Just That Easy (15 page)

She screamed, she was pretty sure of it.

He kept up the rhythm, fucking her slowly, evenly. Deep and
hard each time. And each time, his thumb moved in the opposite direction of his
cock. It drove her nearly insane. It wasn’t enough for him, not yet.

“Stroke your clit again. Make yourself come for me, I want
to feel that greedy little pussy sucking at my cock, baby.”

His words were always rough, always so hot and straight to
the heart of it, she loved it. No string of romantic crap could possibly rock
her to the soul like he did when he gave her everything he had. Her hand flew
to her throbbing clit, more than happy to fulfill every little wish he threw at
her because they weren’t just for him, they were always as much for her, if not
more.

“God, fuck me, Grant, harder. I’m so close.”

“I know, baby, I feel it, god…” He slammed into her hard,
his hand tight on her hip, squeezing, his thumb locked deep in her ass. His
cock felt huge, but the pressure, the fullness, only added to her desire. It
was barely seconds before the lightning hot blast of heat flew through her,
flushed her skin, made sweat run down her back and she shook, spasm after spasm,
riding him still as if she couldn’t let go, the sensations going so deep it was
almost painful. Finally he lunged into her with a deep, groaning cry and she
felt that satisfaction of him filling her with himself, so hot, so wet, the
long, hard spurts of him coming into her like the ultimate gift of his body.

They collapsed together in a heap, him still half inside
her, his arm protectively around her. She struggled to breathe. Not from him,
he was holding himself up on one elbow still, gasping hard into her shoulder.
No, she couldn’t breathe because this man took her to the ends of the earth,
robbed her soul of all conscious thought, and stole her breath with it.

After a few minutes, she could actually focus again and she
opened her eyes to see him staring intently at her. His face on the bed next to
her, his body still half over her, and amazingly, still erect enough to be
perched inside of her as well.

“You are like a mythical sex god, does that thing ever
relax?”

He grinned like only a man whose ego had been granted its
wish for the day could. “Not with you around. Something else I need though.
Want to guess what?”

“You want to eat, again.” She laughed.

He grinned. “Amazing how well you know me already, isn’t
it?” He slid out of her and her body protested, even when she knew she could
hardly take any more right now. He climbed out of bed, and it became obvious it
was as much to be out of range when the next words came as he headed for the
kitchen. “And you love me for it, Teryn, you know you do.”

He bolted before the pillow she threw could hit him,
laughing all the way down the hall, his sexy naked ass making her smile.

He called back to her, “I’ll make dinner. Then let’s watch a
movie, and we need to get some sleep. I’m taking you somewhere tomorrow night
after work.”

“Where?” she mumbled, stifling a yawn as she stretched and
tested out her worked-over body.

“Secret,” he yelled back down the hall.

“Of course.”

Rock Wall

“I had no clue what this place was,” Teryn said, head craning
toward the mile-high ceiling as they walked into the cavernous building. She’d
passed it a hundred times, knew it was some kind of sports complex, but not a
rock-climbing gym. Her hands felt clammy already and he hadn’t even said he
wanted her to climb. As if with him it would be an option not to.

Grant greeted the guy at the desk, obviously familiar. He
shook his hand heartily and clapped him on the back as they laughed and chatted
in that particular male cadence. He gave them everything they needed then gave
Grant a knowing little grin, nodding his head toward the door. “I’m just going
to dinner, be a couple hours. Everything’s locked, just close the doors behind
you when you leave. I’ll be back later to set the alarms and all that.”

The two men shook hands, the guy headed out the door, and
they were alone.

“Looks like we’ve got the place to ourselves.” Grant turned
back to her, grinning as he hefted the gear bag he’d brought over his shoulder.

Looking from him to the window at the back wall that showed
the rock climbing area, she cocked an eyebrow and shook her head. “Is that why
you brought me here, get me alone in the rock-wall room?” She could hope,
anyway that it wouldn’t involve going up the wall, maybe just leaning against
it.

“No.” His face went from that wanting-her-now look to
something else. Something new. “I want to show you this. Next to you, it’s the
thing I love to do most. I want you to share it with me. Come on.”

He led her through the door to the climbing room, and the
size of it made her gasp. She looked up and the ceiling seemed miles away.
Rather than focus on the dizzying heights in front of her, she watched Grant.
Pulling ropes and an assortment of other gear from his bag, he started rigging
up the two harnesses he’d grabbed from behind the desk when they walked in. It
was impressive to watch how skillfully he handled the ropes, tied the gear,
clipped this, knotted that. His big hands were deceptively skillful, but that
she already knew.

Stealing another glance at the wall, she stood next to him
as he put the gear together, feeling helpless. “You should probably know, I’m a
little afraid of heights.”

“Have you ever been up anywhere really high?” He stopped
where he crouched, threading a line, and looked up at her through his thick
black lashes.

“Sure, plenty of times.” She shrugged, wondering why she
bothered to try to mask her discomfort. This was Grant, the man could read her
like he’d obviously read the pages from her books.

“You didn’t have any problem getting there? Freeze up? Did you
want to look down, see the view, was it kind of exhilarating?”

“Yeah, as long as there was something there to hang on to.
Preferably a big giant wall, or fence, something. Not hanging out over the edge
with nothing but a damn rope, that’s for sure. I’ve never climbed anything that
didn’t have stairs or an elevator on it.”

He gave her a confident little shrug and went back to
putting the rigs together. “You’re not afraid of heights, you’re afraid to
fall.”

Her fingers twisted in her hair from the building nerves.
Knowing what he expected her to try, knowing she didn’t want to disappoint him
but at the moment she felt completely terrified.

“Which hanging by a rope kind of makes me think of doing.”

“But you won’t. Teryn, look at me.” He stood to face her and
moved close, lifting a hand to stroke her cheek reassuringly with his calloused
fingers.

She looked up at him, his blue eyes were more serious than
she’d ever seen. “You are not going to fall. I would never let that happen to
you. When you climb outdoors, yeah, sometimes accidents happen. Usually because
the climber is in a hurry and forgets something, or the equipment fails, but
this is completely safe, double safe. Not only have I been tying these rigs for
years but the harness is a double safety net, it’ll be rigged too. This place
is made to learn in a safe environment. I’d never put you in danger, Teryn,
remember that.”

She nodded at him. The confidence and strength in his voice,
with the way his eyes conveyed that he would not let her down made her back
down from her jitters.

“Just relax. I’m going to get you in this rig, and then
you’re going to climb that wall, girl. All the way to the top.”

Teryn looked to the big wall. It was huge, it had to be
fifty feet tall. In some spots there were huge ledges that looked like a roof
hanging out over the wall. The hand holds were all different shapes, sizes, how
was she going to figure this out?

“Umm…”

“Don’t worry, I’m not sending you up there, we’ll go up the
straight vertical. I’ll take it easy on you since it’s your first time.” He
winked at her.

She rolled her eyes, hand still perched on her hip. “Now you
want to take it easy on me, great.”

Grinning, he reached in his bag. “Here, put these on.” He
handed her a pair of climbing shoes. Turning them over, she saw they were
exactly her size. She looked up at him, the question clear. “Yeah, yeah, just
put them on, it’ll be easier than your running shoes and don’t give me any crap
about it.”

Another thing to add to the mystery list. Sighing, she threw
it out of her head, other concerns a bit more pressing. Climbing a rock wall
with an expert mountain climber watching you trumped mysterious little
purchases he managed to make.

Once she had them on he started putting the harness on her.
It was incredibly light, more than she expected. He had her cinched in and
ready to go so fast she thought it couldn’t be possible he was done. Then he
put his own harness on. “I’m not climbing up with you, I have to stay down and
guide you, control your ropes. It’s called belaying. Since we’re here alone I
want to be ready to go in case you get too scared, but I hope you don’t. I’ll
be right here. This is the way you learn. Come on, you ready?”

Nodding, she sucked in a deep breath and followed him. As
they reached the wall and she looked up, a lump stuck in her throat. She just
knew she would end up looking like an idiot. This was probably a cake walk to
him. She didn’t think she could get ten feet without falling on her ass. The
wall didn’t seem to scare her as she thought it would. What made her tremble
was the idea that she wanted to do it, wanted to just start scaling it and show
him that she could without looking like a total fool.

Grant grabbed one of the ropes hanging down from above and
gave it a little test tug. He clipped on the carabiner, tied a couple more
knots into her harness that she couldn’t even begin to follow, and then slapped
her on the butt.

“Okay, take your time. Just start where it looks the most
logical. You can move laterally if you need to, you can back down if you need
to. I’ll be watching you and I’ll give you slack or tighten the rope as you
need it.” He put on a pair of leather gloves while he was talking. Grabbing her
hand, he reached behind her and clipped a little bag to the back of her
harness. He pushed her fingers in it and she felt a block of what she knew must
be chalk. “Here, use this. When your fingers start losing grip just stop, one
hand at a time, and chalk up. If you lose your grip or fall away don’t move,
just relax your body and let the harness take you, I’ll catch you, you aren’t
going to fall. Put your hands out so you don’t slam into the wall face first
but don’t lock your elbows. That’s it. Get up there!”

He gave her a little nudge, and she looked up the wall
again. Pretty straight, lots of handholds.
I can do this
.

She started with the biggest handhold she could find,
figuring it looked the safest. First her hands, then her feet. So far, so good.
Looking up to see what might be a clear path, all she saw was handholds in
every direction.
Okay, pick the one that looks the most logical, like he
said. Not too far, so you don’t have to stretch.
Pulling herself up by her
hands, she felt her shoulders working, her back and arms tensed, even her
finger muscles. It felt good. She started reaching for a few smaller handholds,
deciding the big ones actually felt a little bulky in her hands, not so easy to
wrap her fingers around.
Steady. Up on the right, find one on the left, lift
your feet to the next one, push.
This was easier than she thought. She
looked down. She was a good twenty feet off the ground,
just that easy
.

“You’re doing great, keep going. How does it feel?” His
voice held a hint of pride and he smiled up at her, feet planted where he stood
below her with her ropes in his hands.

“This is incredible! I love it.”

He chuckled at her enthusiasm and a small thrill ran through
her. She was doing it, and he seemed impressed. “Yeah, wait ’til you are past
halfway. I’ll ask you how your arms are and we’ll see if you still love it!”

She pushed higher. Getting a little jittery. Her fingers
slipped on her right hand, she hugged the wall, pushing in with her feet
instinctively, grabbing hard with her left, breathing heavily. She reached
around behind her, she’d forgotten the chalk. Her fingers were sweaty,
slippery. How the hell did you sweat so much from your hands?

She grabbed the handhold again, sticking this time. Chalking
up her left hand, she pushed up again. Then, above her, was a wide open space
that looked as if the handholds suddenly were three times as far apart. Great.
Now what? She had to reach for the next one, straining, on her toes. She
managed to get it and pulled. Her fingers felt as if they were going to break.

“You got it, you got it, just keep pulling, don’t give up!”
The excitement in his voice encouraged her, pushing her on.

Pulling her left foot up, she found a foothold—those were
still close. Now was the hard part. She knew she would have to push up with
just her right hand and foot, the left handhold looked way too high to reach
without letting go of her whole left side. Taking stock, she dipped her head,
concentrating. Deep breath, fingers feel dry enough, one, two, three, push! She
launched herself upward. Her fingers hit the handhold, she thought she was
going to do it. Then they slipped off, the momentum of her weight pulling her
backward and yanking her hard off the other handhold. Her nails scraped it as
she clawed to keep hold, the sensation of falling coming in a gut-lurching
rush. She heard a little cry as if it came from someone else, but the rope
caught and she resisted the urge to bicycle her legs, to thrash for a hold on
the wall. She remembered what he said and lifted her hands, let her legs go
slack. She swung back in, connecting with the wall with a little thud, letting
her arms relax to absorb the impact.

“Shit!” she yelled.

His deep chuckle came from below her. “You’re all right, you
did that perfectly. I didn’t tell you almost everybody falls off their first
time. Well a wall this big, anyway. We kind of jumped to intermediate, skipped
the beginner run, but I knew you could do it.”

“Jackass.” She glared down at him, not even close to angry
but instead thrilled he had that much confidence in her.

“I know.” His grin widened and he winked at her, blowing her
a kiss. “You like it, you know you do. Mount up, girl, don’t quit on me.”

“Quit my ass,” she muttered to herself, already focused back
on the wall and grabbing the handhold again. This time her muscles were tired,
more shaky. Too damn bad, she thought. Getting her foothold again she reached
for a different one with her right, this one more lateral to the one she needed
to get to. Maybe a sideways move would work better.

“That’s it, think it out. You’re doing great. Nice ass, by
the way.”

“Can you not chatter about my ass while I’m trying to get up
this beast? Hmm?” In truth she hoped her ass looked good from down there,
considering how hard she was working it.

He chuckled. “Maybe. Can I at least look at it?”

“Look all you want, just quit distracting me!” she yelled,
only half serious. The distraction helped some, just knowing he enjoyed
watching her and didn’t have to stand there watching her be a complete failure
at this gave her a boost of pride.

“Sorry. Okay, I’ll be quiet. You are doing great though.”

“That I don’t mind hearing.” Now. Launch. She pushed herself
to the left and up a little, bringing her left knee in close to the wall,
hugging it with the curve of her body as she reached for the handhold. This
time she snagged it hard. Planting her foot on the next one, she boosted up
easily this time, her right hand finding a hold, then her foot. Whew, that was
very, very cool. It was getting easier. Even as much as it seemed she moved
with each push, it felt as if she was barely crawling up the wall each time she
checked to see how far she’d gotten. Close to the top, she turned her head and
looked back down. Even feeling safe, and well planted on her handholds, her
stomach did a little lurch at the feeling of vertigo. His face smiling up at
her helped her focus on something besides the spinning in her gut.

“You shouldn’t look down, not yet anyway, you need a little
more under your belt before you can do it without feeling like you’re going to
puke.”

“Yeah, figured that out. Thanks.” Back to the wall. The
spinning subsided. Two more and she’d be within five feet of the top. Yes! She
was doing it, she was going to make it! Less than five minutes later, she was
there. Panting, smiling. “Whoo hoo!” she let out.

“You did it! I knew you’d love this!”

“Oh my god, that was one of the coolest things I’ve ever
done! Are you going to let me down? Hang on, I want to stay here a second and
enjoy it.”

“Stay right where you are. I’m not bringing you down, I’m
coming up. How are your arms holding out?”

“Fine, a little wobbly, but I’m okay.”