Flame (Fire on the Mountain #2) (17 page)

MONDAY, JUNE 25

TODAY OFFICIALLY MARKS THE HALFWAY
point of the trip. We’re somewhere in Texas—Houston, I think, but I’m not a hundred percent positive. All I know is its hot and sticky, and every time I step outside, I’m drenched in sweat in a matter of minutes. It’s gross and I want to shower constantly, but I’m tired of being cooped up in this bus. The two nights we spent in the hotel a few days ago was a tease . . . just long enough to get me used to having space again before we piled back aboard Night Fury.

Yes, I named the bus after a dragon in a kid’s movie. Like I told Levi and Gunner, get over it. I like it.

Today is the first day I’ve been by myself for an extended period of time. Levi is at the track practicing for a few hours, and the newlyweds are meeting with someone about his upcoming retirement that’s supposed to take place after the X-games. Emilia was trying to explain it all to me yesterday, but most of it sounded as if she was speaking a foreign language. Flipping through the latest edition of
Cosmo
, I’d nodded and agreed in the right places . . . at least, I hoped it was.

Nevertheless, she seemed satisfied with my input, though the entire time all I truly wanted to do was ask her about having a threesome with Gunner and Levi. There’s just not a good segue between the woes of transferring a 401k to asking what it’s like to be double penetrated by two smokin’ hot guys. I should probably ask Levi, but I’m afraid he’ll think I’m crossing some invisible this-is-none-of-my-business line. Because it’s truly not. I just want to know.

Even as I lie here now, sunbathing in my bikini on top of the bus, the thought of it turns me on. I keep telling myself the twinge of jealousy I feel toward Emilia is because she’s actually experienced two gorgeous men worshipping her body—inch by inch, orgasm after orgasm—and not because Levi was one the guys involved. ’Cause as fun as it is to play this
Mine
game during the trip, that’s all it is. A temporary arrangement.

One week from today, I’ll be on a plane home to Denver, and he’ll keep going on the bus or go back to wherever he lives in California. Either way, we’ll continue on with our two different lives in two different places, maybe crossing paths again in the future through Emilia and Gunner, who are setting their home up in Breckenridge. No matter what’s happened between her and Levi in the past, I’m having a blast spending time with her, and I know we’ll get together for girl-time regularly once we’re in Colorado.

“Sunshine, I’m home! Your ass better be naked and in that bed!”

My eyes fly open as Levi’s deep voice intermingles with the music in my ears. Jackknifing straight up, I yank the headphones out and then wait to see if I hear him again. Maybe I was just floating on the inside edge of dreamland.

“Dakota? Are you here, babe?”

Nope. Definitely not dreaming. He’s inside the bus, looking for me.

Grabbing my phone, I check the time to see if I accidentally fell asleep longer than I intended, but again, nope. He’s back early.

“Dakota! Where in the hell are you? Are you playing some kind of sexy hide-and-seek game with me? ’Cause if so, I’m gonna spank your cute ass when I find it.” The chuckle doesn’t completely mask the worry in his voice, and my chest clenches when I hear him start opening and slamming doors.

“I’m up here!” I yell as I bang on the roof, hoping he’ll hear me through all the ruckus he’s making. “Levi! Up here!”

The noise stops for a few seconds, and then I hear the main door swing open.

“Dakota?” he calls out, backpedaling so he can see the roof at an angle. “What the fuck are you doing up there?”

I smile sheepishly, hanging my chin to my chest. “This is my spot to catch a few rays and a bit of quiet time.”

Shaking his head, he doesn’t say anything else, just takes off for the ladder at the back of the bus. Less than a minute later, he’s sitting next to me on my beach towel, his hungry gaze roaming up and down my sweaty, nearly naked body.

“Why haven’t I seen this bathing suit before? You look fuckin’ smokin’, Sunshine.” He waggles his eyebrows suggestively while he brushes the back of his hand over one of the coral-colored triangles. My nipples harden immediately under his touch.

“Because we’ve never been swimming together?”

Pinching his eyebrows together, he frowns and makes some grunting sound. “You’re right. We haven’t. I’ve been so busy training and working out, trying to get ready for the Games and the world championships, I’ve been neglecting you.” He leans over and kisses me softly. “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to say sorry, dude.” I wave his apology off with my hand in the air. “I know you’re daily regimen is brutal, and even though I’m still a newbie to the sport, I realize you’re a big fuckin’ deal. Emilia warned me what it’d be like, so before we left, I stocked up on magazines and music, and I work on my tan while she does whatever it is she does on her computer. I’m enjoying the trip, visiting places I’ve never been with good friends, lots of laughs, and great sex.”

“Just
great
sex?” he teases.

I shove him a tad, rolling my eyes when he pretends I hurt his arm. “Oh please, Hulk, I couldn’t hurt you if I wanted to.” Bending my neck down, I kiss the spot anyway before adding, “And the sex is much better than
great.”

Levi repositions himself lengthwise with the bus, legs opening in a V, then pats the spot between his thighs. “Come here, Sunshine. Let me give you a massage. I think I owe you a dozen or so.”

Scrunching my nose up, I shake my head back and forth. “Can I take a rain check? It feels like the surface of the sun up here, and we’re both really gross and sweaty. We need a shower.”

“Get your ass over here,” he insists, laughing lightheartedly. “I won’t rub your sweat, but I like talking to you up here. It’s feels like we’re in our own little world. Higher than everyone else.”

“That’s ‘cause we are,” I mumble, purposely loud enough for him to hear as I scoot over to be closer.

As soon as I’m in arm’s reach, he grasps me and hauls me onto his lap, slapping my butt twice on the way down. “God, you’re so sassy sometimes. Are all of your sisters like this?”

“No, you just lucked out,” I retort with a smirk.

Lowering his mouth to mine, his breath caresses my lips as he mumbles, “That I fucking did, Sunshine.”

After a few teasing kisses, he pulls back and smiles contently. His blue eyes are a calm sea on a bright, summer day. It might be the most relaxed I’ve ever seen him outside of bed. “Tell me about Dakota,” he rasps.

“Wh-what do you mean?” I stammer.

“Who are you? Where are you from? What do you want to do with your life?” He traces abstract designs on my forearm with his finger while he talks, an action I never knew could cause tingles in every part of my body. “Most girls I meet are dying to tell me their life story. They don’t shut the fuck up. But not you. I know very little. Why is that?”

I shrug, not having a good answer. “The same reason I don’t know much about you, I guess.”

“What do you want to know? Ask me anything and I’ll answer it,” he challenges.

Wow. I wasn’t expecting this. “Do I only get one question?”

Smiling like he knew I was going to ask that, he shakes his head. “Nope, but for every question you ask, I get one too. Like our own version of Twenty Questions.”

“Okay, let me think.” I pause while deciding if I should get straight to the juicy stuff or ask some basics first. I choose basics. “What was your childhood like?”

The movement of his hand hitches for a split-second, but recovers quickly. “I was born and raised in SoCal. My dad, Darren Levi, is one of the best plastic surgeons in the country, and most of Hollywood has him on speed-dial. He was always working so much when I was a kid it was like he didn’t really live with us. I don’t know much about him as a person. My mom, on the other hand, I know more about than I care to.” He makes no attempt to hide the disgust in his voice when he talks about her, which kills me a little bit inside.

“She was with my dad for the money and the social status,” he continues. “They met when she was getting some work done as an aspiring actress, and somehow she managed to trap him in a marriage and then got knocked up with a kid, tying herself to him for at least eighteen years. Once I was born, she really didn’t have time to take care of a baby; it interfered with her social calendar and fucking the pool boy. So she hired a nanny until I was old enough to ship off to boarding school.”

“When did you start riding dirt bikes then?” I interject.

He lightly slaps my arm. “Uh-uh. My turn for a question.”

Grinning, I nod to give him the go ahead, fully expecting a similar question about my family or upbringing.

“Where do you see yourself in ten years?” he asks, switching his ministrations to my other arm.

Say what? Ten years?

“Dude, that’s a hard one!” I exclaim. “I barely know where I’ll be next month, much less a decade from now.”

“Come on,” he urges. “Just try to answer it the best you can. Career? Married? Kids? Still in Colorado?”

I give it a quick thought then blurt out the first thing I think of. “Running my own spa somewhere in Colorado. Possibly married. Doubtful on kids, but if I ever have any, I just want one.”

He kisses the tip of my nose. “See? That wasn’t so hard, was it? Now it’s your turn. Do you still want me to answer how I got into riding?”

“Yeah, I’m curious how a prep-school rich kid ended up playing in the dirt.”

“The summer before my freshman year, Mommy Dearest shipped me off to stay with Gunner and his parents, which was only about two hours away. One of Gunner’s friends had a couple of bikes and a four-wheeler, and we spent two straight months riding at the cliffs each day, from sun up to sun down. We were addicted from the very beginning.” Excitement and love for his craft shines through every time he talks about riding. “I begged and pleaded to move in with him instead of going back to St. Regis Academy, so I could keep riding, and eventually our parents gave in.”

Nodding my understanding, this time it’s me who rocks forward to press my lips to his. “Your turn to ask.”

I prepare myself for another thought-provoking question or for him to inquire about some deep dark secret, even though I don’t really have any, when he asks, “What kind of music do you listen to?”

Relieved, I grab the headphones still in my hand and hold one up to his ear so he can hear Bob Marley firsthand. His eyes light up when he recognizes the song, and I jest, “What can I say? My parents are hippies.”

“Good song, but I think
Three Little Birds
is my favorite,” he replies as I drop the earbud back into my lap. “All right. You’re up. We may have to go down and get ready for dinner soon, so make it a good one.”

I guess it’s now or never. He told me to make it good, after all.

“How many times have you had a threesome with Gunner and Emilia?” I blurt out the question, praying it doesn’t blow up in my face.

This time his hand doesn’t just hitch; it stops rubbing my arm completely as he goes silent. As nervous as I am to look him dead in the eye, I do it anyway. I want to see the emotion on his face when he answers me.

“Once.” The word escapes with a jagged breath. “Only once.”

Cocking my head to the side, I push the issue. “Was it planned, or just something that happened one drunken night? Come on. You’ve gotta give me something else.”

He scrubs his hands over his face before dropping them down to mine, interlacing our fingers in his lap. “Emmy Sue knew Gunner and I had shared girls before. It wasn’t something we did a lot, but growing up together, it happened a couple of times, here and there. She’d never done it before and wanted to know what it was like, so Gunner approached me and told me the only way he could give her this was if I was the other guy. He said he only trusted me, and it had to be before they were married.”

“So it was planned?” I confirm.

Bobbing his head, he stares at me anxiously, almost as if he’s afraid I’ll think he’s a bad person for doing this. “Yeah, it was planned, but there was also quite a bit of booze involved too, so we’d all be relaxed enough to go through with it.”

“And? Was it worth it? Did it change things between y’all after?”

“Of course it changed things between us after,” he admits, “but probably not like you’d expect. No matter what anyone says, once you have sex with someone, things are different from that point forward. Even if it is a casual hookup. But luckily for the three of us, it made our bond stronger. I love the two of them like nobody’s business; they are my family. It’s just different than the way they love each other.”

I squeeze his hands supportively. “Have you ever loved anyone like they love each other?”

“No. I’m not sure I’m wired that way. I’ve had a few girlfriends, but never anything serious. I always end up getting tired of them after a while.” It’s his turn to shrug and try to dismiss his lack of answers with a joke. “It’s like I have dating ADHD.”

“Dating ADHD! Oh, my God, I love it!” I spout. “I’m totally using that the next time someone asks me about my relationship status.”