Taking the Heat (Jackson: Girls' Night Out 3)

“I wouldn’t say it’s exactly my cup of tea, but I love some of the sci-fi romance. I mean, it’s sci-fi with good sex. What’s not to love?”

“Excellent point.” She started up the trail again. “What else do you read?”

“Everything. Horror, thrillers, science fiction, a little fantasy. I read the big award winners every year, of course. That’s part of the job.”

“And your favorites?” She heard him stop and turned around to see why.

He was standing with his hands on his hips,

looking back the way they’d come. “Dune. The Sheltering Sky. 1984. And Gone with the Wind.”

“Gone with the Wind?”

He turned to her with a smile that was only slightly chagrined. “It was the first really big book I read. I got it from the library when I was thirteen and had to renew it three times to finish it. I loved it like crazy. I haven’t reread it, though. I’m pretty sure it won’t live up to my memory. I’ve learned a lot since then about writing and storytelling, not to mention the brutality of actual history.”

“I know what you mean. I feel that way about Pride and Prejudice. I loved it so much the first time—I don’t want to change anything about the experience. What if it’s not as good?”

“Yeah,” he said, nodding, “that’s exactly it. But you’re probably safe with Pride and Prejudice.”

Conscious of the fact that she was just standing there, smiling at him, Veronica let her gaze drift to the view he’d been admiring a moment before. Jackson was already a couple hundred feet below them, spreading out toward the open space of the Elk Refuge beyond. The Tetons loomed above everything in the distance.

“Come on,” she said. “The view’s a lot better farther up.”

“It’s pretty nice from here.”

“Are you talking about my ass?” she teased, then realized immediately that she’d relaxed and said something weird. She barely knew this guy and now they had her ass hanging between them for the rest of the hike, both literally and figuratively.

She stopped abruptly and stammered, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Why?” he asked, his voice closer. “The view of your ass is fucking spectacular.”

She groaned and pressed a hand to her forehead. “Maybe it is, but I shouldn’t have said it.”

When he chuckled, she realized he was standing next to her now. She peeked between her fingers and grimaced. “Every time I let my guard down, I say the wrong things, Gabe. Every time.”

“I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about. We can have an hour-long conversation about your ass right now. It wouldn’t bother me in the least.”

“You’re just being nice,” she countered.

“I’m not sure you understand the male mind. Maybe you really are a terrible advice columnist.”

She laughed. He always managed to make her laugh. “You have a good point. Let’s just keep going, and hopefully, I won’t have the breath to say anything else.”

She didn’t have to wait long. They hit a portion of the trail that was steep enough for switchbacks and she was soon panting for oxygen. There wasn’t much of it at this altitude.

She was able to push through to the top, but she stopped to breathe once she hit more level ground. “You wouldn’t believe,” she rasped, “how hard this was...when I got here from New York.”

Gabe held up a hand and took a few deep breaths. “I just got here two weeks ago. I’m still—” he took another deep breath “—acclimating.”

“Oh, thank God.” She dropped onto a boulder with a flat top and dug her water bottle from her pack. “We’d better take a break, then.”

He joined her on the rock. At first she was distracted by the way his chest moved with each breath. It was strange to see him breathing hard and a little sweaty. Intimate and unexpected.

His knee brushed hers, and she tried to take in every detail of his muscled thigh in the quickest of glances. She liked the way it looked next to hers. He was tan and hairy next to her smooth leg. If they were already sleeping together, she’d put her hand on his knee and slide it up. She’d let her fingers edge under his shorts and tease him with a touch on the inside of his thigh. God. Would he get hard for her? Would he drag her hand higher and make her feel what she’d done to him?

She didn’t know. She didn’t know if sex could really be as good as she’d heard. Every time she’d messed around with a guy, she’d ended up disappointed. She’d been...removed. Unmoved. Completely clearheaded and disoriented by how much the guy seemed to be into it when she felt as though she were acting out a scene from tenth-grade health class.

Hell, she’d been more aroused by Gabe’s kiss than she had been by anything the last guy she’d dated had done, and that included the time he’d gone down on her. That had mostly consisted of her staring at the ceiling for two minutes before telling him she was fine. He’d popped up so quickly, it had been clear he’d been waiting to be excused.