Chapter Fourteen
E ventually they left the party and went to their hotel. They didn’t talk after the episode with Wes, or dance either after they finished the one Connor had been so rude about. They still hadn’t spoken after they reached the hotel. It didn’t seem to bother Connor, but she was still pissed. And she intended to let Connor know it. Sierra took off her heels the moment she walked in the room. She sat on the bed and rubbed her poor, abused feet. She knew better than to wear spike heels but these were so pretty. Right, pretty torture chambers.
“What is wrong with you?” she asked him.
“Nothing. Why?”
“I want to know why you acted like a Neanderthal at the party.”
“I shut down the ass who was hitting on you. That’s not acting like a Neanderthal. It’s not like I punched him out. Although he deserved it.”
“You are kidding me. The night we met your date had dumped you for another man. That didn’t seem to bother you a bit. So why did this bother you so much?”
He’d taken off his jacket and ripped off his tie. The cuff links came next, landing on the dresser. Next, he yanked his shirt out of his pants and started undoing the buttons. All without speaking.
“Are you going to answer me?”
“It’s not the same thing.”
“How can you say that? Of course it is. She totally dumped you and you shrugged your shoulders then but now you went ballistic when another man asked me to dance.”
“That wasn’t ballistic.”
“Fine. Rude and obnoxious.”
“You want to know the difference? The difference between you and the woman who dumped me in Vegas?”
He’d finished on his shirt and shrugged it off, tossing it over a chair. She wished he hadn’t. His bare chest distracted her. Who was she kidding? Everything about him distracted her. “Yes.”
“I wasn’t in love with her.”
Her breath caught in her throat. “Wh—what does that mean?”
“What do you think it means? I’m in love with you.”
She stared at him with her mouth hanging open. “I don’t believe you.”
“You should. I don’t say what I don’t mean. I thought you knew that. I love you.”
“Why are you angry?”
“Because this wasn’t the way I wanted to tell you. I planned to take you out to a nice, romantic dinner and tell you. Or maybe seduce you first and then tell you. Instead we’re talking about you and another man, and it made me crazy. You introduced me as your friend , for God’s sake.”
“What was I supposed to call you? What’s wrong with saying you’re my friend?”
“Oh, come on, Sierra. You gave him an opening. It’s like you hung out a big-ass sign saying ‘We’re not together. We’re just friends .’”
“You’re being ridiculous.”
“Am I?”
“You—We just agreed to date. Neither of us said anything about falling in love. You don’t do love.”
“Yeah, well, I do now.”
“I don’t know what to say.” Because if he meant it—
He walked to the bed, reached down and took her hand to haul her up. One arm banded around her, holding her close. The other came up to cup her cheek, to caress her face. “I’ve been falling for you since the night we met. I almost went crazy trying to find you. I don’t know what I’d have done if you hadn’t walked into the hospital. I was ready to go to Texas and start looking for you.”
She wanted to confess her feelings, but she couldn’t. Did she love him? She wasn’t sure. Not sure enough to put herself out there. Not sure enough to risk being hurt again. One thing she was sure of, though. She wanted him. So she kissed him.
It was as if a dam had broken. He kissed her like he was starving, and she kissed him back the same way. Lips and tongues and teeth battled for dominance. Before she knew it he’d unzipped her dress and it fell to the floor, pooling around her ankles. The dress was backless so she hadn’t worn a bra. All she wore was a tiny navy thong. Connor held her away from him for a brief moment, just long enough to run his gaze from her head to her toes and back up again.
“Damn, you are so beautiful.” His voice was deep and husky with desire.
She landed with her back on the bed and his heavy weight on top of her. His hands caressed her breasts roughly, rolling her nipples between his fingers before letting go to feel the weight of her breast in his palm. When his mouth covered her nipple she arched to get closer.
Wrapping her legs around his hips, she discovered he still wore his suit pants. She reached between them and wrestled with his button and zipper. He left her long enough to remove the rest of his clothes and when he returned he was naked and hard. So hard, and she was so ready.
He cursed. “Condoms. They’re in my bag.”
“I’m on the pill.”
“Since when?”
“Shortly before the last time we made love. I’m protected now.”
“I’ve never had sex without a condom.”
“Do you want to?”
“With you? Oh, yeah.” His wicked smile told her how happy that made him. He spread her legs and sank one finger, then two inside her. “You’re wet. For me.”
“Yes.” She squeezed her muscles around his fingers. “For you. Now.”
He removed his fingers and drove inside her in a single thrust, then pulled out slowly before doing it again. She moaned, arching up to meet him as he pushed inside her, over and over. Their gazes met and held as he pumped in and out of her. He kept up the delicious friction until he came with a shout and she soared high, shattering into pieces as she came.
After a while he rolled them both over so she was on top. “Don’t want to squash you.”
“Hmm.” She was too satisfied to talk.
“Sierra? I’m sorry I was a jerk.”
“Did you mean it?”
He didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “Yes. I love you.”
She was quiet. She wanted to say something, but she couldn’t say she loved him until she was absolutely sure. She raised up on her elbow to look at him. “Connor, I—”
“Don’t. You don’t need to say anything.”
“But I—”
“The last thing I want is for you to tell me you love me when you don’t. Don’t tell me because you feel like you should.”
“I wasn’t going to.” She sucked in a breath and told him the truth. “You know I like you a lot. I care about you. I’m happy being with you. I don’t want this to end. But love?” She shook her head. “I’m just not sure.” When he didn’t say anything she asked, “Are you mad?”
“No. I’m glad you told me the truth. I’d much rather you do that than bullshit me.”
“I would never bullshit you about something this important.”
He pulled her head down and kissed her. “Good.”
They slept after that, in each other’s arms, waking in the middle of the night to make love again. Afterward she couldn’t go back to sleep. She kept hearing him tell her he loved her.
What made her think that Connor, an acknowledged player, would remain faithful to her when her ex-husband, who’d never been a player, hadn’t?
The thought of falling in love again scared the hell out of her.
*
The call came in late one evening when Sierra and Connor were both working. There was a multi-car pileup on Highway 90 east of Livingston, close to Billings. EMS ground and air transport were being called in from multiple hospitals and clinics, Marietta being one of them. Sierra and Connor hurried to the helicopter. Once there, they found a pilot they had flown with before, Everard Bartholomew.
“Bart, it’s good to see you,” Connor said.
“Any details about casualties?” Sierra asked, pleased that Bart was their pilot since he was one of her favorites. He was married with two kids and a rowdy dog, all of whom he was crazy about and had told her all about in the time she’d known him.
“Not other than there’s a shitload of them and some are critical.”
They put on their helmets, buckled in, and settled down for the ride. To get to the crash site they would be passing close to the Crazy Mountains. Sierra had looked at a map prior to departure. “Why are they called the Crazy Mountains?” Sierra asked.
Connor answered, “The story goes that back in the 1800s a woman who lost her family in a raid went insane and lived in the mountains vowing to haunt those responsible. I think they were originally called the Crazy Woman Mountains. The Crow people named them.”
As usual, Connor went back to his book. Sierra shook her head and began talking to Bart about his oldest daughter who wanted him to teach her to fly a helicopter.
“I told her no way and then her mama said she’d murder both of us if we tried.”
“Is she old enough to get her pilot’s license?”
“She’ll be seventeen next month,” he said grimly. “That’s the minimum age. There’s a flight school not too far away and she thinks she can swing the payments with her savings from her summer jobs.”
“Why don’t you want her to learn?”
“Look, I love it and I’ve been flying for a long time. But there’s no denying it can be dangerous. I told her to wait and if she still wants to do it in a couple of years, I’ll help her. Of course, my wife won’t be happy.”
“But you’re hoping your daughter will forget about it.”
“Right. But if I know my girl, she won’t.”
“Good luck,” Sierra told him, thinking he’d need it.
“The Crazies are coming up,” Bart said a short while later.
She assumed he meant the Crazy Mountains. “How long until we reach the accident site?”
“Half an hour. Maybe less.”
Looking out the window toward the mountains, Sierra saw a small, black flying object that at first she thought was a bird.
“What the hell?” Connor said, leaning forward to look out her window. “Is that a drone?”
It disappeared and right after that there was a horrible sound and the helicopter started spinning and going down. She heard, ‘Oh, shit,’ from the pilot, then nothing as he fought for control of the chopper.
Oh, shit, oh, shit we’re going to crash. She looked at Connor.
“Stay calm,” he said, looking ridiculously calm.
Oh, sure, she thought as she white-knuckled her seat. A helicopter crash is no big deal.
A sudden gust of wind pushed them sideways. She heard Bart giving coordinates as he yelled, “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday!” into the radio speaker.
The rotors hit a tree, and the helicopter crashed into the ground, landing on one side. For a long moment there wasn’t a sound in the helicopter. Catching her breath, Sierra took stock and other than having the shit scared out of her, realized she was okay. However, she was hanging from her seat by virtue of her seat belt. She started to unbuckle it but decided to wait until she figured out how to safely do that.
“Connor, are you okay?” He didn’t answer and when she looked at him she saw why. He was cursing under his breath and more or less pinned into his seat. There was broken glass all around him and he had multiple cuts on his face and arms.
“I’m all right,” he said. “What about you?”
“I’m fine but you’re obviously not. Can you get out?”
He grimaced. “I’m just banged up. Nothing broken.”
“You’re bleeding. You’ve got facial lacerations. You need to let me look at them.”
“I’m fine. Scrapes and bruises. I’m more worried about Bart.” He called out, “Bart, are you all right?”
He didn’t answer immediately. “No. I think…my ankle is broken…and maybe my arm. Hurts…like a son of a bitch.” His pain was obvious from the way he pushed the words out as he spoke.
Bart had obviously taken the worst injuries. Sierra began unbuckling so she could help both Connor and Bart. “I’ll be there in a minute,” she said.
“Don’t move. Not yet,” Connor told her.
In the process of unbuckling she asked, “Why not?” She planned to hold on to her seat once she unbuckled so she could let herself down easily. Otherwise she’d land on Connor and that’s the last thing he needed.
“We…could slide,” Bart said. “We’re not…stable. Don’t move,” he said, repeating Connor’s words.
“You need help and so does Connor. Let me help you.”
“Sierra, stay put.” Connor said it through gritted teeth.
For a moment she didn’t move but when the chopper stayed where it had landed, she ignored them both. She finished unbuckling and managed to hold on to the seat enough to break her fall, although she landed on her knee, which hurt like hell. She decided to check on Bart first since his injuries sounded more severe, but she found the first aid kit and handed it to Connor. “I’ll help you get out after I help Bart, but in the meantime, do something about those cuts.” Walking to the pilot was difficult since the helicopter had landed on its side. As she made her way to the front of the chopper she felt it start to slide.
Crap, I should have listened. I knew better.
She grabbed for something to keep herself upright but missed. As she fell she hit her head. A sharp, blinding pain. Then everything went black.