Mountain Mystic

by Debra Dixon

  She wondered what bad memories he was chasing away. Unconsciously, she hugged him a little tighter. She understood all about getting away from the past.

  Joshua felt the gentle squeeze from Victoria. He looked down at the top of her head which lay against his chest as they walked. He felt a momentary stab of guilt at the trust she was placing in him, considering the secrets he was keeping and how little he’d told her of himself. Time was running out. He’d have to tell her soon. The new book was coming out next month.

  Carefully, Joshua disengaged himself and pulled a windbreaker from the compartment beneath the seat of the motorcycle. Shaking it out, he offered it to her and waited as she slid into it and reached to straighten the collar. He noticed the almost imperceptible quiver of her hands as he brushed them aside to do it for her.

  In that split second, as their hands touched, the emotions of fear and lust stabbed through him. The emotions weren’t his. They were Victoria’s. For the first time he’d made a connection, even though it was transitory. He pushed, but the wall around her was firmly in place again.

  “It unnerves you when I touch you, doesn’t it? I mean, more than you’re used to,” he murmured. The knowledge rekindled his desire to the intensity he’d felt on the dance floor. “More than you want to admit. Even to yourself.”

  Victoria lifted her chin and cleared her throat. “Joshua, I’m not a starry-eyed virgin.”

  Her skin was soft beneath his fingers, and he could tell that she was holding her breath. “Then don’t act like one. Love, I want the woman I see glimpses of. The one who shakes because she’s afraid of shocking me. You’re holding back. All the time. I’m tired of playing hide-and-seek, Victoria. Try to shock me.” His gaze roamed hungrily. “You might learn something about yourself.”

  With as much control as she could muster, Victoria tried to ignore the magic of his feathery touches and said, “I don’t need a lesson in lovemaking. I know what an orgasm is.” Sarcastically she added, “I’ve even had one.”

  He traced the line of her collarbone, the length of her neck, and rubbed his thumb across her bottom lip. “With someone else in the room?” Joshua asked softly.

  Stunned, Victoria couldn’t frame a reply.

  “I want to be in the room, Victoria. You understand? I want you, and I don’t care what you know or what you don’t know as long as you’re honest about what you want.” Joshua kissed her quickly, softly. “I’ll go first. I’ll be honest about what I want. I want more than friendship.” He ran his hands down over her breasts, and she arched into his palms.

  Not responding to her wordless plea, Joshua moved his hands to her waist. He wanted her to let go of her emotions and admit her sensual nature, but this wasn’t the place. He wanted privacy. Slowly he withdrew his hands and asked, “Ready?”

  Victoria nodded, unwilling to trust her voice, and waited for Joshua to retrieve the helmets and get on first. Then she tugged her skirt up until she could slip on behind him. The moment her bottom touched the seat, Joshua started the engine. She almost gasped at the effect the vibration had on her. It echoed sensually through her, making her feel empty and aching, making her remember the blunt way he asked for what he wanted and the funny sensation she got deep in her belly when he told her. Heat flooded not only her cheeks but the juncture of her thighs.

  Closing her eyes, Victoria swallowed and wondered how she was going to manage the long ride home. More than that, she wondered if Joshua was as affected as she was by the fleeting feel of his big hands against her breasts and by the power rumbling beneath them. She wondered if he was translating those sensations to mental images that only made the need worse.

  As he made adjustments before driving away, he pushed himself firmly between her thighs and ordered, “Get a grip.”

  With no more warning than that, he roared off. If the ride during dusk had been unsettling, the ride in the dark was devastating. Nothing existed in the blackness except the feel of his body beneath her hands. Her mother would have called the way her skirt was hiked up indecent, but Victoria was past caring. All she knew was that the man in front of her wanted her to let go. That he told her with a thousand tiny clues to forget the world. He was sharing something with her, sharing his need to forget.

  Richard had never shared anything with her, least of all sensual pleasure. He wanted a body in bed; he’d never wanted her. Not really. She knew that now. Richard made her beg for scraps, while Joshua offered whatever she wanted. Except his past.

  The night air whipped around them, cool and crisp, carrying the smell of fall. Victoria realized that even nature recognized a time to move on, a time to change, a time to strip yourself bare so you could begin again. Maybe it was time she let down the walls some.

  By the time they were halfway home, Victoria’s hands were moving across Joshua’s flat belly, soaking up the warmth and the feel of his muscles. She ran her palms up the washboard of his abdomen and grazed his nipples with her fingers. His body grew taut, but he didn’t flinch away, didn’t tell her to stop. And his nipples hardened beneath her assault.

  Victoria wanted to touch him, wanted to learn the landscape of his body as well as she knew her own. She reveled in his response to her. Something about riding hell-bent-for-leather in the black of night created a whole new set of rules for her, gave her permission to do things she might not have done otherwise.

  Just as the ride to the dance ended too soon, so did the ride home. Joshua slowed the bike and turned into Victoria’s driveway, coasting up beside the porch. When he switched off the engine, the silence was deafening.

  Suddenly, the anonymity of the night ride slipped away. Victoria’s heart raced, knowing she couldn’t hide any longer. She was going to have to look him in the face and acknowledge that she wanted him as much as he wanted her. Joshua pushed the helmet off his head and ran his fingers through his hair.

  “Want to come in?” she asked tentatively, cursing the waver in her voice.

  Without turning around he asked, “Do you want me to come in?”

  “I don’t want you to go home,” she said honestly, and got off the bike as gracefully as she could, considering her nerves. She took her helmet off and handed it to him.

  “Then I guess I’ll come in.” Joshua shifted his gaze to her. His blue eyes glinted briefly, but she couldn’t tell if it was the moonlight or anticipation that caused the change. Joshua followed her to the door, stopping her with a light touch on her shoulder as she unlocked and opened it. “You have something that belongs to me.”

  “Oh,” she said as she remembered the jacket.

  When she turned and looked up, he cupped her head in his hands and gave her the kiss he’d wanted to give her on the dance floor. His lips didn’t ease over hers this time. His mouth covered hers swiftly and completely, his tongue sweeping inside to take possession without waiting for invitation. One hand slipped around to the back of her neck and the other slid down the column of her throat.

  She arched into him, and Joshua swept the wind-breaker off her shoulders and down her arms, pinning her to the doorframe. Everything about her signaled her consent, encouragement even, to being picked up and carried to the bed. He could still remember what she looked like lying on it, stretching her sexy body like a contented cat. He wanted to sink inside her and satisfy himself, making love hard and furious and fast, but he also knew Victoria wasn’t ready for that. Not yet.

  Despite her sensual nature, she was still far from experienced. If he took her too quickly or too roughly, she wouldn’t come with him, and he wanted her with him every step of the way. He wanted to be inside her when she climaxed. Maybe then he’d know what Victoria really felt like. Maybe then he could touch her soul and discover what it was that drew him to her like a hawk to its one true mate.

  Victoria struggled to get her hands out of the jacket and around his neck to press herself closer, but Joshua pushed her away. “Wait. This is too fast. Too quick, love. Got any objections if I slow this down?”

>   Frustration hummed in every pore of Victoria’s being. Disappointment was evident in her tone as she breathlessly responded, “You want to slow down?”

  “Yeah, as in—I won’t last two seconds if I let you do anything else to me just yet. You near did me in on the bike ride, Vicky. I’m having a hard time holding on to my good intentions here.”

  Joshua’s gruff confession erased her frustration instantly. She handed him the jacket and backed into the dark cabin, dropping her purse and key inside the front door. “I always hated good intentions. You know what they say about them.”

  He tossed the jacket in the direction of the bike. “Actually mine are more like dishonorable intentions.”

  “I was hoping,” Victoria whispered, but she made one last halfhearted effort to stop the inevitable. “You know that making love is probably the best way to wreck a friendship. We might regret this in the morning. At least I might. We’ve built a friendship that means something to me.”

  “We’ve been marking time until you were ready, love. And you know it.” As she backed up, he followed, kicking the door shut with a well-placed boot heel.

  Victoria got rid of her shoes. “How can you know me so well? How could you be so sure I was ready, when I didn’t even admit it to myself until tonight?” she whispered, and stopped retreating when the backs of her thighs touched the bed.

  “Know you? In some ways I don’t feel like I know you at all,” Joshua told her as he closed the distance. “And it’s driving me crazy. You see, I usually know things about people. But not about you. Who are you really, Vicky?” His fingers trailed along her neck, seeking and finding the erratic pulse at the base of her throat. “Why did you show up on my mountain just when I’d decided I could live without complications in my life?”

  He kissed her again. When his arms went around her, he found the zipper of her dress and slowly drew it down to the sweet curve of her back. His fingers toyed with the valley formed by the arch of her back as she leaned into him. A sigh escaped her as he began to press kisses along the side of her neck, finding her pulse with his mouth this time.

  Her dress began to slide off her shoulders, and Joshua helped it on its way until the gentle flare of her hips stopped the descent. By then her lace-covered breasts were bared to his gaze, and took all his attention. He wondered if she’d worn this particular bra on purpose. It was strapless and revealed more than it covered or supported. Creamy flesh flowed over the pristine white edges, begging him to touch and to release her.

  Joshua gave up and swept Victoria back on the bed. There was a limit to what any man could take. He waited only long enough to dispose of his boots and shirt before joining her. Lace scraped against his chest as he pulled her to him and hooked his fingers in a cup and dragged it down to expose her breast. The catch in Victoria’s breathing was audible as his mouth covered the passion-darkened tip.

  Fireworks exploded in Victoria as Joshua sucked at her, pulling and laving her nipple with an expertise that began an insistent throbbing between her legs. His hands were as big as she had fantasized; he could cup her breast completely, plumping it as he created a rock-hard peak.

  Her hips were beginning to move when he gave the nipple one last caress before peeling back the cup hiding the other breast from his view. Cold air teased the first bud, and she could feel the second growing hard as he gazed at her.

  “Joshua …” His name was all she could get out, but she wanted him to touch her again, to finish what he had started without all this waiting and teasing.

  “Easy, love. The party’s not going anywhere.” He ran an index finger around the inside of her panty hose and slip. “These, however, have to go.”

  Joshua stripped them off and also unhooked her bra, tossing it on the floor with the other unnecessary items. Victoria was naked except for high-cut white panties which he found incredibly sexy. Lace, like that on the bra, fluttered invitingly along the diagonal line from the edge of her hip to the triangle between her legs.

  He still had his jeans on, but he unbuttoned the waistband, and under the wide-eyed gaze of Victoria he unzipped. He could tell she enjoyed it. She liked the bits and pieces of sex. She liked the details. He made himself another promise to take this as slow as he could.

  The bed squeaked a protest as he reached for her hands and pulled her up until she was on her knees, facing him. He eased his arousal out of his pants and then brought her close. They were thigh to thigh, belly to belly, and heat to heat. For the first time, her bare breasts made contact with his bare chest.

  Wanting to see how the whisper of flesh against flesh affected her, he said, “Open your eyes, Vicky.”

  Surprisingly, she didn’t ease them open uncertainly. She opened them instantly at his request, looking down first at the sight of their bodies touching, then up to his mouth, and finally into his eyes. The intensity in her expression blew him away. How could she experience emotions this powerful without echoes spilling over into his mind? For a moment he wondered what it would take before she let him inside. Not just physically, but emotionally. And if he could deal with the intimacy when she did.

  When her head tilted back so she could see him more clearly, her hair tumbled down her back, teasing his arms as he held her close. She was gorgeous. He flattened his palms against her back and slid his hands down to the curve of her hip. Victoria caught her breath but didn’t look away as he slipped his hands inside the high-cut legs of her panties and cupped her bottom. Gently he kneaded her tender flesh and lifted her against him.

  The shrill shriek of the phone bell, turned up on high, jarred the mood and forced a curse from Joshua as Victoria almost jumped out of his arms. He leaned his forehead against hers. “Don’t answer it.”

  “I … I have to,” she told him shakily, trying to regulate her breathing and erase the husky aftermath of passion from her voice. “Might be the answering service.”

  Joshua moved aside and adjusted his clothing while she answered the phone. Modesty motivated her to grab a crocheted afghan that hung over the end of the bed.

  “Hello,” she said as she tucked the holey concoction of yarn around her like a shawl. “Who? Oh. Sorry, I wasn’t expecting the hospital to call.” Victoria listened for a while and then flipped on the Tiffany-style lamp beside her bed to look at her watch. “Yeah, that sounds about right. She’s a patient of Dr. Grenwald’s. He left her file with me, since she was the only possible delivery while he was out of town.”

  As soon as she flipped on the light, Joshua’s heart sank. He’d lost her for the night. A wry grin crossed his face. Better to lose the battle than the war. She loved what she did, and he certainly wasn’t going to ask her to choose. If he continued this relationship, he’d have to get used to interrupted nights and develop a tolerance for cold showers. While she talked, he grabbed his shirt and put it on.

  “How long since she came in? And the contractions are irregular? Who’s on duty tonight? Dr. Cashin? Great,” Victoria mumbled unhappily, and shook her head.

  Dr. Cashin had zero bedside manner. He wasn’t a bad doctor, but he was one of the variety that believed in efficient, speedy medicine. No hand-holding, no jokes, no unnecessary conversation.

  “Rachel Shelby’s a Primigravida. Young and worried about labor, according to Wally. She’s been having some pretty annoying Braxton-Hicks contractions and some round ligament pain, but he didn’t think she was anywhere close to delivering. The cervix was still closed when he saw her a few days ago.” She shook her head again. “That’s progress since her last visit, but it’s still not much dilation. Could even be false labor, given the fact she’s early and has a history of Braxton-Hicks. Dr. Cashin wants to admit her? She’d be more comfortable waiting at home until labor settles itself into a regular pattern.”

  Victoria listened and consulted her watch again. “No, I don’t want her released if she lives an hour away either. I’d better come up. I can be there by midnight. No, I don’t mind. I’d rather waste a trip than face Wally if
I let one of his patients be delivered by C-section for the ever-popular ‘failure to progress’ or exhaustion. Maybe I can help her settle down so she doesn’t wear herself out before active labor hits. Okay. Bye.”

  When she put the phone down, reality returned and Victoria realized that before she blithely agreed to go to the hospital, she had been about to make love with Joshua. She closed her eyes, and her back stiffened. How awkward could a situation get? What could she say?

  Gosh, I was having a delightful time, but I’ve got to run now and see a woman who’s not my patient and probably won’t even deliver tonight. But she’s scared and a long way from home. So I have to go. And for some strange reason, I feel like I’ve just been saved by the proverbial bell.

  Nothing came out when she turned to face him. She opened her mouth and shut it again.

  “It’s all right, Vicky. I’ll get out gracefully. You don’t have to make a speech about how sorry you are.” His chuckle was deep and reassuring as he pulled on his boots and tugged his jeans over the tops of them. “Go do your job.”

  Victoria clutched the afghan more closely to her, wishing she had left a less-revealing blanket at the foot of her bed. “You don’t mind?”

  “I didn’t say that. I said I’d get out and that you didn’t have to make a speech.”

  “Oh.”

  His shirttail hung over his jeans, and he looked wonderfully rumpled. His body was relaxed, but the muscles in his jaw tightened as his gaze tracked from her toes to her head, making her conscious of the amount of skin peeking through the mesh of the afghan. “You do know how to make it difficult on a man though.”

  Without waiting for a reply, he kissed her on the lips and said, “If you can’t find your truck keys, call me. I’ll drive you. ’Night, Vicky.”

  Reflexively, she reached for the chain that normally hung around her neck. She’d taken it off for the dance, since brass clashed with her dress. But she couldn’t remember where she’d put it.