“I want to get a jump on my story. There’s a lot of prep.”
“Sure. Like I said. It’s better if you stay here.”
“Why?”
“The more I think about it, I don’t think you can handle a rafting trip.”
Her lovely lips twist into a frown. “Please don’t tell me what I can and cannot handle.”
“Shouldn’t head out onto the water unless you’re feeling more confident.”
“Thank you for your concern, but I would be fine.”
“It’s okay if you’re not up for it and besides you have a lot of work to do.”
She rises from her chair, slowly, like she’s trying to keep her temper on a leash. “For the record, I’ve rafted the Zambezi during monsoon season. I’ve been flipped, tossed, and dragged through class five rapids in a country where the rescue boat was a teenager in a canoe.”
I blink. “Might do you some good to be reminded of that woman. The woman who could do anything, from what I’ve heard.”
“Do not speak to me like you know me or what I need.” She steps into my space, shoulders squared like she’s ready for a fight.
It’s a fight I almost want to lose.
“That’s my specialty around here, Trouble. I’m pretty good at figuring out what people need. Putting yourself out there more will do you some good, but like I said, only when you’re ready.”
Her cheeks flush and it’s all I can do not to reach out and touch her. And God help me, that mouth. Full and soft, like it was made to put a man in his place or kiss the hell out of him.
This just in: I want to be that man.
She’s yelling at me now, and I should back up, should say something cutting or clever, but hell if I can only stand there grinning like a damn idiot.
“So if you’re trying to scare me off, you’ll need to do more than tell me a little water is too much while you’re flashing that condescending smirk of yours.”
I laugh. I can’t help it. “So, is that a yes to rafting tomorrow?”
“It is a yes,” she snaps. “And when I outlast you on the raft, Cowboy Ken, I want a formal apology for you underestimating me.”
I nod slowly, trying like hell to squash my smile. “Deal. But when you fall in, and you will, I’m not jumping in after you.”
She lifts a brow. “That’s fine. I’ll rescue myself. Wouldn’t want to owe you anything.”
“’Til tomorrow then,” I say, heading to the door.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Mr. Faraday,” she says before sitting her perfect ass back behind the desk.
challenge accepted?
ROXANNE
I should’ve seenthat coming.
Duke didn’t just challenge me to go rafting, he baited me. Laid out the chessboard, knocked over a few pawns, and waited until I stepped right into the move he wanted. I hate that I didn’t realize it until it was too late. Fine, so I found it difficult to concentrate when he didn’t have a shirt on. It had taken all my willpower to listen to anything he said when he was standing so close to me, the hard lines of his body glistening with sweat…
That man has no right being so attractive. He should be forced to register as a controlled substance.
What I hate even more is that once again, he isn’t wrong.
For all my talk of being independent and capable, I have been hiding in New York and if given the chance, I may do the same here.
