Concealed Attractions (Cedar Island Tales) (2 page)

Hours later, someone was shaking her shoulder.
“
Danni
, you awake?” Meagan
asked
. “
Ellen
is sick. I’m takin
g her home. Do you think Steve could
drop you off
? So I don’t have to come back for you
?”

Dannilynn
rolled over and rubbed a hand across her face. The lake sparkled in the
early
morning light, almost blinding in its intensity as she
squinted
at Meagan. “Oh. Yeah. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be okay. What time is it?”

“Nearly eight. I think she had too much beer last night.”

Danni
nodded. She didn’t feel all that great herself, the
start
of a headache
pounding
her temples.

“Better put some clothes on before you get up,” Meagan chuckled. “I guess you and Steve really got it on last night.” She turned on her heel and headed for the cars parked at the trailhead.

Danni
sat up. She was n
aked
?
She reached for her blouse, saw that three buttons were missing. “How’d that happen?” she murmured to herself. She pulled on
her
bra, damp from the morning dew
. Her panties seemed to have disappeared, and her
shorts,
lying nearby,
were
also
damp
.
Why hadn’t she folded
her clothes
under the built-in pillow in her sleeping bag, like she usually did?
She shrugged
into her blouse and shorts
, grimacing at their clammy feel on her skin,
and headed for the bath house on the other side of the campground.  At least the fire was out in the pit they’d used the night before
, a caution her father had always insisted upon
.

Danni
was in the shower
,
rinsing the water through her long tresses when Steve’s voice intruded.

“You in there,
Dannilynn
?”

She turned away from the water spray and opened her eyes. “I’ll be out in a minute.” She reached around the shower curtain for the towel, touching instead his hand.

“Here it is,
”
he replied.

“Thanks.”
She dried herself off, wrapped the towel around her hair and reached around the curtain again, this time for her clothes on the hook next to the shower
curtain
.

The curtain
was flung back, and Steve stood there.

Her heart leapt in her throat. He was smiling, but
he
reminded her of a carnivore ready to attack his prey. He held her shorts and shirt in one hand
, her bra dangling from his wrist
. “Come out and get them.”

She pulled the towel from around her head and
wrapped
it
around herself
, blocking his view of her body. “Steve, come
on. I’m cold. I need
to get dressed.
Meagan said you would drive
me home.
Did the other guys leave already?
”

“
Sloan
’s still here
.” His voice had lowered almost to a whisper. “But first you need a lesson.”

“What kind of lesson?” She edged out of the shower stall and angled in the direction of the hand in which he held her clothes.

“You embarrassed me
yesterday
in front of my frie
nds. No one gets away with that
.
I don’t like bitches who tease. You’re not turning into one of th
em
, are you, Danni?
”

Her heart began to thud in her chest. Something about his voice reminded her of her father whenever he was angry with her, insisting that she follow orders, do things
his
way. Maybe if she tried to laugh off her fear. “I don’t know what you’re ta
lking about.
Stop teasing me and g
ive me my clothes
.”

“Me teasing you?
How about you never coming
unless you’re knocked out?”
He dropped
her clothes
on the far bench. “Come and get them,” and he took two steps away from her.

She darted toward the bench, clutching the towel around her, but Steve grabbed one end of the towel and stripped it
away
. With his other hand, he slammed her against the wall. Her
ears ra
ng and she slid to the floor, stunned.

“
Hey
,” she gasped. “That hurt. Let me go!”

“
I should
fuck
you right here
.” He straddled her, one arm pressing against her
shoulders,
preventing her from getting away, his other hand
forcing her legs apart
.

Her eyes widened
and her pulse began to race
.

“No! Steve! P
lease.
Let me go.
”

But the words seemed only to antagonize him further. “Do I have to tell you again? You don’t say no to me.
No
slut
tells me no
.” 

She
managed a scream before he slapped her once, twice and
was fumbling with his zipper
when
voices could be heard outside the bath house
.
Sloan
, maybe?
Steve
released her
and tossed the towel in her face
. “
No one tells me
no
. Remember that.”
He turned on his heel and left her

H
er eyes burning,
shocked
, Danni
remained where she was for a
long
minute before
scrambling to her feet and
go
ing
back into the shower stall, not caring that the water was cold,
as she tried
to wash away the feel and smell of him
, the
terror
he’d generated
replaying in her mind
.

She walked
out of the bath house and scanned the area
. When she saw no one else,
she rolled up her sleeping bag and
ran
for the parking lot and the road. The second car that passed her slowed, stopped and offered her a ride
. Back to
home
and safety
.

Chapter
2

“There you are, sweet thing.”
Her
mother embraced
Dannilynn
when she opened the back door into the kitchen
.
Two days after being home
on Cedar Island, one of the San Juans,
she was still looking for a summer job.

“Joel Taylor
just
called
to
ask
if you
’re interested in
working at
his
clinic this summer
.
Or did Mr. Cosimo at the grocery store have a spot for you?
”

“He
’s
already hired someone. I should have told him
I’d be available
after
f
inals
w
eek. B
ut
the vet clinic would be more fun.”
Danni
smile
d
. Something good to look forward to
after finding out
her
job
at the grocery store
was no longer available
.

“Oh, and t
his is for you. Someone
named Steve called, and said he’d
see you
when
you’re back at Buckley
.”

As if she
wanted
to see him.
Fall quarter at Buckley
would be
way
too soon.
Not after what he’d
tried to do
.
She bit her lip as she retreated to her room to change clothes, wishing she could just forget about the end of that camping trip.

Danni
parked he
r bike at the back entrance of
New H
arbor Veterinary
Hospital
and walked around to the front. She grinn
ed at Bronwyn, the receptionist,
who waved her toward the entrance to
the
general
treatment room
.

A tall, slim guy
—almost a head taller than the veterinarian—
was standing next to Joel
, who
was
administer
ing
an injection to a
brindle-colored
Great Dane.

“Hold still, Tiny,”
Joel
grunted. “Got i
t. Thanks, Ben
, for holding him
. G
o ahead and take him back. We’ll check him
in an hour to see if he’s calm enough for the procedure
.”

Ben
lifted
the leash
off the dog’s back
. Tiny
immediately
pulled
him
toward the
exit
door.

“Wrong direction, Tiny.”
Danni
reached for
the dog
and stroked the top of his head
. “Hi, baby.”

The dog
stopped in his tracks,
wagged his tail
,
and tried to lick her hand.

“Let me take him, Joel. He
walks just fine
for
me.” She
smirk
ed
at the tall young man
, who watched her in silence
, his mouth curving upward
,
and
took
the lead from him.

When she returned, Joel was wiping down the table. “
Danni
, y
ou
just
earned your job back.
That is, i
f you’re available. Are you?
”

“Yes, as long as it’s full
time. Not like last summer.”

“It is.”
He motioned for the
two of them
to follow him
into his office. 

“Ben, this
little lady
with the long black braid
is
Dannilynn
Kelly. She was my
part-time
vet-assistant-wanting-to-be-vet-tech
-
extraordinaire last summer before she flew the coop and
took off for
that snooty Buckley College.
Danni
, this is Benjamin Edwards
, my new extern
. For reasons he has yet to fully explain
, he
claim
s
he wants
to be a vet,
so he’s spending
the next eleven months
with me
to see how it’s done.  His name is
almost
as long as he is, but we’ve shortened it to Ben so he won’t get too big for his britches.” Joel
chuckl
ed, pushing his
half-
glasses up
his nose and brushing his
coppery
forelock out of his eyes in one smooth motion.

Ben
stood up and reached out to shake
her
hand wh
ile
she
craned
her neck upward
, the better to focus on his face
.

Green eyes. Like the ocean after a rain. He had a craggy face, not exactly handsome
,
with
a nose that sat slightly off-center.
Had he
run into someone’s elbow
on the basketball court
?
“How tall
are
you?”
she asked.

“
Six six.
You?”

“
A foot shorter
. D
oes that
matt
er?”