Reckless Hearts: A Billionaire Romance (8 page)

"I like to be in control," he replied, pulling a three-point turn of his own in front of the gate so that we pointed down the dirt road. He pulled in beyond the gate, put the Jeep in neutral, went and shut and locked the gate behind us, and came back.

Soon we sped down that path, Owen rowing through the gears. Too fast, if you ask me. The dust cloud we left behind us was like the trail of a comet hurtling through space.

I grabbed the side of my seat with one hand and the arm rest with the other, hoping no hairpin curves opened up in front of us.

But the four wheel drive of the Jeep negotiated the rough terrain like a mountain goat clambering up a steep slope.

"You don't have to worry. I've been down this road plenty of times."

"Who says I'm worried?" I said.

My stomach lurched when he downshifted and came to a bend. The tires started sliding beneath us. He gave it some gas, the engine growling in response while the Jeep scrambled for some sort of purchase.

Just as the trees lining the side of the road loomed close Owen found some traction and we shot forward again.

I couldn't help the little squeak that escaped me.

Then I saw Owen. An almost manic look tugged at his features, and I got the impression that he had dared the Jeep to lose its footing, to crash us into the trees.

"Slow down!" I said, "Slow down or let me out."

As quickly as it came, the expression passed from his face. He let off the gas and we started to coast.

"What are we doing here, anyway?" I said, noticing the hand loop over my door and grabbing it.

"You wouldn't accept the numbers I wanted to show you, so I decided that you needed to see something real."

"All I see are trees. Besides, it seems more like you're interested in getting us both killed." There were so many trees. They grew higher the deeper we went into the forest so that only a strip of blue sky remained above the road.

"You're perfectly safe with me. Besides, you're from a small town. Aren't you used to seeing trees everywhere?"

"Just because I grew up around them doesn't mean I want to crash into them. How do you know that, anyway?"

We came to another bend and he downshifted again. This time he kept the Jeep in check. Though tension and desire started rolling off him in waves, his thighs clenching as he kept his feet from revving the engine high and sending us careening.

I couldn't deny that he could drive. I also couldn't deny the way I clenched low in my stomach every time he pushed the clutch in and threw the shifter into another gear in that decisive way of his.

"I told you before that I make it my business to learn everything about anything that interests me. And you interest me, Allison. I want to know everything about you."

A chill ran down my back, and I tried looking anywhere but at him. At the gravel road as the Jeep ate it up, at the blur of trees just a few feet to the side of us. Anywhere but at the undeniably handsome man sitting beside me. The handsome man who, for some reason, took an interest in me.

"Why?" I said, "Why me?"

"We're almost there now," he replied, letting off the gas again. "It's been a long time since anyone has tried to put me in my place. Last week I flew over to... Well, let me just say that it's a small country with a lot of people not afraid to use violence to get what they want. And you know what happened?"

"You sold them more guns?"

He smiled and gave me a quick sidelong glance. "Nothing like that. If anything I want the fighting there to stop. What happened was I met with one of the strongmen there. When he looked at me, he was afraid. I could feel it. He was afraid because he knew that with my signature on the right pieces of paper, his bid for power was through."

The trees thinned. Literally. The old trees gave way to what looked like saplings planted in rows, the sun bursting through the canopy so that I pulled the visor down to keep from squinting.

The dirt road led to a large cleared area with a few temporary buildings set up. Logging trucks, their trailers empty, sat off to one side. Logging equipment—big yellow vehicles with lots of hydraulics and the word CATERPILLAR all over them waited silently for their crews to come back.

Owen pulled up to the main building, a double-wide trailer with its windows shuttered, and parked.

The world seemed very still now that the vibrations of the engine and the bumps of the drive stopped.

"Why am I not surprised that people are afraid of you?" I said, grimacing when I let me body relax.

"That's not my point at all," he said. He got out and started around to open my door. I beat him to it, hopping down to the ground before he could reach the handle.

"Then what is it?" I said, making a slow turn, the gravel crunching beneath the soles of my boots, to survey our surroundings. The sapling rows stretched on for miles, giving me a good view of the sky and the actual forest in the distance.

"You aren't afraid of me. I don't intimidate you. You don't try to flatter me or win my favor. In fact, I don't believe you've said a single non-critical word to me."

I turned to face him, aware of how close we stood. He kept the top button of his shirt undone, and it gave me the most tantalizing glimpse of his deep chest. It begged me to reach out and start popping the other buttons out of their loops one at a time, nice and slow, while I looked into those warm eyes of his.

"And that's something you like?" I said.

But I was afraid of him, I knew. Afraid, and curious. How couldn’t he see just how scared I was?

"It's refreshing and interesting. A man in my position, he gets used to people becoming yes-men. People jumping as soon as he looks at them, never questioning anything he might say or do."

The distance between our bodies closed again, and that look of desire flashed over his face again. The same one as back in the elevator in Manhattan, when I thought he might kiss me.

Except then we'd been interrupted by the doors opening. As far as I could tell, we were completely alone out here. Probably the only people around for miles.

I swallowed against the sudden dryness in my mouth and throat. "So what you're saying is that you find me interesting because I don't immediately bow down before you as soon as you step into a room?"

"Something like that."

He was magnetic. Even as my mind rebelled, my body yearned for him. My fingers yearned to tear his shirt open. I trembled at the thought of his hands on me.

I didn't know how this was possible, how I could go from pretty much not even thinking about guys to wanting someone like Owen. Someone I made a point of not liking.

That point of no return approached. That point of finally stepping off the cliff and letting the darkness at the bottom swallow me up. My point of balance at the edge shifted, inertia and gravity pulling me forward.

I took a step back from Owen, hoping my jeans disguised the way my knees trembled.

"Well you're going to have to keep your interest to yourself," I said. I wanted to hug myself, to wrap my arms around my ribs and squeeze. So I pushed my hands into my pockets. "So why are we here? Won't the logging company want us gone?"

"They shouldn't. I own their company."

"Of course you do."

That earned me another smile from him. My defiance amused him, and that pleased and angered me at the same time.

"I hope those boots of yours are good. Follow me."

He didn't wait to see if I agreed or not. He turned and started towards the closest of the saplings. I considered climbing back into the Jeep and waiting for him to drive me back, but I thought that he might like that.

Of course, he might also like me following him. I would be doing as he asked then, letting him control me. Either way, he won. I didn't like how alone we were out there, so I followed him.

The gravel changed to fresh dirt, the rich, earthy sent of it reminding me of home. Whoever planted the saplings had also taken the time to stake the smaller ones to posts to keep them from blowing down in the wind.

"Every tree cut down gets replaced by a new one. Utopia is all about sustainability and giving back. I have a dozen other sites all over the US just like this one. It's the same in our other enterprises, too, not just the logging."

I reached out and let my fingertip run across a green maple leaf of the nearest sapling. My finger came back dampened with dew, which I wiped on my jeans.

"So to answer your question, this is how I sleep at night. I know that everything my company and its subsidiaries takes gets replaced. Do you believe me yet?"

I realized then that he wasn't playing, he wasn't being sarcastic. He wanted me to acknowledge him. Wanted to show me that he was not the evil capitalist I painted him as back at the keynote.

I considered telling him that I thought this whole thing could be a set up. Sure, he claimed a dozen sites for logging and who knew how many for whatever other industries Utopia dipped its toes into. But this could be the only one.

I couldn't say that though, because I believed him. "Yes, I guess I do. But that doesn't change the way I feel."

"Fair enough."

"So can we go back now? I do have a class in the afternoon."

Owen stopped in the shade of some of the older trees and checked his watch. "It's only 9:00 now. Lots of time. You know, this area really is beautiful. There's a stream not far from here. I go there sometimes when I want to get away from the world. I'll show you."

Another secret
, I thought. I couldn't say I wasn't tempted. But the good student part of me kept tugging at my mind, telling me I could get my first body paragraph done on that essay still if he took me back to the campus right now.

"I don't think we should..."

"You do a lot of thinking. Some might even say that you over think things."

I stepped into the shade as well, happy to get out of the sun. I should have brought sun screen.

"Is that how you like your girls? Not thinking too much about things? Just going with it? You say, 'Hey, look how sexy I am. I can drive stick. Don't think about it too much,' and then they're yours forever, is that how it goes?"

He reached up with one hand and cupped his mouth, pulling his fingers down so that I could hear the rasp of his stubble against his palm. I guess he tried to wipe his smirk away and couldn't.

"What's so funny about that?" I said, my back stiffening with wounded pride, "It wasn't a joke."

"Oh, I know." No matter how tightly he pulled at his cheeks, that smile wouldn't disappear. I hated it.

"Tell me now or I'm going to start walking back to the campus. You can keep your precious little stream all to yourself for all I care."

He let his hand drop, took a deep breath to steady himself, and fought the smile back into something like a neutral expression. The corners of his mouth refused to go down, though.

"No, don't go. I'll tell you. I didn't realize you found my ability to drive stick sexy."

I gawked at him, sputtering, "What? No! That's not what I... It's not sexy, okay? I didn't say what I meant."

Even without the sunlight to glint in them, mischief flashed in his eyes. "What is it that you find sexy about it? Hmm, this is going to need some further thought. I'll mull it over while we get to the stream. It's a bit of a hike."

As before, he started walking without waiting for me to follow him. The saplings were older back here. Taller and thicker, letting into the real forest pretty close by. If I didn't follow soon, I'd lose him in that thicket.

Looking back, I saw the sun shimmer off the Jeep's windshield. I could wait there. But who knew how long Owen would make me wait? I could also make good on my threat and start walking back to the campus myself.

Except that meant probably a three hour walk at least. That, and I didn't know the way.

So again, I followed him, turning back from the Jeep just in time to see him disappear behind some bushes.

"Wait, wait," I said, moving as fast as I could through the scrub and underbrush, holding my arms up to keep the lower branches from whipping me in the face.

I caught up to him, my shoulders heaving. It took more effort than I thought to get through all this. I managed to wipe the perspiration from my upper lip before he glanced back at me.

"Walk where I do and you won't get into any trouble."

"I know how to walk," I said. I did watch where his feet went, though, and tried to put mine near the same spots. He seemed to know where all the hidden roots waited to snag at your ankle, where the ground looked solid because of the decades’ worth of fallen leaves but which actually were mushy pits.

He even held some branches out of the way for me.

"Is it because you don't know how to do it?" he said.

Driving stick
, I realized. "Who said I couldn't?"

"No one. But you can't, can you?"

I stepped under the branches he lifted and then waited for him to resume leading the way. "No," I replied, seeing no point in lying about it.

He started off again, stepping over some thick brown roots that seemed to writhe from the ground, twisted and gnarled like arthritis-ravaged fingers. He offered his hand to help me over, but I waved him off and negotiated it myself, feeling a touch proud that I didn't fall on my butt.

"I could show you how. It takes some practice, but once you've got the basics, you're golden."

"I bet you'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"Yes, I would. And I think you would, too. You know what? Maybe it wasn't that I know how and you don't. Or not only that, anyway. Maybe it's that I did it well. I did something that seems so complex and difficult so effortlessly. Maybe it makes you wonder what else I can do. If maybe I can control other things and situations, too."

The forest heated up around me, then. Or maybe it was me doing the heating. Either way, my skin flushed. I moved into a pool of shade to try and hide it. "Uh, definitely not that one."

Our solitude struck me again. Just the two of us in the middle of nowhere. Him talking about how good a driver he was, how well he could handle himself. Me wondering if certain articles of clothes might burst into flame.