Stirred Up (15 page)

Bare-chested, wearing only his boxers, he
climbed out the door. Cheryl watched without speaking as he grabbed
the sneakers sitting outside the tent, pulled them on and strode
away. After a few long strides he broke into a run and disappeared
into the shadows of the cliffs.

***

Jason ran for fifteen minutes, not caring
whether he twisted an ankle on the uneven ground. Hell, let him
break it. It would hurt less than his hard-on and it might be a
nice distraction.

There was no telling how long he ran, but
eventually he slowed to a walk, the desperate haze of his desire
fading, replaced by doubt and worry. It was useless hating himself
for his lack of self-control, not when he’d been woken up in the
middle of the night by Cheryl’s practically naked body falling into
his arms. He wasn’t a saint, and he’d been too out of it to think
straight.

What killed him was knowing she’d stopped him
because she still hadn’t forgiven him. It was there in the sound of
her voice, in the way she made him stop even though she was as
excited as he was. They didn’t have a condom, but that didn’t mean
everything had to scream to a halt. He’d have bet anything that if
this had happened before their argument she’d have gone for it, or
at least handled it differently.

She still didn’t want to be anything more
than friends, and he was going to lose even that if she knew he
wanted more. Which meant he had to convince her that none of this
meant anything.

There was a light coming from Cheryl’s tent,
but as soon as he got within calling distance it went out. His
stomach clenched at her obvious desire to avoid talking to him
tonight, but he couldn’t let this wait until morning.

Kneeling down in front of the tent door he
took a deep breath. “Cheryl?”

She didn’t reply, and he could almost hear
her holding her breath.

“I know you’re awake,” he said, patiently. “I
saw your light a minute ago.”

The zipper moved and the tent door opened to
reveal Cheryl, dressed once again in her camisole and shorts. She
was biting her lip, her eyes uncertain.

“Look, I’m really sorry about what happened.
You took me by surprise is all. I was dead asleep and–”

“I know,” she groaned. “It was totally my
fault. Please let’s just forget it.”

She wasn’t mad at him, then. He let out a
breath he hadn’t been aware of holding. “So we’ll just chalk this
up to a weird almost full moon thing and act like none of this
happened in the morning?”

“That would be great,” she said, her
sheepish, hopeful smile tugging at something in the vicinity of his
heart.

Another howl sounded somewhere off in the
distance, but she didn’t blink an eye.

“Will you be all right by yourself?” he
asked.

“I’ll be fine,” she assured him. “It’s much
safer in here than I realized,” she joked. “But what is that?”

“Coyotes, and they don’t bother people, so
there’s no danger.” He sat there for another few seconds, reluctant
to leave her. “Okay, well, let me know if you need anything,” he
said, standing up.

“Goodnight, Jason,” she called after him.

He crawled back into his tent, suddenly
realizing he was still wearing only his boxers and a pair of
sneakers. Now he was cold as well as embarrassed that he’d sat
there talking to her without putting any clothes on.

He lay down and tried to clear his mind, but
all he could think about was how she’d felt in his arms, under him,
wet and moaning and perfect. Better than anything he’d imagined,
and his imagination had been pretty optimistic when it came to
Cheryl.

He tossed and turned until his sleeping bag
was a twisted mess, and then fell suddenly to sleep in the middle
of odd, jumbled thoughts about escaping from his sleeping bag to
check on Cheryl, who was trapped in her sleeping bag while the
howling coyotes stalked around her tent.

He woke up sometime after sunrise and lay
there, blinking up at the blue sky. He could tell it was way later
than he usually slept while camping, but since he didn’t hear
anyone else moving around, it looked like he’d managed to wake up
before Cheryl.

Climbing out of the tent, he breathed in the
incomparable scent of the start of a new day, the chill in the air
washing over him like a dip in a fast-running river. Sticking his
head back into the tent he pulled out his jeans and flannel shirt
and dressed as the birds sang around him. Time to get to work. When
Cheryl woke up, there’d be a fire to keep her warm and some
fresh-brewed coffee waiting for her.

The fire was just beginning to catch when the
sound of a tent door unzipping sent his heart into his throat.

Christ, she was gorgeous, even pale and tired
and rumpled with sleep. She’d pulled on her jeans and sweatshirt,
and her hair was in two messy braids. She looked, basically, like
every guy’s fantasy of the girl you wanted to take camping.

“Hey,” he said. A brilliant opener. “Coffee’s
almost ready.”

“Good. I’ll need all of it,” she said,
offering a shy smile.

“I hope the howling didn’t keep you up
long.”

“Not too long,” she said, a corner of her
mouth tilting up in a self-mocking smile. “Eventually I was so
tired, I decided I didn’t care if they came and got me while I
slept.” She reached up, stretching towards the sky with a groan. “I
feel good now though. Nice and rested.”

“Are you one of those people who needs to be
awake for a while before you eat?”

“I just need a few minutes and some coffee.
All this fresh air has me kind of hungry.”

Jason grabbed a tin camping cup and poured
her coffee out of the French press he’d brought. It was a bit fancy
for camping but it made great coffee fast.

Cheryl took the cup in both hands, breathing
deeply before closing her eyes and drinking. “Now that,” she said,
“is a good cup of coffee.”

She was smiling at him, like he was
everything she needed in the world. Too bad she only looked at him
like that over his coffee-making.

“You up for some pancakes?” he asked.

“Oh my God, yes. I can’t remember the last
time someone made breakfast for me.”

She said it so casually, like she didn’t
realize how revealing it was. But it said everything to him, and
all he wanted in that moment was to prove himself to her so he
could go on making her pancakes and coffee and anything else that
would make her eyes light up.

“Is there anything I can do?” she asked.

“No, I’m good. You just relax.”

Heading over to the picnic table he laid out
the fixings for breakfast. Cheryl wandered around the campsite with
her coffee cup as Jason mixed up the batter and the world came to
life around them, the sun making its way above the red cliffs,
creating more light and shadow. Then it rose another inch and
touched off a thousand brilliant sparks in her hair.

Suddenly he felt like he was hanging off the
side of a cliff, just a thin rope keeping him from falling to the
rocks below. Lightheaded, hyperaware and yet filled with a sense of
unreality.

“Wow, this is incredible,” she said, glancing
from the cliffs to him.

“Yeah,” he said. “It really is.”

“Are you all right?” she asked. “You have a
weird look on your face.”

“I just need some coffee, that’s all,” he
said, taking a nice big gulp even though he knew it would be too
hot.

He could feel her eyes on him as he tested
the griddle, finally deciding it was hot enough to start cooking.
Cheryl grabbed her camera and proceeded to document their
surroundings, taking pictures of their tents, the jeep, the sun
coming over the mountains.

He made a face when she pointed it at
him.

“As you were,” she directed. “Pretend I’m not
even here.”

He still felt silly, but he complied. He
wanted her to have pictures of him. She wouldn’t be taking photos
of him if he didn’t mean something to her. Would she?

“Breakfast is served,” he announced a little
while later, setting the blueberry pancakes, sausage and maple
syrup on the camp table between their two chairs.

Cheryl sat down and took a bite, her eyes
going round with appreciation.

“You are a camping god,” she declared.

They sat side by side in front of the fire,
eating in near silence as the sun rose fully into the sky, warming
them until they shed their outer layers. Before long they both
groaned and sat back in their seats.

“Maybe that wasn’t the best thing to have
before climbing,” he said. “I don’t know how I’m going to haul
myself up a cliff.”

“I don’t regret it,” Cheryl declared, licking
her spoon yet again. There was no way even a drop of syrup remained
anywhere in her vicinity, but she couldn’t seem to stop trying.

He looked away, the sight of her licking her
lips nearly killing him. How did she not know she was making him
crazy? Then again, everything about her drove him crazy.

Eventually they motivated and hiked out to
another route he thought she’d like, putting on their gear and
touching each other as if it meant nothing. It took all Jason’s
willpower to act indifferent, and he could only hope it would get
easier with time.

“Now those I’m not scared of,” Cheryl
laughed, pulling out her camera to get a shot of a pair of burros
chomping on the sparse desert scrub.

They got back to camp a little after noon and
packed up the campsite. Jason threw the last of the equipment into
the back of the jeep and they both looked around one last time
before heading out of the park.

“You all right?” he asked her, a little while
later.

They’d been driving for about fifteen minutes
and she seemed to have gotten more introspective, her hands clasped
in her lap as she looked out the window.

“I’m fine,” she said, but her expression
belied her words. “I just…I don’t know. Part of me doesn’t want to
go back to my life just yet. I kind of like just eating, sleeping,
and hanging around outside. It’s so much simpler.”

“I know what you mean. It’s like you’re
presented with an alternate view of what life could be. There are
times when I’m camping and I think about leaving all my worldly
possessions behind and living off the land in some cabin in the
middle of nowhere.” He laughed. “Obviously I’ve never done it, but
I get a taste of it whenever I go camping or hiking. It’s not all
or nothing. That kind of peace is always there for you.”

“That’s really nice,” she said, glancing at
him. “Maybe we could do this again,” she said, hesitant.

As if he’d ever refuse her.

“You’d better believe it,” he replied, and
was rewarded with a smile that stole his breath.

He pulled up to her apartment soon after, but
neither one of them moved from the car. He knew without a doubt she
was thinking about last night in his tent. That porcelein skin of
hers didn’t lie, and she was blushing right in front of his eyes.
She looked like she might say something, but then she just sighed
and got out. He followed suit, grabbing her bag from the back
seat.

“See you on Tuesday,” he said, the bland
statement conveying nothing of what he felt.

“I’ll see you,” she said.

Then she stood on tiptoe and kissed him on
the cheek, hurrying away before he managed a coherent thought.

***

Cheryl stood under the hot spray of the
shower for long enough that her conscience spoke up and reminded
her she lived in the desert and really shouldn’t be taking
twenty-minute showers. But it felt so good, and even though it had
only been one full day of camping, she felt like she’d been away
from civilization for much longer. Plus she was filthy.

As the water ran down her body, she let her
mind drift to last night in Jason’s tent. She’d wanted it, right up
until the second she didn’t. If only they didn’t have such insane
chemistry. He was turning out to be a good friend, one she wanted
to keep, but keeping their hands off each other wasn’t going to be
easy. Then again, remembering their argument had been a pretty
effective mood killer.

She needed to tell someone what happened
before she went crazy, so she hopped out of the shower and dried
off. She and Beth had been playing phone tag all week, but
hopefully this time she’d get through. Flopping down on the couch
she dialed her friend’s number.

“Thank God,” Beth answered. “You’ll notice I
refused to leave another message last time I called. I was
beginning to think you’d found someone else.”

“You’re so dramatic,” Cheryl said, already
smiling.

“Maybe, but that’s just because my life is so
predictable and un-dramatic. I’m over-compensating.”

“You’ll appreciate my latest drama then.
Though I didn’t intend for there to be drama. I just wanted to get
out of town.”

“What’s going on? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, but I’ve made things with Jason
even more complicated than they were.”

“How so?”

“Well, for starters I accidentally crawled
into his lap in the middle of the night, and before I knew it we
were both almost naked and about a second away from what I’m sure
would have been mind-bending sex.”

“Start at the beginning and don’t leave
anything out.”

So Cheryl told her. Beth interrupted a time
or two for clarification, like when she wanted to know what all the
howling was about, but by the time Cheryl got to Jason climbing on
top of her, all she could say was “hot damn” and “lord have
mercy.”

“And then he put on his sneakers and took off
running and I went back to my tent,” Cheryl finished.

Silence.

“Beth? Are you still there?”

“I’m here. I’m just astonished. And kind of
turned on, if you must know. Your fifteen minutes in a tent was
hotter than all the sex Jeff and I’ve had put together.”

“Have you tried that book I mentio–”

“Never mind about that. We’ll worry about my
boring sex life another time. What happened after he took off?”