Nikki Logan - Summer Temptation - Waking Up In The Wrong Bed / Once a Rebel... / The Devil and the Deep

He, too, had the red-cheeked, bright-eyed excitement. ‘Come on, we can go further up the valley.’

‘The weather doesn’t worry you?’

‘No, are you okay?’

‘I’m good.’ Whether the scenery had been another character in a globally massive movie franchise or not, it was simply stunning. And she wanted more of this wild open air—with him. No matter that her jeans were mud splattered, that the drizzle had gone right through the light coat she was wearing over her jeans so her tee shirt was soaking. As the rain tumbled faster and heavier she was steaming up inside.

She followed his lead across the short tussocky track, down to the vast shingle riverbed. They were about two miles along that when the rain really began to fall. Their wheels churned up large globs of mud. She blinked rapidly to maintain clear vision but ahead of her Ruben’s engine roared angrily as he pushed it. His bike jerked forward and Ellie winced, barely able to watch through half-screwed lids. Despite knowing what was about to happen, she was unable to do anything to help except shout. But even as she did Ruben jumped. His machine tipped, two wheels disappearing into a muddy bank. A half second later, Ruben rolled to his feet in total stuntman style.

‘Hello, Mud-man,’ she teased, hiding the relief that he wasn’t injured. Thankfully they hadn’t been going fast enough for a serious accident.

He was laughing, his eyes alight as he yanked off his helmet and surveyed the damage. ‘I’m going to need a truck to get the bike out of there.’

Ellie refused to notice how his hair had spiked in places, making him look more of a carefree rogue than ever. She hated to think what her own hair looked like now she’d removed her helmet too. More horrendous was the fact they were stuck miles from the lodge and had to share the one bike to get back.

‘You did this deliberately, didn’t you?’ she accused, her adrenalin finding a vent in anger.

‘I’m capable of many great things, but controlling the weather isn’t one of them.’ His laughter became more rueful. ‘This part was more boggy than I expected. And if you must know, the rain bothers me more than it does you.’

‘And why’s that?’ She didn’t believe him.

‘I had plans for today.’

Still astride her bike, she put her hands on her hips. ‘Nefarious ones?’

‘Utterly,’ he admitted shamelessly. ‘Now they’re ruined.’

‘So what are you going to do about it?’

‘Oh, I always have a Plan B.’ He chuckled.

Yeah, the guy was so confident in his ability to turn even the worst situation to something favourable. His plan involved charming the pants off her, no doubt. But while he was incredibly focused in his attention on her, somehow he made it impossible to get past his front. It wasn’t that he wasn’t genuine—unlike Nathan, she knew Ruben was honest in his desire to be with her. But while he answered her questions, he wouldn’t let her past a certain point in his reserve. He closed conversation down or switched focus. But Ellie was both curious and determined not to let him have it all his own way.

‘Don’t think I’m handing over my bike to you,’ she said, remaining firmly astride her vehicle. ‘You’re too reckless.’

He walked right in her path, leaning forward to put his hands over hers on the handlebars. ‘You’re going to make me walk back?’

‘I’ll drive, you give directions.’

‘You do like to be in control of the situation, don’t you?’ he muttered.

In less than ten seconds she knew she’d made a mistake. He’d come round and climbed behind her and was now way too close with his hands too firm around her waist. If she’d been the one to take the rear position she could have made it less intimate.

‘You don’t have to hold so tight, you know,’ she said firmly. ‘I’m not going to drive that fast.’

All she felt then was the laughter vibrating in his chest. She wanted to lean back and absorb it some more. Instead, she put the engine on full throttle.

‘Wow, you really know what you’re doing,’ he commented after she rode them out of the roughest part of the riverbed at high speed. ‘You could go on one of those extreme environment survivor shows. Wild Mountain Woman or something.’

‘Don’t get too carried away.’ She slowed down to hear him better. ‘It’s not like I’m going to rappel down a rock face using a rope I’ve plaited out of dental floss,’ she scoffed. ‘I know my own limitations.’

‘Really? What’s your limit?’

She ignored the innuendo and answered honestly. ‘I still get a bit scared of heights.’

‘Still?’

‘I get a bit funny in the tummy but most of the time I can manage to control it.’ She eased back more as she came to a badly bogged bit. ‘My dad is really into rock-climbing and mountaineering and stuff. He’d be in his element here.’

‘You go climbing with him?’

‘When I was younger I did,’ she said briefly. ‘If I wanted to spend time with him, he was usually somewhere precarious so I had to suck it up.’

‘And you wanted to spend time with him?’

‘Sure.’ He was her dad. All her life she’d wanted his attention and approval—until she’d grown up enough to accept it wasn’t ever going to be forthcoming. ‘I’ve never really understood his need to conquer nature, though. I mean, yes, appreciate the beauty, respect the elements, come and enjoy it. But why does he have to beat it? Where’s the rush in risking life and limb? Man versus nature? Nature is always going to win.’

‘Hmm.’ Ruben grunted a kind of agreement. ‘Where does he live?’

‘He has an outdoor equipment store in one of those ski towns not too far up the road from here.’

‘Oh.’ A pause. ‘Did you want to see him while you’re down here?’

‘No.’

Another slight pause. ‘What about your mum? She’s into the outdoors too?’

‘No, she’s the total opposite. While Dad’s all mountain man, she’s city-queen. She lives in Sydney.’

‘They’re divorced?’

‘Have been for nearly twenty years.’

She heard his whistle. ‘How’d they manage to meet and marry in the first place?’

‘They were a fling, she got pregnant. They tried to make it work but, really, it was never going to. It would have been easier if they’d ended it sooner.’

‘But they wanted you,’ he said, as if that made it all okay.

Sometimes she thought it would have been better if they’d adopted her out to a couple who’d been desperate to have kids. Yes, she was grateful to them for making the decision to have her, but to raise her themselves? They were too selfish for that. Neither had wanted to give up the things important to them. Ellie had had to fit in—to tag along. But she’d never felt truly wanted, never once felt as if she could make them happy. Just once, just for once, she wanted to be the centre of the universe. Not to have to try to squeeze herself into some contortion to fit into the box of someone else’s life. Every kid wanted her parents’ undivided attention and love. No kid could ever have enough—especially if they’d been starved of it.

‘They did the shared-custody thing, but that was because neither wanted me full time.’

His grip on her waist tightened as he pressed in even closer. ‘What do you mean neither wanted you full time?’

‘I mean exactly that.’ Ellie hesitated—did she really want to go into this? Nothing put a guy off more than a woman who went on about her exes or unhappy home life. Men hated drama. And Ruben had already declared he wasn’t into the whole ‘being there’ deal. Given that, it was probably wise to talk about it. Tell him all the crap to turn his interest off and shore up her own resistance. So she slowed more so he could hear her easily.