Authors: Anya Nowlan
The only shadow to her cheer was the confrontation between Jackson and Ryder. The picture of the two men rearing against one another like two bears poised for battle left her feeling uncomfortable and worried. Ryder scared her senseless, but there was heat in danger and she was left shaken in the face of it. Of course, Jackson had been right there, ready to attack the cold, dangerous man and defend her honor. She could just imagine herself thanking Jackson lavishly for coming to her rescue. Every time her thoughts wandered over to that particular recess of her mind, she couldn’t concentrate for a good half an hour before the lustful bubble in the pit of her stomach died down.
It’s just a silly fantasy, Tess. The curvy scientist does not get the hot ranger.
Yet, every morning when she saw him again, her teeth grazed across her lips and she was overcome with a sense of wanting that bewildered and nearly blinded her. She had never been rendered quite as incapable of controlling herself as she was around Jackson.
By the time the first week of her trip was coming to a close, Tess was feeling rather at home in Montana. She had taken over the morning coffee duty and even cooked breakfast most of the time, learning that Jackson’s appetite was about three times that of a normal man. They spent most of their days on the reserve, putting up cameras and checking or setting up Jackson’s traps (there was a coyote infestation on a few of the mountains and Jackson had vowed to get rid of it), and most nights in the lodge, going over the videos and chatting until it was far too late.
She had learned a lot about him, even though it was hard to focus on his words when her whole body quaked with need for him. He had told her that he had built the lodge with his own two hands and Tess had a sneaking suspicion that there were a few others in the area with the Arder name on it, but he wouldn’t confirm or deny her guesses. As little as he talked about his brothers, she was sure they were still a big part of his life. When they had come across a large herd of Bighorn sheep on one of their outings, he had told her that he had always felt that the reserve deserved to be treated with the utmost care. The animals needed protection from the greed of men, and he had made it his life’s calling to keep the wild lands safe from harm as much as he could. Of course, there were limits to what a ranger could do, but that just meant he had to get more inventive.
Tess hadn’t dared to ask what he considered as inventive ways to serve and protect, but by the way he carried himself, she had no doubt that he could remain a lot more levelheaded in the face of danger than she could. Unless that danger was Ryder, of course. Nevertheless, she felt warm and fuzzy in the presence of his protective streak.
It had taken her days of well-timed begging and pleading to get Jackson to agree to go on a longer hike into the lands. She was dying to see Yellowhead and she was certain that the area could yield interesting results come spring. The bears congregated there after waking from hibernation to fish and settle their forgotten land disputes, and she wanted to catch it all on tape. Her plan was to take a few cameras and set them up for a few months until she could return to retrieve them. While her first priority was getting the foundation some solid data about why there seemed to be a boom of new grizzlies in the areas, she was also interested in long-term information and a peek into the bears’ lives. Tess hadn’t foreseen that getting Jackson to budge to her request would be quite as difficult, but after a few days she got the sneaking suspicion that the man was taunting her as much as he was actually opposed to leaving the lodge and grounds unattended for so long.
Tess had caught him a few times having heated conversations with men and women clearly from the areas, just as tall and broad and impressive as he was. They came to him in the evenings and Jackson always made sure to be out of hearing range, but by their animated body language and the deep frowns most of them wore, she had to assume it was something more worrisome than a fallen tree or problematic electricity. Still, she figured it best not to pry, and he seemed to appreciate the gesture. When he had finally agreed to go, under the strict understanding that she was going to have to haul ass and they were going to have to pack light, she had almost jumped for joy.
Tess had turned into a flurry of packing and preparing and by the first light of dawn the next morning, they had set off towards their goal of reaching the coveted river source. They began from one of the crooked bends of the river and trekked upward, driving as deep as they could before abandoning the car. Jackson knew just about every inch of the area like the back of his hand and he picked the course as if he himself were a compass, pointing in the right direction. Tess couldn’t help but be in awe of the man. She kept nagging on herself for being a giant sap, but he was, for lack of a better word, dreamy – everything a rugged woodsy guy was supposed to be – and she couldn’t get enough of him. He seemed to have gone from treating her as if she was an irritatingly fragile bauble to looking at her like she had more than enough worth and moxie to make up for being from Wyoming
and
wasting his time. She couldn’t lie, it felt good.
Their trek took her up one steep incline after the next, always upward and onward. The air grew colder as they were approaching the end of their first day, Tess’s feet burning from trying to keep up with Jackson. He had given her a few bemused glances during the day, egging her on to keep up with him, though she had most definitely noticed him slowing down a few times on account of her and not being a dick about it. It was appreciated and noted. She almost felt like she was studying him as much as she was the grizzlies.
He had the same kind of wildness and animalistic appeal as the great bears had, and she had kept strict mental notes about him. It was more a force of habit than something she did consciously, but she found great satisfaction in tying up the bits and pieces here and there to create a cohesive understanding of the enigmatic park ranger. That, and it gave her
so
much more fuel to amuse herself with at night. As much as he appealed to her mentally, she wanted equally as much, if not more, to tear his clothes off and do a whole plethora of unspeakable things to him. Just the thought of him made her wet, and it got all sorts of uncomfortable during the long hikes, where she stared at his ass for most of the day.
Tess’s nose was pinched by cold as Jackson reached his hand to her and pulled her up over a small ridge. She heaved for breath, the sun beginning to slowly set and the cold becoming more than a nuisance. They’d been hauling ass all day and she had been completely sore since the first day she arrived on his doorstep. Keeping up with him when he was in a particular hurry was no easy task either. His wide palm rested on her shoulder for a moment too long, lingering just enough for Tess to notice and glance up at him. He retracted his hand and exhaled, his lush lips pressing into a line as she caught him in a surprising moment of weakness.
“We’re here,” he said, sweeping a hand across the sight that stood before them – the horizon cut off by high mountains and countless little streams coming together to form a wide pool cupped in a small valley. It carved a path to one side before turning into the river that they knew as Yellowhead, trailing down into the forests below and feeding the lands with water. Dense, green forests lined the sides of the pools and part of the way they had come up from. Tess smiled brightly, clapping her hands together.
“It’s gorgeous!” she squealed and burst forward, running to the water even though her legs ached and the grass crunched with chill under her boots. Jackson’s chuckling filled the air, only making her grin wider.
Jackson built the camp while Tess explored the area, armed with a flashlight and one of the cameras she intended to set up. The area was perfect for grizzlies – fresh water that was a favored site for fish, thick woods to hide their comings and goings, and enough space to avoid getting on each other’s nerves. If she had been given a choice, she would have set up a house right then and there and never left. By the time Tess returned to the campsite, there was a happy fire crackling in front of the tent and Jackson was making something that smelled suspiciously like beans in a small pot over the fire. Tess plopped down next to him on a sleeping mat he had rolled out, inhaling the scent of the food as she stretched her legs out.
“This is incredible,” she sighed happily, watching the full sky of stars above them as the light faded into nothing. Night was falling quickly all around them, leaving them with only each other’s company and the sounds of the wilderness boxing them in from each side. She had never been afraid of what could lurk in the dark and the peculiar rustlings and chirps soothed her more than anything. Tess leant back on her elbows, unzipping the front of her jacket as the cold seeped from her bones and her feet took the welcomed break. It had been a long, hard day, but she was in the best possible company, and the evening was turning out to be just about perfect.
Well, I could think of ways to make this even better,
she mused to herself, grinning wickedly.
Jackson caught her smile and raised his thick brows at her, stirring the beans with one hand.
“And what amuses the scientist so? What’s on your mind?” he asked, a note of teasing in his tone. He had turned out to be quite the sarcastic joker, and Tess was still mulling over whether it was one of her favorite traits about him or not. Next to his hunky body and breathtaking eyes, anyway.
“Oh, you know, just thinking about how the day has gone so far. I’m glad you took me here, Jackson,” she said, looking up at him and allowing the sharpness to fall from her smile. He was a good man and deserved proper gratitude. Jackson smiled back at her, breaking the pile of steaming beans into two cups.
“You’re welcome. Just so you know, you still have to climb down from here tomorrow, and just as quickly as you got up.” She accepted a mug of beans and dug in with the ravenous hunger of a woman who had done a honest day’s labor, even if it was just walking with a heavy load on her back. Tess murmured with satisfaction as the hot mouthful went down her throat, filling her with physical warmth where Jackson’s company hadn’t managed to do so already. She had learned to live with the fact that she was just about constantly aroused around him, though she was more than certain that she had missed a bunch of details in her work due to the giant, bulging, sexy… ahem, the man’s presence.
“So, you asked about my love life, but I never got to return the favor. Is someone waiting for you back at home, Tess?” he asked, rinsing out the pot and setting it back on the flame with some water for tea before digging into his dinner. Tess’s gray eyes went wide with surprise, almost choking on a mouthful of the beans, before managing to press it down. She shook her head quickly, trying to hide her astonishment at the question. Jackson had been more than politically correct so far with asking about her social life and her life back home. Apparently the starry skies and fresh air allowed even the secretive and reserved ranger to let loose his curiosity.
“No, no! I mean, not really. My dog’s with my mom and I think Buck is the only one who misses me. I’m sure he’s spoilt rotten now, though,” she said, thankful for the scant light for hiding the blush that crept on her cheeks. “Do you mind being stuck in the woods with an untaken woman?” she asked, teasing him to hide her mortification. When he shook his head, Tess almost sighed with relief. It was like a rock fell from her chest and her heart could beat with wild expectation again. She could hardly keep from fidgeting with excitement, her body bubbling with hot arousal.
Jackson let a pause linger between them, Tess positively buzzing next to him. He set down his tin of dinner and Tess watched him stare into the fire for a while, his face wracked with contemplation. She finished her food and straightened up a bit, curling her legs under her body next to him. The young scientist hadn’t even noticed that she had been staring at his solemn face until he turned to look at her, catching her by surprise. Tess felt her core tighten and twist and a tremble go through her as he considered her with his brown eyes, locking them with hers. Her breath caught in her chest and she thought she would pass out if he didn’t say something soon. The tension had been turned up from the usual four that lingered between them to a sizzling nine, and it was messing with Tess’s mind.
What’s he thinking? Oh my god, could it be… No. You’re imagining things, Tess.
“Tess. I’ve really enjoyed the time we’ve spent together. It’s been a long time since I felt this at ease around someone. Maybe never, actually.” Jackson fell quiet for a second, Tess’s heart screaming for him to continue, but she sat in stunned silence. The curvy redhead had been dreaming of just such a moment for quite a while now, the thoughts of it consuming her days and nights, and she almost had to pinch herself to believe that it was actually happening and that she wasn’t dreaming. “I hope you won’t think me too forward for doing this, but if I don’t do it now, I might never find the courage again,” he said, his voice trailing off. When he leant towards her, Tess’s world ground to a halt. Everything seemed to be happening in slow-motion and when their lips locked together for the first time, the tiny sparks she had felt when their hands had brushed together were multiplied a hundred times and she fell headfirst into the moment.
His hands wrapped around her body and pulled her tight against him, Tess feeling the beating of his heart through her thick coat. She drank hungrily from his lips, reveling in his taste and the warmth of his mouth. Her eyes fluttered closed and her chattering mind quieted, in awe of the sensation of his lips on hers. When his tongue dipped into her mouth, she moaned breathily and that drew a growl from him, one that rattled through her core and made her dive deeper into the kiss. Their tongues mashed together, twisting and discovering each other with the strength of emotions that have been kept at bay way past their breaking point. Tess found herself almost in his lap, her hands pawing at the front of his jacket and his fingers trailing up her spine, leaving a blazing trail wherever they went.