Summer Kisses (294 page)

“Now I plan to kiss every inch of you in the broad daylight.” Momentary nerves skated through me at how she’d take my high-handedness but were replaced by relief and happiness when she came into my arms with a grin as I proceeded to do just that.

By the time I was finished, Katherine could say nothing more than, “I see the light.”

My response was a little hokey, but it brought tears to her eyes so it was worth it. “I see you
in
the light. And you’re beautiful.”

“You want to take a quick splash before we get on the trail?” Quinn asked.

I didn’t answer as he slipped out of the tent, and I rolled over to watch him.

“I’m going. Are you up for it?” He raised an eyebrow in obvious challenge.

Slowly backing away and naked as the day he was born, he crooked a finger to me in invitation and dare. He didn’t think I’d do it. Hell, I didn’t think I’d do it until I was standing beside the firepit, a little baggie of toiletries my only accompaniment.

Confronting the fear was definitely worth the surprised and delighted expression on his face. “Let’s go. We’re wasting daylight.” I strolled up the trail as if I often appeared naked in the woods, fighting the urge to run and hide in the pool under the waterfall. Not that it was deep enough to even cover me if I lay flat.

“You are... magnificent.” Quinn eyed me appreciatively once we arrived. After that, I
felt
magnificent. Lady Godiva, sans horse.

After we splashed about in the sun-warmed water and bathed each other with long slow strokes, we dressed, broke camp, packed everything up, and consulted the map.

“We can go back the way we came or take a slightly longer route around.” Quinn pointed to the map. “There’s a cool rock formation along here that shouldn’t be missed.” He tagged one section of the dotted line that marked our path.

“How much farther is it?”

“Maybe a half a mile. Not far. And as I recall, the trail is pretty comparable to what we did yesterday.”

“Let’s do it!”

We followed the trail marked by occasional red dots spray-painted on trees. After several hours of hiking, I noticed he referred to the map with more and more frequency and that the marker dots had turned orange. I started to feel the long miles with a heavy pack on my back, not to mention the unaccustomed physical activity from the night before.

Quinn had lost his happy-go-lucky “there’s a rock, look at the tree, what a cool bug” spiel about an hour ago, and I was concerned.

I glanced at my watch. It was after two. We’d been at it since eight-thirty. Yesterday’s three miles had taken almost exactly three hours. Even taking into account the two short breaks we’d taken, that must be five miles.

“So how lost are we?” I asked conversationally before taking a couple deep gulps of my seriously dwindling water supply.

He turned back to me. “We’re not exactly lost.”

“We’re not exactly where we’re supposed to be, either, are we?”

He shook his head. “You need a break?”

I nodded, releasing the catch on the backpack and letting it slide off my shoulders. Sweat soaked my blue tee shirt, and my feet started to ache.

I sat down on the ground next to my pack, so exhausted I didn’t even care how dirty I got. “So where are we?” I asked.

Quinn slid the map in front of me with obvious reluctance. “I screwed up, Kath.”

If the look of dread on his face was any indication, I really wasn’t going to like whatever the map would tell me.

“How bad is it?” Katherine remained strangely calm. Was it a testament to her faith in me as a guide or only that she was too tired to care anymore? As bad as I’d feel about the first, the second concerned me even more.

“Remember that area with all the trees that were down from the storm?”

“Where the little tree-dots went from red to orange?”

“Oh,” I said. “That would have been good information to have.”

“You didn’t notice?”

I shrugged. “I’m ever-so-slightly color blind.”

“Oh.”

“You didn’t know.” I pointed to the map again. “I suspect we missed a sign there. We’re off the original trail.”

Her face fell. “How much farther?”

“The good news is we’re only about two miles from the car.”

Katherine didn’t look like that was particularly good news to her. “And the bad news?” Evidently she could tell things were about to get worse.

“It’s pretty rough terrain and not well-marked.”

“That qualifies. What if I can’t make it?” She asked the question quietly with a hint of desperation that made me want to carry her the rest of the way.

“You will. We’ll stop as many times as we need to. If it gets too bad, I’ll carry your pack on my front.”

She stiffened at that.
Note to self: Do not offer to carry anything until she literally falls over.

“I’m really sorry.” That didn’t come close to making up for how bad I’d screwed this up. She’d probably never want to go backpacking again.

Katherine shrugged. “You didn’t do it on purpose.”

“I’ll make it up to you.”

“Oh, yeah?”

My brain scrambled. “How about if we camp tonight at the Marriott?”

A ghost of a grin stole over her features. “That’s really roughing it.”

I dug in the top of my pack. “Here’s an energy bar. We can grab real food once we get out of the woods.”

Taking the bar from me, she unwrapped it and sank her teeth into the chocolate. Her hands shook slightly, and I watched her clamp tightly to the bar to still them. She didn’t want me to know how exhausted she was.

She didn’t complain. She didn’t whine. She didn’t even get angry with me. I would have been in the doghouse, listening to major whining with any other woman I knew.

“Ready to get going?” The longer we sat, the tighter her muscles would get and the harder it would be to get going again.

She took a deep breath. “As I’ll ever be.”

I did my best to keep up a steady stream of encouragement while Katherine concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other.

As tired as I was, I couldn’t imagine how exhausted she must be.

Further down the trail, she mumbled something.

“What was that?”

“Hmm?” She shook her head then cleared her throat. “Nothing.”

“Were you making disparaging remarks about me?” Not that I would blame her.

“What?
No!
” She rolled her eyes self-deprecatingly. “I was counting steps. God, this is embarrassing.”

“Great. I’ve made you obsessive-compulsive,” I grinned so she knew I was kidding.

“I don’t know why but it helps.”

At that moment, I truly appreciated how close she was to keeling over.

“Guess what?” I asked as we reached the top of a steep incline. She looked close to tears of frustration and exhaustion. She could use some good news.

“What?” she croaked.

“As soon as we get to the bottom of this hill, we’ll be at the car.”

Her head snapped up. “Really?”

“Yup. You did it.” I took each of Katherine’s hands in mine and tugged her toward me. After dropping a gentle kiss on her lips, I said, “I’m ready to celebrate. How ‘bout you?”

“Just get me to a hot bath and a comfortable bed. That’ll be celebration enough.”

“You got it.”

It didn’t take long for us to make it down the hill. She seemed to have gotten her second wind, at least until I helped her off with her pack and boosted her into the passenger seat. “Here,” I stilled her hands as she fumbled with her shoelaces. I untied them and pulled her boots off, throwing them in the bed of the truck.

“Thanks.” She slid her feet under the dashboard and took the bottle of water I offered. “Drink up. I think you’re a little dehydrated.”

Stowing the equipment in the back before getting into the driver’s seat, I guzzled a bottle of water myself. Then I secured a hotel room in Louisville via phone, and Katherine was asleep before we made it to the highway.

She was so beautiful when she slept. It was all I could do to keep my eyes on the road. The promise of a hotel bed and eight hours next to this woman spurred me north to Louisville.

“Katherine.” The whispered voice seemed out of place in my undersea dream.

“Katie-did,” the voice sing-songed.

I opened one eye to see Quinn Oreo Eyes backlit by a safety light outside the passenger door. “Don’t call me Katie,” I whispered, letting my eye drift shut again.

He released my seatbelt. “Come on. Wake up.”

“Sleep here,” I said as if that made all the sense in the world.

His response was to slip an arm under my knees and another behind my back. We were almost through the lobby of the hotel before I realized he was carrying me! I lifted my head from his shoulder. “Put me down. You’re going to break your back.”

As the elevator doors slid closed behind us, he released my legs, letting my feet drift to the floor before pulling me against him and wrapping me in the safety of his arms. I let myself lean on him and buried my nose in his neck. How he could still smell so good after an entire day of hiking was beyond me.

“Hey, sleepyhead.” The elevator beeped. “This is us.” Quinn pushed away from the elevator wall, took me by the hand, and tugged me down the hall. He stopped by the door of room 1214, slid a card into the lock, and opened the door.

“Why don’t you take a bath, and I’ll get our stuff from the car and order up room service.”

“What did I do to deserve you?”

Quinn shrugged. “Don’t know, but I’m grateful you did.”

My heart melted. Was it too much to hope for that I’d found my Mr. Right?

~~~

The bathtub was actually an oversized Jacuzzi. I slipped into the frothing hot water, stopping only after I was chin deep. I groaned in ecstasy. The roiling bubbles beat away my aches and pains, while my earlier nap had gone great lengths to restore me.

Quinn knocked on the door to the enormous bathroom. “Mind if I come in?”

I hesitated for only a moment. “Sure.”

“How’s the water?”

“Glorious.” Which was true of him, as well. He’d kicked off his boots and shirt and was now dressed only in a pair of unbuttoned jeans.
Be still my heart.

“Need someone to wash your back?” A teasing glint danced into his eyes.

“No.”

His face fell.

“But I could use some company in here. It’s an awfully big bathtub.”

His hands went to his waistband, and he shucked his jeans and boxers down his body. A sharp tan line delineated his lower back from his buttocks. I traced the line with one finger as he sat on the edge of the tub, letting my hand fall away as he rotated around and slid his feet into the water.

“Holy hell! How hot is this water?”

I stretched back, grinning. “Just hot enough.”

With a fair number of ah!ee!oo!s, he slipped in across from me. “How’re you doing?” he asked, once he finally got settled and accustomed to the temperature.

“Much,
much
better. I can’t thank you enough for getting me out this afternoon.”

“First of all, I kind of got us lost in the first place—” I tried to argue, but he put a hand up to stop me “And second, you made it out on your own power. You impressed the hell out of me.”

Unable to keep from touching him any longer, I reached out and threaded my fingers through his hair before pulling him toward me. Quinn needed no further encouragement. His kiss captured my lips with an urgency that had been carefully buried the night before.

Soon, imminent risk of drowning had us climbing from the tub and dashing naked and dripping to the bedroom. I collapsed on the turned-down, king-sized bed, only to have him join me seconds later.

Amazing how much difference twenty-four hours could make. I had no reservations about being before him completely bare, the lights bright enough to land jumbo jets by.

I barely noticed.

I did notice, however, how much nicer it was to make love to Quinn when I could see him. He was no less attentive with the lights on either. His fingers and mouth roamed my body, learning its every secret.

He knew exactly how to touch me for maximum impact.

Then, as he joined his body to mine, he did something so completely unexpected, I lost all ability to speak.

Oh. My. God.

“I think I’m in love with you,” I whispered against Katherine’s ear as I sank into her hot, wet depths.

I hadn’t planned to make the declaration. But when I did, it felt exactly right.

Her only reply was a sharply indrawn breath.

As I kissed my way up her neck, I slowly slid in and out, letting the tension build in both of us. I tried not to take her lack of response as a bad omen.

I made my way across her jaw to her lips and kissed her. She wrapped every part of herself around me. Her arms… her legs… and then her lips captured mine.

“That’s good,” she said in a quiet, serious voice. “‘Cause I think I love you, too.”

I kissed the tears that had gathered in the outer corners of her eyes away, speeding up the pace until we were both nearly mindless.

Katherine reached climax only seconds before me, her hoarse moan mingling with mine as I plunged into her one final time.

After we came back down to earth, I kissed her lips, memorizing her taste, her smell, the way this moment felt.
I
felt like a big sap but only in the best possible way.

I rolled onto my back, and she followed, hooking one thigh over mine and wrapping her arm around my waist. She propped up her chin on her other fist, stacked against my chest.

“So was that a moment of passion talking?” Hesitation tainted her voice. “Or did you mean it?”

“I meant it. Did you?”

She smiled, all the tension leaving her face at once. “I definitely meant it.”

Dropping her head onto my chest, she snuggled in. I tightened my arms around her, enjoying the soft feel of her body against mine.

My cell phone, which had been buzzing with notices of new messages ever since we left the woods, vibrated loudly on the nightstand.