Worth the Risk Read Free Page A

the city, and she loved her job as a magazine editor. She excelled at it, and she had friends there. However, these trips were the highlight of her existence. Each year, she needed to reconnect with the people who really understood her. After losing her parents, this reconnecting grounded her.
    The crunch of gravel drew her gaze. A dark blue SUV rolled into park behind her red Mazda. The last of the bunch, Matt, picked the perfect moment to arrive. However, the placement of his car created an effective barrier. She wasn’t going anywhere now.
    He climbed from his car and retrieved something from the back. Colleen jogged over to help him. Desperate for a distraction, Molly dragged her attention from Tanner and, through sheer force of will, switched it to Colleen and Matt. They rummaged around for a couple minutes in the back of his car and then backed out with three trays of coffees and two boxes of donuts.
    Caffeine and sugar. That should make her feel better. A beer would work faster. She kept a speculative eye on Tanner through lowered lashes. Time passed in a haze of memories. Tanner extricated himself from the group and sauntered toward her. She jerked back to the present, straightening her spine.
    He studied her, his head cocked slightly to the right. He approached as though he expected her to flee. With each step that brought him closer, her heartbeat picked up and her nipples hardened until they peaked stiff beneath her shirt. Molly crossed her arms over her chest. Warmth unfurled low in her belly. She couldn’t do much about her damp panties. It had been a long time, but seemingly her heart and her body hadn’t suffered from memory loss and after a decade of yearning, decided to go for broke.
    Tanner stopped five feet away and then closed the distance by three. She’d forgotten how tall he was. His dark hair grazed his shoulders in a shaggy, but masculine mess . The years had been kind to him. Her mouth watered for the second time today. And again, some oxygen would be nice.
    He wore a pair of chocolate brown boots, well-worn jeans, and a body-hugging black T-shirt made with his specific measurements in mind. It outlined every muscle he had, and he had plenty. She pressed her lips together, tight. No need to embarrass herself by drooling.
    “Hello, Molly.” His voice was deeper, his face leaner, and though he’d dropped his shades over his eyes when he got out of the car, she remembered their swirling gray depths. Regardless of his mood, looking into his eyes always made her picture an overcast day, the clouds heavy with the promise of rain.
    “Tanner.”
    The sounds of her friends talking, other campers arriving and setting up, and children playing a game of tag over in the field all became background noise, fading away while they stood, drinking each other in. He had matured. His body, his demeanor, everything about him spoke volumes of the man he had become—a harder version of the young man she had known, of the boy she had loved. He oozed confidence and sensuality.
    Her body hummed its approval. Visions of her arms and legs, entangled with his, danced through her head. Wow. Good thing she packed extra undies.
    Colleen chose that moment to interrupt them, placing herself between their bodies. How she managed to avoid getting singed, Molly would never know. “Hey, you two. Grab a drink, or a coffee and a donut, and let’s catch up. We’re all dying to know what you’ve been up to, Tanner.”
    The spell broken, Molly closed her eyes and dropped her head, dragging in a deep gulp of fresh air.
    Tanner cleared his throat. “Uh, sure. Brad and I are going to get the tent pitched first.”
    With Colleen as her shield, Molly kept her eyes to ground, but she could feel Tanner’s gaze boring into the top of her head before he excused himself to join the others.
    Colleen spun around and grabbed Molly’s hand, yanking her over a few steps. “Wow. You two seemed to have forgotten the rest of us were here. Are