more minutes talking with the woman, who was arranging a fortieth anniversary surprise for her parents.

Guess it was high time to hire some more administrative help. For her, the guides had come first, and she’d wanted to pay them a decent salary so she’d insisted that most of their initial payroll budget go to that.

But Jill seriously should spread the workload around so she could focus on her strengths—marketing and growing the business. She wanted to hire a general manager, but she’d looked through stacks of résumés and they all seemed like corporate drones to her. She wanted someone else who would put their heart into this business the way she had. Anyway, she didn’t even have the time to interview anyone. She’d simply taken on all the work herself and made the job her life for the last year.

Jill understood hard work. She had studied business at Cal Poly, trying to find her place in the world of high finance. Aiming high, after all, was the Davis way. With her father the doctor and mother the scientist setting the bar, it was always just high enough to be out of Jill’s reach. Then her older brother, Ryan, her hero since the time she was a child, had made his own way. Shown Jill there was another way to succeed. He’d gone to West Point, become an officer and later a decorated war hero. Now he was the newly elected youngest Sheriff in Fortune.

No one in her family did anything halfway.

No one other than Jill. She’d dropped out of business school when she realized she’d never be happy in corporate America. Not what her parents pictured for their straight-A-earning daughter, but they’d never understood her anyway. Never accepted that she didn’t quite fit in with the Davis family.

She’d always had an entrepreneurial spirit instead of an academic spirit, and loved a well-placed challenge. She’d been scouting locations to open a B and B in Fortune when she’d happened upon an article in the local newspaper about the employment challenges for young veterans coming back from the war. The next thing she knew she’d worked out a business plan for an outdoor adventure company, hiring veterans to be the guides.

The park would open in a month’s time. She needed the men to help finalize the courses and do test excursions for their first group of booked test clients.

An hour later, Jill rubbed the heel of her bare foot, leaned away from the monitor and stretched her aching back. For someone who would launch an outdoor adventure company, she was spending far too much time on her behind lately. She managed to hit the gym for her scheduled torture twice a week, but being around all these hard bodies, that wasn’t going to be enough.

She stood up, stretched again and forced herself to do fifty jumping jacks. Out of breath and sweating, she took a break and went to her window. The side of her trailer faced Sam’s, but that’s not why she’d assigned it to him. It only made sense that since he’d been enthusiastic enough to arrive early, he deserved the bigger trailer. There was no other reason.

She peeked through her window’s blinds. And there, framed by a sliver of moonlight, she caught the distinct figure of Sam’s back, hunched over the fire pit. He was with the other guys that had come in after him. Michael, Ty and Julian. They were laughing and seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Sam poked at the fire. He looked over his shoulder in her direction. And caught her staring.

“Oh crap.”

She quickly shut the window blinds to give the men their privacy. The last thing they’d want is a boss who lived here 24-7 spying on them. They could take care of themselves and didn’t need her guidance. She trusted them, too, and wanted them to know it. And she also didn’t want Sam to think she was lusting after him, because the man already had enough confidence in himself.

For good reason.

She headed back to her desk to shut down her laptop. Rather than get the attention of the men as she left her trailer, maybe she’d sleep on the little cot she kept in here. Sleeping here was a good way to annoy Ryan, who hated the thought of her up here on the hill at nights by herself. He’d made her promise not to do it again after catching her a month ago. And she hadn’t since, but tonight was different. Tonight she wasn’t alone on the hill with the occasional mountain lion and deer.

There was a rapping on her trailer door. Jill’s head jerked up, she stood, and in her haste, she tripped over her shoes and nearly landed on the floor. Instead of falling, she braced against one thin aluminum wall, which jostled with the weight of her body. Great. Stuck up on a flagpole and almost falling on her butt. She was such a prize.

“Jill.” Sam’s voice.

“I’ll be right with you!” She quickly stood and toed one flat back on, then the other.

“You okay in there?”

“Fine.”

“You don’t sound fine.”

“Well, I am!”

“This doesn’t have to be an argument.”

She opened the door and shoved on a smile. “Can I help you?”

“No,” he said, stepping inside. “But maybe I can help you.”

“That’s not necessary. I just tripped over my...shoes. There isn’t much room in here, you know.” A little defensive, are we, Jill?

“That’s not what I meant.” He glanced around the room. “But you’re right. Since it looks like you’re trying to sleep here, too.”

Sam was dressed as he had been earlier, but now his square jaw was darkened with stubble. It was the scruffy, just-rolled-out-of-bed look that drove most women crazy. She was no exception.

“I don’t do that anymore. Much. My brother wasn’t too crazy about me sleeping out here alone.”

He quirked a brow. “I’m not too crazy about it, either.”

“I can assure you I’m not going to go next door to your trailer and attack you once the sun goes down.”

Again. A little sensitive, are we?

He gave her a slow smile. “I was actually thinking that my cot is much bigger than your cot.”

She was a little taken aback, not that she should be. “You’re not shy, are you?”

“You should know that about me.”

Funny, she did. But what he didn’t remember, apparently, or maybe had just chosen to ignore, was that she’d come on to him. He’d been sitting alone in the bar, nursing his beer for most of the night, looking like someone who’d lost his best friend. He hadn’t talked or had a smile for anyone, not even the leering cocktail waitress who kept “accidentally” brushing her breasts against him. He might as well have been wearing a sign that read: Do Not Approach—Dangerous When Provoked. Besides nursing a beer and giving surly looks to anyone who approached, he rolled a coin between the fingers of his right hand over and over again.

And yes, she’d been intrigued.

Nothing had changed in that regard, she had to admit, but now he knew she was a natural redhead. She knew what his sex voice sounded like. And he knew hers.

Sue her if she thought that two people who’d been horizontal should know a lot more about each other. But even so, were she still into rating her mistakes, of which there were many, he’d be, hands down, her favorite one.

“W-why did you knock? Do you need something?”

“Wanted to tell you that you’ve hired a first-rate group of men out there.” He nudged his chin. “All of them former Army, but I don’t hold that against them.”

“Thank you. That’s...great.”

“And we’re on board with what you’re trying to do here.”

“That means a lot to me.”

His gaze did a slow slide up her body and she became intensely aware of the heat of the day.

“Was there anyone special to you in the service?”

“My big brother. Ryan. He went to West Point.”

See, this was the kind of get-to-know-you conversation she should have had with him before going to bed with him. He hadn’t been all that much into talking that night and frankly, at that time she hadn’t needed conversation.

Sam quirked a brow. “An officer. I won’t hold that against him, either.”

“Actually, he was infantry and got hurt. They gave him a medal.”

Why was her voice so shaky? That was a while back and she was over it now. Besides, Ryan hated any talk about “the medal.”

“Sorry. Most of the officers I knew didn’t get their hands dirty.”

“That’s not Ryan.” Her chin rose. “And please forget about the medal. He hates when I talk about it, or tell anyone.”

“Got it.”

She leaned on her desk, arms folded across her chest. “You know, I was just thinking that we know very little about each other.”

“That’s true. I didn’t even know you had a brother.”

She pointed. “Exactly. Now you know something about me you didn’t before. I should know something about you.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Such as...?”

“Anything. Just one thing about you that I don’t know.”

Why don’t you have an emergency contact?

“I like dogs. Grew up with Labs and missed having one while I was away. I intend to adopt one first chance I get.”

“Good to know.” That certainly hadn’t come up the night they’d spent together, but it also wasn’t quite what she meant and he knew it. “And why don’t you have an emergency contact?”

He frowned. “You said one thing.”

“Okay. One thing a day.”

“You’re pushing it.”

“But you owe me.” She took a breath. “For the most incredible night of your life. For rocking your world.”

Hell, yeah. No one ever said she lacked confidence, either. Or, at least, was extremely good at faking it.

He gave her another slow smile, with a panty-melting heat in his gaze. “Point taken.”

Suddenly it was a little too hot in here, like August had landed only in the perimeter of this trailer and the approximate two feet of distance between them. She tried not to look at him. “You should probably go now, before the guys start to wonder.”

“Whether I’m in here being ravaged by the boss?”

“Or something.”

He opened his mouth to speak, and she could almost see the wheels spinning in his brain, but then he turned to go.

She suddenly had a fleeting and terrible thought. “You didn’t tell them about us, did you?”

He scowled, and she flashed back to that night and the same irritated look he’d had on his face until she’d given him something else to think about.

“Hell, no. That’s between you and me. Always will be.”

He smiled again, and then he was gone.

Chapter Four

When Sam woke before dawn the next morning, he did not immediately recognize his surroundings. He froze, his heart rate must have hit the triple digits, and sweat poured off him.

Tim and Dave were dead. They were gone.

“The threat’s been neutralized.”

No. That happened a while ago. It wasn’t happening now. He shook the memory off, tossing and turning, eventually kicking off the soft cotton sheets.

Man, how he hated this. Hated the fear that shot through him as he fought to slow his heart rate down. Fought to forget. Fought to remember. He was home. Safe. He was back in the Bay Area. Fortune, to be exact. In a trailer on Wildfire Ridge.

And just like that his thoughts turned to his Angelina. Angelina, who was not Angelina. She was Jill, and still every bit as gorgeous as he remembered. Since he’d thought back to that single night many times over the past three years, he’d recognized her the minute he heard her voice. Heard the sound of her nervous laughter. Saw her long red hair whipping in the wind. Her equally long legs curved around that flagpole. Told himself he had to be imagining things. A look-alike, maybe. He’d waited until she was inches away from him to be sure he wasn’t hallucinating.

The night they’d met, he’d been in San Francisco on leave. He should have dropped in on his parents, who were not that far away. Not a long drive to the other side of the bay and Berkeley. He could have called them, let them know he was stateside, and he’d struggled that night to make the right choice. In the end, he couldn’t do it. In the end, a tall redhead had made her way to his table and made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.

And good thing, too, because he didn’t think he would have made it through the next three years without the memory of her. Of that night. The knowledge that it was possible to get so lost in someone you forgot everything else. It was possible to forget the fear and the guilt and the pain. Possible to simply allow himself to feel something good again because she made it difficult not to do just that. He hadn’t wanted to hold back from her that night, but he had. Everything but the physical. And so had she. She’d been the one to suggest the fake names.

Just one perfect night.

Without the pressure of knowing he’d eventually drive her away like he had everyone else, he handled that one night. One day at a time was the only way he could manage his life.

Everything was different now. She was here, and she was his boss. A man did not mess with that.

He hadn’t expected the form to be a problem, but something told him she wouldn’t leave this alone. She wanted to know why he wasn’t in touch with his parents. Why he didn’t think enough of their relationship to put their names on a form.

Hell, it took a lot for him to put someone’s name on a damn form.

Right now, he wasn’t interested in talking to them, and he didn’t see that changing anytime soon. So no, their names weren’t going on her damn form.

He dressed quickly and went for a run, the cool spring morning air waking him so he was no longer groggy from lack of sleep. Then he hit the shower, and thought about coffee. Sure enough, his employer had been more than generous and stocked the kitchen with some essentials. He had his coffee and was out the door by 6:00 a.m. One by one, the men came out of their separate trailers on the grounds until all of them were gathered outside the office trailer.

No Jill anywhere in sight.

“What do you think ‘bright and early’ means to her?” Michael said.

“She didn’t give us a time,” Ty said with a shrug.

“Strikes me as being new to this boss thing,” Julian said.

It had struck Sam the same. Granted, he’d never asked about her occupation nor had any interest in knowing. In his fantasies, she’d had many jobs and not one of them had been owner and manager of an outdoor adventure company. Stripper? Yes. Masseuse? Hell, yes. Naughty nurse? Possibly. Porn star? Definitely.

“She’ll be here.”

And an hour later, as the guys stood around debating whether the Warriors would take the championship again this year, she drove up the hill. She parked her sedan a few feet away from the office trailer. When she noticed them all standing there, she did a double take, then seemed to mutter something to herself as she opened the driver’s side door.

“Hot damn, she’s cute,” Julian said.

“Yeah.”

Sam had been thinking the same thing. Thinking how she made him want to smile. Made him want to do a lot of other things, too, first and foremost making her smile. And scream out his name again. This time his real one.

“Usually I don’t even like redheads. Too bad she’s the boss,” Julian said.

“Exactly,” Sam said firmly.

There was some relief in realizing that he wasn’t the only one who couldn’t have her.

Jill walked down the path to the office trailer, carrying several plastic shopping bags in her arms. Her hair was up in a ponytail today; she wore long hiking pants and a tight-fitting black performance tee that read, Wildfire Ridge’s Outdoor Adventures in red stitching across her right breast. Hiking boots, too.

“Good morning.” She set the plastic bags on the benched picnic table near the trailer. “Everyone grab a shirt. Mostly large and extra-large, and they run small.”

Sam grabbed one first. He pulled off his shirt and tugged the other one on and the others followed suit. If Jill seemed shocked that they’d take their shirts off in front of her, she didn’t say anything.

She went into a welcome speech that, while it sounded sincere, also might have been scripted. She looked nervous to Sam, not that he should know. He’d never seen nervous Jill before.

Next was a discussion about equipment sorting.

“We had a delivery two days ago, and I need help inventorying. Next I’d like each of you to try out all the courses and give me your feedback. Is it challenging enough for you guides, and if so, is there a way to level it so that we can work with, um...”

“Different levels of fitness?” Sam offered.

She snapped her fingers. “Yes, exactly. And we’ve got our first group of testers coming out next week so we want to be ready.”

“We got you covered, boss.” Julian winked.

“Thanks! Oh, and another thing. I’ll eventually want to take photos of you guides doing some of the activities so I can put them on our Facebook page.”

The next few hours were like family camp on steroids. Leadership came naturally to him, so he wound up organizing the guys as they pulled equipment out of boxes, counted and categorized. The fun part was trying out some of the equipment. The zip line stretched across a small canyon that was nevertheless about 100 feet up and a long drop. It was obvious some great engineering had gone into it. After each of them had gone across the zip line twice, Sam decided they were having too much fun to be technically working. At least, he was.

“Next,” he found himself ordering.

Julian, Ty and Michael went ahead to the rock face that looked to have been partially man-made, working with some of the rockier and craggier areas of the hilltop. He was about to follow when he saw Jill staring at the zip line from a few feet away.

“Want a go at this?”

She shook her head a little violently. “Oh no. I’ve got paperwork to get back to. I just wanted to check on you guys. I see everything’s going smoothly.”

“Well...”

“Oh God. What’s wrong? Tell me.”

“You can dial back on the panic mode. The comm system has some bugs in it. You might want to look into that.”

“Not again. I’ve called twice and every time they fix it, it goes down again. Is that it?”

“And I was just going to suggest you have a rescue plan in place.”

She chewed on her lower lip. “Working on one. For the Sheriff. He wants me to get it to him soon.”

“How soon?”

“Tomorrow morning?”

He winced. “Okay, I can help. Let me look over what you have. It should be fairly simple.”

“Or I could ask Ryan for an extension. Again.” She blew out a breath. “I can tell you right now he won’t like it.”

“Your brother, Ryan? He’s the Sheriff?”

“I’m sorry, did I not mention that?”

“You didn’t. What does he think about all this?” He waved to the expanse of the hilltop and the land around them. There had to be a good two hundred acres or more here. A large man-made lake with a dock and an array of boats and kayaks. The land was mostly undeveloped other than the park and he had to wonder how difficult it must have been to get both the funding and the approval on a project this size.

“He’s supportive.” She folded her arms across her generous rack, which he had to admit was further emphasized by the rather snug fit of that shirt. He was beginning to love their new company tees. “Okay, see. That’s one more thing you now know about me. Your turn.”

He didn’t like this. It was a clear manipulation and he’d never been into these types of games with women. She was prying, and he knew it. He also realized she wouldn’t give up. Someone who’d taken on a challenge of this magnitude didn’t give up easily.

Using his equally strong manipulation skills, he ignored her. “We should talk about what you have for a plan so far. Let me see what you’ve got.”

“You’d do that?”

“I would.”

“This isn’t just your attempt to make us more than a one-hit wonder?” She held up finger quotes.

“Nah. I’m all business right now.”

She grinned, but he wasn’t sure it was certainty he saw in her green eyes or concern. “Drop by after you guys knock off. I’m sure I’ll still be in the office.”

She apparently spent too much time at work. Probably not healthy, but at the moment it would benefit him.

* * *

After the workday ended, the guys were headed down the hill and toward town and a bar called the Silver Saddle. He begged off joining them, as he was always more clearheaded without a drink. Instead, he hit the shower and changed. The light was still on in the office trailer, so he knocked once and let himself in. And found Jill doing jumping jacks.

This was not helpful to his all-business approach. She had her back to the door, turning slowly in a circle, and apparently hadn’t heard him come in. The earbuds, probably. But the way she was going, she’d turn in his direction any second now.

“It’s raining men!” she sang out.

He smiled as she bounced in the direction of the door and tried hard to appear... Wet.

“It’s...oh.” She stopped and pulled earbuds out. “Sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry about.” He bit back a chuckle.

“It’s just that I’ve been working so hard lately to get everything ready for grand opening that I never get to the gym anymore. Every hour or so I try to remember to take a break and do some jumping jacks.”

“Get the blood pumping.”

“That’s right.” Breathing hard, she walked back to her desk.

“On the other hand, there’s a lot you could do right outside the trailer door.” He pointed.

“Yes, and I’ll get to it. This is just easier right now. Convenient. But I can’t wait to try the zip line.”

“Looks like some good engineering went into it.”

“It cost us enough.” She opened up her laptop and pushed papers aside. “I’ve got the search and rescue plan in here. I had some help from a couple of firefighters from the rescue squad and I did some research of my own. I’ll just print it out for you.”

“No need. I’ll read from here.” He sidled up behind her, kneeling to see just over her shoulder. And smell her hair. Coconut.

She shot up suddenly. “Here, you sit.”

He took her seat, gratified he made her nervous. “You just continue with your jacks. Give me fifty.”

“Uh, no thanks. I’m okay for the next hour.” She stood behind him, looking over his shoulder. “And don’t think I forgot you haven’t told me your one thing yet.”

“Oh yeah. That.”

“You thought you distracted me, but you now know two things about me that you didn’t before. I have a brother who was in the service and he’s the Sheriff. I know you like dogs, which, BTW, is not big news. Everyone likes dogs! Now it’s your turn.”

“True enough,” he said, perusing her plan. “I like cats, too, and that one isn’t as common.”

She let out an exasperated sigh, which sounded like a cross between a groan and a moan. Again, not helpful to this all-business attitude he was trying to keep with her.

“That doesn’t count! Look, I know you’re from the Bay Area. It’s the one thing I knew about you that night.”

“Yeah?” He didn’t like where this was headed. If she didn’t stop pushing, maybe this job wouldn’t work out.

“Is your family in the Bay Area?”

He turned to look up at her. “I don’t talk to my parents anymore. It would be stupid as hell to put them on your damn form. And that’s your one thing. It’s big enough that it should take me through tomorrow, too.”

Shockingly, she seemed to agree, nodding quietly.

“Do you trust me?” he asked now. “Because you should.”

“You know I do. I realize you could have taken advantage of me that night, but you didn’t.”

“No more than you took advantage of me.”

“Yes, but you know. You’re a guy.”

“I’m aware of that, thanks.”

“Anyway, I feel like we both took advantage of the situation.”

“Equal opportunity advantage.”

“Right.”

An hour later, thank God, she’d quieted down and sat on the edge of the cot, reading from her Kindle. She looked up at him. “Are you almost done?”

“Almost. Just needed to dot some i’s.”

Liar. He’d pretty much revamped the entire plan to be much more in line with serious search and rescue. What she’d had was serviceable but did not account for all possibilities. Might as well plan for everything.

A few more minutes later, he stretched and leaned back in the chair, satisfied. “Okay. Done.”

No answer. She was asleep on the cot, clutching her Kindle.

Just the sight of her lying there, a lock of her hair covering one of her eyes, caused a strong pull of lust to flicker through him. He should get out of here. Nights in particular he didn’t feel human, and watching her sleep wasn’t helping. This felt like a moment when he should do something. Something helpful. What did a civilian do in a situation like this? He needed to remember how to be normal again. Should he wake her up so she could drive home? Let her sleep? Pretty sure he shouldn’t touch her. He didn’t have the right.

He took the Kindle from her death grip and set it on the desk. Drew the covers up to her neck, managing not to touch her. She didn’t move but continued to sleep like a rock. Her face, normally so animated and open, was now relaxed and strangely vulnerable.

And he couldn’t stop looking at her.

He’d never watched her sleep and felt a little voyeuristic doing that now. Like he had intruded on her private personal space. Not that she wasn’t trying hard to intrude into his private world. But she wasn’t going to get an all-access pass into his personal life. He couldn’t allow that. She was his boss now and nothing more. He shouldn’t want anything more.

“One-hit wonder.”

She could be right about that. Sure would make his job here easier. He couldn’t take care of anyone else when he could barely take care of himself. He hadn’t managed to get rid of the nightmares, had he? Waking up in a cold sweat had become the norm. And while the memory of her had been enough to get him through some rough nights in the past, her proximity now wasn’t doing the same. Instead of comforting him, she was making him itchy and wary of what he wanted. What he didn’t deserve and shouldn’t have.

Making sure her trailer door was locked and secure, he made his way next door to his trailer. Alone.

Chapter Five

“This coffee tastes like death! You know how picky I am about my coffee. Can’t you do any better than this?” Jill pushed the foam cup of black sludge across Ryan’s desk.

He had been hunched over her search and rescue plan for the past few minutes, reading. “Shh, woman. You don’t want to anger her.”

She followed his gaze to his deputy admin, Renata Dooley, a woman one did not mess with. She was German, and at six feet tall the largest woman Jill had ever known. She took shit from no one and she’d worked for the Sheriff’s office for approximately forever.

“She makes the coffee?” Jill whispered. “It’s horrible.”

“Yeah, well, that’s not her job.” Ryan tapped the paper in front of him. “Did you put this plan together?”

“Yes, um, why?”

“It’s just so...detailed. You thought of everything.”

“I had a little help.”

Sam, frankly, had kicked ass on this plan. This morning when she’d woken on the office cot yet again, drool dried on her cheek, she had a blanket covering her that she didn’t remember putting there. Her Kindle not on the floor where it usually landed, but placed carefully on her desk. And the plan on her desk, complete and perfect.

“Yeah?”

“One of my guys is a former Marine. He’s very detail-oriented.”

Ryan didn’t know the half of it.

“A Marine?” He winced. “Christ, Jill. All of these men were checked out by the agency, right? References, backgrounds, everything?”

“Yes, Ryan.” She’d been over this with him before.

Her big brother had always been over-the-top protective. Not entirely his fault. Their parents had put in long hours on the job and even if he was only four years older, Ryan had practically raised her.

He set the papers down. “This is good. I’m satisfied. I’m sure the city council will be, too.”

“What do they have to do with it?”

“They want me to bring it to the next meeting.”

She knew well that Ryan hated the politics of being Sheriff, but he’d accepted the nomination because he cared about the town of Fortune.

“Boy, they just can’t stay out of my business, can they?”

“You should have expected this. Small-town growth restrictions,” Ryan said.

“But this is going to be so special for our town. No one in the Bay Area has anything like this park.”

“Exactly. It’s going to bring a lot of traffic our way. And you know how the city council feels about traffic.”

Holy wow, did she know. She regularly got an earful. “It’s also going to bring in sales tax dollars. And anyway, they don’t seem to mind the traffic when it’s a new housing development.”

“You’ll get no argument from me. I personally can’t wait to try out the zip line or go wakeboarding. First, I need some time off.”

“Speaking of time off, do you know if Mom or Dad are going to make the grand opening?”

“They haven’t told you?”

“No.”

Ryan rubbed his forehead. “Dad’s speaking at a medical conference next month. The opportunity came up and he and Mom are going to make a trip of it. Paris.”

“Oh.”

“I can’t believe they didn’t tell you yet.”

“Well, it’s Paris. I probably wouldn’t come to my grand opening, either. No big deal.” She stood.

“It is a big deal.”

“Not really. It’s not like I’ve written an academic paper.” Or won the Medal of Honor.

“You know I’ll be there. I wouldn’t miss it.”

She grinned. “And you’ll bring a date?”

“Stop busting my chops. You know I have no time to date.”

“Make time.”

“Look who’s talking. You haven’t had a date in what? Three years?”

Don’t remind me. “Yes, but I’m not the one depriving some child-to-be of your dimples.”

“For the love of God, not you, too. It’s enough that Mom’s on my case about settling down.”

“Speaking as your little sister, who wants to be an aunt someday, I just want you to be happy.”

“And speaking as your big brother, who doesn’t mind waiting to be an uncle, I just want you to be safe.”

“Oh, I will be.”

She bussed her brother’s cheek and was out the door.

Back in the safety and quiet of her sedan, Jill took her cell phone out and dialed her mother. Always best to get the unpleasantness out of the way fast. Unlike Mom, Jill had learned the hard way that there was no point in avoiding their difficult relationship.

“Hi, honey,” Mom answered on the third ring. “I’ve been meaning to—”

“I just heard you can’t attend the grand opening because of Paris.”

“Your father was invited to lecture at a medical conference.”

“Mom, I told you guys about this months ago.”

“I know, and I’m so sorry to miss your...your...”

“Grand opening.”

Jill sighed. She was used to it by now. Mom, a brilliant woman, had some kind of hiccup in her brain synapses when it came to Jill’s so-called “hobbies.”

“I really am so sorry to miss it. It sounds like such fun.”

Fun. Not hard work that kept her in the office so late she’d actually taken to sleeping there. “Yeah, fun, but also we’re doing something here. Building something. Providing work to veterans and creating a business that’s going to benefit the entire town, too.”

“You have such a big heart.”

Now Mom made it sound like charity, which it wasn’t. Not in a million years would she take pity on veterans. She needed them and they needed her.

“Okay. Have fun in Paris. And tell Dad congrats on the invitation.”

She hung up and tossed the phone on the passenger seat. When her parents had first heard about her plans, they’d freaked.

“Extreme sports? Are you out of your mind?”

No amount of assurance from her that she wasn’t going to be the one participating in the more dangerous extreme sports seemed to help. She wanted to. Little interested her more than an athlete’s ability to push beyond their physical boundaries. To move past what one would expect the human body capable of. She enjoyed cycling and hikes, though she’d been too busy to get outdoors for some time. An irony she did not miss. Feet away from some great outdoor activities and with no time for them.

When she got back to the ridge, she noticed the guys off in the distance, stacking the rock climbing equipment. Ropes and pulleys. Sam always seemed to be in charge, even if they were all technically on the same level. She knew from their personnel records that at thirty he was only slightly older than the other men. But according to the agency, Sam was leadership material and should be treated as such.

She walked closer to the men, enjoying the view. Big brawny men hard at work. It wasn’t true, as Zoey and Carly often teased, that she’d started this business so she could hang out with good-looking and physically active men. Just a perk. She whipped out her phone camera and took a few photos of the men before they’d noticed her. But it wasn’t long before they did notice, and Julian was the first to preen and pose for the camera.

“Get my good side,” he said turning to his left and squeezing a bicep.

“You don’t have one,” Sam said.

“Seriously, guys. I want some good photos of you to put on the Facebook page. This is better if you go about your business and ignore me.”

That worked for a few minutes and she got some great shots of Sam climbing the rock with Julian belaying him. She zoomed in for a shot of Sam as he turned and smiled at nothing in particular as he neared the top of the rock. God, he was gorgeous. She studied the photo of him smiling, the sun glinting off his golden-brown hair.

In the end, she had to force herself to quit all the drooling and get back to some of her chores. First, she took an invigorating walk along the property, reminding herself of all she’d done here. Much as she would have appreciated her parents being at the grand opening, this at least insured that should something fail, they wouldn’t have to see her fall flat on her face.

But they were not going to fail here. Yes, that’s right. Fake it till you make it, Jill Davis. Believe it. Kick ass. Every day is a new day to win. She had that particular affirmation stuck to her laptop so she’d see it every morning.

A few minutes later, she somehow found herself at the zip line again, staring into the canyon below. She sucked in a breath and took a step back. Then another.

It wasn’t heights she was technically afraid of, but the falling part tripped her up every time. This zip line had been made by some of the best engineers in the valley with top-notch equipment. But try telling that to her parents. They’d just ask her whether she thought it was wise to take such chances with her health. Even though she’d been healthy now for years.

Definitely, without a doubt, she was going to go across the canyon on that zip line. She couldn’t wait.

“You know you want it. You want it bad.”

Sam’s voice, from just behind her. Deep and sexy. Their chemistry and connection made the air snap and crackle between them. It was addictive. She turned to remind him that, despite what she felt, they were never—not very probably, anyway—going to happen again.

He was looking past her, nodding in the direction of the zip line. Oh yeah. That.

She wanted that, too.

“I do. I just haven’t had the time.”

“Uh-huh.” He didn’t seem convinced, oddly enough. “I’ll take you. Nothing to be afraid of.”

“Did I say I was afraid?” She went hand on hip.

He shook his head as though deciding it wasn’t worth arguing about. “Someone needs to go to the hardware store.”

“What do we need?”

“Rope. There are some rocky areas we should cordon off for safety reasons.”

“Right. Okay, I’ll go.” She headed back to her trailer to get the keys.

When she returned, Sam sat in the front driver’s side seat of her sedan.

“Hey,” she said, opening the already unlocked door. “What are you doing?”

He held out his hand. “Driving.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Hand me the keys. I drive faster than you do.”

“How do you figure?”

He quirked a brow. “I drive faster than most people. No offense.”

Aha! One more thing she knew about him, and she hadn’t pried it out of him. He drove fast. Probably had a bunch of speeding tickets. Reluctantly, but figuring she was ahead of the game, she handed him her keys.

“I can get the rope for you.”

“Didn’t want you to come back with the wrong kind.”

She made her way to the passenger seat, fuming a little bit but not wanting to argue with him, and shut the door. “How many different types of ropes can there be?”

“The things I could teach you.” He started up the car.

So he was this kind of guy. The kind that thought he could make the best decisions on everything from what he should have for dinner to what she should have for dinner. She wouldn’t have guessed this about him. Good. This was a huge turnoff. She needed him to behave like this and before long she’d hate him so much there would no longer be any romantic tension between them.

“Okay, you drive. You pick the rope.”

He peeled down the hill and she grabbed hold of the handle bar. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d done that. Sam must be an adrenaline junkie about everything. She could be an adrenaline junkie, too, if she wanted to be.

“Did I mention my brother is the Sheriff?”

He didn’t say a word but gave her a sideways glance as they rolled down the hill. The minute they pulled out onto the highway, he slowed some, riding the speed limit to the edge but never going over it. He drove them through town in the right direction, apparently already knowing the location of the only hardware store in town, Mack’s.

Jill broke the silence. “About this speed issue.”

“Who said it’s an issue?”

Oh brother. “Got many speeding tickets?”

“Define ‘many.’ I had a few.” He rolled down the window. “Just realized I gave you something else you didn’t know about me.”

Damn! He didn’t miss much, did he? “I could have guessed that about you.”

“But you didn’t.” He gazed at her from underneath his eyelashes. “I need something from you now.”

She let out a breath and considered how honest she could be. “I didn’t drive until I was eighteen.”

“Yeah?” He seemed genuinely curious. “Why?”

Should she tell him her parents were so overprotective they wouldn’t allow her to get her license until then? They’d done a statistical analysis and found that fatal accidents dropped at age seventeen and then significantly at age eighteen.

And while she’d excelled at knocking down every one of their objections and worries, she couldn’t argue with their stupid statistics in black and white. They hadn’t budged on this issue no matter how hard she’d tried.

“That was one thing.” Two could play this game.

He scowled, appearing slightly irritated that she wasn’t going to run her mouth off. “Fair enough.”

A few minutes later, he’d parked and led her to the rope section of the store. And holy cannoli, he was right. She stared in shock at the display. There were as many types of ropes as there were types of bras. With bras, you had your strapless, underwire, lace, satin, demi cup and push-up—her favorite.

When it came to rope, it appeared there was nylon, polypropylene, manila, parachute, Kevlar, bungee shock, three-strand combo, combo...

“When did this all get so complicated?” She was beginning to think maybe he hadn’t considered her a total idiot for doubting she could pick the right kind of rope.

“Different ropes for different jobs,” he said as he grabbed several of a certain type. “For instance, if you’re going to tie someone up you need one kind of rope, if you—”

“Excuse me?”

“You need the right type.”

“No, back up to the part where you tie someone up.”

He simply stared at her.

“Okay, never...never mind.”

“That’s probably best.” He grinned.

Oh boy.

After she’d paid for the purchase of three different kinds of rope with her business card, Sam offered her the keys. “Sorry. I get a little pushy sometimes.”

“That’s okay,” she said reflexively even though it hadn’t been. “At least you apologized.”

“You’re not used to apologies?”

“Let’s say it’s not the norm.” She started up the car. “I dated men who weren’t into apologizing. Because mainly, according to them, they were never wrong.”

He snorted. “Sounds like you dated the wrong kind of men.”

She was close to asking him if there was a right kind of man, but decided it was a subject best not approached by a boss with her employee and one-night stand. She’d started to redefine her perfect man recently, and while Sam had the looks going for him, and he excelled at the physical part, he didn’t have much else on her list. Sure, it was an evolving list and as Carly continually reminded her, she’d likely never get everything on it.

“Gotta ask you,” Sam said. “The guys and I were all wondering. Why an extreme adventures park?”

“Well, it was either that or a B and B.”

While that wasn’t exactly true, it was the simplest answer to give him. The real answer was far more complicated. It partly involved her desire to help veterans find work and feel needed again, and Sam might take that the wrong way. She drove toward the ridge, taking it much slower than Sam had to make a point. Or maybe to spend a little more time with him and possibly get in another nugget about him. Either way.

“Those two things are nothing alike.”

“Yes, thanks for noticing. I’d have had a much easier time with a B and B.”

“Again. Why?”

“Have you ever watched the Olympics?”

“Yep. Downhill skiing.”

“For me it was the ice-skating. The amazing control. Not just all the balance and strength but incredible grace. I’m in awe of someone who has mastered control over their physical body to that extent.” She glanced at him. “In some small way, I wanted to be a part of that. Challenging the body to much more than you ever believed possible.”

He seemed satisfied with that answer because he nodded.

“And also, it was a really good idea by the way. It was one of the easiest pitches to investors that I’ve ever done. There’s nothing like it in our area. We expect that we can be fully profitable in a year.”

“One more thing,” he said, turning to her with a half smile. “Ever heard of delegating?”

Oh snap. “Delegating? Of course.”

“You’re the CEO of this company and you didn’t have to run this errand.”

He was right, wasn’t he? But she was not exactly a typical CEO, either. “I like to have my hands in everything.”

While that sounded a little sexual, surely he could see she didn’t mean it that way.

“I like to have control. I want to know what’s happening at all times,” she said.

“Got it.”

She turned onto Hill Road, the road that would take them all the way to the top of the ridge. “Is that bad?”

Of course it wasn’t. She knew that and she didn’t need his vote of confidence. It’s just that lately she did feel a tad overwhelmed. She was one person and couldn’t do everything. Not forever. But eventually this would get easier, right?

“Not at all.” He braced his elbow on the frame of the window. “Where I come from, it’s vitally important that someone always be in charge. Got frequently reminded of this by my CO in my early days. Otherwise you have a bunch of soldiers making different decisions and the mission isn’t achieved.”

“Right.”

She breathed a sigh of relief. This was simply confirmation that she wasn’t anal or too controlling. She just cared about her mission.

“But here’s the thing. Delegating is still done if you’re a CO. Or, you know, a CEO.”

“I see where you’re going with this.”

It wasn’t like her friends hadn’t been after her for some time that she shouldn’t make the job everything. But often, running this company didn’t feel like work. When it came to spreadsheets, yeah, that was work. Seeing everything come together the way it had recently had become thrilling and addictive. Sometimes she couldn’t shut off the ideas in her head, coming to her late at night when she should be sleeping.

Also, she didn’t have a boyfriend to help occupy her time. There was that.

“Sam? Can I ask whether you’d take a leadership role here?”

He snorted. “Hey, I’m getting promoted already?”

“No. It’s sort of off-the-books right now.”

Besides, she’d noticed he was already leading. It seemed easy for him. Might as well let him know she appreciated it.

“Might want to ask one of the other guys, too. Not sure how long I’ll be sticking around.”

She hadn’t thought of this being a temporary stop for Sam, but what did she really know about him?

“But for now,” Sam said. “I’ll keep these bozos in line. You can count on me.”

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.