Taking the Leap (River Rain 3)

Then he said, “Yeah, babe, I know what that means.” He took in a breath and let it out, noting, “We got our own way of living large, hey?”

“Yeah, Rix.”

And…there.

Now he was seeing he might want her to talk, but he absolutely didn’t need it.

Because when she said his name, it was impossible not to feel that pretty much everywhere.

But the origin came from his dick.

As much fun as he was having, coaxing her out from under her shell, it was just his luck that he’d know the woman for a long time, and only realize he wanted her in his bed when her office was next to his, they had to travel together, and he couldn’t go there.

They lapsed into silence for the twenty minutes it took to arrive at Camp Trail Blazer.

Rix had researched it extensively on the Internet, so he wasn’t surprised when he saw a lot of dirt, rock, straggling trees that were beating the odds in that dry heat, bunkhouses, stables, corralled horses, outbuildings with doors opened showing they housed ATVs, cabins dotted around for staff who lived on site, and an admin building.

It was no frills, but none of it was ugly. There was landscaping. Rock formations around the buildings filled with native plants. A wide, deep, manmade crater the bottom of which he could see was a big firepit that looked significantly out of use, which was good, considering the lingering drought conditions. Even that pit being that deep, and not much around to catch fire, shit happened.

Though, it was a good place to meet, talk, teach, whatever.

Only strange thing about the place was, even though it didn’t seem abandoned, it was deserted. Not a kid or staff member in sight.

Which meant they were probably out on a ride, something they did a lot, maybe packing tents, maybe not, but everyone loading up on the back of a horse to hit the desert and learn some life lessons about nature, survival, teamwork and themselves.

As Alex drove up and parked, the screen door to the admin building opened, and the man Rix assumed was Frank strolled out.

Barrel chested, not all that tall, salt and pepper hair, face with skin that had seen a lot of sun.

Behind him emerged Hale Wheeler.

“Oh my God,” Alex breathed, “Hale’s here.”

Rix sat straighter in his seat as Alex’s excited tone hit his ears and Hale Wheeler’s good looks hit his eyes.

Brilliant.

He threw open his door as Alex did, angled out when she did, but took his time walking around the SUV, watching as Alex approached Frank and Wheeler.

“Hey…Hale…a surprise,” she burst out in a staccato beat, goofy, making sense but not, and last, fucking adorable.

He fought clenching his fists.

“Alex, hey,” Wheeler greeted, offering his hand.

She arrived at Wheeler on a skip hop Rix had never seen her make, and a vision clouded Rix’s brain that he couldn’t reel in.

His fist connecting with Wheeler’s face.

Okay.

What the fuck?

“Rix.” Wheeler turned his attention to Rix.

“Yo,” Rix said, arriving at the guy and lifting his hand.

He took pains not to squeeze as tight as he wanted to before he let go.

It nevertheless shitted him that Wheeler had a naturally strong, firm handshake.

“You probably could guess, this is Frank Rossi,” Wheeler introduced his man.

More greeting and hand shaking.

“I should apologize for the surprise,” Wheeler told them when all that was done. “But I was in LA when Judge called to postpone our meeting, still there this morning. Woke up and thought, what the hell? I’m damned proud of this place, I need a break from all that other shit that’s sucking my time. I’ll meet you two up here, horn in on showing you around.”

“Awesome,” Alex peeped.

Wheeler shot her a grin.

Pink hit her cheeks.

Rix’s pink.

And oh yeah.

He’d never seen her blush in front of anybody, but him.

So it damn well was his fucking pink.

Rix felt his molars grind together.

He stopped doing that and said, “Yeah. Great. So let’s get to it.”

To that, Wheeler shot him a glance.

Rix turned to Frank. “As you know, man, we got a hefty schedule, and we’ve both been looking forward to seeing all you do here. So why don’t we hit it?”

Frank nodded, the deep grooves around his eyes crinkling, because he was proud of the place too. “You got it, Rix.”

Frank threw out an arm for them to head in a certain direction, that being toward the bunkhouses.

Wheeler stepped aside so they could precede him.

And then Rix scored his first point for the board.

Alex turned to him, shot him a massive, gorgeous smile the likes he’d never seen from her before, the likes he instantly felt in his dick, his chest, his throat and burned into his brain, and on another skip hop, this time his way, she all but took his hand as she got close to him and they walked side by side to the bunkhouses.