The Girl's Guide to (Man)Hunting (25 page)

She opened her eyes and continued to stroke his neck, waiting.

He turned back to her, his eyes hooded. She met his gaze, and he searched her face, as if looking for something there. “But that was before this week. Before you. I haven’t touched a woman in over three years. Didn’t want to…until I saw you again, and realized what I wanted. And I wanted to say thank you. Like I said, this week was perfect.”

He kissed the side of her mouth.

She twitched under him, not saying anything. After a moment, he chuckled and rolled off her, then pulled her close, cuddling her. Miranda said nothing, simply closed her eyes and waited for more. He snuggled close, his breath in the curve of her neck, and his breathing grew deep and even. Sleeping.

She couldn’t sleep. Her mind was freaking out.

Dane had just confessed why he’d been kicked out of hockey. Someone else had done it to him. Casanova Croft was a fraud. He wasn’t a ladies’ man or a poon hound. Underneath the sexy, ultraconfident exterior was a man who’d apparently been thinking about nailing her for nine years, and who had been so hurt by a woman that he’d not had sex since being betrayed.

The jerk had a soft side. A really big soft side. A vulnerable one that he’d launched straight in front of her bull’s-eye.

And in that awful, wonderful, tender, horrific moment, Miranda realized two things.

One—that she wasn’t going to be coldhearted enough to get her revenge on Dane Croft after all.

And two—that she was still terribly, horribly, head over heels in love with the man and likely had been since high school.

Well…fuck.

T

“Hey, gorgeous,” he’d said with a grin and a light smack to her ass.

She given him a flustered smile back, but her mind was racing a million miles a minute. He hadn’t left her last night. They’d slept in each other’s arms. That felt like relationship material.

Under no circumstances could she entertain a relationship with Dane. None. Zero.

Preoccupied, she hadn’t minded when he’d kissed her forehead, dressed, and went about breaking down camp.

She dressed just as quickly. “So…shouldn’t we be heading back?”

A grin broke across his handsome face, and she felt her breath catch. Lord, he was easy on the eyes. She’d grown too used to seeing that face when she woke up. That’d change soon enough.

“Right.” He belted his shorts and pulled a piece of paper out of it and handed it to her. It was a small map with instructions. “When I met you yesterday, I was supposed to give you this.” He gave her a look that was part chagrin, part pleased with himself. “Looks like we forgot. You can follow this back to the main camp. I need to swing by and check on the others to make sure they broke down their campsites.”

“Great,” she said with a bright smile. “I guess once I have things taken care of here, I’ll see you back at base camp.”

His look immediately became troubled. “Miranda…”

She moved toward him and couldn’t stop herself from plucking a pine needle off of his shirt and brushing it clean. Her hands lingered on his chest, thinking of last night and how good it had felt to be in his arms.

“I’m not going to say anything to anyone,” she said softly, knowing that was his unspoken question. “It’s your job, and I know that if we exposed our secret, it could ruin you.”

“Wrong,” he said, and tugged her closer, pulling her hips against his as if he wanted to drag her back to the remnants of camp and lie in bed for a few hours longer. He smiled down at her. “I’ve been thinking…”

“Oh?” She forced a light smile to her face. Nothing good ever accompanied the words
I’ve been thinking
.

“When I get back, I’m going to talk to the guys. Let them
know about us. We shouldn’t have to hide what we did. I’m not ashamed.”

She stared up at him. “What?”

“I’m going to tell them about us,” he repeated patiently, and tugged at her hips as if it could drag her attention back to the conversation. “You and me…I want them to know about us. I just need some time to talk to the guys. Ease them into it. Leave it to me. I want them to know you’re mine, and we’re together.”

Miranda smiled up at him, the pit of her stomach sick. “If you’re sure…”

“I’m sure. Just leave it to me.” He reached down and touched the side of her neck, then pulled her in for a long, hard kiss. “See you back at camp.”

Miranda broke down her campsite and headed back to the base camp. It took about half the morning, but along the way, she ran into Steve and they walked back together in cheerful companionship. Though she forced herself to answer his conversation with calm, happy responses, her mind was wild with uncertainty.

Dane wanted to continue their relationship. She was leaving for Houston far too soon, starting a new life. There was no room for him there. What could she do? Tell him the truth? That she’d been out for revenge due to a high school prank but he was so amazing in bed she’d changed her mind, and they should make a go for it until she had to bail out and move to Houston?

Say nothing and just disappear? Confess the truth? She was torn.

Following the coordinates on the tiny map, they were able to find a finish line tape set up between two stout trees. Brenna and
Grant waited there, excited to see the students trickle in from the woods. Nearby, a few other students had already returned. They still had their backpacks on, and stood chatting, clearly not ready to leave yet. In the distance, Miranda could see the ranch house that was the business headquarters.

Brenna wore a party hat. She blew a paper horn at the sight of them and whirled a noisemaker as Miranda and Steve stepped through the ribbon at the same time. “Congratulations!” she called. “You both passed with flying colors! Come over here so I can give you your certificates.”

Miranda was suddenly surrounded by other well-wishers—people from her team, people from the other team, Grant, Brenna—everyone wanted to shake her hand and chat with her about how the week had gone. Brenna handed her a certificate. “Thank you for being a part of Wilderness Survival this past week.”

Dazed, Miranda took the certificate and glanced around. No Dane, no Colt. No Pete, but that was a good thing. “Is…everyone here?”

“Not yet,” explained Brenna. “I think we had one or two get lost in the woods. Dane went to track them down.” She grinned at Miranda. “Still working the kinks out in everything with it being the first class. Glad you made it, though!”

Miranda gave her a weak smile.

Grant stepped in front of her, camera in hand. Oh. “Hey, Miranda,” he said with a friendly smile. “Good to see you again. I heard you’d signed up. You’re just in time for me to get your picture for our graduation board.”

Miranda froze, her skin crawling at the sight of the camera.
Suddenly, she did not want her picture taken. She didn’t want to stand here and awkwardly wait for Dane. She didn’t want the others to smile and hug her and chat.

She wanted to run very far away. She wanted to leave this week behind and forget it had ever happened. She was sorry she’d ever gotten in the closet with Dane Croft nine years ago. She was sorry about the pictures, and about her revenge that had gone so very, very wrong.

Houston and her new job was her future. Bluebonnet was her past. And that past now included a very torrid week with Dane Croft.

She held up a hand in front of her face, blocking the camera. “Can I talk to you, Brenna?”

The assistant cocked her head and studied Miranda with piercing green eyes. “Sure.”

She moved to the edge of the trees, away from the others, and waited for Brenna to follow. When the assistant did, Miranda pitched her story, careful to place a hand on her lower abdomen and look pained.

Her excuse? Girl problems.

Brenna looked sympathetic, and when Miranda said she wanted to leave early, even escorted her out to her car. She had to sign some paperwork certifying that she’d finished the class, but within a few minutes of arriving back, she pulled her car out of the gravel parking lot and was turning onto the highway, her mind whirling.

Okay, so she’d just run away from her problems. Cowardly, yes. But it was for the best. A nice, clean break with Dane would be easiest.

After all, it had been a nice clean break nine years ago, hadn’t it?

Sort of?

“Here we go,” Dane said, forcing a cheerful note to his voice as he clapped George on the back. Brenna had set up the finish line again and tooted her celebratory horn as he led the older man back to the finish line. Others stood around and clapped, laughing and smiling. They looked happy. Dane was glad.

Right now, he was just tired. It had been a long week and he wanted to crawl into a shower, and then crawl into bed.

Preferably both with Miranda at his side. She’d been quiet that morning, no doubt wondering how their relationship was going to last now that the class was over. She probably thought they were just fuck buddies, and he’d seen a hint of something in her eyes last night. Something had been bothering her.

And he knew, after seeing that unease and unhappiness in her eyes, that he wanted to take care of it for her. Wanted to be there for her. And it seemed he’d never really gotten Miranda out of his system, had he? Even now, they’d spent a few hours apart and he craved seeing her, scanned the crowd for her pretty, flushed face and that long sweep of silky brown hair that made him hard as a rock when it brushed against him.

Nine years and it had felt like it was just yesterday that he was holding hands with Miranda after graduation, lusting after her.

Being with her had reset something cold and hard in his system. Something that he hadn’t liked in himself. The part of him that had withered when he’d quit hockey. It was back now.
Damned inconvenient timing, but you didn’t get to choose when you felt yourself stirring back to life again.

Sometimes life just happened.

So Dane shook hands and smiled and posed for photos with his students for a time, but he didn’t see Miranda. Bathroom break? Had she run off to freshen up? He kept glancing around, looking for her, waiting to hear her sultry laugh.

A big hand clapped him on the shoulder, and he turned to see Colt grinning at him. “Good week.”

“Good enough,” said Dane evasively. “How’d it go on your end?”

“Uneventfully,” Colt said. He crossed his arms over his chest and nodded at the group milling around. “Everyone passed, though there were one or two that had no sense of direction and needed some help. Thought we were gonna starve on day two, but they figured it out after a while.” He eyed Dane. “You?”

“One fool,” he said, thinking of Pete. “Other than that, no complaints.”

“So how was Miranda?” Colt asked. “She whine the whole time about getting her hands dirty or something?”

He forced himself not to stiffen or act evasive. Why was Colt asking about Miranda specifically? “She was a real trouper,” he said. “No complaints.”

“Huh,” Colt shrugged. “I remember her being friends with Beth Ann, is all. That blonde is way high maintenance. Thought Miranda’d be a little more prissy and scared of the woods. So what made her sign up?”

“I didn’t ask,” he said. Was Colt fishing for information?
What did he think he knew? Dane wanted to talk to him privately—Grant, too—but with all the clients around, now was not the time to have a discussion about the client he’d been sleeping with. He knew Grant was not going to react to the news well. They needed quiet, and a bit of time to wind down from the class before he let them know about Miranda and him. And if they didn’t like it, well, it wasn’t any of their business.

Plus, he really just wanted to find Miranda at the moment. “Listen, I thought she’d be able to find it back on her own, but I might need to go rescue her.”

“She’s already come and gone,” Colt said with a shrug.

His eyes narrowed and focused on the other man. “What?”

“Like I said, gone.” Colt turned away, done with the conversation.

Frustrated, Dane scanned the small crowd and saw Grant’s tall form in the distance. He plowed through the crowd and approached his friend, who was messing with a tripod. “Where’d Miranda Hill go?”

Grant shrugged, double-checking the settings on his camera. “Saw her chatting with Brenna and then she hightailed it out of here fast. Shame she’s gonna miss the team photo.”

Had to be a mistake. Miranda had come in his arms so sweetly last night. She’d liked him. Trusted him enough to let him tie her up. Hell, trusted him enough to fuck him like her life depended on it. Surely she wouldn’t have left without giving him her phone number. Something.

He stalked off after Brenna.

“Good to see you, too,” Grant said drily as he walked away.

Brenna was busy at her little table, filling out certificates and chatting with the clients. She gave him a cool sideways glance under her long lashes. “’Sup, Dane?”

“Where’d Miranda Hill go? I don’t see her here with the rest.”

She looked unconcerned, and returned to filling out the latest certificate. “She left already.”

Disbelief flared. “What do you mean, she left already?”

“I mean she left already,” Brenna said slowly, as if she were speaking to someone mentally incompetent. “She got in her car and left. Said she was done here anyhow.”

What the fuck? Was she cutting and running? Why? “Un-fucking-believable.”

“Oh, don’t get your panties in a bunch,” Brenna said, misunderstanding his reaction. “We can take the team picture without her. One person isn’t going to make a difference.” When he said nothing, she added, “It wasn’t because she was unhappy with the class or anything. Said she was real pleased. I think she was sick.”

Sick? He shot Brenna a look of disbelief. “She was sick and you let her go off on her own?”