The Girl's Guide to (Man)Hunting (22 page)

Day six was designated as team-building and team exercises. Brenna showed up again on her ATV and brought more props, and they had obstacle races and puzzles that couldn’t be solved without the help of all team members. There were challenges and the prize of the reward camp again.

Their team lost. By the time they got back to their last designated camp and restarted their fire, they were exhausted and curled up in their respective shelters. Miranda didn’t approach
Dane that night at all, remembering what Pete had said about her snuggling up to Dane over and over again. Yet another night of enforced celibacy. Miranda went to bed hoping that Dane was starting to feel just as sexually frustrated as she was.

The final day dawned rainy and wet, and with it came an odd sense of anxiousness on Miranda’s part. This was the last chance—her chance to “hook” Dane Croft. She wasn’t ready, she thought as they broke down the camp as the rain trickled over them, the skies gray and the ground underneath their feet slushy and wet.

Once the campsite was pristine once more, Dane gathered them all together. “You’ve all learned a lot this week, and I’m proud of you. You have one more task to go—I’m going to send you out in the wilderness on your own until tomorrow, and we’ll see how you do.”

Miranda crossed her arms, watching Dane as he gave them a pep talk about the final day. She knew what it would be about—they’d go out, make a shelter, build a fire, catch some dinner, show off their skills, and then go home with a blue ribbon. She’d had different plans for this day earlier in the week—seduce Dane at her little campsite and take pictures of him, naked. But her camera had been confiscated and she’d been sleeping with the object of her revenge all week.

And she liked it. And him. And she didn’t know what to think about that. She could still implement the revenge plot, of course. Tease him, invite him to her camp, and then she’d find out if she’d hooked Dane enough for her to put the next phase of her revenge into action. Otherwise, this was all for nothing.

Not nothing, she amended with a flush, thinking of all the
times she’d gone boneless with ecstasy in his arms this week. If anything, this crazy little revenge-slash-experiment had proven something very important to her: that she was sexual after all, and the problem wasn’t on her end. That made her feel immense relief. If she could have an orgasm with her nemesis, she could surely have one with a regular boyfriend.

Strangely, the thought of archenemies and revenge was making her uncomfortable. She shifted on her feet and hugged her arms close, only half paying attention to the lecture Dane was giving them. The others were eating it up, but she didn’t plan on showing off her skills. She planned on getting Dane alone and seducing him. He’d shown her knots two days ago and as he’d demonstrated the appropriate knots to use for trapping, her nipples had gone hard for reasons that had nothing to do with trapping. Something about the way he’d pulled the rope taut and held it out to her had made her instantly wet.

He’d noticed it, too, the heated look returning to his own eyes. But all he’d done was pass her the rope and say nothing more.

She knew he was conflicted—that Colt and Grant would eat him alive if they’d found out what the two of them were up to. The thought left her with uneasy guilt, and she pushed it aside. Guilt was for the weak, and she was finally going to take what she wanted even if she had to step all over the man she was sleeping with to do so. Too bad he was so distracting. She thought of his naked body, gleaming in the moonlight, all hard muscles and that amazing little dip at his hip that she always wanted to run her tongue along—

“Here you go, Miranda,” Dane said, appearing before her.
She blinked up and automatically took the items he handed to her. It was a tiny bundle with a tightly wrapped piece of plastic-covered paper and what looked like a wristband of some kind.

She raised an eyebrow at him.

“Were you listening to what I was saying?” he said patiently.

“Um, sort of,” she said with a half smile. “Refresher?”

He chuckled and took the wristband from her, pulling her arm out and snapping it around her wrist. “That’s so I can find you if you get lost.” He handed her the plastic-covered piece of paper. “That’s your map. You’re going to be at camp six tonight. You need to find it and set up. I’ll swing by later to check on you.”

“Oh, of course,” she said hastily. “Sorry. I thought you were talking about something else. Camp six. Yep. Got it.” God, she was babbling. “Thanks.”

They stared at each other for a moment, and then he gestured at the forest with a lazy smile. “You going to go or stick around here all day?”

Oh! She looked around but sure enough, almost everyone else had shouldered their packs and was heading into the woods. She looked back at Dane, then the woods. “Are you going to, um…find me?”

He looked at her very calmly, then seemed to scan the woods, as if she’d asked him about directions instead of a rendezvous. A quick glance showed that Pete was hanging around camp, obviously waiting to talk to her. Sigh. Steve immediately broke off from the others and began to jog into the forest, eager to start out on his own. The others were just as eager. Not Pete. He wanted to wait for his new BFF Miranda, it seemed.

So much for inviting Dane to her campsite tonight. She
glanced over at him. “You know where I’ll be,” she said in a soft voice that she hoped was inviting. “I’ll skip the panties.”

And with that, she turned and walked out of camp, heading for the trees, armed with her tiny map. Camp six was across two creeks and over a hill—quite a hike for her. That was okay; in the last week she’d found she enjoyed hiking quite a bit.

Pete hung behind for a minute, and when Miranda moved forward, he showed her his map. “I’m at camp three, Miranda. Where are you at?”

God, he was annoying. In the last week of spending every day with the man, she’d learned to appreciate not having him in her life. He was bothersome as hell and didn’t seem to realize it. He was also clingy and tried to go with her everywhere.

“I’m at six,” she replied after a moment, thanking the powers that be for the extra campsites between theirs. She didn’t want to be his neighbor.

He looked crestfallen at the thought. “Camp six is all the way on the far edge of the map.”

“That sucks,” she lied. It really didn’t suck much at all. Had Dane given her the most private campsite on purpose? Was he going to meet her tonight?

Pete gestured at the woods. “You want to walk the same way until we hit the creek?”

This would be the last time she’d have to deal with his aggravating self, at least. So she plastered a cheerful smile on her face and didn’t even look back at Dane. “Sure thing, Pete.”

TWELVE

S

he ditched Pete on the far side of the stream. He’d offered to follow her to her campsite and help her with setting up, but she’d been a little affronted that he thought she needed his unasked-for help and had chased him off with a few cheerful encouragements that he should set up his own camp. She was glad he was gone, though. Pete was just underfoot too much, was too eager, too chatty, too everything. He was a nice guy—cute in a geeky sort of way and well off, but her mind was laser-focused on Dane.

The silence left behind by Pete’s departure was pleasing. Without him in her ear making small talk, she was able to relax and enjoy the day. She’d given up on stressing over Dane. If he showed up tonight, great. If he didn’t, well. If she couldn’t keep him interested long enough for phase two of her revenge plan, then it wasn’t meant to be.

Picking up a piece of firewood, she frowned to herself at the thought.

Jeez, where had the laissez-faire attitude come from? She’d come out here to destroy a man in the most cutthroat manner. She was blatantly using him for her own ends. When had she gone from “Destroy Dane and everything he touches” to “Oh well, it is what it is”? That wouldn’t do at all.

She stopped for a minute, picturing the photos on that horrible cheap website with “Casanova” flashing in some poorly animated gif. The looks she got in town. The snickers. The awkward conversations at the town get-togethers. Her mother’s total mental breakdown. The old familiar pain began to burn in her belly, filling her with an angry reminder of what she was doing here.

She was here to destroy a man. So she’d ended up sleeping with him. It didn’t mean that she had to change course. And it didn’t mean that she had to have feelings for the man. She didn’t.

She wouldn’t.

She couldn’t.

Scowling to herself at the traitorous thoughts, she scooped up a few likely branches as she walked. Her camp was easy to find—there was a nice clear spot with a small red flag stuck into the ground. The creek was a short distance away, the trees were tall, and the area was secluded. Nice. She set down her wood, her pack, and set to work. The first task for the day would be a fire. Once she had it going, she could begin the next task—a shelter. That would be a bigger project, as she needed to make it big enough for two. Just in case. Food was last on the priority list, since it would probably involve leaving camp, and she wanted to stick around, just in case Dane showed up.

When
he showed up, she amended. He’d said he’d come by to check how her “survival day” was coming along. No sign of him yet, she thought as she laid the wood in a pile for her fire, but it was early.

After an hour’s hard work she’d produced a fire with a spindle and bow and was oddly pleased she was able to do so. You couldn’t make a fire every time with rubbing sticks, but she’d been able to do it today, and that was a nice feat. Wouldn’t Dane be impressed? She fed it more kindling to build the flame, and when it was nice and healthy, she added a few small logs to the fire. Then she set to work on her lean-to. She took her time, the task requiring a lot of work, a lot of trekking back and forth, and tending the fire.

First she had to build the A-frame and lash it together. When it was solid, she made a lattice of small branches on one side to form the windbreak, and then continued to stack tree branches on it, shoving dirt high against the bottom edge to ensure that nothing could crawl under. Then she worked on laying some soft pine branches as a bed, and spread her spare hooded sweatshirt down over the branches. After that was done, she stood up and wiped her brow, exhausted and surprised at how much the tasks had taken out of her.

There was still so much to do—she had to catch dinner or go foraging, boil water for her canteen, gather more wood for the fire…She eyed the creek, then eyed the sun, low in the sky. She’d do that stuff after she had a nice rinse off. If Dane showed up—
when
, she corrected herself—she didn’t want to be sweaty and exhausted. She wanted to be fresh and sexy.

She stripped and took a quick dip in the stream, letting the
water refresh her spirits and ease her aching muscles. She quickly dressed in her last pair of cute, clean panties and her last bra—a delicate pink set edged with black lace, just enough to make it girlish with a naughty side. A quick glance around camp told her that food wasn’t going to magically spring forth, so she sighed and grabbed a stick that would make a likely fishing pole. The creek had had a few deeper, slower-moving areas with overhanging branches, which were the perfect spots for fish to hide. She would have the best luck there.

She fished for two hours (with frequent trips back to her campsite to check on her banked fire) but by the time the sun was going down, she’d caught nothing. Well, she’d eat tomorrow.

It didn’t matter, really. She could survive on her own—she had fire, a shelter, and she could eat some grasses and nuts. She had water to drink, and a fire to boil it over. She was set. She wondered if the other students had had as much success as she had.

After a moment, she gave a rueful smile and decided they probably had. Dane was a good teacher.

When she returned to her campsite, she knelt next to the fire and adjusted the logs. The bushes behind her rustled. Miranda whirled, startled. Was Dane finally—

But no. To her surprise, Pete emerged from the woods, sweaty and unkempt. A smear of dirt bisected one cheek, and he held a fish strung through a small branch, carrying it toward her camp.

Well, hell. She glanced around uneasily—was Dane not coming? Was she going to be stuck entertaining Pete all night?

“Hey, Miranda,” Pete said cheerfully.
“I brought you a fish.”

“Pete, what are you doing here?”

He looked confused that she wasn’t greeting him more happily. “I brought you a fish.” And he raised it in the air, as if it weren’t obvious. “Just in case you weren’t able to catch your own.”

Irritation flashed through Miranda, but she quickly tamped it down again. He meant well, even if he managed to insult her with everything he did. “Thanks, Pete, but I’m good. I don’t want your fish. We’re supposed to be surviving on our own, remember? No help from the others.”

He looked surprised at her rebuke, as if it had never occurred to him that he’d need to do stuff on his own—or that she’d be capable of handling herself. “Oh. I see. Well, I just thought I would help.” He gave her a wounded-puppy look. “Sorry, Miranda.”

She sighed and forced a smile to her mouth. “It’s a sweet thought, Pete, but don’t you think you should get back to your own campsite with that fish before Dane drops by? You want to pass the course.”

“Oh, he’s already dropped by,” said Pete casually. “I’m guessing he’s already stopped by the others, too.”

“Oh?”

He gave her a knowing look. “Miranda, I’m not stupid. I know what’s going on between you two. I think we both know where Dane’s last stop is going to be tonight.”

Her heart pounded hard in her chest, her breath disappearing. “What do you mean?”

He gave her a wry look. “Come on, Miranda. I’ve seen you and Dane sneaking off to be together this week, and I’ve seen the way you’ve been looking at him. I just want to tell you that you’re going to get your heart broken. He’s not interested in a relationship.”

The constriction in her chest relaxed a little, and she felt absurdly like laughing. Was that what he was worried about? That she might be used by Dane and would need a bit of rescuing by a white knight? Generous of him, but totally incorrect.