She found a small flat stone and tried skimming it across the lake. He foraged in the short tussock for more and they had a contest for a while. And all that while—longer really—her ability to resist him curled into a smaller and smaller ball.
‘We haven’t talked about it,’ he said, aiming another flat pebble across the lake.
‘About what?’
‘That phone call.’
She felt the flush ripple like a wave from her toes to the tip of her scalp. ‘Oh.’
Oh was right—the guy had turned her on to nuclear with nothing but a few suggestions. Phone sex—a total first.
‘It’s not going to happen.’
‘What?’ she asked, confused.
‘You being with anyone else.’
Oh, he meant that conversation?
‘No one else, Ellie.’ He turned to face her—all arrogance. ‘You know you can’t. Not until you’ve had enough of me.’
Oh, that wasn’t fair—what if she’d never had enough of him? Because he’d have enough of her all too soon, she just knew it.
‘So you have a choice to make.’
‘I do?’
‘Uh-huh.’ He turned and skimmed another stone across the water. It bounced seven times. ‘We could stay up here the night.’
‘Where?’
‘Just beyond that ridge there’s a hut.’
This was why he’d brought her to an utterly isolated spot. Because he wanted...what she wanted.
‘We could spend the night up here or we could go back to the station in the helicopter. I should warn you there’s only one bed in the hut and it’s not very big.’
Ellie’s brain whirled—and then she stared up at the completely blue sky. ‘It looks to me like there’s a storm coming. It might be safer to stay up here.’
He walked towards her, holding her gaze imprisoned in his despite shaking his head. ‘No storm, Ellie. No games. Just be honest. Do you want another night with me or not?’
Oh, his whole approach was outrageous. Excitement scudded in her belly, her innermost muscles stretching and flexing already. ‘What kind of a question is that?’
‘Just answer it.’
What did he want, her acquiescence written in blood? Or perhaps sweat? ‘Okay, take me there.’
The chocolate-brown eyes were scorched. ‘You’re sure.’
‘Yes.’ She knew what she was doing. They were hardly lost in a snowstorm and forced to cling close to preserve life. This was a decision. Her decision. And she was tired of fighting the need.
He turned abruptly, climbed back into the helicopter. Ellie walked back towards the lake. It wasn’t too late to change her mind but her mind and body were in sync already—she knew what she wanted.
Ruben got what he needed from the chopper and walked back to where she waited. It felt good to have her in place, ready to meet him. He drank in the signs—yeah, her blue eyes were deepening, just like the sky above them. She kept that intense eye contact, as if she was trying to see through him. His heart pounded—he briefly wondered if she could hear it, because he didn’t like to be looked at that closely.
‘Promise me something,’ she said with that husky voice that gripped his attention completely. ‘This one night. That’s all. Nothing more afterwards. When we get back to civilisation, we’re back to where we were. Just friends again. That’s the only way this can happen. The fantasy, right?’
‘Why do you keep trying to control this?’
‘I’m not—’
‘This isn’t going to go away unless we deal with it. Your way isn’t working.’
‘One night.’
‘The whole night.’ He pressed his end of the bargain home. ‘Not just once and then sleep. I want literally the whole, damn night.’ Though he feared even that wasn’t going to be enough.
‘All night?’ She paused, her tongue slipping over her lips.
She honestly thought they’d have just the once? Oh, she hadn’t a clue. But she was on the edge. He stepped closer to her, acutely aware of the shifting signals—her shortened breathing, her flush, her almost invisible shiver. Oh, yes, it was going to be more than once. He’d get her over that line again and again. But he needed all night to do it. So they could leave tomorrow as ex-lovers, over this intensity, leaving no burning anxiety left. No more of this desire that had twisted him inside out the last few weeks.
Ellie was embarrassingly close to orgasm just from the suggestion of sex. And only a few steps into the walk to the hut she stumbled.
‘Something’s hurting?’
She shook her head. Nope, it was the unchecked wanton, wicked, desperate thoughts that had caused her loss of co-ordination. ‘I’m fine.’ She just wanted to be at the damn shack already.
He’d stopped and now stared stonily at her. Once more that uptilt of his mouth had flattened out to a thin line. Suddenly he lunged.
‘What are you doing?’ she shrieked.
In a blur and a thud he’d gone in low and hard and she was upside down. His grip was firm but apparently effortless given the pace he was striding up the mountain.
‘What. Are. You. Doing?’ She added some outrage to the question.
‘Stopping you from doing yourself an injury.’
‘Oh, please, this is just you unable to keep your hands off me.’ Oh, yeah, and her excitement had just quadrupled.
‘That too,’ he confirmed, unapologetically running his hand up the back of her thigh and grabbing a handful of her butt.
‘Well, put me down. You’ll do yourself an injury.’ She was no lightweight.
‘We’re nearly there anyway.’
‘Ruben, seriously. I’m getting giddy.’
He squeezed her butt, then shifted, wrapping both arms around her as he slid her down his body to set her on her feet. For a moment she leaned against him, needing that closeness. All her personal space was his and, oh, it was good.
‘Turn around.’ He laughed.
‘How do you expect me to when you’re holding me so tight?’ She was more breathless than he, which was embarrassing given he’d been the load bearer.
He turned her, holding her firm, pulling her body back close against his as soon as he could.
She drew an even deeper breath. ‘That’s the hut?’
‘Uh-huh.’ As he laughed again she felt his chest rumbling against her back.
She smiled too, gazing at the small building, not hiding her amazement. ‘So what are we doing here, glamping?’ Glamour-camping. In by helicopter to a pristine lake and then a little trek to some deluxe boudoir?
‘Hey, it’s hardly five stars—look at the place. It’s tiny and made out of tin,’ he said in mock-defence. ‘But we can get it really warm.’
Oh, she bet they could.
It was tiny, no more than a couple of metres squared. Two-storeyed and on stilts. A beautiful copper coloured tower. He strode ahead, pulling a set of keys from his pocket. He unlocked the padlocks on each side and pulled up the shades so they became awnings, revealing the massive windows beneath providing a view as far as the eye could see in each direction.
‘Oh,