LITMIR.BIZ

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even if they were all technically on the same level. She knew from their personnel records that at thirty he was only slightly older than the other men. But according to the agency, Sam was leadership material and should be treated as such.

      She walked closer to the men, enjoying the view. Big brawny men hard at work. It wasn’t true, as Zoey and Carly often teased, that she’d started this business so she could hang out with good-looking and physically active men. Just a perk. She whipped out her phone camera and took a few photos of the men before they’d noticed her. But it wasn’t long before they did notice, and Julian was the first to preen and pose for the camera.

      “Get my good side,” he said turning to his left and squeezing a bicep.

      “You don’t have one,” Sam said.

      “Seriously, guys. I want some good photos of you to put on the Facebook page. This is better if you go about your business and ignore me.”

      That worked for a few minutes and she got some great shots of Sam climbing the rock with Julian belaying him. She zoomed in for a shot of Sam as he turned and smiled at nothing in particular as he neared the top of the rock. God, he was gorgeous. She studied the photo of him smiling, the sun glinting off his golden-brown hair.

      In the end, she had to force herself to quit all the drooling and get back to some of her chores. First, she took an invigorating walk along the property, reminding herself of all she’d done here. Much as she would have appreciated her parents being at the grand opening, this at least insured that should something fail, they wouldn’t have to see her fall flat on her face.

      But they were not going to fail here. Yes, that’s right. Fake it till you make it, Jill Davis. Believe it. Kick ass. Every day is a new day to win. She had that particular affirmation stuck to her laptop so she’d see it every morning.

      A few minutes later, she somehow found herself at the zip line again, staring into the canyon below. She sucked in a breath and took a step back. Then another.

      It wasn’t heights she was technically afraid of, but the falling part tripped her up every time. This zip line had been made by some of the best engineers in the valley with top-notch equipment. But try telling that to her parents. They’d just ask her whether she thought it was wise to take such chances with her health. Even though she’d been healthy now for years.

      Definitely, without a doubt, she was going to go across the canyon on that zip line. She couldn’t wait.

      “You know you want it. You want it bad.”

      Sam’s voice, from just behind her. Deep and sexy. Their chemistry and connection made the air snap and crackle between them. It was addictive. She turned to remind him that, despite what she felt, they were never—not very probably, anyway—going to happen again.

      He was looking past her, nodding in the direction of the zip line. Oh yeah. That.

      She wanted that, too.

      “I do. I just haven’t had the time.”

      “Uh-huh.” He didn’t seem convinced, oddly enough. “I’ll take you. Nothing to be afraid of.”

      “Did I say I was afraid?” She went hand on hip.

      He shook his head as though deciding it wasn’t worth arguing about. “Someone needs to go to the hardware store.”

      “What do we need?”

      “Rope. There are some rocky areas we should cordon off for safety reasons.”

      “Right. Okay, I’ll go.” She headed back to her trailer to get the keys.

      When she returned, Sam sat in the front driver’s side seat of her sedan.

      “Hey,” she said, opening the already unlocked door. “What are you doing?”

      He held out his hand. “Driving.”

      “No, you’re not.”

      “Hand me the keys. I drive faster than you do.”

      “How do you figure?”

      He quirked a brow. “I drive faster than most people. No offense.”

      Aha! One more thing she knew about him, and she hadn’t pried it out of him. He drove fast. Probably had a bunch of speeding tickets. Reluctantly, but figuring she was ahead of the game, she handed him her keys.

      “I can get the rope for you.”

      “Didn’t want you to come back with the wrong kind.”

      She made her way to the passenger seat, fuming a little bit but not wanting to argue with him, and shut the door. “How many different types of ropes can there be?”

      “The things I could teach you.” He started up the car.

      So he was this kind of guy. The kind that thought he could make the best decisions on everything from what he should have for dinner to what she should have for dinner. She wouldn’t have guessed this about him. Good. This was a huge turnoff. She needed him to behave like this and before long she’d hate him so much there would no longer be any romantic tension between them.

      “Okay, you drive. You pick the rope.”

      He peeled down the hill and she grabbed hold of the handle bar. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d done that. Sam must be an adrenaline junkie about everything. She could be an adrenaline junkie, too, if she wanted to be.

      “Did I mention my brother is the Sheriff?”

      He didn’t say a word but gave her a sideways glance as they rolled down the hill. The minute they pulled out onto the highway, he slowed some, riding the speed limit to the edge but never going over it. He drove them through town in the right direction, apparently already knowing the location of the only hardware store in town, Mack’s.

      Jill broke the silence. “About this speed issue.”

      “Who said it’s an issue?”

      Oh brother. “Got many speeding tickets?”

      “Define ‘many.’ I had a few.” He rolled down the window. “Just realized I gave you something else you didn’t know about me.”

      Damn! He didn’t miss much, did he? “I could have guessed that about you.”

      “But you didn’t.” He gazed at her from underneath his eyelashes. “I need something from you now.”

      She let out a breath and considered how honest she could be. “I didn’t drive until I was eighteen.”

      “Yeah?” He seemed genuinely curious. “Why?”

      Should she tell him her parents were so overprotective they wouldn’t allow her to get her license until then? They’d done a statistical analysis and found that fatal accidents dropped at age seventeen and then significantly at age eighteen.

      And while she’d excelled at knocking down every one of their objections and worries, she couldn’t argue with their stupid statistics in black and white. They hadn’t budged on this issue no matter how hard she’d tried.

      “That was one thing.” Two could play this game.

      He scowled, appearing slightly irritated that she wasn’t going to run her mouth off. “Fair enough.”

      A few minutes later, he’d parked and led her to the rope section of the store. And holy cannoli, he was right. She stared in shock at the display. There were as many types of ropes as there were types of bras. With bras, you had your strapless, underwire, lace, satin, demi cup and push-up—her favorite.

      When it came to rope, it appeared there was nylon, polypropylene, manila, parachute, Kevlar, bungee shock, three-strand combo, combo...

      “When did this all get so complicated?” She was beginning to think maybe he hadn’t considered her a total idiot for doubting she could

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