“I can take them, but I don’t think I can have anything developed. This place is in the middle of nowhere, Bert.”
“No matter. Alexis does good work—especially if her material is up to snuff.”
Carly thought about Hank’s stiff limp and exhausted face. “Well, I think it’ll be okay.”
“Don’t worry. We can always touch up in the darkroom.”
“Right. Anything else?”
“No—except to make sure you’re all right.”
“All I need is rest.”
“Go to bed, then. Call me later, if you want to talk.”
“Okay. Bert...”
He had been ready to hang up, but his voice came back on the line. “Yes?”
“Thanks.”
“For what?”
“Being there, I guess.”
“Feeling vulnerable, are we?”
“A little.”
“Well, be careful. You always get reckless when you’re feeling that way.”
Carly mustered a laugh. “Don’t worry. See you in a few days.”
They hung up, and Carly was suddenly starved. She wolfed down some bacon, two biscuits with jam and drank a quick cup of very hot coffee. After a refill, she carried the mug back up the stairs.
On the landing she encountered Hank who had clearly stepped out from under the shower moments before. He had opened the bathroom door to let out the steam and was brushing his teeth in the doorway, wearing nothing but a blue towel around his hips. And he completely filled the doorway. His hair was wet, and water clung to his chest. His eyelashes and mustache were thickened with droplets, too. Even undressed, he looked every inch a sexy cowboy.
He stopped brushing his teeth and looked around at Carly with something odd flickering in his blue eyes. With a jolt Carly realized it was the same expression that had been captured in the original photograph she’d received—the photo Carly had kept at her bedside.
For a moment Carly was speechless. His gaze reflected warmth and humor and something more sensual. Something very male, magnetic and knowing.
Carly’s imagination took a dive back into yesterday’s wildly abandoned encounter under the warm sun. No doubt Hank was thinking exactly the same thing. She felt a blush start on her cheekbones and suddenly wished she’d put on some underwear beneath her bathrobe.
“Uh,” she said, when she could make her wits function. “Going to bed?”
Hank nodded, his mouth full of toothbrush. “You?”
“Yes, I’m—well, after last night—”
“Tired?”
“I...I was. But the coffee.” She tried to summon a smile as she lifted the mug in her hand. “Becky makes pretty strong stuff, doesn’t she?”
Hank turned away, spat in the sink and rinsed his mouth. Then, grabbing another towel, he came out onto the landing where Carly stood. He leaned one bare shoulder against the doorjamb and buffed his wet hair with the extra towel. “Yeah, I had a cup myself.”
“So,” she said, holding her ground just six inches from him. “You’re not very tired right now, either?”
“Not very.”
“Then...”
“Yes?”
“We—I mean—Maybe a few things need to be said.”
“You’re right.” He stopped drying his hair. “Listen, about what I said this morning. It was stupid. I wasn’t thinking. I’m sorry I hurt your feelings.”
“Oh, that was nothing. I was too touchy. I slept badly, and I was hungry—”
“You looked great,” he said softly.
Suddenly Carly felt as if her brains had turned to mush. “What?”
A ghost of a grin appeared at one corner of his wonderful mouth, and his gaze seemed to pierce Carly’s soul. “Really, you did. You woke up looking very... desirable. A little ruffled around the edges, but you have the most incredible blue, bedroom eyes.”
“I do?”
“And,” he said, leaning imperceptibly closer, “you look even better right now.”
Carly’s mouth got very dry, and she couldn’t think of a blessed thing to say. She stood on the landing, holding a cup of coffee and waiting shakily as Hank leaned closer and closer and closer.
Hank heard alarm bells going off in his head. Every brain cell that was still functioning told him to stop, stop, stop. But the rest of his body was completely ignoring the warning signs, and something instinctive was taking over.
She looked so lovely at that moment. A little dazed, a little flushed from her bath. Her short hair was still delightfully rumpled. And underneath that filmy little robe, she was completely naked, no doubt about it.
Hank quit thinking and kissed her. He found her mouth with his and slipped one hand into the soft fringe of blond hair at the back of her neck. Under his thumb, he felt her pulse quicken. At that, a slow rush of sexual desire flooded his system, and he deepened the kiss to something much more demanding.
Carly resisted for a fraction of a second, her right arm rigidly extended to prevent the coffee from spilling. She froze, but then Hank felt her lips soften against his. And in another heartbeat, she was pressing against him, aligning her slim body to fit against Hank. She slid her free hand up his arm and around his shoulder, lifting up on tiptoe to match the intensity of his kiss. They didn’t breathe, didn’t think. Just melded in a quiet, delicious moment.
But then she drew back. Gently. Turning her head away so that he couldn’t see her eyes, Carly stopped the kiss and took a deep, steadying breath. Hank held her close, unwilling to let her body part from his.
“I had decided to stop this,” she whispered, her face turned away. “Before it went any farther.”
“Stop what?”
“This,” she said. “This
thing
between us. This sex thing.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Oh, Hank.” She began to quiver in his arms. At first it was very slight, but gradually her whole body was trembling against his.
“Hey,” he murmured, his lips against her temple. “Hey, easy now.”
“I shouldn’t be kissing you.”
“Why not? We’re consenting adults.”
“But,” she said, “we’re not going to have anything else, are we? A relationship, I mean. It’s just going to be a good time. A one-night stand.”
“Well—”
“It makes me sad, that’s all. I like you, Hank. I actually think we could be good together.” She looked up at last, her gaze teary.
She’s right,
Hank thought.
We could be very good together. And not just in bed. We’re a lot alike.
“But,” Carly went on raggedly, “I’ve come to an important realization. I’ve learned something about myself.”
“What’s that?”
“That I hate the country!” She choked, and suddenly the tears were spilling down her cheeks. “I am a city person, Hank. I thought a ranch would be romantic and...and...wonderful, but it isn’t. It’s uncomfortable and inconvenient and...and...I want to go home.”
Amen!
Hank wanted to shout. But he took the coffee cup from her hand and steered Carly into her bedroom. He kicked the door closed behind them and guided her gently down onto the bed where she proceeded to dissolve into great, gulping sobs.
“I’m so ashamed of myself,” she went on. “I’m such a coward and a feeble, weak—”
“No, you’re not.” Hank sat down beside her and set the mug of coffee on the window ledge. “You’re anything but weak.”
“I loved the scenery, but I’m just not cut out to
live
in it. Do you understand?”
Unable to hold back a smile, Hank said, “More than you know.” He smoothed her hair back from her face. He kissed her wet cheek. “It’s nothing to cry about, Carly.”
“But...but...I
like
you. Yesterday was—it was good, wasn’t it?”
“Better than good.”
She hiccuped. “And now I just want to hold you and—Oh, hell, why not say it? I want to make love with you for hours. Isn’t that crazy?”
His lips had found her jawline, and Hank began tracing its length with feathery kisses. “Crazy? No. Maybe an idea worth trying, though.”
“It’s wanton or something.”
“It’s
nice.
Makes me feel...”
She used the fingers of her left hand to stroke his face. “How?”
He grinned. “Like making love for hours.”
“You don’t think I’m some kind of horrible hussy?”
He couldn’t stop a laugh. “Hussy?”
“You know what I mean.”
“Carly,” he said patiently, “I’m a guy. In a situation like this, I think you’re anything but horrible. In fact, I’ll nominate you for goddess status if you’ll let me take this robe off.”
She laughed unsteadily and closed her eyes. “I want to pretend we’re in a lovely penthouse suite with room service just a phone call away and my manicurist just a block down the street and—”
“What about a steam room?”
“Do you like steam rooms?”
“Love ’em,” Hank mumbled, his lips moving down her soft throat.
“Is it like a sauna?”
“Yep.”
“I...I like saunas.”
He had the tie of her robe in one hand and tugged it loose. Without pause, he skimmed kisses across her collarbone and down the smooth skin of her chest. He could feel her heart leap beneath her breast as his lower lip made contact with the nipple. It bloomed against his mouth, and Hank couldn’t hold back an incoherent mutter.
Carly sighed and arched her back involuntarily. “Maybe we should just live for the moment, especially since Becky’s away doing some errands.”
“Once in a while,” he murmured between swipes of his tongue, “living for the moment...is a good thing.”
She laced her fingers in his hair and held Hank’s head. “Ohh, that’s wonderful.”
“This?”
She blew another long sigh. “Oh, Hank.”
Carly eased down on the bed, drawing Hank with her until they were stretched out on the bedclothes together. The bed made a quiet sound under them. Lying there was definitely more comfortable than on a blanket spread out over rocky ground, Hank thought with pleasure. And Carly felt soft and curvy beneath his hands, more potent than wine beneath his lips.
Hank slid out of his towel. Carly arched out of her robe, and he rode into the curve of her body. The friction of their bare skin was almost more than Hank could stand.
Carly smoothed her hands around his shoulders, across his back. Her fingertips traced dizzying designs on his back.
“Another minute and I won’t be able to stop,” he whispered, nuzzling her softness. “Are you sure about this?”
“Oh, yes.” Her thighs parted. “I can’t wait any longer.”
“Then I’ve got to go back to my room for a second. I think I’ve got a condom—”
“There’s one in my suitcase,” she said with a smile that was half ashamed, half pleased with herself. “I checked before I took my shower.”
Hank laughed, liking her very much. He stretched for her nearby suitcase and dragged it closer to the bed. Turning over on her side, Carly reached over the edge of the bed and flipped open the case. She rummaged for only a second before coming up with a foil packet. By that time Hank had begun to nibble the back of her neck.
In another moment they were tumbling on the bed. Carly’s caresses were erotic, her kisses playful. She laughed in the back of her throat when Hank made his desires clear, and shortly he was out of his head with the sensual games she could play with her mouth.
They didn’t take much time to explore or tease, however. There was more urgency in Carly’s whispers than there had been yesterday. More tension sang in the muscles of her body. Hank obeyed her wishes and soon found himself poised and ready above her.
“Now,” she murmured. She told Hank in breathless phrases exactly what she wanted, and he sank inside her with a single thrust that was more powerful than he intended. Carly eagerly rose to meet him, though, and shuddered with pleasure when he was deeply inside. Her eyes were alight, her mouth curved in a warm smile.
Looking down at her, Hank felt a pang of emotion in his heart. She felt so good, so perfect. For him, it was as if he’d come home—not to a ranch, but to woman. The right woman at long last.
He wanted to tell her that. He wanted to say the words, to explain everything. But she was too exciting, too insistent, too aroused. Carly wrapped her long legs around his hips, holding him inside her as she settled her shoulders firmly into the bed. Then she arched upward and began to rock. Languidly at first. Then with greater passion.
She was molten lava, and Hank moved with the deep waves she created. Beautiful, powerful sensations washed over him like ocean surf. He tried, but he couldn’t hold back the urge to quicken the tempo, to strengthen his thrusts.
Carly gasped, but met each of the thrusts with growing abandon. The rhythm grew, mounting steadily. Thrust after thrust. Cry after cry. Hank lost all sense of time and space. He forgot to be gentle.