Free Alaskan Nights by Anna Leigh Keaton

ass earlier, but if he didn’t get away from her, he was going to jump her and they’d both regret it...later.
    “Is there a whetstone in the tackle box?”
    “Yeah, but I don’t know how to use it. I didn’t want to ruin the hook.”
    He wondered what it would take to push her over the edge. To get her to admit she was as randy as he was. Or maybe if she yelled, screamed and cursed him it would help. There had to be some way to break the tension between them. Instead, he raised an eyebrow. “Could you get it for me?”
    She huffed out a breath and threw him a thoroughly disgruntled look before bending down to the tackle box.
    That does it. Her temper tantrum needed to be dealt with right now. Time to take matters into his own hands, whether she liked it or not. Brandon dropped the fishing lure and in one fast, smooth motion, scooped Bella up into his arms, waded into the middle of the shallow stream, and dropped her in on her shapely little fanny.
    When she came up sputtering, sitting chest deep in the crystal clear, icy cold stream, Brandon calmly stated, “Thought you could use some cooling off.”
    She grabbed for his leg, but he backed out of reach. “Ah, ah, ah, you don’t want to do that.”
    She growled and lunged for him again, only to end up sliding on the slick rocks, dunking her head again. Brandon grabbed her under the arms and pulled her to her feet. She swung a foot at him. He sidestepped it. She growled again and grabbed the front of his shirt. “You slimy bastard!”
    Brandon grabbed her, one hand at the back of the head, the other firmly planted on her bottom, and pulled her against his body as his mouth came down hard on hers. At first she pushed at his chest. Then she held perfectly still. Then, slowly, her fingers spread out on his chest and her tense muscles softened against him.
    He hadn’t intended to kiss her, but he couldn’t deny himself any longer. When he gentled his mouth from punishment to pleasure, she wrapped her arms around him and her lips parted.
    So sweet, Brandon thought. Sunshine and honey. Unlike anything he’d ever tasted. Hot and tempting, so utterly feminine. She moved closer, her wet body warming against his. When she let out the softest of moans, almost a purr of satisfaction, Brandon thought he might self-combust.
    Slowly, inch by torturous inch, Brandon eased from the kiss. “Damn, baby,” he groaned against her lips, his breaths ragged, his body humming with need. His groin tight and aching.
    A tiny whimper slipped out of her. He smiled against her lips. She started shivering.
    “Cold?” he asked, the picture of innocence.
    “You... are such... a jerk,” she said between chattering teeth.
    Laughing, Brandon lifted her into his arms, waded out of the knee-deep stream, and set her to her feet on the gravel bank. “Why don’t you go change your clothes and warm up?”
    She’d better get away from him before he did more than kiss her. Her T-shirt clung to her breasts, and even though he knew she wore one of those thick, industrial strength sports bras, her puckered nipples protruded. The sight did not help his control.
    ~*~*~
    Isabella wrapped her arms around herself and headed for the cabin. She couldn’t believe he’d kissed her like that. That she’d returned the kiss was even more astounding. Her toes were numb from the freezing cold stream. She supposed she’d been having a bit of a temper all morning. She could even allow that she deserved to be dunked in the stream. What she could not believe was the fact that he had not only tried drowning her, but that he’d then made her melt so completely.
    “Damn you, Brandon Wilks,” she muttered as she stripped off her squishing boots on the cabin porch.
    She couldn’t let him kiss her again. She couldn’t. They were alone. Very, very alone out here. If he kissed her like that again, then he’d want to touch, and kiss more and eventually it would all lead to sex .
    No, absolutely not. She would not have