“Thanks, man. Good to know that you so easily dismissed of my person.” Drake grinned. He and Carlos had been together in much worse and more dangerous situations in the past, and they’d emerged just fine. Preparation was the key.
“So, did the little teacher keep you warm and snuggly…”
“Wouldn’t you like to know? We’ll talk later.” Drake had no intention to kiss and tell. “Right now, I need to drive us down this mountain and take her home. Can you call the school?”
“Will do. No worries. Drive careful, okay?”
Drake disconnected the call and then turned to see Roxie watching him from a short distance away. “Carlos is already notifying the school. Everything’s fine.”
“Thanks.” Roxie visibly relaxed and smiled. Then she rubbed her hands on her arms. That woman and cold weather just didn’t mesh.
“Go ahead and get into the car while I sign us out of the hiker’s registry book.”
Drake opened the passenger door and waited until she was in the seat before shutting the door. He made short work of loading the rest of the gear and then signed them out.
In Quito, he drove straight to her apartment and then came around to open the door for her. He grabbed her by the waist and lifted her down from the Jeep.
“Thanks,” she said, biting her bottom lip. Through her eyelashes, she looked at him and a surge of longing coursed through Drake’s veins. He desired to pull her into his arms and carry her indoors. Tear off her clothes and feast on her naked body, to lay eyes on all the parts where only his hands and his cock had been.
“Do you want to come in?” she asked.
He would have liked nothing more, but it wouldn’t be wise. It might make her feel overwhelmed. Trapped. No, as hard as it was, he would give her space.
“I’d better not,” he said and then softened the rejection with his next words. “I had a fantastic time.”
Roxie blinked, but then a relieved smile crossed her face. Drake had played this exactly right.
“Thanks for taking me along. I had a fabulous time as well.” Her cheeks turned rosy and he knew exactly what she was thinking about.
“Can I call you tonight?” he asked her and she nodded.
Drake left with a happy heart.
Chapter 16
Roxie closed the door behind her and plopped down on the couch. She craved a shower, but first she had to make a few phone calls. She placed her first call to the director of the school.
“Miss Ellison?” The director answered the line.
“Ma’am, I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to come in this morning.”
“Don’t worry about it. The snowstorm took everyone by surprise, even the meteorologists. I’m glad you made it back safe. The mountains can be dangerous.”
“I saw that firsthand.” Roxie ran a hand through her dirty hair.
“Javier’s father called in this morning to notify me you had gone on a weekend trip with his American friend and were likely stuck in one of the shelters waiting out the storm. I called in a substitute so everything’s fine here. Are you well?”
“Yes, it was my first hiking adventure of any kind and quite an experience.”
“Well, best to get the worst out of the way and then the rest will seem easy in comparison. Next time you go hiking and nothing horrible happens, you’ll probably feel let down,” the older woman said.
“You may be right, Ma’am.” Roxie smiled into the phone.
“Good to know. Too many people look at the Pichincha and see it as something to conquer instead of being humble and wait for the mountain’s permission to climb it. Our volcanoes are dangerous to those unprepared and presumptuous. Many people find that out the hard way each year. Will you attempt to hike it again?”
Roxie thought for a moment. “Possibly, but again, only with an experienced guide.” In fact, if that guide weren’t Drake, she wouldn’t be interested in scaling the Pichincha again. Their time together on the mountain had been special and she couldn’t imagine tainting those memories by going with someone else.
“You’re most likely exhausted. Get some sleep. We’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yes, ma’am. Thank you for your understanding.” Roxie hung up the phone, and then dialed her best friend Charlene.
“Roxie, you’d better be calling to spill the details about your weekend with the hot volcano guy.”
“Charlene, what if I hadn’t been on the other end of this call?” Roxie laughed.
“Your picture came up.”
“It was amazing. He was amazing. The entire trip was one big adventure, but I felt safe because he was with me.” Roxie summarized the weekend for her friend. What she omitted were the details about the terrific sex and how much he cared for her.
“You’re telling me that you, who hates the cold and snow, spent the entire weekend in a snow storm?” Charlene gave an excited squeal.
“More or less.”
“Did your Hot Volcano Man keep you nice and toasty?” Charlene asked.
“Yep. More than that. I never thought I could have multiple orgasms.” Roxie pressed a hand onto her mouth, but it was too late. Charlene’s laughter came through loud and clear.
“Girl, it seems you have a lot to learn. Before I met Evan, I thought the same, but now…! “
“Isn’t your boyfriends last name Armstrong?” Roxie asked.
“Yes. Evan Armstrong. Why?”
“It’s funny. He has the same last name as Drake.” Roxie giggled at the coincidence. She couldn’t help but every time she thought of Drake, a big grin covered her face.
“Hey, wait a minute,” Charlene calling for her boyfriend to come join her. Roxie listened in to their conversation. “Do you know a guy named Drake Armstrong? A volcano scientist?”
“Sure, he’s my cousin. Why?”
“Girl, you’re not going to believe this. Your hot guy is my boyfriend’s cousin.” Charlene shouted into the phone.
“Really? It’s a small world.”
“Yeah,” Charlene agreed. “So, the weekend was everything you hoped for?”
“Most assuredly.” A yawn captured Roxie, but she smiled. “I need to take a shower since I just got back. Talk to you in a few days.”
“Go, go. I’m happy for you.”
“Thanks.” Roxie disconnected the call and headed for the shower. Drake is Evan’s cousin. Wow! It was somehow reassuring. Now that she knew, she detected the family resemblance. She’d often envied Charlene for having caught Evan. He’d turned out to be the absolutely perfect boyfriend. Good looking, sexy as hell, funny, protective and with that special dedication to Charlene.
Roxie tested the water temperature and then slipped inside the shower, letting the hot spray dance over her skin. She soaped her hair and added a healthy amount of conditioner to it, watching the grey suds slip down the drain. The hot water beat down on her shoulders and she picked up the loofah to rub it over her body.
Across her arms, around her stomach…she closed her eyes and pretended Drake with in the shower with her. In her imagination he took the loofah from her hands and knelt down to wash her legs…a familiar clench in her core appeared, despite the fact that she was still sore from their activities during the past twenty-four hours.
With a sigh, she turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. Then she snuggled in bed with a book to read, but the feeling of emptiness surprised her. After sleeping just two nights in Drake’s arms, she missed being held by him.
Soon the exhaustion took over and she fell asleep, dreaming about Drake. Her dreams included a steamy bathroom, lots of bare skin, and the husky timbre of his voice, as he loved every inch of her body.
Chapter 17
After dropping Roxie off at her apartment, Drake drove to Carlos’ house to find his friend sitting in the dining room amidst a pile of paper. Drake dumped his gear outside the backdoor and then joined him at the table.
“Hey! Don’t you have to work today?”
“This is work.
” Carlos gestured toward the papers. “But yes, I came home to wait for you.”
“You weren’t worried about me, were you?” Drake teased him.
“To tell the truth, I was. Roxie is an inexperienced hiker and I was afraid she panicked and made you do something imprudent.”
She definitely made me do something stupid. Like agreeing to a fling with her.
“No she was awesome. As if being surprised by a snowstorm was daily business for her.”
“So why exactly did you leave the second refuge and stay in that god-forsaken hut?” Carlos asked.
“I got a bad case of altitude sickness and we had to descend, but couldn’t make it all the way down.”
“Must have been really bad if you took that risk.”
“Worse. Man, I know about altitude sickness, but I totally missed the signs. I thought it was a carry-over from jetlag. If Roxie hadn’t forced me to hike down...” Drake’s neck hair stood on end at the thought what-if.
“She saved you.” It was a statement, not a question, and Drake knew his friend was right.
“Yeah, she’s a remarkable woman.”
“I’m glad both of you are fine. I was about to pack my stuff and go searching for you guys when you called me. That’s how worried I was.”
“Thanks, dude.” Drake knew how treacherous the mountains could be for even an experienced hiker like him and he was truly grateful that Carlos would risk his own life to go looking for him.
“You know we can’t go up Cotopaxi right now, right?”
Drake had been trying not to think about it. Cotopaxi was the main reason he’d come to Ecuador, but with his recent bout of altitude sickness, his body was telling him it needed more acclimation time. Cotopaxi reached over 19000 feet and was technically a lot more challenging than Pichincha. He’d need full capability to conquer that mountain.
“Yeah, maybe another week in Quito.”
“Two would be better, and you know it,” Carlos interjected.
“That’s a little overboard, don’t you think?”
“Look, I’ve been a certified guide and have been hiking these volcanoes my entire adult life. Altitude sickness is nothing to mess around with. I’ve seen it time and time again.” Carlos was dead serious.
Drake furrowed his brow. Why on earth did Carlos insist so much? Normally Drake was the more cautious of them. Carlos must have sensed his unwillingness to listen, because he leaned back and crossed his arms in front of his chest.
“Many years ago I lead an excursion to Cotopaxi. One of the men seemed to feel bad. But he was ambitious and making the summit was imperative. He didn’t listen to my advice to stay in the refuge. It shouldn’t have been a problem…” Carlos’ voice faltered.
“But then we ran into bad weather. The winds were so strong we couldn’t stand straight up without getting blown over. He became worse. Altitude sickness. We couldn’t descend. There was no chance we’d made it down alive. We weathered the storm in bivvies. The next morning, he was dead.”
“Carlos, I’m sorry. I had no idea.” Drake swallowed hard.
“I never talk about it, but since that time, I’m extra careful.” Carlos gave him a grim smile.
“Okay, two weeks it is then. But now I need a shower.”
“Do that. And get some rest. You look like hell, man.” Carlos chuckled and dedicated his attention to the pile of papers on the table.
Drake entered the guest bedroom and stripped off his dirty clothing. As he removed his phone from his pocket, he eyed the screen. It was a temptation to text Roxie. No I’m giving her space. If I text after less than an hour to say I’m missing her, she’ll feel trapped.
He tossed his phone on the charger and took a much-needed shower. After the shower he slipped naked under the blankets and fought with himself whether to call Roxie or not. Not yet.
Instead he grabbed his iPad and skyped his brother Chuck. “Hey, bro.”
“Drake, good to see you. How are those volcanoes?” Chuck asked.
“The usual. While hiking we got caught in a snowstorm and an overnighter turned into the entire weekend.”
“If I don’t take care of you…” Chuck said.
“As if you even would make it beyond the parking lot,” Drake teased. Chuck was three years younger than him and worked as a private investigator.
“Careful what you say…I’m sitting on your couch and can do a whole lot of damage to your place if you’re not nice,” Chuck threatened and they both broke out into laughter. His brother’s girlfriend Linda and her dog Courage were housesitting for Drake while he was in Ecuador.
Chuck and Linda had met while he was solving a case for her mother, the famous Hollywood actress Evangelina Ross. Within days of meeting Linda, Chuck had fallen head over heels for the woman.
“How is Courage getting along with my cats?” Drake asked.
“The cats are doing fine and Courage is learning to keep his nose to himself.” Chuck grinned into the camera.
“And how are you and Linda doing?”
“God, Drake, that woman makes me happy. Never knew what I’ve been missing, but after just a few weeks I can’t imagine ever living without her.”
Drake could hear the elation in his brother’s voice and envy crept into his soul. He wanted to have the same thing with Roxie, but she’d made it clear that she wasn’t ready to commit. Yet.
“Tell Linda I said hello and I’ll call again in a few days.”
“Will do. Have fun over there.”
“I will.” I am. He didn’t say anything about Roxie, because there wasn’t much to say. Hey, I met this amazing woman I want to spend the rest of my life with, but hey, she’s scared of commitment and only wants to have a little fun and sheet-burning sex. No way in hell would he admit it, even to his own brother.
The screen blinked with an incoming call from his sister, Vivian. “Viv’s calling. Any idea of why?”
“No, but be warned. She’s become super nosy of late,” Chuck grumbled.
“Tell me something new. Talk to you later.” Drake clicked the button that would connect him to his sister.
“Hey, Drake.”
“Viv. What’s up?”
“I saw you were online and figured I’d say hello, make sure you were okay.” She paused and when Drake didn’t say anything, she continued. “Have you been anywhere near that snowstorm? I saw some impressive pics.”
How in the world did she know about the snowstorm? Barred a true natural catastrophe, news from Ecuador never made it into the media in the States.
“I’m fine, and yes, it did snow quite a bit up on the Pichincha.” Drake chuckled.
“Were you up on that Pinchie mountain when it hit?” Vivian’s eyes shone, craving for sensation.
“Indeed. We ended up having to spend the entire weekend in an abandoned shepherd’s hut.” Drake shifted slightly and looked into the camera.
“Well I hope you were in the company of a nice woman to keep you warm.” His sister didn’t even blink when she said these words.
Drake was stunned speechless. His sister had a sixth sense to read between the lines and pick up in the things people didn’t say. That’s why she was a damn good court reporter. But how could she know about Roxie?
He cleared his throat and then decided he might as well tell her about Roxie, especially since she apparently had picked up on something.
“I actually did have a woman with me. Her name is Roxie and she’s teaches English in Quito on an exchange program for native speakers.”
“Tell me more. This girl, she went hiking with you and the two of you got stuck up on the mountain in the snowstorm? How romantic.” Vivian clapped her hands and laughed.
Drake nodded. If his sister had seen the hut, she wouldn’t use the word romantic. Wretched would be more appropriate.
“And she didn’t freak out or anything?” Vivian inquired.
“No, she was a real trooper about the whole thing. It was her first time hiking…”
“You took a beginner up on the mountain? I’m not recognizing my big brother. What got into you? Ahh, I know, you’re falling for her. Drake is in love.” Vivian danced with the iPad in her hands across the room.
“Stop that. I’m getting dizzy just by looking at the screen,” Drake complained. “And for the record, yes, Roxie is amazing, but she doesn’t want to commit. She’s young and she just got out of a bad long-term relationship.”
“You two discussed relationships?” Vivian’s jaw gaped wide open. “Already? Damn, if I couldn’t see your face, I’d swear you were an imposter and ask you what you’d done with my big brother.”
“Sis, do me a favor and close your mouth, okay?” He teased her and she complied without opposition.
“Wow. You’re serious about her. She’s the one?”
“Well, that is the million-dollar question,” Drake answered.
“I just know it. This woman is perfect for you. Think about it, you need an adventurous woman, one who doesn’t cry over a chipped fingernail or because she has to sleep on the hard ground in an abandoned hut.” Vivian’s eyes shone with excitement.
There was some truth to her words, it was actually more or less the same as what Anita had said.
“For now, she coaxed me into agreeing to a fling. A fling!” Drake spit out the last words with disgust. “As if that would be okay with me.”
“Hey, bro, let me tell you something. Every woman longs for the prince riding into her life and making her his princess. If she doesn’t want to commit right now, you just have to try harder.” Vivian seemed very pleased with the pearls of wisdom she was giving her oldest brother.
“Thanks. I’ll consider it. So, what’s new back home?”
“Preston needs you to call him,” Vivian said with a scowl.
“Why? Is he in trouble?” Preston was the second oldest of the Armstrong siblings, but at thirty, he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself.
“He’s being a blind fool. That’s what’s wrong with him. Sandrine, gosh I can’t hardly stand to say her name. That girl is vile.” Vivian’s blue eyes spit fire.
“She’s Preston’s girlfriend,” Drake reminded her.
Burning for Love: Los Angeles Armstrongs 2 (The Armstrongs Book 8) Page 9
