by Linzi Basset
“I love him, Brad. All I want is to make him happy,” Chloe tried to reassure him.
But deep inside her heart she wasn’t as positive. Rex was a hard man and the expression in his eyes that day at the ranch had warned her that he had locked his heart. For good.
For once, Chloe’s assumptions were accurate but fate was just as unpredictable and one never knew what tomorrow might bring.
Chapter Sixteen
Chloe stared at the mountains through the window of the four by four, hiding the sun behind their peaks as they soared up; as if determined to kiss the sky. The lower passes and valleys were cloaked in lush green foliage.
“That be Taebaek mountain,” Sun-Sin, the guide that Tae-Won, the Olympic official, had suggested to help her track down Rex, said in his broken English, pointing to the peak.
“We’re not gonna climb all the way to the top, are we?” Chloe asked with trepidation. The hike up the mountain at the Golden Circle had been trying enough. This one seemed impossible to her.
“No, Tae-Won, he say your man, he be at Yukdam waterfall. It on west side of valley. Over there,” he pointed to their right. “Only a little hike.”
“How long will it take to get there?” Chloe glanced at her watch.
“We do forty minutes. If you need break, one hour.” He said with a toothy smile.
Chloe shook her head. “No rest. I need to get there fast.” She’d been up since five in the morning and gone searching for Sun-Sin. Mark and Wade had still been asleep. She knew they’d be upset that she’d left them behind, but it was out of necessity.
She needed time alone with Rex. If she stood half a chance of convincing him of her true feelings, it had to be only the two of them. Wade and Mark weren’t surprised that Rex had hiked up the mountain to camp out there, which according to Tae-Won, was where he’d been spending every weekend. He always segregated himself in the mountains when he needed to sort through his emotions.
The forest path they followed was wide. The slope wasn’t too steep and Chloe could easily keep up with Sun-Sin. The air was rich with the fragrance of leaves and loam. This early in the morning, it was slightly damp too. Birds were chirping and the sound of the nearby waterfall had a hypnotic quality to it.
“Almost there. Just around that large rock. That be where he camp.”
Chloe felt her stomach roll in anticipation. She wasn’t too sure if it was with fear or the need to see Rex again. The smell of coffee permeated the air as they rounded the boulder. She glanced at her watch. Rex was an early riser. Up in the mountains was no different.
“Okay, you go from here. I wait ten minutes. If no come, I go. Right?” Sun-Sin asked.
“Yes, and thank you for bringing me here.”
“Love important. Your heart told me.” He tapped his finger against her temple. “Through eyes, your heart told me.”
Chloe couldn’t help herself. She hugged him and he laughed gleefully.
“Go get your man. I wait.”
She sucked in a deep breath and closed her eyes, allowing the fresh air to calm her.
He was sitting with his back to her when she stepped around the rock. A dark blue, two-man tent was pitched to his left, facing the valley below. He had a small fire going and was stirring the pot of coffee. His daily muti as he called it. A term he picked up during his travels to South Africa, originating from spiritually curative medicines used by traditional healers over there.
“Care to share some of your muti?” Chloe asked in a soft voice. She could hear the insecurity and fear that emanated from every syllable.
She watched his back straighten as his shoulders became stiff and rigid.
“Brad should’ve known better,” he growled. His voice quivered with anger. “Go away, Chloe. I don’t want to see you.”
“Rex, please, just give me—”
“No. We have nothing to say to one another. You wasted your time and money coming here.”
“We have a lot to say to each other. Me, mostly and if you don’t want to talk, all I ask is that you listen. Please I—”
“I said leave!” he shouted. He jumped up and spun around. His face looked like a demon had possessed his soul. Driven and broken at the same time. He’s been suffering. It was there in the slight hunch of his shoulders and the deep lines around his unsmiling mouth.
She shook her head. “I’m not leaving. Not until you’ve heard what I have to say. I was a fool,” she continued quickly before he could interrupt her again. “I was so young when Trent died and so much in love. That promise I made myself . . .” her head moved to the side. She stared over the valley, her mind drifting to the funeral. “I remember the devastation I felt that day. I loved him since our final year at school; it was incomprehensible, at the time, to love again. I shied away from it all these years.”
Her head swung back and she looked at him beseechingly. “Until I met you.”
“Chloe—”
“Do you know why I left Golden Circle, Rex?”
His lips flattened into a straight line and his jaw turned rigid. He didn’t respond but she didn’t expect him to.
“Our last night together . . . it was magical. You took my breath away like never before. And then you said those words . . . they’ve been hounding me every night since then. I ran away from the three of you, Rex, because I felt like I had betrayed Trent.” Her hand fluttered in air in a gesture of confusion. “It was easier when none of you admitted your feelings, you know? Then I could continue to lie to myself that I didn’t care. That I hadn’t fallen in love with you the day I found you at that bar.”
“Chloe, you don’t know . . . you’ve got no fucking idea what—”
“But I do. I do know, Rex and it doesn’t matter. No, don’t look like that! Please, my love. Listen to me, it doesn’t matter,” she pleaded when his expression became closed and withdrawn.
“It matters, Chloe. To me, it matters. I’ll be forever grateful to him for giving me life and I can’t begin to tell you what it does to me to know he once loved you.”
Neither of them had moved. They were standing apart and Chloe was desperate to cover the distance between.
“What matters, Rex, is that I love you. Yes, you’re alive today because he died, but I don’t blame you for that. God! I’ll never do that, nor do I love you just because his heart is beating inside your chest. I love you, Rex Anderson—the man, the soul. I love you with all that I am, right now. My past is gone and I give you the rest of my days. A part of me will always love Trent, but I can’t wait to see what tomorrow unfolds with the three men I adore beyond any measure. Everything that has lead up to this moment here, has been for this; for the opportunity to love―to love you beyond measure.”
“Chloe, I can’t be who you want me to be. I can’t be him. Ever.”
“I don’t want you to be him, Rex. I loved him deeply when he was alive and I will always carry his memory in my heart. I’ve loved you before I knew about the transplant and even if I did know, I would still have fallen in love with you.” She bit her lip. “Maybe it was what fate had destined to happen, giving you his heart to keep you alive so I could find myself with you, all these years later, to teach me to love again. To make me whole. I need you, my love. Please, Rex, I can’t live without you. I’ve been lost and so alone. God, I . . .”
She gulped in a deep breath. Her chin tilted back and she stared at him, a daring look in her eyes. His eyes narrowed as she yanked her t-shirt over her head. Her bra, sneakers and jeans followed.
“Chloe, what the fuck are you doing?”
“Pfft, I didn’t realize you needed glasses. Remind me to get your eyes tested, old man, once we’re back home,” she sassed him as she stepped out of her panties.
“Old—”
She spread her arms wide and said with all seriousness, “I’m just a girl—bare assed naked, in case you’ve missed it—standing in front of a guy, asking him to love her.”
A strangled sound came from his throat, but his
expression didn’t change.
“Do you know how tacky it sounds to quote something from a movie as part of your declaration of love, luv?”
The lopsided grin on his face made her breath catch. His endearment was all she needed. She tore across the distance and jumped into his arms. Her legs clamped around his waist and she hugged him around his neck.
“Oh god, Rex. I love you. So very much.”
“Not half as much as I love you,” he murmured against her ear.
“Hm, we’ll have that debate later but in the meantime, how about taking advantage of my naked ass?” she cooed at him, batting her eyes seductively.
His laughter boomed. The sound was like music to her ears. Her shriek drowned his deep voice when she suddenly found herself flat on her back on a grassy spot, with Rex between her legs.
“Ooohh my!” she exclaimed as he yanked his shorts down and pushed his cock inside her pussy.
He watched her face, savoring the heat and tightness of her silken walls with every inch he breached.
“I missed you, love. You don’t know how empty and hallow my life has been since you left. God, you’re so hot.” Rex buried his face in her throat and didn’t move. He needed the closeness, the heat of their bodies to infiltrate his mind and his soul.
“Never again, my love. I’m never leaving you again,” she vowed. She wrapped her legs around his waist and tilted her hips, offering herself completely.
That trusting gesture loosened all doubts in his mind. He fought to keep his rampaging lust under control. This was a special moment; one to be treasured, not rushed through like a sleigh down a snowy mountain.
“I do love you, Rex. You, my mountain man,” she whispered into the crevice of his neck.
Rex began to rock into her, gently at first and then with increasing power as she urged him on, thrashing wildly under him. His hips slammed hard against her pelvis. Their cries echoed, silencing the birds. They gave in and climaxed with a ferocity that shook them to the core. They were lost, swirling in a wave of euphoria so radical, both of them could do no more than just luxuriate in the afterglow. Neither of them moved for long minutes.
Rex studied the continuous shudders through Chloe’s frame. She wouldn’t let him go and clenched around his semi-hard cock with involuntary spasms.
Spent and weary from stress of the past two months, he withdrew and settled next to her on the bed of grass. He took his shirt off and wrapped it around her as he pulled her against his side. Warmth filled his heart when she found her favorite spot on his chest and wrapped her hand around the back of his neck.
“Bliss. This is what it feels like. Right here, with you in my arms,” Rex whispered in her ear.
She murmured in response, already dozing off in the aftermath of explosive sex, feeling the serenity of their love settling and bonding them more closely together.
For the first time in two months, Chloe fell asleep without tossing and turning, secure in the arms of the man she loved beyond life itself.
Mark and Wade found them like that an hour later. Chloe’s eyes fluttered open and she smiled warmly into theirs. Rex was still asleep so she didn’t move.
“Shh, if we don’t move, they might take the hint and leave,” he said in a loud, pretend whisper into her ear.
Chloe’s happy giggle trilled into the air, dampened by the other two men’s annoyed grunts and growls.
“Fuck that, I missed him too much. Get over here, you damn asshat!” Wade ordered Rex who untangled himself from Chloe’s arms and legs and stood up. He grabbed them around their necks and they stood together in a tight, bearlike man hug. The closeness and love between them brought tears to Chloe’s eyes.
“When are you cutting your hair? You’re beginning to look like a woman from behind,” Rex joked as he thumped Mark on his back.
Mark peered at Chloe over Rex’s shoulder. “See what I have to put up with, angel? Abuse, I tell you. Or, no, it’s jealousy. No woman can—”
“Watch it,” Chloe warned, but laughed gaily. Love and happiness exuded from all of them. Rex pulled her closer and she stood in the cloak of love they engulfed her with.
“You know, buster, I’m getting tired of tracking after you up a steep hill,” Chloe sassed Rex with a twinkle in her eyes.
“Was it my imagination or did she just call me buster?” Rex asked with a dark frown between his brows.
Chloe wiggled her eyebrows as she began backing away from him. “Yeah, and just what are you gonna do ‘bout it, buster?” she dared him. With a shriek and a tinkling laugh she spun around and ran, with the three men chasing after her.
Rex stopped and watched Mark and Wade give chase to Chloe, who daringly flung off his shirt and ran bare assed naked.
“Sassy woman,” he laughed; happy like he’d never been before.
He looked up to the sky.
“Thank you, Trent, for giving her to me. Her love healed me. Finally. I promise I will love her until forever and a day.”
The End
Excerpt - Say Yes
Their Command Series. The new novella series coming your way soon. Please note, this excerpt has not been edited.
Chapter One
“Oh, come on, Dora! I’m supposed to be going the other way. The Silverstone Luxury Resort is in the valley! You’re pointing me in the wrong direction,” Alexis Harris grumbled in annoyance as she peered through the front window of the rental car at the winding road leading higher up the steep hill.
“I’m sure that storekeeper, Jerry, said it’s less than a fifteen-minute drive from there.” She stabbed her finger against the small screen of the GPS unit. “Did you hear that Dora? We’ve been driving for over thirty minutes already—oh damnation! Now we’re on a gravel road,” she complained loudly when the car began rattling the moment the smooth tarred road ended.
“Continue straight for ten miles,” the soothing voice from the GPS filled the interior of the car.
“Ten miles! Higher up? We’re already at the top. Where to from there? Abseil down?”
Alexis grumbled when she realized that the sun has already disappeared from view and that the purple hues of early evening were churning in the sky—the little she could see through the thick trees on both sides of the road.
“If you get me stuck on this fricking mountain alone at night, Dora, I’m gonna . . . ugh,” she sighed heavily. “Great Alexis, now you’re threatening a voice in a box!”
Alexis was completely clueless on any given day when it came to directions which was why she always depended on technology.
“Gmphf, today Dora is just as clueless as I am. Noooo!”
Clank! Clank! Clank!
“What the fuck . . .”
Alexis slammed on the brakes and shrieked when the small car swerved across the narrow road. The crash seemed to take forever. Adrenaline coursed through her system. She could see there was no hope as she desperately yanked on the steering wheel. The little car was hydroplaning across the road and she was helpless as the vehicle skimmed along the rough surface of the road.
“No! Not the tree! Get out of the way! Out of the wayyyyy! Fucchhkk me!” She screamed and bore her body to the right when the tree scraped against the side of the car. With a final shudder the car came to an abrupt halt.
“Oh, my god,” she croaked. Her voice was husky and raw from the shock.
“Continue straight for eight miles.”
“Oh, shut the fuck up!” Alexis swore at the teeming voice. Her body shook. She didn’t even react when a billow of steam escaped from the hood of the car. Her knuckles turned white from the death grip she had on the steering wheel. She now regretted not taking the shuttle the resort supplied to carry guests back and forth from the Denver Airport. No, she had wanted to have her own transport.
“Let that be a lesson, Alexis Lewis. Sometimes you carry independence just a tad too far!”
She could just imagine what her friends, Rachel and Amy, would have to say if they heard about this debacle.
“Debacle my ass. This is a damn disaster,” she grumbled. Groaning, she climbed over the gear console to get out of the car on the opposite side.
She walked around the car and stared at it with distress weighing her shoulders down. The car was literally hugging the tree and with the front tire blown, it was clear she wasn’t going anywhere with it.
“Now what?” Alexis glanced around. She hugged her denim jacket closer around her waist as she glanced at her Miss Booty style Louboutins. It was her spoil for the winter. Beautiful, but delicate ankle boots cloaked in an astonishingly gorgeous black floral print guipure wax lace, lined in transparent mesh and finished with an interior side zip.
“Definitely not meant for a track up the mountains and on a dirt road to the boot!”
It was either that or stay in the car with the hope that someone found her. She’d already checked her cell phone and there was no signal.
“Well, I have no intention of freezing my ass off in this car.”
Alexis grabbed her large handbag, that was paired off with the boots, and dragged her thick coat on with the intention to walk a couple of miles to see if she could find any signs of life before it went completely dark.
“Fate can’t be that cruel to leave me completely stranded,” she bemoaned her lot as she tried to tread carefully over the uneven road. “I’m gonna be seriously pissed off if my booties are damaged from these loose stones. Or, I’ll just claim it as a work injury.” She giggled just thinking of the expression on her new boss’ face if the first she did was to present him with a claim for damaged Louboutin shoes.
“Oh thank god!” She cried out when she spied a flickering light higher up on the hill through the thick set of trees. Alexis hesitated to leave the road. Surely it would lead up to the house? But how much further and would she make it before the darkening sky turned pitch black? Out here in the woods it was different than in the city.
She shook off the fear and slowly stepped off the road and took the first careful step on the uneven ground.