Instant Gratification (Wilder #2)(8)

Around him, birds screeched. Insects hummed. He was dive-bombed by an errant wasp. He swatted at it and kept going through the woods. The trail was well kept but beyond it, nothing but remote wilderness. Approximately 75,000 acres of subalpine and alpine forest, granite peaks, and glacially formed valleys and lakes, all government owned and available for exploring.

He knew every inch of it.

By the time he climbed the steps to the lodge and got to his second story office, he was already tired. Still, he began the uphill battle against the mess on his desk. Over the next few months, he would plan and lead many varied treks—but for now he was diving into the mountain of paperwork required for those treks. There were permits to secure, equipment to order, treks to map, billing…and he did it all while fantasizing about playing doctor with a certain Dr. Evil in fancy clothes, with a set of baby blue eyes and a mouth that was made for—

His door opened and Annie walked in. Though she was only ten years his senior, his aunt—and Wilder Adventure’s chef—could kick his ass on a bad day, and given her scowl, it would appear it was exactly that. “Don’t go away mad,” he murmured wearily. “Just go away.”

“No can do.” She was wearing an apron that read: I’D TELL YOU THE RECIPE, BUT THEN I’D HAVE TO KILL YOU, which pretty much summed up her usual attitude.

An attitude that today, happened to match his. “You didn’t knock,” he said.

“Because you wouldn’t have said come in.”

Good point.

Definitely not leaving, she picked up the scrawny cat sitting in his spare chair—Chuck, a stray who’d adopted them nearly a year ago—and sat herself, where she studied Stone like a hawk.

A mother hawk.

Chuck yawned wildly and settled on Annie’s legs. Only a few months ago, the cat had been so skittish no one could even feed him, but Katie, their bookkeeper and now keeper of his brother Cam’s heart, had tamed both the man and the cat in one fell swoop.

Annie absently stroked Chuck’s chin as she eyed Stone.

Uncomfortable with the scrutiny, he shifted, jarred his poor body, and paid for it with a stab of pain. “Don’t ask me if I feel as bad as I look.”

“Okay.” She petted the cat some more. “But do you?”

He let out a careful breath. Yes. “No.”

“Liar.”

Ignoring her, he went on with his paperwork. Or tried. It wasn’t easy with every movement pulling on a wound or bruise. Ignoring that too, he pulled his keyboard closer. Once upon a time, he’d loved handling the paperwork for Wilder Adventures. But then they’d gotten busy and it’d become a real pain in his ass. He’d hired a bookkeeper, Riley, who’d then decided to become Mr. Mom, so he’d hired Katie, who’d fallen in love with his brother and was currently traipsing across the Andes on an extended pre-wedding honeymoon.

Leaving just him, TJ and Annie. Since neither TJ nor Annie ever touched the paperwork, he was on his own—and it was killing him.

He just needed a break, he thought. And an entire bottle of Advil.

Annie put her feet up on his desk, getting comfy, which meant he was going to be stuck with her for a while. Her long dark hair was back in a single braid. With her Wilder hoodie and dark jeans, she might have been sixteen rather than forty.

“Seriously,” she said. “You look like something Chuck dragged in.”

She acted as if she was either his boss or his mother, and though officially she was neither, unofficially she’d taken on both roles years ago, running the lodge and their hearts with equal ease.

She had help. Her husband Nick was one of TJ’s oldest friends. Nick worked as their mechanic and helicopter pilot, and was as indispensable to Wilder Adventures as the rest of them. “Okay,” he admitted. “I feel like shit. Happy?”

“Aw, baby. Here.” She pulled Advil out of her pocket and handed them over.

“Bless your black heart.”

She watched him swallow three tablets dry, then turn to organize some invoicing, swearing as he did. “I did warn you,” she murmured, “About letting Cam fall in love with the bookkeeper.”

“They’re meant to be,” Stone said, and meant it. Cam had never been so happy, not even when he’d been a world champion snowboarder. “They deserve each other.”

“You sound like a chick. You sure you didn’t have a concussion after that fall?”

Stone shook his head. “You know, I actually tell people you love me.”

“I do love you. Cam will be back from taking Katie through the Andes in a few weeks, so stop moping. We’re doing just fine.”

Fine was relative.

Their business had grown in huge proportions this past year, especially with all three of the brothers now leading various treks. But with Cam gone for the past month, wooing the woman he intended to bring into the Wilder fold permanently, it’d left a void.

And not just in the office.

He missed the sonofabitch. TJ was around, and indispensable, but he handled all the long treks, meaning he’d be gone soon enough as well.

Leaving Stone by himself.

“It’s not brain surgery,” Annie said.

He laughed softly—ouch—and looked at her. “You know, with you and Nick tossing out your divorce papers instead of filing them, I figured you’d be all warm and fuzzy.”