True Love's Fire: A Red Hot Valentine Story (Hell Yeah!) (7 page)

“Houston, you’re perfect, so tight.” With slow movements of his hips, he worked the head deep inside of her, watching the pleasure wash over her face. Slowly, he began moving in and out of her tight sheathe.

“Good.” She tried to keep her mind on how it felt. Her body was reacting as it should. She could feel herself close around him. She gasped. It felt good, but was it good?

“Houston, Houston,” he chanted, lowering his head to kiss her. “Tell me you love this. Tell me.”

“Yes,” she whispered. “I do.” Scott pulled out all the way, then thrust back in hard and she cried out from the erotic shock.

“That’s it, cum for me, Lia.” He spread her wider, lifted her knees and ground against her, impaling her over and over again, flesh slapping against flesh. She could feel the pleasure mounting, reaching higher and higher. But was she doing it right? And so she went for it, trying to lose herself in him. So close.

“Houston!” She heard him cry out her name. One thrust. Two thrusts and he filled her, jets of hot semen bathing her womb. Lia wrapped her arms around his back, holding him close. She was glad he came.

Maybe he wouldn’t notice that she hadn’t.

*  *  *

She hadn’t cum, she hadn’t climaxed. Scott paced back and forth across the room. Elvis watched his every step. It was his fault, he came too quickly. Some of his conquests had called him the sixty-minute man. And now look at him. How long had he lasted? Five minutes? Hell, he’d been too excited to be with her. She was so damn hot, and he had reacted like some randy teen-age boy who had zero control. What she must think.

He walked to the door and went out on the porch, gazing off into the distance. The weather had cleared. No more storms. Temperatures were still below freezing, so the snow and ice weren’t going anywhere, but at least the worst was over. “I have to make it up to her.” But would she let him?

Scott leaned on the railing. Behind him, Elvis barked. He opened the door. “Need out?” A woof was given in answer, and he stood and watched as the blue mottled dog scampered through the snow. A mechanical roar caught his attention. It was the heating unit. The electricity must have come back on. Even that good news didn’t cheer him up. Over and over, he kept replaying their encounter. Being with her had been amazing. Her body was as sweet as she was. He liked her sense of humor and that smart little mouth. God, he’d love to fill it with his cock. Hell! How was he supposed to tell her? Even now she was avoiding him. As soon as they’d finished making love, she’d made up some excuse of needing to make a phone call. According to her, there was a spot on the second floor, in the far bedroom which had the best reception. The truth was, she just wanted to get away from him.

Upstairs, Lia sat on the floor in the far corner of the room, sending a text to Mona. She hadn’t really needed to phone her. The truth was she’d needed to get away from Scott. How was she ever going to face him again? He’d known. She knew he had. When they’d finished and she had left the couch, he’d tried to call her back. But she’d ran, even with her bum foot, she’d fled. Scot had been with many women. He was experienced. They probably did all sorts of acrobatics. And what had she done? Just laid there like a log. Truth was, she didn’t really know what to do. Her other experience hadn’t gone even as well as this one. Maybe she was frigid, but what about the orgasms she gave herself? Maybe they weren’t a big deal either. What if she really didn’t know what a climax was supposed to feel like? Bending her head on her knees, she covered it with both hands. It didn’t matter. She’d disappointed Scott one time; she wouldn’t be doing it again.

Beep! A returning text caught her attention. What? She stared at it twice to make sure she wasn’t reading it wrong.

MONA: Just got an invitation from the Mayor of Adah for you to be honored at their town birthday celebration as their celebrity citizen of the year.

LIA: I’m not a celebrity. Not sure how I feel about this.

MONA: You’re the closest thing to a celebrity Adah has. Think about it.

LIA: Okay, but the answer will probably be no. When do I have to decide?

MONA: You have a couple of weeks. It would be good publicity. I could do a press release about it.

LIA: ARG!!

“Houston? Come down, I need to talk to you.”

No. No No. “In a minute. Almost through.” God, what did he want to say? Talking about stuff like this was never wise. It just led to more humiliation. Going to her knees, she rose, walking to stand by the window. In the distance she could see the ridge. Not too far over that peak was the waterfall at Hemmed-In-Hollow. At two hundred and fifty feet, it was the highest falls between the Rockies and the Appalachians. Maybe she could distract him from sex with scenery. Not the best plan, but it was all she had. “Coming!”

As soon as she used the word, she could have bit her tongue. Cuming and not cuming was the whole problem. “Damn!” She put her phone in her pocket and went to face the music.

Scott stood at the bottom of the stairs. He’d been practicing his speech. That was Plan A. Plan B was just to grab her and show her he could do better in bed. When she appeared at the top, his breath hitched. She’d changed clothes sometime between leaving his arms and going upstairs. It was like she’d put on armor. “Hey.”

“Hey.” She gave him a tremulous smile. “Now that the weather has cleared, would you like to take a walk? I think I’m up for it, if we take it slow.” Anything to get out of the house. ‘Adah’s Citizen of the Year?’ Yea, right.

“You want to take a hike?” This wasn’t what he’d expected.

“Yes, to the waterfall. It’s not far and I think it would be worth the effort.” She looked so hopeful.

“I don’t think your ankle is up for a walk.” At his comment, she came down the stairs on both feet.

“It doesn’t hurt anymore. See?”

Yea, Scott could see. She wanted to get away from an intimate setting with him so much that she’d risk pain and injury to do so. “All right, we’ll try, but I still want to talk.”

“Sure.” She came down and breezed right past him. “I’ll find a stick outside to use as a staff. Come on. We’ll have a good time.” Elvis met them at the door.

“Will we be back before dark?” Traipsing through the woods wasn’t exactly how he’d hoped to spend New Year’s Eve.

“We’ll be back in plenty of time. I have a surprise for you.”

“Really?” As he followed her off the porch and out into the yard, he was intrigued. “Like what?” Setting off up a trail, she moved ahead. The world around him was almost surreal—the dark colors of the tree bark, the winter sky and the blankets of pure white snow. Lia was a spot of color in his world of black and white. Scott frowned when he saw she was favoring her ankle. “Hold my arm or we’re going back.”

Glancing back at him, Lia was surprised at his tone. “Okay, but I’m fine.” She stopped and waited for him to take the couple of steps to catch up. When he did, she took the arm he offered.

“What’s the surprise?” He knew what he wanted it to be—a second chance in bed. They made a few more steps, and once she stopped, stepping away to pick up a good size stick. He knew she wanted it so she’d be able to walk without his arm. Tightening his lips, he bit back an order for her to chunk it and hold on to him. But to his surprise, she held it in the hand opposite the one she was clinging to him with.  

“The surprise is to help bring in the New Year.” Lia looked up to him and smiled. “Not too long after dusk tonight, we’ll be able to see some fireworks. The cities of Harrison and Jasper both put on displays and we have a bird’s eye view from up here. Since the night is supposed to be clear, it should be a dazzling sight.”

“Good, I look forward to it.”

“We could watch it from the hot tub, if you want.”

Now you’re talking, he thought. “The hot tub?”

Uh-oh. Bad idea. He probably thought she was coming on to him. She wasn’t. There was no way she would’ve come out and suggested it. “We don’t have to if you don’t want to, but it’s big enough for six people.” Her voice trailed off.

“No, I think that sounds perfect. Let’s do it.” They walked a little farther, falling into silence. It was obvious to him something was wrong. She was skittish, her razor sharp wit was toned down and her sassy come-backs were non-existent. In their place was a fake smile and nervous conversation. “Houston…” As soon as he said her name, she miss-stepped and he heard an indrawn gasp of pain. “Dammit, enough.” Without asking permission, he picked her up.

“Scott! Put me down.”

“I either carry you to the falls or I carry you home, it’s your call.” She closed her eyes as if in defeat.

“Just to the top of the ridge, but I don’t like this. I’m too heavy.”

“Hush. I could carry you to Texas if I had to. Where to?”

She bowed her head and looked resigned. “I’d like to show you the waterfall.”

After all of the talking and sharing they’d done, her risking her life to save his, the kisses, the closeness and hell-yes, the hot sex, he wasn’t about to let her retreat in on herself. He’d made a mistake, but he was ready to admit it. “That’s more like it.”

He rubbed his mouth on her hair, the most erotic move he could make right now. She didn’t pull away, but she didn’t look at him either—no stolen glances, no friendly gestures. Even though he had her in his arms, she wasn’t really here.

“Not too much farther.” He observed as they neared the top of the hill. Elvis bounded ahead of them, almost like he knew the way.

Scott wasn’t even breathing hard, so Lia let herself relax. Looking ahead, she could see the rise over Hemmed-in-Hollow. “Listen, you can hear the water.”

He stopped. The crunching of the snow and ice under his boots had masked the sound. When he was still, he could hear the roar. “Let’s go.”

Lia was happy to see the excitement in his eyes. Maybe they could salvage their friendship. As soon as they reached the summit, she pushed down with her legs, indicating she wanted to stand. He lowered her, holding on to her arms until she found her balance on the slippery ridge. “Isn’t it amazing?”

Scott would rather look at her, but he turned to see what she was gazing at and he was stunned. “Amazing.” The water fell from a tight horseshoe formation down over layered sandstone colored strata. At the base was an ice dome. “Honestly, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“It’s one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen,” she whispered.

“I agree, it is incredible and thank you for bringing me. But, I’ve seen a more beautiful sight—you.” He was looking at her. “Now, let’s talk about what happened when we had sex.”

Lia’s whole body jerked. “Let’s not and say we did.”

He would’ve laughed, but he didn’t find it funny. “You didn’t have an orgasm.”

Bam! Lower the boom. There it was. “You could tell?”

He stopped, and made her face him, taking her by the shoulders. “Of course I could tell. Or did you fake not having one.”

She had to laugh at that. “I guess I should have pretended. But I didn’t think of it.” She turned back to the falls. “Let’s wait until we get back to the cabin. Don’t spoil this time we have together. Please?”

Damn, it was worse than he thought. “Okay.” They stood in contemplation, both lost in thought, until she broke the silence.

“I’m working on a song that mentions these falls. It’s about a woman who lost her lover in the Civil War.”

Her revelation made him feel included somehow. “Sounds sad, will you sing it for me?”

She blushed. “Maybe. It’s about a ghost story, a famous ghost story in these parts. Many people claim to have seen her walking along the ridge. I think I may have, actually.”

“You’ll have to tell me the whole story.” He watched her, noticing she was shivering. “Time to go.” He swept her up. “Take one last look, then we’re vamoosing.”

She giggled, did as he asked, even laid her head on his shoulder. “Thanks for coming up here with me. Getting to share something makes it even more precious.”

“I agree.” He hugged her tightly. “I hope to share other things with you.”

They started down the hill. About halfway down, she couldn’t stand it. She was too nervous. “Put me down, Scott. My leg is cramping, I need to walk.” Actually it was her heart cramping, but that was a technicality.

Reluctantly, he let her go. After a few steps, a high-pitched whistling sound came out of nowhere and a flapping of wings caused them to freeze. “Look!” Scott pointed.

Lia did. “It’s a bald eagle.” She held her breath, watching him fly up over the tree-tops. “There must be a nest close by, perhaps up on the falls.” She giggled and before she thought, she turned and gave him a hug. “That was wild.”

He sobered, holding her gaze. “Yea, it was.” Catching her hand, he tucked it in his coat pocket. “How about coffee when we get back?”

“Okay.” It would be even better if they could lace it with some strong alcoholic beverage. She didn’t particularly want a clear head just now.

Scott debated on how to proceed. When they reached the cabin steps, he steadied her on the still frozen surface. 

“Thank you.” A buzzing noise from her back pocket alerted her she had a text. “Hold on.” She pulled it out and looked. “Excellent.”

“Good news?” He held the door for her.

“Yes, Cabe and his crew are shooting again. They will begin recording on the third.”

“Great. Where are they taping?” When they were in the living room, he took her coat and hung it and his on the hall tree next to the front door.

“Eureka Springs and at least one song near my house. Hawksbill Crag or Whitaker’s Point, as it’s more commonly called, is an unusual outcropping of rock. Photographer’s come from all over the world to take pictures of it. Cabe wants to record while standing out on it, and I’ve tried to dissuade him. It can be dangerous, especially this time of year when the rocks are slippery. Several have died from falling there. I don’t want him to be the next one.”

“When does the special air?”

“Valentine’s Day evening,” she explained as she put on the coffee he’d mentioned.

“Will you make a special appearance?”

Lia laughed and shook her head. “Of course not. My name won’t even be mentioned, except in the sea of credits at the end of the show.”

“That doesn’t seem right. He may have the voice, but your work has made him famous.”

“It’s a collaboration.” She was nervous. Maybe she could get his mind off of the pending conversation. “Have you noticed in the Marvel films like Man of Steel, they’re putting a short segment after the credits, so people will watch them?”

“No, I can’t say I have.”

“I asked Mona about that and she said she knows a writer friend who watches the names roll by on the credits just so she can get new hero and heroine names for her romance novels.”

Scott found a spoon for the sugar and creamer. He knew exactly what Lia was doing, and it wasn’t going to work. But he’d play along—for now. “Who’s Mona?”

“My agent.”

He grinned at her. “Big stuff, Houston, you’ve got an agent. How long have you worked with her?”

“For four years, ever since…Dylan.” As soon as she said the other man’s name, she shut down. He saw a curtain fall over face as clearly as one coming down at the end of a play. “You want a cookie with your coffee? I brought some oreos.”

“No, I don’t want a cookie. I want to talk.” He gestured toward the couch. “After you.”

Damn. “Okay, but I don’t think this conversation is necessary.” They sat down, her at the far end, he halfway across the other two cushions.

Scott turned sideways, putting one blue-jeaned leg in the seat, covering as much territory as he could, it seemed. “I think it’s very necessary.”

Lia bit her lip. Okay, just get it over with. In a rush of words, she confessed. “I thought this time would be different. I’m sorry.”

The misery in her voice surprised him. “Wait a minute.” He put a finger under her chin. “Why are you apologizing?”