lips. “I try.”
They stood silent for a moment, gazing at each other, but Wade couldn’t miss Gina’s probing eyes and those few rapid blinks as she took in his appearance, as if trying to figure out which man he really was: the fast, hard businessman or the easy, kind cowboy she’d once known.
The confusion in her eyes bothered him, so he ignored her expression and swept his gaze instead to her long legs, and tanned smooth skin. More leg than she’d allowed him lately. And as his gaze traveled upward, he noted her breaths coming fast and the spandex top unable to confine the swell of her breasts and the damned enticing tips of her erect nipples.
Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She looked sweaty and hot and sexy enough to have for breakfast.
“I thought I had an hour before going to the stables,” she said, opening the door to her suite and entering.
Wade followed her inside. “You do, but we need to eat something first. I ordered room service. Breakfast will be here soon.”
In a single fluid move, Gina pulled the elastic band from her hair and chestnut strands flowed onto her shoulders, framing her face. “Let me guess, last night you didn’t want to drink alone and today you don’t want to eat alone.”
Wade shrugged off her comment as he tossed his hat onto her bed. “Doesn’t figure for me to eat alone when I have a beautiful assistant at my disposal.”
“I may be at your disposal in business, Wade, but that’s the extent of it.”
Again, he ignored her. “You look hot.”
Gina frowned. “I know. I’m hot and sweaty. I must look a mess.” She ran her hand through her hair in an unconscious move that had Wade approaching her.
“Not a mess.” He strode the rest of the distance separating them, facing her toe to toe. “Sexy as hell.”
Gina blinked then captured his gaze as well as his meaning. She backed up a step, her tone filled with warning as she shook her head slightly. “Wade.”
Wade reached for her waist, encircling his arms around her and pulled her close. A combination of female and salty scents drifted up as she looked at him with hesitation in her eyes.
“Don’t fight it, honey.” Wade swooped his mouth down and took her in a long, slow, deliberate kiss that had her molding her body to his. A little moan escaped her throat when Wade cupped her buttocks, pressing her to the juncture of his thighs.
She fit him perfectly. She always had. Immediate heat swamped him and his groin tightened envisioning her on the bed with him, just a few feet away. He’d wanted her, wanted that ever since she’d walked into his office a few days ago.
A knock at the door broke the moment.
Wade winced at the bad timing. And, as he tugged his mouth from hers, he whispered, “Room service.” Wade had a notion to send the waiter packing and finish this. Just as he began to utter those commands, Gina backed away.
“I—I need a shower.”
Wade glanced at her chest, the tempting swell of her breasts straining against her spandex top with her breathes coming hard again, only this time, he knew her fast breathing had nothing to do with the run she’d just taken. “So do I—a cold one.”
Gina’s gaze slipped down to his jeans, her eyes riveted below his waist.
Wade ground out a warning. “Don’t tempt me, Gina.”
“I never mean to.”
That was the problem. Gina, just being Gina, was enough of a temptation. Didn’t matter what she wore, how she looked, Wade found himself wanting her, no matter what. She was beautiful to him. That much hadn’t changed. From the moment he’d set eyes on her almost ten years ago, he’d wanted her. Had to have her.
The only difference between now and then was that now he knew he’d have her but he’d never keep her.
The knock came louder this time, announcing, “Room service!”
Wade let out a deep sigh, restraining his desire. “I’ll get the door. You get your shower.”
Gina nodded and, without a word, entered the bathroom. After a second, he heard the decided click of the bathroom door’s lock.
Gina mounted a bay mare, fitting herself as comfortably as she could on the saddle. It had been almost ten years since she’d ridden a horse. She’d been taught by the best; Mr. Buckley, Sarah and Wade all had a hand in teaching her how to ride. But she was rusty and uncertain.
“Don’t let her know you’re nervous,” Wade said, gripping the reins, holding the mare steady from the ground. Gina took a deep breath and nodded.
“You’d think a girl born and bred in Texas would know more about horses than how to hang onto the saddle horn.”
Wade grinned. “You were from Austin. That doesn’t count.”
“Austin was full of horses.” Gina tipped her chin up in defiance.
“Right. And you rode how many?”
Wade didn’t wait for an answer. He handed her the reins, then swung his long legs up and over his saddle, mounting a tall dappled-gray mare. “Follow my lead. Loosen up on the reins and use only slight motions to guide the mare. You’ll do fine.”
“I can’t take notes and ride. Why do you need me?”
“I need another pair of eyes.”
Gina doubted that. She knew for certain that scores of Triple B’s finest—from architects to financial accountants—had surveyed the property already.
“Ready?”
Gina squirmed once more in her saddle and adjusted the straw hat Wade had purchased in town for her. “Ready.”
Wade made a soft sound to his mare and with just the slightest click of his boot heels, the horse took off. Gina’s mare followed and they rode off the stable grounds and away from the road, heading further into the interior of the canyon.
Ten minutes later, Wade reined his horse to a stop. Saddle leather creaked when he turned around in his seat. “Take a look,” he said.
Gina’s gaze flowed in the direction he was pointing. They had steadily climbed and had come to a low rise that overlooked the entire town of Avalon and the crescent-shaped bay below. From this distance and under clear-blue skies, the ocean seemed less threatening with a throng of boats harbored in the stunning turquoise bay. “It’s remarkable.”
Wade agreed with a low grumble. “It’s hard to believe this place once was home to pirates and trappers.”
“Yes, but I can picture it, can’t you? The wildness here, the untouched land and those men coming here, some for honest work, others to do harm or hide out.”
Wade cast her a long thoughtful look, his eyes narrowing as if picturing it. “Yeah, I can see that,” he said, his lips quirking in a distant smile,
