Hot Licks by Jennifer Dellerman Read Free Book Online

offices, including the one shared by Gwen, James and Dennis. While their job kept them mainly outdoors, they still needed a place to track hours, report problems, note down repairs or areas of maintenance, update any changes in plant and animal life and soil conditions, schedule hikes, store their gear and everything else that came with the position.
    Gwen always left paperwork for rainy days.
    Unfortunately, more rain was in the future and she was not looking forward to reducing the piles of paper residing on the desks. She and James had culled it down earlier this week, but it never did seem to disappear completely.
    Now, with a hip propped against the larger of the two desks squeezed into the room, Gwen peered down at the lamented checklist. Though each ranger knew it by heart, one forgotten item could bring serious trouble, so she dutifully scanned everything in her backpack against the list.
    She was also waiting on Dennis, who was late. A glance at the wall showed the time at seven-fifty. With a frown, she reached for the phone. The hike was planned for eight-fifteen and required two guides at all times for several reasons, the least of which was another body to drive the second jeep out to the gate.
    In the middle of punching out a number on her cell, Gwen heard whistling coming from the hallway. Thinking it was Dennis, as the rest of the employees had the weekends off, she hung up the phone and tried to wipe the impatience off her face. The kid, though not really a kid at twenty-three, wasn’t normally late. In his last year of college, specializing in forestry, working at the Orchards was a boon to his resume and not something he would jeopardize. No doubt he had a good excuse and Gwen needed to tamp down her irritation at his tardiness.
    Besides, if she was honest with herself, her cranky mood owed more to her restless sleep than anything else.
    Long after she’d gone to bed she’d thought about Rome and how he was faring all alone, in the dark, way out at the cabin on the reserve. She’d even thought about going out there to keep him company. A brief idea she’d killed as soon as it popped up. Then when she did finally slip into sleep, it was to vivid dreams of what might have happened on that swing if she hadn’t stopped him from kissing her.
    Now she was suffering the aftermath of an early alarm interruption at the most critical moment. With her skin feeling too warm and tight and the ache low in her belly, she could admit to herself that she should have taken those extra couple of minutes in the shower to alleviate the problem. But she’d thought her arousal would dissipate as the day wore on.
    She squirmed, squeezing her thighs together for the hundredth time since waking. Yeah. That didn’t seem to be happening.
    The whistling stopped and she looked up at Dennis with an inquisitive glance. Only it wasn’t Dennis that stood in the doorway. It was Rome.
    “Good morning.” His dark eyes were lit with male approval as he took in her legs, bared by the khaki shorts she wore, and the loosely tucked in dark blue logo shirt that hinted at the full curves of her breasts.
    The sight of him caused her stomach to clench in shear want, followed by embarrassment – the man had seen her nearly naked breasts last night after all! She covered it with a surprised, “Good morning. What are you doing out here?”
    Rome slanted her a wry grin. “That’s the third time you’ve asked me that question since we’ve met.” Crossing his arms, he leaned a heavily muscled shoulder against the door frame. “I think I’m getting a complex.”
    Gwen flushed. The estate did belong to his family and he had every right to be wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted. Except her bedroom of course, which made her flush even more as she recalled her dreams.
    Agitated, she shifted away to rummage through her backpack, blindly checking the contents for the third time.
    “Sorry. I just thought you’d still be in bed. Ah. Sleeping.