Authors: Lorelei James
Tags: #Fiction, #Romance, #Contemporary, #General, #Short Stories (Single Author)
Lost in You (9 page)
Lacy blushed.
It charmed the hell out of him. If he had his way, she’d spend the next fifty years charming and exasperating him. “What do you say we get out of here?”
She nodded.
Dave waited in the clearing, probably making sure they didn’t get lost again.
“You afraid of horses?” Becker asked after he mounted.
“I’m not afraid of anything when I’m with you.”
God. He adored this woman.
Lacy grabbed his hand. He hauled her in front of him on the saddle, nuzzled the side of her neck, losing himself in her sweet scent and the sense of rightness of having her in his arms.
Becker yelled to Dave, “Call Clarence and have him send our things to the honeymoon suite in the Lodge.”
“Honeymoon suite?” Dave repeated. “Something you wanna tell me, cuz?”
“Not yet, but I’m working on it.”
Lacy relaxed against his chest. “Riding off into the sunset with you is much more romantic than making love in a field of wildflowers.”
“Yeah?”
“Absolutely.”
“Probably snakes in the flowers anyway.”
“True.”
After a while Sam said, “I can’t wait to make love to you in a real bed.”
She sighed dreamily.
The horse meandered down the trail, content as his riders.
Finally Lacy spoke. “You really didn’t mind being lost in the woods with me?”
“I was lost, Lacy, long before we entered the woods. It was you who found me.”
“You sure talk romantic for a stockbroker.”
“I liked it better when you thought I was a wild man.”
She looked up at him and smiled. “Can’t you make this horse go any faster, my wild mountain man?”
He grinned. “Hang on.”
Epilogue
One year later...
“I thought you were kidding.”
“Babe. I never kid about my mother.”
Lacy Buchanan Becker turned and stared at Sam, the man she’d fallen in love with during the last year. The man who was now her husband.
The man who was out of his ever lovin’ mind.
Sam grabbed her hand and kissed it. “Please? It’ll mean a lot to her.”
“Why? We’re already married, Sam. She was there.”
Three weeks ago they’d pledged their lives and hearts to each other in a ceremony held on a rooftop garden on the 29
th
floor of a hotel in the Bowery district of New York City. They’d exchanged vows at twilight as the lights of the city came on. It’d turned out to be a glorious, gorgeous night. Drinking champagne, dancing on the balcony overlooking the city with their family and friends. Then Sam had whisked her off to a two week honeymoon in the Maldives.
And what an amazing honeymoon. A private hut on the turquoise water, hot sun, pristine beaches and lots of sex; sweet, raunchy, steamy, urgent, slow and reverent. She hadn’t bothered wearing anything besides a bikini; her new husband was obsessed with putting his hands and mouth all over her whenever the mood struck him. Luckily for her the mood struck him a lot.
Sam’s growling noise caught her attention.
She blinked at him. “What?”
“After spending two weeks naked with you, I recognize the
I’m-thinking-about-sex
look lighting up your eyes.”
Lacy stood on tiptoe and captured his lips. She loved the no-holds-barred way he kissed her—like it was life sustaining.
When he eased back, he murmured, “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“I know this whole thing seems...weird.”
“Nah. What’s weird about getting sage smoke blown in our faces from an old Lakota man who speaks a language neither of us understands? Then strangers spin us around before they wrap us up together in a star quilt? Then they sing Native American songs as they dance circles and lead us into a love tipi where we spend the night?”
Sam sighed. “When you put it like that...”
“Sounds fun, doesn’t it?”
His surprised gaze snapped to hers.
“I’ll do it.” She tugged on his hair. “
If
I can wear normal clothes to the ceremony.” As much as she’d loved donning her satin princess wedding gown with all the beading, crystals, lace and tulle, her favorite part of her wedding night was when Sam had removed the heavy dress.
When Sam didn’t respond immediately to her demands, she listed more. “I’m expecting pillows, and a cushiony sleeping bag, and insect repellant, and a flashlight and some normal food and drink inside this Lakota love shack.”
“Two things wrong with that scenario, Mrs. Becker.”
She groaned.
“First, our clothing for the ceremony is a simple robe. That’s it—that’s all we’re allowed to wear. Then once we’re wrapped in the quilt, we face each other and remove each other’s robes.”
“They aren’t expecting us to strip bare in front of a bunch of people we don’t know, are they?”
“No one will see us. The robe removal is done underneath the quilt and beneath the cover of darkness.”
“But...Why do we have to be naked?”
“Being naked symbolizes entering into the marriage bond without anything to hide.”
“Oh. I guess that makes sense. No false advertising.”
A deep frown squished his eyebrows together. “Meaning what?”
He looked so cute she had to reach up and smooth his furrowed brow. “Meaning no spandex shape wear to suck in a woman’s hips, butt, tummy or thighs. No pushup bras to create cleavage from nothing, no rolled socks shoved in a man’s boxers to give the illusion of a big package.”
Sam rolled his eyes. “Moving on. After the tipi has been blessed, no one is allowed to enter and break the sacred seal except us.”
“Please tell me we won’t be revisiting the
no food
portion of our hiking excursion from last summer? Because that was my least favorite part.”
“Mine too. Everything else...” He paused and stared at her meaningfully. “Seemed fated.”
It still shocked her to hear her just-the-facts money man admit there were elemental forces outside their control working to bring them together. But getting to know each other and falling in love in the last year—that was all them. And it’d been the best year of her life. “So by having this ceremony, we’ll be giving the fates their due?”
“Something like that.” Sam tenderly brushed her hair out of her eyes. “I’ll have Dave put a cooler with drinks and snacks on the back side of the tipi after everyone leaves, so we don’t starve. Okay?”
“Okay. But no snake.”
He laughed. “Or protein bars.”
“Deal.”
“Thank you for doing this. My mom is waiting up at the lodge to help you to prep for the ceremony.”
Don’t ask. Just go with it.
At the lodge, Sam’s mother Evangeline led Lacy to a private suite. She handed her a bar of sage and honey soap. After showering Lacy was to slip on the robe and wear nothing beneath it—which might be problematic since the garment appeared to be see-thru since it’d been crafted from old flour sacks.
But the robe looked surprisingly modest on her. So when Evangeline combed out Lacy’s wet hair and braided it into one long plait, a sense of calm settled over her.
At twilight, an elder escorted Lacy to the ceremony site. Her heart leapt when she saw Sam standing next to the fire, clad in the same type of robe. His face brightened. He smiled when he caught sight of her and offered his hand.
That’s when she knew this ceremony was necessary because it brought them full circle—literally—they stood in the center of a small circle of rocks. The Lakota elder spoke words to the sky, flames crackled as sage smoke eddied around them.
After they were wrapped facing each other in the star quilt, they shed their robes and listened to the chorus of voices asking for blessings on the union.
The dancers led them to the tipi and opened the flap. Another chorus of tremolos—sounding much like war cries—rose and fell.
Inside it was black as pitch.
Sam’s breath teased her lips. They were close enough to breathe the same air. He brushed his mouth across hers one time. “You okay?”
“Yeah. I worried I’d feel...stupid because the ritual is unfamiliar. But I feel connected to you and to this place that brought us together.”
“Me too, cupcake.” He tugged and the star quilt hit the ground. “Now let’s connect in my favorite way.”
And as always, no matter where they were, they lost themselves in each other.
Thanks for reading my fun contemporary novella! If you’re so inclined to spread the word about Lorelei James books, there are a couple of ways to share the love and to keep track of what’s coming up:
Leave a review at your favorite e-bookseller site!
Pop over to
Lorelei James on Facebook
Follow
Lorelei James on Twitter
Stop by
Lorelei James website
Sign up for
Lorelei James newsletter
About the Author
Lorelei James is the
New York Times
and
USA Today
bestselling author of contemporary erotic western romances and contemporary erotic romances. Lorelei’s books have been nominated for and won the Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award as well as the CAPA Award. Lorelei also writes award-winning mystery under the name
Lori Armstrong
. She lives in western South Dakota .
Lorelei James books available on kindle
Rough Riders Series:
STRONG SILENT TYPE
(novella)
SLOW RIDE
(free short story)
SHORT RIDES
(anthology)
Blacktop Cowboys Series: