Compromising Kessen (19 page)

In desperation, he threw a muffin at her face, hoping it would at least shut her up while he wallowed in more pain. She ducked, and the muffin hit the wall.

“Food fight at eight a.m.?” Duncan limped into the dining room.

Nick walked in with an ice pack on his arm and pushed past Duncan, causing him to nearly trip. Kessen quickly got up to help him to his seat.

“Oh, Kessen. Thanks. It’s kind of you to help me.” Duncan smiled sweetly at Kessen, and then kissed her on the cheek.

“Are you hurt badly, Duncan?”

He nodded and made eye contact with Christian.

“It hurts here.” He pointed to a spot on his leg.

Kessen bent down to look at where he was pointing.

Christian’s thoughts turned murderous as Duncan’s face took on a whole new form of smugness. “Yes. Right there, Kessen,” he said, as if he were on the verge of crying. Kessen leaned down and kissed Duncan’s knee.

Christian cursed, and Nick was still refusing to make eye contact with anyone. In his defense, he did have a bruised head and arm from Christian, even though he assumed it had been Duncan.

“Does this feel better?” Kessen asked as she lifted Duncan’s leg and rested it on a chair.

“Much. Thank you!”

“Let me see.” She lifted up his pant leg then grabbed some ice from the nearby cart. She applied some of it to his knee and put a towel over it.

“Your touch is all the healing I need,” Duncan said huskily as he grabbed Kessen’s hand and kissed it. In Christian’s opinion, he basically mauled it. Was that tongue?

He pushed back his chair just as Duncan dropped her hand and began eating. Christian looked around for something sharper than a knife, but not before Kessen came to his side of the table and removed all pointy objects. “I think it best to keep these away from you in your current state of imbalance.”

“She means you’re a fool.” Nick piped up.

Duncan laughed, and Kessen patted Christian on the head as if to say, “Good boy. Now eat your food.”

Christian sat down and scowled.

“By the way, everything’s in order,” Nick said to no one in particular.

“Good,” Duncan answered.

“Oh, so we are talking now?”

Duncan threw a grape in his direction. “Yes. I have a suspicion Christian was somehow involved in the latest attacks.”

“Agreed,” Nick said, nodding his head. “Today we have badminton set up, as well as a hike around the grounds, and trivia questions in the evening. Any questions?”

“When did we sign up for the senior citizen cruise?” Christian ridiculed.

“Well, you are losing your hair,” Duncan said, not answering his question.

“Am not!” he shouted, and then looked to Kessen for help. The little traitor shrugged and sipped her coffee. Christian suddenly felt the need to look into a mirror and make sure nobody had shaved his head in the middle of the night.

Not able to handle the averted eyes any longer, Christian jumped from his chair and found the nearest mirror. He heard high fives and laughter in the background.

“Told you he would fall for it!” Duncan snickered.

Every hair was in perfect place. Christian hated to admit he was worried they had removed his favorite physical attribute. It had always been a great fear he would one day lose his hair and teeth. Only Duncan knew that.

He should guard his secrets a little better.

Walking back to the table, he took a detour and slapped Duncan behind the head, then took his seat.

“I expected that, therefore fully braced for impact,” Duncan said sternly.

Nick nodded his head, giving the impression that he was saying “Good man, good man.”

And Kessen found sudden interest in her pudding.

“No!” Nick shouted as he jumped across the table. Dishes went everywhere, tea was on the floor, and the coffee was now searing Christian’s hands.

The whole thing happened in slow motion. One minute Nick was eating silently, the next he was shouting and slapping pudding out of Kessen’s hands.

“What the—” Christian looked at the mess. Nick was sprawled across the table with Kessen’s spoon in his hand, and Duncan’s mouth was formed into the biggest smile Christian had ever seen.

“You know, Christian, I think we should have brought in Americans a long time ago! This is fun!” Duncan clapped his hands, and then straightened as Christian sent him a searing look.

He closed his eyes. “Do I even want to know?”

Nick was the first to answer. “She’s allergic.”

“To pudding?” Christian mocked.

Nick rolled his eyes. “No, genius. Not to pudding, to bananas. She breaks out in crazy hives and starts sneezing, then gets basically wasted out of her mind on allergy medication to get rid of the side effects.”

“Attractive,” Christian commented, locating his tipped-over chair and tea.

Kessen pushed the pudding away. “I thought it was vanilla.”

“Sure you did,” Nick said hotly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she yelled

“It means, Kessen,” he said her name with disdain, “last time you ate banana pudding you used the same excuse, and it was to get out of going on that field trip to the cheese factory. The same field trip I was forced to partner with Brady Johnson; he nearly killed me!”

Kessen shook her head. “He exaggerates.”

“I am most certainly not exaggerating! He pushed me, Kessen, pushed me into the giant tub of cream. I couldn’t breathe, Kessen, and you know I’m lactose intolerant!”

Duncan snorted in the background.

Kessen rolled her eyes. “Nick, I think you’re making a big deal out of it. Didn’t you get special treatment from Nurse Betty for a month?”

Christian coughed. “Nurse Betty?”

Nick turned towards him. “Yeah, she was hot.”

“Sounds like it.”

Kessen groaned. “Men are pigs.”

“Am I truly that bad of an option that you would rather choose allergic shock over spending the afternoon with me?” Christian asked.

“He has a point,” Duncan said.

“I second the point made by Christian and agree with Duncan,” Nick said, saluting both men.

Kessen looked stuck. “Fine! But I hate hiking.”

Nick’s smile turned smug. “She really does. One time this bee followed her the entire way up the mountain, and then the entire way down. She finally found her courage and forgot about it, then it stung her in the a—”

“As I was saying.” Kessen cleared her throat. “I don’t like hiking. But then again, I’m the only uninjured party. How hard can it be?”

Nick winked. Christian licked his lips, avoiding eye contact, and Duncan gave her an innocent shrug.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Kessen hated being wrong. Hated being the key word. Her heart was filled with hate as Christian whistled next to her, as if he hadn’t a care in the world, when at any moment they could plunge to their deaths. Did nobody care?

“Careful,” Christian said as he pulled her closer to the rock.

“This isn’t hiking.” Her teeth were clenched, so she was surprised he actually understood the words coming out of her mouth.

“What makes you think that?”

“I live in Colorado, Christian! I know what hiking is. I know what mountains are! There are trails, and birds, and trees and—”

A rock suddenly slipped from beneath her foot, causing her to momentarily stop talking.

“And?” he prompted.

“And I don’t know! You don’t have to wear special harnesses, and it’s actually fun, and you don’t sweat, and you don’t get gross, and … oh no! Christian, don’t move!”

He paused and looked at her as if she had lost her mind. Which for argument’s sake, she was getting ready to admit to. Who in their right mind would actually scale a rock wall in hopes of seeing a waterfall that was merely rumored to exist?

Oh, that’s right, Duncan and Nick.

The same Duncan and Nick who, upon further inspection, were never planning on climbing in the first place, considering they forgot their gear and could only send two people up at a time.

She closed her eyes and willed the tears to stay inside her lids.

“It’s so big!” she yelled, still clutching the rock wall.

She felt Christian’s hot body pressed against hers. “I do get that quite a lot, in fact—”

“Stop talking!” she yelled.

“It’s an ant,” he whispered into her ear.

“It’s huge.”

“It won’t bite you.”

“It’s red, Christian!”

“At least you have your sight. Bravo,” he mocked behind her. She could still feel his body pressing hers against the rock. If she hadn’t been so freaked out, she would have enjoyed the feeling. Instead she was trying to remember the documentary she had watched on the history channel about fire ants.

“Kessen,” Christian whispered into her ear again.

She shook her head.

“Kessen, do you think I would let anything happen to you?”

She hadn’t thought about it; she shook her head no, because honestly, he wouldn’t let anything happen to her. He would rather let himself get hurt than see her even cry. He was just that type of man—a man she could respect, and possibly even…

It always came back to love.

But he would never love her back, and he would say she was crazy. Love after only a few days? Maybe she had lost her mind.

“It’s gone.” He released her body from his hold, leaving her suddenly feeling cold and alone. She had half a mind to find the ant and demand it torture her, so she could feel Christian’s warm embrace again.

A quick glance down at Duncan and Nick, both of whom were eating licorice and playing with sticks as if they were swords, infuriated her. “A little help up here!” she yelled.

“Oh, sure,” Nick answered from below, giving them more rope, so she could walk along the hazardous edge.

“Remind me why we are doing this again?” Her voice was cracking with fear; she hated heights.

Christian’s hand went firmly around her waist. “We are here scaling this monstrous rock, because our friends thought it would be a good team-building exercise, since you are so prone to physical violence in regular sports.”

“In theory a good idea,” she said dryly.

“In theory,” he agreed, laughing. “I think we only have a few more steps before the rumored waterfall.”

She nodded and felt him give her another nudge up the rock as she pulled herself to the top and sat. It was a breathtaking view of a ridiculous amount of landscape. It wasn’t breathtaking enough to help her forget just how high they were, but it was enough for her to appreciate the feat she had just accomplished. How was it that Nick and Duncan had managed to find the one giant rock wall in an area covered with more rolling green land than hills was beyond her. A very small part of her mind said there was no waterfall at the other end of their little adventure, and they merely did this to vex her.

Christian pulled himself up next to her. She couldn’t help but admire the cords of muscle which lined his biceps and forearms. Maybe he took drugs, or maybe he had good genes. Hmm … good genes meant good bloodlines, which equaled strong, healthy kids.

Her eyes widened in shock as she mentally scolded herself. What she needed was a good slap. What was she thinking? Kids? With Christian? She blushed as he turned to throw her one of his devastating smiles.

“I would love to know what caused the beautiful blush now gracing your cheeks,” he said, out of breath.

“I, uh…”

“Always such eloquent speech, America.”

“So we’re back to the nicknames?” she asked.

“Only when you butcher my language.” He took a sip of water and lay down.

Her gaze traveled across his broad chest down to his abdominals.

“If you want me to take off my shirt, you can just ask, Kessen.”

“Please,” she mocked and turned away.

“Are you asking, or are you mocking?” His lips tickled her ear in an annoyingly flirty way.

“I’m—”

“No way!” He pushed off the rock and laughed. “There it is! Apparently, our friends are good for something!”

She turned to see what he was looking at and gasped. A beautiful waterfall was hiding behind a few trees near some rock caves that looked suspiciously man-made. She laughed and didn’t even mind when Christian pulled her to his side for an embrace.

“It’s stunning!” she murmured.

“Care for a swim?” He looked down at her questioningly.

“Sure!” The word was out before she could think twice.

And then Christian’s shirt came off.

All bets went out the window.

If he noticed the blush creeping up her cheeks, and her eyes which were now bugging out, he was too much of a gentleman to say anything.

He went running toward the waterfall, leaving Kessen no choice but to chase after him, something in hindsight she should have put more thought into, especially considering the fact that once she reached the waterfall she couldn’t find him.

“Christian?” she called, getting closer and closer to the edge. “Christian?”

“Gotcha!” He grabbed her from behind sending her into near hysterics. She pushed him away, but could only pry her one arm free. She began pinching him.

“Doesn’t hurt, doesn’t hurt!” he protested through clenched teeth. “Mind over matter!”

Stubborn man.

“How about a compromise?” he asked.

“What kind of compromise?”

“You take off your clothes for a swim, and I won’t push you in.”

“I am not skinny-dipping with you!” She started punching his chest with her free hand.

“Settle down!” he snapped, pulling her hand away from his chest. “I didn’t say get naked, did I?”

The man had a point.

“You did wear a swimsuit underneath, just in case. Correct?”

She blushed wildly. In all her rage, she had forgotten she had in fact worn a swimsuit that morning just in case there was a waterfall. Granted, it was a bikini, but a swimsuit nonetheless.

“So?” he released her arms.

“Turn around,” she ordered.

He let out a snort. “You’re kidding, right? The world has seen what you look like in a swimsuit. I don’t see why this is any different?”

She crossed her arms.

“Fine.” He turned around and stripped down to his euro shorts.

Kessen tried not to stare, but the man was wearing tiny shorts—tiny shorts which would have otherwise made her laugh out loud, because they were so ugly and feminine-looking. But they didn’t look that way on Christian. Not at all. Christian looked like a better version of James Bond.