Game of Love (27 page)

Kate narrowed her eyes in his direction. “Problem, Mr. Ray?”

Sage was drawn to her confidence, the way she wasn’t afraid to challenge Clayton, and he was powerless to turn away. And her sexy little cutoffs weren’t helping him any. With his artist’s eye, he did a quick sweep of her features, hiding his glance behind his hand as he wiped his brow again. Her deep-set, slightly upturned, smoky blue eyes stopped him cold.

“You too, Mr. Remington?” Kate arched a brow.

Shit
. Now he looked as bad as Clayton.
Am I?
He opened his mouth to explain—
I was just checking you out from an artistic standpoint. One quick glance. Jesus, you have the sexiest eyes I’ve ever seen. Fuck. Never mind
. Luckily, before he could put his foot in his mouth, she spoke.

“Let’s get one thing straight. I’m sure this is very different from the harem-filled exotic resorts you’re used to, but here at Punta Palencia, we have one goal. To help the community. And that does not include any sort of sexual action from me or any other AIA volunteer.” She eyed Penelope, whose gaze was burning a path directly to Sage, and Cassidy, who was sizing up Clayton. “What you do among yourselves is your business, but we expect you to carry out your humanitarian efforts with respect for our staff and the community. Got it?”

The silence was deafening. Kate’s lips held tight in a
Don’t mess with me
line.

“Got it.” The words were out of Sage’s mouth before he had time to think.

She gave a curt nod.

“Alrighty, then. We’ll see where we end up,” Clayton said with a heavy Southern drawl.

Kate exchanged a half smile with Luce, as if they were sharing an inside joke. “When we get to the compound, you’ll be assigned a cabin. Once situated, we’ll meet at the community rec area. The path behind the cabins will lead you to the rec area. Please try to be there within thirty minutes so we can get everyone up to speed as quickly as possible.” Kate turned her back and lowered herself into her seat as the bus took a bumpy turn to the right and came to an abrupt stop.

Despite himself, Sage wondered what Kate would be like if she weren’t wrangling self-centered celebrities. As he stole a peek at her profile, he realized that she’d lumped him in with Clayton, and he cringed. They hadn’t even arrived yet and already he was on some celebrity shit list in her mind. Or on that damn clipboard.

KATE WAITED IMPATIENTLY while the prima donnas made their way down the dusty steps of the van. She’d been with AIA for almost five years, and this was her second assignment out of the country. Each assignment lasted for two years, with an additional three months of training. In a few short weeks, it would be over and she’d be flying back home to see her parents. She had misgivings about this assignment coming to an end. Punta Palacia had been her home for just over two years. She’d become close with the children at the school and the community, and she’d been lobbying for the installation of a well in the village. Just thinking about leaving everyone, especially before the decision on the well was made, caused her chest to constrict. Kate was good at a lot of things, but saying goodbye was not one of them.

She held Clayton’s stare as he exited the bus. She’d learned early on with entitled celebrities that holding her ground was the only way to keep them in line. They were all the same: cocky, surly when she turned down their sexual advances, and goddamn needy. It would take less than five minutes after they checked out their small cabins for them to stomp back with a demand to leave. Kate had never given too much thought to what it must be like going from a world of having everything at their fingertips to a developing nation such as Belize. She’d grown up traveling with her parents on Peace Corps missions and had been surrounded by families who worked with the Peace Corps for her whole life. Once she’d graduated college, she couldn’t wait to leave the United States and get on with helping people who really needed it. Lately, though, she’d also longed for something more, although she hadn’t been able to put her finger on just what that
more
might be.

“Where to, darlin’?” Clayton flashed his perfectly capped teeth with a wide smile.

“You’re in cabin one. The first cabin you come to.” She pointed to the cabin, and when his smile widened, she knew she was in for trouble.

Sweat dripped from beneath Clayton’s Stetson. He swiped at it with his forearm. “You don’t need to worry about us. We’re harmless.” He took a step closer.

Kate was hyperaware of Sage standing behind him, his dark eyes narrowed, his jaw clenching.

“Unless, of course, you’d like to try ridin’ a stallion.” Clayton’s smile morphed into a smirk, the left side of his mouth tilted up.

Kate had been propositioned by celebrities before, but that didn’t stop her hand from fisting around her pen as she pulled her clipboard to her chest like a shield, but as she opened her mouth to tell him what he could do with his offer, Sage stepped from the bus in his sweaty tank top and cargo shorts and cleared his throat loudly.

“Cabin one, Ray.” It was clearly a command.

His tattooed arms were solid muscle and so well defined that she had the urge to let her fingers travel the hard ridges. He was built for power, a protector, or…
No.
She wasn’t going there. She’d seen too many temporary romances during these assignments to allow herself to be drawn in only to be forgotten after the guy went back home.

Clayton walked away with a swagger, turning back once and tilting his hat at Kate.

She groaned.

“Listen, I’m really sorry for the way I looked at you on the bus.”

The command in Sage’s voice was gone, replaced with sweet richness, as smooth as melted butter. Kate felt her cheeks flush.
Damn it
.
What is wrong with me?
She lowered her eyes, steeling herself against the warmth that had found her belly and was slowly traveling lower. She dared a glance at his handsome face. He had a strong chin, and his eyes hovered somewhere between gunmetal blue and indigo.
Shit. Really?
At least he wasn’t perfectly manicured like the others. His eyebrows were a little bushy, a peppering of whiskers covered his cheeks, and his clothes looked like they came right off the rack at anyplace
but
a high-end store. Unfortunately, that only made him more appealing.

Focus.

Kate drew in a deep breath and ran her finger down her clipboard. Now she was stuck trying to figure out if he was just playing her—standing up to Clayton and apologizing like he was her savior—or if he was really a nice guy. She decided to ignore the conundrum altogether and focus on her job instead. Focusing on her job didn’t require evaluating the motives of celebrities. Her job was safe.

“Remington, let’s see. You’re in cabin three.” She pointed to a small cabin at the end of the complex.

He nodded silently and walked away with a dejected look on his way-too-handsome face.

Luce stood on the steps of the bus with her arms crossed. “Well, look at you, staring after him like he’s a piece of meat. Maybe I’ll start calling you Clayton.” She stepped from the bus. This was Luce’s third trip to Belize. Kate couldn’t keep track of all of the celebs she handled PR for, but she was always glad to see her friend.

Kate realized she was not only staring at Sage as he walked away, but more specifically, staring at his perfect ass. She spun around. “What? Just making sure he figured out which cabin was his. They all look the same.”
No. They sure as hell don’t all look the same.
And she wasn’t thinking about the cabins.

“Uh-huh. You stickin’ with that story?” Luce’s blond hair was clipped at the base of her neck in a low ponytail, and she reeked of bug spray. Luce was always prepared. It was one of the things Kate admired most about her.

Kate smacked Luce’s arm with the clipboard. “Why didn’t you warn me about those women? You said they were a little highbrow. That’s different from—”

“No. No, no, no.” Penelope traipsed across the yard, waving her arms and lifting her legs high to avoid the thick grass and flourish of dust that clung to her legs. “Luce, there is no way I’m staying in that bug-infested sauna.” She crossed her lanky arms, rolled her eyes, and huffed a sigh.

Luce glanced at Kate and lifted her palms to the sky. “Sorry, Pen. This is what we’ve got. It’s only two weeks, and—”

“Did you see the screened-in sleeping area?” Kate used as peppy of a voice as she could muster when what she really wanted to say was,
The cabins are fine. There are people who have real needs and you’re here to help them. Suck it up and let’s get going.
“The screen will allow the air in and it’ll keep you cooler at night,” Kate suggested. “There’s a nice shower and bathroom that’s all yours. I know it’s not what you’re used to, but remember, this was once a mahogany logging camp, so think of it like you’re reliving a time in history.”

“And that’s supposed to make me feel better? The bathroom is awful.” Penny let out a loud breath.

Luce put her arm around Penelope and guided her back to the cabin, saying something Kate couldn’t hear. Kate checked her watch. In another twenty minutes she’d hold orientation and then hand out the assignments. She’d been looking forward to working with Sage the most. She loved his artwork and she knew how much the children loved art as well, but whatever the hell was going on in her lady parts when he was around had her on high alert. She’d have to build a little higher fence than she was used to.

Who was she kidding? She needed ten feet of barbed wire—to keep herself in.

(End of Sneak Peek)

To continue reading, be sure to pick up the next

LOVE IN BLOOM release:

STROKE OF LOVE,
The Remingtons
, Book Two

Love in Bloom series
,
Book Eleven