by Aria Ford
“I thought we were taking the night off,” she murmured in my ear.
I wrapped an arm around her, ripping her off my lap and dropping her onto the couch before coming over the top of her. “I never agreed to that.”
She giggled. “Thank God. But Tanner?”
“Hmm?” I said, kissing her collar bone while running my fingertip up the inside of her arm.
“You cannot break my furniture. And remember, I eat on that table and prepare food on those counters.”
I chuckled. “You can clean them, which gives me an idea.” I leaned back, pulled her up to straddle me again before standing and walking to said counters. “Perfect,” I breathed, spreading her legs and standing between her.
She put her hands on my face and kissed me with such passion, I nearly exploded in my jeans.
No matter how many times we had sex, it was always like the first time. I was always ready and willing. I had a feeling there were going to be many nights in like this for us.
Epilogue
Lindsey
I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. I had to pinch myself daily to ensure it was all real. It was. My life couldn’t be better. I had the man of my dreams literally by my side as I worked toward my goal of winning an Olympic medal. Of course I wanted to win the gold, but hell, I’d be just as happy with a silver or bronze. The very fact I get to represent my country was amazing.
“Hey,” Tanner said, coming up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist before dropping his head on my shoulder. “What are you doing out here? It’s early.”
I sighed. “I like watching the sun come up. I can’t believe we’re here. Like, we’re living here and training at the Olympic facility. Do you know how long I’ve dreamed about this?”
He chuckled. “I do, actually. I think I have been dreaming the same thing for just as long, although I never had any desire to be the one in the pool. I’m glad I get to be your trainer.”
“Me too. I think my parents are going to come out this weekend. They’ve been dying to see the training center out here. I can’t wait to show them around.”
He stepped away and went back inside the small apartment we had rented when we moved out here to Colorado Springs nearly six months ago. The climate was a little cooler than we were used to. Gone were the days he could walk around wearing shorts every day. He came back out, pulling on a sweater.
“It’s fucking cold out here. Thank God that pool is heated. You would freeze to death,” he grumbled.
“What are you and Brian doing today?” I asked, ignoring his comment about the cold. He always complained about the cold.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I’m going to go by his office while you attend that nutrition class. We have to hook him up with somebody. I mean, he’s a lot better now that he’s moved out here, but the guy needs a woman.”
I laughed. It was good he was so happy with his relationship that he wanted to share the feeling with her brother, but Brian wasn’t quite ready. “One step at a time. Brian has always been more career orientated than the type who wants to settle down and get married.”
He nodded. “I guess. I’m glad your dad agreed to let him open a branch out here. When we move, do you think he’ll stay behind?”
“I don’t know. He seems to really like it here. Maybe he was simply not cut out for life in Southern California. He needs the mountains and the cold, fresh air.”
He grabbed my hand and pulled me back inside, shutting the doors to the terrace. “I’m happy he’s here, and I’m happy he’s cool with us, but I hope it doesn’t change when it’s time to get back to the real world.”
“We’ll see. I need to get ready to head over to the center. Are we still on for that hike later today?” I asked.
“Yes!” he said with way more enthusiasm that I would have thought. We’d been hiking several times a week. It was one way for us to spend time together, alone, while I strengthened my legs and lungs.
“Okay, well, I better get moving.”
After a boring session about eating right and fueling our Olympian bodies, I was ready to get outside into the fresh air. I walked home, enjoying the cool, brisk air. I couldn’t wait to see Tanner. Granted, I had seen him this morning, but I missed him. I missed seeing those green eyes and that tousled blond hair. I couldn’t wait to run my hands through it and maybe squeeze in a quickie before we left for our hike.
When I walked into the apartment, Tanner was there—pacing.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, fine. Everything’s great. Are you ready? Do you want to change?” he asked, slightly out of breath.
“I think what I have on is okay.” I looked down at my jeans and tennis shoes. “I’ll grab a jacket in case it gets cold.”
He nodded. I could tell something had him worked up. I grabbed my jacket from the bedroom and returned to see him packing a bottle of champagne into the little picnic basket we had bought at a flea market.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked again. He was really starting to freak me out.
“Yes, I’m great. You ready?”
I nodded, still a little concerned for his mental health. Maybe he was going stir crazy from waiting cooped up inside all day. A walk would do him good.
We headed to his truck. The trailhead was a few miles up the mountain. Once there, Tanner grabbed the picnic basket from the back, and we started out. It was a trail we frequented. We had even made love on it one occasion. Thankfully, it was off the beaten path and few people bothered to come out this way.
He grabbed my hand, and we walked at a leisurely pace, taking in the sights, sounds and smells. I loved it up here.
“You think we could live out here one day? Like in the future,” I said clarifying.
He stopped walking. I stopped, too, and studied his face, worried I’d freaked him out with my talk about the future. We hadn’t really broached that subject in the past.
He carefully set down the picnic basket and dropped to one knee. I stared at him, not sure if what I was seeing was what I thought it was or maybe he was just going to tie his shoe.
“Tanner?” I said on an exhaled breath.
He reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a small, black velvet box. My heart nearly leaped out of my chest, and I could feel tears welling before he even spoke. Then he said the words.
“Lindsey Scott, will you please be my wife?” he said, holding out the opened box.
I looked down, my vision blurred with tears. Inside was a gorgeous teardrop-shaped diamond surrounded by vivid blue sapphires.
I was nodding my head, bobbing up and down, and I couldn’t speak. I wanted to say the word he was looking for, but my throat felt like it was closing over the giant lump that had appeared.
“Yes,” I squeaked out.
He stood up and slid the ring on my finger.
“You’re mine, Lindsey Scott. Now it’s official.”
I was still bobbing my head up and down like a fool.
He wrapped his arms around me, holding me while I wept tears of joy.
He stepped away and reached into the picnic basket, pulling out two plastic champagne glasses and the bottle of champagne I had seen him pack earlier. He popped the cork and filled the glasses before he handed one to me.
“To our future. We can live anywhere you want. Wherever you go, I go. I love you more than words can ever say,” he said, clinking his glass to mine.
We drank, and I finally managed to clear my throat. “Tanner, you are full of surprises. I can’t wait to call you my husband.”
We stayed at our special spot for a long while, talking about the future and making tentative plans for our wedding. When we noticed the sun was getting lower in the sky, we headed back to his truck.
“Let’s go tell Brian,” I said.
Tanner grimaced. “I don’t know. Do you think that’s a good idea?”
“He has to find out at some point. May as well be now.”
> “Okay, if he says anything stupid, I swear I’m going to hit him,” Tanner vowed.
I rolled my eyes but didn’t disagree. I would be the one who slapped my big brother if he had anything negative to say.
When we told Brian, his response surprised us both. “I’m the best man, right?”
We all had a good laugh and quickly dove into the wedding planning. Brian seemed to be very excited for the wedding. It made me unbelievably happy to see my two favorite guys getting along so well. Life was good. Just when I had thought it couldn’t get any better, it did. I was going to be Tanner Brown’s wife.
The End
MOUNTAIN MADE BABY
PROLOGUE
His eyes held mine as he pushed inside me. I saw the passion written in their depths as he filled me, moving slowly so I could take him all in. I sighed.
“I…” I murmured.
He held my shoulders as he moved, a low growl escaping his throat as he began to pulse in me, his climax slowly building.
Mine was building, too, and I shook as we moved together, my entire body throbbing as all my pleasure places caught fire under his body. I had never had an experience like this until I met him.
I shuddered and closed my eyes until I could bear it no more. I cried out, and then he was moving inside me, thrusting wildly until he too cried out.
“Oh! Oh, baby! Oh man…”
He collapsed on top of me and our bodies molded together as we dozed.
As I lay there, my mind just returning from the place of intense wonder where it had been, I thought about how incredible it was to be here.
I could so easily have lived my life without knowing such pleasure existed.
If it hadn’t been for one letter, I would have been done.
I smiled. In this day and age, one doesn’t even expect to get letters anymore, but that was how it had all started. Without that, I would never have left my home in LA and traveled up to wild Wyoming, to Sheridan, and settled down.
My body felt as if I had been taken apart and put back together, every inch of me tingling and throbbing as he slid off me.
We lay together and he wrapped an arm round me, smiling down into my face.
“You enjoyed it too, eh?”
I smiled. “Yes. Of course.”
“Good.”
We lay like that, as we always did, with my head on his shoulder and my hand over his. I felt so safe there, so right. I stroked his hard body and he sighed.
“I am so glad we met,” I said contentedly.
He chuckled. “Goes without sayin’ I am.”
“Good.” I said it firmly and he chuckled.
“Pretty remarkable, though.”
“Yeah.”
We closed our eyes and I think he fell asleep—I could hear his regular breathing. But I was still awake. I was still thinking about the remarkable chain of events that had led to us being together.
Out in the yard I could hear a horse neigh and somewhere in the distance a tractor coughed to life, rumbling off across a field or down the street. I was so happy in this vast, barren landscape with its rural way and its huge sunsets.
I belongs here, I thought with a smile. Here everything is rugged and rough edged, like him. I rolled onto my side, looking at him more closely. He was made of muscle, with that surprisingly beautiful face—the long nose and firm jaw. His eyes were deep-set and looked to me the way a bear’s eyes do—fierce and strong and proud. A bear has black eyes, though, and his were leaden gray.
I reached out to run a finger down his straight nose and he stirred, his eyes opening.
“Mm?” he asked, seeing a question in my eyes. I laughed.
“I was just thinking you’re stunning,” I said innocently.
“Mm.” He sighed and closed his eyes again. I thought he was asleep, but then he kissed my forehead.
“Same to you.”
I thought my heart would melt.
I closed my eyes and snuggled close to I and thought about that day, that felt so long ago now, when I had received that letter that had caused us to meet and had changed everything.
CHAPTER ONE
Kelly
I put my notepad with the spreadsheets aside, put my head on the table and did the silent scream. It didn’t make anything any easier, but it did make me feel better.
“Kelly Gowan, you’re crazy, you know that?” Telling myself also didn’t make my job easier, but then, it wasn’t really going to get any easier. One of my duties, in my job as secretary at Friedman and Barne law firm, is keeping a current list of the year’s clients. And I had kind of forgotten about that bit until the week before the AGM. Which meant I had to do it all now. This weekend. Agh.
It was two P.M. on Saturday and I’d been at it since eight in the morning. I ran a hand through my tousled red hair and sighed. My head hurt. My eyes crossed. I was hungry and fed up and I felt mad at myself for my oversight during the year. I was only a quarter of the way done too. How was I going to keep at it?
“Coffee.”
I stood up and went to the kitchen, grumbling under my breath about everything and nothing.
“If only I’d kept track of it all year.”
That was just part of my list of “if only.” If only I had decided to stay in Florida, where I had my distracted and frazzled mom, my circle of friends, and quite possibly a job writing for a sports magazine. That would have suited me way better than all this tedious number crunching. If only I had some company in this city. If only I wasn’t so terribly forgetful.
“Damn it!”
The doorbell rang just as I had just discovered I’d forgotten to buy detergent. Now all my cups were dirty too. I stormed to the door in a foul mood.
“Hello?” I snarled.
The neighbor grinned at me. He lived across the hallway and I had half a mind to seduce him except that I don’t know if he’d have been up for it. He was cute in a boyish way and I had to admit he set my heart racing a bit. Now, he looked a bit ruffled.
“Sorry, Nic.” I sighed. “What’s up?”
“A letter for you,” he said. He held it out, looking nervously at me as if he expected I might take out his throat. I sighed.
“Thanks. Have a good day.”
“You too.”
“Thanks.”
I closed the door and leaned against it, sighing. Have a good day. I’ll do that—and I might also fly out the window and circle over the seafront. Both things had the same level of unlikely.
I ran my hand through my untamed, frazzled auburn curls, sat down at the table and looked at the letter.
Where’s this from?
The envelope looked beaten up. The rain had soaked it once at least, and then it had dried crinkled, the ink blurred here and there. It was a miracle it had gotten here at all.
I tore it open—it had no return address on the back, so where it came from was a mystery. I held it up to the light.
“Dear Kelly,” I read aloud. “I am writing this letter because I haven’t heard from you for years and I wonder, sometimes, what’s going on.”
I frowned. Who could it be from? I scanned on through the large, rambling writing.
I am still on the farm. I have a sore chest and I can’t sleep at night. I think I’m getting sick. Your mom doesn’t answer my phone calls, and I haven’t heard from her in years. The farm is a mess. Can you come and visit sometime? Grandpa H.
“Oh, for goodness…” I sighed. It was from my grandfather.
My grandfather, Josh Hayley, was my mom’s dad. He still lived on a farm in Wyoming, somewhere on the far end of the civilized world. He was a textbook eccentric and my mom had always despaired of him somewhat. I loved him. I recalled a big, friendly face, round glasses and a permanent grin. Grandpa was always content. He never got mad about anything. During the hard times when my mom was going through the divorce he had visited us. I had loved him. I wondered how he was now.
I have a sore chest and I can’t sleep at night.
&
nbsp; I felt a stab of sorrow, reading that. Poor Grandpa. That sounded bad.
Your mom doesn’t answer my phone calls. I haven’t heard from her in years.
I wondered if he even had Mom’s new phone details. Probably not. My mom probably forgot to update him. That would be typical. Incapable of malice, Mom was entirely capable of forgetting about her entire family in the middle of a big project. A landscape designer, she was always getting swept off her feet by her latest inspirations and forgetting to make her own dinner, never mind forgetting other basic things like sleep. Her dad was probably the last thing in her thoughts.
“Someone has to help,” I said aloud.
I sighed. Why that someone had to be me, I wasn’t sure. Here I was, thousands of miles away, probably about as equipped to get stuff done in the back of Beyond as I was to man a hovercraft. But then I thought, as I dug out a sponge and some good old-fashioned Dawn dishwashing liquid, if I didn’t, who would?
Mom was Grandpa’s only living relative. And if she wasn’t doing something, it would have to be me.
I scrubbed the dishes and planned. As I worked, a crazy idea came into my mind. Why not just go? I had some leave left over, so why not just take a week off? Go to Wyoming, sort him out, come back? What was stopping me? In that moment, I made myself a promise.