Still, saying it like that proved he really was a first-class prick. It made his skin itch, like he’d rolled in poison oak. He couldn’t escape his entirely deserved case of karmic eczema.

She rolled her eyes. “By all means, Chief Warrant Officer Rivera, lead the way and protect poor little me from the big bad coyote. Forget that I spend about three hundred days a year in this park. I know these trails better than you know a woman’s body.”

Ouch. Still, he was glad she was getting her digs in. “That’s not what you said in November.”

“I was faking,” she said in a singsong voice.

He chuckled. They both knew which one of them was lying now.

As they walked upslope in silence, he felt her behind him as much as heard her. Smelled her. It was strange to think he’d been inside her. He knew the taste and texture of every curve and slope. They’d shared a night that had been wild. Special.

He hadn’t been scheming when he’d taken Audrey to his room. He’d just reacted to an intense, primal attraction that grabbed him from the moment they met. It didn’t help that Jae had introduced them. He’d known Jae since childhood. They’d fought with lightsabers and dreamed of being Jedi. She knew Jae as a coworker and friend. They both trusted the park ranger without hesitation.

Before the introduction, Jae had warned Xavier that Dr. Audrey Kendrick would likely be the deciding factor in the environmental approval process. Knowing that, he should have kept his hands to himself, but the wrong head had been doing all his thinking.

Later, any hope he’d harbored for a repeat encounter once the project was approved had been crushed under her worn hiking boots. Sure, she’d just been doing her job, but he, in turn, had to do his.

He glanced at his watch as they climbed the slippery, steep slope. Darkness was crowding in. The platoon was in the air now. He needed to get this boondoggle over with so he could get her back on the road before she screwed up the training. He should be in the control room with Cohen this very minute.

The first phase of this training was a hostage rescue scenario focusing on the lodge. The conditions were just right, coming in under the cover of a storm. Ideally, the team would arrive later in the night, but the storm was hitting early, so they’d moved up the timeline by two hours.

They’d have to work with the weather when the real mission was a go, so this abrupt change in timing was also excellent practice for everyone.