She couldn’t speak. The ache in her body combined with the heft of his words made it impossible for her to do more than nod. She uncoiled her legs from around his waist and felt him groan against her. Instead of letting go of her, he pulled her tighter, sliding his hands up her back to cup the base of her head. When he kissed her, it was filled with as much tenderness as heat and it stole her breath, making it impossible for her to concentrate on anything but the feel of him in her arms, a strong, steady wall under her hands.
“I’m starting to forget why taking you up against a boulder isn’t a good idea.”
“I’ve got nothing,” she said, surprised she could actually find her voice. “It was your crazy rule.”
“Some kind of help you are.” He pressed his lips to her forehead before taking a step away from her.
She leaned forward, her body, at least, unwilling to break contact with his.
He dragged a hand through his dark hair, blowing out a breath. “You’re killing me here. Let’s collect the cache, so we can get on our way again. I want to get to the place we’re setting up camp.”
She let out a shaky breath and stepped toward the spot at the bottom of the pile of boulders closest to where they’d seen the flag. Setting up camp and unrolling the sleeping bags had never held so much appeal.
HE’D ALMOST TAKEN HER UP against a rock. Michael clearly needed to get a grip before he did something even more stupid—like pin her against a tree, drop to his knees in front of her and make her come with his tongue.
But she’d felt so good with her legs wrapped around him, her hot core pressed against his aching cock. He’d had a hard time remembering why he needed to take it slow. He wanted Amanda for so much more than a quick fuck, and he’d be damned if he let his own impatience do anything to jeopardize that.
Determined to keep his raging libido under control, for the time being at least, he followed her over to the spot he imagined was directly below the cache. Deferring to her skill on the rock, he waited until she’d started to climb before following her up and over the boulders. Paying careful attention to where she positioned her hands and feet, he mimicked her movements—admittedly with far less grace—following her up the tumble of boulders. The climb wasn’t challenging enough for them to drag out the gear and rope up, but it required his focus to keep from falling, which suited him just fine. If he kept his attention on what he was doing, he should be able to keep it off Amanda’s toned ass moving in front of him.
Mostly. He mostly kept his attention on the climb. When the woman hijacked his thoughts and his feelings ran off with his brain, he simply paused, holding himself off the rock until he felt confident enough to move again.
“I see it!” She grinned over her shoulder at him and his chest tightened.
He loved the delighted look on her face and had every intention of being the one to put it there as often as possible.
“Wait for me. I don’t want you sticking your hands under any rocks.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he realized how stupid it sounded.
She was a rock climber; she’d probably had her hands in much iffier places. But he hadn’t been along then. If anyone was going to get bitten by a sleepy snake, it was going to be him. Instead of tossing back the smart-ass comment he expected, she simply quirked an eyebrow at him and stepped to the side on top of the boulder, waiting. He managed to clamber up beside her without losing too much of his pride.
“It’s all yours,” she said, motioning to the purple flag wedged into a crevice between the boulders.
He looked at the inky-black fist-sized hole and sucked in his breath, trying to mask it with a stretch and a yawn so he wouldn’t give anything away. He had no interest in meeting a snake either, but there was no way he could back down. Not without looking like a total girl. He doubted Amanda backed down from anything, ever. Thankfully, the flag was attached to a long piece of wire and when he pulled, the whole thing came out of the crevice, complete with a small fabric-wrapped bundle attached to the end. Triumphant, he held the package out to her as if he’d done more than follow her up the rock and tug on a flag.
“What’s in it?” He peered over her shoulder as she worked loose the knots on the parcel. Inside were two chocolate bars and a whistle with the reddon’tsymbol on the side.
“This,” she said, turning the small piece of plastic over in her hand, the candy momentarily forgotten.
“For an emergency?”
“Maybe,” she said, sounding unconvinced. “But everybody is supposed to already have one in their gear. And what about this?” She traced her finger over the red circle with the slash through it.
“Maybe it will make sense when we find the rest of them.”
“I hope so.” She tucked the whistle in her pocket and handed him one of the chocolate bars. “Let’s go.”
She didn’t wait for him to respond before she started back down the rock. She didn’t have to. He wasn’t about to do anything that slowed down their progress toward setting up camp and getting her stretched out on a sleeping bag underneath the stars...and under him.
––––––––
BY UNSPOKEN AGREEMENT, Amanda tucked her chocolate in her pack for later. Michael broke off a piece of his and handed it to her, losing track of his thoughts for a moment as she popped the bite into her mouth and closed her eyes in pleasure. He was a goner. She’d ruined him for other women. Watching her lick the chocolate off her fingers was one of the sexiest things he’d ever seen.
She glanced up and caught him staring, and some of what he felt must have shone in his eyes. She paused, her fingertips still on her lips and her expression darkened, mirroring the hunger he felt. It was as if a charge held them tethered together and a simple shift in the balance would be enough to send them careening into each other. He had a feeling if that happened, he’d never escape her pull. He’d never want to.
“Right. Let’s go,” he said, shaking his head to clear it. He needed to get a grip or they’d never make it to camp. Watching Amanda chase the last bit of chocolate over her bottom lip with her tongue, he had a hard time remembering again why that was a bad idea.
She nodded, and he saw her swallow before hoisting up her pack and starting back up the trail. At least he had the momentary satisfaction of knowing she struggled with this thing between them too. Although it was cold consolation when he was the one stuck watching her ass as she climbed the trail in front of him.
Stuck might not be the right word. Blessed, maybe.
