Full Circle

by Shannon Hollis

  “Hard to tell.” He hugged her from behind, and she felt her courage coming back from where it lay flattened somewhere on the beach. “My guess is there will be some aftershocks. We need to get back to the lodge. It’s not safe here, with all the falling rock.”

  “But our clothes! Not to mention my good shoes!”

  He pulled back a little and looked at her. “You’ve just narrowly escaped death in true Indiana Jones fashion and you’re worried about your shoes?”

  Sheer relief at their escape mixed with a touch of hysteria as she erupted into unexpected laughter. “No, of course not. I’m worried about getting back to the conference center. Look at us. We’re stark naked!”

  “Yes, I had noticed that. You have the greatest ass of any woman I know. And your point?”

  “Daniel, this is no time for jokes.”

  He grinned as he stepped forward to stand beside her. His fingers found hers in a tight grip. “We can’t go near the cliff in case there’s an aftershock and we get conked by another piece of falling rock. Our clothes will have to wait until it’s safe.”

  “But how are we—”

  “Stick with me, kid.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. And you’ll buy me rocks as big as diamonds.”

  With a laugh that she’d remembered his old joke, he headed for the path on the other end of the beach, where the river had been carving its channel for centuries. She tightened her grip on his hand. He had a reputation for getting into and out of tight spots in the most flamboyant and newsworthy way possible. She’d buy a ticket to see him get her out of this one.

  With her professional reputation—if not her clothes—intact.

  ADRENALINE AND A KIND of savage joy coursed through Daniel’s body as he and Cate navigated the path up the riverbed in the dark under the trees. He hardly felt the rocks and tree roots that crisscrossed their route, tripping up their feet and making the going difficult. Most of his consciousness was consumed with Cate. Making love to her, getting her out of the danger zone, getting her to safety.

  Tonight was without a doubt the best night of his life. To engage in foreplay over dinner—to have Cate respond to him in such an uninhibited way—to be able to give her the pleasure he’d been dreaming about for so many years—he grinned into the dark with sheer satisfaction.

  An aftershock rolled under their feet, lifting and subsiding like a whale breaking the surface of the sea. It wasn’t nearly as severe as he’d expected. Once he had Cate safe—and clothed—chances were good he’d be able to go back down to the beach to get their things without worrying about a chunk of rock taking him out.

  They climbed the tree-covered slope that led to the grounds of the conference center, then stopped at the edge of the lawn, concealed in the shadows, to do a recon of the situation.

  Cate hopped on one foot, picking something out of the sole of the other. “Why do those trees have to have prickles for leaves?” she complained in a whisper. “I think I’ve been permanently perforated.”

  “Want me to carry you the rest of the way?”

  She put her foot to the ground and straightened, her body a pale length of determination. “No, thank you. I’d rather suffer under my own steam.” Her gaze tracked the open space between their hiding place and the nearest building. “It’s not that late. How am I going to get to my room without being seen?”

  “I don’t think you are. We’ll go to my cottage and I’ll lend you something.”

  “How come you get a cottage and the rest of us have to regress to dorms?”

  “Because I’m the keynote speaker, remember? Plus they needed somewhere to keep all those cartons of books.” He pointed. “I’m on the far side of the main lodge, up the path from the dining room.”

  “In other words, about as far from this nice dark tree as you could possibly get.”

  “Yeah, well, I didn’t take earthquakes into account when I signed the contract. So we’ll need to circle around on the high side—” he indicated the slope to their left “—and come down above the cottage.”

  “Why not go around to the right? It’s shorter.”

  “That’s the river side. We’re more likely to run into people coming out of their rooms and stragglers from the night-owl sessions. People’s instinct is to get outside when there’s a shaker. And the lawn facing the river is nice and open. I’m betting everyone is already huddled out there.”

  She took a deep breath. “Okay. Point taken. My feet are never going to be the same.”

  “I’ll give them a nice hot soak when we get to my room.” He smiled and took her hand. “Come on. We’re more likely to be spotted if we stay here.”

  He could have let go of her hand and had one more to navigate with in the dark, but she didn’t seem inclined to ease up on her grip, either. Their feet made soft noises in the dried grass and leaves underfoot, blending in with the sound of the onshore breeze in the trees and the faraway boom of the ocean. It took them fifteen minutes of ducking and running, punctuated with curses as their bare feet found every rock on the hillside, before they slid to a halt under a pine twenty feet from his cottage.

  “Can you see anyone?” Cate panted. She pulled her hand from his and pressed it to her chest, drawing his gaze to her bare breasts for about the twentieth time since they’d left the beach. It was a simple fact that he liked sex in the rough, and if ever there was an environment for someone with discovery fantasies, this was it.

  Under the branches of a cedar, the cottage was dark and silent. He hadn’t left any lights on, and the windows reflected the light of the waning moon. A big, round flowering bush of some kind blocked his view of the door, but from what he could see on either side of the little building, they were safe.

  And Cate’s body was a temptation he simply couldn’t resist.

  He stepped closer and slid his hands around her waist. “The only person I want to see is you, naked in the moonlight.”

  “What?”

  He was so ready for her. His swollen erection nudged her derriere, then slid between her legs as he pulled her against him. “Who wants a mundane old bed? I want you up against this tree.”

  “Daniel, what about—oh.”

  He cupped her breasts in both hands and brushed his fingertips over her nipples. “You have the sweetest tits.”

  “Daniel, we can’t,” she gasped. “Oh, that feels so good.”

  Her flesh filled his hands with their warmth and fullness. He squeezed gently, pressing against her from behind, while she braced herself with both hands on the tree trunk. The arch in her back pressed her rigid nipples into his palms.

  “Touch yourself,” he whispered and licked her earlobe. “Tell me how wet you are.” His tongue traced the edge of her ear and she shivered.

  Hesitantly, she reached down, and he jumped as her fingers closed around his cock as it thrust between her legs. “Not me, baby. I know how ready I am. Tell me what you find.”

  Over her shoulder, he nuzzled her skin and fondled her breasts while he watched her fingers dip low and touch her cleft. “Mmm.”

  “Tell me.” His whisper was getting ragged, and he held himself back from tipping up her hips and plunging into her.

  “I’m all creamy and swollen,” she said dreamily, “but that could be from last time.”

  His legs were trembling from the effort to control his excitement. “What does it feel like to touch yourself while I fondle you?”

  “I like your tongue better,” she confessed. “And I like it when you suck my nipples.”

  “You can have it later,” he promised between clenched teeth, “but right now I want to slide inside you while you make yourself come.”

  “I want you to, too,” she sighed.

  “Tip your pretty little ass toward me, darling, that’s it, and spread your legs.”

  Oh, God.

  He gripped her hips and probed her swollen, wet lips, then slid into her. Her body clenched around him, then relaxed as he found a hot, slow rhythm. Stroking he
r breasts, he tried to give her as many sensations of pleasure as he could while his own body shouted with urgency.

  “Daniel—Daniel—oh—”

  He felt it almost before he heard her feathery little gasps. She shuddered against him and her entire body seemed to tighten and release around him as she came. At last he let himself go and the orgasm roared through him, blanking out the sounds of the night and leaving only the awareness of Cate and how her hips rammed against him as she took him even deeper.

  He gathered her into his arms and he fell against the tree, its bark rough against his sensitized skin. “I can’t stand up,” he said a little helplessly, and took her with him to the ground.

  He sat there for the few seconds it took to remember how to breathe, her body cradled against him so she wouldn’t lie in the dirt and pine needles. He didn’t care. In fact, the scent of pine needles was going to remind him forever of Cate. Probably when he was eighty and fetching a Christmas tree with his grandkids, he’d smell pine and get a hard-on, just from the memory of this moment.

  A few moments passed and Cate stirred. “Remind me not to let you loose in a forest if this is what happens.” Her voice was full of quiet satisfaction.

  “It’s the adrenaline.” He adjusted her in his lap so she was more comfortable.

  “Narrowly missing death is a big turn-on, I’ve heard,” she agreed. “The urge to make sure the species doesn’t die out.”

  “No, it wasn’t that. Watching you running through the trees is what brought it on. You’ve spoiled me for ordinary beds now.”

  Her body shook gently as she chuckled. “That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t appreciate one. After a shower.” She got to her feet and checked the landscape around the cottage again, and he deduced that, while he’d be happy to sit out here and enjoy the afterglow as God intended it to be, she had other ideas. He got up and joined her.

  “Come on,” he said. “Let’s make a run for it.”

  “Isn’t it locked? Your keys are down on the beach with your pants, aren’t they?”

  He took her hand again. “Nah. We’re out in the middle of nowhere and I’ve got nothing with me that anyone would want. Except maybe a few cartons of books. I left it open.”

  “You’re more trusting than I am.” She followed him across the grass, which felt soft and cool underfoot in comparison to the rough terrain they’d just crossed. “I never leave without locking my door, no matter where I am.”

  “You need to spend more time in the wide open spaces,” he said over his shoulder as he turned the door handle. “You’d have more trust in your fellow man then.”

  He pushed the door open and slipped an arm around her waist, drawing her inside.

  Had she ever made love in the shower? he wondered. And was it possible for a man to come three times in as many hours?

  He couldn’t wait to find out.

  8

  DANIEL FOUND CATE’S HAND and led her into the cottage. The moonlight coming through the south window lay on the floor in squares, giving them enough light to juke around the coffee table and make it into the bedroom without bodily harm.

  “We could turn on a light.” Cate’s voice held laughter as she sat on the bed.

  “There’s lots of light in here.” He joined her, pulling her down next to him on the duvet. “Enough for me to see how beautiful you are.”

  “I bet you say that to all the girls.”

  “Only when it’s true.”

  “Daniel—” she began and stopped. “Is that someone at the door?”

  He lifted his head from his concentration on just which breast he planned to nuzzle first. “Can’t be. It’s the middle of the night.”

  But sure enough, her ears were better than his. The knock sounded again, a rapid staccato on the wood.

  “Don’t move.” He kissed her and rolled off the bed, snagging a pair of jeans out of his duffel on the way. At the door, he took a second to button the fly, then flipped the main interior light on and swung open the door.

  The young woman on the porch smiled at him and adjusted the tote bag on her shoulder. She wore a denim skirt, black boots and a black T-shirt that said Wash Him and Bring Him to My Cabin in pirate-style calligraphy.

  “Hi, Dr. Burke.” She sounded confident, as if she were arriving for an appointment he’d forgotten about. That wasn’t unusual, except he wasn’t in the habit of making appointments at two in the morning.

  She looked familiar, though. Cropped, purple-tinged hair. Nose stud. Big smile. The Web-site woman, that was it. But what the hell was her name?

  Her eyes had locked on his naked chest.

  “Is something wrong?” he asked finally.

  “No, not at all.” Her gaze traveled up to his face. “I hope I’m not disturbing you.”

  “It’s two in the morning.”

  “I know, but we’re both night owls. I’ve been keeping an eye on your cottage and saw movement, so I figured you were up.”

  Had been up. So to speak. “What do you mean, keeping an eye on the cottage?”

  Instead of answering, she asked, “Can I come in?” And instead of waiting for the No he’d opened his mouth for, she slipped around him and parked herself on his couch.

  “Miss—” Damn, what was her name?

  “Melanie,” she supplied. “Melanie Savage. We met the other night, remember? I do your Web site. And you can call me Mel.”

  “The only person I’m calling here is security unless you tell me what’s going on.”

  Another big smile. “I came to the conference specifically to talk to you. You’re a hard man to pin down. I wanted to do an interview for derringburke.com.”

  “Then you’ll need to schedule it with my publicist, Stacy Mills.” How was he going to get her off the couch and out the door without picking her up and tossing her?

  “She hasn’t returned my call. I prefer to go straight to the source, anyway.”

  “That’s not how I work. Please go now. Wouldn’t want you to miss out on your beauty sleep.”

  The girl’s smile dimmed a couple of notches and became a little speculative. Her legs crossed at the knee, she sat comfortably in the corner of the couch, one arm relaxed along the back. Not the posture of a woman preparing to do as he asked.

  “I don’t need that much sleep. And I only have a couple of questions. Then I’ll go.”

  Daniel resisted the urge to reach over, grab her and toss her out on her denim-clad rear. In the bedroom, Cate was totally silent and probably getting a chill. “All right. Two questions. Make it fast.”

  “Excellent.” The grin snapped back onto her mouth, and she pulled a little tape recorder out of the tote bag sitting on the floor. She pushed the record button and set the unit on the coffee table.

  “Tell your fans, Dr. Burke, the most terrifying moment of your career and how you overcame the fear.”

  “It’s not exactly rock climbing, Ms. Savage. Digging in the dirt isn’t that scary.”

  “I bet there was one moment, though. Tell me about it.”

  There was no getting out of this without resorting to physical violence. He resigned himself and spoke quickly. “Then that would be the moment when I realized Ian McPherson—you remember, the Canadian cabinet minister’s son—had gone into the water alone to see that shipwreck. There were no guarantees we could find him, and he wasn’t experienced enough with the equipment to be down there without a diving buddy.”

  “Was that worse than finding that leopard in your camp on the banks of the Amazon?”

  That had been two years before the Temecula Treasure. Where had she dug up this stuff? “Of course. A human life was at stake. That’s your two questions. Please go now.”

  “Just one thing—more of a comment, really. I want you to know how much your letters mean to me.”

  He stared at her. “What?”

  “The letters you sent me.” She waved a deprecating hand. “Oh, I know to the outside world there was nothing in them that couldn’t go on the b
log, but I know you, Daniel. I got your message.”

  “What message?” He barely remembered writing whatever she was talking about. In fact, his assistant had probably written them. She was pretty handy with a pen and had some talent at spinning facts into PR.

  Melanie giggled as if he’d said something clever. “You’re so funny. But you’re right, there was more than one. It’s the last one I mean, though. That’s what got me on the plane out here. You said, ‘Every time I journey back into the past I take you with me in spirit.’”

  “I did?” He was going to have to have a word with his assistant.

  “I know you meant that for me. So, here I am. Do with me as you will.” Her eyes crinkled at the corners but the expression in them was very sexual. She uncrossed her legs and let them fall open, the message unmistakable.

  Where was security when you needed them?

  The light in the bedroom flipped on and Cate strode out like Peter Jackson’s Galadriel having a really bad day. She had one of his T-shirts on and her cheeks were flushed with angry red.

  Daniel stepped out of the way.

  “I’ll tell you what I’m going to do with you,” she snapped at Melanie Savage. “Get off that couch. Now. And get out of here before I throw you out.”

  “Who the hell are you?” Melanie grabbed her recorder and put it in the tote, then clutched the latter to her chest.

  “What do you care? Out!”

  The woman stood and edged toward the door, her gaze swinging from Cate to Daniel. “You have a new girlfriend?” For the first time, her tone lost its assurance and stage sexiness. “What happened to that actress, Trisha Forrester?”

  “None of your business. Good night, Ms. Savage.” Daniel stood by the door as Cate crowded her across the room. Since Cate was three or four inches taller, it was pretty effective.

  “But those actresses aren’t your girlfriends,” the woman protested. “Your dates are staged with them for publicity!” Her frantic gaze went to Cate. “He doesn’t love you. He loves me!”

  “He doesn’t love either of us.” Cate had her out on the path now. “Or your bloody Web site. Good night!”