Rocky Mountain Devil

by Vivian Arend

  “You know what? My throat is dry after the singing this morning. If you have time for me to stay for a while, I’d like that cup of tea very much.”

  Mrs. Coleman’s lips curled upward, and a touch of Rafe’s familiar smile shone back. She glanced at the barn then stepped back to welcome Laurel in. “Let me take your coat. If you don’t mind sitting in the kitchen, I can get things started for lunch while we have a visit.”

  Laurel passed over her jacket, but refused to sit and be served. “Let’s work together, then we can both relax.”

  She picked up a knife from the counter and set to peeling the potatoes she found waiting in a pot by the sink. The other woman’s gaze rested on her for a moment, but Laurel ignored it, working without comment. Finally Dana moved to add water to the kettle before gathering the things needed for the meal.

  By the time Mrs. Coleman put two cups and some baking on the table, lunch was simmering on the stove, and they sat together, all awkwardness forgotten as their easy conversation continued.

  It wasn’t what Laurel had expected to find that morning, but the shared time with the gentle-hearted woman was exactly what she needed.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Rafe drove over the rise of the hill, coming to a sudden stop as he spotted the second of their ATVs waiting beside one of the small pole barns where they kept supplies.

  He hadn’t expected Gabe to be in the area, not today. There was no sign of his brother as Rafe got off his ride, pulling off his gloves and leaving them on the seat.

  “Gabe?”

  It was most definitely not his brother’s head that popped around the corner post.

  “Hey, you.” Laurel strode toward him, hands reaching forward as she offered a happy smile.

  “Hey. I didn’t expect you.”

  She curled into his arms, clasping him around the waist as she rested her head on his chest. “I tracked you down.”

  He took a second before answering, enjoying the feel of her in his arms as he squeezed her tight. “I’m glad you did.”

  Laurel wiggled free, catching hold of his hand and pulling him toward the far side of the building. “You haven’t had lunch yet, have you?”

  “Was going to take a break in a while.” He eyed the food-covered blanket she’d guided him to. “Wow. A picnic?”

  “Sort of. But don’t go giving me all the credit.” She sat on one corner of the blanket and patted the spot next to her. “Everybody else has been taking care of me today.”

  From the looks of the spread before them, eating was going to take a while. “I don’t care who made it. I’m not going to complain.”

  He reached for the thermos and opened it, taking a cautious sniff. The rich scent of strong coffee filled his senses.

  “Sweet mercy, it’s not that nasty fancy pop.”

  Laurel shook her finger at him. “I knew you didn’t really like it.”

  He shrugged. “I like making you happy. If drinking weird fizzy drinks goes along with that, it’s not the worst thing ever. But I do love my coffee.” He glanced over at her, a moment of confusion hitting. Something was out of place. “How come you’re wearing Allison’s boots?”

  “I’m also wearing her jeans and shirt,” she confessed. “I ended up out at your place without a change of clothes. She offered me stuff when I told her I wanted to bring out your lunch.”

  “And Gabe popped you on the ATV and told you which direction to drive.”

  “Something like that.” She took a bite of her sandwich then stared over the land as if she wasn’t really seeing it.

  Rafe examined her for a moment more before putting down his drink and reaching for her. He caught her fingers and gave them a squeeze. “Hey. What’s up?”

  Laurel shook herself before glancing back at him. “Oh, nothing. I mean…” She wrinkled her nose. “Something, but it’s not as all-fired important as I thought it was.”

  That made no sense. “You had something to tell me before you set up the picnic, but you don’t have anything to tell me now?”

  She moved aside the few things between them so she could switch positions, settling herself close enough she was right beside him and able to lean against his chest. “Basically. I was upset this morning, but after talking with your mom for a while I feel much better.”

  “My mom is a pretty cool lady.”

  “She is.” Laurel looked up with a smile. “She’s very proud of you, you know. Thinks her youngest son can pretty much do anything he puts his mind to.”

  “Only with a lot of help,” he said. “I’m glad you guys had a nice visit after church. But I don’t know why you didn’t go home and get changed before coming out here.”

  She made a face. “We actually had tea at her place. After church.”

  His spine stiffened, and he fought the frustration and worry that struck instantly. “I don’t really want you going out there.”

  “I figured. But it’s okay.” Laurel laid a hand on his thigh and pressed down reassuringly.

  “No, it’s not,” he insisted. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I don’t want you around my father.”

  “I know, but I’m telling you it’s okay. I mean, I won’t go out of my way to get in his face, but I like your mom, and I plan to visit her more.”

  “Dammit, Laurel, your face is red. What are you not telling me that’s close enough to a lie to set you off?”

  “Noth—” She slammed to a stop and covered her mouth.

  “Yeah, you watch yourself, because you were totally about to lie.”

  “I kinda bumped into your dad this morning, but everything is okay, really,” she rushed to assure him. “And I won’t get in his face…anymore.”

  Shit. “Laurel…?”

  “I was lippy.” The words escaped in a rush. “It was wrong, and if he mentions to you that the Sitko girl is a rude creature, he’s not lying. But it was my fault, not his, and afterward I had a great visit with your mom. Let’s focus on that part, okay?”

  She looked so hopeful—the expression she used when playing down how bad they’d been because they weren’t ever going to try that particular bit of mischief again.

  There were downsides to knowing each other so well.

  It was on the tip of his tongue to order her to never go near the homestead, but he couldn’t. Couldn’t boss her around when it was very clear she was aware of the problem. “While you’re on a streak, you got anything else you want to tell me about this morning?”

  “How about you eat first?” Laurel grabbed another sandwich. “Or more importantly, let me eat because I’m starving.”

  “Laurel…”

  “I’m serious. Don’t you hear my stomach rumbling?”

  Enough. He rolled her over his body, ignoring her squeal of protest as he kept them going until he had her pinned under him, mostly off the picnic blanket and resting on the soft grass of the hillside.

  He plucked the sandwich from her fingers. “I’m very impressed you didn’t lose that.”

  “I told you I was hungry.”

  “And we’ll eat in a minute. Now, spill.”

  She seemed to be thinking hard before she spoke. “It’s nothing,” she insisted.

  “I’ll spank your ass if you keep lying to me,” he warned.

  Some sort of gibberish escaped her lips, as if she couldn’t figure out what words to say.

  He grinned. “Was that a no way on earth, don’t you dare, or are you secretly wanting me to paddle you?”

  “Have you done that?” she demanded. “I mean, no, don’t tell me. I don’t even want to think about that, yet at the same time I want to know. And that’s not a yes or a no to you doing anything to me that involves my bottom.”

  This time a snicker escaped. “Your bottom? Really? So proper.”

  Her lips twitched into a smile.

  “You’re not distracting me,” he warned. “We’re not going anywhere until you confess.”

  It took a moment before she nodded. “Fin
e. You probably want to let me up, though.”

  “That serious, huh?”

  “Kind of?”

  He didn’t let her go far. Just back to vertical so they could look each other in the eyes as he kept hold of her hands. “Tell me.”

  She took a deep breath. “Jeff leaves town today, but he decided before he goes he should clear up the ‘misunderstanding’ between us.”

  “Bastard.”

  “No, he’s definitely the acknowledged first son of his father,” she muttered. “Let’s stick with asshole.”

  “Genealogy aside… Spit it out, woman.”

  “He insists he didn’t really break up with me. That it was a misunderstanding on my part when he decided we should slow down.”

  “Asshole.”

  “Right? Because it wasn’t possible for him to actually make it clear that he wanted to be with me because I was ‘being difficult’ to get a hold of.” She made more air quotes.

  Rafe was missing something here. “Because he broke up with you.”

  Laurel paused for a moment. “I didn’t make it easy on him. I was upset, and I didn’t want him to get back together with me because it was easy. I wanted him willing to work a little.” She wrinkled her nose. “I’m sorry, this whole conversation is weird considering you and I are going out.”

  “Do you not remember the conversations we used to have back in the day when I was dating, and you weren’t?”

  “But that’s the point, we weren’t dating then.”

  He shrugged. “I told you everything. Heck, you found out the morning after I lost my virginity.” A terrible thought flashed into his brain. “Oh my God. You and Jeff—that’s what part of what this is about, isn’t it?”

  She looked absolutely miserable. “If you’re asking if we had sex, yes. We did.”

  Rafe liked the guy even less. “Do you think he’s already left town?”

  “You’re not going to rip his arms off, so settle down,” she muttered. “He didn’t force me or anything. I told you, I thought things were serious between us, and we were attracted to each other.” Laurel covered her face with a hand. “This is embarrassing.”

  “Because you had sex?” The idea wasn’t sitting comfortably with him, but it wasn’t right for him to have double standards. “Don’t beat yourself up over something that’s pretty natural. And fun,” he grudgingly admitted.

  “I’ve had way more fun fooling around with you,” she said quietly.

  Oh, hell yeah.

  “Way to stroke my ego.”

  She flashed him a grin but her amusement quickly faded. “The point is, I thought something real was happening before he called it off, so when he came back, I wanted him to prove he was serious.” She shrugged. “He didn’t. Not in my books, and I was dealing with…some other stuff at the time, and in the end, that’s when I realized Bible College wasn’t for me.”

  “You never wanted to see him again?” he guessed.

  “Partly, but it was more than that.” She sighed unhappily. “I knew my parents were going to be disappointed, for so many reasons, and so I didn’t tell them either.”

  “Not that I want to keep bringing it up, but you seem to be keeping a lot of secrets from your folks.”

  “I wasn’t off living under a bridge or anything. I went to my aunt’s in Winnipeg. I was supposed to go there for the summer, anyway. I just went earlier without saying anything to them.”

  “And changed your school plans, and everything else without discussing it.” Rafe held up a hand before she could protest. “I know, you’re a grownup, and you don’t have to tell them everything. But they’re decent people, Laurel. I think they would’ve understood. They probably could have helped you talk things out.”

  “Maybe if they were less perfect it would’ve been easier to share. I didn’t want to disappoint them, and I couldn’t…”

  She still wasn’t telling him everything, but it wasn’t time to drag it out of her.

  He cupped her chin with his fingers and made her look him in the eye. “Here’s the only question you need to answer. Whether your whole breakup was a misunderstanding or not, what do you want now? Do you want to give Jeff another chance? Because—”

  “No,” she snapped so quickly he knew it was the honest truth.

  Or at least the truth she wanted to believe.

  “Then I don’t think you have anything to worry about,” he assured her. “Not as far as your parents go. You’ve got a good job, Laurel. And you’re back here, and you like spending time with them— Whatever it was you set out to do, I think you accomplished it. You’re standing on your own two feet.”

  She nodded slowly.

  “You do want to be in Rocky, don’t you?”

  “Yes. And I want to be with you—about those things I have no doubts.”

  And there it was. A hint of what might be wrong. He scooped her into his lap and held her close, cuddling her for a moment. Her heartbeat rang through him as she leaned in harder, circling her fingertips on his chest as she relaxed.

  Laurel had grown up in the church, with a pastor for a father, and bible studies and bedtime prayers and whatever else came with the territory. Doubts to her had to be about the things she’d been taught.

  It was a terrible time to bring this up, but he had to know. “I’m never going to be an upstanding member of the church,” he warned her gently. “That’s not part of who I am, or what’s important to me.”

  “I know.”

  “Is that going to be a problem?”

  Laurel tilted her head until she could meet his gaze, her eyes filled with moisture. “It’s not what you believe that worries me. I just don’t know…” She took a deep breath. “I’ve spent all my life standing firmly in one spot, but the last three years shook me up pretty good.”

  “You got doubts about what you believe?”

  “Yeah.”

  Which would have totally thrown her into a loop. Made sense.

  Whatever else they’d done over the years, Laurel had always had a solid sense of who she was. She’d never preached at him—not with words. But he’d always known what was important to her, which was another reason why he’d been able to hold off that long-ago night when they were first tempted to get involved.

  “Hey. It’s not that terrible,” he teased, rubbing his thumb over her lower lip. “If you knew everything now you’d have nothing to learn for the rest of your life. That’d get pretty boring.”

  “I suppose.”

  “You okay? You need me to do anything?”

  She shook her head. “You keep being you. I’ll figure it out.”

  “I know you will.”

  This time when her stomach complained, he heard the rumble.

  “Can I eat now?” she asked plaintively. “Next time I’ll know better than to start talking before we’ve eaten.”

  Rafe handed over a fresh sandwich. “Right. Feed your stomach. I don’t want you to pass out later.”

  Laurel gave him an amused glance. “Why? Are you making me help with chores?”

  “I’m working you over,” he announced happily. “It’s one of the last fine fall days, and I don’t think you’ve had a chance to fool around outdoors yet. Have you?”

  She didn’t answer. Just stared at him with her sandwich halfway to her mouth.

  “I didn’t think so.” He nudged her sandwich with his. “Get munching. You’ll need your strength.”

  After everything that had gone on that day, and all the wild swings of emotion she’d experienced, right there and then with his eyes on her…

  Intense.

  Forget the physical reactions like fight or flight, guilt or frustration—lust had them beat by a country mile.

  Laurel remembered her momentary discussion that morning with God while seated on the piano bench. Maybe she was supposed to feel a whole lot guiltier for being physically intimate with Rafe, but it was too right to be wrong. As if out of all the people in the world she could’ve gotten involved
with, He’d known Rafe Coleman was the one for her.

  She’d told the truth. While she and Jeff had gotten along, and there’d been an attraction there, it wasn’t the fire and deep-core-melting, body-shaking need she experienced having Rafe around.

  He made a picnic on the grass seem like the most erotic of experiences.

  She was too hungry to play around before satisfying her stomach. Only with each bite he seemed to focus on a different part of her body, his gaze trickling over her. Intense enough she swore she felt it. A stroke across her cheek. Another trickling over her collarbone. Lower. Each moment more intimate.

  She rushed to get down her sandwich, picking up a bottle of water and drinking it thirstily, all the time ultra-aware of his gaze on her.

  Rafe ate rapidly as well, somehow consuming twice as much as she did during the same amount of time while never missing a beat.

  “You had enough?” His voice a deep, needy rumble.

  “It’s a little cold to strip,” she warned.

  He dropped the few remaining sandwiches back into the basket, pretty much tossing the rest after them. “Trust me. I can get you hot enough not to worry.”

  Of that she had no doubt. “So, how’s this going to work?”

  He shifted into the middle of the blanket, patting his lap. “Have a seat.”

  She crawled over eagerly, letting him help her settle, one knee on either side of his legs as he draped her arms over his shoulders. When he placed a hand on her back and tugged, their bodies came into contact, and she lazily drifted her fingers over shoulder muscles, enjoying the soft touch of his flannel shirt.

  They touched innocently for a long while. Slow, with curiosity. As if they’d never met each other before and it was the first time to explore one another.

  In some ways, it was true. Every day changed their relationship enough for Laurel to have to think hard about the man she was involved with.

  He wasn’t the boy she’d laughed and played games with. He was more than the innocent, childish trouble they’d embarked on back in the day. The fact he’d grown up was carved into his muscles—in the strong line of his biceps, the firm curves of his chest, and the rigid edges of his six-pack as she stroked a hand over his abdomen. The hours of labour he’d put in on the Coleman ranch had been written onto his body.