Slow Burn: A Colorado High Country Novel (11 page)

He sat beside her. “That’s not very scary. All this ghost does is look out the window? She doesn’t even say ‘Boo’?”

Even Taylor laughed. “You got something better?”

“Nope. But Belcourt here does.” Eric had listened to him tell ghost stories from the reservation one night when they’d been camping in the backcountry, and he’d found it damned hard to fall asleep afterward.

“The difference between my sister and me and the rest of you is that we believe in spirits of all kinds—good spirits, evil spirits, trickster spirits.” Belcourt said. “These are not just stories. They are true things that happened to people we know.”

Here we go.

* * *

V
ic listened
, mesmerized, as Chaska shared his stories, barely able to breathe, his words—and the man who sat beside her—taking her mind off what had happened today.

“My grandfather is a hereditary Sun Dance chief,” he said, beginning a new tale. “One day I got a tape in the mail—an old cassette tape. My grandfather sent it with a note telling me he wanted me to learn the old songs so they wouldn’t be lost.”

Vic slipped her hand into Eric’s, his fingers threading easily with hers.

“My grandfather has lived alone since my grandmother made the journey a few years ago. He’s a strong man with a good voice for singing. My grandmother had a good voice, too, and the two of them did the pow wow trail together, driving around in an old camper, drumming and singing with Native people from all over this land.

“So I put the tape in an old tape player and listened, and there was my grandfather singing with a half-dozen other people, including my grandmother. I recognized her voice, though I didn’t recognize the others.”

Eric pulled his hand from hers and put his arm around her. She rested her cheek against his chest, his heartbeat steady.

How long had it been since she’d felt this kind of easy intimacy with a man? She hadn’t even slept with him, hadn’t even seen him naked, and yet sitting here beside him, she felt comfortable, protected, safe.

Chaska went on. “When I called him to thank him for the tape, I asked when he and my grandmother had recorded it. It must have been years ago. He said to me, ‘I just did that the day before I mailed it to you, and I was alone in the house at the time. Your grandmother is gone. Don’t play cruel jokes on an old man.’

“I told him it wasn’t a joke. His voice wasn’t the only one on that tape. I played it for him over the phone. He heard it, too—his wife’s spirit and those of his parents and grandparents singing the songs with him so that they wouldn’t be lost.”

Shivers ran down Vic’s spine. “That really happened?”

Winona nodded. “I’ve listened to the tape myself.”

“I’ll play it for you one day if you like,” Chaska offered.

“That’s okay. I believe you.” Vic wasn’t sure she wanted to listen to spirits singing, even friendly ones.

“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m beat,” Lexi said.

“Same here,” said Winona.

There was something Victoria had to say before everyone disappeared into his or her tents. “Thanks, guys, for what you did for me today. Standing up for me like that … I don’t think my own brother would have done that.”

“Hey, no worries,” Austin said.

“Happy to help,” said Chaska.

“Your brother must be a jerk,” Eric said.

“Yeah, I guess he is.” Victoria wasn’t ready to give up physical closeness—his fingers enfolding hers, his arm around her shoulder, his chest beneath her cheek—but everyone else was up and getting ready to sleep.

He stood first, drawing her to her feet. “You’ve got chocolate on your lip.”

“I do?”

He ducked down, licked it away, his lips touching hers for the briefest kiss, the contact making her want more. But this wasn’t the time or the place.

She took a step back. “Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

She helped get the food packed away, then brushed her teeth and made a quick trip to the restroom facility with Lexi and Britta. Moths danced around the fluorescent lights, the brightness making Vic squint.

“I’m sleeping in the SUV.” Britta disappeared into the one and only stall.

“My sister is the Princess on the Pea.”

“I just don’t like sleeping on the ground,” Britta said from inside the stall.

Lexi rolled her eyes at her sister. “You’re not on the ground. You’re zipped in a tent, away from the bugs on a foam pad inside a sleeping bag.”

But Britta wasn’t persuaded. “I’m sleeping in the SUV.”

Ten minutes later, Vic found herself alone in a tent, eyes wide in the darkness. It wasn’t Chaska’s stories that kept her awake, but the vile words of the man who’d grabbed her at the gas station.

E
ric lay on his back
, arm bent beneath his head, staring through the tiny square of mesh on the top of his tent at the stars. He couldn’t sleep, his head filled with images of her. Victoria kissing him on the riverbank, her dark hair wet. Victoria looking terrified when that asshole grabbed her arm. Victoria making s’mores and listening wide-eyed to Taylor and Belcourt’s stories.

He needed to get her out of his mind. She’d be leaving Sunday, going back to Chicago, and he’d be staying here. Sunday. That was five days from now. Five days. God only knew when he’d see her again.

Shit.

He
was
falling for her. Taylor had been right.

There was only one way to deal with that. He needed to put some distance between them, clear his head. He would finish working on the video, and that would be it, because
no way
was he getting tangled up with her.

From outside, he heard footsteps, a shadow crouching near his door.

“Eric?” Victoria whispered. “Are you awake?”

He sat up, unzipped his tent fly, found her crouching there, sleeping bag and foam pad wadded up in her arms, day pack on one shoulder. “Are you okay?”

“I can’t sleep. Can I stay with you?”

But this wasn’t a booty call.

Even in the darkness, he could see fear on her pretty face. “Sure.”

What did you just say about creating distance, dumbshit?

Yeah, well, that would have to wait. He couldn’t leave Lexi’s best friend terrified and alone. Besides, the idea of spending the night beside her …

Can you hear yourself, buddy?

He shoved those thoughts aside and took her gear. “I got it.”

She crawled in, kneeling by the entrance while he took her sleeping pad and bag and spread them out next to his. “Sorry to bother you. I keep thinking of that guy …”

“There you go.” He sat cross-legged, still half inside his sleeping bag. “We watched for them on the way here. They didn’t follow us.”

“I hope not.” She crawled onto her bag, and he realized she was wearing a T-shirt and flannel pajama bottoms. She’d actually brought pajamas camping.

He fought back a grin.

She lay on her belly on her sleeping bag. “What if they got Austin’s license plate number? They could follow us back to Scarlet and maybe even find out that I live—”

“If they
did
follow us, the only thing they’ll find is trouble.” The testosterone in his bloodstream had him wanting to punch that asshole in the face, but he knew from his training that threats of violence wouldn’t reassure her.

Abuse had a way of making victims view their attackers as larger than life, capable of carrying out any and every threat they made. That’s why so many women stayed in abusive relationships. In their minds, the men who hurt them were invincible. It galled the
hell
out of him that some random asshole had upset her like this.

He set his anger aside, tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Those two yahoos probably don’t know how to access motor vehicle registrations. Even if they did, it wouldn’t do them any good. I’m not going to let them hurt you, and neither is Austin or Chaska or anyone else in Scarlet.”

She nodded, but the worry didn’t leave her face. She crawled into her sleeping bag. “It’s cold up here at night.”

“Come here.” He lay back, drew her into his arms, pillowing her head with his chest and pulling his jacket over her shoulders like a blanket. “We can share body heat.”

That was the oldest climber line in the book, but he actually meant it this time. With his lower half of his body in his sleeping bag and her entire body snugly inside hers, nothing could happen anyway.

He kissed her hair. “Get some sleep.”

She lifted her head off his chest, looked into his eyes. “I’m not a call girl. I was never a call girl or a hooker or anything—”

“I’m almost insulted you felt the need to tell me that.”

“I just don’t want you to think—”

A quiet moan cut her off, making her eyes go wide.

Oh, sweet Jesus!

If Taylor and Lexi just had to get their freak on, couldn’t they do it in silence?

Another moan, followed by Lexi’s whisper. “That feels
so
good.”

Eric couldn’t help his body’s reaction, not with the sounds of fucking happening ten feet away. His cock pitched a tent in his sleeping bag, which, of course, Victoria noticed. “Don’t worry. I don’t have a condom with me. Besides,
if
you and I ever have sex, it will be someplace nice and private where you can scream.”

She flopped down beside him, ending body contact. “Promises, promises.”

“Was that a challenge?”

“Go to sleep.” She looked over at him, her expression softening. “And thanks.”

* * *

V
ic awoke early
the next morning to find herself in Eric’s arms, her head pillowed on one bicep. His hand was in her hair, his fingers doing wonderful things to her scalp. “Morning.”

“Morning.” His voice was deep and sleepy. “How’d you sleep?”

“Like a baby, thanks to you.”

“Good.”

“How about you?”

He held her a little closer, kissed the top of her head. “I’m not complaining.”

It felt natural to lie here beside him, his arms around her. She closed her eyes again, savoring it, feeling more relaxed than she had in months, feeling safe.

From outside the tent, she heard the crackle of a campfire.

“Someone is already up.”

“Belcourt. He’s always up with the damned sun. Wakes everyone else up, too.”

She snuggled deeper into his chest. “Well, I’m not getting up yet. I like it here.”

Once she left his arms, she would find herself in the real world again.

Eric chuckled. “No rush.”

Soon everyone was up and awake, bacon sizzling over the fire, the scent of coffee in the air, and it was evident she was going to have to leave this refuge.

Then it dawned on her. “Everyone’s going to see I was in your tent and think we slept together.”

He laughed. “We
did
sleep together.”

She fought back a giggle. “You know what I mean.”

“They already think we’ve been getting it on. Rose told everyone in Scarlet that my truck has been parked at the inn every night, so they put two and two together.”

Vic sat bolt upright, understanding now. “That’s why your mother thought you and I ... Why didn’t you tell me?”

Eric sat up, cupped her cheek with one hand, and kissed her forehead. “Sorry, but I think I’ve ruined your reputation.”

No one said anything when she crawled out of Eric’s tent, though Lexi did shoot her the “ohmigod, girl, we have
got
to talk” look.

Vic glanced around at the landscape, which looked different in the morning light, golden sunlight spilling into the valley below, the mountains behind them pink, the sky an endless blue dome. “God, it’s beautiful.”

Had she ever felt so alive?

Winona cooked them a feast for breakfast—scrambled eggs, bacon, blueberry pancakes, and coffee boiled in a pot set directly on the embers.

Eric motioned Vic over to her spot on the log and brought her a plate, sitting beside her, refilling her coffee, and treating her as if he truly was her lover, the intimacy she’d shared with him last night lingering into the morning.

Lexi looked over at her and laughed. “I never thought I’d see the day when you drank your coffee black.”

Vic took another sip. “It’s amazing.”

“Are you the designer coffee type?” Britta asked.

“Until today I was.” As she looked around her, Vic felt that these were the friends she’d been waiting for her entire life. She hadn’t realized until this moment how lonely her life had become since Lexi moved away. Her co-workers in Chicago were rarely interested in getting together outside of the office, and since the nightmare with Stewart, she’d hardly gone out anyway. Although she’d only known Britta, Winona, Chaska, and Austin for a short time, she felt almost as comfortable with them as she did with Lexi.

After breakfast, they packed up and hit the highway, arriving in Scarlet just before noon. Austin dropped her off at the inn so that she could shower and change and be ready for them to pick her up for a late lunch.

Eric got out of the SUV with her and carried her bag upstairs, giving her a slow kiss on the mouth that made her toes curl.

She slipped her arms around his neck, kissed him back, not wanting it to end. “Mmm. Are you coming to lunch?”

He shook his head. “I’ve got some things to do at the firehouse, but I’ll see you this afternoon at the rock gym.”

Now was the time to put her foot down. “I am
not
climbing.”

He grinned. “Says the woman who was afraid to go rafting and then loved it.”

“You just had to rub that in my face, didn’t you?”

“Yep.”

“Who all is going to be there?” She asked the question casually, but he seemed to understand the fear that lay behind it.

He ran a thumb over her cheek. “Hey, that bastard and his buddy are far behind us. It’s just going to be Lexi and Austin and members of the Team.”

She wanted to tell him that it could happen again with someone else, that if a man in a gas station in Buena Vista had recognized her, it could happen anywhere. But, of course, she couldn’t, not without explaining.

He kissed her again, winked. “Admit it—you’re going to miss me.”

She did her best to look indifferent. “Not at all.”

She watched him leave, her lips still tingling, then took a quick shower and changed into khaki climbing shorts and a black tank top. She’d just finished putting her makeup on when she remembered that she hadn’t checked her phone or her email since leaving yesterday morning early. She was probably in trouble with Abigail, but, God, it had felt good to be unplugged and free.

She hurried over to the chest of drawers, where she’d left her phone charging, and found a half-dozen texts and sixteen emails. One was from Lexi.

Smiling to herself, Vic answered.

The rest of the messages were far less interesting. They came from Abigail and Jeff, who was supposed to be filling in for her. And a weight she hadn’t carried for a brief and glorious twenty-four hours settled on her shoulders once again.

So much for feeling alive.

She sat at the table, booted up her laptop, and went through the emails one by one.

* * *

E
ric could see
something was troubling Victoria the moment she and Lexi walked into the rock gym. He finished tying on his climbing shoes then walked over to meet her.

“What’s wrong?”

“Her boss,” Lexi answered. “She doesn’t seem to care that Vic is on vacation.”

Oh. That again.

“Did you find a bunch of messages waiting for you?”

“Sixteen.”

“Jesus.”

“I told her I was going camping and wouldn’t have cell service. She reminded me I work in the fast-paced world of public relations and marketing and threatened to give my promotion to someone else.”

What a bitch! “Sounds like you need a new boss.”

“I wish.”

“Do you want to rent a harness and shoes just in case?” Lexi asked her.

Vic shook her head. “I’m here as a spectator.”

Eric grinned. “We’ll see about that. You’re quite the daredevil. You just don’t know it yet.”

While Lexi got her harness and shoes on, he took Victoria around, introducing her to the Team members she hadn’t already met. “This is Harrison Conrad. He’s climbed Everest a couple of times now. That’s Mitch Ahearn, Megs’ partner. This is Kenzie Morgan. She trains and handles search dogs for us. This is Creed Herrera. You already know Moretti. The woman talking with Sasha is Nicole Turner.”

At the sound of her name, Sasha looked over and saw them, a big smile sliding over her face. She bounded over to Victoria and gave her a big hug. “How’s our badass wakeboarder?”

The surprise on Victoria’s face made Eric want to laugh. There were probably thousands of people who would pay to have Sasha Dillon hug them and call them a badass in public.