by Lark Avery
“Lots of wet paint here.” I waved my roller back toward the door, trying to shoo them both outside.
“Careful, she’s not too discriminating about it getting on the walls,” Tristan added.
“I’m going outside to search for my victim.” Gary’s stage whisper reverberated off my narrow walls.
It was great Gary was able to keep an eye on Leo so I could get my biz up and running. In addition to home repair, I had product to make. Back in Ohio, I experimented with several new soap recipes. Apparently, I’d created a winner. Now I was eager to get my soap making supplies going. In addition to salon services, I planned to sell homemade soaps. Something I’d started as a lark back in Ohio when we were trying to make ends meet was doing good. That was when Ted drank any money I didn’t hide.
I loved soap making. It was part chemistry, part art, and all smelled great. I branched into soaps using natural herbs. From the looks of Snow Ridge’s early spring, I could get started on herb gathering. Soon, I’d plant my favorite plants in raised beds right in the yard this summer.
I ceased mentally planning my not-yet created herb garden to notice Gary and Tristan ignoring each other. Interesting. I’d make sure to weasel the history out of that from Gary later. He was a sweetheart of a guy.
Gary started down the back steps when Leo popped up from his hiding place.
“Here I am!” My son called before scrambling over the top of the crates.
This was the real reason we were in Snow Ridge. Leo’s asthma was worsened by city smog. Snow Ridge might not have many things yet, but it did have plenty of clean air.
I waited for Tristan to say something. Anything. Did I have to ask him?
It was a question so important I couldn’t bring myself to ask. I couldn’t bear the thought of him rejecting Leo. Tristan could be disgusted with me, but my son was a different story.
I pulled a bottle of wine from the fridge and two paper cups from an open box. It was all I had unpacked in the kitchen. Heavens knew where the wine glasses were. I poured myself some wine, but Tristan shook his head to my offer. He still hadn’t said a word. “So?” I asked before draining my wine out of the paper cup. Gulping was not sexy, but this was beyond normal circumstances. I needed liquid courage. I refilled my paper cup, waiting for Tristan to say something. Anything.
He resumed painting, presenting his back to me. God, he had a great ass. I wanted to sink my fingers into it while he rode me hard. He was going to be a tough case to crack, but I was a woman who loved two things: a challenge and a great fuck.
3
Tristan
“Gary is your babysitter?” I asked without turning my back. I was trying to will my erection to die down. Liv’s proximity wasn’t helping. I glanced over my shoulder; She was still close by.
“I don’t see why not. Leo is crazy about him. Finding a babysitter up here isn’t easy.” Liv continued painting. “My son needs fresh air. That’s why we’re here. And we’re not leaving. So whatever problem you have with me, let’s clear the air right now.”
“Fresh air sounds like a good idea. I’m taking a break.”
“Running away? Look, Tristan, I get I’m your least favorite person. I’m sorry, but Leo and I need a place to belong.”
“You’re not my least favorite person.” I stepped outside to get some fresh air on the back step. Those paint fumes were getting to me. That was it. It had nothing to do with being in the same house as Liv. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath. And another.
Then I headed down the back steps toward the mostly mud field behind her house. I just kept walking until my skin stopped tingling from her proximity. And all the while, my pulse raced. Liv thought I disliked her? That was almost funny if I wasn’t in pain from my blue balls.
The sun beat down on me. It was too hot too soon for this time of year. Sweat rolled down my back, making my tee-shirt stick to my skin. I headed for a patch of shade over by the spindly birch trees. Stripping off my shirt, I balled it up in my fist.
My hands went to my jeans button. I had to get some fucking release before I lost my mind.
“Hey,” Gary called. “Do you mind? There’s a minor here.”
Over to my left, Gary approached the treed area where I paused.
Leo attached himself to Gary’s leg. He ignored the boy wrapped around his leg. Once I’d seen a poodle chew off the collar of the lab sitting next to him. The lab barely flicked an ear at the process. Gary wore that same beleaguered expression.
About six feet tall and half as wide, the snow pile they approached was no longer a pristine white. It was muddy with bits of rock, twigs, and pine needles mixed in. Leo detached himself from Gary’s ankle, scrambling up one side of the hill. He rolled back down multiple times.
“Sorry I didn’t see you.” I approached them, no longer intent on removing my jeans. I winced as I walked over to them.
Gary ignored me. Instead, he shoveled more snow on the hill for Leo. With every slide, the snow hill melted a bit more.
Gary was more a friend of my cousins. He seemed harmless but also kinda odd even when we were all kids. Hockey was the everyday kid activity in Snow Ridge, not taxidermy.
“What’s your problem?” I asked.
Gary glanced at me.
“How’d you wind up babysitting anyway? You’re a taxidermist.”
“I’m all caught up on my work until the next shipment arrives. Passes the time.”
I wanted to think of anything but that I’d walked away from Liv and left her thinking I was immune to her. Hadn’t she seen my hard-on? I wasn’t one to brag, but my cock wasn’t average-sized. I would be more than happy to prove to her how much she turned me on the next time I saw her. I’d be in better control of myself then.
Right now, I considered Gary. He had battled Rika with my cousins. The plus of this shift in my attention was that it killed my aching erection. Gary understood how serious the threat was even if Liv didn’t. I’d searched the mountains for signs of her, but there were still plenty of places to hide if she didn’t want to be found. But he and I should look again together. Maybe we’d have better luck as a team.
“Do you think she’s dead?” I asked, hopefully.
“Nope,” Gary replied. “Her name in Russian means ‘one who destroys’.”
That sounded about right. Rika was waiting for her time to strike Snow Ridge again. This time she would bring all her powers toward leveling our community forever.
“Make sure to keep Leo away from the mountains.” I reminded Gary as if he needed it. “It’s avalanche season.”
Liv:
That motherfucker walked out of my house without a word and didn’t return. Sure he’d mumbled about needing “fresh air,” but that was just a lame-ass excuse. I’d driven him away by being a pushy bitch.
And as a result, I now found myself hanging off this Snow Ridge cliff side all morning. This was what I got for setting out on my own. All I wanted was to collect some fresh herbs myself while Gary watched Leo. Plus, curse out Tristan out of earshot of my son.
When I came to town, Tristan warned me about going off on my own. But had I listened? No.
Instead, I was going to die. And that wasn’t the worst part. In an attempt to free myself, I’d used every last bit of clothing I’d had.
Now I’d pinned all my hopes on my thong. Before today, my slingshot panties were a fashion choice—not survival gear. In the hopes of hanging on, I’d looped it around the sturdiest roots I could find, but I didn’t have the arm strength to haul myself up.
This damned thong had given me the biggest wedgie of my life before I liberated it for use as a lasso. I was not keen on introspection; I had a difficult time waiting for my nail polish to dry. All this because I’d fallen over the edge trying to get some fresh lavender.
It’d be too late to learn any lesson from this. Instead my son would spend the rest of his life knowing when someone finally found my frozen body I was naked and probably mauled by a bear. With my
luck, that discovery would be a group of backpackers.
I screamed for help until my throat was hoarse. My cries competed with the hawks circling above me. They were mighty curious, which was ok for now, but when the vultures showed up, I was in serious trouble.
The ledge above me trembled to loosen more of the bank. I was busy watching the earth crumble to the two hundred foot drop below when a shadow fell across me from the cloudless sky.
“I thought those screams sounded familiar.” Tristan’s mirrored aviator sunglasses peered down at me over the bank’s edge. “Need some help?”
Tristan.
I couldn’t say which I wanted more; for him to fuck me (once I wasn’t facing near-certain death) or if I wanted to beat him with the nearest tree branch for making me so crazy.
It was a toss-up.
“Swear to God, get me out of here, and I’ll give you anything you want.” My voice sounded suspiciously wobbly.
“You’ll leave Snow Ridge?” He pushed his sunglasses up to the top of his head.
“Except that.” I shook my head slightly. I was aware of my precarious perch despite my feelings on the subject. “Leo belongs here. I won’t leave him.”
“You are so stubborn you’d rather fall to your death than reconsider?”
“If you have to ask this question, then you don’t know me,” I said.
“This is a new use for a thong.” Tristan fingered the nylon material that stretched like a rubber band between me and the branch it snagged on.
The darkening stubble that made him look so manly combined with his sunburned nose and aviator glasses made me wish I was still wearing panties.
“Are you going to help me or not?” I asked, somewhat primly considering my lack of attire and position.
Tristan scanned over the edge again. His lips twitched. “Is that sage nestled against your tits?”
His eyes looked down into mine with the slightest twinkle. He thought this was funny when the ledge supporting me could give out at any time?
Frustration boiled inside me. “Just get me out of here before I make my kid an orphan, bastard.” My words lacked heat. Damn his attractive self.
“Injuries?” Tristan lay flat along the bank, dangling his arms over the cliffside down toward me.
“Just my pride. ”
He scooted forward. More bits of sand and rock crumbled from the ledge. My precarious situation didn’t prevent him from ogling my cleavage. Under normal circumstances, I’d have been thrilled by the attention.
Running his hands lightly over the edge testing for loose earth, he stood up, brushing soil from his palms. “Did this rescue start out thong less, or was that a later development?”
“I was trying to lasso a branch above me to crawl out. I didn’t fall over the ledge with rappelling gear.”
He produced a rope from his backpack. “I thought you were trying to signal like Batman uses his silhouette in the sky. Only with you—it’s panties.”
“How’d you know where I was?”
“When I returned, Gary said you’d gone out alone. I came looking.”
He fed the rope down with a carabiner clip attached to it. It dangled at my stranded thong. With a few flicks of his wrist, he released the garments from the offending tree branch and reeled them to him. “I knew all that fly fishing would come in handy. Getting you out of there is going to be a bitch with the little clothing you’re wearing. As it is, I’ll be spending the rest of the afternoon plucking blackberry thorns from your sweet ass.”
I was humiliated by this ridiculous situation and more than a little turned on. Tristan would never let me forget this.
These blackberry vines had closed around me like a net, protecting me from falling. On the flip side, extracting myself was going to be painful to my skin and pride.
Lately, my life had become one bad made for TV movie like “A Widow Wanders in the Wilderness” or “Celibate Stylist Scarred by Savage Stems Survives.”
“Hey!” I called. “Will you get me out of here today?”
Tristan said, “I’m checking the rope before I come down.”
“You don’t need to come down. Just throw me the rope already and pull me up.”
“I’ll rappel down, and we’ll come back up together.”
Goodbye shred of pride.
Tristan lowered himself over the cliffside.
I reaching toward him. Loose sand below me tumbled.
“Don’t move.”
“I’m trying to help.” Being a damsel in distress didn’t come naturally to me. Even if Tristan’s jeans outlined his cock dangling at my eye level. Some women loved ripped abs, others preferred built biceps, but I wasn’t picky. I’d take it all from him.
“Ready?” He asked.
“This might be a little late to mention,” I said. “But have you done this lots before?”
“Never.” I could hear the grin in his voice. He was actually enjoying this.
Coming alongside, he handed me a bandana from his pocket. “Wrap it around whichever wrist is in the worst shape.” He’d left his sunglasses up top so I could enjoy the light dancing in his eyes.
My heart jackhammered with his proximity.
Tristan tossed me a pair of work gloves. Producing a couple of small shears from his pocket, he snipped away at the brambles encircling me.
As much as I hated being snagged, the dropping foliage was making me nervous.
“I’m going to pass them to you soon so you can work from your side. We’ll secure the rope before cutting away the final layers.”
“Can’t you pull me out of here?”
“Patience. Now snip away, and I’ll have you out of here in a jiffy.”
Finally free of the brambles, Tristan tied himself chest to chest with me. His rock hard abs felt amazing. Whatever he did working out, he should keep doing it.
A thinner, but still prickly layer of blackberry thorns pressed into my skin from the other side. The stupid things were painful. They cut into Tristan’s shirt too. Fresh bloody streaks smeared his arms.
“We’re tied pretty tight, but on the count of three, I’m going to push us away from the cliff. Hang on. One, two, three,” he said.
I squeezed my arms around his torso, refusing to look down.
When Tristan pushed us away from the brambles, I screamed. Not a sweet feminine girly scream but an “I’m going to die” lusty wail.
Tristan winced. I think I may have deafened him in one ear. “Now climb,” he ordered. “The rope is holding us. Loosen your grip on me, you’re squeezing the breath out of me. I’m no good to either of us unconscious.”
Dimly I was aware the bluff’s ledge gradually drew closer. “Careful climbing out. Crawl on your belly, so the edge doesn’t collapse.”
I heaved myself over the top then slithered away from the edge on my gashed up belling. I wanted to gasp, but it hurt too much. My whole body ached. Jagged welts oozed blood.
“Slide over.” Tristan huffed. “I’m coming up.” He pulled himself over the ledge. I tried to pull his arms to help, but mine felt like rubber.
“You okay?” He collapsed on the ground next to me.
“Outstanding,” I replied. I was too sore to move. My heart thumped. Naturally, this was only from the stressful situation I found myself in, and nothing to do with Tristan’s proximity.
“You need to drink some water. Let me help you sit up.”
I waved at him. “I’ll rest here a minute. Thanks.”
“Technically, your feet aren’t on the ground yet, but I always wanted you on your back.”
Despite my brush with near death, I blushed, glancing over at him. His cuts only made him look more manly and handsome like he was used to rescuing stylists dangling from cliff sides. “Ouch. That hurt. Don’t make me laugh again.”
He pulled us both to our feet.
I was damn lucky to have him as a friend.
That should be enough.
It had to be enough.
The
n without warning, he enveloped me in his arms and landed a searing kiss onto my lips.
Finally.
My soul exhaled in pleasure at his touch. He tasted like sunshine and honey. I opened my mouth as his kiss deepened to more demanding. A moan of pleasure relief lingered in my throat. It was heaven to have his strong arms around me and his lips greedily claiming mine.
He started to pull away, but my hands were in his hair, holding him to me. He parted my lips, slipping his tongue inside. My knees wobbled at the skillful stroke of his tongue.
A low swooping thrush startled us apart. Its song alarmed at our disturbing its domain. The air felt cooler now without his body pressed to mine.
“I’m not going to apologize,” Tristan said. He ran his hands through his already ruffled hair. “You scared the hell out of me dangling off that cliff. I thought I lost you.”
“I don’t want to you apologize.” I stepped closer to him. I shivered partly from the standing around naked in 40-degree weather but also because of him.
“I want you to do it again unless we can skip to fucking?”
“I thought you only liked me as a friend?” He squinted at me.
“That was eons ago.”
“But, your marriage to Ted.”
“Also, over before he died,” I said quickly.
Tristan’s head pulled back in surprise. My stomach clenched. I knew how close he was to Ted at one time. They were like brothers. Would Tristan see any chance of ‘us’ as a betrayal to my dead husband?
“I wish I’d known that…earlier.” His lips twisted into a grimace. I laid a fingertip against them, trying to soothe him. He opened his mouth and sucked my finger hard.
Holy fuck. If I had panties on, they’d be creamed. As it was, I could feel my pussy tingle in anticipation of his touch there.
Tristan bent his head again to kiss me. My eyelids started to droop in anticipation. And then he kissed me, his lips crushing mine again.
