The Hang Up (First Impressions) (5 page)

Okay, maybe she had
some
idea what she was agreeing to. His lips looked soft and inviting and she could have sworn they were closer now to hers than they’d been mere seconds ago. Holy hell, was he going to kiss her?

“I’m ready,” she breathed, savoring the sturdy grip of his warm fingers entwined with hers. She was fixated on his mouth, drawn to him by the scent of wintergreen and the desire pooling in her belly.

Jason’s hand tightened around hers, and she tipped her head back a tiny bit, braced for the kiss.

“Get ready to see sparks,” he murmured.

“Okay.”

Then he reached out and switched off her headlamp.

Chapter Four

Jason felt Miriam sway a little as he plunged them into darkness with the flip of a switch. He dropped his hand from his own headlamp, his other hand still holding hers. He gripped it tighter, letting her know he had her, that he wouldn’t let her fall.

“Ready?” he asked, his voice echoing off the cave walls.

“Uh-huh.”

The breathiness of her reply reminded him that he hadn’t told her what to be ready
for,
and the fact that she’d said yes without hesitation gave him the titillating sense that he’d severely underestimated Miriam Ashley.

He knew what she was thinking. Hell, he was thinking it, too. He’d been thinking it ever since she’d come sashaying out to his car in those ridiculous shoes with her dark curls bouncing and her eyes bright and her lips so plump and kissable he’d nearly driven off the road a dozen times just thinking about claiming that delectable mouth for himself.

Picturing those lips now in the darkness, he ached to pull her closer, to find out if they were really as soft as they looked.

But that wasn’t what he planned to do. Not yet, anyway.

“So this is total darkness,” he said, giving her hand another squeeze. “Where we are right now, this deep into the cave, there’s not even a trace of light that can reach us. Let’s give our eyes just a few seconds to adjust.”

The slight hesitation that followed told him he’d surprised her, and his brain strayed back to the thought of kissing her. But he felt her shift a little, and he wondered if she was nodding in the darkness.

“Okay,” she said. “Total darkness. Got it.”

“Now watch.”

Before she could point out the silliness of him telling her to watch when they’d just established they were in total darkness, he opened his mouth wide, then cracked the wintergreen Life Saver between his teeth.

“Oh!”

Miriam’s gasp told him the stunt had worked, but he chomped the candy a few more times, just to make sure.

“See the sparks?” he asked, swallowing the tiny bits of Life Saver as he reached into his pocket with his free hand and pulled out two more cellophane-wrapped candies.

“Oh my God, what was that?”

“Triboluminescence,” he said, grinning in the darkness at the delight in her voice.

“Say what?”

“Triboluminescence,” he repeated. “It’s what happens when the molecules of crystalline sugar are forced out of their atomic fields. The free electrons collide with nitrogen molecules in the air, which causes them to vibrate.”

“I can’t tell if you’re talking dirty or talking geeky, but either way, I like the way it sounds.”

He laughed and pressed one of the Life Savers into her hand. “Here. Unwrap it carefully and stick the wrapper in your pocket so we don’t leave litter behind. Got it?”

“Yes.” He heard the crinkling of the wrapper and the sound of her popping the candy into her mouth. “It’s wintergreen.”

“Yes. Methyl salicylate or oil of wintergreen is fluorescent,” he said. “It absorbs light of a shorter wavelength and emits it as light of a longer wavelength, so it produces light on the visible spectrum.”

“The sparks looked blue when you did it.”

“Yes. Blue light. That’s part of the visible spectrum. Go ahead, try it.”

He heard the crunch of the candy between her teeth, and he watched the crackle of blue sparks in the darkness.

“Did I do it?” she asked, her voice oddly giddy. “I can’t see if I’m doing it right.”

“You’re doing it right.” He popped a second piece of candy into his mouth. “Here’s another one.”

He slid another Life Saver into her warm palm as he bit down on his own candy, rewarded by the sound of her giggling in the darkness. “Wow! That’s so cool!”

“I’m glad you like it.”

Glad and surprised. He’d expected her to be polite, maybe even mildly amused, but the excitement in her voice was something altogether different. He’d led tours with bored city kids before who’d dismissed this little blue spark phenomenon as “like,
so
lame.”

But Miriam’s enthusiasm made him want to stand here cracking Life Savers between his molars all day long.

Something clicked in the darkness, and he wondered what she was fiddling with. He could have sworn he smelled something perfumy, like his sister’s makeup drawer, but maybe that was just Miriam’s hair.

He heard the crack of a Life Saver, followed by a soft squeal. “It worked!” She crunched again. “I see it in the mirror. I see sparks in my mouth!”

“You have a mirror? On a cave tour?”

“Of course. I always have a compact in my pocket.”

Jason snorted. “I carry a pocketknife, you carry a mirror.”

“You’re just jealous you can’t see your own sparks.”

“You’re kind of right,” he said, nudging closer to her. “I’ve been doing this on cave tours for ten years and I never thought to bring a mirror. Let me see.”

He moved closer, shoulder to shoulder with her now. He couldn’t see anything in the darkness, but he leaned close so his cheek brushed hers. He reached out in front of him and caught hold of the hand that held the compact.

“It’s right here in front of us,” she said, steadying the mirror—and his hand—about five inches from their faces. He heard her crunch down on a Life Saver, and she laughed again as blue sparks flashed in the small mirror.

Jason unwrapped another candy and stuck it in his mouth. He bit down on it, rewarded by another flash of blue in the mirror.

“This is so cool!” Miriam gushed.

“It is,” he agreed, though it had never seemed quite this cool before. Something about her childlike delight made the whole experience like the first time he’d ever done this.

He chewed the last little tiny pieces of Life Saver as the chilled flavor of wintergreen slid down his throat. Miriam’s breath was warm on the back of his hand, or was that his breath? They were so close in the darkness, still cheek to cheek. He should probably pull back, but he felt melded together with her here in the mint-tinged darkness.

“Got any more?” Her voice was warm in his ear, her mouth so close he could feel her breath against his lips.

“No more candy.”

She lowered the hand holding the mirror and slid it to her back pocket. That was probably his cue to let go, but he didn’t. He kept his hand on hers, letting her guide it to the back of her jeans.

“You’re aware that you’re grabbing my ass right now?”

“Yes.”

“Just checking.”

He hesitated, giving her a chance to push him away, to tell him this was a bad idea. Miriam didn’t move, so he lowered his head. His lips brushed hers in the darkness, and their helmets bumped softly against each other. He tilted his head, getting the angle right, feeling her lean into him.

“You’re aware that I’m going to kiss you now?”

He felt her nod against him, lips light against his. “Yes.”

“Just checking.”

Then he did it. He started slow at first, getting acquainted with the softness of those lips, the gentle pressure of her tongue touching his. He’d never kissed anyone in a cave before, and he was struck by the contrast of it all. The coolness of the air, the heat between their bodies. The softness of her mouth, the hardness of the rock as he leaned her back against the cave wall, bracing them both with his free hand.

She gave a soft moan and tilted her head to the side, kissing him deeper. Her hand bumped his hip in the darkness, fumbling for—what? He wasn’t sure at first, and his cock throbbed with anticipation. Her palm opened and moved over his hip and around to cup his ass. She pulled him against her to bring their bodies tight together as he deepened the kiss.

Something about the darkness made him bolder, and he moved his hand from the back pocket of her jeans into the small of her back. Her body was lush and hot against him, despite the thick layers that separated them, but he ached to feel more of her. At the edge of her coat, his fingers found the hem of her sweater. He lingered there for a moment with his fingertips grazing the soft cashmere above her belt loop. Then he slid his hand up, tunneling under the sweater until he found bare skin.

“Oh,” she gasped against his mouth, her breath soft and minty as her body arched against him.

He explored her skin with the tips of his fingers, taking his time to catalog every ridge of her spine, the hollow of her waist, the deliciously abundant curves. He brushed the clasp of her bra, aching to undo it and then slide his hands around to cup her breasts as they spilled out into his palms.

Miriam moaned again as though responding to his thoughts, and Jason let his hand slide back into that narrow dip at her waist. She was so warm, so lush, so unlike the rock-hard fitness fanatics he usually dated. Girls with chiseled bodies who ran ten-milers before breakfast and could bench-press as much as he could.

But Miriam was soft. Soft e
verywhere
, a delectable playground for his fingers. She was all female, a scrumptious buffet of curves and flesh that he wanted to sink into and lose himself completely. Her body moved against him, so he let his hand drift up to graze the underside of her breast.

“Yes,” she breathed, which was all the encouragement he needed. He flicked open the clasp of her bra, pretty impressed with himself for doing it one-handed. As the bra popped open, his fingers moved beneath the underwire and freed the soft globe into his hand.

“God, you feel good.” He moaned against her mouth as he cupped her breast in his palm. In response, she pressed her pelvis against his, grinding into the hardness that strained against the front of his jeans.

“So do you,” she murmured, sliding against his hard-on in a way that left little question which part of him she found favorable.

He went back to kissing her, moving from her lips along the edge of her jaw and down. She gasped as his lips grazed the hollow of her throat, and she threw her head back to—

“Ow!”

Her yelp of pain came at the same instant he heard the crack of plastic on rock, and Jason clutched her tighter to keep her upright.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Holy crap. I thought the helmet was supposed to protect me. I’m seeing stars.”

He drew back, putting some distance between them without letting go of her. “From the sound of that hit, you wouldn’t be seeing much of anything right now if you weren’t wearing a helmet.” He slid his hands to her waist, testing to see if she felt unsteady on her feet. “Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m fine. A little rattled.” She cleared her throat in the darkness, and something told him she was having second thoughts about the wisdom of making out in a cave.

Jason could relate.

Hell, it was his fault she’d whacked her head. If he hadn’t been kissing her, this wouldn’t have happened. What was he thinking getting distracted like that? He was supposed to be taking care of her down here, not groping her like some horny teenager.

He let go of her waist and reached for her hand instead.

“Look, I’m really sorry—”

“It’s fine, I’m okay,” she said. “Just—could you help me?”

“You need a Band-Aid? I have one in my pocket, or some ibuprofen or—”

“I’m not hurt, Jason. I just need a hand getting my bra hooked again.”

“Oh.” He slid his hands back around her waist, trying to execute the move in the most professional, respectful manner he could muster. He should probably turn the headlamps on to make this easier, but part of him didn’t want to break the spell of intimacy. “Sorry,” he said, still fumbling with the bra clasp. “Just give me a sec.”

“I really can dress myself, I promise. It’s just that I usually put it on with the clasp in front and wiggle it around to the back before putting my arms through, so I don’t usually hook it when it’s already on my body or when I’m wearing four layers of clothing.”

“Huh. I guess I never really thought about how women get a bra on.”

She laughed. “You mean you focused all your attention on learning to get the bra off?”

“Pretty much.”

He had it hooked again now, so he should probably stop touching her. Any second now. Okay, just one more second—

“Look, Jason—”

“You’re right, I know.” He slid his hands out from under her shirt and found her hands again, ready to catch her if she was still shaky on her feet. “Absolutely, this was a bad idea.”

“I wasn’t going to say that, exactly.”

“No?”

“Well, not exactly. I didn’t plan to use the word ‘bad
,
’ anyway.”

“But you don’t disagree with the sentiment?”

“No,” she admitted.

He was still reeling from the sensation of her body pressed up against his, every atom in his body screaming at him to touch her again.

Stop it. That’s how she got hurt.

He took another step back and let go of one of her hands so he could reach up and flick on his headlamp.

He’d hoped the wash of light would douse his raging libido, but it had the opposite effect. The sight of her tousled and blinking in the glare of yellow light just made him want her again. She smiled up at him, her helmet adorably askew, her lips plump and luscious, and his need for her surged again.

Then he noticed the gash on top of her helmet.

“Wow,” he said, reaching out to touch it as a fresh wave of guilt socked him in the gut. “You really whacked it hard. You sure you’re okay?”

“Positive,” she said, then rolled her eyes upward like she could see the top of her own head. She lifted her hand to feel the dent in her helmet, and her fingers grazed his again.

He jumped back, feeling guilty for the rush of lust, for the ding in her helmet, for the fact that he’d let himself get so distracted. Hell, how long had they been down here? What if Ellie and Henry needed to reach him? There was no phone service in the cave, and they’d been down here for an hour at least. What if something happened?

A flash of light brought him back to the present, and to Miriam. She’d flicked on her own headlamp and stood there blinking, holding her arms around her like she was cold.

She smiled at him and gave a little shrug. “Hey, no harm, no foul.”

“Absolutely.” He nodded and did his best to return her smile. “We can just pretend it never happened.”