Romancing the River (Survive the Romance #8) - Cami Checketts Page 0,2

cheating on her with multiple women. A semi-friend had finally been brave enough to tell her that James had seduced her and several other women. As soon as Kinsley broke off the engagement, people came out of the woodwork to share stories about her former fiancé and the women he had on the side.

Kinsley was smarter now. She didn’t trust the opposite sex or date very often, especially not charming players like James or Axel. Now as she listened to the river running behind her and various guides and excited rafters talking as they prepared to launch on this beautiful, sunny July day, she prayed that Axel wouldn’t come to kick off the start of his reality TV show. If he did, she prayed she could stay immune to his charms.

Axel was a much bigger player than James had ever dreamt of being. Kinsley didn’t have cell coverage very often in the summer doing river rafting trips and in the winter teaching ski lessons or taking groups heli-skiing, but when she did, she had an embarrassing addiction she couldn’t break—googling Axel Dexter.

Dang him all to heck, he looked incredible in the photos and videos she saw. She couldn’t fault anyone for naming him “America’s Most Desirable Billionaire” and “World’s Hottest Man,” but she could fault Axel for being an incorrigible flirt and heartbreaker. He went through so many women she wondered how he kept track of which supermodel or actress or businesswoman or influencer he hadn’t dated yet. Worst of all, he and his gorgeous assistant Emerald were supposedly a couple. Pangs of sympathy always made Kinsley wonder how Emerald put up with him cheating on her nonstop, especially since Emerald had to know about the other women. Just last night, Kinsley had seen a new collection of pictures of Axel and an up-and-coming actress Vivian Isaacson. He’d looked so happy and appealing and fun in the pictures that Kinsley’s stupid longings had resurfaced.

No! The other women could have him. She didn’t care.

But why did her hands go clammy when she saw a beautiful Maserati sport utility pull up and an even more beautiful man pop out of the driver’s seat? She took a calming breath. She just had to get through the next few minutes. Emerald had explained Axel would most likely be here to introduce this week’s challenge for the camera. Kinsley would meet the military hero and charitable woman she would take down the river and then she could hop in her raft and hopefully avoid Axel for another year or so.

“You’ve got this,” she muttered to herself. “Smile and stay immune.”

“You okay, Kins?” her friend Joshua asked from a nearby raft where he was waiting for his own group to arrive.

“Fine,” she forced out. Kinsley plastered on a smile, but her stomach did a funny flip as Axel bounded down the ramp and then across the gravel beach toward her. A cameraman, Emerald, and another man and woman trailed after him, but Axel was out in front and immediately consumed every bit of her attention. Attention that he didn’t deserve.

For once, he wasn’t dressed in a tailored suit but in a fitted long-sleeved T-shirt and an amphibian-type swimsuit. His blondish-brown hair was wavy and swept to the side, his handsome face was split in that award-winning grin that made her stomach turn itself inside out when it was directed at her, and his too-blue eyes were lit up as if nothing could make him happier than seeing his old high-school-buddy-slash-honorary-little-sister.

“Kinsley!”

The entire world slowed down and disappeared as he drew close. Kinsley was consumed with this man; nothing would be right until he held her in his arms.

No! She had to stay strong. If he touched her, she’d become another number and name who had succumbed to his charm.

“Axel.” She tried to say his name as if they were just old acquaintances, but it came out breathy. As if she was as into him as every other single woman in the nation.

He wrapped her up in his muscular arms. Kinsley forgot all her reasons for staying away and her arms snaked around his firm back without her permission. Being in Axel’s arms was the culmination of every good dream she’d ever had. Good endorphins rushed through her veins. Happiness like this could only exist when she was close to Axel.

“Kinsley.” His voice had turned husky and irresistible and only for her. He stared at her and the force of those blue eyes was like a nuclear bomb.