Dominique decided to roll down her window, too, and prove that she could be one with nature. By looking out the side window she could see more of the landscape. The road cut through a grassy field bordered by trees, mostly evergreen, judging by the scents wafting toward her.
Beyond the woods she could make out the jagged silhouette of the Tetons. Crickets chirped in the grass as they drove past, and a faint hoot of an owl told her that at least one perched in the trees, waiting to swoop down on its dinner.
The crickets reminded her of her grandmother’s front porch swing in Wisconsin. Dominique used to sit there for hours as a kid listening to the sounds of the night. She drew in a deep breath and let it out in a sigh.
Nick glanced over at her before returning his attention to the road. “Was that a happy or a sad sigh?”
“It was my finally-starting-to-relax sigh.”
Nick gave her another quick glance. “You know, I need to apologize for the tension around here. We’ve had a few of the Bunk and Grub’s spillover guests since Dad died, but you’re the first to stay here since warm weather hit and my brother turned into such a slave driver.”
“It’s okay. Pam warned me that Jack was on a tear, but she said you were really nice.”
“I’m not feeling really nice at the moment. I’d like to bash some heads, to be honest. It’s good to know Pam didn’t have anything to do with this massive cover-up. She’s only lived here for five years, so I’m sure she bought the story Dad and Mo—” He broke off, then corrected himself. “The story Dad and Sarah cooked up.”
Dominique picked her way carefully through what seemed to be an emotional minefield. “I haven’t met Sarah, but Mary Lou thinks she hung the moon.”
“Ha. I’m sure Mary Lou’s in on this, too. She’s been around at least as long as Emmett. You know, I can sort of understand not telling me when I was a little kid. I mean, Jack’s mom, Diana, left, and that couldn’t have been fun for Jack to live with. But at least his mom married our dad. As a kid, I wouldn’t have understood why my mother didn’t marry my dad—that I was…a mistake.”
“Oh, Nick.” The lights on the dash illuminated his rigid profile. “Nobody could get to know the person you are and call you a mistake. I told you—everybody loves you to death! I didn’t meet your father and I haven’t met your…your stepmother, but I can guarantee you gave them both joy.” He’d given her joy, too, but she thought focusing on that would be unwise for both of them. She was a temporary solution to his angst, as he was a temporary solution to hers.
“I have to give Sarah credit. She treated all three of us exactly the same. She begged Jack to call her Mom, but Jack said Gabe and I were the only ones who had the right to use that word.” Nick’s laugh was hollow. “And all that time Jack knew I wasn’t Sarah’s kid, either.”
“Jack must have willpower then,” Dominique said. “I’m sure you two had fights. Heck, you almost had one today. At any time he could have used that information to hurt you.”
“I guess.”
She longed to put a comforting hand on his arm, but she wasn’t sure if he’d welcome it. They had lust going between them, but that didn’t make her a trusted friend.
Still, she hated seeing him in such pain. “Sarah obviously loves you as her son. Does it matter that she’s not your biological mother?”
He gripped the steering wheel and stared out the windshield at the rutted dirt road. “Not if she and my dad had told me the truth once I was able to understand. I’m almost thirty years old and I know absolutely nothing about the mother who gave birth to me except her name. Worse yet, the one person who could have told me something about her is dead.”
“I’m sorry. That must feel horrible.” Dominique couldn’t comprehend it. Her parents might not be perfect, but she had the birth certificate to prove they were definitely her parents. “Didn’t you have to produce a birth certificate at some point in your life? I’m surprised you didn’t find out that way.”
“Looking back, I should have been suspicious. They never let me have my birth certificate. Dad claimed I’d lose it, so he or Mom, I mean Sarah, would go with me whenever I had to produce it. They must have clued people in ahead of time that the names on the certificate would be different from what anyone expected.”
“That’s amazing. They never intended to tell you, did they?”
“Doesn’t look like it.” He blew out a breath. “You know what? I’m not sure my last name is Chance. I could be Nick O’Leary.”
“Probably not. I’m sure they fixed that legally right away.”
“Yeah, I suppose. Otherwise things would have been even more weird.” He slammed the flat of his hand against the steering wheel. “Dammit!” His voice was raw with anger. “How could they do this?”
“Nick.” Whether he wanted her comfort or not, he would get it. She laid a hand on his arm and felt his muscles bunch. “They must have thought it would be the best thing for you.”
“Yeah, well, I’m getting damned sick of other people deciding what’s the best thing for me. Pam thinks it’s best if you and I don’t have an affair. My dad and stepmother think it’s best if I don’t know about the circumstances of my birth. What gives anyone the right to make those choices for someone else?”
“Nothing, I suppose, but if they do it out of love, then maybe you can forgive them.”
“I’ll work on that.” He turned the truck into a narrow lane. “But in the meantime, I’m saying to hell with what Pam thinks. If a casual affair was good enough for my mom and dad, it’s good enough for their son.” He put on the brakes and turned to her. “We’re here.”
“At the sacred site?”
“Yes.” He switched off the lights. “Look off to your right.”
She gazed through the open window and could make out the dull glow of a flat gray-and-white stone as long as the truck and twice as wide. “What kind of rock is that?”
“Granite, with veins of white quartz, polished by years of wind and rain. When the moon’s full, the quartz sparkles.”
“I’d love to see that.”
“Come back sometime and I’ll bring you out here again.”
She didn’t respond to that. Promising a future trip implied a deeper commitment, one neither of them should be making right now. “Let’s get out.”
“Wait there.” Nick opened his door. “I’ll come get you.”
“I’m capable of—”
“Let me check for critters first.” Reaching behind his seat, he pulled out an industrial-size flashlight.
“Oh. Sure. You go right ahead and do that.” Her bravado disappeared in no time. “Take your time checking. Do it twice if you want.”
The sound of his soft laughter was her reward.
She watched as he walked around, raking the ground with the flashlight beam. When he reached the stone and swept the light over it, she understood what sort of magical effect the moon could create. The white strips of quartz really did sparkle.
He returned to the truck and opened her door. “All clear.” He held out his arms.
She moved into them trustingly, allowing him to bracket her waist and lift her to the ground. Once she was standing on the stubby grass, her hands resting on his shoulders, she could feel the heat coming from him in waves.
She glanced into his shadowed face. “This is your show, Nick. Tell me what you need.”
“How about some spectacular, purifying sex?”
“You bet.” Her body started to hum. “How do you want it?”
“I’ve been thinking about that. I want to lie naked on my back on that rock.”
“Okay.” The hum became a roar through her body.
“Then I can look up at the stars, and up at you, riding me for all you’re worth.”
The roar became a tidal wave of lust. “Come with me.” Taking his hand, she led him toward the rock.
9
NICK HAD NEVER BROUGHT a woman out here, and he knew doing it now was taking a chance that Dominique
would become an indelible memory. Maybe that wasn’t a bad thing. He’d had a shock tonight and she’d been there to offer solace. Remembering her gift to him was the right thing to do whether or not they ever saw each other again after she went home.
But she was here now. Her knees straddling his hips, she sat back and smoothed on the condom. He couldn’t choose which sensation to focus on—her tight ass resting on his thighs or her talented hands on his cock.
She looked like a goddess with starlight sprinkled in her short dark hair and glowing on her smooth skin. He caught her spicy scent, which was no longer unfamiliar. The aroma of an aroused Dominique was now imbedded in the pleasure centers of his brain.
He’d expected the rock underneath him to be cold, but it still held warmth from a day in the sun. Or maybe it had absorbed the heat from their bodies, because he felt like a kerosene-soaked torch about to ignite.
She rose up on her knees, and he knew that would be the picture he’d carry with him forever—Dominique in all her naked glory backlit by a sky overflowing with stars. She belongs here. He was startled by the clarity of the message.
He’d had insights before in this special place. He understood why the early Shoshones had considered it a sacred site, although few of them came here anymore. But he’d never felt before as if some presence was speaking directly to him. And with such absolute certainty.
Her face was in shadow, but he could just make out the curve of her smile as she leaned toward him and braced a hand on either side of his shoulders. “Is this what you had in mind?” she murmured.
“We’re getting there.” His words were thick with the unleashed passion that surged through him. He cupped her breasts. “Come closer.”
She lowered her breasts to his waiting mouth, and he feasted, savoring the taste of her. He loved the way her breathing changed as he tugged at her nipples. Lost in the wonder of her firm breasts, he almost missed the moment when she lowered her hips just enough to allow his cock the slightest penetration.
Then she withdrew again.
He licked the underside of her breast. “Tease.”
“All the best things take time.” She sank down again, taking him a little deeper inside her.
Now she had his full attention. The plea rose to his lips before he could censor himself. “More. I want more.”
“I know.” That smile flashed again as she lifted her hips, abandoning his cock once again.
“Are you trying to torture me?”
“You wanted purifying sex.” She eased down halfway before drawing back. “I don’t know a lot about such things, but I’m hoping that if I drag this out until you’re half-crazy with wanting, we’ll generate enough heat to burn away anything that’s plaguing you.”
He slid both hands down her rib cage so that he could grasp her hips. “I’m already half-crazy. And I want—” he held tight as he surged upward “—this.”
She moaned as he made contact with her clit. “Don’t blame me if you’re not purified.”
“I feel purification coming any second.” He held her captive with one hand and pressed the thumb of his other right at the spot where they were joined. “How about you?”
She rocked forward against the pressure of his thumb. “I think so.”
“Then go for it, Dominique. Go for the burn.”
With a whimper she began to move, riding him exactly as he’d fantasized she would, her bottom slapping his thighs, her breasts bouncing with every thrust of her hips.
He would turn into a rocket at any moment, so he kept his thumb where it was and pressed deeper so she’d come with him. She responded with small, frantic cries that increased in volume as her motions became more frenzied. He clenched his jaw, holding on to his climax until it slipped out of his grasp and he came, arching up into her with a bellow of satisfaction.
She bore down and flung herself over the brink with him. Through eyes glazed with lust he watched her in the midst of her orgasm, her back arched, her head flung back, her slender neck exposed. He had the insane urge to rear up and nip at that slender column to mark her.
As they slumped back onto the rock and she nestled her head in the curve of his shoulder, a wolf’s howl rose in the clear night air. Another, probably his mate, answered. Nick wrapped his arms around Dominique and smiled. For that moment, with the smooth quartz under them, they’d burned away his anger.
DOMINIQUE WAS GRATEFUL that Nick understood the complicated workings of a tent, because she never would have managed to erect their shelter for the night. She was too exhausted from travel and more sex than she’d ever had in a twenty-four-hour period.
Nick ushered her into the nylon tent and tucked her into the double sleeping bag. She assumed he zipped the tent flap and crawled in beside her, but she had no memory of it because in seconds she was asleep.
She woke up completely disoriented. The light filtering through the rippling turquoise nylon of the tent confused her. She wondered if she’d somehow ended up underwater, although she could still breathe, so that made no sense, and somewhere birds were singing their little hearts out.
Still groggy, she flopped over on her back and her arm nudged warm flesh. Nick’s arm, to be precise. She turned her head and discovered he was awake and looking at her, his green eyes clear and untroubled. She took some satisfaction in that.
He smiled. “Good morning.”
Rolling to her side, she touched his bristly morning face. “You look happy.”
“I am happy. You came through for me, Dominique. I owe you a lot.”
“So you’re not upset about…everything?”
“I’ve decided not to think about it for now.” He caught her palm and turned his head to place a kiss there.
Amazingly, she reacted as if they’d been apart for weeks. Her pulse quickened and her body grew moist in anticipation of more sex.
But instead of following that kiss with a more intimate touch, Nick squeezed her hand and pushed himself to a sitting position. “Time to get up.”
Cold air wafted over her naked body and she burrowed deeper into the sleeping bag. “Maybe not. It’s cozy in here, hint, hint.”
“Hey, I’m perfectly willing to stay here and play games, but you said you wanted pictures of dawn breaking over this special place.”
“I did, didn’t I?” She was torn. She might never have this photographic opportunity again, but the thought of heating up the sleeping bag with Nick was irresistible. “It’s probably not that important to take the picture.”
He laughed. “Yeah, it is.” He threw back the top portion of the sleeping bag.
“Yikes!” She tried to grab it back as the icy air gave her goose bumps, but he held it out of reach.
“Come on, Dominique. Please take the damned picture. I’ve always wanted a shot of the sun coming up here, but I have no talent for photography. I promise after you record this for posterity we’ll come back in here and mess around.”
When he put it like that, she could hardly refuse. “Where are my clothes?”
Reaching into a corner of the tent, he picked up a bundle and tossed it at her.
“You’re coming out, too, right?” she asked as she began struggling into her panties. She hadn’t forgotten about all the critters he’d mentioned last night. For all she knew they stuck around until sunup.
“Absolutely. I’ll be the director.” He unzipped the flap and picked up his clothes. “See you out there.” He crawled from the tent.
Getting dressed in the confined space reminded her of changing clothes in a bathroom stall, except in the stall she was vertical and here she was horizontal. Vertical was better. But she managed it.
When she crawled out into the pearl-colored light of dawn, Nick was waiting with her coat and backpack. He had on a faded denim jacket with the collar turned up. Standing there in the early morning with a shadow of a beard and his hat pulled low over his eyes, he was a walking advertisement for sexy cowboys.
“I brought these from the truck.”
She gratefully pulled on her red suede coat. “I can’t believe it’s so cold this morning when it was so warm last night.”
He grinned at her. “Correction. It was effing hot last night.”
“Yeah, it was.” She gazed at him, mesmerized by how good he looked first thing in the morning. A girl could get used to waking up to a man like Nick. The minute the thought flitted through her mind, she banished it.
Thoughts like that were what had kept her poor and unfocused for so many years. She’d built a solid business doing work she loved. Or mostly loved. She couldn’t start all over again.
He handed her the backpack. “I’m not going to tell you how to do your craft, but the sky’s getting mighty pretty in the east.”
She forced herself to stop looking at him, and concentrate on the landscape instead. The low-lying clouds on the horizon were the color of strawberry sherbet. Even better, the snow on the Tetons reflected the delicate pink.
She’d have been a fool to miss this. “Thank you for booting me out of bed.”
“You’re welcome.”
She pulled out her camera, screwed on a wide-angle lens and snapped a few shots from where they stood. Although she wanted to move around and get different angles, she remembered the routine from last night and hesitated. “Have you checked the area for snakes this morning?”
“They’re not awake yet. It needs to be warmer.”
“All righty, then. I’m on the move.” She walked over and climbed on the smooth rock where they’d had such a memorable time the night before. She took several more pictures from that vantage point, then glanced at Nick. “I hope what we did last night wasn’t disrespectful of this spot.”
“Not at all. It’s us who have hang-ups about sex. People who are closer to the earth see it as a natural part of their lives. I doubt they would have cared that we used the magic of the stone to…” He paused. “Well, you know. Have a good time.”
She wondered what he’d been about to say before he changed his mind. She’d be the first to admit that what they’d shared had been about more than sex. Standing here on the same spot brought back that intense feeling of connection—with Nick, obviously, but with something deeper. If she didn’t think it was hokey, she’d say they’d tapped into some kind of cosmic energy.
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