Mile High Madness: Six Colorado Contemporary Romances

by Annabelle Anders

  And then, thank God, Penny trailed her hand downward. “It’s all messy.” She flicked her eyes up at him. He couldn’t remember being with a woman who was so apologetic about her sexuality. “From me.”

  Chaz pulled his arm out from behind her, took her hand in his, and then placed it at the base of his cock.

  “That’s a good thing, sweetheart. We won’t need any lotion that way.”

  He was slick with her juices. Guiding her hand along his arousal, he showed her exactly what he liked, what he needed.

  She seemed mesmerized as she watched their hands work together on him. “God, woman, so many things I want to do to you.”

  Her breasts pressed into his side and her curly blond hair cascaded around him.

  She smelled like something fruity and flowery and musky, like a woman who’d spent the last thirty minutes fucking him.

  “So good, so damn good.” But that was all he could get out.

  Because watching her, watching their hands move together up and down, was almost more than he could bear. And in his mind, he kept remembering the last time he’d done this, alone… with her watching.

  Oh, hell.

  He picked up the pace – held her hand tighter, once, twice, and then shot off like a rocket.

  As he pulsed beneath their palms, he finally relaxed back onto the bed. Damn, his shoulder hurt like hell.

  But it had been worth it.

  Using what little strength he had left, he lifted his thumb and rubbed it along the back of her hand.

  “Thank you,” he said. And then with a hitch of laughter, he added, “Penny Pyncher.”

  She groaned but snuggled against his side. “I should find a towel.” Her voice was muffled. She sounded embarrassed. “But my shirt is ripped.”

  “I suppose I owe you a new one.”

  She burrowed deeper into his side. “I’m not used to doing this in daylight.” For a woman who’d been married over a decade, she certainly was repressed.

  He chuckled again, remembering the sight of her on top of him with passion-glazed eyes. “It didn’t bother you a few minutes ago.”

  “I know,” she mumbled. “I’m sorry.”

  At this, he tipped her chin back so that she had to look at him. “Didn’t you just hear me thanking you?”

  Her eyes were practically black. When she’d been on top of him, they’d looked green.

  He dropped his hand to her breast and cupped it firmly. “I absolutely loved every fucking thing we just did. I refuse to allow you to even think about apologizing.” He squeezed her breast slightly. “Do you like this? Did this feel good?”

  She nodded slowly. “But–”

  “No buts.” He kissed the top of her head and eased off the bed. Opening his dresser, he pulled out one of his T-shirts and tossed it to her. The words across the front read Pilots do it in the cockpit.

  She quickly slipped the too-large shirt over her head. “Thanks.” She adjusted her bra beneath the material and looked again as though she was ready to bolt.

  Chaz just stood there, totally nude but for the bandage around his torso and the socks she’d slipped on him earlier. She’d watched him happily enough from the privacy of her room before but averted her eyes now. “Hey.” He insisted she look at him. “Get back in bed. I’ll be right back.”

  She raised her eyebrows.

  “I’m not done with you yet.”

  Penny pulled his T-shirt down to just above her knees and snuggled into his pillow. Part of her wanted to run as fast as she could back to her own house and the other half was happy to stay right here. Happy to enjoy this moment, for surely, this – whatever it was – would die a quick and happy death.

  Nimble as a panther despite his injury, Chaz climbed out of the bed and then disappeared through the door wearing nothing but a pair of athletic socks.

  With his absence, her doubts quickly returned. What on earth was she doing? She barely knew him! He was injured! She’d promised his mother that she’d ‘check in’ on him! Surely this wasn’t what Mrs. Wright had in mind!

  She heard a toilet flush from down the hall and a moment later, he returned to stand in the open doorway. Leaning against the doorframe, he watched her curiously, as though she were a puzzle he’d yet to figure out. In his left hand, he held a damp, folded washrag.

  Penny held up her hands, expecting him to toss it to her, but he shook his head, pushed himself away from the door, and approached her ominously.

  What the heck?

  “Lie back, lady.” He nudged her shoulder onto the pillow.

  And then, tenderly but thorough, he used the warm cloth on her. First her hand, a little in her hair, and before she realized what he had in mind, the cloth was between her legs.

  She flinched her eyes shut.

  “Are you always this… helpful?” Throwing her arms above her head, she wavered between mortification and appreciation.

  This part of sex had always been done privately, separately. Not in a million years could she imagine Kent doing anything like this for her.

  “Why wouldn’t I be?” He finished and tossed the rag toward a hamper. Then he lay back on his uninjured side, facing her. He looked a little pale beneath his tan.

  “Are you in pain?”

  He didn’t answer her.

  “Oh, my God, you are, aren’t you?” Penny pushed herself up and glanced around wondering what she’d done with her shoes. “I should go. I should let you sleep.”

  “Stay.”

  Penny froze. Something in his voice tugged at her to meet his gaze. He truly didn’t want her to leave. He wasn’t at all anxious to get rid of her.

  “Please?”

  How could she deny him? He caused her to lose all sense of reason, in a really good way.

  Catching sight of a prescription bottle on the dresser, she upped the ante. “I’ll stay if you take one of your pain pills. Have you had any today?”

  “Not since yesterday.”

  Jumping out of the bed, she opened the container, tilted out one pill, and handed it to him. He grabbed a water bottle from the other nightstand and swallowed it without argument. “Now get back here. I want to know more about you.”

  A little confused, she sat on the bed again and tucked her feet under her. What was this?

  Wasn’t it just some crazy, insanity-induced sexual fling. People who did this sort of thing didn’t actually get to know one another, did they?

  She had no idea.

  “How long were you married?” He reached for her and then pulled the sheet over both of them, tucking her in beside him.

  Huh.

  Okaaay. “I got married when I was twenty-four, when Kent finished medical school.”

  Chaz had closed his eyes. “A doctor, eh? But no kids?”

  “No, we figured we’d wait.”

  “And when did you find him with butt-pillow girl?”

  “Eight months ago. On Halloween.”

  At her answer, he opened his eyes. “Huh,” he said. “We drove over the mine on Halloween.” But he was just recovering, and that had been eight months ago.

  “They didn’t get everything out the first time,” he answered her unspoken question. “This last surgery is the third time they’ve had to go digging.”

  “Oh, my God! That’s horrible.”

  “Yeah.” He’d closed his eyes again. “I thought I was all fixed up but then the pain increased again. Infection. When more fragments showed up after the second surgery, they shipped me back to Colorado. I sure as hell hope they got ’em all this time.”

  “Me, too.” She couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. And afraid.

  They talked about other things, some about her marriage, and some about his life in the Navy, before he finally drifted off.

  Penny was torn.

  He looked even younger when he slept.

  And even more perfect.

  Up close, she discovered a tattoo she’d not noticed before. It started at his neck and disappeared beneat
h the bandages. Flames? She couldn’t tell. The rest of his skin was unmarked.

  And his hair was soft, not bristly at all. She rubbed her cheek against it and sighed. He didn’t look so pale anymore. Hopefully, the pain had receded.

  Was it possible he actually liked her?

  She crawled off the bed and took stock of his bedroom. Some old football trophies, his wallet, medical instructions, and a few dollars sat on the dresser. A small desk tucked in the corner had several picture frames propped on the surface.

  The largest of them featured his parents, younger looking, but smiling with their arms around one another. Beside that were a few smaller frames displayed football pictures of a youthful, but equally adorable Chaz.

  Propped adjacent to those, stood several portraits of him with a beautiful adolescent-looking brunette. The same brunette appeared in a few different dance photos. In the largest of them, the same girl posed in a meadow with the name ‘Francine’ written diagonally across the bottom.

  Must have been her senior picture.

  Obviously, Francine had been his high school sweetheart.

  Not so very long ago.

  This must be the room he’d grown up in.

  She tiptoed back to the bed and brushed her hand along his unshaven jaw. She couldn’t help herself. This had been amazing, phenomenal, earth-shattering… but it couldn’t be anything more. He lived his life in an entirely different world.

  She located her skirt and glanced in the mirror. Her lips were swollen and her hair a tangled mess. But other than that, she was the same.

  She locked both the front and back doors before leaving the house.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Always Come Prepared

  It seemed like a lifetime had passed since she’d gone to check on Chaz this morning. Had she subconsciously intended to take advantage of the injured neighbor boy next door?

  It was possible.

  She was a nasty, nasty woman, throwing herself at young men with debilitating injuries.

  She wouldn’t work in her office anymore. It was too tempting. And now that she realized he’d been on to her all along, she didn’t want to even contemplate the thought of getting caught again.

  So, she collected her laptop, some paperwork, and her cell phone and carried them down to the kitchen table. She had work to do, for heaven’s sake!

  Of course, her phone would choose that moment to begin vibrating. Why did people have to call her? Why couldn’t they just text? Or better yet, email? She glanced at the name on the screen and froze.

  Kent.

  They had only spoken once since she’d moved. He’d needed her to fax some final documents from their divorce decree. The paperwork had seemed innocuous and yet it had represented her biggest failure.

  She hoped there wasn’t more.

  She disregarded the call and let it to go to voicemail. Ignoring the guilt and illogical desire to hide, she opened her laptop and brought up the file of her newest project. A binging sound signified Kent had left his message. She picked up the phone and touched the screen.

  Not willing to listen to the sound of his voice, she read the automatic transcription instead. “Hey, Penny, babe, I really need to see you. Everything’s been crazy lately, and I can’t stop thinking that maybe we made a mistake. I’m driving down there tomorrow. Let’s talk, okay? Miss you. Bye.”

  She about jumped out of her skin when the phone rang in her hand.

  Oh, shit. It was Mrs. Wright.

  Again, she didn’t want to answer but didn’t have the heart to send this one to voicemail. What if Chaz’s grandma had taken a bad turn, or worse? What if Mrs. Wright was worrying about her son and would be even more worried if she couldn’t get a hold of her?

  “Hello.”

  “Penny? Penny, is that you?” The connection wasn’t a good one. Common for these small mountain towns. Part of why Penny wished people would just text.

  “This is Penny. How is everything up there? Is your mother-in-law doing okay?” She spoke loudly and clearly. The sooner she discovered what this was all about, the sooner she could hang up.

  “It was a bad stroke, dear. She didn’t get to the hospital as quickly as she should have but we’ll have to wait to see her prognosis.” She paused a moment. “I wanted to call and thank you again for looking in on Chaz. I just tried calling him but there was no answer.”

  “Er, um, well… He said he was gonna take one of his pain pills when I looked in on him. I imagine he’s sleeping.”

  “That was what I thought, but I’m a mother, and even though he’s a grown man I worry about him. He’ll always be my baby boy.” Oh, good Lord. And Penny had done unmentionable things with said baby boy just a few hours ago.

  “I’m sure he’s fine but I’ll check on him again later, if you’d like me to.” Except she’d locked herself out.

  Intentionally.

  “Oh, yes, I’d appreciate that. Again, so sorry to bother you. I’ll likely be coming back tomorrow, even if I have to leave Bob up here.”

  “It’s no bother. I’ll call you if he’s having any trouble. I promise.”

  After hanging up, Penny realized she’d promised to check on Chaz again tonight. She’d have to face him. Would he be annoyed with her for bothering him again?

  And why was Kent coming here?

  After reading through the same page three times, and not making a single edit, she realized she was not going to get anything done today.

  She probably ought to take a shower. Only… glancing down at Chaz’s T-shirt, she realized she didn’t want to wash his scent away.

  And she didn’t want to remove his shirt, either.

  Pathetic! She was utterly pathetic.

  Barely a few hours had passed since she’d left him, and she was wishing she’d stayed curled up beside him for the rest of the day.

  If she’d done so, she wouldn’t have listened to Kent’s voicemail and she wouldn’t have taken his mother’s call. She could have tried cooking something for him, massaged his feet again. Massaged other places again.

  Why’d she have to go and lock all the doors?

  Because she knew herself, that was why. She’d known how tempted she’d be to go back.

  And then, after biting the nail on her thumb for nearly a full minute, she tied the bottom of her shirt into a knot and changed into another pair of cut-off shorts.

  She needed to make a trip to the drug store.

  Just in case.

  It had been seven hours since she’d used his body, drugged him, and then locked herself out of his house.

  She’d gone shopping, come home, done some clean up in her overgrown backyard, tried getting caught up on one of her favorite series on Netflix, and then finally broken down and showered.

  It was now 7:30 p.m., and the sun was low on the horizon.

  Surely, he was awake by now.

  Ignoring the skirt she’d worn earlier, and intentionally folding his shirt and putting it under her pillow, Penny slipped on a sundress she’d purchased just before moving out of Denver. It had been an impulse buy, something different, something that had made her feel feminine just by looking at it.

  She dabbed on perfume and applied some mascara.

  Nothing fancy. She was not going to attack him again.

  At the same time, she didn’t want him to take one look at her and wonder what the hell he’d been thinking.

  She stepped up to the porch and rang the bell. Then knocked.

  The door was still locked.

  Relief swept over her when she heard footsteps and his voice from the other side. Thank God he hadn’t had some adverse reaction to the pain pill. Mrs. Wright would have not have been so pleased if Penny had been forced to call the fire department to come and break down the door.

  Her heart raced when the door clicked.

  Again with those sweats.

  His smile weakened her knees.

  “Hey, you.” His eyes ran up and down her body and he nodded in approval.
“You look great.”

  Flustered, she stumbled to think what to say. “Um, your mom wanted me to check on you again.”

  He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her inside. Before she knew his intentions, she was pinned against the closed door with his body, his mouth exploring hers thoroughly. “I’ll have to thank my mom then.” He laughed against her lips.

  She couldn’t help but laugh herself.

  He acted like he missed her!

  She’d been so afraid he would be done with her, ashamed even, for boinking the old girl next door.

  After a few minutes of canoodling, she pushed at his chest and inspected his face. “You feeling a little better?” He didn’t look pale at all. His crystal-blue eyes sparkled, and his tan glowed.

  In answer, he pressed his hips forward. “Oh, yeah.” And then, “I wasn’t sure you were coming back.”

  Was this possible? He’d been afraid she wouldn’t want to see him again?

  Penny reached into her pocket.

  And was rewarded by a look of unadulterated appreciation. There could have even been a little bit of worship in his eyes.

  For wicked, wicked woman that she was, she let fall a twenty-four-inch long strip of extra-large condoms.

  It surprised Chaz.

  The relief he felt when he’d heard the doorbell ring, followed by incessant, almost frantic knocking. And how thrilled he was when he realized it wasn’t one of his mother’s friends delivering a casserole or premade dinner.

  She was fucking beautiful, wearing a dress, her blond, freshly washed hair already tangling into curls as it fell over her shoulders and down her back.

  Her eyes looked brown in the golden light of the setting sun, with glints of green flashing at him every few seconds.

  When he woke up, his pain had disappeared and he’d decided that if she wasn’t there by eight o’clock, he would pound on her front door.

  He had other pounding in mind as well.

  Prim and neighborly, she gave herself away by returning his kiss with fervor. He liked that about her, how her body betrayed her. How it contradicted what she said. He wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince him she wasn’t interested, or herself.