Climbing High (13 page)

She stepped away and raised her hands to the fastening, only to have Jake brush them aside and undo it himself. “Here”—he thrust the helmet into Sam’s gut—“make yourself useful.”

“And I thought I just did.” Sam grinned wickedly at a third man Siree hadn’t even registered to this point.

“Josh, look what our Jacob has brought to the party.” He winked at Siree, who knew it wasn’t her, but Jake’s hard on he mocked.

“Get a life, Pradzyski.” A light blush mounted Jake’s high cheekbones. “I hope you’re not going to be a smart ass, too.” He turned to Josh. “Siree, Joshua Chandler. Josh works out of DC.”

“Siree Lorain McConnell,” she found herself adding, some part of her insisting she have an honest relationship with the two friends that mattered most to Jake. She shook hands with Josh, a taller more slender version of Jake, his body honed, his eyes radiating intelligence.

“Sam. Samuel, I’d wager.” She turned to lay a sweet smile on Sam. “Three biblical wise men. Is that what brought you together in university?”

“That and a leftover keg at a frat party.” Sam’s teeth flashed as his eyes and mouth widened in appreciation at her accuracy. “I live in Seattle.”

“Well, we came to climb.” She picked up on Josh’s restless pacing, although she guessed he always appeared like his skin felt a little too tight. “If you give me my gear, Sam, I’ll be ready to go.”

Siree’s fun-o-metre hit a new high. Climbing with three more experienced climbers pushed her limits to the max, but she did it. Soon, Sam and Josh moved further away. She guessed they had weighed her ability and felt confident in leaving her on her own. Jake stayed near. She wondered if the same magnetic pull that influenced her dragged at him.

The three men raced each other up the rock faces, swung from abutment to overhang, from chimney to ledge. The sound of voices ringing with challenge and laughter, victory, and the mock groans of defeat echoed and reechoed.

Scrambling with Jake and his friends became her favorite form of climbing. She swung herself across a deep fissure in the rock to a wide ledge on the other side and turned to look down to the valley floor. Nothing moved below. It could be a million years earlier. She felt the timeless energy of the rock pulsing through her, beating a primitive rhythm that enticed her to dance with life. Intoxicated by the view, the adrenaline rushing through her blood, the sight of Jake leaping from an outcrop to the edge of her ledge, she saturated herself in the moment.

“The guys want to go over the saddle and get that chimney on the next peak. I thought we’d stop here for lunch and meet them at the bottom.” His hot breaths, still rough from excursion, wafted across her forehead. “You can’t beat the view.”

It was almost 1:30p.m. Her stomach gurgled at the thought of food. She moved to a shaded spot at the back of the ledge and crouched down to pick shards of fallen rock from a small space. She cleared a patch wide enough for both of them. He came up behind her and lifted her pack. She pressed her damp back to the cool rock and watched him shrug off his pack. His narrow hips twisted and the soft bulge in the front of his khaki shorts drew her eye.

The width of the ledge allowed them to stretch their legs straight with several feet left to the sharp drop-off. His thigh brushed hers as he settled beside her, though there was plenty of room to spread out. Tucked into their private pocket away from the world, Siree couldn’t remember ever being so happy. She wiggled her legs to loosen the muscles and relished the feel of her tense body relaxing. Peaks, like a jagged picket fence, surrounded them, yet she could see down narrow canyons and up to the bluest sky, great mountain vistas of incredible beauty.

Motion far to her left drew her attention. Sam and Josh came around a rocky outcrop and started across the face of another incline.

“They look like a couple of spider monkeys.” Jake started to laugh. “Watch out!” They both sat like statues as Sam missed a grip and slid four feet down the mountain before catching another handhold. They could see Josh’s mouth moving and across the chasm echoed, “Climb like a drunken orangutan!”

Sam looked up at his climbing buddy, his own mouth going a mile a minute, while he thrust his middle finger toward Josh. “Screw you, buddy!”

“So much for a profanity free zone.” Jake’s lips clamped tight, the corner quivering. “They sound like a couple of apes, too.”

She stifled a giggle. “Or an old married couple.” She bit the inside of her cheek, met his eyes and they both lost it. Laughter gushed out of her, boomed out of him, and caught the attention of his friends, who froze in place, staring over at them. For some reason this seemed even funnier and sent them off into new whoops.

She wrapped her arms around her abused stomach muscles, panting for breath. “Your friends are great. They’re really like two kids fighting over the monkey bars.” She gasped and went off in another peal of laughter at the image. When she looked up, he had stopped laughing. He stared at her with a warm appreciation that teased heat over her cheekbones. She pressed her lips together. His attention moved to her mouth and stayed there. She pressed shaky fingers over her lips. “Don’t.”

His eyebrow quirked up. “Don’t what?”

Don’t make me feel love sick.
Unsure. Out of control.
“Don’t look at me like that.”

“I can’t help it. You’re enchanting, laughter bathed in sunlight. I’m happy when I’m with you, and that’s a hard thing to find in my life these days. But I’m sorry if I make you uncomfortable.” He linked his fingers loosely in front of his raised knees and directed his attention at his friends, until they were out of sight.

She felt like the sun had ducked behind a cloud when his eyes left her. She lifted her pack onto her lap and started to lay out her lunch. “I brought chicken and lettuce on whole-wheat. Do you want one?”

He looked down at her, recognizing her peace offering. “I brought my own, thanks. He pulled a Styrofoam container out of his pack, opening it.

She breathed in the smell of pastrami and mustard, sauerkraut and fresh bread and her mouth watered.

“I’ll share.”

She looked up from the sandwich to find his laughing eyes back on her, where it seemed she’d wanted them all along.

She wrinkled her nose at him. “I couldn’t get my mouth around that thing to take a bite.”

“Oh, I think you could manage if you wanted it badly enough.” His eyes teased with their wicked glint, yet some deeper meaning hid behind the sober lines of his face.

“Here, try my kosher pickle first.” He lifted out a gigantic pickle and offered it.

Tantalized by the smell of vinegar and dill, she leaned forward to take a bite. Her lips closed around it, sucked the salty brine that flooded her mouth. “Mmmm.” She watched Jake’s pupils dilate, and bit down hard, pleased with the audible crunch.

“Ouch.” He flinched, and stared at the missing end of his pickle.

“Delicious.” She stroked her lips with her tongue in a slow circle.

He tracked the motion like a panther locked on his prey. “Siree,” he croaked.

“Siree isn’t here. I’m her wicked twin, Desiree,” she whispered in her best vamp voice.

His eyes glinted. “I could get into a wicked Desiree.”

Siree stifled a giggle. “No, I don’t think so.” She measured his chagrin.

“You just keep getting better and better.”

“Glad you approve.” She gave him a mock bow from the waist. “Now give me back the pickle,” she growled.

****

An eagle soared above. Its wild cry called to something primal in Siree. She roused from her torpor to follow its progress across a narrow wedge of sky. She must have dozed off. Her head rested in the hollow of Jake’s shoulder, his arm holding her in place. A quick peek told her his eyes were closed. His chest moved beneath her in a steady rise and fall. She listened to the strike of his heart against her ear. Her fingers crept upward to feel the hair peeking above the low curve of his tank top.
Silky, just as I thought.

“No pulling,” he said in a sleep-drugged voice. His hand came up to hold hers in place. “Touch me, Siree. I’ve waited for weeks for you to touch me.” He lifted her hand and pressed a kiss in the palm before setting it back on his chest.

Licensed to bring one of her fantasies to life, she turned more fully into him, her thighs curling up to rest on his. She dropped her free hand to his waist and found the edge of the tank. Inserting her hand under it, she took ship on a voyage of discovery, travelling from the hard muscles that braided his rib cage like bands of steel, over the slope of well-developed pectoral muscles and into the shallow valley between. The patch of silken hair required her to dally, before she sailed on to the hollow above his collarbone, the pulse throbbing at the base of his throat, the strong column of his neck. The tank climbed with her arm, leaving his hard body bare and brown for her delight. She pressed a kiss over his heart, felt, more than heard, his deep groan. Her tongue flicked out to taste him, salt and soap and Jake. His fingers tangled in her braid and eased her head back, exposing her face. His eyes spoke his intent to kiss her.

She quaked at the thought.
I’ve waited and wondered so long. Jake’s kiss. Frightening. Momentous. It’s just a kiss. No, it’s something that can change my life. Maybe. Then find out. It’s time to know.
She pulled her hand from under his tank to trace his jawline. The tense muscles twitched beneath her finger. His lips smooth, velvet, moistened her finger as she pressed it inside. He sucked it in further, his tongue stroking its length, as he tasted her in turn. She moaned. Her eyes closed. She lifted her mouth. He released her finger and touched his lips to hers in a whisper of a kiss.

“Our first kiss,” he breathed so close to her lips. If she puckered, she would feel his mouth. She mewled like a blind kitten seeking a touch. Again, his lips brushed hers, returned, changed the angle, pressed a little firmer, advanced, and pulled back. He teased, until, with a hungry cry, she held his head still and pressed her mouth to his. Ardent, hungering, she soared with him into a cloud of passion, where they both flew blind.

Jake couldn’t get it into context, this kiss that crashed into his control, sending it plummeting to ground zero. For a second he tried to focus outside the kiss, to bring his well-honed technique into play. His brain refused him objectivity. He wondered why, but his mind could not hold the thought long enough to find an answer.

Eyes closed, he surrendered to Siree, her mouth a silken haven he never wanted to leave. He explored it with tongue and teeth and lips, drowning in the heated depth, her soft cries the breathy sighs. Passion climbed higher, unleashing a primitive need to take her to the hard rock beneath him and mount her, mark her as his. He fought an equally strong urge to cherish her, to enfold her in tenderness.

Sex was about skill, control, pleasing his partner, finding release. Here, chaos reigned. Siree whimpered and pressed closer, rubbing her breasts across his chest, seeking relief.

He could tell her there wouldn’t be any. His engorged penis fought the confines of his pants, only to lose to the pressure of her thigh as she shifted closer.
He
might have whimpered then. He pushed his hips upward, seeking his own relief.

He scooped her up, turned her to straddle his lap. Ravenous, their tongues tangled, their lips fed on the delicacy of their combined taste. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers combing through his hair. He bit her bottom lip, so voracious it took all his control to let go and lick the tiny sting. She cried out and ground her heated center against his penis, and he came close to losing it. For one horror filled second he thought he would ejaculate into his jockeys.

“Be still. Siree, I need …. You have to—” He clamped his hands on her hips to keep her from moving. “We have to stop,” he panted. Hunger paced his body like a great restless beast. “We can’t. The guys are…not like this, Siree.” He gritted his teeth and lifted her off his lap, setting her on the ground beside him. He needed to move, to stand and walk away and get his unruly body under control.

But passion’s undertow held her fast, her eyelids heavy, her mouth dewy and plush from their kisses. He stroked his hand up and down her back, watching her struggle to come back from wherever the kiss had taken her. He knew he should feel ashamed at reveling in her discomposure.

The pleasure of knowing he hadn’t flown alone outweighed it.

She pressed her face into her raised knees, and taking a long, deep breath shuddered free of the magic. “I’m okay.” She levered herself up. His hand fell to his side. She bent to push the remainders of her lunch in her backpack, meticulously zippered it. She chalked her hands with a sprinkle from her mesh ball. With an abstract look at her watch, he didn’t think she’d even registered the time. She spoke. “We should probably be going down. Sam and Josh will be waiting for us.”

“You’re right.” Frustrated, he stood and shouldered into his own pack, watching her close down, put distance between them.

He couldn’t read her expression.

Did she regret the kiss, or like him find herself too stunned to know?

Chapter Seven

They descended with smooth efficiency to the canyon floor. Silence dominated. Lost in reflection, Jake moved on autopilot, only emerging into the moment to check on her progress before his thoughts caught him up again.

Josh and Sam leaned against their bikes, bickering over a bet they’d apparently laid on who would hit ground first, Siree or Jake. Jake didn’t even know the answer.

“Took your sweet time,” Sam chortled, peeling athletic tape from his hands. “Something slowing you down these days, Jake?” He directed an appraising look at Siree.

Still processing the height of his response to her, Jake looked at Siree like he’d just become aware of her existence.

She smirked at him. “Maybe he’s just older,” she suggested. Her tone could have sweetened the bitterest chocolate.

Sam whistled. Josh laughed. Jake stepped back and clutched his chest. “A hole in one.” His eyes laughed back at her.

She started walking toward Sam and the other bike. “Wait a minute, please, Siree.” Jake’s long fingers closed around her arm. She stopped. Gently, he turned her so she faced him. “I want to see more of you.” He couldn’t remember an answer ever mattering so much.