Page 11 of Falling for Mr. Corporate

“There’s still the little thing called making it down the mountains first,” he answered. “I couldn’t drive this far up the trail even with a four-wheeler.”

“Oh.” I tried not to make my disappointment show that he simply just wanted me around for as long as I could stay.

“Your bobber’s sinking,” he announced, pulling me from my thoughts.

He was right and I could feel a tug on the other end of the line, small jerking motions. I reeled in the fish as I’d watched Tate do but, when the fish broke the surface and I saw how big it was, not to mention its squirming, I promptly dropped the line.

“Shit,” I muttered, my heart pounding at the way the fish had been battering to stay alive.

I heard Tate’s loud guffaw as he came to the rescue and grabbed the fishing line and reeled the fish the rest of the way in. With expert ease, he unhooked the fish and threw it into the igloo with the others.

I was irritated at him laughing at me, the situation too familiar with what had happened with Keith and his friends. Hadn’t they laughed too and mocked how inept I was at this ‘manly’ stuff? Wasn’t that what I had been running from when I ran into Tate? Deep down, I knew he didn’t mean any harm, but I just kept hearing Keith and his friends jeering, making fun of me and pushing me to my limit.

“Fuck you!” I grumbled in disgust and stalked away.

“Shit, Bry, where are you going?” he called after me, but I didn’t respond. Neither did I look back.

I was hurt at him laughing at me because the fish had startled me for a minute. I should have never gone along with him, knowing this would happen. I was a walking-talking joke for whatever man I ended up in the sack with.

“Will you wait up!” Tate hollered and hurried to overtake me. He grabbed me by the arm to halt me. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Nothing’s wrong with me!” I snapped. “Just because someone isn’t nearly an expert at this hiking and living in the wilderness shit as you are, doesn’t mean anything is wrong with them.”

“You’re acting rather childish,” he said crossly. “We were having fun.”

“No, you were having fun!” I exclaimed and tried to tug away from him. “At my expense. Isn’t that what all you macho men always do? Can’t miss the opportunity you can use to make fun of other men who aren’t like you.”

“You’re making way too a big deal of this. So, I laughed. Maybe I shouldn’t have but you need to lighten up.”

“Don’t tell me what to do.”

He pulled me into him, his hands on my hips. “Chill. Out.” He punctuated the words for emphasis. “I swear sometimes you’re even more wound-up than I am. If it makes you feel better, then I apologize, okay? I didn’t mean to offend you. I’ve no idea what the hell your ex did, but I’m not him. Okay?”

The fact that he apologized only made me feel I had overreacted. I felt a little embarrassed that I had compared him to Keith who would have never apologized to me for something. Even if the evidence was slapped into his face that he was wrong. So, Tate laughed. He’d found the situation funny. At least he hadn’t derided me about it. There was joke and then there was derision. I had been exposed to the latter with Keith’s friends.

“Fine,” I mumbled.

“Doesn’t sound fine,” he observed aloud and his hands slipped around my waist to cup my backside. “But I can make it fine.”

It started with his lips pressed against mine but by the time he was finished with me there on the river, I’d forgotten what I was mad about.

Chapter Nine

Tate sank his teeth into my shoulder, nipping me gently and I gave a sigh. It was so nice just to lie like this, spooned against each other after some intense minutes of kissing that didn’t lead to anything else but a cuddle. I wasn’t in the mood for sex tonight anyway, as I had too much on my mind.

I still couldn’t get over the way I had overreacted today because Tate had laughed when I dropped the fishing rod. I knew that it was all Keith’s treatment added to his friends, that had made me so sensitive. I could never date a guy again like Keith but Tate wasn’t like that at all. Sure, he had laughed, and thinking about it now, it might have been funny. What he hadn’t done though, was to mock me about it.

“You’re thinking,” he said softly as we lay in the semi-darkness of the room. He kissed my neck, his soft lips sending shivers down my spine. Maybe I did want sex after all.

“Hmm,” I hummed.

“You’re not still mad at me, are you Bry?”

“No,” I answered honestly and turned in his arms, laying my head onto his arm. “Truth is, I might not have even been mad at you.”

“Really? Because I’d say you were pretty upset.”

“Keith would say that I acted like a diva sometimes.”

---