Paradise (16 page)

Chapter Eight

“Wildebeest? Wildebeest.”

With the sigh of a man who knew there was no point in arguing, Eddie shrugged and without a word disappeared inside. Wildebeest scouting. Just another one of the added benefits of booking your vacation with McGraw Tours.

“A new low,” he muttered. “Lurking in the ladies room.”

When he moved farther into the restroom, the scent of artificial cranberry air freshener assaulted him. Whoa. Must be
Harrison
’s new flavor of the month. The room was a small rectangle with three narrow stalls on the wall opposite the door, two sinks with mirrors across from them and three shower stalls with cheap opaque curtains on the far wall. A long, narrow wooden bench divided the room in two.

He banged open the beige metal stall doors. Nothing. The cloudy white shower curtains swished at his touch. Wildebeests. She was cute as all get out, but this irrational fear of critters was getting old.

“Okay, it’s safe,” he called. “No raptors lying in wait to gobble up unsuspecting campers.”

Robbie peeked around the corner, poised to run. “You’re sure?”

“Scout’s honor.” He gave her a two fingered salute. “I’ll meet you back at the ranger station in about twenty minutes.” The panic in her eyes stopped him. “Look, I’ll be right on the other side of this wall if you run into any monsters.” He rolled his eyes. City girls.

Grabbing his backpack from the doorway, he stomped around the corner to the men’s room. As brisk as the morning was, he still needed a cold shower. It had taken everything he had to turn down her offer. Just because he said “no” didn’t mean he didn’t want her, but he wanted her on his terms, not hers.

He stripped down to his cargo shorts and plopped on the narrow bench to remove his boots. Great. The damn lace was in a knot.

A scream rent the air like his harpoon. “Robbie!” Hearing a second, louder shriek, he tore around the building and burst into the ladies’ room. Robbie leaned, plastered against the wall, held prisoner by a two foot snake weaving an S pattern at her feet.

“Don’t move!” he ordered, but stopped mid-warning. “Ah, it’s just an Indigo. This little guy’s more afraid of you than you are of him.”

A faint “Bullshit” reached his ears as he bent to pick up the squirming reptile by the back of the head. Its body quickly wound around his arm.

“See,” he took a step toward her, “there’s nothing to be afraid of.” He extended his arm, offering her a better view.

“Get that disgusting thing away from me!” She cowered next to the sink.

If he wasn’t holding the snake, he would have slapped himself in the head. “Right. Girls and snakes. Not a good match.”

He carried it outside and released it about twenty feet from the building. The snake slithered into the dense underbrush and quickly disappeared. The way she carried on, the poor thing would have a nervous breakdown. Folding his arms against the chill, he meandered back to the building.

It wasn’t lost on him that Robbie was half undressed when he came to her rescue. For sure, she hadn’t bought that black silk bra and thong at Al’s Dry Goods and Mercantile. It was some of that V.S. merchandise she’d stuffed into her backpack. They weren’t anything but a few scraps of silk and damn, no supermodel could fill them out better.

He stopped to catch his breath as a picture of her washed through his mind: backed against the restroom wall, arms outstretched, her firm, rounded breasts heaving, barely constrained by mere wisps of fabric. He suppressed a grown. Those same breasts had snuggled against him these past two nights and taunted his willpower, begging him to caress them.

Her thin waist only served to accent the gentle flair of her hips before drawing his attention to her soft mound, visible through the delicate lace of the thong.

Great. Now he had that image to carry around while he tried not to get hard every time he looked at her.

Reaching the door, he banished the seductive tableau. This was not the time. In fact, there wasn’t going to be “a time.”

“Robbie?” he called from outside. “Are you okay in there?”

No answer.

“Robbie? I said, are you okay? Do you need any help?”

A gagging noise reached his ears. He rushed in to find her bent over a commode, intently recycling breakfast. Interesting view, but he wasn’t that big a heel to ogle her naked ass while she tossed her cookies.

“It’s okay, darlin’. Everything’s going to be fine.” Not much to do but hold her hair and gently rub her neck. He crouched beside her in the tiny stall and murmured what he hoped were consoling sounds.

He shook his head, not understanding her reaction. She was afraid of snakes -- no surprise there, but she’d taken fear to a new level. “Now, now, he wouldn’t have eaten much more than your big toe.”

She said she had dreaded this week since she won it, and he’d teased her at every opportunity. For two nights, she’d huddled next to him in sheer terror, looking to him for protection.

He stroked her shoulders. Her clammy skin shivered beneath his touch. And what had he done? Had he tried to alleviate her fear? No, he’d been a damned bastard. He teased her at every turn. Some protector he was.

He’d make it up to her. No more snide city girl remarks. No more gator stories. Switching her hair to his other hand, he gently massaged her neck again as she progressed to dry heaves then to spitting.

He twisted her hair, placing it gently on her back out of the line of fire. It was soft and curly and if circumstances were different, his fingers would itch to play with it.

“Don’t move,” he instructed for the second time in ten minutes. “I’ll be right back.” When she didn’t acknowledge him, he crossed the gritty tile floor and retrieved her fallen backpack from under the sink. He pulled a water bottle from a side pocket.

“Here. Swish and spit.”

She complied and staggered against him as he helped her to sit on the wooden bench. Pale and trembling, she bent, resting her head on her knees. “You lied. You said it was safe. I could have been killed.”

“Look, I’m sorry. He must have been hiding. If it’s any consolation, he wasn’t poisonous.” The chilly air heated up quickly as he sat down next to her. With difficulty, he kept his eyes on her hair, not daring to let them wander lower. Already fighting a fierce arousal, it wouldn’t help his cause to study all that exposed flesh too closely.

“No, it’s no consolation,” she hissed, straightening. “You’re supposed to protect me, not serve me up as dinner to some disgusting serpent.”

“Look, it was only a poor ol’ Indigo snake.”

“I don’t care if it was a slow moving worm. I’m getting out of here.” she snapped, standing shakily, evidently still unaware of her state of undress.

“Now wait a minute. You want this shower.” In truth, he couldn’t believe she’d survived so far without one. “You haven’t had one in two days, and there won’t be another opportunity till you go home. Let me check the place again, then I’ll stand guard outside the door. You’ll be perfectly safe, and no more uninvited visitors will show up. I promise.”

The thought of being in such close proximity while she was naked in the shower stall wreaked havoc on his control. He crossed his arms over his lap, hoping to hide the growing bulge in his cargo shorts.

He waited silently while Robbie mulled over his proposal. “All right. I do feel like last week’s kitty litter, but you have to stay in here with me. I don’t want to be alone.”

The roar of blood pumping from his heart deafened him. He couldn’t have heard correctly. She wanted him to what?

“If you’re such a prude, you can turn around while I shower,” she added. “I’ll only take a few minutes.”

He looked into her eyes, ready to veto that suggestion, but the mixture of fear and trust that stared back stopped him. He bit off the words and grudgingly agreed.

“Yes, Ma’am.” He performed another, more thorough search, then returned to the bench, positioning himself facing away from the shower stalls. He fought the temptation to glance in the mirror, knowing at this angle he’d have a clear view. He was done playing games. If he couldn’t have her for the long haul, what was the point in torturing himself?

But even as his willpower refused, his imagination ignored the warnings and rocketed at full speed.
He was in her shower, his hands holding her breasts, weighing them, massaging them, running his thumbs across her nipples until they beaded into tight pearls. He lowered his mouth to taste her, flicking his tongue rhythmically back and forth across the tight buds before sucking her deeply. Her fingers entwined in his hair, pulling him closer as she pressed her soft mound into his solid erection. His hands moved down to cup her bottom, anchoring her to him as his lips slowly followed a rivulet of water passed her navel to delve into her…

“Darn! Eddie? Eddie, would you hand me my towel? I think I dropped it when that monster attacked. Check over by the sinks.”

He didn’t trust himself to speak. Why was he doing this to himself? He silently gulped in air, attempting to bring himself back to earth. Was she out of her ever lovin’ mind? Didn’t she know the effect…? Of course, she knew. The little witch was seducing him.

The towel lay neatly folded on the sink. His gaze flicked up to the mirror and all his blood rushed to his head -- the wrong one. Silhouetted against the light from an upper window, the flimsy shower curtain hid nothing…absolutely nothing. He grabbed the towel, turned and strode to the shower stall, placing it in the extended dripping hand.

“Thanks.”

“Sure,” he rasped, squeezing his eyes tightly shut. He wanted no chance for temptation to overcome his wavering resolve. He returned to the bench and mentally recited multiplication tables. Anything to get his mind off that intoxicating female behind curtain number one.

“I’ll be dressed in just a minute.” Her voice, so close, startled him. He could hear every breath, every movement as she unzipped her back pack and placed her clothes on the bench.

Enough was enough. Dammit. He didn’t want an affair, and she was going to have to respect his decision.

“Good,” he growled, rising from the bench, his back to her. “I’ll be on the other side.” Keeping his eyes averted, he escaped. When he reached the men’s showers, he stripped off his remaining clothes, turned on the cold water full blast and prayed he could survive two more nights.

Once showered, he wandered around the forest behind the rangers’ cabin. The late morning sun shone brightly, creating dappled patterns on the warm earth. Normally, the designs would have fascinated him, reminding him how grateful he was to be free from the steel jungle he inhabited for so many years, but today, only one thing -- person -- filled his thoughts.

The sight of Robbie in her skimpy underwear was still glued to the inside of his eyelids. But he was done with the independent, business woman type. She was moving to
New York
, and he’d squeeze his balls in a vice before he’d go back there. Besides, didn’t he want a barefoot, hometown girl?

Who was he kidding? He wanted Robbie Miller and he wanted her for keeps. She wanted him but only for a few days. He brightened. If he made love with her, could he change her mind? A cloud passed in front of the sun, blocking its warmth. Just as effectively, a cloud passed over his thoughts. Probably not. She had set her sights on the Big Apple and seemed determined to get there.

Rounding the corner of the ranger station, he found Robbie -- fully dressed in jeans, sweatshirt, running shoes and pink cap -- gingerly tossing the equipment from their canoe.

Taking off his Red Sox cap to scratch his head, he hoisted his backpack higher on his shoulder and casually wandered over.

“Ah, mind if I ask what you’re doing?”

Her look would have frozen rain in
Key West
. “You honestly don’t think I’m getting into that…that…thing after it’s been sitting out here all this time. We have no idea what’s slithered into it. Oh, no, no. We’re emptying it and checking every nook and cranny. I am not going to be surprised by some…some slippery whatever when we’re out on the water.”