A Mile High (7 page)

No one, that’s who.

“Okay, kind of like that,” I replied quietly. “But I
meant more in the way of something really intimately physical, with a stranger…”

“Is this a trick question?”

“…On a plane,” I finished dryly.

Natalie screeched in my ear and I cringed from the
volume that had even the speakers crackling. “Oh my God, you did not!”

“I did,” I muttered, suddenly studying my
fingernails, which were super interesting compared to the thought of spilling
all the dirty details to my brother’s girlfriend. “His name is Sal, and I have
no idea who in the hell he is or where he lives, but Natalie…my God, it was…” I
was unable to come up with a suitable description, honestly. Nothing was
comparable to the actual moment.

“Hot,” she suggested and I swore I could see her
grinning all the way over in Maine. “And oh, my God…yeah, just hot.” Then, she
made a noise of disgust. “You didn’t do it in the bathroom, right? Because that
would just be a whole lot of grossness.”

“No. And that’s all I’m willing to say about it.”

She scoffed. “You suck.”

“And swallow,” I added, laughing.

“Great, thanks for the info. I’ll add it to my
already growing pile of uselessness rattling about in my head.” After a moment
of silence, Natalie sighed heavily. “So, no telling Josh about this, then?”

Oh my fuck, my face was already burning red at the
thought. “Please don’t. I would die and he would never let me live it down.”

She hummed her agreement quietly. “I wouldn’t ever.
Besides, you clearly needed to tell someone. Feel better?”

I did, surprisingly. “Yeah, but I know this car’s
damned GPS thing is Satan’s spawn intent on killing whatever high I have left
over. Karma is biting me for doing bad things again.”

With soft laughter, Natalie went about Google searching
all the proper directions for me. Writing every bit down that she said, I
figured I wasn’t all that far off from my final destination, despite having driven
around in circles for more than two damned hours thanks to the evil inside this
car. After a short goodbye, and Natalie forcing me to promise I would give her
more details over our lunch date, I once again pulled onto the highway and was
off.

When I finally found my rental house, the two-story,
pale yellow home that stared back at me was beautiful. With large, bay windows
covering the front, I knew it must get a great deal of light for most of the
day. I could almost see myself sitting out on the tops of those cliffs for the
entire week, not wanting for a second to do anything else.

The spectacular view overlooking those particular
cliffs led straight into the ocean where waves crashed into rocks, taking my
breath away instantly. Leaning against my car with my back turned to the softly
lit house I watched a storm roll in from the ocean, the sky looking as if it
were about to wage a war with the water. Despite knowing the owner lived in the
bottom section and rented the top to tourists, I wasn’t concerned about being
bothered by the person for my stay here.

How could anyone be a bother when this was what I
was able to look at every day?

With the slight pattering of rain falling down on
me, the cool liquid soothing my overworked nerves, I enjoyed the smell of the
salty water and the sounds surrounding me. I knew the person inside the home
behind me was likely wondering what in the hell I was doing, or where I had
been, for that matter, but I couldn’t be bothered to move.
 

I didn’t have to. The sounds of soft footsteps
coming from behind me drew my attention back in the direction of the house.
When I turned, my heart stopped. The man froze midstride, that signature grin
he wore covering lips that I suddenly wanted to skip over and kiss.

Sal. What were the chances, right?

He wore the same clothing from the plane, although
his grey t-shirt had been exchanged for an A-line tank that showed off even
more of his glorious form: muscled, flexing, and far too perfect. The throbbing
in the apex of my thighs began again, an ache I couldn’t escape settling deep
in the pit of my stomach. And I sure as hell didn’t want to escape.

His gaze traveled over me like I was the only thing
he’d been looking for. A man starved, wanting, and lost. “Liv?” he asked, voice
rougher than ever before, brow quirked in surprise. “My sister-in-law who
booked the rental…she said the tenant was last-minute and she didn’t realize I
was out of town for the week. That tenant was
you
?”

Something unexpected called him back, I remembered
him saying. That something unexpected must have been my brother’s last-minute
rental of his home. My throat constricted around words and air, rain wetting my
face even more as I stared, unashamed and happily, at the man before me. That
scarf I had been looking for earlier dangled out of his back pocket. While he’d
given me a stinging souvenir of our encounter to keep, he’d clearly taken one
for himself as well. The bag in my hand dropped as he took a step forward,
voice rushing away in the winds that whipped.

Maybe he hadn’t wanted to say goodbye on that plane,
either.

And fate sometimes had its own way of stepping in
when we didn’t have the courage to take what we wanted, too.

 
“Sal.”

Epilogue

Laying in a king-sized bed, a too-big t-shirt
bunched up around my stomach in Sal’s clenched fist, I whined a high cry and
withered under his hands and tongue. With two fingers knuckle-deep and
thrusting hard into my pussy as his lips encased my clit to suck roughly
against the aching nub, I was ready to explode. Ecstasy washed over my senses
in waves with every flick of his tongue.

Like a musician with an instrument they loved, this
man seemed to know how to play my body so well without any need of
encouragement or instruction from me. I was more than happy to let him go at
it, too.

Sal’s head turned, teeth biting into the tender
flesh at the inside of my thigh, fingers curling inside my wet walls and
driving deeper again, so much harder. I cried out with my back arching off the
mattress, a bliss-induced pleasure ravaging my bones and blood, filling me from
top to bottom so wholly and perfectly.

Nothing felt like this. Not a damned thing.

I was sure nothing ever could again, either.

And I was leaving tomorrow.

Sal’s soft lips kissed my leg, moving to my center
to kiss the slick folds that throbbed with the aftershocks of my orgasm. I
panted his name low under my breath, willing air to fill my lungs so I could
calm down and speak for a moment.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, propped up on his elbows
and looking at me with a cocked brow. “And don’t you say nothing, Olivia. I can
see it.”

Swallowing thickly, I turned my head away to look
out the window. With it nearing dark, I couldn’t see the beautiful cliffs out
his bedroom window where the house was located. They looked out over the ocean.
An ocean that had been so dark and uncontrollable over the last week, torn with
storms that kept us inside and away from the sights of his home island that he
had wanted to show me.

I hadn’t minded, though. I spent a week learning the
beauty of a man I wasn’t sure I would ever find again. A week of loving … lost,
needing, and spent. I didn’t open my computer once, never spent a minute
worrying about my company, and I had no regrets.

Not a single one.

But, I was still leaving.

And I didn’t want to.

Sal looked up at me through his thick lashes, brown
eyes questioning and waiting for an answer I wasn’t sure how to give. What was
I supposed to say?

I
want to stay
.

I
don’t want to forget you
.

This
is more than what we made it…maybe
.
 

“My flight leaves at two in the afternoon tomorrow,”
I finally managed to whisper.

Sal nodded, a hand trailing up my thigh. I reached
down, a thumb swiping at my arousal that glistened over his lips. Tasting the
fluid on my own tongue, I watched his eyes darken at the sight.

“Tastes better from the source,” he informed, a
salacious grin covering his handsome features.

I bit the inside of my cheek, wondering how it
tasted on his mouth. “Come here.”

Crawling between my opened legs, hands gripping
tightly to my sides as he kissed me, his lips moved languidly, our tongues
seeking and pressing against the heat our mouths found together. And I did
taste better on his mouth, I found. Sweeter, with a tangy bite that left a
flavor on the back of my tongue I wasn’t likely to forget.

He probably made it that way.

His cock, so hard and ready for the honeyed warmth
he’d find buried between my thighs, pressed between our bodies. My legs wrapped
to his waist, hips rising to urge him to find me like he wanted…like I knew he
had to want. Sal always did. Insatiable, willing, and so driven to please: that
was the lover I’d found in him.

I was terrified I wouldn’t find another like it,
honestly.

 
“You don’t
want to leave,” he guessed quietly, nose skimming my cheek as he pulled away.

“Would
you
?”
I shot back, voice weaker than I wanted it to be, but high enough to tell the
emotion hidden underneath. “This place…you…”

Clearing his throat, Sal rolled off to the side of
the bed, propping his head up on his hand to look down at me. “You’re from
Maine, yeah?”

“Just outside of Presque Isle,” I confirmed, wondering
about his point.

Sal’s infamous grin returned. “Remember that friend
I mentioned on the plane?” When I nodded, he continued with, “He’s actually a
business partner of mine. We own a hunting lodge for caribou, moose, deer, fish
and all that good nonsense. His wife is um…sick, unfortunately.”

“So?” I asked, confused.

“He wanted to sell out.”

“Oh, you were meeting your new partner, then?”
 

Sal bit his lip, shaking his head in disagreement
before murmuring, “I bought his share out. I have dual citizenship from my
father’s side. I’m moving there next month, actually. Didn’t trust anybody else
to run it right and keep it going. I had a private offer for my land and house
here a little while ago, and they’re still interested in buying, so I’m not
losing out anywhere.”

My heart stopped. I was positive it did. “You’re
lying.”

“Do you want me to be?” he asked, looking hurt.

I scrambled to climb on top of him, his hands
grasping at my sides to stop us both from rolling off the bed. “You’re not
lying?” I demanded, pushing to his strong chest with opened palms as tears
welled in my eyes. “Really?”

“I’m not,” he murmured. “
Really
.”

The feeling I had been ignoring for half the week
bubbled up from my insides. “I think I’m going to love you,” I blurted out,
watching as he reached up to stroke the side of my face softly. “That’s kind of
scary to me. I’m busy as hell, work too much, and get really bitchy when I’m
stressed out. But you’re calm, and you make me quiet and happy. Nothing …
Nothing makes me feel like this, Sal. It’s too soon, though, right?”

Sal shrugged. “I was pretty sure I could love you the
moment you let me take you on that plane, Liv. When you know, you know.”

Like my mother, who refused to marry a man after my
father, but lived happily with her lover for ten years before she passed. Like
my father, who still loved the woman he knew for only a few short days and
still said she was the love of his life. Like my brother who demanded I try and
see it from his point of view, when it came to Natalie.

When you know, you just know, even at a mile high.

The
End

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