Silver Falls - Anne Stuart [1]
She hadn’t liked climbing up the stupid mountain in her new shoes. She was wearing the blue enamel barrettes he’d given her, and she didn’t want to meet him when she was sweaty and out of breath. So she’d started up earlier, with her raincoat and boots, dumping them in the bushes just before she came to the clearing where they’d first declared their love.
He was already there, waiting for her. He looked at her and smiled, that sweet, lovely smile of his, and she went up and kissed him.
He kissed her back, holding her hands in his for a moment. “Turn around,” he said, his voice husky with promise. “I want this to be a surprise.”
She turned, and felt his hands on her shoulders, and she shivered in anticipatory delight. His fingers stroked the sides of her neck, and she made a little sound of pleasure. And then they tightened for a moment.
It was his favorite kind of sex play, and she was very tolerant. He’d never used it as foreplay before, but she didn’t object, leaning back against him. “Don’t you want to be inside me first?” she whispered, her voice slightly muffled by the pressure of his fingers.
“Later,” he said, his lips brushing her ear. “Later.” And his fingers tightened.
Sometimes he liked it when she fought back. Except this time he was scaring her—she didn’t give a shit whether he liked it or not—and she clawed at his hands, trying to yank them away.
Gloves. Why the fuck was he wearing gloves? She couldn’t breathe…the pain was hard, burning, and she kicked back at him, as hard as she could, but he didn’t seem to notice.
Things were getting darker, the sound of the falls roaring in her ears, blackness all around, and she thought, I’m dying, and his lips brushed her ear again.
“I love you, Jessica,” he whispered.
But by then it was too late, and she heard nothing more.
He looked down at her. Poor thing, she was covered in mud. He was going to get filthy himself, but he couldn’t leave her like this. She had to know how much he loved her, how much he appreciated her sacrifice.
He stripped off his clothes, everything but his boots. He turned her over, arranged her carefully, and pushed his hard penis into her unyielding flesh. This was always the best part. It always ended too quickly, but he wept tears of gratitude as he came.
He pulled away from her, removed the condom and tossed it over the falls. He leaned over and kissed her slack mouth, closed her eyelids and kissed them as well. He unfastened her blue enamel barrettes, letting her hair fall free about her face. And then he rolled her over the edge of the cliff, watching as she danced down the waterfall, her blond hair trailing her body like a wedding veil.
This had been a mistake—his self-control had been off. He liked to wait a safe amount of time between them. The buildup and the anticipation was almost as delicious as the act itself.
But something had driven him to move quickly. She’d become possessive too fast. It was why he seldom picked women from his hometown.
So he’d made his move sooner than he liked. Regret was a foolish emotion, and he rather liked the fact that he never felt any. Needs were acceptable. Emotions were weak.
Now he should be fine. Calm and collected. And no one would ever guess what had happened up at Silver Falls.
There’d be no more Jessica, not unless he was very very careful. No, he could wait.
But then, he’d always been a careful man. She was number thirty-seven, and no one had even begun to suspect. Even though his quest was almost over, he didn’t have to stop indulging his particular appetites.
He pulled his clothes on. He’d have to burn them. He always burned his clothes, which saddened him. He would have liked to have kept a whole closetful, for souvenirs.
He had to make do with the barrettes. He held them to his face, sniffing them appreciatively. They smelled like the shampoo she used. And then he put them in his pocket and turned.
He saw her coat and boots at the last minute, and for a moment he was annoyed. It could have complicated things if he’d missed them, and for a moment he hated her.
But that