How to Love (27 page)

“Oh dear God,” she gasped, sitting there, head down. “I did it. I fucking did it. I don’t know how the hell I’m going to get down, but I did it.”

“Yeah, damn right you did it.” He gave a jubilant laugh and kissed her. And then relief not only that she had made it but that he was there safe and sound too swept through her, and she threw her arms around his neck and squeezed.

“You’re crazy, you know?” she asked. “You like to do crazy dangerous things.”

“Uh…yeah, doll. But I’m not really crazy. I take all the safety precautions. I like the thrill of it, but I’m not reckless.”

“Oh hell. It just scares me.”

“Really?” He drew back and smiled down at her. “Aw, Jules. I…” He stopped. Swallowed. “I’m good.”

“Yeah.” She gave a long exhalation.

“Look around, Jules.”

She turned her head and took in the view. “Oh my.” Although the rock they sat on was wide and flat, the ground dropped off again behind them in a stunning display. The afternoon sun lit the rock with gold and terra cotta and cinnamon, and the ocean sparkled far below them in shades of azure and turquoise and cream. “Oh my God. Help me get my camera out.”

She started shooting, moving around the small area, careful not to get too close to the edge.

“That side over there has some crumbling rock, so stay well back,” Carlos pointed out. She gulped and focused her camera on a patch of green with some tiny yellow flowers growing out of it, like little golden stars. Then she focused in on some weathered rock formations, stark and strong against the clear blue sky.

“This light is tricky,” she murmured. “It saturates the colors, but it creates a lot of shadows. A lot of contrast.”

“Would it be better on an overcast day?”

“Mmm. It would be different.”

She took picture after picture, her fingers moving on the focus ring, turning it. Finally she lowered the camera. “Wow, Carlos. Thank you for bringing me here.”

“Thank you for doing it.” He rose from where he sat on a blanket he must have brought up in his pack and kissed her forehead. “You were very brave.”

She paused. “I was, wasn’t I?” She let out a surprised laugh. “Oh man, Carlos.”

He kissed her mouth, soft and lingering. “You’re beautiful, Jules. I love watching you work, how into it you get.”

“Thank you.” Their eyes met and emotions swirled inside her. The fear she’d felt watching Carlos climb the wall. The fear she’d felt when she climbed the wall. The exultation she’d felt when she reached the top and Carlos had been there. And the pride she now felt at Carlos telling her she was brave. She loved pleasing him. She loved this gift he’d given her. Damn.

She went up on her toes and kissed him again, this time wrapping her arms around his neck and putting her whole body into it. His hands landed on her waist and he kissed her back, their mouths opening, tongues touching, breath mingling. They kissed again and again, there on top of the world, sky and sunshine surrounding them, the sea-scented wind drifting over skin and teasing hair, until finally he drew her down to the blanket. He lay back and pulled her on top of him, his hands caressing her body, her hips, her waist, her ass. He spread his thighs and cradled her between them, his erection prodding her.

Desire ignited low down inside her, all that emotion coalescing into an urgent need to show him how she felt, to put her feelings into actions, because it was so damn hard to put them into words. She kissed his cheek with its short beard, his temples, his forehead, resting on his broad chest, his body strong and hard beneath her. When her hips moved into his, they rocked together and she felt like the world was spinning around her, sky and ocean. “Carlos,” she murmured. “Thank you. For giving me this. For giving me…so much.”

He made a noise in his throat, his hands on her ass, urging her against him. “Take your shorts off,” he ordered, his voice husky.

She pushed up and onto her knees, keeping her eyes on his as she unbuttoned, unzipped and wriggled her shorts and panties down her legs. As she did, Carlos unfastened his own shorts and drew out his erection and her gaze moved down to it, where his big tanned hand circled the thick shaft. She swallowed and lust pooled between her thighs, a thick, warm drizzle of sensation.

“Get over here,” he ordered softly, pulling a condom out of his pocket before he lost the shorts, and she moved again to straddle him. Once he’d sheathed his cock, she lowered herself over him, and he helped guide their bodies together so they met at the perfect place and he could push up inside her as she sank down onto him. He filled her with exquisite abundance, so deep and dense. She reached for the hem of her tank top and pulled it off, her breasts feeling full and achy, her nipples tingling.

“Yeah,” he groaned. “Take off your bra too.”

Uncaring that she was completely naked, she reached behind her and unfastened her bra, then let it fall off. The sun on her breasts felt so good, but Carlos’s gaze on them heated her even more, and he reached for them and cupped her in his big hands, gently, almost reverently. She arched her back, moving on him up and down in a slow, sensuous cadence, his touch sending tingles throughout her body and she moaned with delight. She watched his dark eyes grow heavy-lidded, his lips part as his breathing quickened. Inside her, he hit every tender place she had, including her heart, and in sun-warmed, erotic delirium she placed her palms on his chest. Warm skin over hard muscle heated her palms. She rubbed over soft hair, teased his small nipples and made him groan again.

His hips lifted and met her downstrokes and the paced quickened. Her heart thudded and her blood raced through her veins, quick and hot, and pleasure vibrated through her each time their bodies met. She forgot to breathe, and then she fell forward over him, lying on him, burying her face in the side of his neck. His hands went to her ass and his fingers dug in, helping to move her up and down on his shaft, fast, slick slides of luscious rapture.

“Goddamn, you feel good, doll,” he muttered, planting his feet to give him better leverage, fucking up into her with faster strokes, hitting those sensitive nerve endings deep inside her until the pleasure was blinding and overwhelming, and she was spinning into an orgasm fast and dizzying. It crashed over her and she cried out, and then Carlos gave one last hard thrust up into her and went still, holding her tightly to him.

His breath was harsh in her ear, her own heartbeat thundering as she panted to get air into her lungs. “Oh my God,” she moaned. “Holy shit.”

“Yeah.”

That had been so fast and intense, she felt limp and drained. And yet an exhilaration still zinged through her veins, a sense of accomplishment and utter satisfaction.

His fingers relaxed on her butt and he rubbed there, then up and down her back in a slow glide of his hands on her skin.

“I need to move,” she whispered. “My legs are killing me. But I don’t think I can.”

He gave a muffled laugh. “I’m sorry, doll. This isn’t the most comfortable place.”

“No. But it’s definitely beautiful. Incredible.” She tried to stretch her legs out without breaking their connection. Carlos wrapped his arms around her and gave her a hard squeeze, then helped her roll off him, easing her onto her back on the blanket. They lay side by side, arms pressed together, staring up at the brilliant blue bowl of the sky above them. Eventually Carlos reached to remove the condom, knotting it and setting aside. Then he rolled to his side and propped himself up on one elbow to look down at her.

”You good?”

“Yeah.”

Carlos pressed another kiss to her mouth then helped her dress, adding small touches and kisses to her shoulders as she did. Then they sat and looked at each other for a moment, smiling.

“Okay,” she said. She glanced at the edge of the rock. “I can’t believe we did that up here. I still can’t believe I climbed up here.”

“Don’t be surprised. I knew you were brave. And strong.”

“You did, huh?” She gave him a bemused smile. “Well, now there’s that little issue of going back down.”

“Mike’ll lower you down. He’s good. Slow and careful. You know what to do. Are you ready?”

“I guess. I could sit here and look for hours. It’s so stunning. But I still want to do pictures of you guys down on the beach.” She gave him a meaningful look.

“Right.” He made a face.

“I thought you were good with it.”

“I am. Although this is a public place. It does add a certain amount of…excitement to it.”

“We’ll keep towels handy. You can cover up quickly if someone comes.”

Carlos helped her back into the gear and once again the double-check for safety warmed her heart. Then he called down to Mike, “Ready to lower!”

She went over the side with her heart in her mouth. Mike shouted, “Lowering!” and she started down, carefully keeping her focus in front of her and on what she needed to do until her feet were on the sand.

Mike helped her, grinning. “How was it, babe?”

“Awesome! So incredible.” She kissed his mouth fast and hard, still on a high from the awesome pictures she’d taken and the awesome sex. “Wait till you see the pictures I got! Oh my God, so good. I hope.”

“I’m sure they are.” He studied her face. “You look kind of flushed.”

Her cheeks heated and she knew she was even pinker. “Um. Really?”

“Do you have sunscreen on?”

“Yeah.”

Then his eyes widened. “Were you two fucking around up there?”

She blinked. Was that bad? She’d had sex alone with him before, but this was the first time with Carlos. She sank her teeth into her lower lip. “Yeah.”

He shook his head and then laughed. “Jesus. Here I am cooling my jets down here all alone and you two are going at it up there.”

Relief that he wasn’t angry or jealous swept through her and she smiled. “Sorry.”

“No, you’re not.” He leaned in and rubbed his rough stubbled face against her. “How was it?”

“Oh, you know. Sex on top of a mountain…” She hitched a shoulder. “The usual.”

He laughed again and gave her behind a gentle swat.

“Ready to lower!” Carlos called again. Mike focused on the belay device and lowered his friend while Jules got herself out of the harness and scoped out the area.

When all three were back on the beach, she dug around in her backpack and produced the bottle of baby oil. She held it up and Mike groaned. “More oil? Again?”

“Oh be quiet. You like it. You liked it fine the other night when I gave you that massage…”

“That was different. There was payoff. This gets me all excited and then you just take pictures of me and my stiffy.”

She laughed. “Poor baby. Now strip.”

He grinned but yanked his shirt off over his head and lowered his loose board shorts. He was half hard already and she sent him an admiring smile. Carlos took his clothes off too and then once more they spread oil over each other’s bodies.

“Over here,” she said, moving toward the rocks. “First I want you lying on your back, over the rock…yeah, like that.”

And she proceeded to snap off another hundred or so pictures, a feeling of joy and happiness and creative satisfaction bubbling up inside her as she did.

She’d tried to talk them out of coming with her to Candy’s birthday party, but they’d both been determined to accompany her. She still didn’t get why and she had a niggling feeling of discomfort about it. She wasn’t thrilled about coming back to begin with, but this just heightened her sense of anxiety, the gnawing feeling inside her stomach that felt like it was eating away at her.

Mike had driven them to San Diego Saturday afternoon. They’d gotten a hotel room because there was no way the three of them were staying with Dad and Candy, and they didn’t want to have to drive back to San Amaro after the party. When they’d checked into the hotel then carried their bags into the room with the single king size bed, Jules had had a brief feeling of unreality. This was
their
room. The three of them. Staying together, sleeping together, virtually living together for the next twenty-four hours. She gulped and her insides twisted into tighter knots.

The intimacy of getting ready for the party with two guys around had her fingers trembling as she attempted to put on mascara, leaning into the big wall of mirror in the bathroom. Mike walked in wearing nothing but a pair of snug black boxer briefs and she paused, distracted, as he grabbed a tube of antiperspirant out of his toiletry bag sitting on the marble counter. He caught her eye in the mirror as he applied the antiperspirant and grinned. “What?”

She blinked and dragged her gaze away from his big biceps as he lifted his arms, the masculine tufts of hair he revealed. “Nothing.”

He moved up behind her, big and warm, swept her hair aside and softly kissed the back of her neck. “You look nice.”

“I’m not even dressed yet.” She looked down at her bra and panties.

“Exactly.” He kissed her again, made her shiver a little, then tossed the antiperspirant back into his bag and wrapped both arms around her. He pressed his face to her head and squeezed her. “It’ll be okay, Jules.”

She pressed her lips together and closed her eyes, breathing slowly in through her nose. He didn’t realize it wasn’t just the party that was making her nervous, it was them. But his words and his firm, reassuring hug did settle the flutters inside her a little.