Born to Be Wild (12 page)

Walking around to her side, he stopped just behind her. He began to reach for her, but she must have sensed it, because she stiffened. He knew he shouldn’t touch her, but he couldn’t stop himself. “Come here.”

Zach gently placed his hands on her waist and tugged her around to face him. He waited a minute, knowing her well enough to realize she was incapable of not meeting a challenge. Finally, she lifted her gaze to his.

“I’m flattered you went to so much trouble, Dart.”

“I didn’t go—”

“Shhh.” He placed a finger on her lips, then left it there when the warmth of her skin gave him a slight rush. “Did you really think I would hassle you?”

She arched a brow. “What, you’re kidding, right?”

His grin faded. Her ongoing low opinion of him hurt more than he cared to admit. “You could have just told me. I’d have been glad to help you. I just figured you’d camped before or I would have said something.”

She pulled away from the finger he’d begun rubbing across her lower lip. “I’m here to look out for the kids’ interests—they’ve never camped either. My expertise comes in knowing their needs. Yours is to make sure the trip meets them.”

“Didn’t your folks ever take you and Dane camping?”

“No. My dad was gone too much for anything like that.” She looked away for a moment, then back at him. “And Stan is not exactly the outdoorsy type.”

Zach frowned. Her tone had been dry and self-deprecating, but there was old pain under the surface of her words. “So I guess you missed out on a few other things as well, huh? Pretty tough for a kid like you. I bet you wanted to ski, sail, surf. Do it all.” He slipped his hand into her hair and tilted her head back when she tried to look away again. “I’m sorry your dad didn’t have time for you when he was alive, Dara. I’m sure he’d love to have done all those things with you. He loved challenge as much as you. Who knows, you’d probably be flying planes now.”

She tried to jerk away from him, but he kept her gently yet firmly in his grasp.

“I loved my dad more than anything, you know that,” she ground out. “But it was long ago. I don’t resent anything about the time we spent together. And Stan is wonderful. He’s made my mom incredibly happy.”

Zach brought her face up to his again. “Is that what you’re looking for then, a younger version of Stan? Someone safe?”

Her skin paled a bit, but it was anger not pain that lit her eyes now. “There’s not a damn thing wrong with wanting security and stability.”

“No,” he answered calmly, “there isn’t. But you’re not your mom, Dara. And I think if you really wanted someone like Stan, you’d have married him by now.”

“And I’m supposed to take marital advice from you?
The reigning king of commitment and responsibility?” she asked sarcastically.

Zach picked up her hand and pressed a soft kiss on her palm. She gasped. That was one way to break an impasse with her. “How did we get on the subject of your family?”

“Because I didn’t want to deal with how idiotic I feel about packing enough camping supplies to outfit the Boy Scouts’ annual jamboree?”

Her laugh had him drawing her closer, intending to pull her into a deep kiss. But she ducked away. He let her go, knowing now was not the time to push despite how badly he wanted to. There would be other times, other kisses. There had to be.

She rooted around and pulled out her sleeping bag. “Why didn’t you say something to me back at my house?” she asked. “We could have left most of this stuff in my garage.”

He leaned back on the truck beside her and crossed his arms. “Because you looked so cute and adorable in your new hiking ensemble, I didn’t have the heart.”

She made a face. “Cute and adorable. Now there’s two adjectives every woman yearns to hear.”

Zach leaned closer. “I have a whole list of words to describe you. You want to hear some more of them?”

She shot him a droll smile. “Since I’m fairly sure I’d be lucky if two out of the first ten would be complimentary, I think I’ll cut my losses now.”

He dropped a quick kiss on her nose. “You’d be surprised, Dara.”

“That’s mountain laurel.” Zach pointed to the bushes lining the edge of the forest. “Those trees are yellow birch, and over there is some red dogwood. The firs around here range from eastern hemlock and balsam fir to white pine and red spruce. There’s some late-blooming trillium.” He pointed to the ground near a fallen log. “The blossoms start out pink and change to white.”

Dara’s boots were killing her, and she relished anything that would take her mind off her blisters, even listening to Zach detail every aspect of the flora which surrounded them. She didn’t have the heart to tell him that it was all just foliage to her. Pretty, soothing foliage, but nothing she was interested in knowing about on a scientific level.

“How did you learn all this stuff?” She stopped and pretended to pick a stone out of the tread of her boot.

“My parents and I hiked parts of the Appalachian Trail and around Skyline Drive occasionally, and I remember some from my dad. The rest is just part of the standard research in putting together a trip.”

Dara knew she’d stalled as long as she could, so she carefully stepped forward again, taking small pride in not visibly wincing in front of him. “You research the plants and everything?”

“Depends on the trip. Most of the time it pays to know what is indigenous to an area, not just to prepare for any inherent dangers, but also as a safety precaution.”

“And partly because you love soaking it all up, right?”

He grinned. “Best education around.”

His eyes took on a vibrancy, and his voice became
more animated as he spoke. The excitement and pleasure he took in his job was obvious. Even feeling like she did, his attitude was infectious. And for that very reason disquieting.

“You said something about safety precautions,” she said. “You mean like if you got lost or stranded you’d know what was edible and what wasn’t? That sort of thing?”

“Partly. In the mountains, even relatively small ones like these, storms can come out of nowhere and depending on where you are there can be flash floods and even snow or ice storms in the spring. And no matter where you are, you want to make sure you don’t invade the turf of an animal who prefers his own kind to humans.”

Dara laughed, albeit a bit nervously. “I guess when you travel to exotic locales that would come in handy.”

Zach looked over at her. “Yes, but it also holds true in the States. Even here in Virginia.”

“What animal could we possibly spook up here that would represent a danger? I mean, there is an occasional bear sighting, but even I know that doesn’t happen often. So that leaves, what? Squirrels, deer, raccoons, bunny rabbits?”

“Snakes. The timber rattler, for one.”

Dara stopped dead. “Snakes?”

“Yes, snakes.” He stepped closer to her, his expression serious. “Don’t worry,” he deadpanned. “We’re miles from a biology lab. No one will make you dissect one.” He broke into a wide grin. “Or kiss one.”

Dara thumped his chest. “Very funny, Mr. Macho Mountain Man. I’ll have you know it wasn’t myself I was concerned about. I was worried about the children.
Their mobility is limited, and they might not be able to move out of the way of danger in time.”

Zach looked as if he was buying her story, until he started laughing.

“It’s a plausible concern,” she insisted.

“Come on, Dara, fess up. You don’t like snakes.”

She waited a beat, then let her shoulders slump in defeat. “Terrified is a better word.”

“Well, I’m not too fond of them myself. And I doubt we’ll even see one. But as long as we take the proper precautions, it won’t be a real concern anyway.”

Dara started to move up the trail again, but Zach’s hand on her arm stopped her.

“You want to take a break? You know, just sit and absorb the scenery for a while?”

Dara smiled over at him, even though she realized now she hadn’t been nearly as good at concealing her discomfort as she’d thought. “I hate to tell you this, but it all looks pretty much the same to me.”

Zach took hold of her shoulders and turned her around, then slid her pack off. “Come on, there’s a big rock over there with your name on it.”

“Oh goody,” she said dryly, glad to have the load removed, even if only temporarily. “And here I thought they were all in my shoes.”

Zach’s pack hit the dirt trail with a thud. Before she knew what was happening, he’d scooped her up in his arms and was striding off the path into the woods.

Dara didn’t have time to struggle, she barely had time to duck her head toward his chest to keep the low-hanging limbs from beating her senseless.

His breath fanned her cheek as he ducked down to
avoid them too. “Sorry about that. But my hands are sort of full at the moment.”

Dara smiled against his T-shirt. Damn him for being so … him. And then she became aware of his hands wrapped around her thigh just above the knee, and the other one just under her breasts.

Her breath caught at the image of how his hands would feel if they slid up her body. One of his large palms could completely cover her breast. She suppressed a shiver at the thought of how the rough, warm skin would feel against them.

He slowed, then stopped a few seconds later. She lifted her head and found him staring down at her. Instead of the cocky grin she’d expected to find, he wore an expression she could only describe as … hot.

She gulped, suddenly needing to moisten her throat. His eyes told her his thoughts mirrored hers.

A small noise escaped her mouth as she tried to speak, only to find she couldn’t. Apparently he took her parted lips as an invitation. And the moment his mouth covered hers, she wasn’t too sure they hadn’t been.

His lips were warm, his tongue, when it pushed into her mouth, was firm and hot. She followed his tongue back into his mouth, angling his head to better receive her kiss. He groaned deep in his throat, and suddenly dryness was no longer her problem. Anywhere.

Her skin heated from the inside out, she felt every hair on her body lift as sensation after sensation rippled over her. Her moan answered his as he took command of the kiss, deepening it, expanding it.

The arm under her legs slowly pulled away, but he caught her to his chest and let her slide down his body.
She moved closer to him, wanting to feel his contours mold to hers, wanting to know where he was hard and if it would feel as good as she expected pressed against where she was soft.

Her movements elicited another groan from Zach which vibrated against her mouth. He shifted, dragging her more tightly into his embrace. And she found his hardest place.

And when he moved against her, it was more than good, it was enthralling.

Zach settled her feet more firmly on the ground and slid his hands to the front of her shirt, never once taking his mouth from some part of her body. His fingers worked her buttons as his lips worked her neck. His hands pulled her open shirt from her shorts as his teeth pulled and sucked on her earlobe.

She gasped at the first tentative brush of his fingers against her nipples, then arched into his hand, wanting, needing full contact. He complied immediately.

His kisses moved slowly back to her mouth, taking a long, lingering taste that sent any practical thoughts she had left spinning away.

“I want to taste you, Dara.” He pushed her sleeves down to her elbows, forcing her hands to drop from his shoulders. Next came her bra straps, but the sports design wasn’t conducive to a trailside tryst. Dara groaned in frustration, but Zach simply stripped her shirt off.

“Take off your bra for me.”

His voice was rough, but the look in his eyes was so powerful, her hands completed the task with no direction from her mind. The air was cooler in the trees, but that wasn’t why she shivered. Lord, the way he looked at her.

No one had ever looked at her like he did. With such naked want, such need, such intent.

Zach was finding it next to impossible to keep from just pushing her up against the nearest tree, pulling her legs up around his hips and taking her right then and there. God knew he was long past ready. And if the look in her eyes was any indication, so was she.

But he forced himself to slow down, to take each moment for the separate thrill it was. She stood there, her hair wild and mussed, her shorts half open from his fumbled efforts to pull her blouse out. And her breasts. He forced his gaze back to her face and felt as if he’d just taken a running leap off the edge of a cliff. His heart dropped to his knees, the adrenaline sent another hot rush into his system, his pulse roared.

Never would he have thought that the expression in a woman’s eyes could be more erotic, more arousing, more totally captivating, than her naked body. But he couldn’t look away.

She took one of his hands and placed it on her breast. He shuddered. She moaned and shifted under his hand. In the next instant, he’d cupped her nape and pulled her hard against him, fusing his mouth on hers, pouring all the intensity of what she made him feel into that one kiss.

The rush he felt crashed over him with such strength and power, he thought he might actually come from just touching her, from just kissing her.