Chapter Twenty-Eight

Rory

Rain poured down, the sound a violent drumbeat against the nylon walls of the tent. But inside, it was another world entirely: dry and warm and smelling of spring and sunshine.

She leaned over me, her long hair tumbling over my bare skin with an erotic tickle. I sucked in a breath as the motion brought her hips flush against mine, only a few layers of fabric keeping me from her.

Her tongue stroked along mine as she kissed me. Then she broke the kiss and sat up, her lips curving into a smile as she gazed down at me. She reached back and unhooked her bra, then slowly dragged it down her arms and tossed it to the side. Wordlessly, she took my hands and brought them to her breasts, her lips parting on a gasp as I cupped their weight in my palms and traced them with the pads of my thumbs.

Then it was my turn to gasp as her hands slid down my abdomen. My hips rose to meet hers, and I lifted my gaze in time to see her lips curve in a slow, seductive smile. She leaned over me once more, her hair falling around me as her hand dipped lower…

I came awake as the dream faded. Unlike my other dreams lately, it didn’t leave me wracked with horror and grief. But it did leave me with my body painfully aroused from the most vivid erotic dream I’d had in a long time.

There was a soft sigh, and a warm body snuggled into mine. My eyes snapped open. What? And then I remembered.

I was in a too-small bed in the Sligachan Hotel, curled around Amelia with my face buried in her hair. My right arm was wrapped around her waist, my hand nearly touching her breast. Her hand lay over mine, as if she’d pulled my arm around her and hadn’t let go.

We couldn’t have been any closer to each other unless we were naked.

I needed to move away from her, even though that was the very last thing I wanted to do. But I couldn’t stay wrapped around her like this. Not after turning her down the way I had.

I carefully disentangled myself from her and eased out of the bed. It was early yet—the light coming in through the window was the pale gray of dawn—but I couldn’t go back to sleep. Not with my body hungering for hers.

There was an indentation on the bed from where I’d lain so close to her, and I wondered what it would be like to wake up with her in my arms for real, to make love to her as night gave way to dawn.

I’d taken things too far last night. But she’d been going on about how I didn’t want her, and I’d had to show her how wrong she was. How much I did want her. I’d intended just to kiss her, but then she’d pressed her body to mine and kissed me back, and I’d just given in.

I thought of how she’d felt under me, how her body had responded to my touch, how she’d arched against my hand. If I hadn’t jostled her damn knee, I was certain the evening would have ended differently, with our bodies sated and entwined for real, without this misery hanging over us. But what I’d said to Amelia was true. I couldn’t bear the thought of being with her and then letting her go. She was an amazing woman who would do anything for those she loved, even at her own peril.

The kind of woman I could love. The kind of woman I’d be devastated to lose.

But she was here to finish the trek and return home to her life in the States. It was no use dwelling on those thoughts.

I sank into the armchair under the window and stared out at the mountains. Our walk today would take us past Bla Bheinn, the mountain that had irrevocably changed my life. The source of my nightmares. And the reason I continued to guide the Skye Trail, month after month, year after year. I could never let myself forget, even for a second.

I needed to get through today, get past Bla Bheinn without incident. Then we’d be in the homestretch, and with any luck, we’d complete the Skye Trail in three days and my life could get back to normal.

Amelia made some small sound in her sleep, and I dragged my thoughts away from the mountain to just look at her for a moment. Her dark hair was spread across the white pillowcase, her lovely face was relaxed in slumber, her lips were parted slightly.

The next three days were going to be torture.