Instant Attraction

Chapter 15

Cam whipped around to see John grabbing on to Katie for balance. Heart in his throat, he dove past the others as Nick did the same from the rear, both getting there at the same time, shoving the locked together snowshoers against the rock only a fraction of a second before they would have fallen off the edge.

Cam lifted his head and eyed the drop-off, which was at least thirty feet-good enough to have cracked more than a few bones. Fucking idiot.

“I’m okay, I’m okay!” This from Sweetie Pie Drunk Ass-hole John. Accompanying this declaration was a loud belch that smelled like a bad combination of Scotch and sewer. “Whew, doggie.” He let out a goofy smile as he fanned his hand in front of his face. “That’s not good.”

Sally laughed and helped pull him off of Katie. “You okay, Sweetie Pie?”

Cam put his hands on Katie’s hips, holding her still when she would have gotten up. She’d taken John’s full weight, and Cam’s and Nick’s as well. “Take a minute. Are you okay?”

“I think so.” But she didn’t give him her usual megawattage smile. She sat up, holding her arm close to her chest as she peered over the edge. She didn’t quite go green but close enough, and he knew she was probably only a minute away from hyperventilating. “Oh God.”

Crouched beside her, Cam blocked her from the view of the cliff, as well as the others, giving her a minute to collect herself.

“I’m fine.”

“Just sit another minute. Bad memories, or something more?”

“I think just memories. Dammit.”

Not convinced, he reached for the zipper on her jacket to get a look at her arm.

“No, it’s fine. Fine,” she repeated when Cam started to speak. The others had shifted close to check on her. “Look, if I don’t keep going, then I let the idiot take this away from me-No offense,” she said to John, who shook his head, suitably sober now.

“None taken. I am an idiot.”

Katie looked at Cam. “I’m good to go.”

Because she wasn’t a quitter. Not even close.

Using her poles, she struggled to get to her feet, never easy in snowshoes so he helped her, then hugged her close to him. “You’re still shaking.”

“I’m okay.” She peered over his shoulder at the drop and swallowed. “I’m okay,” she repeated, but he hugged her in tight anyway, letting her have the illusion of telling him when he knew it was herself she was talking to.

“Hey, I’ll take the merry couple back,” Nick said. “He’s not fit to get to the top.”

The others decided to go back with their friends, and Cam looked at Katie. “I’m sorry.”

“No, I can still get there.” Her eyes blazed with determination, tugging on something deep inside him, making him want to give her whatever she wanted.

He knew what was on the top of her list. It was on top of his list too.

“Please.”

Ah, hell. Cam looked at Nick.

“I’ll take her if you want,” Nick offered. “You can take the others back.”

“No.” Hell no.

Nick sighed. “Some guys get all the luck.”

As they climbed, Katie’s lungs felt like they were going to burst, but when Cam asked her if she wanted to stop, she said no and managed to keep going, even if she was breathing like a lunatic. When they finally crested the top, she staggered to a halt at the view. “My God.”

The land had leveled out, revealing a 360-degree view that quite simply took whatever breath she had left, admittedly not much. The thin, icy air was still barely soughing in and out of her lungs as she shook her head in disbelief. “It’s like being on top of the world.”

Cam came up beside her, and as if he knew exactly how she felt, how awed, how small and insignificant they were in the whole scheme of things, he didn’t say a word, just let her take it all in.

“It’s the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen.” She turned to look at him. He stood there tall and strong and vital. Tough. Silent. A virtual rock whenever she’d needed one, and definitely not the quitter he thought he was, and she amended her thought. He was the most gorgeous thing she’d ever seen. “Well worth the terror of getting here.”

He dropped his backpack, then pulled hers off as well, making her sit on a rock outcropping before crouching at her feet to unhook her snowshoes. “Don’t try to walk around up here without those,” he warned as he tugged off his gloves, shoving them into his pocket. “That whole drunken fiasco never should have happened. I could have killed him.” Cam looked into her eyes, his own dark and troubled. “Are you really okay?”

Unable to help herself, she cupped his face and kissed his jaw. “So fierce and protective over the woman you don’t quite know what to do with.”

“I know you’re still fighting the memories.”

“It’s better. So much better.”

“Are you sure?”

“Very.” She began to stand up, but he held her back.

“Just sit still a minute.”

“Why? You want to have your merry way with me?” she teased as he reached up and unzipped her jacket.

“I’m checking on your arm.”

“It’s fine-” But she hissed out a breath when he pulled her arm out of the jacket and then pushed up her sleeve, which was stuck to her arm by her own blood. “Oh boy.”

“You must have gotten scratched by one of the poles when you fell.”

Her head swam a little. “I don’t like blood.”

“Just a scratch,” he repeated calmly. Reaching up, he turned her chin away, back to the amazing view. “Just keep looking at the moon. Look for falling stars.”

She tipped her head up and gasped when she actually saw one. “There!”

“Make a wish.”

She closed her eyes and did just that, and when she opened them again, he was looking at her.

“What did you wish for?”

“You believe in wishing on falling stars?”

“Yes.”

She smiled. “The stoic, pragmatic Cameron Wilder, a dreamer, after all.”

He let out a low laugh. “On my way back to Wishful, the night I met you, I wished on one. And if you tell anyone that, I’ll deny it.”

“What did you wish for?”

He met her gaze. “To feel something.”

She held her breath, caught, lost in his eyes. “Is it working?”

“I think it just might be.”

She felt her heart click and lock into place. For him. “I wished for great sex. Tonight. And if you could tell my guide, I’d really appreciate it.”

With a rough laugh, he nudged her chin upward again. She blinked the sky into focus, the way it lit up the entire valley floor below with a bluish tinge-“Ouch!”

He’d sprayed her with something from the first-aid kit in his backpack and was now pulling out some gauze and tape. He ripped a piece of tape off with his teeth, then held it there while he wrapped her up, but not before twice again having to nudge her face away. “There.” He smoothed down the tape. “Good as new.”

“Then why does it just now hurt?”

“Aw, let me see.” Shocking her, he leaned in and kissed the bandage. “Better?”

She stared into his eyes. “No, I think it needs some serious TLC.”

His gaze heated, and as always it put her own insides on a slow, delicious simmer as he obediently leaned back in and kissed the spot again, then an inch above her bandage.

And an inch above that. “Better?”

“Not yet.”

With a soft huff of laughter against her skin, he tried pushing her sleeve up higher on her arm and couldn’t, and while she battled disappointment, he proved just how resourceful he could be by reversing his efforts and slowly pushing the sleeve down from above while holding her gaze prisoner.

The shirt gave way, slipped off her shoulder, and only then did he break eye contact and once again lean in, pressing his lips to her bare skin.

She sucked in another breath.

“Cold?” he murmured against her flesh.

Was he kidding? He could have stripped her naked out here in the thirty-degree night and she’d have still been sizzling hot. “No, don’t stop making me feel better.”

On a half groan, half laugh, his lips trailed up her shoulder, ending up in the crook of her neck, which gave her a set of goose bumps that still had nothing to do with a chill and everything to do with sheer lust. She tugged off her gloves and slipped her fingers inside his jacket.

“Katie-”

“Dream on if you think you’re going to back off now in some misguided protective gesture. Yes, this is big and scary and new, for the both of us, but we’ve tried ignoring it and can’t. Let’s try something else, Cam.”

“I don’t-”

“Don’t say you’re a quitter, because the man I’m looking at has been dealt some pretty rough blows and he’s still standing. The quitting thing is bullshit, Cam. And don’t try to tell me you don’t feel this thing between us either.” She looked politely at the bulge behind his zipper.

With a groaning laugh, he pressed his forehead to hers. “I was going to say I don’t have any way of protecting us from being seen.”

“No one’s up here. We’re all alone, and I’m a big girl. I’m ready for this. The question is, are you?”

Cam stared at her, his heart thudding hard and fast in his chest again, as it had when she’d nearly fallen. “You really are the most remarkable woman I’ve ever met.”

“And I’m something else too.” She shrugged out of her jacket, leaving her only in the long-sleeved silk long underwear shirt that was already hanging off one shoulder. “Want to guess?”

“Katie, it’s butt-ass cold out here.”

“Then keep me warm.” He yanked down the zipper of his jacket and pulled in her shaking body, holding her up against his body to share the heat he had in spades, only to realize she hadn’t shivered in cold, but excitement.

Which, in turn, fueled his. As if it needed fueling. He was already so turned on he couldn’t see straight. He certainly wasn’t thinking straight or he wouldn’t have leaned back against the rock, pulling her onto his lap so that she straddled him, and then kissed them both stupid.

So stupid…

Her hands were running over him, everywhere she could reach. “You’re only wearing a T-shirt.” Which she shoved up beneath his jacket. Then she pressed her mouth right over his heart, which gave one hard lurch.

“I get hot on snowshoes. But not nearly as hot as I am right now-Jesus,” he breathed when she licked his nipple. “Katie, listen. We should-”

“Yeah, we should.” Surging up, she covered his mouth with hers, showing him exactly what they “really should,” and with another low, rough groan, he slid his hands beneath her shirt to touch warm skin. God, she was sweet, so damn sweet-

“We should do whatever we want,” she murmured, her hands already doing whatever they wanted. He tried to catch them, but she was fast and nimble and greatly determined. “You can complain about how much you hate all this later,” she told him, kissing his jaw, his ear, her hands eating him up wherever they touched. “God, this fresh air is invigorating.”

“Actually, that’s you. You’re invigorating.” His hands skimmed over her hips to her ass, squeezing, pulling her in closer so that she rubbed against his zipper, letting out a sexy little moan of pleasure.

“Why, Cameron Wilder,” she purred. “I do believe you’re as excited as I am. Do you offer this service to all your clients?”

His eyes closed in sheer pleasure when she sucked his ear-lobe into her mouth. “Only the hot ones-” He hissed out a breath when she bit his ear, then soothed the ache by sucking it into her mouth, and just like that, he was a goner.

Or more likely, he’d always been a goner for her. He didn’t know how, but in two seconds flat, he’d slipped beneath her silk shirt, unhooked her bra, nudged it aside, and then, oh yeah, filled his palms with her warm, full breasts.

She gasped, and he lifted his head. “Too cold?”

“No. Yes.” She laughed breathlessly, arching her hips against his. “Just don’t stop.”

He didn’t, and she repaid him by slipping her hands down his torso to his lower abs, her fingers playing with his waist-band, which was loose enough that if she wanted to, she could-

God. Yeah. That. She could dip those fingers in. He sort of lost himself, tugging up her shirt, exposing her breasts to the night air and his hungry gaze only long enough for him to cover one with his hand, the other with his mouth, sucking her in to rasp his tongue over her nipple.

A wordless plea for more fell from her lips as she rocked against him, her head falling back. Her ski cap slipped off, and so did his, aided by her fingers.

Above them, around them, no part of the night objected. The only sounds were the soft rustling of the wind, and their own labored breathing. Her face was flushed, and when he switched to her other breast, she hissed out a breath and rocked her hips to his. He cupped her most cuppable ass, showing her what rhythm worked for him, then slipped his hand down the back of her ski pants. But some idiot had given her a size too small and he couldn’t get as far as he wanted, so he came around to the front and unbuttoned and unzipped and, finally, oh yeah…got inside.

Her panties were silk.

And wet.

So damn wet.

No slouch, she followed his lead and had his pants undone as well; but before she could dive in, he stroked her on that wet, creamy center and she went still, panting out his name.

Loving the sound of his name on her lips, he did it again, just a single stroke with a slow, delicate precision.

She still didn’t move, she’d gone still as a statue, and he looked into her face. “Katie? Okay?”

Her fingers dug into his pecs. “Ohmigod, yes.”

Taking that as a good sign, he gently stroked her again with just the pad of his finger, slowly outlining her, which seemed to galvanize her back into motion. Her hips went to town, moving impatiently against him. “Cam-” She sounded a little panicked. “I-Ohmigod.”

She was close, he could tell, so close, so he kept at it, adding another finger, increasing the rhythm, the pressure. She had her hands fisted in his waistband for balance, still rocking her hips as she gulped for air. “Remember, it’s been a really long time.” She had to stop and pant some more. “And I’m fairly primed here, so-”

God, she was so sweet. And hot. So fucking hot. He slid a finger into her and ran his tongue over her nipple, loving the way she trembled over him.

“Seriously,” she gasped. “I’m going to…”

“Yeah.” Knowing it made him even hotter, made him tremble, made him feel a burst of something he wouldn’t have recognized a few weeks back but was beginning to become habit when he was with her-exhilarated. “Come. I want to feel you.”

But instead she did something that changed the game. She slid her hand all the way into his pants as well, and wrapped her fingers around him, stroking in the same rhythm he was using on her.

And suddenly he wasn’t feeling like smiling smugly at what he was doing to her, for her, at how he was holding her on the very edge.

Because suddenly he was the one on that edge. “Katie.” He needed her to slow down or stop, but his hands were full. Full of her. Desperate, his hips rocked helplessly against hers. Gasping out her name, along with some unintelligible plea like “Oh God, don’t stop,” and more that might have been utterly humiliating if he’d been alone in this insanity, but he wasn’t.

Alone.

Not even close. She was right there with him, crying out, shuddering as she burst. And then, while he was absolutely, one-hundred-percent lost in the vision of her as she came stealing the very breath from his lungs as she did-he shuddered too. So far gone in her, he hadn’t realized that her hands had never stopped, that they were still stroking him, pumping, making his entire body tighten-“Katie, wait-”

She didn’t, and though he tried to extract his fingers from her pants, it was way too late, and he was coming in her hands the same way she’d come in his.

Only it wasn’t exactly the same, and he jerked back, the horrified apology on his lips. She simply moved with him, planting a kiss on his mouth as he shuddered and barely managed to come back to planet Earth. Opening his eyes, he found hers open on his, her mouth nibbling at the corner of his lips. “Katie, I-”

“Don’t.” She grinned but didn’t pull back. “Please don’t say anything to ruin this for me.”

Don’t say anything to ruin this for her? How about doing something to ruin it, like come in her hands as if he was fifteen and jacking off in the woods. “Katie-”

She was handing him a napkin from her pocket, one of the napkins from the bar at the lodge, and straightening her clothes while letting out a running commentary that made his head spin.

“I’ve never made out with someone beneath the stars like that.” She stopped to flash him another grin. “I’ve always wanted to.” She tucked her shirt into her ski pants. “I’ve shaved my legs all week, hoping.” She shot him another smile and stuck her hand back into her pocket, coming up with another napkin. “Do you need-”

“No.” Jesus. “Katie, I’m sorry. It’s been like a year, and…” And he ran out of steam. “And nothing. I should have been able to hold back-”

She shut him up with her mouth. “It was perfect,” she said against his lips, kissing him again before pulling back to zip up her jacket.

“We didn’t finish.”

She shot him a saucy look. “I hate to disagree with you, but you most definitely did finish. And so did I.” She sighed, a purely feminine sound of pleasure that made him half hard again. “First time in a very long time for me, too, by the way. I feel like I’m glowing. Am I glowing?”

He stared at her and found himself shaking his head. “Seriously, I-”

“Seriously,” she mocked, and nudged him in the chest. “I’m not stupid, Cam. Or inexperienced. I know you think it’s ridiculous I’m grinning like an idiot and waxing poetic over a simple hot and heavy make-out session. But you have to understand, in my life, I’ve never really given myself a lot of chances for fun and excitement.”

He felt his heart give. “I know.”

“For me, it was that wish on that falling star coming true. Can’t you accept that?”

He stared into her eyes, realizing that he was still expecting her to turn into someone else at every turn, waiting for her to turn needy, or clinging, or demanding, or something other than what she appeared to be.

“Cam?” she asked, just Katie. Unique Katie.

Still looking into her eyes, he knew he could do no less than agree. “Yes.”

With another of her wide, sweet, contagious grins, she gave him one last smacking kiss. “Great. Now let’s go. I’m starving.”