Chapter 9
Grayson
As I pulled up in front of the Summit House, the yellow Victorian with its green shutters looked like something out of a postcard.
But I couldn’t appreciate it. Not with my cock still aching in my jeans, a hard angry throb demanding that I stop everything and sink into Amelia’s pussy. I’d been so close!
But there was a life on the line. And in these mountains, every minute counted.
I put the truck into park but didn’t kill the engine. “Should I come by when I’m done?” I asked quietly. “Or give you my number.”
Amelia immediately pulled out her phone. “What is it?”
I rattled it off, watching her fingers tap across the screen. A moment later, my phone buzzed in my pocket.
“There,” she gave me a shy smile. “Now you have mine too. Call me when you’re done. No matter how late it is.”
The look on her face hit me square in the chest. She was falling for me. I could see it in those clear blue eyes and in the soft curve of her lips. She was falling just as fast as I was falling for her.
At least on a physical level.
I had no idea how permanent she might want to make things, and that gnawed at me. But there wasn’t time to think about it now.
I leaned across the seat and kissed her. It was quick and rough, no time for anything longer, but I felt her melt against me for that brief moment.
Then she pulled back, cheeks flushed, and climbed out of the truck. I watched her sweet ass as she walked up to the front door of the bed-and-breakfast, those soft curves swaying with each step.
Once she disappeared inside, I grabbed myself through my jeans and tried to readjust. I was still throbbing so hard for her that I almost came on the spot just from the pressure of my own hand.
But there wasn’t time for that either, damn it.
I put the truck in gear and headed toward Brady’s apartment on the other side of town.
The kid would be excited to go on his first real mission, one where there weren’t six experienced men handling everything. But I also knew this might be exactly what Brady needed to get the stars out of his eyes.
SAR work didn’t always have a happy ending.
Rescuing people had its own rewards, and it wasn’t just the money that kept me doing it. But there were serious downsides too.
My heart grew heavy as I thought about a mission from two winters ago, a hiker who’d gotten lost in a sudden storm.
We’d tracked him for six hours through whiteout conditions, following footprints that kept getting buried under fresh snow. By the time we found him, we were too late.
Tourists shouldn’t be allowed out in these mountains in the dead of winter. Too many sad outcomes.
I pulled up at Brady’s apartment complex and killed the engine.
For a moment, I just sat there, thinking about the gorgeous Amelia Edwards. Had I really only known her since this morning? It seemed impossible. Somehow she was already the center of my universe.
Then I kicked into gear. We had a person to rescue.
I killed the engine of my truck in front of the Summit House and sat there for a moment, letting the silence of the night settle around me.
It was two in the morning, and I was dog-tired. Every muscle in my body ached from the hours of hiking through rough terrain, and my eyes burned from straining to see in the darkness. But we’d found the hiker.
He’d been disoriented and cold, with hypothermia setting in, but it was nothing that a quick trip to the local hospital couldn’t fix.
The mission had been a success.
And Brady had gone up in my esteem. The kid had kept his head, followed instructions, and hadn’t complained once, even when we’d had to scramble up a near-vertical slope in the dark.
Marla would be happy to know that I’d give a begrudging recommendation for the young man to join the SAR group.
But right now, I had other things to attend to.
I stared at the old Victorian through my windshield. A single porch light glowed near the front door, casting a weak circle that barely touched the rocking chairs lined up along the wraparound porch.
All I wanted to do was see Amelia again.
I pulled out my phone and hesitated, thumb hovering over her number.
It was late. Way too late.
Any sensible person would be asleep by now, and I’d be an asshole for waking her.
But I had to see her, so I dialed her number.
Five seconds later, a light went on in an upstairs window. My heart kicked against my ribs as the phone rang once, then twice. On the third ring, she picked up.
“Grayson?” She was breathless, like she’d been waiting for my call.
“Is it too late?” I rumbled.
“It might be too late for dinner,” I could hear the smile in her voice. “But there’s plenty of time for dessert. Would you like to come up?”
I wanted to. I wanted it so badly my whole body ached for it. But I knew myself, and I knew what would happen if I got her alone in a bed.
“I can’t make love to you if I come up,” I told her, my voice rough. “If I start with you in that bed, I’m not stopping. And I’m not a quiet man. I’ll get you kicked out.”
Her laugh was soft and warm through the phone. “You’re right. You’re too much of a wild beast. The whole B & B would hear you.”
Something loosened in my chest at her teasing.
“I’d still like to come up and cuddle,” I said gently. “If you want the company.”
Amelia breathed softly into the phone, and the pause stretched between us.
“Yes,” she finally whispered. “I’m in room number six.”
I was out of the truck before she finished the sentence.
The front door of the Summit House was unlocked. I slipped in, my boots silent on the worn hardwood floors.
The interior was all Victorian charm, with floral wallpaper and antique furniture crowding the narrow hallway. I crept up the creaking staircase, hitting spots along the way that groaned under my weight.
A grandfather clock ticked somewhere in the darkness while I searched for her room number.
Room six was at the end of the hall.
I knocked softly, and the door swung open.
That’s when my eyes damn near popped out of my head.
Amelia stood there completely naked.
I’d seen her nude at the hot springs, but only in fast flashes.
She was on display for me now.
Amelia had a pear shape, with wide hips that flared out, and thick thighs that I wanted wrapped around my face.
Her breasts were full and heavy, tipped with dusky pink nipples that hardened as I stared at them. And her belly was round and soft, the kind of stomach a man could rest his head on after a long day.
I went absolutely wild for everything I saw.
“Get in here,” she whispered, grabbing my hands and pulling me into her room.
The door clicked shut behind us, and I let her lead me to the bed, too stunned to do anything but follow. She climbed under the covers and held them open for me, while I stripped out of my clothes faster than I ever had before.
Shirt, jeans, boots, socks, underwear. All of it hit the floor in a pile.
Then I slid into bed beside her, both of us naked, and pulled her into my arms.
Amelia’s body molded against mine like she’d been made to fit there, and I buried my face in her hair, breathing in the scent of her. She was so warm.
“How did it go?” she murmured against my chest.
“Found him. He’s going to be fine.”
“I’m glad.”
We lay there in the darkness, tangled together under the quilted comforter. Her fingers traced lazy patterns on my chest while I stroked my hand up and down her back, feeling every inch of her soft skin.
What happened next was a tentative exploration.
As we discovered each other’s bodies, we whispered quietly in order to avoid waking up any of the other Summit House guests.
I told her all about the SAR mission and the poor hiker we’d saved. He was a tech guru from Silicon Valley, and he’d promised to send a thank-you gift my way once he got home.
She told me she’d always had a thing for the savior types, and evidently she put me in that category, too. Right up there alongside firemen and EMT guys. Not that she’d ever had one of them before.
As the night crawled slowly towards dawn, I learned all kinds of things about her.
Every boyfriend she’d ever had, which was a short list. The time she got lost walking on the beach with her best friend, proving that I would never let her hike these mountains without a skilled trail guide.
I even learned that she’d worn a polka-dot bra to work one day without realizing each one of those dots showed through her shirt.
And she managed to pull all kinds of details out of me. Somehow I even told her about the time when I was a little boy, when Ryan and I came face to face with a nest of prairie rattlesnakes. Ryan pissed his pants that day, and I never told a soul.
After all our secrets had been uncovered and the first lightening of the night sky had started outside our window, I huskily asked, “Can I stay the night? I want to feel you in my arms all night long.”
She tilted her head back to look at me, and in the dim light filtering through the curtains, I could see her smile. “I’d love that, but I think the night’s over. You might need to spend the day with me instead.”
I pulled her closer, pressing every inch of her body against mine. My cock was rock hard, trapped between us, throbbing with need. I could feel the heat of her pussy against my thigh, and how wet she was already.
A growl rumbled up from my chest before I could stop it.
“You have no idea how hard it is not to fuck you right now.”
She laughed. “I know. I’m barely holding on here.” Amelia gave me one small teasing pulse, then snuggled into my arms, preparing for sleep.