Now that Pete had his feelings hurt, he seemed to be on a bit of a rampage. “If you think you have any hope of scoring time with our instructor just because he’s some big shot hockey player, I’m here to disabuse you of that notion,” he said, curling his lip at her. “I asked Dane flat out if he was interested in you. If he was going to pursue you. And do you know what he said?”
Her entire body froze. Somehow, it had become very important for her to hear the words. “What did he say?” Her voice sounded incredibly calm despite the hammering of her heart.
“He said that I was welcome to you. That he wasn’t interested in you. So there.”
Miranda turned her gaze back to her fishing line, watching the stick bob back and forth, and not really caring if anything was biting on the other end. Of course Dane had said that, if confronted. Why wouldn’t he? And yet…had he really said that Pete was welcome to her? Seriously? That stung.
As if realizing that he’d gone too far over the line, Pete moved forward and put his hand on her shoulder in an effort to comfort her. “Hey, Miranda, I’m not trying to hurt you. I’m just trying to make you realize that you could do better than that cocky dickhead.”
She swallowed the knot in her throat and gave him a skeptical smile. “Like you?”
“Yeah, like me,” he said, offended that he had to point out the fact. “I’m a multimillionaire, you know. I—”
“You’re the CEO of Hazardous Waste Games. Yes, I know,” she interrupted, then turned and held her fishing pole in his direction. “And while the offer is very sweet, Pete, I’m really not looking to hook up with anyone on this trip. I’m starting a new life in two weeks, and I don’t plan on leaving any baggage behind.”
“That’s fine,” Pete was quick to offer. “I’m totally game for a one-night stand.”
She rolled her eyes and turned to leave. “Take my fishing pole, please. I need some time alone.” She shoved it into his hand. “I think it has a bite.” Ignoring his yelps of surprise, Miranda ducked past a tree and moved deeper into the woods. She needed time to breathe. Time to think.
Was Dane just using her? She’d thought she’d seen real interest in his eyes, but was she being blind? Was this just round two of Dane’s twisted games, nine years after he’d ruined her life the first time?
The thought made her sick to her stomach, because she couldn’t tell what Dane was up to.
ELEVEN
Something was amiss. Dane scowled at Pete as he returned to camp, a fat fish strung through the gills on a large stick. The man looked utterly proud of himself for finally catching a fish, but he also looked…guilty. He wouldn’t meet Dane’s eyes as he returned to camp.
So he approached Pete. “Caught something, I see?”
“I did,” Pete agreed, and before Dane could even ask him to, he sat down and began to dress the fish.
Well, that was an improvement. Pete never did anything voluntarily. Dane glanced at the woods, looking for Miranda. It was getting dark and she should have been with Pete, but there was no sign of her. “Where’s your partner?”
Pete’s skinny shoulders raised in a shrug. “She went for a walk.” When Dane continued to loom over Pete with a frown, Pete added, “She was in a bad mood. I didn’t ask. You know how women get.”
Not only was that sexist, but that was unfair to Miranda. She’d had good reason for getting mad at Pete the times that she had. He crossed his arms over his chest, deciding to wait it out. It could have been that something had upset her stomach and she was ill, and she wanted to be sick in the woods away from nosy Pete. That he could understand.
As he fed another branch to the cozy fire, he turned and looked at the others in the camp. Steve was showing Jamie how to lash the shelter properly, but it was finished for the evening, with even a cozy side shelter for Miranda. George and Will had caught a squirrel in one of the traplines and Will was busy cleaning the kill. Their little camp was busy and productive. Except for Miranda, who had run off into the woods.
He decided to wait a few more minutes, to see if she would come back. So he gathered wood and answered Steve’s questions—Steve always had more questions—and loitered around camp as they cooked dinner. Pete whistled an annoying, off-key tune as he finished scaling the fish and trussed it up through a stick to roast over the fire next to the squirrel. They had some pecans and dandelion greens to go with the small meal, and spirits were high.
When the food was ready and dark had set on the camp, the men looked at him expectantly. “Should we wait for Miranda before eating?”
“The portions are awfully small for seven people,” Pete helpfully pointed out. “Maybe she’s already eaten something and we should go ahead without her?”
That little shit. Part of him wanted to tell Pete to f**k off, and that if he touched Miranda’s share of the food, he’d skewer him over the fire next. But that wouldn’t make him a great teacher, would it?
He frowned and moved to his backpack, pulling out the GPS tracker. He turned it on and punched in the code for Miranda’s bracelet, and she began to beep on his radar. “You guys eat without us. I’m going to go check on Miranda and make sure everything is all right.”
Gray-haired George immediately stood and moved to Dane’s side. “I’ll come with you, just in case she’s hurt herself and you need help.”
“No,” Dane said quickly, thinking of his last few rendezvous with Miranda. She’d surprised him from out of nowhere repeatedly and pounced on him. Maybe this was another one of her sexy little games. The last thing he wanted was for George to come upon Miranda trying to seduce him in the woods again. “I’m sure I can find her. Don’t worry about us. If I need help, I’ll radio back to the base. You guys go ahead and eat. Don’t worry about Miranda.”
George nodded and moved back to the fire, and Dane set off in the woods, tracking Miranda.
He found her a short while later, a mile or so from camp, sitting alone in the woods on a fallen log. Though the sky was darkening and the stars were out, there was plenty of light to see by thanks to the rising moon that leaked in through the trees and the flashlight in his hand. He could have found her without the flashlight, but it would give her a chance to see him coming and to not be scared.
Miranda was anything but scared, though. Instead, when he came up to her, she looked pissed. “Miranda, are you all right?”
“Fine,” she said in an oddly flat voice. She didn’t sound fine.
“Did you hurt something? Did you get bitten?” He gestured with the flashlight back the way he came. “The others were waiting for you at camp.”
“I needed to clear my head,” she said, and didn’t offer more. Dane frowned and clicked off the flashlight.
“Clear your head? Why?” He watched her tilt her head to the side, as if considering his answer and how she would respond.
After a moment, she gave a long, weary sigh. “It’s complicated, Dane. Very, very complicated.” She sounded so dejected that he felt a ridiculous urge to go and comfort her. Miranda didn’t need comforting, did she?
“So complicated that you can’t talk to me about it?” For some reason, he didn’t like that. Miranda didn’t need protecting, but while she was on this trip, she was his responsibility, and he didn’t like seeing her troubled. He liked seeing that playful smile on her face. It wasn’t there right now, and he hadn’t realized how much he’d enjoyed seeing it. So he moved toward her and tilted a finger under her chin, forcing her to lift her face. “Hey,” he said softly. “You can talk to me.”
She gave a small, brittle laugh at that. “Can I really, Dane?”
“Of course,” he said, a little stung. “You can trust me.”
Another mirthless laugh escaped her with that.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing,” she said with a sigh, standing up and brushing off her shorts. “Just laughing at myself, really.”
He moved forward and put a hand on her arm. “Miranda,” he said, brushing his thumb across the bare skin of her upper arm. “No one is…approaching you incorrectly, are they? They’re not harassing you?” He remembered Pete’s “accidental” grab of her br**sts and his jaw clenched, hard. Client or no client, if that little shit had tried anything…
“No,” she said in a soft voice. “It’s nothing. I’m just mentally not all here today.” Her arm patted his. “Really. It’s nothing.”
He decided to make her smile, instead. “It’s because you missed me, right?” His hand reached up and touched her chin. “Couldn’t stand the thought of being away from me for a few hours, and spending it with Pete was enough to make you sad?”
She laughed at that, and he felt her mouth pull into a genuine smile. His thumb grazed over her lip, and a long, quiet moment passed between the two of them. “See? It’s not so bad being with me,” he teased.
That seemed to sober her again. He frowned. Was she mad at him for some strange reason? The last time they’d had a moment alone together, she’d flopped back on the grass after giving him the best bl*w j*b of his life. She’d looked content and just a little pleased with herself. Miranda had him turned inside out lately. What had brought around this newest change of heart?
Before he could question her further, she reached up, grasped his ears, and pulled him down. Her mouth devoured his in a wild kiss, her tongue thrusting into his mouth.
Was Miranda fired up, then? Practically every time she saw him alone, she attacked him. The woman had a killer libido.
Still, he wasn’t looking this gift horse in the mouth. His arms wrapped around her and his hands settled on her waist, then he grasped her ass and pulled her in closer. His tongue thrust back against hers, a willing partner.
Her kiss broke off with a low growl, and she stared up at him in the moonlight for a long moment. Then she said, “I started this, Dane. And I’m going to be the one to finish it. Understand me?”
What the hell was she talking about? “Not really,” he said with a half grin. “Care to explain?”
“No,” she said. “We’re going to do this by my rules.” And she pulled him in for another searing kiss. Her hands went to the front of his shorts.
His c*ck jumped. “You want to do this right now?”
She gave him another wicked smile. “Are you chicken?”
“Hell no,” he said, and pulled her in for another searing kiss. He wanted to kiss that smirky little smile off her face, get her expression to change from the almost-angry intensity to softness. To watch her mouth part and hear those soft little noises she made in her throat when he touched her. So Dane continued to kiss her, his tongue licking into her mouth.
Her hand slid over his c*ck in his shorts, rubbing the length of him in a way that made his entire body flare with need. He groaned against her mouth, trapping her hand just as she brushed her fingertips over his sac. “You’re a little wild today, aren’t you?”