Chapter 1
Ridge
I slid the key in the doorknob and
turned it. This vacation couldn’t have come soon enough. I was still aggravated
with my boss after his little stunt yesterday, and I’d just spent a forty-five
minute drive with my younger sister, Kelsey, and her best friend, Brandy, both
of whom talked nonstop the entire time. I was relieved that they had finally dropped
me off at the cabin. Until they came to pick me up next week, I was completely
and utterly alone, not one soul to get on my nerves.
Pushing the door open, I immediately
caught sight of the huge lake that glistened just beyond the wall of windows at
the back of the living room. Leaving my luggage and groceries on the front
porch for the time being, I entered the room, drawn by the majestic beauty of
the lake and the solitude that I craved.
“Don’t move,” a soft, sultry voice
informed me.
Ignoring her command, I spun around in
search of the voice’s owner.
“I said don’t move,” she repeated, and
just to prove her point, she extended her arms, the barrel of her pink .38
revolver daring me to snub her instructions again.
“Holy sh**,” I mumbled, throwing my
hands in the air. “Don’t shoot, babe.”
She motioned toward me with the gun,
her long, blond hair swaying with the movement. “Don’t call me ‘babe’.”
“Okay.” Psychotic lunatic. “Unfortunately, I didn’t catch your name.”
I kept my eyes on the girl, afraid that
if I looked away for even a second, I’d be shot by a girlie gun. D***, my
friends would never let me live that one down, not that it’d matter if I
actually died.
My captor looked to be in her early
twenties, and her red tank top hugged her body like a second skin, falling just
short of reaching her low-rise jeans. The resulting gap revealed a narrow strip
of flat abdomen.
If I weren’t under duress at the
moment, I might spend a little more time noticing that she was sexy as h***, but
considering my current predicament, I chose to concentrate on finding a way out
of this precarious situation.
She looked nervous, like maybe she
didn’t know what to do.
“Put the gun down,” I said softly,
keeping my voice calm and even as I took a step toward her.
She lifted it even higher. “What do you
want?”
I wanted a lot of things, and at the
top of the list was to be left the h***
alone. This was my vacation. No crazy people allowed.
Taking another step toward her with my
hands out in a conciliatory manner, I tried to gauge whether I could grab her hand
before she could get a shot off. “I’m supposed to be staying here.”
“Don’t come any closer,” she warned.
Her eyes darted toward the window, and
when they did, I lunged forward and grabbed her hand, forcing it and the
revolver into the air. I spun her around, her back against my chest, and put
her in a chokehold while simultaneously ripping the gun from her grasp.
She shoved her elbow into my stomach,
and I grunted in reaction to the sharp pain that exploded from the point of
contact. I tightened my hold on her neck and tucked the gun into the back of my
pants, freeing my other hand to snake around her body and pin her arms down.
“Calm down,” I whispered in her ear.
She was panting heavily and writhing like an alligator taking down its prey.
“Let me go,” she demanded.
“I will,” I agreed, “as soon as you
calm down.” She smelled good, a tropical scent.
“Who are you?” she demanded. “What do
you want from me?”
“I’m just a guy trying to take a d***
vacation and train for a triathlon. I don’t want anything from you.”
“Why are you in my cabin?” she shrieked.
I exhaled heavily in her ear. “I could
ask you the same thing.” Why was she in my
cabin, the cabin that I was supposed to have all to myself for an entire week?
“My sister’s friend arranged for me to
stay in this cabin,” she explained.
“When did you get here?” I asked,
loosening my hold on her.
“Last night,” she answered.
“I didn’t see a car out front. When are
you supposed to leave?”
“My sister wanted to borrow my car. I’m
supposed to be picked up next Sunday.”
What the h*** was going on? Her story
was identical to mine. Kelsey had wanted to borrow my car, and it was her
friend, Brandy, who had arranged for me to borrow her parents’ cabin.
“Who’s your sister?” I asked as
theories began formulating in my mind.
“London.”
The name sounded familiar. “Who
arranged for you to stay in this cabin?”
“Brandy.”
I chuckled in disbelief. “We’ve been
duped. Brandy’s also the one that arranged for me to stay in this cabin—by
myself.”
I released her, and she spun around and
looked at me. “You know Brandy?”
I nodded. “She’s my sister’s best
friend.”
Pulling her gun from the waist of my
jeans, I opened the chamber and spun it around. “No bullets?”
Her brow furrowed. “I have bullets.”
I handed her the gun. “And the emperor
has new clothes.”
As I fished my phone from my pocket, I
watched her check the chamber herself.
“I had bullets.” She stared at the open
chamber, astounded. “What’s going on?” she asked, tucking the gun in her
waistband and looking way too sexy as she crossed her arms over her voluptuous
chest.
I started to dial Kelsey’s number only
to realize that I had no signal. “S***.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t have a signal. Do you have a phone?”
“Yeah, but it won’t do you any good,
either. I tried to use it last night, and I had no bars.” She studied me
intently. “So who are you?”
H***, where were my manners? For some
reason, having the barrel of a pink gun aimed at me had impaired my social
skills. “I’m Ridge Sutherland, and it appears that Brandy and my little sister,
Kelsey, are being devious.”
“Kelsey’s your sister?”
“Yeah, you know Kelsey?”
“I’ve met her a few times.”
“I assume that you’re not in a
relationship,” I said. “No boyfriend?
Husband?”
“Nope. I’m single.”
I laughed at my stupidity for falling
so completely for their trickery. “That’s what I thought. I think what we have
here,” I said motioning back and forth between us, “is a clear case of
matchmaking by my annoying little sister and her best friend. This isn’t the
first time that they’ve pulled something like this.” I thought about almost
getting shot. “But it will be the last.”
Her mouth dropped open, and she quickly
closed it again. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I had no idea.”
“I figured as much.” I motioned toward the door. “There’s gotta be
a cabin rental office around here somewhere. I’ll just go see if I can find one
or maybe a landline.”
A flicker of emotion crossed her face,
but before I could decipher what it was, she pasted on a smile. “I understand
if you don’t want to stay here with me, seeing how I almost shot you and all,
but there’re three bedrooms. It wouldn’t be terrible if we both stayed here
this week, would it? We can stay out of
each other’s way.”
A pang of guilt spread across my chest.
“I didn’t mean to offend you. I just figured you wouldn’t want to stay with a
total stranger.”
“Well, you may be a stranger, but
you’re Kelsey’s brother. So you’re not really a total stranger. Kelsey’s a real sweetheart, so I assume that you
must be a decent guy. Otherwise, I don’t think Brandy would’ve left me alone
with you. Although, it would’ve been nice to have known ahead of time, before I
pulled my gun out.”
“Agreed.”
“Why don’t you stay?” she asked.
“If you’re sure….”
She smiled again, and her mood seemed
to lighten. She held her hand out to me. “I’m Ava Nottingham.”
I shook her hand, noting how warm and
soft and small it seemed in mine.
“Nice to meet you, Ava. I guess I need
to bring in my things and find me a bedroom.”
She pointed back towards the living
room. “I took the master bedroom at the end of the hall. There’s two more, but
the first bedroom on the right has a spectacular view of the lake.”
“First bedroom on the right it is.” Stepping
out on the porch, I gathered up my duffel bag and the plastic bags from the
grocery store. I dropped the food off in the kitchen and went in search of the
bedroom that Ava had suggested. The door was open, and I tossed my duffel bag
on the bed as I walked to the huge picture window to absorb the view. Ava was
right. The view was spectacular.
Sunlight glinted off the surface of the
lake, and I was eager to start my training for an upcoming triathlon. I’d been
swimming in the lap pool at the gym, but I wanted to experience swimming in
open water. I quickly shut the bedroom door and changed into my swimsuit.
After grabbing the flip flops and beach
towel that were stuffed in the bottom of my bag, I dropped the flip flops to
the floor, slid my feet in them, and went to find Ava. I found her bent over,
putting groceries on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, and I caught myself smiling.
“I didn’t mean for you to put the
groceries up,” I said, although I certainly had no complaints.
She stood up and twisted around,
surprised to find me standing a few feet behind her. Her hand flew to her chest.
“You scared me,” she said breathlessly.
“I’m sorry.”
She pushed loose strands of golden hair
from her face and tugged at the hem of her tank top, lowering it back into
place. Her eyes locked on my bare chest.
“I’m going for a swim. You wanna go?”
She opened her mouth as if she were
going to speak, but quickly shut it. She shook her head. “No, you go ahead.”
“Are you sure?”
She pursed her lips and nodded, her
eyes darting up to meet mine and then falling back to my chest. “Yeah.”
“Okay. Here, let me help you finish
putting up the groceries.” I began
pulling items out of the bags and found a white envelope with my name scrawled on
it. “What the h*** is this?”
Opening the envelope, I found a letter,
and I read it out loud.
Ridge and Ava,
By
now, I guess the two of you have met. Don’t be mad. Just relax and have a fun
week. Ava, just so you know, London took your bullets. Believe me when I say,
both of you will thank us later.
Love,
Kelsey, London, and Brandy
“Just as I thought,” I grumbled,
turning my attention back to the groceries.
“I guess we can kill them later,” Ava
said, folding it back up and tucking it back in the envelope. “For now, we may
as well make the best of it.”
“May as well,” I agreed.
When we had emptied all of the plastic
bags, I picked up my towel. “Come on out if you change your mind.”
Ava smiled. “Okay.”
The water refreshed me as I walked into
the lake, although the mud at the bottom squished between my toes giving the
experience a little bit of a yuck factor. I scanned the width of the lake, wondering
in which direction I should swim. After a few minutes of warming up my muscles,
I finally decided to just plunge ahead, not too far away from the shoreline,
and swim until I became winded. Then, I’d turn around and hopefully be back at
my starting position before I became too fatigued. I figured on twenty minutes
each way.
I practiced my breathing technique and
my stroke, as my hands sliced through the water. I knew that it would be much
different during an actual triathlon because I would be surrounded by other
swimmers. After several minutes, I slowed, allowing myself the luxury of
catching my breath and scanning the coastline to see how far I’d gone.
I turned around and forged ahead, back
toward the cabin.
As I approached the shore, I spotted
her. Standing on the back deck in her jeans and sexy, red tank, she shielded
her eyes from the sun and leaned against the railing, scanning the water in my
direction.
I hadn’t planned on an audience, and I
frowned, aggravated with my sister for putting me in this predicament in the
first place.
Water sluiced down my body as I walked
toward the shore, taking deep breaths. Standing in two feet of water, I leaned
over and propped my hands on my knees, allowing myself a few moments of rest. Fish
nibbled at my toes, and I started moving again, making my way to my towel and
flip flops on the edge of the shoreline.
I slid my feet into my flip flops and
toweled my hair dry, leaving it in disarray. My fingers pushed through the
short strands, and then, I dried my torso and arms, flipped the towel over my
shoulder, and made my way back to the cabin.
She watched as I approached the steps
that led to the deck.
“Are you hungry?” she asked, pulling
her hair up into a ponytail and fastening it in place.
“Maybe a little bit. You?”
She nodded.
“Let me rest a few minutes, and I’ll
fire up the grill. Do you eat hot dogs?”
She nodded again. “I’ll get everything
ready.” And before I could respond, she
had disappeared into the house.
I plopped down at the picnic table, my
body facing away from the tabletop. Gazing at the lake, I noted the tranquility
as water pooled at my feet. I was aggravated at Kelsey and Brandy for ruining
the week that I had dedicated to training and organizing my game plan, so that
I could succeed at the triathlon. Planning was an essential part of meeting my
goals. Looking at Ava all week wouldn’t be difficult, but that had both good
and bad consequences. It was obviously good because what guy didn’t enjoy
looking at a beautiful female. It was bad because I had a very specific purpose
for coming this week, and it had nothing to do with women.
Standing, I kicked my flip flops off
and crossed the deck, the freshly-stained planks of wood warm against the soles
of my feet. I uncovered the grill and ignited it.
A few minutes later, Ava reappeared
with everything necessary for our meal.
“I can cook them if you want,” she
offered, brushing a loose tendril of hair from her face. I caught myself
watching the gentle movements of her fingers.
I forced my eyes to the grill. “I got
it.” I set the plate on the side shelf
of the grill and placed the wienies over the fire.
She watched me silently, wringing her
hands. Then she said softly, “I’m really sorry about pulling my gun on you.”
I gazed at her. “No harm done. I’ll let
my sister carry the blame for that one.”
“We don’t have to eat together if you
don’t want to,” she said.
I may not have planned on company this
week, but I wasn’t a total a**. “I definitely think we should eat together. I
mean we did just wrestle each other. We should be able to make it through a
meal with no problem.”
A hint of a smile crossed her lips, and
I had the distinct feeling that she was relieved.
“Besides, how am I gonna hear you
compliment my mad grilling skills if we aren’t eating together?” I winked at her, hoping to smooth things over
in case I’d sent her the message that I didn’t want to be here with her.
“So you’re the Grill Master?”
“I’ve mastered several skills. Grilling
just happens to be one of them.”
Her eyelashes fanned across her cheek
as she coyly shifted her line of vision from me to the deck boards around our
feet.
I turned my attention to the grill,
using a fork to turn the wienies. “So you know I have a little sister, and I
know you have at least one sister. Any more siblings?”
“I have two sisters. Daisy’s the
youngest. She’s eighteen, and she just graduated from high school. London’s in
college, and she’s twenty. Do you have other siblings?”
“Luckily, no. You see how much trouble
Kelsey is. I’m not sure I’d survive another sibling.”
With the smell of the grill wafting
through the air, I turned off the gas and removed the wienies. “Hot dogs are
served.” I carried the plate to the
picnic table, where Ava had arranged the drinks and the condiments.
I loaded two hot dogs with all the
trimmings and sat across the table from her. “So what do you do, Ava?”
She squeezed a thin line of mustard
down the middle of her hot dog. “I’m a real estate agent.”
“So if I wanted to buy a house, you
could help me out?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes lifted to mine, and I noticed
they were the color of blue topaz. She wore no makeup, but with her natural
beauty, she didn’t need any, and I imagined that if she had worn makeup, I
wouldn’t have noticed the smattering of faint freckles that dusted her nose,
which for some unknown reason, I found hot as h***.
“Good,” I said, concentrating on our
conversation, “because once I cross complete
a triathlon off my list, the next item is buy a house.”
Her lips weren’t quite as plump as I
usually liked them, but they were shapely and I found myself staring. She
puckered them into a frown and pointed at me. “You have a list?” she asked, her
eyebrows arched in question.
“Doesn’t everybody?”
She laughed in disbelief. “No. Most
people our age don’t know what they’re gonna eat for supper, much less when
they’re gonna complete a triathlon or
buy a house.”
“Well, most people do have some kind of
goals. I just write mine on a list and keep them in my wallet, so I can look at
them every day.”
“I would’ve never imagined you as a
list-maker.” She took a bite of her hot
dog.
“And why’s that?” I asked as my curiosity
piqued.
She swallowed. “I guess because I would
picture a list-maker with a pocket protector and glasses.” Her gaze fell to my bare chest.
“Now how do you know I don’t own a
pocket protector?”
“Do you?”
“No.”
The corners of her mouth tilted up. “There’re
some things a girl just knows.” She looked me in the eyes. “So why do you keep a list?”
“Because a lot of successful people
write their goals down and look at them every day.” I tapped my temple with my fingertip. “It
keeps you on track by keeping the things that you want to accomplish in your
mind.”
“Ah,” she said, grinning as she took
another bite of hot dog.
“Go ahead. Laugh,” I taunted. She hadn’t
been the first woman to make wisecracks about my lists, but I didn’t care.
“I’m not laughing,” she countered.
“But you are smiling,” I accused.
She lowered her gaze to her hot dog. “Yes,
but it’s because I’m….”
“Because you’re what? Amused?
Humored?” I watched her, waiting
for her response.
Shyly, she lifted her eyes to mine. “Impressed.”
Impressed? H***, now she had me totally off-guard. I was
used to my girlfriends thinking it was some kind of an odd quirk, kind of like
my acute aversion to liars. And maybe it was, but….
“I would say that you, Ridge
Sutherland, will live life to the fullest. You won’t spend one minute wishing
you’d done anything differently because you know what you want, and you’re
going for it. That’s impressive.”
I was flabbergasted. I ran my palm
across my chest as I stared at Ava Nottingham. She had just amazed the hell out
of me. “D***, a woman who gets it.”
A smile broke across her face, reaching
the depths of her azure eyes. Looking at me thoughtfully, she asked, “So what
else is on your list?”
“Just the usual stuff. It’s anything
that I’m determined to accomplish, any goal or activity, like buying a house. I
really do need a real estate agent soon.”
“Let me know when you’re ready, and
I’ll hook you up.”
I held my hand across the table. “It’s
a deal.”
She slipped her hand in mine, and we
shook on it.
We fell into a comfortable silence, and
after we had finished eating, Ava stood up and said, “You’re right. You do have
mad grilling skills. I really liked your wienie.” Her face turned bright red, and then she collapsed
back down on the bench and facepalmed. “No, I did not just say that,” she
whispered to herself.
I laughed. “Don’t worry. I don’t kiss
and tell.”
She groaned. “I am so embarrassed.”
“Don’t be.” I shifted the conversation in hopes of easing
her discomfort. “I’m already wearing my swimming trunks. Why don’t you put on
your bathing suit and go for a swim with me?”
She froze. “Uh, n-no,” she sputtered. “I
need to clean up this mess.”
“I’ll help you clean up. Then we can go
for a swim. You did bring a swimsuit, didn’t you?”
“I did, but I think I’m just gonna
catch up on some reading tonight. Thanks, anyway.”
I stood and put the condiments back in
the plastic bag, while she closed up the remaining hot dog buns.
“You can go ahead.” She motioned toward the lake. “I’ll get
this.”
“No, it’s okay. I’ll help.”
“I got it, Ridge. You should go ahead
and swim.”
I watched her, wondering if this was
one of those times when a woman just wanted to be left alone. Finally deciding
that it must be, I released the bag of condiments. “Okay.”
When I reached the lake, I waded out
waist-deep and dove in, my body gliding along just beneath the surface. I
kicked powerfully, propelling myself rapidly.
I replayed our conversation over in my head,
hoping I hadn’t somehow offended Ava. Failing to come up with anything, I
decided that it was the fickle ways of women and brushed it from my mind. I had
a triathlon to complete, so I swam harder, concentrating on my goal.
I returned to the cabin a half hour
later and found Ava sitting in a chaise lounge on the deck reading a book. Her jean-clad
legs were crossed at the ankle, and from the bottom of her tennis shoes, her
feet appeared small, at least in comparison to my own.
“How was your swim?” she asked as I sat
at the picnic table.
“Awesome. How’s your book?”
“It sucks.”
“It does?”
She nodded, her sky-blue eyes peering
at me over the top of the book. “The main character’s boyfriend just died.”
“Ouch. Succumbed to a disease? Injured in a car wreck? Devoured by a man-eating shark?”
“She killed him.”
“That’s not good.”
“Actually, that’s the good part. He was
an a**.”
“Then why did you say it sucked?”
“Because she got caught.”
I chuckled, thinking maybe I should
thank London for taking the bullets. “Remind me not to piss you off this
week.” I scanned the scenery. “There’re
way too many places here to dispose of a body.”
She lowered the book to her lap,
shooting me a mischievous grin. “It’s good for a man to feel a little fear.”
“Should I sleep with my door locked
tonight?”
Her smile widened. “You should sleep
with your door locked every night.”
“I’ll add that to my list.”
Her laughter tinkled through the late
summer air.
I toweled off my chest and arms, and I
could feel her watch me. When I looked at her, she quickly diverted her
attention back to her book.
“So why did you come here this week?” I
asked, sliding my body around and sitting down backwards at the picnic table,
so that I could towel off my legs.
“I don’t know. To meditate, I guess. Think
about things, about life, about what I want.”
“Did you just break up with your boyfriend
or something?”
She sat up a little straighter and
stared at me. “Why would you say that?”
“I don’t know. You’re a beautiful girl
who’s secluded herself in the middle of nowhere and who’s fantasizing about
killing off men.”
“He wasn’t officially my boyfriend. We
had just dated for a while.”
“Ah,” I said. “Let me guess. He was an
a**.”
“You’re very perceptive.”
“Not really. Most all girls say that
about guys they’ve dated.”
Her laughter floated through the air
again, and I decided I liked the sound of it. “Good point.”
I flung my towel over the railing to
let it dry.
“So what did he do to you?” I asked. “You
need me to kick his a**?”
She shook her head. “All joking aside,
I don’t really like violence.”
“I could fling marshmallows at him with
my slingshot.”
The corners of her mouth tilted upward.
“That could be fun.”
I grew more serious. “So, what did he
do?” I heard myself asking again, wondering why in the h*** I cared.
No comments:
Post a Comment