Jill Shalvis - Instant Gratification

His door opened and Annie walked in. Though she was only ten years his senior, his aunt-and Wilder Adventure’s chef-could kick his ass on a bad day, and given her scowl, it would appear it was exactly that. “Don’t go away mad,” he murmured wearily. “Just go away.”

“No can do.” She was wearing an apron that read: I’D TELL YOU THE RECIPE, BUT THEN I’D HAVE TO KILL YOU, which pretty much summed up her usual attitude.

An attitude that today, happened to match his. “You didn’t knock,” he said.

“Because you wouldn’t have said come in.”

Good point.

Definitely not leaving, she picked up the scrawny cat sitting in his spare chair-Chuck, a stray who’d adopted them nearly a year ago-and sat herself, where she studied Stone like a hawk.

A mother hawk.

Chuck yawned wildly and settled on Annie’s legs. Only a few months ago, the cat had been so skittish no one could even feed him, but Katie, their bookkeeper and now keeper of his brother Cam’s heart, had tamed both the man and the cat in one fell swoop.

Annie absently stroked Chuck’s chin as she eyed Stone.

Uncomfortable with the scrutiny, he shifted, jarred his poor body, and paid for it with a stab of pain. “Don’t ask me if I feel as bad as I look.”

“Okay.” She petted the cat some more. “But do you?”

He let out a careful breath. Yes . “No.”

“Liar.”

Ignoring her, he went on with his paperwork. Or tried. It wasn’t easy with every movement pulling on a wound or bruise. Ignoring that too, he pulled his keyboard closer. Once upon a time, he’d loved handling the paperwork for Wilder Adventures. But then they’d gotten busy and it’d become a real pain in his ass. He’d hired a bookkeeper, Riley, who’d then decided to become Mr. Mom, so he’d hired Katie, who’d fallen in love with his brother and was currently traipsing across the Andes on an extended pre-wedding honeymoon.

Leaving just him, TJ and Annie. Since neither TJ nor Annie ever touched the paperwork, he was on his own-and it was killing him.

He just needed a break, he thought. And an entire bottle of Advil.

Annie put her feet up on his desk, getting comfy, which meant he was going to be stuck with her for a while. Her long dark hair was back in a single braid. With her Wilder hoodie and dark jeans, she might have been sixteen rather than forty.

“Seriously,” she said. “You look like something Chuck dragged in.”

She acted as if she was either his boss or his mother, and though officially she was neither, unofficially she’d taken on both roles years ago, running the lodge and their hearts with equal ease.

She had help. Her husband Nick was one of TJ’s oldest friends. Nick worked as their mechanic and helicopter pilot, and was as indispensable to Wilder Adventures as the rest of them. “Okay,” he admitted. “I feel like shit. Happy?”

“Aw, baby. Here.” She pulled Advil out of her pocket and handed them over.

“Bless your black heart.”

She watched him swallow three tablets dry, then turn to organize some invoicing, swearing as he did. “I did warn you,” she murmured, “About letting Cam fall in love with the bookkeeper.”

“They’re meant to be,” Stone said, and meant it. Cam had never been so happy, not even when he’d been a world champion snowboarder. “They deserve each other.”

“You sound like a chick. You sure you didn’t have a concussion after that fall?”

Stone shook his head. “You know, I actually tell people you love me.”

“I do love you. Cam will be back from taking Katie through the Andes in a few weeks, so stop moping. We’re doing just fine.”

Fine was relative.

Their business had grown in huge proportions this past year, especially with all three of the brothers now leading various treks. But with Cam gone for the past month, wooing the woman he intended to bring into the Wilder fold permanently, it’d left a void.

And not just in the office.

He missed the sonofabitch. TJ was around, and indispensable, but he handled all the long treks, meaning he’d be gone soon enough as well.

Leaving Stone by himself.

“It’s not brain surgery,” Annie said.

He laughed softly-ouch-and looked at her. “You know, with you and Nick tossing out your divorce papers instead of filing them, I figured you’d be all warm and fuzzy.”

“I dressed up as warm and fuzzy once for Halloween.” Annie dropped Chuck to the floor and stood to pace.

Stone watched her a moment, realizing she wasn’t here just to drive him crazy. Something was wrong, and his gut tightened. “What?”

“He wants a baby.”

He blinked. “Nick?”

“No, the damn Easter Bunny. Yes, Nick. Jesus, Stone, keep up.”

“So what’s wrong with wanting a baby? You’re only forty.”

She shoved her hands in her pockets and looked…scared. “I already raised the three of you. I don’t want to start over.”

She’d been little more than a kid herself when she’d taken them on, but she’d kept them fed and out of jail-above and beyond the call of duty as far as he was concerned-and she’d been good at it. No, raising another kid wasn’t what was bothering her. “That’s not why.”

“Okay.” She walked the length of the office, pivoted, and did it again. “I’m not ready to take our relationship to that level.”

“Come on.” He had to laugh at that. “You’ve been together twenty years. A baby would be fun.”

“ Fun? ” She whipped around to face him. “Fun? Let’s see you breastfeed it. That we could call fun.”

He shuddered. “I’m just saying.”

“Well I’m just saying! I can’t have a baby, I’m already getting fat just thinking about it.” She plopped herself back down and glared at him. “I started running.”

She hated exercise with the same passion she reserved for hating spiders. “Why would you do that?” he asked, alarmed not just for the guests they needed her to be nice to, but for him and his brothers. Running would only make her all that much more distant from warm and fuzzy. “Don’t do that. Don’t take up running.”

“I have to. This body isn’t what it used to be. Things aren’t holding the way they used to.” To show him, she cupped her breasts and jiggled them.

“Jesus!” He slapped a hand over his eyes. “Stop that.”

“And my ass.” She cupped that next. “It’s falling, Stone. Losing the fight against gravity.”

“Shoot me, please .”

“So I’m running.” She sagged back. “Dammit.”

“There’s got to be a better way. Surgery.”

“Hell no.” She pointed at him. “You, the wussiest of the Wilders, are not alone in your needle phobia.”

“TJ told you.”

“Oh, yeah. He told me. Dr. Evil? Really?”

Stone shook his head in disgust. “He has a big mouth.”

Annie laughed. “Yeah, he does. But we spent all last year worrying ourselves to death over Cam before the kid got his shit together, and apparently now we need a new obsession. We picked you.”

“When? When did you pick me?”

“When TJ and I talked to Cam on the phone last night.”

Stone shook his head. Last year he and TJ and Annie had nearly killed themselves trying to save a devastated Cam, who’d lost his life’s passion-racing-to an injury. They hadn’t been able to reach him, to help. But then Katie had come along and done it for them.

But Stone didn’t need anyone worrying about him. He was fine.

“You’re not yourself lately.”

“Am too.”

She slanted him a glance.

“Okay, I’m not.” He shoved his hands in his hair. “But I’m fine.”

“Fine as in you’re going to vanish for a year?”