Saving Shelby

by Nicole Taylor Eby

  The spell was broken by a loud splash. Shelby leapt back from Ian’s lips, as she realized they weren’t alone. Someone had jumped into the pool just above them. She barely had time to scramble off Ian’s chest before Luke’s head appeared over the ledge. Tyler, Leo, and Ginny appeared right behind him.

  “This is awesome,” Luke enthused.

  “It sure is,” Tyler agreed, pulling himself up on the rock after his buddy.

  When Luke caught sight of Ian sprawled out in the sun, his smile broadened. “You got off dish duty, I see.”

  Ian smiled his half-smile at Luke, not at all rattled by how close they had just come to being caught in a compromising position.

  “Aren’t you going the wrong direction?” Ian retorted.

  Leo slapped Luke on the back. “That’s what I said.”

  Luke grinned. “It wouldn’t be right to not start at the beginning. Can’t miss out on the whole experience.”

  “You’ll get no argument from me,” Ian said. “Where’s the rest of the crew?”

  “Kirk took them up further to where the water’s hot. They’re not quite as tough as the rest of us,” Leo said. “He took our packs for us.” He nodded his head towards Shelby and Ian’s discarded backpacks.

  “We had to convince Ginny she wanted the whole experience,” Luke said, giving Ginny a playful punch in the arm.

  “Luke did offer to smear mud on her,” Tyler quipped. “You know, to give her the ‘whole experience’.”

  Ginny laughed. “As you can see, I said yes to the experience and no to the mud.”

  The playful banter danced around Shelby, but she barely heard it. Her mind was trying to work out how much they had seen. Had they seen her straddling Ian’s delicious, almost naked body like a sex-starved wanton?

  They all had had front row seats at the Ian and Celeste show; they had to be wondering...

  Shelby carefully avoided looking at Ian. She was sure her face would tell the whole tale, if she so much as caught a glimpse of him. How was he so calm? He was joking easily with the three guys, apparently unfazed.

  “Let’s go,” Luke said, leaping into the freezing pool below them. Leo and Tyler followed close on his heels, whooping. Despite her chagrin at having almost been busted ravishing the instructor, Shelby burst out laughing, as the frigid water turned their whoops into strangled yelps.

  “Come on, Ginny, I’m not letting you wimp out,” Luke said, as his head appeared over the ledge. Lightning fast, before Ginny could react, his arm snaked out and grabbed a hold of her foot, pulling her over the edge. Ginny tumbled over. Her squeals were drowned out as her head went below the surface. She came up sputtering and smiling. Shelby couldn’t stop laughing.

  “Oh, you think it’s funny, huh?” Ian whispered in her ear only a fraction of a second before he scooped her up and threw her into the water after Ginny.

  Shrieking, Shelby plunged back into the ice-cold water. Once again, the water stole her breath, but rather than feeling suffocated by the lack of oxygen, Shelby felt invigorated by the rush from the frigid water. When she surfaced, Ginny was already being hauled back up onto the rock ledge by Luke.

  Shelby began to swim towards the ledge, slower this time, enjoying the feel of the water around her, now that her body was a little more adjusted to the cold. Before she could get very far, Ian came up behind and wrapped his arms around her. Her breath caught the same as it had when she had first plunged into the frigid water.

  “Wait a minute,” he breathed in her ear.

  His warm breath against her cold skin was electrifying, and Shelby shivered. He kept her there in the middle of the pool, the only movement their legs, as they treaded water to keep afloat. Time moved slowly, as they waited, suspended in the water, for Ginny and the others to disappear into the next pool.

  When they were finally alone, he led her over to the waterfall, pulling her underneath. The water from the pool above cascaded over her head. The moment could have been straight out of one of the romance novels she liked to read—a woman alone with a sinfully hot man under a waterfall.

  It made it hard to remember why she shouldn’t be here.

  Supporting himself on an underwater rock ledge, Ian lifted her up onto a rock and then leaned in, placing a hand on either side of her to brace himself. He used his hips to gently push her legs apart and manoeuvred himself between her thighs. She was drowning in sensation. The cool water cascading down over her warm body was invigorating and sensual at the same time. Having Ian between her legs made her ache for him to move his hands from the rock to her body.

  Unbidden, her hips shifted, moving closer to him, begging with their subtle movements for him to touch her.

  He watched her, his eyes hooded with desire and completely unreadable, as she slid her hand up and over her head until her fingers were touching his. He covered her hand with hers, pinning it against the rock. Something clenched inside her, and then a deep bud of flowering pleasure began expanding through her belly.

  “Oh,” she gasped, realizing she wanted this. She was hungry for his touch, no matter what she had been telling herself.

  And then suddenly, he was kissing her right there in the wild openness of the river valley under a cascading waterfall. His hands were no longer on the rocks; they were on her body. One hand roamed up her back and tangled in her hair, pulling her mouth against his, while the other slid up her side and cupped her breast.

  A riot of sensations cascaded through her body, silencing any thoughts of impropriety. Her skin blazed everywhere he touched her, not soothed in the least by the cool water over her. She lost herself, forgetting where she was. She gave no thought to the fact that Ian’s mouth and hands were ravaging her body in broad daylight in the middle of a public park. All she knew was that her skin was on fire and deep down inside something was being unleashed that she hadn’t felt in a very long time—if ever.

  A heat blossomed in her most feminine area, and she gyrated her hips closer to him, trying to engage the sensation. He responded by pulling her tightly against him. She moaned and wrapped her legs and arms around him. He deepened the kiss, pushing his tongue between her lips and running it along the inner edge of her lips before plunging deeper into the warm depths of her mouth. Her lips parted, welcoming him. She shivered in delight, groaning as his tongue claimed hers.

  The heat in her core exploded into fireworks leaving her gasping and clutching at him, promising her a release that would shatter her, if she could lose herself long enough to get there. Ian ran his hands along the sides of her body, then grasped her buttocks and pulled her hips tightly against him. In response, she arched her back, pressing her womanhood against his groin, revelling in the hardness of him.

  He held her firmly against him with one hand while the other hand began to stroke along her thigh. His thumb trailed along the inner edges, almost but not quite touching where her bathing suit covered the source of her pleasure.

  Oh God, just a little over. Please, just a little over.

  His fingers were so close; they just had to dip under the cloth of her bathing suit to be buried in the folds of her warmth. Shelby moaned as he released her mouth. She tipped her head back wantonly, exposing her neck to him. He leaned in and pressed his hot lips to the hollow at the base of her neck. A strangled groan erupted from her when he removed his lips much too quickly.

  He trailed his fingers up along the side of her neck and then followed his trail with his lips. When he found the hollow just behind her ear, she jerked as pleasure jolted through her. She arched back further, pressing her breasts towards him, aching for him to bring them to his lips.

  A voice reverberated off the rock walls surrounding them, and Ian pulled away from her, cocking his head to listen better. Shelby groaned in agony, as he pulled further away, her body screaming, no, no, no—stay. The voice rang out again, and she relaxed. It was just Luke somewhere up the river goofing off.

  Ian turned back to her. Their eyes locked. His gaze was intense, like h
e was trying to read something deep in the blue of her eyes.

  Don’t stop. I want more. Her thoughts had a desperate pleading edge to them, spurred on by her body’s want.

  Something flickered in his eyes, and he looked away again. She shifted her hips ever so slightly, needing to rekindle the sensations that had been sparking through her body, even if she couldn’t ask for what she wanted. But the moment was gone. She had seen it in his eyes. She could feel it in the way he was moving away from her, even if he hadn’t physically moved.

  The spell was broken.

  Reluctantly, Shelby unwrapped her legs from around him, and Ian shifted away from her. She sat for a second, trying to gather herself. Her nipples were like two pearls underneath her bathing suit, and the throbbing between her legs reminded her of what had almost happened.

  When she finally stood, her legs were shaky from the unspent pleasure, and she had to place a hand on Ian’s arm to brace herself. It took effort to pull her hand away, when she was once again steady on her feet. The dampened flames of desire still smoldered within her, and she wanted to pull him back towards her, so she could wrap herself around him and reignite the flames.

  She didn’t care that stopping was the rational thing to do—the right thing to do. She wanted to do things to his body to make him forget about Celeste and the others, so he would keep touching her until the white-hot need smoldering between her thighs was assuaged.

  Without him reciprocating, she couldn’t sustain the fire, and as she came down from her pleasure high, she began to shiver. The water was cold, and without the heat from their passion, she was cold too.

  “You’re cold,” Ian said, his voice raw.

  She choked down a sob of frustration and nodded mutely. She didn’t know how much of the shivering was from the cold water, and how much was from being thwarted in sating her desire.

  “Let’s get you to warmer water. We should probably join the others anyway.”

  She just nodded again. Her disappointment was so palpable she was sure he must be able to feel it in the air.

  CHAPTER 18

  The air crackled with tension, as Ian shifted so Shelby could access the handholds on the rock. He could feel it, just as he had seen the torment in her eyes. He had hurt her. There was no denying it, and it was something he would have to live with.

  As hard as that would be.

  He had known it was dangerous for him to be alone with her. His gut clenched. The knots that had been developing since the instant he had seen Shelby in the parking lot twisted. He had wanted to give her the whole experience. But what had happened under the waterfall was something else. Something dangerous. He wasn’t handling any of this right.

  He had known he needed to stay away from Shelby and erect some kind of an emotional wall—otherwise they were both going to get hurt. He needed to get out of his head and start thinking about consequences. He was the professional here. He should be acting like it.

  This job meant the world to him. It was the only thing he had to hold onto—even if that meant doing some things that made him feel a little squeamish. He was nothing, if he wasn’t a wilderness guide. He didn’t know how to be anything else.

  Damn the intrusion of the real world.

  He knew he was damn lucky it had intruded. He shouldn’t have been under that waterfall with her. Hell, he had no business being anywhere near her unless he was actively conducting a lesson. She was a dangerous distraction.

  The memory of sapphire-blue eyes peering out from under a different cascade of water came unbidden. That water had been warm, because the waterfall hadn’t been real, and those blue eyes had belonged to another woman. It had been a long time since he had thought about his first spa experience. He pushed the memory of Natalie aside. That was a memory best left untouched, but it also was a sharp reminder of what was at stake.

  For a few seconds, he watched Shelby struggle to pull herself up the rock. He could see she was cold. Her fingers were stiff, and she was having difficulty getting a good grip on the rocks. He should help her, but he was afraid to touch her. His body hadn’t recovered from their intimacy under the waterfall, and if he touched her right now, he might drag her right back and finish what he had started.

  She lost her grip and slipped back into the water.

  “Here, let me help you,” he said softly, unable to watch her struggle anymore, no matter what the consequences were.

  The narrow ledge made it necessary for him to press himself right up against her back, and he felt her flinch ever so slightly at his touch. Then he felt her relax into him. He allowed himself to savour the moment for a brief second before he forced himself to hoist her over the ledge and release her. She huddled in the only bit of sunlight remaining on the rock. She was visibly shaking. He needed to get her into some warm water before she got hypothermia.

  He picked up his pack, settled it on his back, and held out his hand for her. She paused, not looking at him; tension crackled in the air. He was afraid she would refuse his help, but then she grasped his hand and let him pull her to her feet. Once she was on her feet, he picked up her pack, holding out the straps so she could slide her arms into them. He buckled her waist and chest straps for her, carefully not meeting her eyes as his fingers brushed across the upper part of her breasts.

  It took every bit of his self-control to let his hands drop away from her once the buckle had clicked into place. The nearness was too much, and he had to step back. The aborted intimate contact was still too close. The air between them still too filled with raw emotion.

  “Come on, let’s get you into some hot water. It isn’t far,” he said.

  She didn’t say anything, and her silence unnerved him. Usually, she babbled when she was nervous or upset. He scrutinized her, trying to read what was going on in her mind. Normally, he knew exactly what she was thinking, because everything she was thinking came straight out of her mouth.

  Her face didn’t reveal a thing.

  His plan hadn’t been to coax her under a waterfall and then pin her against the boulder while he got his rocks off. His plan had been much more innocent than that. He had only meant to show her the true beauty of the river and all the Potholes had to offer. She had never had this kind of adventure before, and he knew she craved it. He had wanted to give that to her, and now he had gone and wrecked it.

  He should have just stuck with what he knew best. He should just focus on his job. He wasn’t any good at relationships.

  “Are you okay?” Ginny asked, as Shelby immersed herself in the hot spring beside the other women.

  “Yeah, you look a little pale,” Piper said.

  Shelby sunk deeper down, grimacing as the superheated water burned against her cold skin. “I’m fine. Just cold. Shouldn’t have spent so much time under the waterfall.”

  “Even super sexy Ian couldn’t keep you warm, eh?” Ginny teased

  Shelby blushed and glanced at the other ladies, trying to gauge their reaction to Ginny’s words. If only they knew what had really happened under the waterfall, what would they say? Before she could respond, Luke sauntered past, flicking cold water at Ginny, deflecting interest away from Shelby. Ginny shrieked and kicked her feet, splashing Luke back.

  “Oh, you think so, eh?” Luke said. Quick as a wink, he pulled Ginny into his arms and then tossed her into the pool below.

  Ginny emerged, laughing and dripping wet. “He’s crazy.”

  “You love it,” Shelby said, disguising the bitterness she felt behind false brightness.

  “No way.”

  Piper rolled her eyes. “Oh yes, you do.”

  “Uh-huh,” Karen agreed.

  “He’s got you hooked,” Paula said.

  Ginny quirked her mouth and tipped her head towards the ladies, her eyes gleaming.

  “You just might be right, but I won’t admit to it under oath.” But her laughter died abruptly, causing Shelby to follow her gaze. “What’s she doing here?”

  The universe hates me,
that’s why. Shelby just barely managed to keep this thought internal, as she glared at Celeste in her brightly coloured, barely-there, string bikini. The high-cut bottoms accentuated her long, curvy legs. Reflexively, Shelby slipped lower into the water, hiding her plain black suit that didn’t quite hide her mommy tummy.

  “How’d she even get here?” Ginny asked.

  “Apparently, she convinced someone to drive her up here with the food,” Paula said.

  “Yeah, I heard Kirk saying something about it on the radio,” Karen said.

  “Is she for real?” Ginny asked. “The hike was part of the course. If you can’t make the hike, then you just shouldn’t come—although that might be jealousy talking. I mean, why didn’t I think of that?”

  Shelby laughed, despite her shattered pride. “Think of all the fun you would’ve missed.”

  “Like getting chucked into freezing water over and over,” Piper chuckled.

  Shelby tried to concentrate on what the women were talking about, but she couldn’t seem to pull her eyes away from Ian and Celeste. It galled her the way he jumped into action at the slightest twitch of a smile from Celeste.

  “True. Very true. And that fun just might lead to some more fun with Luke if we can break into one of the empty rooms.” Ginny nudged Shelby and winked, breaking the spell that had come over Shelby.

  Shelby swatted at the grinning Ginny. “You’re the one that’s crazy.”

  “I’m pretty sure Ian is having similar thoughts about ways to have fun with Celeste,” Piper said, inclining her head towards the next pool over where Celeste had slipped into the hot waters. “I guess I’m luckier than I thought to be sharing a room with you two instead of her.” Piper tilted her head towards Karen and Paula.

  Shelby’s head swivelled back to Ian, but not before she caught the look on Ginny’s face. Shelby hadn’t done as good of a job hiding things as she had thought, because obviously Ginny suspected there was more going on than Shelby had or would admit too.