Whitewater Rendezvous

It was somehow… more with Chaz. More passionate, more sensual, more arousing. More even than with Rita. But apparently it’s not morefor Chaz. She doesn’t want you enough to let it happen.

The sense of loss she felt was overpowering. Tears came to her eyes, but she brushed them roughly away. Damn you, Chaz.

She was certainly not going to let Chaz see how humiliated she felt. She needed some distance. The fi rst thing she had to do was get a new tent mate.

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Whitewater Rendezvous

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Chaz wasn’t really surprised that it was the Royal Ice Bitch who came to breakfast. She knew she had hurt and humiliated Megan, and she regretted it with every fi ber of her being. But she could think of no way to make things right. She just hoped the awkward truce they’d agreed upon in the end would make it possible to continue the trip without infl icting tension on everyone else.

They were off to a great start.

Megan avoided looking at her, talking to her, or interacting with her at all. She sat off by herself with a cup of coffee, staring at the river, while the rest of them had wild blueberry pancakes. Justine went over to talk to her, and the two moved into a huddle, speaking in hushed tones. Chaz tried not to imagine what Megan must be saying about her

“performance.”

“What happened between you two?” Sally asked Chaz when they stepped away from the others to wash the morning dishes.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said, not meeting Sally’s eyes.

“Megan made a pass at you, didn’t she?” Sally guessed. “And you turned her down and hurt her feelings.”

Worse. I got her all turned on, and then I said stop. “Something like that.”

“That was dumb. Really dumb.” Sally shook her head. “Then I’m sorry that I encouraged her.”

“What did you do?”

“Let her know you were interested in her, but not likely to make the fi rst move.”

Shit. I bet she’s incredibly embarrassed, then, in addition toeverything else. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

“Silly me, I thought I was doing you a favor. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this way with anyone. And she seems to be nuts about

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KIM BALDWIN

you, too. I don’t see the problem here.”

“She only wants one more in a long list of conquests,” Chaz said.

“And you know I’m not like that.”

Sally was silent for a moment. “Sorry, then.” She put one arm around Chaz’s shoulders and gave her a brief hug. “I guess I shouldn’t have interfered.”

Chaz sighed. “You mean well.”

A short distance away, Justine poured another cup of coffee and studied Chaz as she took a sip. Slumped shoulders. Dejected expression.

Just like someone else I know.

She returned to sit beside Megan, determined to get her to open up about what was going on.

It had grieved Justine to watch Megan put up walls around herself after Rita left, to see her never let anyone too close, harden herself against hurt, and work herself to death in the process. But something had changed in her here in Alaska. There was a vulnerability about Megan now, a softness to her. “Still not hungry?” she asked her brooding friend.

“Not much of an appetite this morning,” Megan said evasively.

Justine could see that Megan hadn’t slept well. She had dark circles under her eyes, and she seemed edgy and restless. “Want to talk about it?”

“I hate the way you can read me like a book,” Megan griped, not unkindly.

“Chaz, right?”

Megan blew out an exasperated breath. “Well, I sure made a fool of myself last night. I really thought she was interested. So I…you know…let her know I was. I kissed her.”

“And? She wasn’t receptive?” Justine’s voice registered her surprise.

“Well, she sure as hell kissed me back,” Megan said, a bit of her embarrassed anger resurfacing at the memory of Chaz’s rejection. “But then she backed off and said it wasn’t going to happen.”

“Did she say why?”

Megan didn’t answer immediately. “She said she wasn’t into one-night stands,” she fi nally admitted.

“Ah.” Justine nodded her head. “So it’s not that she wasn’t interested in you …just what you could offer her.”

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Дата добавления: 2015-11-14