Vivian Arend - Rocky Mountain Rebel

His phone went off. Jesse willing to apologize already? He checked the display. Nope, another of the clan. “One second, Vicki.”

She wandered to the nearest railing and crawled up as he answered, part of his mind on the call and the other part on how good her ass looked in those jeans. “Matt? What are you doing up already?”

“I was lying here, lazing in bed, and thought I’d call you.”

Fucker. “You have early chores next weekend, asshole. I’ll be sure to phone you when I’m in the middle of screaming hot sex…”

Vicki glared and he trailed off. He covered the mouthpiece. “Just kidding.”

She didn’t look happy, though.

Joel rushed to get off the line. “Matt, what’s up? I’ve got something I need to take care of quickly.”

Before Vicki learned where they kept the castrator.

“Hope and I were talking. We checked the weather forecast. If you were serious about wanting to go camping with us, we’re heading out tomorrow for a night.”

“That soon? I’m okay with it, but I’ll have to ask Vicki.”

“See if she can get the day off work. Hope’s got the shop closed on Mondays, and it looks like this might be the last weekend before the snow flies.”

“I’ll call you back to get details,” Joel promised.

“Much later, okay? Hope’s naked and—”

Joel didn’t bother to respond, just hung up on his brother and planned subtle revenge for down the road.

Vicki had turned around, elbows hanging over the top railing to hold herself in place. “What do you have to ask Vicki? If that’s Jesse wanting me to stand in the middle of the road for a little more target practice, he can—”

Joel snorted. “Not Jesse, Matt. Remember we talked about camping?”

“Yeah?”

“How about tomorrow?”

Her eyes widened. “Umm, seriously?”

“Last chance this season.”

She shrugged. “If they let me off at the shop, sure. Why not?”

Joel was surprised how much her quick agreement delighted him. “Awesome. If it works, I’ll get the gear together this afternoon. You can help.”

“You want me to cook? I can make some stuff up ahead of time.”

Okay, now this was officially a good idea. “Definitely. I can pick up groceries with you.”

They grinned, Jesse’s stupid behavior pushed aside.

He held out his hand again. “Come on. Let’s go see Sable.”

She peered around the yard. Sable was in the far corral, and Joel had promised that’s where the beast would stay, but right now? Vicki was still tired, she was pissed off at Jesse and more tender than she wanted to admit. The combination wasn’t a good one. “Maybe we should skip the lesson today.”

“Sure.”

His instant capitulation made her look up with suspicion. “Really?”

Joel shrugged. “Hey, you’ve got time. Just, you know, no lesson, no reward.”

Sad, how dangling that carrot in front of her nose made her pay attention. Only he’d forgotten one thing. “Well, let’s see. Last night I got to experience your mouth on my breasts, oral sex and full-out sex. Maybe I’ll be okay skipping the reward today.”

He paused, probably going through the list she’d named. “Damn, you’re right. I totally messed that up, didn’t I?”

She laughed, catching him by the front of his shirt and pulling him closer. “You didn’t mess anything up, and you know it.”

Standing on the railing gave her enough height to meet him head-on, lips level with his. She slid her fingers into his hair, accidentally knocking his hat to the ground.

Joel moved in closer, pinning her to the rail with his body, careful as he slipped his thigh between her legs but pressing close enough she could enjoy the entire hard length of him.

Insane that a few kisses later she was feeling much better. After so long wanting to experience not just sex, but intimacy, there wasn’t anything she could compare this to. Joel did everything so intensely. She loved it, taking his hungry kisses and returning them with enthusiasm.

Something nudged her ribs. She chuckled into his mouth. The man was insatiable, probably going for her boobs again. He’d seemed rather fixated on them the previous night.

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.

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?”