Joel spoke in between kisses. “What’s…got you…giggling?”
“You’re tickling my ribs.” She pulled back and glanced down, right at the moment when a blast of heat that shouldn’t be there rolled along her arm.
She screamed, leapt off the railing and wrapped her arms around Joel’s neck in a frantic attempt to get away from Sable, who had her damn enormous horse nose stuck through the railings, close enough she could have taken a huge bite out of them. Instant terror had Vicki’s stomach clutched into a rock-hard knot the size of a football. Her blood raced, deafening her to everything, including whatever the hell Joel was saying.
She knew he was talking because his lips were moving, but the only thing audible other than the rush of blood were her own shrill cries.
He had her around the waist, still pinned to his body, only now he ran toward the barn and away from where Sable—
God
—stood with her head hanging over the railing right where she and Joel had been fooling around.
A huge hand covered her mouth, cutting off her involuntary shouts.
She fought for control, hands clutching him, as fear wiped away all her confidence, blurring the pleasures of the past twenty-four hours. She’d take being smacked around over how she felt at this moment, and that alone made her fight harder to calm herself.
Joel’s voice finally broke through. He had her around the corner, out of sight from Sable. His hand covering her mouth slipped off as he knelt and wrapped himself close, his lips against her cheek. He shushed her gently with reassuring sounds that matched his hands moving over her body. Slow pets to her back, circular motions, easy and smooth.
Pulling in gasps of air was stupid, ridiculous, and yet the only thing she could do at this point.
At least she’d stopped screaming.
By the time the shaking calmed, mortification had risen higher than fear. She planted her palms on Joel’s chest and pushed so she could escape. Or that was her plan, but the arms that had been gently cradling her turned to iron in a second.
“Don’t try to rush away,” Joel admonished. “I’m so damn sorry that happened. It was totally my fault, and I feel like a shit you got scared.”
Vicki rested her head against him and took a deep, deep breath, letting it out as slowly as possible. “I’m sorry for screaming. What a girl, right?”
Joel shook his head, cupping her face in his big hands. “You have nothing to apologize for. Come on. I’ll get you a drink, and we’ll relax for a while. See if you can get hold of your boss to arrange a day off for the camping excursion.”
Sounded like a good plan, but she didn’t want to simply give up. “What about our lessons?”
Joel pressed his lips to her forehead, as if trying to give her something to think about other than demon horses appearing out of nowhere. “Later. We’ve got time. This is more important right now.”
Vicki rose to her feet, reaching to tug him to vertical. Her offer was a token one—as if he needed her help—but he solemnly took her hand.
She leaned against his strong bulk to catch her balance, physically and mentally. It was a good thing spring wasn’t just around the corner, because while she’d already mastered a few lessons?
The most important one, well, at that moment success seemed a woefully long way off.
Chapter Seventeen
Packing was done far too soon for Vicki’s tastes. “You sure you have enough gear we’re not going to freeze?”
Matt stepped past her and dropped a duffle bag into the truck bed. “What is it with you girls? You really think we’d take you into the backcountry and let you die of exposure?”
Hope crossed her arms. “I would say if it suited your plans, you would leave a few blankets behind and be all ‘oh, we can share body heat to stay alive’. I know your type, Matt Coleman.”
She winked at Vicki, though, before she moved forward to wrap her arms around her fiancé and kiss him thoroughly.
“Stop that. Focus on the task so we can hit the road.” Joel transferred another cooler into the back of the truck. “Man, Vicki. It looks as if we’ll be eating enough to stay warm, that’s for sure.”
“Hey, you made the list. I just cooked it.”
The whole going-camping thing had rolled forward like a train. Her boss had okayed an extra day off from the shop, and suddenly she and Joel were joining Matt and Hope for a night in the mountains.
She stared at the sky, but it was anyone’s guess if the snow would show up early or hold off until they were done this adventure. At least Joel had nixed the idea of using horses and camping on Coleman land as Matt had first suggested. Joel had convinced the others he wanted to hit a site farther from Rocky Mountain House, which meant using a truck.
One bullet dodged.
Getting there ended up rather comfortable and easy. Joel crawled into the back of the crew cab, tucked her to his side and held her hand as they shot the breeze with the two in the front. Matt and Hope made her feel welcome, and she appreciated that so much. Hope’s dry sense of humour helped set Vicki at ease, and by the time they were setting up camp, her concerns had faded.
For everything except the actual camping.
She handed Joel items as he asked for them. “We’re really going to sleep on something that thin?”
Joel laughed, tugging the air mattress from her fingers and pushing it in to the tent, arranging it carefully. “This from a girl who is currently sleeping on a mattress on the floor all the time?”
“Whose fault is that?” Vicki winked then dodged out of reach when he would have grabbed her.
“I didn’t break your bed,” Joel insisted.
There was a snort of disbelief from a few feet away where Matt was setting up a second tent.
“Stop listening,” Joel called out to his brother.
Matt stood and shook his head. “First, I’m moving our tent farther from yours because you’re too damn loud, and if I can hear you now, who knows what we’ll be hearing tonight. And second? You broke her bed? Damn…”
“I didn’t break her bed. Idiot.” Joel threw a tent peg at his brother, but Matt had already grabbed his and Hope’s tent by the sides and lifted it in the air.
Vicki knelt beside where Joel continued to work. “You’re so bad.”
“He’s my older brother. It’s in the rules I have to torment him on a regular basis.” Joel caught her this time, tugging her into his lap. “But I’m glad they moved farther away. He’s right. I don’t want to listen to them fool around all night.”
His hand smoothed upward, stroking along her throat until he held her chin captive, kissing her with lots of tongue thrown in for good measure. Vicki dug her fingers into his hair and went for broke. When he groaned in arousal, she smiled. From never having had a kiss to knowing how to drive him mad, she hadn’t done poorly over the past month.
They separated just enough to draw in air. “Maybe they’ll be happy not to listen to us all night as well,” Vicki teased.
That delicious expression washed over his face, the one that said he had definite plans. “You not sore anymore?”
“Nope.” His palm rested on top of her thighs, an innocent enough touch. She wanted him to shift his grasp a little and cup her sex.
Oh shoot.
“Did you bring a condom?”
“Hell, yeah, more than one.” Joel glanced over his shoulder. “But stop talking about sex, or there’s no way I’ll last without dragging you into the tent right here and now.”
The food coolers were still in the back of the truck, and neither Hope nor Matt was anywhere to be seen. “Umm, Joel? Where are the others?”
She and Joel fell silent for a bit until a loud laugh gave the answer. Joel grinned. “Damn, they’re at it already.”
Vicki wiggled her brows. “I think I’m going to like camping.”
Only before Joel could haul her into their own tent, Hope popped up, her hair mussed, deep masculine laughter following her. She glanced their direction then rolled her eyes as she turned back to scold through the tent flaps. “Great. Now your brother and his girlfriend think we were fooling around. Nice going.”
Matt’s head poked out, an ear-to-ear grin shining on his face. “Pay no attention to the mad woman over here. She’s in need of a little discipline.”
“Matt,” Hope snapped. “Behave.”
He crowded out of the tent and went after her. “You’re in trouble…”
Watching the two of them run and play made something break free in Vicki’s heart.
That a couple could have a fun relationship as well as a sexual one—well, she knew about it, but to see it played out before her?
Magical.
A finger stroked her cheek. “What’s got you smiling so sweetly?”
She went for honest, pointing across the campsite.
“It’s good to see how much in love those two are. Makes me believe in positive things for down the road. That fairytales can come true. Maybe there’s someone out there who will love me like that some day.” She glanced up and was surprised to see his expression turn serious. “What’s wrong?”
Joel shook his head. “Nothing. Just, yeah, you are right.” He settled her to the ground and gazed after Hope and Matt. Matt had caught her in a close embrace, kissing her soundly with so much life and energy and sheer happiness in his attentions Vicki smiled even harder.
They got the fire going. It was cold enough even with the thing blazing, Vicki cuddled in tight to his side and still shivered.
“I hope our sleeping bags are good and thick.” She shivered again, and he pulled her into his lap, wrapping the quilt around her tighter.
“You’ll be warm tonight, I promise.”
The way she looked at him with the promise of something else showing in her gaze made Joel have to focus on what they were about right now.
“Vicki, you did a super job with the dinner. Thanks.” Hope and Matt were curled up to the right of them, the smoke from the fire drifting to the west away from where they were all huddled. Close enough to speak quietly, and yet not able to see exactly what was going on with the other couple unless they deliberately got up and looked.
“Matt and Joel made the list.”
“You cooked. On short notice, I might add.” Joel stroked her cheek. “I agree, everything was great.”
“Better than the typical beans and hotdogs you told me about?” Vicki teased.
“I’ll still make you coffee in the morning,” Joel assured her.
Hope groaned. “No. Not Joel’s campfire coffee.”
“What? What’s wrong with it?” Vicki asked.
Matt’s laugh rumbled out. “Thick enough to paint the walls. But it’ll wake you up.”
Comfortable, easy. Such a contrast from the tension in the bar two nights earlier. Joel relaxed against the log they’d hauled over to use as a backrest.
“Well, I appreciate good cooking.” Hope tossed a small stick into the fire, making sparks fly. “Funny how I got one of the so-called domestic skills—sewing—and totally missed the others.”
“Hush,” Matt chided. “You can cook just fine. And so can I. We’re not going to starve.”
Joel was having trouble concentrating while Vicki drew designs on his chest with her fingertips.
“I learned how to cook young. I hid out in the Home-Ec room during recess and lunch hours,” Vicki shared.
She spoke so soft Joel wondered if the others had heard her.
“Did you have Mrs. Underwood for Home-Ec?” Hope asked.
“No. Well, not at first. This was back when Miss Graves was the teacher. I must have been about ten at the time.” She spoke a little firmer. “The first couple of times I was…hiding. She was surprised to see me, but she made me a hot chocolate. I still remember that. It was so kind.”
Joel sat motionless, willing Vicki to keep sharing. It was the first time she’d talked about something like this. A memory from her past. The total sum of what he knew about her, which wasn’t a hell of a lot, hit him.
The girls carried on their conversation while Joel pondered.
“A good teacher makes a huge difference,” Hope agreed. “Miss Graves taught me to sew.”
“She wasn’t even the teacher anymore when I hit Junior High and actually had Home-Ec classes, but she started bringing in little things for me to make during lunch hour, thank God, because there were times that—”
She jerked to a stop.
Times what?
Vicki took a deep breath before continuing. “It was one way to get something to eat for me and my sister Lynn. During the years she was there, Miss Graves probably fed us more than my mom did.”
Joel’s stomach tightened.
“Hope used to hang out at the boys and girl’s club.” Matt stared upward as he spoke. His words solemn, carefully chosen. Joel was grateful, because right now he was pretty speechless. “The first time that registered, I was in shock. Like, why had she hung out there instead of at home?”
He twisted to gaze at Vicki. “I hadn’t much of a clue not everyone’s family was like Joel’s and mine. And I had no excuse for being so ignorant. I was involved with Helen at the time.”
“Oh, family.” Hope sighed. “Wait, let me adjust that ponderous comment. Oh,
my
family member who continues to drive me nuts.”