Whitewater Rendezvous

Tears sprang unexpectedly to her eyes, and she looked away, out at the river. She was aware that Chaz was getting out of the water—she could see movement out of the corner of her eye—but she didn’t dare turn around.

“That half hour passed much too quickly,” Elise sighed, from behind her. “Have fun, girls.” Her voice trailed away as she headed back toward the fi re.

“Well, if anyone wants another round, they can come replace us,”

Sally called out as she got into the water.

Megan blinked back the tears as she unwrapped the towel she had around her and turned to join Sally. She thought Chaz had departed with Elise, so she jumped when she discovered Chaz standing behind her, watching her with interest.

“Are you all right?” Chaz asked.

She felt a sharp jolt of joy bounce through her when she saw Chaz’s eyes travel south to check out her swimsuit. She involuntarily sucked in a breath, her chest expanding to emphasize how well the skimpy fabric of the bikini top barely held in her ample breasts. She could have sworn she saw Chaz’s eyes dilate.

But then Chaz looked away.

“Yes, I’m fi ne,” she said, with as much nonchalance as she could muster. Having Chaz’s eyes on her breasts, however briefl y, had stirred her blood and made her feel warm despite the chill in the air.

She stepped around Chaz and got into the pool, her mind replaying the kiss she’d witnessed, her body wishing that she’d been the one who had put that contented half smile on Chaz’s face. Heat enveloped her as she sank into the water up to her chin, and she fl oated, swiveling slowly around to fi nd that Chaz had gone.

“I don’t mean to pry. Or belabor the point,” Sally said. “But are you sure everything is okay? You seem a lot more…I don’t know, subdued…than you were by the fi re.”

“Just…preoccupied, I guess.” Megan tried to relax. “Nothing to worry about. But thanks.”

Nothing to worry about. She breathed slowly in and out, trying to dispel the whole business from her mind. She sought out the familiar, so, for the fi rst time in days, she thought about work and wondered how the newsroom was faring. You’re needed there, she told herself, and it brought a small measure of comfort to her state of unsettled frustration.

• 133 •

KIM BALDWIN

But it was short-lived. What does that say about you, that the only thingthat needs you is your job?

She had accomplished a lot and had money, respect, prestige, connections. But she had always dreamed of achieving something truly meaningful, and she wasn’t at all certain she’d managed to do that. And in getting to where she was now, she’d given up a tremendous amount, too, she realized.

Suddenly her life felt like it didn’t fi t quite right, like a pair of shoes she’d outgrown. It wasn’t nearly as comfortable as it was when she’d arrived in Alaska. And she wondered whether it was the vastness of the landscape itself that was responsible for her discontent, or a certain dark-haired guide.

The hot spring managed to act as one dandy natural sleeping pill, with all the clients retiring early to their tents. When the last pair had fi nished their turn and returned to the campsite, only Chaz remained by the fi re.

“I’m going to turn in, too,” Megan told Sally, detouring toward her tent as soon as she spotted Chaz. “Good night.”

“Good night,” Sally replied. “Sleep well.”

Megan kept trying to dispel the mental image of Chaz and Elise kissing as she readied for bed and snuggled into her sleeping bag. It wasn’t easy with Chaz’s things in the tent beside her.

Giving in to an impulse, she reached for Chaz’s small camping pillow and pressed it against her face, inhaling the faint smell of wood smoke from the fi re and a subtle trace of something else—shampoo, probably, since Chaz didn’t seem the perfume type. It was earthy, like the woman herself, and it took her back to the night before, when Chaz had held her in her arms.

It does no good to think about things that cannot be, she reminded herself, setting the pillow reluctantly back at the head of Chaz’s sleeping bag. But as soon as she relaxed and closed her eyes, she remembered the way it felt to be enfolded against the long length of Chaz’s body, and despite her better judgment, she wished for it to happen again.

O

Chaz noted with disappointment that Megan went directly to their tent from the hot spring. She had rather hoped to get another opportunity

• 134 •

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14