Nothing But Trouble (16 page)

He turned his attention to the stars dimly lit in the sky above.  If anyone had told him a week ago he’d be out in the wilderness with a beautiful woman like Melanie, as if he didn’t have a care in the world, he’d have laughed in their face.  He felt like laughing now, except this was no joking matter. 

She covered her mouth and yawned.  “This was just the medicine I needed tonight.  I could sleep for a hundred years now.”

“You should turn in.  We have a long trek ahead of us tomorrow.”

“Close your eyes,” she said.  He did as he was told, and he heard the sound of water sloshing about as she lifted herself onto a boulder.  “Okay, I’m decent.”

He opened his eyes and saw that she was wrapped in a terry cloth towel that draped over her shoulders and hung just to the top of her thighs, giving him a sinfully good view of her long legs.  Sitting in a pool of water, his mouth suddenly felt cotton dry.

“Aren’t you coming to bed, too?” she said softly, staring down at him as if waiting for him to follow.

He shook his head.  “I want to check on the horses, make sure they’re okay before I turn in.”  He knew his excuse was feeble.  He’d spent much of the past few nights awake, listening to the sounds of the night as if it would give him some truths, some antidote for what was nagging at him.  He’d even listened to Melanie’s rhythmic breathing as she slept, counting how many times she’d toss in her sleeping bag.

She hugged herself, pulling the towel tighter around her wet body.  “Oh,” she finally said.  “Goodnight.”

Their gazes locked for a brief moment.  It didn’t take much to figure out what was on her mind.  It made him grow hard.

Boundaries.  They’d drawn them and had to keep them.  She finally turned, walking the short way toward camp, and slipped into her tent.  When he heard the zipper close, Stoney eased out a long sigh.

Tonight, he’d wanted her.  More than he’d ever had.  How in God’s name was he going to last the whole month if he couldn’t keep this longing for Melanie under control?  It was then that he realized that these crazy feelings he had for Melanie was more than just typical male lust.  He’d known that feeling before, given into it when the opportunity arose while on the rodeo circuit.  But this was more.  Much more.

Melanie was a special woman.  In her he saw the light of a thousand candles lighting his way down a path he hadn’t thought he’d ever wanted to travel.  And now suddenly, that was the only course he wanted to follow. 

In the distance he heard the siren call of a wolf and wondered if he was calling his mate.  He drew in a clean breath of mountain air, thinking only of how much he wanted to curl up in that tent with Melanie. 

Boundaries.

Stoney waited until Melanie secured her tent before he climbed into his own.  He dug into his duffel and pulled out the little battery operated lantern and hung it on the strap suspended above his head so that he could see what he was doing.  The small beam of light quickly filled the small space.

He spread out his bedroll and quickly pulled on a dry pair of underwear and jeans.  The sleeping bag was cold from being exposed to the elements.  He crawled inside and felt the chill seep into his skin.  But it would only take a few minutes for his body to be warm again beneath the flannel. 

A few minutes later, he heard the sound of Melanie’s zipper being pulled and footsteps digging into the ground just outside his tent.

“Is everything okay, Melanie?” he called out, but didn’t get a reply.

Seconds later his eyes were drawn toward the sound of the zipper being pulled down.  Melanie slipped into the tent carrying her sleeping bag. 

“What are you doing?” he asked, leaning his upper body on his elbow.  She was wearing the fresh pair of jeans she’d changed into and the wool sweater he’d seen her wear over the last few days.

“I’m cold,” she said, plopping her sleeping bag on the space next to him.

“You just took a hot bath,” he said, knowing she wasn't talking about that kind of cold.

“I'm still cold,” she muttered softly.  Deep, dark eyes filled with suggestion and question looked down at him.  It wouldn't take but a slight sigh to escape her lips and he'd be there, with her her every move, her every desire.  He wanted it, too.

Instead, he looked at the sleeping bag and then at her, trying to keep his raging desire at bay. 

“I know.  I am, too.”

“Then let’s keep each other warm.”

And then she sighed.  Just slightly.  Enough for him to lose the last thread of control he had on his will.  Lord, now he wanted her.

His breath hitched in his throat, and his heartbeat was like thunder in his ear.  “Melanie, I told you-”

“I know.”  She knelt next to him and began rolling out her sleeping bag with the zipper edge against his sleeping bag.  “I heard everything you said the other night.  I’ve been lying in this sleeping bag alone every night since, turning it over and over again until I can’t think about it anymore.  There's just one problem.”

“What is it?”

She sat back on her knees and stared at him, her eyes saying all he needed to know.  “I don’t know how you’ve been feeling but...I want you,” she whispered, flipping a strand of hair behind her ear.  “I want you so much I can’t think.  I didn’t mean for this to happen, and I don’t know how it did, but here we are.”  She said the whole thing in one breath as if she had to or she’d lose her nerve.

He stared at her for a long moment, looking at the shadows the small lantern cast on the delicate features of her face, listening to her breathing.  He could almost hear her heart racing like a wild stallion in an open pasture.

# # #

Chapter Eight

Melanie stared at Stoney with a deep longing that overwhelmed him and made the blood pump wildly through his veins. 

“A man only has so much strength,” he rasped, hoping he could hang on to the last threads of his.

“Then give it up.  I have.”

She leaned forward on her knees and kissed him gently on the lips, her hair spilling across his shoulders.  He felt his control slipping away.  Lord help him, but he had none where Melanie was concerned.  He pulled her down on top of him, crushing her against his chest.  She was everything he’d imagined she’d be.  She was soft and delicate and wild and hot all at the same time.  He took her mouth with a savage passion that set his soul on fire.

He wanted to touch her, to feel her naked against his flesh, taste every bit of her until she moaned with exquisite pleasure.  There had been women, but none as lovely and beautiful or exciting as Melanie.

He cupped her cheek and kissed her neck, drinking in the sultry scent of her skin that was all her.  No perfume masked her sweetness.  He continued the trail of kisses, pulling at her sweater, until he reached the valley of her chest.  Her fingers fumbled with the buttons of her sweater.  He pushed her hands away and lifted it over her head in one quick movement.

He was still in his sleeping bag.  Too much lay between them.  He unzipped it quickly and rolled with her until he was on top of her, cradled between her warm, soft thighs.

“You really don't know how I’ve been feeling?”  He took her hand and boldly pressed it where his arousal stretched hot and throbbing against his jeans.  Her eyes flew open in surprise mixed with anticipation...and red hot desire.  Yes, she was turned on by the power she had over him.  She was filled with the same need that was driving him insane.  “This is how much I’ve been wanting you since I first laid eyes on you.”  He heard his ragged voice echo in his ear along with the sound of his raging heartbeat.

She pulled her hand away and reached behind her to unclasp her bra.  Her breasts spilled out of the white lace fabric and she presented herself to him as if she were an offering.  “Make love to me, Stoney.”

He didn’t need to hear her say the words.  Her eyes said it all and more.  But hearing the longing in her voice, feeling the urgency of her strokes against his chest, her fingers digging into his flesh of his shoulders, only surged him on.

He drew her taut nipple deep into his mouth and suckled, feeling her writhe beneath him, and he knew he was already close to release.  He had to slow himself down.  This was a woman worth loving and loving well.  And he wanted to know every inch of her.  He wanted to make her cry out in the night with the pleasure of being loved.

She arched her back and pressed his hand against her breast while he sucked and teased the other.  Each moan of pleasure that escaped her lips surged him on. 

She was pulling at him.  “I want to feel you against me.”  He pressed his chest against hers as she dug her fingers into his thick hair.  He was in agony.  Every bit of him screamed out for her.  He wanted to be inside her, feeling her, loving her.

In an instant the earth seemed to tilt.  Yes, he wanted to love her...because he did love her.  It had been torture keeping himself away all these nights, knowing she wanted him, knowing how much he wanted her.  But a man only had so much strength, and now he’d given himself up to it, and he was in heaven.

He kneaded her breast and slipped his hand down her flat stomach until he found the zipper of her jeans.  Slipping his hands beneath the fabric, he pulled her jeans and lace panties down until she was gloriously naked before him.

He stood up on his knees and gazed at her, the way her hair fanned out around the flannel sleeping bag like wildfire, the way her body moved impatiently waiting for him.  Waiting just for him.  “You’re so beautiful,” he rasped against her ear when he joined her again. 

She dug her fingers in his hair and breathed hard as he made a trail of kisses down the middle of her belly and stroked the soft flesh on the inside of her thighs.  Cupping her derriere, he lifted her hips and loved her with his tongue where she was hot and moist and completely on fire.  She bucked beneath him, digging her fingers into his hair and calling his name over and over again until finally, he felt her body tighten and felt her body spasm with completion.

He drew in a deep breath and pulled away, all the while looking down at her as she breathed deep and her chest rose and fell quickly with each labored breath.  He yanked the zipper down on his jeans under her watchful eye.

“Do you want me to turn out the light?”

She shook her head slightly, her eyes dreamy, as if she were drugged.  “I want to look at you.”

He stripped himself of his jeans and his shorts, baring as much of his body as his soul to her.  Her eyes were blazing, taking pleasure in his nakedness as he had in hers.

His body screaming for his own fulfillment, he covered her with his body, feeling her hot flesh against his.  She kissed him hard, wanting, giving of herself as only a woman does when she’s been sated, lifting her hips to him.

He knew he couldn’t hold on much longer.  He needed to be inside her, moving with her in a rhythm that matched the power of his desire.  He touched the tip of his erection to her moist opening.  He wanted to bury himself in her, take her with all he had, but he didn’t want to hurt her.  Instead he eased himself in slowly.  She was tight, which immediately sent a mixed signal racing to his brain.  Then he hit the barrier that said it all.  What she was giving him was something no other man had ever known.  He instantly felt selfish for wanting her as he did.

He pulled back slightly to look in her face. 

“Melanie?”