Dinner that evening was a celebration. They were giddy with the realization that the beast they were excavating was a rare carnivore, and might even be a new species of carnivore. That thought was enticing, but they wouldn’t know until—or if—they found the head. For now it was enough to know that they were working on something special.
For Liz this night was a stolen pleasure. Tomorrow, when Zac showed up, she would have to tell him what Will and Mike had surmised and that she agreed with them. She expected him to sneer and say they were wrong. She didn’t intend to back down, so she figured tomorrow morning would be a battle.
Tonight, though, tonight she would let herself be happy. No, not happy, joyous. She absorbed the elation around her, let it flow through her, wrapped it around her. Lived for the moment alone.
They ate hamburgers and drank toasts with the bottle of Scotch Mike produced from the lockbox in his truck. While they ate they speculated about the great beast, what it was, how it died. Inevitably they wondered if there were other creatures nearby, perhaps the bones of its prey, or another carnivore who had fought their animal and also died of its wounds. With the help of a couple of shots of Scotch, Maggy drew a word picture of the last days of their dino, revealing a surprisingly fertile imagination and an eye for detail that was impressive. Not to be outdone, Justin invented another scenario, while Will cheerfully critiqued them both amid much laughter.
Darkness had fallen a long time since when Will, Justin and Maggy finally wound down and retreated to their tents. Even though she knew it would be a long day tomorrow, Liz wasn’t ready to retire yet. She said goodnight to the others, but stayed out by the campfire.
Mike stayed with her.
Until they found the head, the most telling part of the skeleton was the back end, Mike’s part of the dino. She could ask him what he planned to do with his section of their awesome find, but she wouldn’t do it tonight. It would bring tomorrow and the conflict of shared ownership and the possibility of argument into this quiet evening. She was still fizzing with the excitement of the find and the energy of the evening. She didn’t want to lose it.
The thought made her shiver.
“Are you cold?” Mike asked. His voice was low, rough with something that sounded like concern.
Smiling, she looked over at him. What she saw made her breath catch and her smile fade.
“I can get you a blanket, if you need it.”
His gaze seemed to bore into her, to strip away her outer shell and expose her inner self, shivering not with cold, but awareness. “A blanket? Like the emergency blanket you got for me the night of the storm?” Her voice dropped to a lower register, and she said the words more slowly than she normally would.
He stilled.
She wasn’t surprised. She hadn’t deliberately added that sexy edge to her tone, but now that it was out there she was ready to own it. Now it was up to Mike. The next move was his. She wondered if he would take what she was offering.
“Emergency blankets are warm, but they’re not particularly comfortable. I was thinking of something…softer. There’s one in my tent.” He waited a heartbeat, then two. Then he stood. “I can get it for you.”
Liz stood too. “I’ll come with you.”
He stared at her for a minute, then he held out his hand. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” she said, and took his hand.
He didn’t use it to lead her to his tent. Instead, he pulled her to him, buried his free hand in her hair and kissed her.
His lips were firm over hers, moving sensuously, inviting her to participate. She shook her hand free of his, then wrapped her arms around his neck. Her fingers played with the hair on the back of his head while she parted her lips and let his tongue sink into her. As his tongue stroked hers, she shifted her body closer so that her breasts were pressed against the muscular strength of his chest and her hips thrust against his.
Desire flooded through her, hot, demanding, urgent. “Michael Edmonds, if you don’t get me into your tent and under that blanket soon, I can’t be held accountable for what happens to us out here.”
He laughed against her mouth, sound and sensation inflaming her. “Slow down, hot stuff,” he muttered, then went back to ravishing her mouth.
She whimpered. There was no way she was going to break away from the kiss to protest verbally. Instead she let her body argue her case. She tightened her hold on him and pressed closer, until she could feel the throb of his erection making demands of its own. She moved her hips over his, showing his body hers was ready with what it wanted.
The kiss deepened. His mouth hardened and his tongue thrust deeper. She met it with her own, fighting for dominance, inflaming them both.
Mike was breathing heavily when he pulled out of the embrace. “Give me a minute.”
She smiled at him and held out her hand. “Let’s walk to your tent. Slowly.”
He stared at her, then down at her hand. “If I take your hand, I’ll take everything else you’re offering, right here.”
She laughed.
“I mean it, Liz. I’m that close.”
She shot him a cocky, feminine, smile. “Hands in pockets, then,” she said, shoving hers into her hip pockets so that her back arched a little and her breasts stood higher.
He sucked in his breath in a quick sizzle of sound. “Damn you,” he said mildly. “You’re not going to make this easy, are you?”
She laughed at the hungry look in his eyes and took a step back. “My tent’s closer and I have a blanket too.”
She took another step back as he watched her with an intent gaze. Then he swooped. His kiss was meant to push them both to the edge. To tease, to tempt, to promise.
When he let her go, Liz was panting. “Mike.” His name was a plea and a demand all at once. More plea than demand, though, she thought, as her body throbbed with need.
“Your tent,” he said. This time he took her hand and they ran.
Inside the tent he zipped the flap closed and stripped her, quickly. As his hands covered her breasts she moaned. He closed his mouth over hers, catching the sounds she made as his tongue ravished her mouth and his thumbs rubbed over her nipples. They hardened at his touch and she clung to him for support.
She was aware of nothing but sensation. The roughness of his clothing against her skin, the rasp of his stubble on her face, the pads of his fingers moving against her breasts. She shifted position, spreading her legs to stand without overbalancing, and was rewarded with the hard evidence of his arousal. She moaned. Mike did too. Then he pulled away.
She opened her eyes to look up at him. “Mike?”
His smile was tender. He scooped her up, then carried her over to her air mattress and gently lowered her onto it. A moment later he unzipped his jeans and pushed them off.
Liz shifted onto her side and rested her head on her hand while she watched him appreciatively. He was well endowed with lean muscle and, heavens, an erection that was proof that he really did want her very much indeed. She moistened her lips, then chewed the lower one nervously. Was she ready for this? For him?
She looked up, past his muscular chest, and caught him watching her. There was a lazy look in his eyes, but a tightness to his features that suggested pleasure desired, but held under strong restraint. She reached for him with her free hand.
He caught it as he lowered himself to his knees beside the air mattress, then he turned it so he could kiss her palm. She shivered. His mouth moved up to her wrist, pausing to kiss the vein beating heavily there. His tongue flicked out, stroking lightly, then he raked his teeth over the spot and her breath caught. Intent on his task he didn’t look up, but moved along her arm to her elbow, where he kissed and licked and rasped over her skin. She sighed with pleasure and eased onto her back.
He came down on top of her, positioning himself carefully. She shifted, opening for him. He stroked her breast, then as she sighed with the pleasure of it, he caught her mouth with his and slipped inside. She was ready for him, hot and anxious to proceed. She wriggled and he laughed against her mouth. Then he thrust and gave her exactly what she wanted.
The fire that he’d let cool while he undressed returned, hotter than before. Liz gave herself to him, not just her body, but her emotions and her mind. She was aware of nothing but the two of them. If a bear had strayed into camp and attempted to tear an entry into her tent she would not have noticed. She was wrapped in Mike’s arms and there was nothing but him.
Her climax came after minutes of ever growing exquisite pleasure. It cascaded over her, painfully intense as he emptied himself into the condom he wore, then easing to sweet pleasure as his climax crested with hers. He withdrew slowly, shifting to deal with the condom, then he moved her on to her side and nestled her securely against him. He covered them both with her sleeping bag, kissed the side of her neck where her pulse beat a slow, satisfied rhythm, and whispered, “Rest now.”
She was asleep almost before he finished saying the word.
They made love again during the night. It was a slow, sensual joining, with each learning the contours of the other’s body and what pleased them most. Like their first time, the pleasure was intense. Liz fell asleep cuddled against Mike, more relaxed than she could remember.
She woke to sounds of morning activities outside her tent, male voices and one chipper female one. She yawned and stretched, grinning at nothing in particular. Sometime today she was going to have to tell Scarr about the theropod theory. He’d probably throw a fit and refuse to believe it.
Didn’t matter.
Zac would be arriving in another hour or so, sneering about her excavation, bragging about what he hadn’t really found further along in the rift.
Didn’t matter.
In fact, when she tried to work up any kind of stressful thoughts, she discovered they didn’t matter. She’d had such an amazing night with a man she liked very much on so many different levels she couldn’t work up the energy to be worried, even if she should be.
She got up, gave herself a rough sponge bath with bottled water she kept in her tent, dressed in her usual jeans and a t-shirt, then exited the tent.
Mike saw her first. He shot her a sly, but cocky, grin. “You up late. Too much partying last night?”
She raised her brows. They’d agreed some time in the darkness of the night, that they wouldn’t broadcast their relationship to the others. Right now, though, Mike had the look of a man who had a really juicy secret he was dying to unload on someone and he wasn’t going to be picky about who that person was. “Too much theropod,” she said repressively. “I’ve been trying to figure out where the head might be.”
Will looked up from the plate of bacon and eggs he was eating. “I dreamed about it last night.”
Mike poured Liz a cup of coffee and looked at Will, his expression interested. “Dreams are supposed to be our brain’s way of bringing buried information to the surface. Where did you find the head?”
Will’s expression twisted into a grimace. “On federal land, a yard or so away from the neck.”
Liz accepted the coffee from Mike with a smile of thanks. Their hands touched for a moment and awareness lanced through her. Mike’s cocky grin turned into a slumberous smile. Her heart skipped a beat then started to hammer.
She sat down at the portable picnic table opposite Will, who hadn’t noticed the exchange—thankfully!—because he was focused on finishing up his food. She shook her head at him. “It’s not, though. Believe me, I’ve looked.”
“Are you sure you didn’t miss something?” Will asked. He looked over as Mike sat down. “It’s logical it would be near the neck.”
“I hope it’s on Mike’s side,” Liz said. She was very aware of him beside her. She could feel the heat from his body, smell the scent of clean sweat and masculine hunger that was particularly him. Her body was responding outrageously. Her nipples were peaking, her pulse pounding and heavy with desire, and the blush that suffused her body was darkening with every wayward thought.
“Why?” Mike asked.
His voice was rough. Low. Full of innuendo. She cleared her throat and said, “Because if it’s on the federal side Scarr will absorb it and make it his own.”
“He can try,” Mike said pleasantly. He even smiled as he said the words.
“What will you do with your part of the skeleton?” she asked impulsively.
He stared out into the prairie. “I have plans.”
When he didn’t say anything more, she said, “That’s it? Nothing more, just plans?”
Opposite her, Will snorted.
Mike brought his gaze back to her face. There was amusement in his eyes. A smile twitched at his mouth. “Isn’t it enough?”
As she sipped her coffee, her gaze locked with his. Plans. She put the bits and pieces of information from the last couple of weeks together and decided to leap into the void and hope there would be a ledge to break her fall. “Let me guess,” she said, slowly stating each word. “You’re going to build a state of the art museum to house it.”
His reaction was priceless. His eyes narrowed and a frown darkened his brow. He shot a quick look at Will, who raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.
“Don’t look at me,” he said. “I didn’t say anything.”
Mike focused back on Liz. “How did you know?”
She put her cup on the table. “Let’s say I have insider knowledge. Can I borrow your truck this morning?”
“Why?”
“I have an errand to run.”
He pulled his keys out of his pocket and tossed them onto the table. “There’s an extra can of gas in the back in case you get stuck.”
She smiled at him, remembering the night of the storm, thinking about their lovemaking last night. “I won’t. Thanks. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”