Page 8 of Promise of a New Beginning
“I said,morning,” he answered.
Savannah saw the others making their way back up the hill. She went to his side and said in a rushed whisper, “So we’re pretending last night didn’t happen?”
Jack’s hands stopped midair. He turned his head slowly, and Savannah’s breath caught when she saw his dark, sexy eyes, but the hard set of his jaw negated the desire she thought she’d seen.
“Probably for the best,” he said.
Savannah knew he was right. She wasn’t even looking for a relationship. In fact, she was running from one. So why did her heart feel like he’d squeezed it until it was ready to burst?
“Okay.” She didn’t recognize her frail voice. “I’m going down to the water to wash up.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You can’t go alone.”
He had a right to be upset over her breaking the rules, but there was no way she wasn’t going to wash up, and now she didn’t want to be around anyone. And with what was going on between them—or not going on—she knew he would let her go.
“It’s daylight. I’ll be fine. Besides, I didn’t go when the others invited me, so I can’t ask them to go again.” Savannah gathered her towels and her toiletry bag and went down to the water, passing the others along the way.
“It’s beautiful down there,” Elizabeth said as she passed. “Want me to come?”
“No thanks. I’m good.”And too confused to want company.“I won’t be gone long.”
“Josie got water for coffee. I’ll save you some,” Elizabeth offered.
“Perfect, thanks.”
AFTER MAKING COFFEE and rolled oats for the group for breakfast, Jack checked his watch for the fourth time. Savannah hadn’t been gone even twenty minutes, but it felt like an hour. He knew the dangers of someone getting separated from the group, and he’d never before ignored his own rules. Now he was breaking every one of them. If he hadn’t kissed her—and if she hadn’t kissed him back with more passion than he’d ever felt—he wouldn’t have let her go to the stream alone. If she hadn’t made his body thrum with desire, he would be down at the water’s edge so she wasn’t alone. The whole situation was messed up.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes. No one leaves the site,” Jack said to the others. “Today we’re doing field instruction, so rest up while you can. You’re going to need it.” He headed toward the stream, reminding himself that Savannah was just another survival camp student. In a few days, he’d never see her again.
The sun beamed through the trees, warming the last of the morning chill. As he neared the bottom of the hill, he heard Savannah’s voice and he stopped to listen. She was singing something he couldn’t make out, but he enjoyed the melody as it filtered through the air. He tried to make out the words, but all he could hold on to was the sweet tone of her voice—and he realized that Savannah was anything butjust another student.
He took a few steps closer, and the water came into view. Jack scanned the banks for Savannah, but didn’t see her. He followed the sound of her voice through the woods to his right. When she came into view, he stopped cold. The sun glistened off of the water and illuminated Savannah’s naked body.Her perfect naked body.Her breasts swayed with each scrub of her hands through her hair. Jack couldn’t deny his body’s reaction as he drank in her incredibly sexy curves and the narrow sweep of her hips. She sank into the water up to her shoulders and arched her neck, rinsing the lather from her hair. His hands instinctively flexed, the memory of the soft hairs on the back of her neck still alive on his palm. She disappeared under the water and then broke through the surface again, shaking the excess water from her tresses. Jack’s mouth went dry. It was like watching an X-rated movie, only Savannah wasn’t acting. She turned back toward the shore and scanned the edge of the water before walking too darn slowly to the water’s edge and leisurely picking up her towel and wrapping it around her body.Holy cow, she is sexy.He could barely breathe—again—and he definitely couldn’t think, which is why, when she dried herself off and lifted one foot to step into her panties, he lost his footing and slid down the hill on his butt, bumping right into a large, prickly bush.
Savannah shot a look in his direction. She pulled up her panties and her hands flew across her chest. “Jack? What…are you spying on me?” She scowled and spun around, frantically picking up the rest of her clothes.
Jack scrambled to his feet and rushed to her side. His mind was still in an intoxicated Savannah fog. “I wasn’t spying. I swear…”
She spun around, clutching her clothes in front of her body. Her eyebrows were drawn together, and her beautiful lips were pinched tight. How was he going to explain this, andwhywere his eyes still locked on the milky skin of the side of her breast as it poked out beneath her arm?
“Then what were you doing?”
Thinking quick, he said, “You’re not supposed to leave camp by yourself. Don’t you remember the bobcat?” He knew he should turn away, back up, move apart from where she was, but all he could do was stand there and argue with her.
“You knew I was coming here and you didn’t stop me. Why would I know it was a problem?”
“Darn it, Savannah.”
“Turn around,” she spat.
He forced himself to turn away, fisting his hands.Why did I have to look?If it had been Elizabeth or Josie, he would have covered his eyes and called out from the hill. But come on, he was only human, and he hadn’t been with—or even wanted to be with—a woman in two years. How on earth was he supposed to react?
“First you kiss me, then you say you regret kissing me, and then you spy on me?”
The venom in her voice hurt more than the accusation.
“Real class act, Jack Remington. Is that your MO? Lure women to your mountain, and then reel them in and play with their minds?”
“Savannah.” His chest filled with anger and he spun around. “Who told you to get naked—”
