Forever Flint

“And Paradise Outdoors will get advertising and publicity in all those magazines. This trip of Carmody’s really was a good idea, and getting Tour & Travel to finance the whole thing took extraordinary salesmanship.” Flint’s irritation with his injured marketing chief appeared to soften.

“My entire staff is committed to taking the company into the global marketplace I don’t know how much you know about Paradise Outdoors, but we’ve grown from a small niche company selling specialized travel gear by catalog to a broader inventory and national customer base. Now we’re headed worldwide.” Flint’s face lighted with enthusiasm as he talked about his company. Ashlinn found herself studying him, and as she watched and listened, her fear was transformed into something else entirely. All of a sudden, she was excruciatingly aware of everything about him.

Like his height. He literally towered over her, and in her boots with their three-inch heels, she was nearly five-eight, which wasn’t exactly short.

He was strong too; he’d proven that by whisking along her ten-ton suitcases like feather pillows. The short sleeves of his white cotton shirt revealed the hard muscles of his arms.

Ashlinn swallowed hard He was tall and strong—and then there was the additional matter of his looks. Somehow, those hadn’t registered until now, either. He was very handsome, not to mention virile-looking.

Her mouth was dry. “Tall, dark, and handsome” was a cliché, but definitely applied to him. Words were her stock-in-trade, and Ashlinn realized she could come up with a thesaurusfull to describe Flint Paradise.

He seemed to be expecting some response from her. Floundering in the mind-shattering seas of sexual awareness, Ashlinn couldn’t think of a single thing to say.

“My father started the business thirty years ago, and I took over as CEO after his death seven years ago. My staff instituted the full-color catalog, expanded the inventory and the mailing list and got a website on the Internet for cybersales. We’re well situated to take Paradise Outdoors into the millennium,” Flint proudly volunteered, with no prompting from her.

“Paradise is an unusual name, a good one for your company,” Ashlinn finally came up with something to say, but she winced upon hearing it aloud. Could that really be her? She sounded like a simp! Self-consciousness struck, accompanied by an adrenaline rush. Mature women of twenty-eight did not develop instant crushes, did they? Yet she was behaving as if that was exactly what had just happened to her.

Thank heavens Flint seemed unaware of it.

“We were told our great-grandfather chose the name Paradise,” he explained. “The chief was a Lakota Sioux and liked the sound of that particular Anglo word, so he decided to use it for his name.”

Flint’s eyes locked with Ashlinn’s.

“Lakota Sioux? Like in Dances with Wolves?”

“Yeah.” Flint gave a laugh. “I keep forgetting about that movie, but people, especially women, keep reminding me.”

Ashlinn suspected he was laughing at her but carried on anyway. “There’s a certain chic to being Native American,” she suggested.

Not to mention romance, added a teasing little voice in her head. And he does conjure up thoughts of romance, doesn’t he?

She couldn’t seem to tear her gaze away from Flint Paradise. He had a long straight nose, high cheekbones, a well-shaped mouth and his skin was the color of polished bronze. He really did bear a resemblance to a hero on the cover of an historical romance novel—not that she read them, she preferred her history straight and factual, not plagued by love. There were a few key differences, of course. Flint’s thick glossy black hair was cut short, and she was fairly certain that the male cover models wore theirs long and untamed. And Flint’s white designer polo shirt and khaki trousers were a far cry from the loin cloths and feathers favored on the book covers.

“Dad was Sioux and Mom was Irish,” Flint recited his bloodlines with a nonchalant shrug. “And my brother and sister and I prefer the term Indian to Native American. Just a personal preference, not a political statement either way”

She nodded her head, gazing into eyes that were almond-shaped and black as coal. When he looked at her the way he was doing now, his heated gaze seemed to liquefy her insides.

“We have to get going,” he said, reaching out to touch her arm. “Get in.”

For a moment, he thought she was going to balk, to refuse and run back into the airport terminal.

It would be for the best if she did, he decided, because just standing here looking at her during this time-filling, time-wasting conversation was turning him on so fast and so hard that the prospect of spending additional time with her, of sharing a tent with her. . .

That stunning realization struck him for the first time. The six men booked for the trip were to sleep in pairs in three tents. Hall was matched with Yagano, Bouvier with Figueroa, Sam Carmody with Asher Carey.

Which meant that Flint Paradise was assigned a tent with Ashlinn Carey! He was supposed to sleep in closest proximity to her for the next two weeks’

Flint removed his hand at the same moment she jumped back. He could still feel the softness of her skin under his palm, and he robotically flexed his fingers. That he had touched her at all was uncharacteristic of him. He wasn’t the touchy-feely sort, given to casual physical contact. Yet he’d reached out and taken Ashlinn by the arm, which practically qualified as an intimate act for him! Such behavior was way out of line, Flint reproved himself. After all, the arrangement between Tour & Travel magazine and Paradise Outdoors made them colleagues, professionals working together.

But then, she was supposed to be Asher Carey, a red-blooded man’s man, not Ashlinn, an irresistible temptress.

They couldn’t go on this trip together. It was as simple as that. Now, all he had to do was to tell her so, to cancel the entire excursion and reimburse Tour & Travel and the other four members of the expedition.

Ashlinn moistened her lips. His touch seemed to be seared onto her skin like a brand. She could still feel the warmth and strength of his big hand. She couldn’t stay, she decided. Not when she felt this forceful attraction to Flint Paradise. It was both scary and thrilling, like being on a roller coaster heading toward the top of a precipitous drop at warp speed.

Ashlinn had always hated roller coasters.

She would tell him that she was leaving Sioux Falls, that she was going back into the terminal right now, and no, he needn’t bother to help her carry her suitcases back inside, thanks very much. She was going to fly back to New York tonight if she had to go by way of Seattle to do so.

But despite the decisive plans being concocted in their heads, neither Flint nor Ashlinn spoke a word

Flint continued to hold the door for her, and she slipped into the front seat of the car, watching as he walked around to the driver’s side and climbed inside.

Both simultaneously buckled their seatbelts The clicks of the metal clasps were the only sounds heard within the confines of the car.

Flint turned the ignition key and the engine kicked into gear

They were on their way.

Two

“Earlier this evening, I got the key to your motel room and put some of your new Paradise Outdoors gear in there,” Flint said at last, breaking the silence between them.

It was rare for him to take the lead in making conversation, but he felt that need now. Ashlinn’s presence was galvanizing.

“You have the key to my room?”

He could guess what she must think. “I didn’t keep it, of course. I turned it back in at the desk,” he assured her hastily.

Suddenly a vivid erotic fantasy flashed to mind, featuring himself slipping the key into the lock and entering her room where she waited for him in the darkness, lying on the bed wearing nothing but a drowsy, welcoming smile.

Flint coughed and gave his head a quick shake. Luckily, his mind cleared.

“You’ll have to repack, using our extended-journey backpack.” It was a command, not a suggestion.

“You actually expect me to take two weeks’ worth of clothes and supplies from my two full-size suitcases and stuff it all into a backpack?” Ashlinn sounded edgy and incredulous.

But she was glad they were talking again. Sitting in total silence while the car whizzed along the interstate highway left her too much time to imagine what lay ahead. Already a nervous anticipation was building within her.

“Yes, I actually expect you to do that, Ashlinn.”

The sound of her name on his lips stunned her back into silence.

It was stupid to get so rattled because he’d simply called her by her own name, Ashlinn admonished herself. Except calling her by name made things between them seem personal.

And of course, there was nothing personal between them; there was absolutely nothing between them at all. This foolish crush she seemed to have developed on him was certainly one-sided and didn’t count. She’d better quash it fast, before she truly humiliated herself.

“Where will I keep my suitcases and the things left behind in them?” Ashlinn was pleased that her voice sounded crisp and efficient, no small feat when she still felt like a dazed schoolgirl. “Do I have the hotel room for the full two weeks?”