Reconsidering Riley (14 page)

"Yum." Bruce smiled, subversive as
usual.

"Sounds awesome," Mack said, typically
cheerful.

"No way," Mitzi objected. "A mocha is at
least
three or four Weight Watchers points."

"It's not Zone perfect, either," Carla
added.

Riley seized on the only opening he had.
"I'm embarrassed to put it this way, but...hiking burns lots of
calories. After we hit the trail and your fat cells start begging
for mercy, you'll be glad you skipped the mochas."

Blank faces stared back at him. He began to
think he'd agreed to guide the only women in the universe who were
immune to fat cell phobia.

Then... "Yay! Let's go!"

Fists pumping in the air, the women charged
the trail. Their guides hurried to keep up.
Whew
. First
crisis averted.

Soon, the rocky high desert landscape glowed
with the rising sun. Prickly pear, yucca, and agave pierced the
spaces between boulders, and creosote bushes offered spots of color
with their yellow blooms. At the travelers' approach, the
occasional bird took flight. Dust rose beneath their footfalls, its
dry scent mingling with that of the cool air.

A half-mile in, the three groups found their
unique paces. Bruce and Lance took the lead with Mitzi and Carla.
Riley remained in the middle with Jayne and Kelly. Mack, listening
good-naturedly to the diverse opinions of Doris and Donna, brought
up the rear with the sisters assigned to him. The trail turned
rocky, beginning a gentle ascent.

"We'll actually be climbing up into Catsclaw
Canyon," Riley explained as Jayne and Kelly examined the
upward-winding trail with identical frowns. "Picture us at the tail
end of a gigantic crack in the earth's surface. It will get deeper
as we go in, and we'll climb higher. We're at a lower elevation
here in the desert, but by the time we reach the other lodge inside
the canyon—our turning point—we'll be at about fifty-five hundred
feet above sea level. Flagstaff, above the rim and about an hour
north of us, is at 7,000 feet."

Kelly stopped. "Where are we right now?"

"About four thousand feet."

Jayne stopped. "We have to climb fifteen
hundred feet? That's like...I dunno, a
gazillion
steps on
the StairMaster."

Riley nodded, and kept going. "It's a
gradual incline. You can do it."

He glanced backward. They stood there,
gawping at him. Then Jayne nudged Kelly. The two women followed
him.

"Sure, we can do it," Jayne called. "Of
course we can do it. But do we
want
to?"

"With
you
?" Kelly added.

At the surprisingly belligerent tone in her
voice, Riley stopped. Kelly was usually so calm. Almost meek. Hell,
she hadn't even entered into the breakfast fracas until an
aggravated Bud had suggested skipping the meal altogether.

"Is something bothering you, Kelly?" he
asked. "About me?"

The woman averted her eyes. She toed the
trail, refusing to look at him. "Umm, sort of."

Silently, he waited.

"But we don't have to talk about it right
now. Maybe not ever, of you don't want to. Or...."

He waited some more. Patiently.

As Riley had expected, she cracked. "Okay!
Stop hounding me!" Kelly waved her arms and unbalanced herself.
She'd have tipped over if Jayne hadn't helped her. "It's just
that...you shouldn't have treated Jayne the way you did. Not—not
that I know the whole story, or hold you completely responsible, of
course, but Jayne is a nice person, and she doesn't deserve...what
you did. And that's all."

She shrank into herself, her chin burrowing
into the collar of her fleece. She clutched her pack straps. Peeked
at him from beneath her dark bangs. "Okay?"

Riley, wondering exactly what he'd done,
cast a questioning glance at Jayne. She shrugged, biting her lip.
Hell. Maybe he'd done "nothing" again without realizing it. With no
further information to go on, he was forced to improvise.

"Okay," he said quietly. He waited until
Kelly raised her head to look at him, then continued. "Thank you
for telling me. Most people wouldn't have dared."

A small smile edged onto her mouth.

"You're uncommonly brave, Kelly. I'm glad to
have you as part of my group."

Riley meant it. He could tell that
criticizing him—however obliquely and confusingly—had been
difficult for her. Later, he'd pin down Jayne and extract the
explanation he knew must exist for Kelly's low opinion of him.

Considering how best to coax Jayne into
revealing that explanation, he glanced at her. She was already
watching him, something close to gratitude in her face. So...she
approved of the way he'd talked with Kelly? Interesting. She hadn't
seen the half of it yet.

"I'm—I'm glad to be part of your group,"
Kelly said, blushing. "Thanks, Riley. You're really
understanding."

Now, Jayne seemed almost disgruntled. She
kicked at a clod of dirt with her all-terrain shoes and crossed her
arms, the very picture of a woman enduring a minor betrayal.

"No, thank
you
." He smiled at Kelly,
for the first time really seeing the complicated and caring woman
beneath her hunched shoulders, lowered glances, and hesitant
speech. "Tell you what. How about if you lead this section?"

Kelly gasped. "Do you really think I
can?"

"Sure. You nailed the compass-and-topo
navigation training. And the trail's clearly marked. Have at
it."

She shared an excited glance with Jayne.
"Okay! Just try and keep up!"

Then she was off, briskly trotting up the
trail again...leaving Riley to follow behind with Jayne. Just the
two of them. Alone, but for the fifty yards separating them from
Kelly. Exactly as he'd planned.

He grinned, already anticipating the process
of unraveling Jayne's self-help-style resistance to him. Surely it
was paltry. Not up to the challenge about to present itself—the
challenge of
him
. After all, he'd never believed those
hocus-pocus techniques of hers really worked in the first
place.

"You planned that!" Jayne accused, watching
Kelly happily blaze a trail in front of them, her pack bobbing up
and down with her movements. "I don't believe it."

"Believe it. When I want something, I go
after it."

"Right. And what do you want now? Kelly,
with a sprained ankle?"

I want you
, he thought. But all he
said was, "Kelly will be fine. She may even be more fit than you
are."

He swept a contemplative glance over Jayne's
body as she navigated the trail. She caught him at it, and took the
bait.

"She is not! And quit looking at me to
compare."

"You want me to look at Kelly instead?"

Jayne's mouth thinned. "Do whatever you
want," she said stubbornly. Her gaze moved again to Kelly, and she
frowned.

"I can't do that while in motion. Standing
up, sure. Leaning against a boulder, okay." He pretended to
consider it further. "But moving down a trail—"

"
What
are you blathering about?"

"Doing whatever I want." Boy, she was easy
to tease.

She yawned, obviously feigning boredom.
"Which would be?"

"Finding out if you still sigh in that
breathy, sexy way when a man undresses you. When
I
undress
you. Finding out if your skin still smells like peaches and
vanilla. Finding out if you still taste like—"

"What is the
matter
with you?" Jayne
grabbed his arm, giving him a perplexed look. "Last night, you were
Mr. Platonic Kiss On The Forehead. Today, you're Sex-You-Up Sam.
Which is it?"

"Riley." He pointed to himself, smiling.
"Not Sam. Maybe you need a refresher on the man you're with?"

"I'm not 'with' you. I'm hiking alongside
you." She set into motion again, moving with purpose.

He followed. "You'll be 'with' me. Wait and
see."

"Ha."

"Ha?" He arched an eyebrow.

"Ha,
ha
!"

There she went again, with the skepticism.
It was enough to make a man want to remind her—demonstratively—of
all the ways they'd once been compatible. In bed. On the beach. In
the shower. At the movies.

Yes, the movies. Hell, a guy couldn't spend
all
his time making love to the woman he'd fallen
in...in
to
a relationship with. Could he?

Riley jogged forward, leaping across some
flat boulders to catch up with Jayne. "I'm not afraid to admit what
I want. You might try it sometime."

"Ha!"

"I still want you, Jayne."

Her chin quivered.

"You want me, too."

Instead of replying, she breathed deeply and
then began counting in a low voice. She stared at her feet, as
though mesmerized by their movement.

He couldn't help but feel hurt by her
obvious inattention.

"What are you doing?" Riley asked
quietly.

"Moving meditation. It will help me resist
you. I mean, refocus my energies."

He considered that. "Don't resist me, Jayne.
We were good together once. We can be that way again."

As he said it, Riley realized exactly how
much he wanted that. A second chance with Jayne. Sure, after the
way she'd challenged him, that second chance might come in the form
of a short-lived fling. But that would be enough for him. Enough to
get Jayne out of his system once and for all. He'd keep it
physical, keep it brief...and enjoy the hell out of it. So, he felt
certain, would she.

If that weren't true, Riley would never have
pursued the reunion he had in mind. He didn't believe in long
commitments, but he didn't believe in using people, either. Mutual
satisfaction was what mattered. That, and savoring a connection for
as long as it lasted.

In his world, that was never very long.

"Twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one," she
muttered, still stepping. "Thirty-two, thirty-three—"

"You can't hold out forever," he warned.

"
Watch me
," she huffed, still
climbing.

Riley had to admire her determination. And
the baby blue hug of her wind pants against her derrière and legs.
If he just once caught Jayne admiring him the way he admired her,
he could die a happy man.

Until then, he'd just have to show her that
nobody laid down a challenge to Riley Davis...without having that
challenge met. In spades.

Nobody.

Jayne completely lost track of her moving
mediation count when Riley grinned away her "watch me," answer to
his challenge and moved in front of her to guide the way. The view
was just too distracting.

His powerful strides ably demonstrated his
athletic ability, honed by years of trekking the wilderness on
guide jobs and nature photography assignments. His casual grace
belied his size, lending Riley a surprising ease of movement that
was a pleasure to watch. And his years of experience gave him a
certain undeniable quality of...oh, heck. There was no point in
playing nice, here.

His butt was absolutely the finest she'd
ever seen.

Admiring it, Jayne sighed. This was going to
be such a difficult trip. She'd managed to give as good as she got
so far this morning, but she wasn't sure how much longer she could
hold out. Riley was trying every teasing trick in the book to get a
reaction out of her..and he knew exactly which buttons to push.

Finding out if your skin still smells
like peaches and vanilla
.

She couldn't
believe
he still
remembered the scent of her perfume. Its top notes
were
peaches and vanilla, combined with a little musk and a floral base.
She had it custom-blended at a frightful expense, reasoning that a
beautiful personal ambiance was worth it.

But Riley...he was more of a
Safeguard-and-Speedstick kind of guy. He didn't wear cologne,
didn't—to her knowledge—keep up on fashion and beauty trends.
Couldn't—unless her perfumer had drastically misled her about the
exclusivity of her personal formula—have encountered another woman
with Jayne's fragrance. Could he really have remembered her that
well? That fondly?

Nah
, she assured herself as she
navigated around a clump of cactus.
He's bluffing
.

Which was fine, except...except Riley
seemed
so darn sincere. His openhearted, over-the-shoulder
grin as he extended a hand to help her ascend a boulder looked
genuine. His concern when she stumbled a few minutes later felt
real. And his conversation, as they trekked on down the desert
trail in Kelly's wake, carried every indication of authentic
interest.

Riley listened carefully. He offered
thoughtful comments, brief though they sometimes were, given his
strong-and-silent nature. He joked and laughed, amazing Jayne with
his remembrances of the times they'd spent together. It seemed
Riley had savored those times, too...and as they shared their
umpteenth reminisce of the morning, she was dying to ask him the
ten-thousand-dollar question:

Why did you leave me? Leave us?

The trouble was, she couldn't ask him that.
Not without, Jayne feared, destroying the delicate camaraderie that
had so far enabled them to travel together without
breakup-workshop-unraveling antagonism. Or—even more
importantly—without revealing the fact that she still hadn't
quite
gotten over him. Yet. So she only continued on down
the trail, focusing on causing mutiny among her fat cells and on
trying not to wreck her manicure by grabbing rock handholds too
quickly.

Resisting Riley was completely doable, Jayne
told herself. It was only a matter of miles before she began to
really believe it.

Chapter Nine

About two hours into their hike, the groups
rendezvoused for the first trailside workshop. They met beside a
scrub brush filled gully, beneath a brilliantly blue Arizona sky,
dropping packs at their feet and sinking gratefully onto handy
chair-sized boulders.