“This is stupid,” she snarled, hanging from the tree like a defective ape.

“You’re doing great.” He laughed against her back, his chest shaking. Big hands cupped her butt, taking her weight off her poor aching arms. Hard to object to the manhandling when it was the only thing keeping her off the ground.

“I’ll give you a push up,” he said. “Okay?”

“No!”

“Calm down. You can do this.”

“Wait.” With his support she managed to wedge her other foot into the divide. Someone had lit her shoulders on fire. How did people do this shit? Why did they? Idiots.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Okay.” And up she went. With his hands all over her ass, splayed out, steadying her. She wrapped her arms around one of the big branches and hung on for dear life. Rough bark scratched at her cheek. She clung on like a koala, but with less style.

Nick looked up at her from where he stood on the ground, hands on his h*ps and a broad grin on his face. Delighted with her again, apparently. She tried not to smile back. The corner of her mouth twitched in betrayal.

“There we go. I said you could do it. Move over,” he said. “I’m coming up.”

“What? Hang on.”

Nick grabbed at her handhold branch with one big hand, propped the end of his foot beside her and swung himself up. That damn easy. “Hey,” he said.

“Hi.”

“Nice view,” he said, staring into her eyes.

Unease slid through her. Their noses almost touched. He didn’t have to be crowding her again. She looked at all the elsewhere over his shoulder. Anywhere but him was good. Her gray T-shirt clung to her in patches, nice and sweaty. Strands of hair stuck to the side of her face. Catching her breath took time. The idiot just kept staring. She leant back a little, but there wasn’t anywhere to go and he just followed. Like it was a game, damn it.

“Stop it,” she mumbled.

“Stop what?”

She probably smelled fantastically bad. He smelled like a man who’d been jogging. Clean male sweat and all that, the same as the other day when he’d been chopping wood. Her heart capered around inside her chest due to the physical exertion. Nick grabbed at another branch stretching out from the tree beside his head. The sleeve of his blue T-shirt rode up a little, stretching around his bicep.

“Wanna go higher?” he asked, looming over her.

“Um, no. This is good.”

“Zombies could chew on your ankles at this height.”

“Fortunately, you seem to have lost your appetite.”

“Have I?” His eyes darkened perceptively, never once leaving her face. “Bet you can guess what I’m thinking right now.”

“Yeah. I bet I can too.” She gave a small, reluctant smile. “That one was a little too easy.”

“Hmm.”

The silence that followed was not comfortable.

Eventually he took a deep breath. “Right. Let’s go find another tree to climb.”

Shit. “Another?”

Effortlessly he jumped back down to earth, turned and held his hands up for her. “Yep. Best of three.”

“And if you win?”

He smiled and eyed up her neck like it was a tenderloin he intended to baste with his tongue. “Come on.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“I hate you so hard.”

“You know, in my head, every time you say that I substitute ‘hate’ for the word ‘love’.” Nick exhaled on a sigh and watched Roslyn limp toward the bed, chain trailing behind her. Apparently she’d pulled some muscles today. The woman was seriously out of shape. They needed to fix that. He was so used to working with other fit people it hadn’t occurred to him how behind she was. What if something happened? “Lie down on your stomach and I’ll rub you down.”

“No.”

“Yes.” He rose from his seat at the table, forgetting about the last of the creamy salmon pasta he’d cooked for dinner. Not a bad effort for tinned ingredients, if he said so himself. He’d spent the time drying out from the drug and alcohol binge developing new hobbies. He’d actually found he enjoyed cooking. “Please come and lie down.”

“You’re only saying please to pacify me.” Her forehead crinkled and she crawled onto the bed with achingly slow movements. Damn it, he shouldn’t have pushed her so hard. She’d washed up and changed into comfortable clothes after they’d gotten back. Thank goodness she’d gotten it out of the way before her muscles seized up.

“Sure. If it makes you feel better.” He had body oil in the bedside table. Just like he had sex toys and shit to tie her up with. Nice to know that this time the use would be for her pleasure. “Lie face down.”

Roslyn gave the drawer of supplies a dirty look. “You’re a pervert, by the way.”

“Butt plugs have their place, darling.” Nick sat on the bed beside her, unscrewed the cap on the oil then set it aside. “I can demonstrate on you if you like.”

“Sod off.”

“You’ve never played with one? Really?”

“You’re a freak.”

“Says the woman who can’t admit to liking it when I take control.”

She growled.

“Lie down,” he said, placing gentle pressure on the middle of her back.

“We need to establish some ground rules.”

“Sure. Pants off!” He tucked a finger either side of her black yoga pants and dragged them down her legs before she had a chance to fight him. Pale blue silk panties remained, cut to reveal a nice slice of her ass cheeks. Silk. He liked silk. Satisfaction hummed through him at the sight.