Drake’s eyes went up and down her slender figure. “Pity,” was all he said. With a grin, he nodded towards the wall. “There’s a bathroom over there if you insist on being modest.”
She looked at the wall and saw the door. Turning towards it, she almost tripped when she heard him say, “I’m going to see it all pretty soon anyway.”
She glanced back at him, her eyes wide with the fear that idea generated. And the heat.
How could he do this to her so easily? She almost slammed the bathroom door shut, slamming out his laughing, too-knowing eyes. Leaning against the door, she took several deep breaths, unaware that she was clutching his shirt to her chest until she opened her eyes to try and figure out why she could still smell the man’s spicy cologne. When she realized what she was doing, she relaxed her hold, but then brought the shirt up to her face, breathing in the clean, wonderful scent.
She pushed herself away from the wall and pulled her pink sweater over her head. When she slipped her arms into the flannel shirt, it was more of a dress than a shirt. The ends hung down to almost her knees and her arms were swallowed up in the fabric. She had to roll up the arms several times before her hands could peek out the ends of the sleeves. Taking the tails, she gathered them up and tied them in a knot around her waist.
Feeling more than a little ridiculous, she opened the door to the bathroom once again. She found him staring out at the view but at the first sound of her coming out, he swung around to watch her.
Her step faltered when she saw the heat in his eyes as he took in her smaller frame wearing his clothes. “What?” she asked, her fingers nervously tightening the knot around her waist.
“You look hot in my shirt,” he finally explained. He came closer, his hands resting on her hips as he looked down at her. “Of course, you’d look sexier without it.”
She rolled her eyes and would have stepped out of his arms but he wouldn’t let her. “What now?” she asked.
His body language changed slightly. Subtly. “It just occurred to me that I have you here in my bedroom. I’ve pictured you here so many times its almost hard to resist the urge to lift you up and carry you over to my very comfortable, very large bed and have my wicked way with you.” He instantly felt her body stiffen and he controlled himself with difficulty. “I won’t,” he assured her softly. “But only because you’re going to love what I have planned. And if I get you into that bed, it will be a long time before I actually allow you to leave it.”
She couldn’t relax, not with those words hanging in the air. Even though he’d assured her that they would be doing something else, she still bit her lip with…indecision?
Surely not, she admonished herself. But she let out the breath she’d been holding when he took her hand and led her out of the bedroom.
Chapter 5
He shortened his stride to allow her to keep up with him more easily as he led her back out into the crisp, mountain air. When he walked both of them over to a garage in the back of the house, she still didn’t understand what he had planned for the day. But when the garage door opened to reveal two tough looking all-terrain vehicles, Sierra quickly started shaking her head and backing up.
With a laugh, she said, “Drake, there is no way I’m riding on one of those.”
He ignored her and pushed one of them out into the sunshine. “It’s much easier than you might think.”
She eyed the four wheeled machine dubiously. “And a whole lot scarier, I’m sure.” She didn’t think there was anything he could say to her that would prove these vehicles were not only safe, but a good way to spend a Saturday afternoon. “They look like death traps.”
He smiled but shook his head. “Not at all. These vehicles grip the road pretty well and I promise I won’t take you on any challenging slopes. At least not this time. The steering on my ATVs is much more responsive than on the ones you might have driven somewhere else. So they’re easier to handle on the corners.” He stuffed some bags into the machine’s holding areas and looked up at her.
“I’ve never driven one, good or bad steering, so that kind of reassurance isn’t going to help me get onto that vehicle, Drake.” She stood there staring at him as if he’d lost his mind. He must have if he thought she would enjoy riding on something so vulnerable. It was almost like a motorcycle, but with extra wheels.
“They are steady and a lot of fun, I promise. You’ll love it if you only give it a try.”
She still stood back away from the machine, crossing her arms and shaking her head. “You can try and convince me all you want, but it simply isn’t going to happen.”
She felt the trembling in her knees the moment she saw the victory in his eyes. He shrugged and pushed the vehicle out of the garage further, looking over the engine carefully. “If you don’t want to drive one, that’s fine. I can deal with that.”
She should have relaxed with his assurance, but something about the way he was accepting her resistance worried her.
A few minutes later, her wariness was confirmed. With the engine revving, he pulled on a helmet, then tossed one to her. She caught it in her fingers, but only looked at it as if it were a foreign concept. “What am I supposed to do with this?” she asked, bracing herself for whatever he was planning.
“Put it on.” He grinned and revved the engine one more time.
With a grin on his handsome face that she could only describe as pure triumph, she started to step back. His shaking head was her only warning before she somehow found herself on the back of the ATV while he sped off. He hadn’t tried to cajole her or give her a long list of statistics about the safety or power of the ATV. He’d simply lifted her off of her feet, ignoring her laughing objections and plunked her onto the back of the double seat. He then threw his own leg over the seat, effectively trapping her and he revved the engine a moment before he released the break. Taking off with a spewing of gravel and his grin of excitement.
She gripped the helmet with her fingers while her hands held onto his shoulders. She was sitting behind him so it was hard to see where he was going, but she could see from both sides of him and the land was whizzing by them.
“You’re going to need to hold onto me more tightly,” he said as he slowed down to turn a corner.
As quickly as her numb fingers could move, she strapped the helmet on, latching it below her chin. She was glad she’d done that quickly though when he whipped around a tree and then pushed the power on the ATV. The wheels ground through the mud as it steadily climbed a very narrow mountain trail.