“They’re very tough,” Nick said, grinning. He breathed easily.
“Hell, and I thought I was fit!”
“You’re not at sea level, here.”
“Montana isn’t at sea level, either. You’re not even breaking sweat. I hate you.”
Nick laughed. “Army training here is very rigorous and very thorough.”
“You’re not in the army.”
“I’ve taken every training camp, every course and every discipline they have.” He headed for the rocks that hid the top of the waterfall from sight.
“Why would you do that?” Calli asked, scrambling to catch up with him despite the burn in her quadriceps.
“So that every soldier knows the training they receive is a valuable thing and that civilians, even their leaders, desire it.”
She watched him climbing from rock to rock. “I bet you were good at it, too,” she called out.
He paused and waited for her to catch up with him. “I had to be. The brother of the President of the nation could not fail. It would not inspire confidence in the Escobedos.”
No wonder soldiers like Duardo admired him and officers obeyed his orders without question. He had proven himself to them over and over again.
She reached the rock he stood on and he turned her towards the north. “See, the stream comes from much further up the mountainside. You can trace it back to its source but from here the only way to do that would be to actually walk alongside the water.”
“That’s bad?”
“Water takes the steepest course down a mountain side.” He grinned. “Basic mountain climbing training. Don’t follow water courses. Up or down.”
“Well, my knees are ready to give in, so I’ll actually listen to you this time. Can I see the waterfall itself?”
“I can do a little better than that,” Nick promised her. “Let’s go back down.” He helped her back down the rocks and they headed towards the house. This time Calli knew her legs would give out on her. She’d never thought going down a mountain would need more muscles and control than going up. It seemed like she was leaning backwards, every muscle clenched so gravity wouldn’t pull her down the slope.
By the time they reached the level of the house, she was sweating freely and her breath came just as raggedly as when she had made the ascent. Nick, of course, still strolled as if it were a Sunday in the park.
The idea of falling, cool water seemed delightful, but when they arrived at the foot of the falls, Nick picked up her hand and tugged it. “This way,” he said.
“But...!”
“Trust me,” he said. He led her around the bend of the creek, where it hugged the stone outcropping and bent north. The path sloped down to follow the course of the water.
“More down hill? And following water?” she complained.
Nick looked over his shoulder. “It’s worth it,” he assured her.
There were rough stairs cut into the bank, which took some of the strain from her legs. She cautiously followed Nick down the steps. A dozen of the broad steps curved around the base of the waterfall, down to a flat, round apron of close-cut turf edged by rocks and unkempt grasses and bushes on the right. On the left, the rushing stream tumbled over a ten-foot drop of rounded rocks into a deep, large pool. The water was crystal clear.
The pool had no edge.
Calli looked at it sparkling in the sunlight. There was no bank. She realized she was looking at the edge of another small waterfall. The water slid over the edge without ripple or spray, creating the illusion that the water simply held itself there.
“Can I go wading?” Calli asked, swallowing with her dry throat, her toes tingling as she imagined the touch of the cool water.
“It’s much deeper than you think.”
“You swim in it?”
“Often.” He smiled a little. “Though it’s not good for laps.”
“Don’t care,” Calli said, pushing off her sandals. She reached for her top and paused, for Nick still watched her. “You’re coming in, aren’t you?”
“In a minute,” he promised.
She hesitated, wondering why he waited. “Why in a minute?” she asked.
He seemed almost awkward as he answered. “I like watching how you move. Especially when you’re not hidden behind cloth.”
There were a dozen things he might have said that would have been more intimate—that he liked her naked body, that he liked watching a woman taking off her clothes—and none of them would have made her blush as deeply as his simple, unexpected answer did. She couldn’t think of a response that wouldn’t sound totally dumb, so she took off her top instead. With another small hesitation, she undid her skirt and slipped out of it. She was naked beneath and wondered if he would realize she was bare beneath her clothes to give him easier access.
Her cheeks burning even more, she stepped into the pool. Her foot didn’t meet the bottom when she thought she would and she plunged in up to her neck. She gave a little gasping shriek and struggled to find her footing.
“Oh god, it’s ice water!” she cried.
“Of course. It comes from a glacier.”
She glared at him. “That’s what you were waiting for,” she accused him.
“Yes, but the rest of it was true, I swear,” he said, laughing.
She splashed at him. “Come and join me,” she said softly.
His laughter was replaced by a smoldering, knowing expression. He understood.
He stripped quickly and walked to the edge. His cock hardened and Calli felt excitement spill through her. She let herself float in the water, studying him as he paused on the brink. He was tanned all over, proof that he had not lied about swimming here often. His well-muscled body gleamed with a slight sweat from his exertion climbing the slopes. The sweat emphasized each dip and swell. His eyes were a mesmerizing dark blue in the direct light.
She shivered, from more than the chill of the water.
Nick stepped off the edge, judging his footfall, so that he stood merely thigh deep, then pushed off into a glide through the water towards her. The water lapped about his shoulders as he stopped in front of her. He pulled her into his arms and she came willingly. Though he was warm, in contrast to the water, his erection had not withstood the temperature—as she discovered when her hips bumped against his. One of his hands slid around her ass and held her against him.
“Gracias, Calli,” he said.
“For what?”
“For forcing the issue. For insisting on this pocket of time. For knowing I didn’t have the courage to take it for myself.”
Tears gathered in her eyes, the pressure of them almost painful. She was glad they stood in water and her face was wet, hiding them.
She had to swallow hard to clear her throat enough to talk. The need to speak her heart and mind pushed at her. Her time with Nick was nearly over. Even Nick sensed the end drew near and wanted to tie up loose ends and finish things off properly.
“I was just being selfish,” she said at last. Her voice was thick with the dammed tears. She hoped he’d assume it was the touch of his hands and body that was the cause of her thick voice. Before she gave away more than she intended or her voice or face betrayed her, she lifted herself up and kissed him. His arms tightened, holding her in place as his mouth opened beneath her lips.
She thrust her tongue inside, tasting him, exploring the even edges of his teeth, the sweetness of his mouth. She licked his damp cheek, then slid up to his ear and flicked her tongue around the curves and ridges before probing inside.
He groaned and his hand on her buttock pressed her harder against him.
The little movement sent water that hadn’t been warmed by their bodies eddying around them and she shivered suddenly, almost violently.
Nick chuckled and the sound reverberated against her.
“We need to get you warm,” he said.
“I’m all for that,” she agreed. “But it’s so nice here.”
“I’m not taking you far,
” he said. He stepped back, bringing her with him through the water. He was heading for the little cascade on the far edge of the pool. Now she was closer she could see why the spill seemed so clear and soundless.
The edge was made almost entirely of a flat, wide rock, roughly four feet across. The water slithered noiselessly across the flat top and rippled down the sloping side to the streambed two feet below.
The floor of the pool gradually sloped up to that rock. When they reached it, the water was only hip deep. Calli was more than grateful for the touch of the sun and the ambient warmth.
Nick helped her sit on the rock, which had been worn smooth from eons of water eroding the surface. He knelt and spread her legs on either side of his hips. She sat with her back to the lawn, her legs damming the flow of the stream. Water gently pushed at her left hip and thigh, a cool caress that passed around her buttocks. She shivered again.
“Let me do something about that shiver,” Nick murmured, kissing her. His lips moved down to her throat, then quickly to her breasts. He took a nipple into his mouth and the heat, the stroking of his tongue and the touch of his teeth ripped a groan from her. She propped herself up on her hands, her head falling back, as he lapped at each nipple in turn. Her thighs fell apart even further, in offering.
In response, his mouth drifted down to her stomach and the muscles there quivered and clenched in response to the nibbling and the licking and stroking of his velvet-hot tongue and lips and the caress of damp locks of hair across her skin.
She shivered again.
Nick lifted his head and smiled a little. “I’d have thought, coming from Montana, you would be used to cold.”
“Cold, perhaps, but not the touch of wet hair on my skin.”
His smile broadened. “Ah...a shiver of delight. Then I must do it again.”
He tugged at her wrists, lifting them up, then pushed at her shoulders. She lay down on the rock, her heart jumping, for she knew what he intended. She had never had a man’s mouth on her pussy before, but before she could even begin to worry he kissed the taut plane of flesh along her hip bone, the hugely sensitive areas that had her breath catching in her throat and all thought scattering.
His tongue slid in between her folds and stroked her clitoris. She cried out with shock and pleasure. The soft, subtle stroking sent warm waves of ecstasy through her. Her body clenched in desperate little spasms as he flicked her clit and thrust his tongue inside her pussy, before sliding his tongue the length of her slit, to swirl around her clitoris once more. Her chest hitched in small panting breaths, thrusting her breasts up.
His hand fluttered between her thighs as he began to stroke her clitoris with his tongue—steady, firm strokes.
“Aaaahhhh!” The exclamation emerged as a groan. “Nick...!”
The softness of the caresses, the delicate, hot touch, was like nothing she had ever felt before. Her concentration narrowed down to what Nick was doing to her with his tongue. All other sensations were shut out while she reveled in the pool of pleasure swirling through and around her. She could feel her orgasm building up, the quick final rush starting to sweep through her.
Then Nick pushed his fingers inside her, sliding along the walls of her pussy, caressing. The good hard pressure of his hand combined with the relentless silvery delight of his tongue was too much. She climaxed with a cry that strained her throat, and tightened every sinew in her body. Powerful waves of excitement surged through her as he kept up the assault on her clitoris and she shuddered and quivered with each pulse.
Before her body could relax and her nerves flatten, before she could ease back onto the rock beneath her, Nick’s hands were on her thighs, lifting her hips. She felt his cock pushing at her pussy as it still throbbed from the climax. He slid into her, his hands on her hips anchoring her for the deep thrust, and groaned. “Ah, god, the heat!”
Her muscles clenched around him and he gasped.
“The touch of raw silk,” he murmured and thrust again.
Her exquisitely sensitive clitoris sent a little quiver through her at the touch of his pelvis as he pushed deep into her.
“Yes.” Nick murmured, his thrusts speeding up. He wrapped her legs around his waist.
The little kisses and caresses of his pelvis against her clitoris were like the touch of his lips and tongue. She clenched around him even tighter. The feel of his thick, hot cock sliding inside her was delicious.
She felt many delicate touches at her breast and looked down. Nick’s hand hovered just above. He had dipped it in the pool and let the water drip onto her breast. The heavy water drops rolling off her superheated skin were like small caresses. Her nipples tightened almost painfully at the sensation. When the last drop fell, he grasped her breast and rubbed the tip of her nipple with his thumb.
She let her head fall back again, her eyes closing, as the multiple sensations built up. Unbelievably, she could feel another climax begin. Her body locked up tight, as the heart-stopping moment stretched out—a high musical note held endlessly, the single note ebbing and pulsing with a life of its own.
“Yes!” Nick said, his voice thick. In a little uncontrolled jerk he came with a deep groan, as her climax shattered and passed. His hot, thick semen filled her as he pulsed and quivered deep within her. When the climax passed he kept still, locked against her, until at last he gave a shuddering sigh and relaxed. His cock slipped out of her.
“Oh....” she protested at the withdrawal.
“Wanton one,” he teased and climbed onto the rock. He lay beside her, his thigh resting over her hip and between her thighs in an agreeably possessive way. He propped his head up on one arm and smiled down at her.
“I will never look at this pool the same way again,” he told her and kissed her forehead.
She gave a little laugh. “You flatter me. I am not the first woman you have brought here,” she said with certainty.
He frowned a little. “There has never been a woman I wanted to see this, to bring here, to my place. Until now.”
She stared at him. “You’re not joking, are you?”
His hand, the one that did not prop up his head, had dropped to her waist. Now he idly stroked her skin, making the quiescent nerves twitch a little. “No joke,” he assured her. “You are the only one who has ever found her way this far into my life.”
This time she had no water and no time to disguise her reaction. The tears sprang without warning and rolled down the sides of her face. She did not dare say a word, for she knew she could not speak without sobbing. She did not wipe at her tears for she didn’t want to draw attention to them, either.
Nick wiped them for her. “Such courage,” he said. “You’ve dared much, haven’t you? Yet you’re overwhelmed by the mention of your own achievements. You think so little of yourself, Calli. I wish I could teach you to see better, to see how I see you.”
“I’m sorry,” she said at last when she thought she could speak and not betray herself further. “I didn’t mean to spoil the mood.”
“Nothing you could do could spoil the mood right now.” He brought his hand down to rest on her again, this time over her breast. “This is the time I like best, when the physical needs have been filled and raise their demands no more. Then, in the moments after it’s just emotion. Feelings.”
“Happy ones, they should be,” Calli said, and gave a little sniff.
“Happy, sad, regretful, it doesn’t matter what they are, for they are nearly always truthful ones and that is when you learn the most, if you watch for them.”
She put her arms around his neck and drew him down to kiss him, but did not answer. Above all else, she could not afford to let him see the truth.
* * * * *
They lingered by the pool until the sun was high.
Hunger drove them indoors in search of food. By the time the meal was prepared they were so ravenous, they did not bother with the dining room. They ate standing up in the kitchen.
After her last mouthful, Calli burped.
Nick laughed. “For such an uncivilized meal, only a very civilized espresso will finish it off properly.”
“God yes, coffee!” Calli agreed.
Right by her elbow, a phone rang. It was so unexpected she jumped sideways and turned to look at the counter, her heart hammering. Only Nick’s jacket lay there.
He reached past her to pick up the jacket and pull out a cell phone from the inside pocket. His eyes had narrowed, as if he was thinking hard, and his mind was miles away. In Lozano Colinas, she realized. That’s was where his mind was.
“Sì?” he answered. His frown deepened. Then he took a deep breath, the kind a person takes when they’ve received bad news. His eyes closed briefly.
Calli’s heart began to beat so hard it hurt. It wasn’t just the knowledge that this call marked the end of her time here. It was also the news that Nick now heard, that made him look suddenly much older than his thirty-plus years.
“Gracias,” he murmured and ended the call. He dropped the phone onto the jacket and leaned against the counter, his head low.
Calli rested her hand on his shoulder, unsure of whether he wanted comfort or not, but unable to stand by and watch him suffer alone. She didn’t prompt him to tell her about the call. He would, or he would not. She had no right to insist on anything, anymore. She simply shared her empathy in silence, knowing it was one of the last things she could do for Nicolás Escobedo before he went back to his life and the country he loved.
Finally, he straightened and picked up her hand and held it in both of his. His sigh gusted out. “Fighting has broken out at the mine on Las Piedras. Two Vistarians were killed.”
“Fighting? Who is fighting who?”
“Vistarians,” he said simply. His expression was bleak. “It’s the rebels, Calli. They’ve come down from the mountains, much sooner than we thought they would, and not where we guessed they would strike first.” He pushed his hands through his still damp hair. “I have to go.”
“Of course you do.”
Red Leopard (The Vistaria Affair Series) Page 19