Just That Easy (16 page)

“All right, here I come.” She looked down at him, this time
no vertigo, just sheer adrenaline at having conquered the wall, and not even
the easiest one. He had put two small metal-looking devices on the ropes, one
on his, one on hers. Looping the ropes, he threw them around his shoulder. He
was scrambling up the wall in seconds, the shock of how much raw power was in
him, but how gracefully he moved from hold to hold, almost like he was
launching himself upward with just his fingertips, it was beautiful to watch.
She could see every muscle through his T-shirt, his shoulders straining, every
muscle tensed and hard. He scrambled the wall to within a few feet of her in
what seemed like seconds. He wasn’t even breaking a sweat.

“Just hold still, I’m going to move in behind you.”

“What are you doing?”

“Being stupid, crazy, absolutely in awe of you. Watching you
get through your first time, was like…like, I’ll just say I’m impressed.”

“Impressed? Right. You just climbed this wall like a spider,
took me longer to get three feet than it did for you to get the whole wall.”

“True, but, you’ve never done this before. I’ve been doing
it since I was twelve. It didn’t take you as long as you think, about half the
time I’ve seen most first timers. And you were serious, you wanted it, you
didn’t get all nervous and start giggling. When you fell, you didn’t even
flinch, you got right back on the hold, I didn’t even have to tell you. I
didn’t even give you any practice falls either, which usually you get before you
go. You have the heart of a mountain climber. You know that?”

“No, I didn’t know that. Still don’t. I think I sucked, and
I think you’re nuts.”

“You want to do it again, don’t you? Conquer the wall?”

“Not now, my arms would fall off. But, yeah I’d like to come
back. If I could shimmy up this sucker like you did, man…that would be a rush.”

“Told you, you’re an adrenaline junkie like me, you just
didn’t know it.” While he was talking she could feel him moving in directly
behind her. Her legs were on holds close together, he put his outside of hers,
and his hand on the hold just over her left shoulder. He pressed in against her
a little, and she could hear the gear clanking together.

“Are we supposed to be doing this?”

“Oh hell no. If John caught me he’d kick my ass. Only reason
he let me in here without him being here is I beat the crap out of him a year
ago in competition, he knows I’m a better climber than he is. That, and I paid
him pretty damn well to do it.”

“How exactly do you know this guy after being in town, what,
a week?”

“This is his summer job too. All of us nut-ball
extreme-sports fools find weird jobs to pay for our addictions, hadn’t you
noticed?”

“Yeah, Mr. Librarian, I noticed. So, what exactly are we
doing now? I know for a fact, I didn’t write anything like this.”

“Nope, you didn’t. This is all for me. Something I have
thought about for a long, long time. Hold still for a second.” He was pulling
the ropes around behind them, sliding the little metal locks he’d put on them
up to close where they were hanging on the wall. A few more quick knots she
could barely see him tying out of the corner of her eye, a couple more clips,
and he let go of everything, dropping it all down behind him. He moved in close
to her, hugging the wall, pressing her into it. Also pressing into her was his
hot and steady body, his lips moved to her neck. She felt his warm breath on
her skin. She didn’t know which was more exhilarating, getting to the top of
the wall, or being up here still, hanging from almost nothing, and his big body
on hers.

“Let go, I’m going to turn you around.”

She let loose of the hand holds, let her feet fall away.
He’d somehow tied her off and she was locked into place. He put his hands on
her shoulders, and turned her slowly around to face him.

“Pretty cool, huh?”

“Very cool. But didn’t you say something about, stupid,
crazy?”

“Mmm. You’re hooked up with an adventure racer, like it or
not, you better get used to stupid and crazy.”

“Oh boy.”

“Oh yeah. I’ve thought for years that hanging up here would
be the coolest way to have sex. Talk about a rush. Myself, I’d like to do it on
a nice smooth rock face, but, uh, I don’t think you’re ready for that. This’ll
do.”

His lips moved in over hers again, his hands were on her
breasts, his thick, heavy erection pressing hard into the vee between her
thighs.

“How, exactly, are you going to get through these?” She put
his hand on her thigh, the thin lycra capris she was wearing were locked behind
that harness.

“I’ve got it covered, don’t you worry.” He maneuvered his
legs farther apart and pulled one of her legs up over his to rest against his
hip. He reached in and unbuckled the strap around her thigh.

The look on her face must have said everything, because he
grinned at her. “Don’t freak out, I’ve got you.” He pushed her leg back down,
and pulled the waist of her pants down through the harness, now low around her
hips one leg still wrapped in the thigh strap of it, one not. “Slide your leg
up.”

She lifted her knee, as he pushed, and together they managed
to get one leg free of both her pants, and her panties.

“If that guy comes back…”

“He’s going to get one hell of a show. My bet is, if he did,
he’d shut the door and not say a damn word.”

“Why’s that?”

“’Cause we all want to do it. We aren’t the first, believe me.
Can we stop talking now?”

“Yes, please.” Once her leg was free, he pushed the fabric
through the other thigh harness and pulled it free. Then he tossed them to the
ground. She looked down at her pants as they drifted slowly to the floor. The
idea she was bare-assed naked up here on the side of this wall, hanging by a
rope, was amazingly sexy.

Apparently it was to him too. Once he had her thigh harness
buckled again his hands were all over her, sliding up her shirt to free her
breasts from her bra, rubbing the nipples hard with his thumbs, slipping both
hands down over her ass and bringing her legs up over his thighs, spreading her
open to him.

“You know what I want.”

Did she ever. She wanted it too. He had on a pair of
loose-fitting cargo shorts, and she was glad he’d picked them, her hand fit
easily down the front without having to worry about buttons and zippers. His
boxer briefs weren’t even an issue as she shoved them down, her hand connecting
with his skin as she felt all that warm hardness pulsing gently in her hand.
All for her. She loved how crazy she could make him just stroking his long,
thick cock, especially since now that it was in her hand. Her mind flew
straight back to watching it when it was in
his
hand, and that thought
sent sizzling hot little licks of pleasure straight through her.

He groaned into her shoulder and wrapped his hand in her
hair, pulling her head back, exposing her neck to him. He bit at her skin,
licking her everywhere his teeth traveled. Bending low over her breasts, he teased
each of them into hard knots with his tongue before he let her have the
satisfaction of feeling him suck one of them deep between his lips.

She gasped, wriggling her hips forward. Her clit made
contact with the warm head of his cock. His whole body jerked slightly against
her with that contact and she felt the loud humming of his groan against her
nipple still clamped firmly in his mouth. It sent a hot gush of liquid from
deep within her pussy. She slid him down over her, feeling her wetness coat him,
and brought the thick head back up again, rubbing her clit in little circles.
The reaction was immediate for them both. She was moaning against him,
thrusting her hips in rhythm with the circles she was using his cock to make
against her clit. He moved his head away from her nipple, let his hands go free
from her and found a couple of handholds.

“I think I better hang on for this,” he whispered into her
ear.

She didn’t have any coherent words in her head as the
keening pleasure of his big, thick cock was softly driving her forward into a
crashing orgasm. The only thing she could hear was the rising pitch of the
nearly nonstop groans coming from his lips pressed tight against her ear, and
feel the slight bucking of his hips back and forth as her hand both stroked his
thick cock and he stroked her with it. She screamed. Her clit felt as if it
exploded in a flash of heat, her hips thrust hard forward and as the spasms of
her release hit hard, he was already deep inside her, ramming those shudders of
pleasure deeper over her.

She could hear him grunting against her neck. He was fucking
her hard, deep, and it felt so good, so very good. She wrapped her legs tight
around him, hanging in midair as he thrust her heavily back and forth. Her
weight was grinding her against him with each stroke as his momentum caused
slack in the rope, and his body alone supported her. It brought the second wave
of shuddering release as his cock pushed to even father depths than she’d
managed when she was riding him. Whimpering small moans against his chest, she
felt relief and a total surrender as his cock spasmed within her, felt the hot
gush of him filling her, heard him give that small yell of all those male
impulses, pain, pleasure, domination, gratitude.

He kissed her neck.

“Did that live up to all those years of anticipation?” she
mumbled, eyes still closed.

“So much more. Light years better than I ever thought.”

They just hung there for a moment, catching their breath.

“Teryn?”

“Hmm.”

“I want you to know something. I spent a lot of years
regretting all the things I hadn’t done, things I’d been afraid to reach for,
like this. I’m not afraid of much, but, being this honest with someone, is,
well it’s hard sometimes. I don’t know how you just drove right straight
through that wall, but you did. Now I’m thankful for all those years I was
forced to hold back, because if I hadn’t, all these things we’ve done, we’re
going to do, well, I’m doing them for the first time with you. I know you have
a hard time accepting those kinds of things from me, but I just wanted to say
it.”

The duality of wanting to let those amazing words soak in,
to let them bathe her in the tenderness she heard in his voice, was blocked by
that glaring fear. Five days. Not just that, but him, so incredible she could
barely believe he was for real. Which is why she couldn’t.

To keep him from regretting saying it, she snuggled into his
chest. “One of these days, you’re going to have to explain to me how you can be
so adventurous, so bold, and yet you say you had to hold back from doing all
these things you wanted to do. This makes no sense. Not that I’m complaining
about being the big winner of you finally letting loose, mind you.”

“Yeah, well you should know, you’re a little paradox
yourself.”

“You and those long words, you big, brawny, librarian you.”

The soothing rumble of that laugh she loved came from his
chest. “Ready to drop?”

“Sounds kinda fun.”

“Oooh, she’s starting to trust me. That’s good, when I take
you mountain climbing for real, you’re going to have to. Hang on to me.”

He released the lock on her rope and she felt her entire
weight fall against him. Instead of afraid, she felt safe. He held her against
him with one arm using the other to release the tension on his rope as he
rappelled them down the wall. They were at the bottom in seconds and he set her
feet on the floor. She felt her knees nearly give way and he held her tight to
keep her from falling. “Hang on there, girl, let the blood get back to your
legs. Here, sit down, I’ll get your clothes.” He held her hand as she lowered
herself to the floor, and handed over her leggings.

She woke the next morning, stretched, and felt the stiffness
in her back. It wasn’t as bad as she expected it to be, in fact it felt good.
Still sleeping soundly next to her, Grant was breathing deeply, his big body
stretched out on his stomach. She curled in against him, feeling all that warm
skin against hers. It made her want to laugh that she hadn’t slept with clothes
on since she met him, but before that she hadn’t slept naked even one night in
her entire life.

After the rock climbing she had been tired, but exhilarated.
They’d come back to her place and cooked dinner together, more goofing off and
acting like little kids than talking about anything serious. It had been
relaxing. It hadn’t taken long to start nodding off once they’d curled up on
the couch, but when he’d started reading to her, her mind had followed in rapt
attention. She had wondered if he’d found the book on her shelf, if she’d
marked it, or something had told him that it was her favorite. He’d read her
The
Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost.

Later, lying in bed next to him just as she was now, she’d
felt so good, so comfortable. So apprehensive. Not the apprehension she’d felt
because he’d revealed his growing feelings for her too soon, this was because
she was suddenly wanting to feel it too. All these good, amazing things that
were coming from this man. Incredibly handsome, so damn sexy it melted her
resolve whenever she looked at him. Adventurous, talked in such a bold almost
confrontational way, but tender, telling her how much she made him feel.
Reading poetry to her, doing little things like holding her hand, washing her
up after they’d had sex.

Now, on top of all that, he’d taken her somewhere she never
thought she’d go, and it had nothing to do with sex. He’d shown her how strong
and determined she could be. That she did have the heart of an adventurer, and
it wasn’t just in her head, something she’d yearned for a long, long time. And
he’d been the one to bring it out of her.

It made her want to drown in it. Exactly what she’d said she
was
not
going to do. The opposite of what she’d felt when he’d set up
this little plan, this little game, at that point she’d wanted to completely
push any feelings like this away. Now she was keenly aware that regardless of
the little nagging thoughts, this seemed more perfect than she could take. No
man was this good, no man the perfect combination of rugged, sexy, sweet,
intelligent. There was just something—something huge—wrong. It nagged at her.
The little things didn’t seem like much, but they kept coming back. How empty
his apartment had been, save for a cappuccino machine. Expensive wine. Things
that seemed part of him, but not.

If he was possessive, he hadn’t shown it and that was hard
to hide. If he had some ulterior motive, it would have come out by now, no one
is that patient. If it was just the sex, he wouldn’t be telling her all these
things, would he?

Maybe he would. Maybe it was real for him, as much as it
could be, but also about something else. Like, maybe, it was about the
conquest. That had to be it. He was an admitted adrenaline junkie, he needed
the big payoff. It would make sense he needed to have her fall completely in
love with him before he’d be able to consider this a done deal. That was it.
And when she did, in his head, this would be one more mountain he’d climbed,
one more extreme adventure he’d logged in. Game over, highest peak climbed.
Whether he intended to or not, he’d have to move on to the next challenge, it
was in his blood. His feelings were real then. They just weren’t permanent.

That realization from the night before rebloomed in the dim
morning light. The comfort of his breathing, the safe feeling she had wrapped
up in those big, thick arms, the satisfying feeling of waking up to him every
morning. The fear that this was temporary. Don’t get too used to it. Enjoy it
while it lasts.

An hour later, one more thing confirmed her need to hold
that distance. He was in the shower, getting ready to go to work. She planned
on stopping in the library herself today, needed to check a couple of things
that she couldn’t find online. Picking up some clothes off the dresser, she
felt his watch drop to the floor, and bent to pick it up, put it back on the
dresser. She examined it a little more closely, since she’d noticed it more
than once on his wrist, she always admired a strong man with a nice watch. She
wasn’t prepared for this nice.

Looking at it up close and personal, it was another one of
those “holy shit” moments she’d had with him now more than once. This was a Tag
Heuer holy shit moment. As in, this watch had to cost at least fifteen hundred
bucks if not more, holy shit. She knew, because she’d shopped for them, and
decided even with her pretty decent royalty money, and having only herself to
support, she wasn’t comfortable spending that much on just a watch. It was a
total indulgence. Unless you could afford it easily.

The odd crawl came again. The one that contrasted these
things that just seemed to exist impossibly with the affable, easygoing,
Grant-the-athlete librarian. Things that seemed to decry his lack of need for
anything much material, yet popped up with enough frequency that she had to
notice. The crawl never took her anywhere that seemed to explain
why
this should bother her. It wasn’t as if she found something dangerous,
something he was hiding. He hadn’t hidden any of it. It just didn’t fit the
overall picture and that bothered her.

“Hey…” He slid in behind her, kissing her neck.

“Hey, yourself.” She closed her eyes, letting the feel of
two hundred pounds of freshly showered muscle soothe her. This was physical.
However nice the rest was, it was icing. She was making something out of
nothing, because she knew it wouldn’t matter in the long run. So he had a nice
watch, that would matter later this summer when he was gone and her life went
back to normal because…?

“You still coming to the library later?”

“Mmm hmm.”

“Good. Wear a short skirt and bend over out there for me,
will ya?”

“What?”

“Kidding. Al’s back today, he’d have an aneurism if he had
to see your tight little ass peeking out at him.”

“Probably. I’m pretty sure your tight little ass is more his
speed.”

“Eeew. Okay that was just wrong.”

She laughed. “It was, wasn’t it?”

A lot of things were just wrong, didn’t mean it wasn’t true.