Vivian Arend - Rocky Mountain Desire

Not to mention during the nights.

Matt stretched and yawned, his left arm slipping farther into the space she’d mentally tagged “hers”. The safe-zone line had been crossed—that was her cue to bounce up and go for more drinks. Or popcorn, or…or something.

“Okay if I pause it?” Matt waved the remote control.

She grinned as she hit her feet. “No problem.”

He smiled back suspiciously. “What’s that look for?”

“I just want to point out you took all of fifteen minutes to assume ownership of that thing.”

“I’m a guy, it’s genetically built into us to cling to the controls.”

Hope laughed as she grabbed their empty glasses. “I’ve heard that. I’ve also heard shock therapy can help deal with it.”

Matt headed down the hall toward the washroom. She watched, enjoying seeing his ass flex before mentally slapping some sense into herself.

It wasn’t going to work, but maybe if she kept telling the lies they’d become true.

She had both hands full when the phone rang a couple minutes later.

“You want me to get that?” Matt called.

“Please.” It was probably her friend Donna making a post-eggnog holiday shout-out.

Hope finished topping up their glasses and turned, nearly tipping both full loads over his broad chest, he stood so close behind her. “Shit, warn a girl, will you?”

“It’s for you.” He held out the phone like it was a snake. “I gotta go.”

What? She scrambled to put down the glasses. “Oh. Okay.”

He was already gathering his coat and slipping on his shoes. His face was white, body stiff. My God, what was wrong? Whoever was on the line could wait a few minutes while she discovered what was going on. She spoke into the phone. “Hang on a second.”

“Hey, no problem, sis.”

Hope froze, her sister’s voice echoing in her ear loud enough he must have heard. Hope slapped a hand over the mouthpiece. “Shit, Matt. I’m sorry.”

He shook his head, digging in his pocket, looking for something. “Nothing to apologize for.”

Hope snapped the phone to her mouth. “Helen? I’ll call you back.” She hung up and tossed it onto the counter, grabbed hold of his jacket and yanked him to a halt in the process of actually stepping through the exterior door. “Wait.”

Matt’s broad shoulders filled the doorframe, the thick layers of his winter coat like armor facing her. “Hope, I just…”

“Damn it, don’t you leave right now.”

Matt spun. “You’re swearing at me? Fuck that. If I want to leave, I’ll leave. That’s what you said, isn’t it? That if it’s something I really want to do, then I can do it. And right now I want to go. In fact I want to go and get a stiff drink, and since I’m too fucking responsible to get shit-faced except when I’m safely at home, I’m gone.”

She grabbed his collar, one side in each hand. “Fine. Go drink yourself into a bloody stupor. But this goes two ways. There’s something I want before you run.”

Logic flew out the window. It was the last thing she should do and yet it had to be done. She yanked him forward.

He was an unmovable wall, but she was strong enough the frantic jerk brought her to the mountain of his body. She lifted her chin and slammed her mouth against his, kissing fiercely. His hands hovered in midair for a moment, visible in her peripheral vision before she closed her eyes and simply took what she wanted.

His hands didn’t stay unoccupied for long. She was lifted off her feet. The bulk of his muscular body shoved her backward as his tongue thrust between her lips. Her back hit the wall the same moment he switched from accepting her kisses to consuming her. She couldn’t groan, couldn’t let out anything but a brief gasp when he ripped his lips from hers and bit her neck, the entire front of his body rammed against hers, pinning her in place.

Hope raised her legs and wrapped them around his hips, squeezing as tight as she could with her still relatively strong dancer’s muscles. If she didn’t get her point across one way, he was going to hear it loud and clear another.

Oh God, he thrust his hips forward, making contact with her core, and his name burst from her, exploding like a cry for help. She clutched his head, jerking his hair to drag his mouth back into range so she could kiss him again. Excitement simmered in her core, tingles of pleasure radiating out from where he rubbed insistently against her, the solid ridge in the front of his jeans a magnet she was determined to stay connected with.

And his kisses? She melted under his assault. Heated, wicked, violent even. Burning and stripping away some of the pain, some of her lingering frustrations.

He slowed as she did, one hand cradling her head, lifting her chin higher to allow him to cover her mouth more easily. His tongue swept smoothly over her lips, hot breath flashing over her cheek and neck as his left hand cupped her ass and pulsed her against his groin slower and slower.

He eased away until her feet reluctantly hit the floor. Hope savoured the last touches of his mouth against hers, the smooth slide of their tongues as she withdrew, sucking in air. The final squeeze of his hand on her ass, the fleeting brush of her fingers escaping from his hair. Matt backed up, leaving her leaning on the wall for support.

His eyes were open wide, hands dropping to his chest as if checking to see if he was still in one piece.

She didn’t want to hurt him, but damn if she’d let him hurt her either. And there was no way on earth she was going to let her sister drag them both through the barbed-wire pain all over.

Hope lifted her chin.

“You’ve gotten blasted by a painful reminder—but running away? That’s not you, Matt. You’re bigger than that. If you want to leave now, yes, you leave. Not to escape, not because you want to get piss-drunk over past hurts. Go because while we’ve had a great afternoon, we both think it’s time to say good night.”

The haunted expression in his eyes faded, though a darkness still hovered near. Now his expression looked more like unresolved desire than the urge to kill someone. Matt stepped back without another word. He left, the door clicking firmly behind him.

Hope lifted her fingers to her mouth to trap the lingering heat from his kisses. All her good intentions had been tossed away in a moment, but she couldn’t regret it.

Whatever she had done—they’d both have to live with the consequences. But for now? She was going to hide away for a while.

He didn’t want to go home. The temptation to hit the bottle and wipe away the confusion by fading into oblivion was too high. The previous year when Helen had left he’d spent a couple solid weeks drinking himself into a stupor every night before his brothers had intervened and talked him out of that stupidity.

The cheerful chaos of his parents—definitely not what he needed right now either. Not with the simmering undertones of sexual need still buzzing through him.

What the hell had she kissed him for? Matt drove the mostly deserted main street of town, shifting through everything he’d seen and felt that day.

He headed down the road toward one of the residential subdivisions, just on the off-chance. Lights glowed through the windows of Daniel and Beth’s house, and Matt hesitated only for a minute before turning into the driveway and parking in the back beside the garage.

He’d never been in this position before, so it was time to do what he knew was right. Go to family.

Daniel met him at the door before he even knocked. There was music playing quietly in the background, but other than that it was a far more hushed house than he usually was welcomed into.

“You duct tape the boys to their beds?”

Beth’s bright smile poked around the corner. “We left them behind at Gramma and Grampa’s.”

Shit. Now he was interrupting his brother’s private time with his wife. “Sorry. I’ll go—”

Daniel’s hand landed on his shoulder and pulled him farther into the house. “No running away. Come on, we didn’t get much chance to talk during dinner. Have a visit for a bit. The boys are gone for a couple nights.”

This was about the most awkward thing, made worse when he spotted two drinks on the coffee table, firelight shining from the fireplace. “Daniel, it’s fine. Just let me call you later.”

Daniel blocked him. “Stay.”

Beth paused in the door. “You want a drink? And if you want to talk with Daniel alone—I don’t mind, really.”

“Great, now I’m not only interrupting your privacy, I’m kicking you out of the room.”

“She’s not going to complain if she gets to soak in the tub for an hour without anyone banging on the door.” Daniel’s slow perusal of his wife shot another round of daggers into Matt. Either he needed to talk this through or get the hell out of the room and suffer alone.

By the time Matt had grabbed a drink and settled on the couch, Beth had vanished, accompanied by a content smile and a full wine glass.

“She really doesn’t mind, you know.” Daniel lifted the footrest of the recliner and eased himself back more comfortably. “Time of peace and quiet without the boys isn’t that hard to come by with our folks chomping at the bit to pull grandparent duty, especially during the holidays.”

Matt nodded, then suddenly found himself tongue-tied. He snorted. “So after all that, I’m not sure what I want to say.”

Daniel stared at the fire for a minute. “You were quiet during dinner.”

“Yeah.”

“Lot on your plate these days?”

“Right, with these temperatures? You know there’s more navel-gazing going on than anything else until lambing fully kicks in.” Matt paused. “I went and saw Hope this afternoon.”

Surprise flashed onto his brother’s face. “Really? Why?”

“That’s…hell if I know.” Matt collapsed on the couch, staring at the ceiling. “Am I some kind of masochist? The one woman in town I should avoid at all costs and I end up on her doorstep.”

“Now you’ve got me confused. You spent the afternoon with her, but you’re not sure why? What did you do over there?”

Matt opened his mouth then laughed. “We made a quilt top, or at least set up the fixings of one.”

“A quilt…” Daniel smiled at him, the type of smile that edged over into something that looked suspiciously like amusement. “Can I ask a specific question, since you don’t seem to want to confess you came over for any reason other than to shoot the breeze? Why is Hope the one woman in town you should avoid?”

“Don’t be stupid.” Matt shook his head. “Hope Meridan? Helen’s sister?”

“I know the connection. But the woman you spent the afternoon with was Hope, not Helen.”

“She called, by the way.”

“Helen called? You?”

“Hope’s apartment. I answered the goddamn phone.”

“Jesus, you don’t do anything the easy way, do you?” Matt shook his head. The fire crackled with a loud explosive pop before Daniel spoke again. “Helen wasn’t the woman for you.”

“Nailed that in one.”

“But Matt, you spent years thinking you two would be together. You worked at that relationship with crazy dedication.”

“Crazy is right—considering she never really wanted what I wanted.”

“No. She didn’t.” Daniel pulled himself upright. “But she’s gone. And now there’s this other woman you’re feeling interested in, and I’m wondering why you aren’t going after her with the same enthusiasm you put into everything else you do.”

Bloody hell. “You’re not listening. This is Hope who I’m…”

“You’re what? Attracted to? Great. Then ask her out.”

Fuck a duck. “That easy?”

“That easy.” Daniel sighed. “One of the biggest blessings of our family—the whole crazy horde of us—is that there’s always someone around, right? Someone to talk to, someone to tease. When we were growing up and needed to let off some steam, there was always someone to fight.”

Matt chuckled. “Usually more than one.”

“The downside? There was always someone around that we got compared to. Poor twins—by the time they hit high school the teachers didn’t give them a chance to muck around. They were already tagged and branded Six Pack Colemans, and all the sins of Blake down to Travis were sitting right there waiting to be dumped on their heads.”

“They still got away with murder.”

Daniel grinned. “Yeah, they did, but you know why? Because they’re damn charismatic. Butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths. They charmed their way out of more bad situations than you or I ever could have.”