by Jill Shalvis
grief-stricken girl she’d been. But he had the grown woman right here in his arms. “You belong here as much as anyone.”
He could tell that made her feel good but was also far too serious for her, because she changed the subject. “I still can’t believe Hudson stitched you up like that. Let me see your chest.”
Her holier-than-thou tone had him flipping her beneath him on the bed. “You’ve been the boss of me for going on two days now,” he said, making himself at home between her legs. “My turn.”
She stared up at his mouth like she wanted it on hers. He intended to oblige her. “Doesn’t seem quite fair,” she said, “since you’ve been a pretty big dud.”
He felt his brows rise. “A big dud?”
“And a bad patient,” she said.
Her hands were trapped between them. He entwined their fingers and slid her arms up over her head, holding them there while he lowered his body over hers and met her gaze. She was looking a little apprehensive and a whole lot aroused.
It was a good combo, he decided. “So you have complaints.”
“Well,” she said, hedging, clearly fighting a smile. “It’d be rude of me to insult your manhood when you’re down.”
He nudged his hips into hers, and he could tell by the way her breath caught that she could feel he wasn’t down at all, but up. Very, very up.
“Consider me corrected,” she whispered.
He kissed her neck, nudging the strap of her cami from her shoulder.
She moaned as his hand made its way beneath the soft material and skimmed lightly across her nipple, her entire body trembling under his touch. “Your injury …”
“Shh.” Slowly he eased her top over her head and sent it sailing. Leaning over her, he kissed her sexy mouth and then flashed her a smile before dragging hot, open-mouthed kisses down her breasts, her ribs, a hipbone … She was making the sexiest little whimpers he’d ever heard as he got to her panties. He kissed her over them and then pulled the cotton away from her, sliding them down her legs, where they took the same flight as her top had. “Can’t get enough of you,” he whispered, and lowered his mouth to her wet center.
She sucked in a breath, and then another. “Aidan—”
“Shh,” he said, and continued on with his plan to drive her crazy with lust.
It took a very gratifyingly short amount of time. When she cried out and began to shudder, he stayed with her to the end.
Panting, still quivering, she tried to roll, giving him a push to indicate he needed to go with her. Letting her have her way, he ended up flat on his back with her on top.
“Does this hurt?”
“You’re killing me,” he said. “But you’re not hurting me.”
She smiled and ran her hands down his chest, lightly over his bandage. His eyes nearly drifted shut in sheer passion at the sensation of all those smooth, soft curves lying against him. God, she felt so damn good. But her hands were headed south, her eyes on her own movements as she wrapped her fingers around him.
“Don’t let me hurt you,” she said.
Too late, he thought as she slid down his body. The feel of her mouth around him shattered any control he’d been managing to hold on to. He managed a single shallow breath before she began to suck in rhythm. His heart rate doubled and then tripled, and his hands slid into her hair. “Lily—”
She didn’t stop, not even when he was gasping and choked out her name. Not wanting to hurt her, he forced his hands from her hair and ended up fisting the sheets instead. She took him all the way to the edge before he managed to sit up and pull her in so that she straddled him.
She licked her lips like she was savoring the taste of him and then sank down on him so that he slid in deep.
“Aidan?” she whispered against his mouth.
“Yeah?”
“Can’t get enough of you either.”
He stilled and stared up at her. “Good,” he said in a fierce voice that had nothing to do with lust and everything to do with emotion. Gut-wrenching, heartbreaking, to-the-soul emotion.
“I …” Her gaze dipped to his chest and then back to his eyes. “I do feel things for you,” she whispered. “Big things. I just …”
He pushed her hair from her face. “You’ll get there when you get there. There’s no rush, Lily.”
Her eyes were big on his. Uncertain. Wary. “I’m just …”
“I know. And I’m not going anywhere,” he promised. “And neither are my feelings for you.”
Her eyes went a little misty but she nodded. And then she began to move. And oh, Lord, how she moved. He sank one hand into her hair and wrapped his other arm around her, low on her hips, to keep her in tight as he moved with her.
Her eyes were closed now, her head back, her breathing shallow. He kept his own eyes open with great effort, watching as she tumbled over, coming hard against him, shuddering in his arms, his name on her lips.
This sealed his fate. He couldn’t hold back, didn’t even try as he tightened his grip and came right after her.
It took all his strength to roll to his side and pull her in close to him as he concentrated on getting his heart rate back into normal range. “You don’t even want to know how many times I’ve fantasized about your mouth on me,” he said.
“But you didn’t let me finish.”
“Needed to be inside you when I came.” He met her gaze. “You ever fantasize about me?”
She blushed but didn’t look away. “Yes.”
“Tell me.”
“You really want to know?”
“Hell yeah,” he said.
“Okay.” She grimaced. “But it’s just a fantasy, okay? I don’t have a rescue complex or anything, it’s just that the way you look in your gear when you’re out there on the mountain getting ready to rescue someone, with the ropes and harness and that fierce look of intense determination you get …” She broke off and bit her lip.
“You want me to rescue you,” he said, and smiled.
“Not a real rescue,” she said quickly. “I don’t want to ever need a real rescue.”
“Just pretend,” he said, liking where this was going. “In my gear.”
Her eyes lit with arousal and amusement. “Yes, and …”
“My ropes,” he said.
“You think I’m terrible,” she said. “Right?”
“I think you’re the best thing ever.” And then he proved it to her.
When Lily stirred next, dawn still hadn’t hit, but she was violently aroused.
Aidan was over her in the dark, stroking her body, making her feel like she could go up in flames.
“You sure you’re up for this?” she asked, her hands against his chest.
Instead of answering, he rocked into her.
Yep, there was no doubt that he was indeed “up” for this as his mouth nestled along her throat.
Her sweet spot.
She stroked her hands over him, the two of them exchanging lazy kisses and nibbles until Aidan suddenly got serious, rolling so that he was flat on his back. Warm strong hands skimmed her thighs, settling them on either side of his hips.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Getting there.” And with that, he lifted her and thrust inside deep. “Yeah,” he said on a rough groan that gave her one of those really great body shivers. “Definitely getting there.” His hands skimmed down her arms to hers, entwining their fingers. Then he tugged so that she fell forward onto his chest. His face only inches from hers, he held her gaze, his own open and unguarded. He was aroused, but there was also affection shining from those warm brown eyes.
And more.
In fact, she could see anything and everything in those eyes.
A groan coupled with a thrust from Aidan had her clutching at him as he continued to move beneath her. Not wanting to hurt him by squeezing too hard on his ribs with her knees, she clasped his hands and pushed herself upright, crying out as this seated him even deeper inside her.
“Okay?
” he asked, sounding breathless.
She could only let out a short laugh. “So okay.”
Aidan smiled and, hands still entwined with hers, locked his arms. Held suspended above him now, she rocked her hips, riding him, meeting him thrust for thrust.
“Oh, fuck,” he murmured. “You should see yourself, Lily. You’re the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”
He was one to talk. The sight of him sprawled beneath her, the muscles in his arms corded with the effort of keeping her balanced, the unadulterated hunger and desire etched on his face …
And just like that, the pressure inside her built and then exploded. As he followed her over she fell forward onto his chest again, burrowing into him. Murmuring her name in that husky voice she loved, he hugged her in close and they drifted back to sleep together.
Lily woke up with a smile on her face. It’d been a week since Aidan had shown up at her place injured, and she’d woken up with a smile every single day since.
She was alone in her bed now, but Aidan hadn’t been gone all that long, and he’d left her boneless and satisfied as always.
She stretched, feeling her muscles ache in the best of ways after the night before, when he’d brought her fantasy to life showing up with ropes and some very … naughty uses of them.
And then he’d made her write a list of more fantasies, which had brought out that wicked, badass smile of his and a promise to make every one of them come true.
She reached for her charging phone on the nightstand and checked her email out of habit. But the truth was, she’d stopped worrying about the lack of hits on her resume awhile ago. She was actually loving being back in Cedar Ridge. She wasn’t exactly sure what that meant, but it led her to the reason she felt happy.
Aidan.
In spite of her initial hesitancy, she’d taken him into her bed and it had forever changed what he meant to her.
Whatever that was.
But it wasn’t a mystery how he felt about her. She thought of how he looked at her, how he always seemed to be looking at her as if he couldn’t help himself. How he was there whenever she needed him.
And then there’d been the “I love you.” Hard to discount that. Aidan never said something he didn’t mean.
Never.
Her heart rolled over in her chest, exposing its tender underside as it tended to do in all matters Aidan, leaving her … vulnerable.
And both giddy and terrified at the same time.
She needed to relax. Some people did that with yoga, or meditation, or even a trip to the spa. Lily was starting to learn, or maybe it was her remembering, that she felt most at peace on the mountain. She put on her hiking clothes and, as she had every day since getting the package, added Ashley’s scarf. Today there was a wind that made her glad for the added protection.
Two hours later, she stopped at what had become her favorite place atop the mountain, where she could see everything and feel closest to Ashley. And the fact that it was getting easier each time to get there made her feel good. This was her haven now.
Not the place she had to fear.
She let out a deep breath and a lot of tension. The wind kicked in and pushed at the trees high above her, making them sway and dance. The staccato sounds of the branches hitting each other along with the chatter of the squirrels as they ran for cover was comforting because it sounded like …
Her childhood.
There was only one thing missing, of course.
Ashley.
“Hey, sis,” she whispered, fingering the scarf. “I’m back.” She let out a low laugh. “Turns out I can’t stay away. I feel you here, Ash.”
She drew a deep breath and looked across the chasm at Dead Man’s Cliff. “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I ever climbed that stupid cliff. And I’m sorry you did too. Most of all, I’m sorry you can’t be here now.” Her breath hitched, constricted by tears. “I miss you so much.”
When she’d first come back to Cedar Ridge, she’d honestly believed that she needed to get to the mountain and stare down the face where Ashley died. Actually, she’d thought that until this very second, but the truth was she didn’t need to. If anything, what happened to Ashley there had taught her that there were some things that weren’t meant to be conquered at all.
She knew the truth now. In losing Ashley, she’d also lost too much of herself. Lily needed to come back to Cedar Ridge to remember how to live.
Yes, being here was a visceral reminder of a terrible tragedy.
But it was also home.
She let that knowledge settle in, warming her from the inside out. It didn’t take away her losses, but gathering Ashley’s scarf closer, she understood something else.
It wasn’t supposed to.
Ashley would always be a part of her, maybe one of the best parts, and she didn’t have to let that go. She just had to be able to live the life she was supposed to live.
“Thanks, Ash,” she whispered.
The wind caressed her, and she turned her face into it. It felt like Ashley’s spirit telling her it was okay to carry on, to keep chasing adventure. That’s who she was, and this was where she belonged.
Aidan was in the middle of an S&R training exercise with his team, hanging off the side of Heaven’s Peak when they were radioed about a weather change.
They ended the exercise and were still packing up when Aidan’s phone beeped. Seeing Gray’s name pop up on the screen when he knew where Aidan was and what he was doing made Aidan pick up the call. “What’s wrong?”
“She’s back at it,” Gray said.
Aidan grimaced. “Look, man, I’ve told you, whatever bedroom games you and Penny decide to play, just leave me the hell out of it—”
“Not Penny, you idiot.”
“Kenna?” was Aidan’s next guess. “You gotta give her a job, man, or—”
“I gave her a damn job, I gave her the ski school. Now stop talking and listen to me. It’s Lily. She’s back on the mountain. She just passed out of our range, heading north. Which isn’t exactly the way back.”
No, north from there would take her straight to Dead Man’s Cliff.
“And there’s a hell of a surprise storm brewing,” Gray said. “This morning we had a zero percent chance of precip. Now we’re at one hundred percent, expecting high winds and flash floods in the basin.”
“She’s still trying to get up to where Ashley—”
“She goes up there as often as she can,” Aidan said. “I’m sure she’s fine.”
“The storm—”
“She’ll be okay. She’s strong and more importantly, smart.”
“Your call,” Gray said, and disconnected.
Half an hour later Aidan was back from Heaven’s Peak. He’d decided to call Lily and meet her up on the trail. For company, not because he doubted her abilities. If she wanted to face the cliff, they would do it together.
But before he could, a rescue call came in—a report of a climber stuck on a ledge of Dead Man’s Cliff over the river. That was it, that was all the info they got, no exact location, no ID of the caller or the climber, nothing.
And Aidan’s heart stopped.
What if Lily had gotten to the top, been caught up in the moment, and gone climbing on the face? He called her cell but was sent right to her voice mail. In the meantime, Search and Rescue mobilized and set up an incident command center back at the clearing where Aidan and the others had left their vehicles, doing so in fifty-plus-mile-per-hour winds and an oncoming storm.
There were four places on Dead Man’s Cliff where a ledge overlooked the river, not a single one of them a safe place in a storm. A two-part plan was put into place. First, a Zodiac raft with a two-person crew would attempt to pinpoint exactly which ledge from far below. Second, Aidan, Mitch, and the rest of the team would come in from the park entrance, holing up at Dead Man’s Cliff’s trail-head until they got word from the Zodiac crew on