Breathless Peaks

by Adrianna Dane

  But wasn't that what she had started to do not an hour ago? She shook her head and lifted her hands to rub at her temples. Definitely a headache coming on. She looked up and saw that Kolt was waiting for her at the top of the steps.

  Big, gorgeous Kolt, who belonged at the top of a mountain peak. The wind rustled past her and blew a lock of his hair down into his eyes. Her gaze dropped to the huge bulge pressing against the zipper of his worn blue jeans. Her pussy dripped her juices, her body remembering the powerful climax he had given her just moments ago.

  He was combustible. He said he had loved her. Did she dare think he might still? Could she reclaim what she had thrown away so many years ago?

  She mounted the steps to the restaurant and joined him. He held out his big, callused hand. She hesitated only for a fraction of an instant and then placed her own hand into his. He hauled her up next to him and they walked inside.

  Chapter 9

  * * *

  The bright sun shining in her eyes is what woke Heidi up the next morning. She flinched and squinted, her eyes tearing up. She'd forgotten to close the curtains when she'd gone to bed exhausted the night before.

  Kolt had not tried to convince her to let him in or get her to accompany him to his cabin last night after they'd eaten dinner. In one small sense she was relieved, but in another she felt regret. She so yearned to get naked and up close with him again that her body had prepared itself without her being aware of it. Not until he stepped off her porch and strode toward his own cabin.

  She sat up and slid off the bed, padding toward the bathroom. It wasn't right, dammit. She shouldn't still be so turned on by the man--certainly not after all the years that had separated them. She'd been no nun by any means, after she'd left. But none had sparked the fire that Kolt did.

  Kolt wasn't one to waste words, he was all action, and she remembered how much she'd loved that primitive drive of his. He knew his way around the mountain as well as her father had. He was the kind of man you could count on, but he liked it his own way. And she had to admit she had missed his brand of loving, even if he did tend to be a bit on the overbearing side. Just look at how quickly she had succumbed to him last night.

  Could one get a second chance when they screwed up as badly as she had? Would he believe her if she told him she'd loved him? But had she trusted him? Not really. She'd been certain there could be no way that a man like him could love a girl like her.

  Of course, back then she had been just on the verge of womanhood so to speak, even though she was closing in on twenty. She'd had no real understanding of what love was all about or maybe she would have reacted differently. He was just so...manly...so in control, and that had scared her a little. Would she get another chance? She found that she really wanted to try. But did he?

  She showered quickly and then pulled on a pair of lightweight, gray jogging pants and a white T-shirt. She looked at the corner of the room where she'd dropped her climbing gear. Stuff she hadn't used in years, although she had thought about it.

  She certainly didn't think she was ready for the mountain, but the climbing wall, she might be able to tackle that today. She picked up the harness, feeling its weight in her hands. Her fingers tightened on it. It had been such a long time and she felt the excitement churning inside at the thought of actually climbing again, even if it was only the wall. She dropped it back to the floor.

  It might be a good thing to check out the exercise room first, to limber her up a bit. Then she'd head up to the restaurant for a bit of breakfast before tackling what she'd really come for. To find out about the business and to try to come to a decision on whether she wanted to stay.

  She grabbed her socks and sneakers and put them on. Picking up a hooded sweatshirt, she left the cabin. The air was brisk, as it usually was first thing in the morning here in the mountains. She quickly made her way to the building on the opposite side of the grounds and stepped inside, rubbing her hands together to warm them up.

  Then she looked up and her breath caught in her throat. Kolt was on the other side of the room benching some weight. He was shirtless and his upper body glistened with a sheen of sweat, biceps bulging. He turned his head and saw her, re-set the bar and sat up. He reached for a white towel and slowly dragged it across his huge, heaving chest, his eyes boring into her.

  Heidi didn't think she'd ever seen a body so perfectly sculpted. Like a sleepwalker she found herself traveling across the room. She couldn't look away. She didn't want to. She had to feel that hard body against her own, those thick, broad arms wrapped around her.

  Her breaths erupted in short gasps; it was harder to breathe the closer she got to him. When she finally reached the bench, he sat there staring up at her, as usual, his expression masked. Except for the molten burning in his eyes as he studied her.

  Slowly, he rose from the training bench, straightening, and towering over her. This close, he was so big, so broad. She could smell his musky heat.

  So sexy. She wanted to taste him.

  There was determination in that hard, glittering look he gave her. She knew what it meant.

  "Take it off," he growled, yet made no move to touch her.

  It was all up to her what she did next.

  The zippered sweatshirt dropped to the wood plank floor. She looked down toward her feet, but a fisted hand lifted her chin.

  "Look at me."

  She gulped. She couldn't figure out what thoughts were going through his head. Maybe she didn't want to know. She toed off her sneakers, lifted a leg and drew off the sock, tossing it aside. And then the other. He dropped his hand and watched her.

  "The shirt," he said, his eyes dilating until they were bottomless chasms that she could fall into without ever hitting the ground. Like the limitless sky on a starless night. Like the nights when she'd lay back against the cool, damp grass and stare straight up, feeling like she was falling and falling, tumbling. Weightless.

  She pulled the shirt over her head and tossed it away. She reached around and undid her bra, peeling it from her body.

  And still he didn't touch her. Did he mean to punish her for leaving him all those years ago?

  She stared into his eyes, wanting to resist, to leave, to run as fast as she could.

  It didn't matter what he planned to do. She would give it to him willingly. This broad, beautiful mountain man towering over her, could destroy her with just a word, let alone his physical strength. But there was no fear in her. Not one bit. He was her mountain man and she'd do whatever he wanted her to, because she loved him. And she'd been a fool to deny it all these years.

  She pushed down her jogging pants and stepped out of them. She wanted to glance toward the door, afraid someone would walk in. But she didn't. His eyes demanded she not look away. Her pussy began to flood with her juices, dripping onto her thighs. Her panties were wet and clinging.

  She hooked her fingers into the edge and shoved them down her legs.

  "Is the door locked?" he asked, in that brisk, cavern-deep voice that rumbled through her, like tremors from a small earthquake. Her nipples twisted to hard peaks and she yearned to have him brush his callused fingers over them.

  "No. It's not locked." Was that trembling, needy voice hers?

  "Go and do it."

  She wanted to rebel. To say, "go and do it yourself." But she didn't. Shaking, she turned away and padded across the room, praying no one walked in just at that moment. She reached it and sighed in relief as she turned the lock, and heard the bolt engage.

  Taking a deep breath, she prepared to turn around, to face whatever her man would do next.

  Chapter 10

  * * *

  "Come here, Heidi."

  He hadn't moved in the time she had taken to travel across the room. He still stood there in his black and gold shorts, socks and sneakers. And nothing else. The shorts rode low on his hips right now and she so wanted them gone. She wanted him as naked as she was.

  "Kolt--" she began when she reached him. She want
ed to apologize. But she couldn't be certain for which thing she wanted to apologize for. For not trusting him? For running away when she should have stayed? For not believing he loved her? For not accepting that she loved him and that no one would have ever measured up to the man who held her heart?

  "Not a word, Heidi. If I ask you a question, I want you to answer me immediately and use my name when you do. I want to be sure you know exactly who you are with."

  "But, Kolt--"

  He shook his head. "You aren't listening, are you?"

  He sat on the bench and suddenly yanked her over his hard thighs. He pulled her hands behind her and held them firmly in his grip at the small of her back.

  "What are you doing?" she squirmed against him. Rebellion and desire collided against each other inside her. She felt odd. Exposed and needy. Helpless and vulnerable, yet she found herself wanting to rub her breasts across his legs, to have him touch her throbbing clit. To do whatever he wanted with her.

  One of his hands banded her wrists and then she yelped as the other one landed against the curve of her buttocks.

  "I should have done this a long time ago. I should have come after you when you left. That's what you wanted, isn't it?" Another slap, to her other cheek. "Answer me, Heidi? You wanted me to come crawling after you, didn't you?"

  She felt the tears spring to her eyes as his hand connected with her quickly warming ass. "Yes," she screamed, biting her lip against the pain. She struggled, but he held her fast.

  "Yes, what?" he spanked her again.

  Damn him. "Yes, Kolt."

  "That's better." He smoothed a rough hand over her warmed ass and suddenly she felt a tingling in her pussy. She wanted him to do it again and she wiggled her ass.

  He pressed against her flesh and the sensation was like nothing she'd ever felt before. She sucked in a breath. She felt the strength of his muscular legs beneath her, supporting her.

  "What do you want, Heidi? Why did you come here?"

  "I don't know what you mean, Kolt. You know why I came here. Because of Dad's ultimatum."

  "Then why are you here with me now? Why did you strip for me when I asked you to? Am I just another guy to you? Any boot will fit, so to speak?"

  Now that made her mad as hell and she began to fight him again. "Damn you, Kolton Harris. I'm not Maura."

  She felt his opened hand land against her cheek. Twice more. She quit struggling and sucked air into her lungs.

  "No, you're not. But you didn't trust your instincts about me, did you? You thought I'd lie down with any woman who offered, didn't you? And you didn't value yourself very much. Not enough to think I'd want to marry you. And that's something I won't allow." His hand came down on her ass again and again. The tears fell quickly now.

  He was right. She hadn't thought she was good enough for him. Hadn't believed she was worthy enough to be loved by him. Had thought he'd only offered to marry her because of her father. A man who was more than worthy of respect. And it was respect for her father, not for her, that made him offer to marry her. And now, she just felt sorry for herself. For all the lonely, empty years.

  She sucked in air again as two of his fingers entered her vagina. He pressed deep, pushing in and out.

  "Your cunt is so wet, Heidi. So tight and hot. Do you want me to fuck you?"

  "Yes." There was no hesitation in her answer. Why hide it?

  Quickly his fingers fled from her and she felt the flat of his hand against her flesh. She gasped at the equal sensations of pain and pleasure.

  "Yes, Kolt," she responded obediently.

  "Tell me what you want, Heidi?"

  She licked her dry lips. "I want you to fuck me, Kolt. I've missed you so much. Please. I'm sorry, so sorry. I didn't understand."

  His hands released her and he lifted her up effortlessly, splitting her and settling her on his lap.

  He forced her to look at him, and for the first time she saw the warmth of gold ringing his pupils.

  "Take what you want, Heidi. I'm not your lap dog and I won't come chasing after you if you leave again. But you have to take what you want."

  He brushed at the tears on her cheeks. She lowered her head and pressed her lips to his. She tasted her tears, she tasted him, she tasted them.

  Reaching down with both hands she pushed down his shorts and her questing hands found his cock hard and hot and ready. Without breaking the kiss, she squeezed gently, running her hands up and down the satiny, stiff length and over the flared, wet head where pre-cum oozed from the slit.

  She lifted her mouth from his and brought her wet finger to her lips, sucking the finger in slowly as she looked into his eyes. His gaze became heavy-lidded as he watched her taste of him, licking her finger like a lollipop.

  She rose up onto her knees and, using her other hand, she centered him at the opening of her vagina. Slowly, she lowered herself onto the thick pole. It had been so long and she took her time, her lips spreading as he entered her. She felt the walls of her channel caress and hug his flesh closely as she eased down.

  He leaned back, closed his eyes, bracing his hands on the bench as she accepted more and more of him into her slick, tight vagina. When she finally embraced him to the root and felt his leathery balls hugging her crack, she saw him open his eyes to glittering slits, watching her as she undulated on him.

  "Pleasure yourself," he growled. "Make yourself come. You're so beautiful when you splinter apart. Like watching the sparkle of brilliant snow on the mountain. Do you have any idea how many times I've fantasized about you up there, naked in the snow, making yourself come while I watched? God, woman, you make me crazy. The memory of you drives me insane."

  She felt her pussy spasm around his stiff prick, felt every inch of him filling her as she reached down to flick at her hard little clit. It didn't take much before she felt herself break apart, her climax spilling all around her and she cried out.

  He rose up, his hands reaching out to cup her stinging ass, kneading the warmed globes, and the sensations sent her flying into the sky once more. His fingers dug into her flesh and she felt the primal lust consuming her. He must have realized it as well.

  His hands moved to her hips, gripping her. He lifted her and slammed her down. She screamed; her fingers dug into the hard muscle of his shoulder. He did it again and again, she took over the rhythm and then his hands were at her breasts, kneading and pulling at her nipples and lights broke apart inside her.

  She breached the peaks of climax again, breathless as she rode him, as he possessed her, branding her with his touch, reminding her of the climb, the thin air at the top, and the pleasure waiting.

  She felt him explode, drive deeper still, burying himself so deep she felt the ache all the way to her soul. Her teeth chattered as she clung to him, afraid to let go.

  He stroked her hair and eased her head onto his shoulder, her breasts crushed against his chest.

  "Why did you come back, Heidi," he asked softly.

  She sighed and closed her eyes. "Because I love you, Kolt. And I couldn't fight it any longer. I had to come back. I had to find out if there was anything left to come back to."

  He didn't answer her. He didn't give her the words she needed to hear. He just held her like that for a very long time. And for now, it would have to be enough.

  Chapter 11

  * * *

  Heidi sat in the office reading through the financial reports for the business. It really was doing rather well. Her father and Kolt seemed to have utilized good business sense. She glanced up at the clock and noticed it was nearing noon. Kolt was planning to join her for a short hike and picnic. He promised that it wouldn't be too taxing as he knew she wasn't up to some real rock climbing just yet.

  The past two mornings she'd spent time with him on the wall and she found he hadn't changed a bit--still as demanding as ever. The corner of her mouth quirked up. She had loved it ten years ago and that hadn't changed.

  She shut down the computer and had just circled the desk w
hen the door was thrown back on its hinges, banging loudly as the handle hit the wall. Heidi jumped back and then she saw who was standing there, a mutinous expression plastered on her face.

  She straightened away from the desk, which she had backed into when the door burst open, every nerve ending on alert.

  "Hello, Maura. What can I do for you?"

  Maura slammed her hands on her hips and jutted her chin. "Do you really think it's going to be that easy to get rid of me? That I'll just walk away from all this because you and the almighty Kolt Harris say I should?"

  "There's nothing more for you here, Maura. Even if I don't stay, Kolt doesn't want you here. He told me he asked you to leave before I even arrived."

  A nasty glint in Maura's eyes should have warned Heidi. The other woman moved closer and a hard, smug smile spread across her lips. It made Heidi think of oil slick seeping slowly across a brilliant ocean destroying whatever was in its path.

  "What if I told you I was pregnant? And that the baby is Hugh's kid. Then what, Miss High-and-Mighty Rivers? That half interest in this place you want so much then belongs partly to my kid. And you can't push me out of here the way you'd like to."

  Heidi felt the world begin to tilt and she was losing her balance. This was a nightmare she couldn't even begin to imagine. She sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. What were the chances that her father had allowed something like that to occur? Would he really have lost his head and let that happen? Had he really loved this woman?

  Oh, God, she couldn't even imagine that happening. That he would have been so careless, especially with someone like Maura. Absolutely not possible. She'd seen the records for the business, the way the grounds were maintained. He'd always kept up his responsibilities when it came to Heidi and her mother. He simply was not a careless man.