by Lane Parker
“What are you doing, Keeley?” he asked, in a scratchy, low voice. “You don’t even like the life you have. You can find something else. You have other options.”
He was right, and that was something I needed to resolve when I got back to Hollywood. I hadn’t been happy in a very long time.
Really though, was he talking about getting a life in the city or…
“Do I have the option of having you in my life in some way?” I stared deeply into his eyes. “Tell me.”
I wondered briefly if he thought he had nothing to offer, this mountain man with a rustic cabin and probably only a few pennies to his name.
Like I gave a damn about that? I’d met way too many rich pricks to be at all interested in being with a guy just because of money. All I really wanted was someone who gave a damn about…me.
He sighed and shook his head. My heart leaped into my throat. Was that a no, that I didn’t have that option?
He looked somewhere beyond me, into the distance, thinking.
Dammit! I wasn’t going to accept a no answer, not when I knew he was holding back for some reason. The mysterious connection between us told me he didn’t really want to let this go.
I stepped closer to him and placed my hands on his chest. My hands slid up to cup his jaw, and I turned his face to mine. “I’m right here in front of you,” I said firmly. “I’m not whatever is in your past. I’m the present. And there could be a future between us.”
He blinked at me, his eyes softening.
“I don’t know what it looks like,” I continued. “But there’s something—mmm!”
He shut me up with a hard kiss. His lips closed over mine and I couldn’t say a word. His arms wrapped around my waist and lifted me up with a grunt. I tasted him, our tongues brushing against each other. I whimpered, and he set me down against the wall.
“Fine.” He growled against my neck, his voice shaking. His hot breath gave me chills. “I admit it. This is…” He dragged his lips along my jaw. “This is different. You’re different.”
His hands brushed up and down my sides as he said gruffly, “I want you.” He let out a heaving breath and leaned into me. “More than just now. I want you here with me. I want to wake up with you, wherever you are. I want you again and again. I know the way I feel about you isn’t going to go away.”
My heart was thundering. I raked my nails softly against his chest and all I could do was nod. Yes. Me, too. I feel the same way.
“But I…” He pulled back from me and searched my eyes. “I’ve been alone a long time, Keeley. I don’t have anything good to offer you. Just me and this shitty cabin for right now.” He swallowed, his mouth a tight line.
Just me. The sadness in his voice gripped my heart. It only made me want him more.
“What makes you think I want anything else?”
His mouth curved in a slow smile.
He took my face in his large, rough hands and pulled me toward him for a soft kiss.
The sharp edges of his beard brushed against my mouth, and I loved the way it felt. I reached for his hips, and the muscles of his torso were hard under my hands.
I gripped the ends of his T-shirt and pulled. “You don’t have to take me back yet… do you?”
He let out an animalistic, feral groan and held me by the shoulders. “I don’t want to take you back at all.”
“That’s not what you said two days ago.” I couldn’t help but tease him.
His nostrils flared and he gave me that wry smile. “Fuck what I said two days ago. I was an asshole.”
Then his smile faded, and his arms wrapped tighter around me.
“I really am sorry you got hurt. I never should have sent you off like that.”
I laughed and leaned into him. Like it was his fault that I’d wandered off track like an idiot because I’d been distracted? Maybe I had wanted to blame that on someone else, but it was all on me. “I think everything worked out okay. So far.”
“Yeah, so far…” He pulled me away from the wall. With his arms around me, holding me close, he walked backward toward the bed. He sat down on the mattress and looked up at me.
“I think we were in the middle of something,” I said in a sultry voice that I didn’t know I had.
I stroked his cheek, his beard rough against my palm, and he nodded.
His hands slid around to my front, and his long fingers picked open the buttons of the shirt I was wearing.
“Hey.” He looked up at me. “This is my shirt.”
I bit my lip. “I know. I was going to steal it.”
That wry smile returned. “Hell, you didn’t have to steal it. All you had to do was ask. I would have given you any damn thing I have that you want.”
“That’s no fun,” I replied with a smile.
He opened the shirt and leaned forward. “You can keep it.” He kissed the skin between my breasts and cupped them in his hands. “And when you wear it… you’ll always think of this.” His tongue licked up my chest, and he thumbed my hard nipples.
My toes started to curl.
I reached down his back to pull off his T-shirt, but he wouldn’t stop kissing my body, wouldn’t move so I could take it off him. I let it go and raked my hands around his waist. When I came to the buttons of his jeans, I undid the top one, and moved my hand lower, stroking his hard cock through his jeans.
He pushed against my palm, and then he moved to my waist and ripped open the button of my shorts. His hand dipped inside, and his fingers found my slick folds. For a moment he felt and stroked me, then he let out a sharp groan.
“Take these off.” He tugged at my shorts.
In a tangle of limbs, we helped each other take off all our clothes, and tossed them somewhere on the floor.
We were back to where we started.
He pulled me onto the bed, and rolled over onto his back, dragging me forward by the arm to straddle his thighs.
I ran my trembling hands over his chest, and his stomach. My fingers wound into the dark curls that spread across his body.
He stared at me. It was that look, the one that burned so sweetly.
My body caught fire, making all of me burn for him.
I moved against him, my soaking wet pussy dragging along his hard length. I shuddered at how good he felt rubbing against me.
He grunted, low and animalistic, and held my hips in his callused hands.
“Fuck,” I moaned. “James…”
His head fell back, his throat flushed and tense. Then he sat up, his stomach muscles tensed. He pulled me forward and I fell against his shoulder, sighing.
I felt his cock prodding at my entrance, just touching me there, thrusting toward me slowly.
I closed my eyes and panted. I had never wanted any man this badly in my life.
And now I had to have him. All of him.
He held me steady on his lap as he entered me. He stretched me, and the sweet sting was part of the pleasure.
“Keeley,” he rasped. “You’re so tight. Fuck! You’re…. ahhh…fuck.” He groaned as he settled inside me, and I sat fully on his length.
All I could do was rock against him, and hold him close, my fingernails digging into his neck.
We found a slow rhythm, both of us breathing shakily.
He took my face in his hands and looked deeply into my eyes.
“This is what I wanted. This is all I wanted. You,” he said gruffly, his hands stroking down my back.
I kissed him hungrily. “Yes,” I moaned, while I thrust against him.
His hand moved down to where our bodies met. His fingers found my clit, and he stroked and circled, the motion tormenting and slow.
“Say you’ll come back to me, Keeley.” His voice was raspy and guttural. “Tell me.”
The feel of him everywhere was so intense. The low rumble of his voice echoed into me.
“I will.” My own voice was shaking. “I’ll come back to you. Always.”
At that moment, I couldn’t imagine be
ing with anyone else but him.
He let out a feral sound and thrust faster. I clawed his shoulders because the pleasure was too intense. The muscles in his arms were hard and hot, and his touch on my clit got harder and faster.
I shook and jerked. I was so tense, so damn ready. My breath caught in my throat.
Then it was too much. I fell against him, crying out, shivering as the shocks spread through me.
He thrust further, slower. He held me tight until I set my hand on his chest and leaned back, panting.
In my post-orgasmic haze, I realized that he’d wanted to get me off first, watch me as I came apart for him.
The way he looked at me then… it was like he wanted to devour me. Like an animal frenzy deep inside of him was clawing its way out.
He growled, then turned us both over, pressing me into the bed. His large body shadowed mine and being beneath him felt so damn…right.
He sank deep into me, his mouth at my ear. With each rough stroke of his hips, his breath grew harsh, and he snarled and grunted like an out of control beast.
I didn’t care, because his ferocity ramped up my own carnal urges.
I matched his rhythm, and every deep movement sent waves of pleasure through me. I couldn’t help but moan and whimper, and every sound I made seemed to feed his frenzy. Faster. Deeper. We couldn’t seem to get close enough.
His back muscles flexing, he stared down at me, his blue eyes dark and wide, and a choked groan escaped him as he let go, filling me, his breaths short and sharp.
“Fuck! Keeley.” The guttural sound of my name coming out of his mouth while he spilled inside me made me realize why he’d wanted to hear me moan his name.
He set me off, and I moaned as I found my own climax, my inner muscles squeezing his cock.
Time seemed to slow. Our frantic heartbeats throbbed against each other, then grew quieter as we lay there together.
He took my face in his hands. His cool lips brushed softly against mine, and his fingers swept the hair from my forehead. “Keeley,” he said, low and husky. “I meant everything I said.”
I sighed and stroked his sweat dampened hair back. “So did I.”
And I had meant it. I would come back to him.
Now, I couldn’t imagine just walking away. All I could think about was how I would feel when I got home. How long it would be until I could see him again.
Chapter Fifteen
James
After everything—after we were exhausted from lovemaking, and so hungry we searched through my kitchen to find anything edible—I still had to take Keeley back to her cabin. I didn’t want her to spend another night in my crappy place when she was able to get back to hers.
Completely dressed and ready to go, her purple backpack slung behind me, I halted before we walked out the door. I scooped up the carving I’d promised her. “You forgot this.” I held it out to her.
She gave me an adorable, exasperated look. “James, I told you I couldn’t take it without payment. You do get paid something from your pieces, right?”
I nodded. “Doesn’t matter. I want you to have this one, and any other sculptures you like. Every time you see it, maybe it will make you think about me.”
Her lips curved up in a smile. “I don’t have anything I can give you,” she said as she carefully took the piece from my hand.
I shot her an amused grin. “You gave me the best gift I could ever want.”
She’d given me her body, and I was pretty sure I’d at least taken a little part of her soul. She’d sure as hell taken all of mine.
I watched her blush as she walked outside, so I knew she knew exactly what I was talking about.
I was afraid it would be awkward when I helped her into my beat-up pickup truck and drove the rocky back roads over to where her cabin was situated. I thought maybe there would be an uncomfortable silence. I thought she’d reconsider everything she’d said, that we had done, and she’d already regretted it.
Strange, though—it wasn’t awkward at all. Being together in my truck felt natural. It was… fun, actually.
We talked about the forest around us, and what it was like living out here. If only we hadn’t been so quiet and hesitant the whole time we were in the damn cabin together. That was my fault. I wanted to make up for that in the future. There was nothing I wanted more than to show Keeley the peace and awe a person could find in the wilderness. The only time it ever got a little rough was when a person was totally alone out here.
Well, I wasn’t hesitant anymore about revealing myself to Keeley. I’d give her everything I was and hope that she’d accept it. I’d damn well resolve all the crazy shit in my head and eventually present her with a whole man.
Fuck the “needing time” element of our relationship. Yeah, I needed to clean up the shit show I’d made of my life, but I didn’t really need time to know exactly how I felt about Keeley.
I pulled over a couple of times to point out a pretty view, or one of my favorite spots to pick up fallen branches and logs. I never took anything alive to carve into something else. I took whatever was dead and gone, and then tried to bring it back to life. She was interested, and she kept marveling at how beautiful it was here in the Rockies.
Sad, but I guess she’d hardly gotten to see any of it.
I’d make up for that, too.
I looked to my right and there she was beside me, gazing out at the forest with a smile, while my truck creaked and rattled. She must have felt me watching her, because she turned to me with that crooked grin I loved.
That smile was so damn sweet that it had melted my stone-cold heart.
She leaned across the old bench seat and kissed me on the cheek.
Damn it. I could feel myself blushing like a fucking teenager. Strangely, I wasn’t all that mad about it. I had a feeling that Keeley’s open affection would always throw me for a loop.
I wasn’t used to it, but that sure as hell didn’t mean I didn’t like it.
When we found her cabin, I pulled up next to a shiny silver SUV. Her rental, I guess. It made my pickup look like it was ready for the junkyard. Truthfully, the truck was ready to be ditched for something new. I’d had it since I was a starving artist, before my long stint in the mountains. It worked, and I’d never felt the need to get something else as long as it got me from here to wherever I wanted to go. Until…now. I didn’t want Keeley to ride in my creaky old work truck. I’d probably gone nose blind to every nasty scent in the vehicle.
Her rental cabin, if you could really call something that glamorous a cabin, was set against a glen with a killer view of the mountains. It had big picture windows, so I could see right into it, and the inside was as clean and modern as a gallery.
And she’d had to spend the weekend in my dingy cave. I shook my head and opened the rusted truck door to get out.
As I walked around to her door, I started to think. My old cabin and beat up truck—maybe she didn’t really mind it all that much. After all, she wanted me.
That was a thought that would take some getting used to. She didn’t just want to fuck me to find out what I was like, and then leave with a good story. And I didn’t want her for one night just to fight off the loneliness.
I wanted her, all of her, as much and as often as I could have her.
Yeah, I got the fact that we had to part ways to figure out our own lives. But I didn’t have to fucking like it.
I opened her door and held her hand as she stepped out of the truck, and I kept holding it all the way to the entrance of the cabin.
She dug the keys out of her backpack and unlocked the door. When she pushed it open, a chill escaped from inside. I peeked around the doorframe. It was empty in there, just a couch, a fireplace, a fancy kitchen and some expensive-looking carved tables.
I frowned. Obviously, the owner is some kind of minimalist.
I glared at the tables, knowing I could have brought life into them. I could have carved character into those pieces of furniture, so they
weren’t so damn…cold.
Keeley stepped inside with an exhausted sigh and tossed her backpack on the floor.
I didn’t follow her. I stood outside, hands in my pockets, and watched her.
Even in my worn-out old flannel, she fit this place better than I ever could. She was beautiful and intelligent, and she didn’t have to prove it with bravado like all the female art dealers I’d screwed before I’d met Keeley.
They were part of my past that I was happy to leave behind.
I stayed outside because I looked at that clean, shiny room, and then down at my old worn boots, caked with mud, and I thought… That’s it, isn’t it. A visual metaphor. I didn’t go to art school for nothing.
Whatever decisions I’d come to about my life, I was still a mess. Still a work in progress. It wasn’t about the dirty boots. It was me, and my life.
It didn’t feel right to muddy things for Keeley, literally or otherwise, by sticking around too long. She said she would come back. I didn’t need to hold on so tight, even though I wanted to.
She must have understood my thoughts from the look on my face, because she came back to the door and leaned against the frame with an understanding smile. “You don’t want to come in?” she asked softly.
I sighed and shook my head. I hoped she understood me, because words were escaping me at the moment.
She nodded. “Gotta say goodbye eventually. It won’t be any easier if we drag it out, right?”
Of course she understood. She didn’t have to say it directly, but she got me. And that was worth more than any of my sculptures had ever meant to me.
I’d do anything to hold on to that. There wasn’t another person on Earth who could understand what was going on in my head.
“No, it won’t,” I said. “But it’s not goodbye. Not really.”
She leaned into me and wrapped her arms around my waist. “Not at all.”
I felt myself relax at the confidence of her words. I tilted her chin up, and kissed her, slowly, tugging at her lip. I had to savor this one.
But not for too long.
