Chloe rolled her eyes this time, and attempted to sound nonchalant when she spoke again. “Oh, I’m just being paranoid. I don’t want people to think I’m one of those totally obsessed gold seekers that really think the mine and the gold exists.”
Confusion clouded Dawn’s thoughts. She had no doubt Chloe really did believe the Lost Dutchman’s Gold mine existed. Her entire family was dedicated to finding that mine. So why was she denying it all of a sudden?
“Okay, tell me about this dream?” Chloe asked as she pulled the label all the way off the face of the beer bottle and wadded it up in her hand. She turned to face Dawn and downed the last of her beer with one huge gulp. “So, since you had a dream about the gold mine after making wild savage love to Mateo Two Balls all night long, did your dream involve gold dildos?”
Dawn nearly spit out her mouthful of coffee at the image Chloe’s suggestive words presented. “Oh yeah! Massive ones of rare metal...rock hard,” she answered through her laughter after she was able to gulp down the coffee without choking. “Now, I think I’m beginning to understand what you’re looking for up there on that mountain.”
“Okay, well I’m totally horny now,” Chloe said as she joined her in a round of giggling. “I think I need to go home and dig out the old faithful vibrator, Mr. Peter. He’s not made of gold, but he is rock hard.”
Dawn laughed as she shook her head, not wanting to envision Chloe with her battery-operated friend. “You’d be really turned on if you found the massive cave filled with gold I dreamt about,” she added.
Chloe grew more serious immediately and her voice held a note of suspicion when she spoke again. “A cave? With chests of gold? Or with veins of gold? You know, it was rumored by some that Jacob Walsh might have actually found a cache of gold hidden in the Superstitions by Apaches after they massacred a group of Spaniards traveling through the area with bags of treasure.”
Dawn gave her head a negative shake. She briefly recalled Mateo’s comment about a cache of gold supposedly left up there by Spanish Conquistadors hundreds of years ago. “No, not chests of gold. It was, well, let me start from the beginning.” As she began to recount all the details of her strange dream, Chloe remained silent until Dawn was finished telling her everything she remembered from her dream.
“Don’t you think it’s a pretty vivid dream considering I’ve only been to the Superstition Mountains once, and I was scared shitless the entire time, so I really wasn’t noticing much of anything except the imaginary images of Count Dracula lurking in the shadows?”
For a moment, Chloe didn’t reply. She stared at her with a deep frown drawing her brown brows together to the point they were nearly touching in the middle. Finally, she exhaled heavily as if she had been holding her breath. “Count Dracula? Really?”
A sheepish grin touched Dawn’s lips before she opened her mouth to speak again. But Chloe didn’t give her a chance to respond.
“Yes—yes, that is really detailed. Um? I’m guessing it’s just a result of all the clues I told you about when we were camping.”
“Oh, for sure,” Dawn agreed. “I’m sure that’s why I even dreamed about the gold mine in the first place.” She remembered Chloe telling her about the confusing clues the old miner, Jacob Waltz, had left regarding the location of the gold mine. “You have to crawl through a hole in the rock. From here you can see the Old Military Trail. You can’t see the mine from the trail. If you climb up a short distance you can see Weaver’s Needle. The setting sun shines on the gold in my mine. A rock face looks at my mine.” Just like in her most recent dream.
Chloe’s expression remained serious. “Was there anything else you remember from the dream? You said you crawled through a hole, but I remember my dad also mentioned another clue from one of the old miners who searched for the Lost Dutchman mine suggesting the sun shining through the hole in the rocks reflected off the gold in Waltz’s mine. Did you see anything like that?”
“I don’t recall seeing anything like that in my dream. But the reflection of the setting sun shining through the cave opening and hitting the veins of gold around the entrance was blinding.” She shook her head as she tried to recall more of the details she had seen in her dream, but there wasn’t anything else she hadn’t already told Chloe.
“As crazy as it sounds, do you think I had some sort of weird premonition and saw the real location or something in my dream?”
Chloe gave a careless shrug. “Oh, of course not. It’s just curious you would have such a detailed dream about the gold mine. The location of the face on the desert floor is an interesting theory.” She drew in a heavy sigh, adding, “Hey, I’m sorry if I involved you in my family’s harebrained obsession.” She added a weak chuckle that sounded forced.
“If I get a cut in the proceeds, I will keep those dreams coming,” Dawn joked. Chloe’s weird mood was not lost to her, so she attempted to change the subject. “But truthfully, I would rather just dream about Mateo.”
“Okay. That’s my clue to leave,” Chloe retorted. “Any more of this mushy love stuff and I might puke.” She pretended to poke her finger down her throat and gag as she jumped from the stool. She leaned over and hugged Dawn, adding, “I guess I’ll see you at school tomorrow if you don’t decide to run off into the sunset with the Apache stud.”
That image was really appealing to Dawn…sitting next to Mateo in his big shiny black truck, driving West down the open highway toward the setting sun, while the hauntingly beautiful songs of Joseph Red Feather filled the cab. Yeah, that might even be preferable to sitting in front of a classroom full of twelve-year-olds who thought History class was the most boring subject they had ever been forced to learn.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said in a resigned tone as she followed Chloe to the door.
Chloe waved as she headed down the sidewalk toward her older model SUV. “Have fun tonight,” she called out without looking back.
Dawn smiled as she watched her drive away. With her long shiny brown hair, deep blue eyes and tall, slender figure, Chloe was a stunning woman. She was almost always happy and seemed to attract positive attention wherever she went.
There were a couple of the men teachers at the middle school who were completely smitten with her and flirted shamelessly whenever they were all in the teacher’s lounge together. Chloe flirted back, but never encouraged anything more. She told Dawn she had been engaged when she was in college to a grad-student whom she was madly in love with at the time. The engagement ended horribly when her fiancé slept with one of their college professors.
That traumatic experience seemed to have left Chloe pretty jaded about getting seriously involved with anyone again. She did date, though. Just in the past few weeks since they had been friends, she mentioned a couple of different men she was seeing on a casual basis. Still, at other times it seemed as if Chloe wished she could let go of her painful past, and fall in love again.
Dawn closed the door and sighed. Enough sleeping for the day. She had to get a shower, get dressed, and be ready for Mateo’s call; a thought that made her squeal out loud, again, just like one of her students. She sighed. It was useless to resist. She loved that gorgeous hot perfect Apache stud. And she could not wait to see him. Hopefully, he would want to get together with her tonight. He only said he would call. But a simple phone call just didn’t seem like enough after what they discovered in one another last night.
After grabbing a banana to ward off the growling noises coming from her stomach, Dawn headed to the bathroom to take a shower. As the hot water washed over her, the air grew fragrant with a heady mixture of Mateo’s earthy cologne, and her own rich floral fragrance combined with the undeniable scent of body odor still lingering from their night of heavy sex. It filled her nostrils and made the area between her legs grow wetter than the water flooding over her body from the showerhead.
Sensuous memories of the previous night and thoughts of what she wanted to do with him in the future claimed her mind while she slowly washe
d her hair and body with her soapy hands. This shower would be absolutely perfect if Mateo Two Moons was taking it with her.
Her fingers tingled with the thought of how she would run them through his long hair, and down over his sleek muscled body. She imagined how the little droplets of water would hang from the pointed tips of his thick hair cascading over his muscled shoulders. The water would trail down his bronzed skin, still glowing from making love to her all night. Her loins throbbed ruthlessly with eager anticipation of what they would do the next time she would see him. They definitely needed to take a shower together.
Hopefully, he would call soon. Maybe she should wash her sheets to pass the time? Maybe she would just put clean sheets on the bed and save those purple flowered sheets forever without washing them. Then, when he wasn’t here with her, she could just roll herself up in them and get turned on all over again to the clinging smell of their hot sex last night. Wow, kinky. These kinds of thoughts had to be Mateo’s fault.
Once she dried her hair and pinned it loosely to the top of her head with a brown hair clip, applied minimal makeup and dressed casually in a pair of faded blue jeans, black flip-flops, and a white T-shirt with a picture of one of her favorite rock bands on the front, she waited impatiently for Mateo to call as she paced back and forth in the limited confines of her small apartment. The beer she refused when Chloe was here earlier was now accompanying her relentless prowl from wall to wall. But she drained it of its contents on the first few strides.
If he didn’t call soon, she would surely have a panic attack and die. She was once again being reduced to acting like one of her middle school students. This was definitely Mateo’s fault.
Another agonizing thought came to mind. Her heart began thudding frantically against her breast. He said in his note he would call, so she must have given him her cell number. Why was it she could not remember anything lately? Like birth control for one thing…one really important thing. Oh right, it was all because of sexy Mateo Two Moons, and the way he made her lose control of every rational thought and reaction with just the mere thought of him.
So, why hadn’t he called yet? She was seriously going to die here.
Chapter Ten
If it weren’t for the minutes ticking away on the digital clock on her microwave, Dawn would swear time just stopped. But at last the loud ringing of her cell phone snapped her out of the hypnotic state she had been in as she sat on one of the tall stools at her kitchen counter and stared at the time. She grabbed her phone from her lap where it had been lying for what seemed like forever. It was a number she didn’t recognize. She drew in a big breath and pushed the answer button.
“H-Hello?”
“Hello, beautiful.”
It was a voice she would recognize anywhere now; his voice—so deep and seriously sexy. There it was again. She was pretty sure now the intense feeling of light-headiness she just experienced at the sound of his voice was what women in olden times had been talking about when they said someone made them swoon.
“Hi,” she replied in a voice that sounded high-pitched to her ears. “Mateo, right?” No way did she just say that? After last night? Seriously? Just kill me now.
A soft chuckle came from the receiver. “I hope you weren’t waiting for someone else to call. I could be the jealous type where you are concerned, Miss Malone.”
“Oh, no. Just you.” Thank goodness, he could not see the heat she could feel flaring up in her face right now. Unless something drastic happened to change things, ever since last night, Sluts R Us and everything it entailed, was reserved just for Mateo Two Moons from now on. “I—I—”
Gratefully, he saved her from embarrassing herself any further. “Can I see you tonight?”
She tried to clear her throat as quietly as possible, and attempted not to respond like a total idiot. “Yes.”
“I’ll pick you up in about thirty minutes, then, if that will work for you. Dress casually. I thought we’d go for a drive.”
“It sounds perfect,” she answered in a tone of voice a bit more natural. Just perfect, like everything else that concerned this man. “See you soon.”
“Not soon enough.”
The phone receiver went silent. But Dawn’s excited childish squeal filled the quiet room. Should she change into something more date-suitable? Maybe not, she determined as she glanced down at her clothes and decided she was the right kind of casual for an evening drive. Just a squirt of her new desert-themed cologne, another touch of lip gloss, some mascara and she would be good to go. Mateo might as well see her in her usual weekend attire anyway, since she hoped he would be seeing her day—and night—for the rest of her life.
But thirty minutes was way too long to wait to see him again. It would be nearly dark by the time he got here. If he arrived just a little earlier, they could have ridden off into the sunset together. She gave her head a shake and shrugged in defeat at the mushy way her mind was working lately.
She heard the big truck coming before she saw the headlights shining down the street. The roar of the engine sounded powerful, sort of like the driver, she thought as her excitement grew. Should she wait for him to come to the door, or should she just race out to meet him on the sidewalk? She should probably wait for him to come get her.
She quickly backed away from the window. Mateo seemed to be an old-fashioned guy. Maybe it was because of his Native American heritage. The idea of being a bit old-fashioned with a man like Mateo was very appealing. And swooning was always appropriate with old-fashioned type guys, right?
She held her breath as she waited until she heard the knock, then she forced herself to wait a moment longer so he wouldn’t know she was just standing there waiting for him. When she did open the door, his perfect smile—those glistening white teeth between those tempting lips she couldn’t wait to kiss again—were the first things she saw.
“Hello,” he said in a voice that sounded like a soft caress to Dawn’s ears. His gaze never left her face, and once again, she noticed how his smile appeared to be as much in his dark shining eyes as it was on his mouth.
“Hi,” she said as an instant smile parted her lips. She could just stand here and stare at him forever and all would be perfect in her world.
“Are you ready to go?”
“Oh-oh yes,” she stammered trying to find her brain. “Well, unless you would like to come in for a drink or beer or something?” She realized she said the last word in a lower tone—something? More like a suggestive invitation. Did he notice?
One thick brow lifted in a suggestive arch. “I would like to come back later for—something.” His tone mimicked hers. “But first I thought a moonlight drive might be nice since there is going to be a full moon tonight. I have a six-pack of beer and some sandwiches in the truck for the ride.”
She gulped much too loudly. Something was still on her mind as she gave her head a weak nod.
“That sounds perfect,” she murmured. Mateo Two Moons in the romantic glow of a full moon. That sounded—what had Chloe said?—Mateo-gasmic or something similar. Food or drink was not even necessary.
She grabbed her purse and let him wrap his arm around her waist as they headed to his truck. A deep sense of comfort washed through her body. They really were perfect together.
“Rock music, uh? Joseph Red Feather is probably way too tame for you,” he said in a joking voice after they had climbed in the cab of his truck. He motioned toward her shirt.
She chuckled. “I love all kinds of music. But I must admit, hard rock is one of my guilty pleasures. I would never admit it to my students, even though wearing this shirt probably makes me look like I’m trying to be one of them. So, this shirt is reserved only for very special non-school related activities.”
Soft laughter came from Mateo’s side of the cab. “I’m honored. I want you to take me to a rock concert, okay?”
“It’s a date,” she answered without hesitation. Add that to the list of endless things she could not wait to do with this in
credible man. “So, where are we going tonight?”
He reached over the leather console in-between the seats and picked up her nearest hand. “There’s a lake about fifteen miles from here. I thought we could watch the moon rise over the canyon walls surrounding the lake. I didn’t want to share you with anyone other than the moonlight tonight.”
Swoon. Oh yes, those women in the olden days definitely must have known men like Mateo Two Moons, and that is how swooning came to be. Did they still make smelling salts, she wondered?
She almost said his plan sounded perfect, but she was fairly certain she had said that particular phrase a few too many times already, out loud, and in her head. But when she was with him, everything was perfect.
“I haven’t watched the moon come up for many moons,” she said instead. Oh God. She just should have said it sounded perfect. Now it sounded like she was making fun of his culture. “I mean—wow—I mean, that was a really stupid thing to say,” she gasped. Her hand went limp in his tight embrace. His hold tightened.
A hardy laugh escaped from him. “Stop worrying about offending me. I’ve gotten over the fact your people stole my people’s land away from us a long time ago.” He squeezed her hand again when she didn’t laugh with him. “Miss Malone, when I look at you I don’t see a ‘white woman’ or a woman of any race. I only see the woman I’ve been waiting to meet my entire life. I see the woman—the beautiful woman—I love and will spend eternity with.”
Her entire body went limp this time. Her brain turned to a glob of mush again. “Love?” she whispered, but continued to stare straight ahead. That four letter word—coming out of his mouth—was the sweetest sound she had ever heard. She didn’t want to look at him, because she was afraid she would start to cry again like she had last night.
She was so overcome with emotion she wasn’t even aware he pulled his hand away from hers, or that he stopped the truck on the side of the road, until he was leaning over the center console. With his hands gently turning her face toward his, she had little choice but to return his intense gaze.
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