Summer Wager:Romancing Wisconsin Book 16(11)

He dipped his head for another kiss as he slid deep inside with one, sure thrust. His mouth muffled her gasp as the flood of sensation brought every nerve ending alive.

Disregarding his order not to touch, she reached for his shoulders, needing to hold on as he moved inside her with strong, measured strokes that had her climbing toward a second release. The rhythm changed as he braced himself up on his palms, his thrusts faster, harder, hitting just the right spot to send her reeling once more. He joined her seconds later, and then collapsed beside her, his chest heaving against her side.



A little over an hour later, Shanna adjusted what was left of the ice pack on her ankle and watched Kevin's second attempt to set up the grill tri-pod over the campfire.

"You're doing it wrong," she noted for the second time. "You need to-"

"I told you, I got it," he retorted.

The tightness in his voice gave her pause despite the almost irrepressible urge to get up and do it herself. She forced herself to take a deep breath and let it out again. She didn't have to care how he set it up. Really, she didn't.

Did she?

Well, yeah, if it was the difference between dinner on her plate or dinner dropped in the fire.

But … anxiety and uncertainty had already crept in after their shared intimacy. Was it worth starting something that would put them right back to the animosity that landed them out here in the first place?

The answer echoed swift and sure. No. She'd rather go hungry than fall back into that misery.

So, she bit her tongue and watched-and bit her tongue some more. The man could be just as stubborn as her, which for them was like throwing gasoline on a fire. Though, unlike her mother, she could admit when she had a problem.

Can you?

Yes, she could. She could learn to give up control. She'd done it while they were having sex; she could do it now. Especially when it was over such a trivial matter.

After a few more minutes, Kevin moved over to where she sat with her foot elevated once more. "Show me what I'm doing wrong," he requested grudgingly.

She fiddled with the rods and chain and saw the stupid thing was set up different than any she'd ever used.

See? Sometimes even you don't know what you don't know.

Once she figured out what should've been a much simpler construction, she silently made the necessary adjustments and handed the contraption back.

"Thanks."

He positioned it over the fire, put three hamburgers on the grill grate, and lowered the chain for the meat to cook.

Well, crap.

After a moment of indecision, she cautioned, "That's too low. They'll burn."

He shot her a glance without lifting his head, but adjusted the level up by about six inches.

Perfect.

With only the crackle of the fire breaking the silence, she recalled when he'd said he didn't sleep with just anyone. The significance of his words hadn't fully registered in the heat of the moment, but now, she found herself analyzing what could be considered a confession.

What did those words imply for their night together a month ago? Had it been an out-of-the-blue chance happening for him, or more of a long time desire like it had been for her?         

     



 

He'd left the next morning after his muttered curse, yet here they were again. The hour after.

She didn't want to be her usual self and drive him away, so after taking a deep, shaky breath, she spoke out in the quiet. "You've mentioned a few times about me being up-tight. The thing is, it's not like I purposely try to be … um … "

Bitchy.

No. She searched for a word that wasn't so unflattering.

"Bossy?" Kevin supplied, his tone dry. "Opinionated? Difficult? Contrary? Adversarial?"

Nope, definitely not the words she was looking for, though he'd gotten himself on quite the roll.

"Any of them." With a disgruntled frown, she met his gaze over the flames, a little miffed at the brutal candor after their recent intimacy. Then she winced at the truth. "All of them?"

His lips curved into a surprisingly gentle smile that warmed his eyes to more green than brown. "I also know you're brilliant and beautiful. And I'm learning you're funny, kind, generous, and strong. I mean, you did leave me toilet paper in the outhouse. That tells me you can't be all bad."

She smiled briefly at the toilet paper comment. "Well, I don't always mean to be the other ones. Not anymore."

"But you used to?"

"I've had to prove myself a lot."

"To your family?"

"Not my grandparents. But to others, yeah."

"Your parents?"

"My mother. Though, not exactly to her." His eyebrows rose, and she searched for the words to explain. "I always felt the need to prove I wasn't like her. I had to prove it to myself, and by extension, to you, and Nash. Our clients."

"What does the opposite of you look like?"

Shanna pictured her mother, waving goodbye a year ago as she headed off to Florida with her latest boyfriend. They'd spoken on the phone only once since then.

"She was a weird combination of dependent doormat and serial quitter," she told Kevin. "She never stuck with anything, but at the same time, she never stood up for herself, either. The moment she decided she didn't like something, whether it was a job, a man, a house, a state … she moved on. We moved on. The only thing I could ever count on was her inconsistency, and summers with my grandparents. I vowed to be different long ago."

His gaze held hers for a moment, then he shook his head with a smile, until finally a wry laugh broke free.

Resentment rose at his reaction. "That's funny to you?"

His humor faded on a sigh. "Only insofar as my responses to you from the first day we met were based on my dad being the puppet my stepmother holds all the strings to. I have watched him cater to her every whim for years."

"So, your dad was the doormat."

"Still is." He stuck the pointy end of his hot dog roasting stick into the fire to even out the burning wood under the grill. "It would be different if he doted on her out of love, but that is definitely not the case with them. Jessica says, ‘Jump,' and my dad says, ‘How high?' I'll never be willing to bow down and let anyone control my life like that." His mouth quirked in a wry grin. "From day one, you have been very … um … "

"Bitchy."

"Assertive," he corrected.

Well, that certainly explained why every time she'd felt the need to assert her independence, he'd pushed back. Hard. He didn't respect his father's submission any more than she respected her mother's inability to commit to anything.

"Where was your dad as you were growing up?" Kevin asked.

"No clue." She shifted her gaze down to the coals, then looked up again. "My mother didn't know who he was because she'd already moved on by the time she found out she was pregnant."

"Surely she could've narrowed it down through DNA tests?"

"I explored that option when I turned eighteen, but she didn't even remember names anymore."

He frowned at the fire as he poked at the wood some more. "I'm sorry. That sucks."

She shrugged. "I made my peace with that a while ago."

"I'm still sorry. At least I had my mom. She's strong and independent." He glanced up and gave her a grin. "You remind me of her in some ways, though a little more … extreme."

She wrinkled her nose. "Like your evil stepmother?"

"A few months ago, I might have said yes to that. But not now. Not even close. You need to understand not everything is a criticism, Shanna. Sometimes it's just a suggestion, offered through a new set of eyes, from a different point of view."         

     



 

"Like last week at the office." When she'd assumed he was undermining her in front of their clients.

"Exactly like last week at the office."

"I'm sorry I reacted so badly. I'm going to do my best to work on that. As long as you work on your delivery so those suggestions don't sound like orders."

He laughed. "Yep. I can admit it, too. Sometimes I can be an arrogant ass."

"Most of the time."

"Used to be most of the time. Like you, I'm going to work on that."

Their gazes connected over the flames, and her heart pounded high up in her throat as she considered their words. "Did we just agree to cancel the bet and work together?"

That beautiful smile warmed his eyes again. "Sounded like it to me. Wanna swap spit to seal the deal?"

She nearly choked on her laugh. Happiness swelled as she gave him a cheeky grin. "Yes, but first flip those burgers before they burn, Princess."





Chapter 11





Kevin's eyelids drooped as he snugged Shanna's naked body tight against his chest and tucked his chin in the crook of her neck. God bless her assertive nature and demand for equality. He might be thoroughly, wonderfully exhausted, but the woman gave as good as she got.

A full day had passed since they'd agreed to give working together a try. So far so good. Better than good, actually.

Her ankle had recovered enough overnight that he hadn't felt the need to insist they return to civilization for an x-ray. Even so, with their wager nullified and no one in danger of having to quit, he had reluctantly offered to head back early. Her refusal had been a pleasant surprise.