Burning for Love: Los Angeles Armstrongs 2 (The Armstrongs Book 8)

by Gray, Jessica

  Another wave of pleasure hit her body when he squeezed one of her nipples. Hard. She pressed her lips together. Not making a sound was harder than she’d realized.

  “Drake, do you really think…”

  “Don’t worry so much. Relax and enjoy,” he murmured and leaned back to watch her with his dark blue eyes full of lust.

  Roxie was thankful for the small respite from his hands and mouth, but in the next moment, he removed her shirt and her bra with one single move. The cool air hit her full breasts and her already taut nipples became hard, aching peaks.

  “You are marvelous.” His eyes raked up and down her torso and left a trail of fire behind.

  Holy cow, how should a girl keep her composure when he did that? It was pitch dark, not even a flicker of light from the other bungalows brightened the night. Roxie ducked deeper into the hammock and pulled him over her. His weight rested on her upper body as he took her mouth in a ravishing kiss. But soon enough he leaned back again and worried her nipples with his experienced hands. She squealed in delight.

  “Shush. Or someone will hear you.” Drake teased her, but by now she was beyond the point of caring. Indeed, the risqué location added an intense thrill to their lovemaking.

  She grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head, digging her nails into his skin to pull him nearer.

  “Now you’re with me,” he groaned and leaned back. Then he positioned her on top of his huge shaft while his hands left her aching nipples and slid under her skirt. His fingers worked their way up her thighs and into her panties, and she could feel how wet she already was. Dripping.

  The whole day she’d been on edge, fantasizing about them crumpling the sheets, but reality was so much better. Pure pleasure shook her body when he inserted first one and then two fingers into her clenching core. With the desire having escalated since they’d left Quito in the morning, she needed just a few strokes with his fingers to topple into a powerful orgasm. At the last moment, he captured her mouth with his to swallow her cries.

  “We wouldn’t want anyone to come to your rescue,” he whispered.

  “Oh my god, Drake. That was fantastic,” she said as the ripples throughout her body subsided.

  “I know something that’s going to feel even better,” he said with a chuckle.

  Without giving her time to recover, his hands ran down her spine, all the way to her butt. On the way back up, they took her skirt with them and lifted it over her head. Save for her tiny black lace thong, she was bare to his eyes.

  Eyes that still shone with hunger. In a breakneck acrobatic maneuver, he removed her thong and his pants, causing the hammock to rock dangerously several times, but never tipping it over.

  She groaned as she felt his hard length pressing against her soft and wet core. Liquid fire raced through her veins and she closed her eyes.

  “Drake, oh. Please…I want you inside me.” Roxie stroked his hard length, surprise to find him sheathed with a condom. When exactly had he managed to do that? “I see you came prepared,” she said, lowering herself carefully on top of him.

  She used her hands to balance herself on his pecs, while he grabbed her hips and together they found a rhythm. Echoed and intensified by the rocking hammock. Minutes later they were both gasping and panting as they raced toward the climax together.

  Chapter 23

  Dawn lit the vibrant blue sky, when Drake woke wrapped around Roxie. They’d left the rooftop terrace last night just to continue their lovemaking on the bed. So why was he cranky? Every time he saw her, his heart filled with pure joy, until he remembered he’d agreed to a casual fling.

  A fling! Him? He must have been crazy when he’d agreed to this bargain. Crazy about her. But after last night he wanted to make sure she was his for good. Just how to convince her of the same?

  Roxie stirred and he woke her with a kiss. “Sweetie, we need to depart. It’s a long hike up to the refuge.”

  She opened her eyes and the look in her deep brown eyes staggered him. It held a deep yearning he hadn’t seen in there before. But he brushed it aside and focused on the task at hand, packing the bare minimum for their hike. That minimum included most of his instruments and turned out quite heavy. The rest would stay – together with the car – at the small hotel and wait for their return.

  “We’ll spend two or three nights in a refuge partway up the mountain. It’ll be our base camp to make the crater and possibly the summit,” Drake explained.

  “As in no running water and sleeping on the cold earthen ground?” Roxie crunched her nose in the cute way he liked so much.

  “No, this refuge resembles a hotel, including such unnecessary luxuries like real beds, running water and heating.” Drake chuckled.

  “Imagine, a fireplace that we can actually use.” Roxie grinned.

  “You really do hate the cold, don’t you?”

  “Yes,” Roxie said.

  Drake laughed and continued stashing his gear. He’d gotten into the habit of always carrying an extra jacket, sweatshirt, or sweater, because every time they’d gone anywhere together, she always got cold with just a hint of a breeze.

  Roxie bent down to tie her hiking boots and he admired her perfect butt.

  “Hey, you’re gawking,” she teased.

  “Hmm. And if you keep wagging your butt in my face, I’ll do much more than that.” Drake groaned and moved his fingers to show what exactly he intended to do to her.

  Her body instantly reacted and heat radiated off of her. Drake could actually smell her arousal. He grabbed her and pressed her body flush against him.

  “The greatest pleasure lies in the anticipation, sweetheart. Hold that thrill for some hours until we’ve reached the refuge,” he whispered into her ear, and then he released her with a light slap on her butt.

  “You’re so mean.” Roxie glared daggers at him.

  “Me? Mean? One would think that after an entire night of having me at your service, you’d be able to live several hours without my hands on your naked body.”

  Drake watched the shudders of delight raking her body as she remembered the night before. He had no problem repeating it as often as she wanted, but first they had to get up to that refuge or it would become too late.

  The climb was strenuous, but they managed to have quite a bit of fun along the way. Drake had stuffed his pockets with baggies, and he stopped frequently to collect rock samples and label them.

  “You could save yourself some work if you collected those on the way down. Right now, you’re carrying rocks up the mountain.”

  “That’s not how I work. What if we don’t find these exact stones on our descent?” He shook his head.

  “It would be a huge miss for science and humanity,” Roxie said with a laugh, “as long as all of those stones are finding their way into your pack and not mine.”

  Late in the afternoon they reached the refuge. Exhausted, but proud. After dinner Drake stuffed some of his instruments into a small bag.

  “You seriously want to walk some more?” Roxie asked him, hiding a yawn.

  “Just five minutes walk to viewpoint. I want to get a good view at the summit.” He grinned and took her hand. “Come with me, please?”

  Roxie nodded and put on her jacket. As soon as they’d reached the viewpoint, she seemed to have forgotten about her fatigue.

  “Look, the mountain is glowing! What’s that, Drake?” She gestured up to the summit.

  Drake squinted his eyes. She was right, there was a faint but distinctive glow. Against the night sky he could distinguish the dark silhouette of Tungurahua, encased in dark grey clouds. And a red-golden glow flickered through cracks in the clouds.

  “That is fire. Our Giant is spitting fire.”

  Shivers of excitement ran down Drake’s spine. The volcano was up and ready to erupt. He installed his seismometer to measure seismic waves caused by volcanic eruptions. When the pendulum showed heightened activity he all but squealed in delight.

  “Oh. That is goo
d. Very good,” Drake murmured and then looked at Roxie and handed her the camera. “Can you please take pictures of the clouds and the fire? I need to install my tiltmeter.”

  After about half an hour he heard Roxie chattering with her teeth. He handed her his jacket and disguised his instruments.

  “Let’s go. I’ll check the data early in the morning,” he explained on their way back to the shelter.

  They slipped beneath the covers and he kissed her tenderly wrapping his arms around her middle. She pressed her body against his and he made good on his promise of that morning. Much later, they fell sound asleep and stayed that way until the morning light began to filter through the bedroom’s window.

  Drake was the first to wake up and after he’d checked his instruments and imported the data into his iPad, he woke Roxie with a kiss.

  “Time to wake up, sleepyhead.”

  “Good morning.” Roxie stirred and blinked the sleep from her eyes.

  “It’s time to get up. I want to get closer to the crater today.”

  “What?” she asked, pushing herself upright in the bed. He wasn’t sure whether she was excited or afraid.

  “Yes, according to my data, a big eruption is imminent. I want to get near enough to measure the amount of sulfur in smokes with my correlation spectrometer…this could be the breakthrough I’ve been looking for to create an early alarm system for volcanoes around the world.”

  “Drake, that thing was spitting out fire last night. We saw it.”

  “Yes, and I admit the crater might be dangerous. It’s perfectly fine with me if you want to wait here,” Drake replied. He could see how she fought with herself for a moment.

  “No way. I signed on for this adventure. Where you go, I go.”

  After a quick breakfast, they set out for the crater, but they were only halfway up when the ground beneath them trembled.

  “Drake?” she asked with a pale face, widening her stance so she wouldn’t lose her balance.

  “It’s just seismic tremors. Nothing to worry about.” Drake pulled her into his side and they waited for the tremors to cease. But several minutes later another tremble shook the ground, more powerful than the last one. Drake yearned to get close to the eruption, but he wasn’t an idiot.

  “Stop. It’s getting too dangerous to get closer,” he said, feeling the adrenaline take over his mind and body. This might be the opportunity he’d been waiting for for such a long time.

  “We’re heading back down?” Roxie looked relieved.

  “Sorry to disappoint you. See that hill over there?” He gestured to a smaller summit to the side of the crater. “We hike up there. It faces the crater and I should be able to get enough data from there.”

  Roxie nodded and he pressed a kiss on her lips before disappearing into the cloud forest. They walked for nearly three hours before finally emerging on the hill facing the crater. He was the first one to step into the clearing and the sight that greeted him was beyond amazing.

  “Roxie, you have to come see this,” he whispered reverently.

  Roxie emerged from the trees, out of breath and dots of sweat on her brow. “What is it?” She stepped up beside him and then froze, her mouth wide open in wonder. “Wow!”

  The volcano was spitting lava and from their vantage point, they had an unobstructed view at the bursts of red-hot fire, sending black smoke clouds miles high into the sky. The noise was deafening and sulphuric odor wafted over with each gust of wind. Even from their safe distance, he sensed the heat.

  When the violent eruption ceased, streams of blood red and golden lava flowed down the sides of the volcano, charring everything in their paths. Drake woke from his momentary numbness and went to work, recording videos, collecting data, and jotting notes down in his field notebook.

  “This is amazing,” he murmured to himself. Even from this distance, his infrared camera picked up a good mapping of the heat levels on the opposite mountain.

  Small explosions signaled cooling lava that cracked and hardened, only to be impacted by a fresh wave of molten rock. It was mesmerizing to watch nature’s strength displayed so beautifully.

  “Drake?”

  “Drake?” Roxie repeated, louder this time.

  Drake was so busy watching his instruments go crazy, he didn’t hear her. When someone touched his shoulder, he spun his head around and then grimaced. “Roxie? I totally forgot about you. Sorry about that. Isn’t it simply amazing?”

  “It’s scary. Is it really safe for us to be this close?” She bit her lower lip.

  “Of course it’s dangerous.” Drake was too carried away to put himself in her place and shrugged.

  Roxie was quiet for a few minutes, but then she asked again. “Drake, shouldn’t we escape to a safer place?”

  “Relax.” Drake took a break from watching the volcano and pulled her to his chest for a hug. “Volcanoes are always dangerous, but lots of volcanologists put themselves in far greater danger than we are right now. Some of them even die in the process.”

  “Die?” Roxie asked, alarm evident in her voice.

  “Yeah. A few years ago, a team of volcanologists from around the world gathered together for a conference in Colombia. The Galeras volcano was showing signs of becoming active and they took a field trip up to the crater.” Drake hugged her close, never diverting his eyes from the spectacular show being played out on the opposing mountain.

  “What happened?” she asked, wrapping her arms around his waist.

  “Everything was fine for the first half of their trip. Several of the scientists took measurements down in the crater and then…”

  “They walked down inside of a volcano?”

  Drake nodded. “The crater wasn’t full of lava like that one. It hadn’t fully activated yet. Anyway, half of them descended the mountainside, and the rest were finishing up when the volcano exploded sending fiery boulders, lava and ash in all directions. Some of it was sent miles high into the atmosphere.”

  “Six scientists were either in the crater or hanging out on the rim. Burnt to death within seconds. The single survivor, a Dr. Williams from Arizona State University, had been standing on the eastern rim and only survived by luck. He ended up with two broken legs, several cracked ribs, and a variety of other injuries caused by the heaving surface of the mountain and the boulders that were falling from the sky.”

  “Why were they up there if the volcano was getting ready to explode? Didn’t they know what was going to happen?”

  “No. That’s why my research is so important. Each volcano has its own personality. Most of them have distinct characteristics, but they can also be highly unpredictable. Just like a human.” Drake chuckled. “Sometimes they exhibit what we refer to as warmup exercises. Small earthquakes, changes in gas emissions, or noticeable swelling of the Earth’s surface. The Galeras volcano in Colombia erupted out of the blue.”

  “Did they miss something?” she asked.

  “We don’t know, but if there’s another sign out there to find, I intend to do my best. I don’t want any more people to die because they weren’t warned about the disaster coming their way.” Drake turned her so she could watch the volcano with him.

  Only when the lava spew ebbed and the smoke rising from the crater dwindled to almost nothing, did Drake put his instruments away.

  Chapter 24

  Roxie sat down and marveled at the spectacle she’d just witnessed. Never in her imagination had she ever hoped to witness a volcano erupting live, and most assuredly she’d not planned to be close enough to hear and feel it. The warm breeze wafting to their vantage point had been but a weak reflection of the intense heat on the other mountainside.

  Drake joined her a few moments later, sitting down on the lush grass and then tipping her backwards until she was lying beneath him. A completely different kind of heat rose between them.

  “So, how was your first volcano?” he asked even as he kissed his way across her jaw and up to her mouth.

  “Awesome,”
Roxie moaned, tipping her head to give him better access.

  Drake chuckled and kissed his way down to her collarbone, worrying the skin there as he slipped a hand beneath her shirt to fondle her bra-clad breasts. “You are wearing too many clothes.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, really.” He proceeded to unbutton her shirt and then he pushed her bra up, releasing her breasts to his hungry eyes and hands. “That’s much better.”

  He licked and sucked her nipples until they were turgid peaks. Heat pooled in her center and she wiggled to push her pants down, when the sound of voices froze her midway.

  Drake groaned and placed one last kiss on her stomach before helping her right her clothing. The disappointment stung, but she had no intention whatsoever to get caught in the act. The voices came nearer and got louder, until moments she started to laugh out loud.

  “Parrots. We were stymied by parrots,” she said and her gaze followed two parrots flying from the trees, imitating the humans they’d observed.

  They returned to the refuge, hand-in-hand the entire way. Roxie loved having Drake this close to her and she began to question her non-committal policy. Having a serious relationship with Drake might not be so bad. At least so far, he’d given her all the freedom she needed and it had been anything but boring and predictable. The question was how long that freedom would last. Her ex hadn’t started out their relationship controlling her every move either.

  Back at the refuge, rangers were already waiting for them.

  “Apurense! Estamos evacuando el area,” one man shouted at them. Roxie asked him what was going on and then translated for Drake.

  “They are evacuating everyone, because of the eruption. The whole mountain has been declared a restricted area until further notice. He instructed me to pack our things and meet him at his Jeep in fifteen minutes,” she said to Drake.

  “A bit late, don’t you think?” He chuckled. “But I don’t mind catching a ride to Baños. The sooner we arrive at our hotel, the sooner I can transfer all of the data into my laptop and start calculations.”