Temptation Ridge

He pushed deeply, moving in long slow strokes, listening to the little purrs and sighs that told him he was on the right spot. Her hips began to move in rhythm with his and then as her pace picked up, he pushed harder, faster, deeper. He was hanging on for dear life, giving her a chance to grab on to another orgasm before he’d let himself cash in. It didn’t take her long; she was sexually charged. She lifted her hips against him, her breath caught and he felt her close around him, pulsing. “Oh, yeah,” he whispered. With a shudder, he let go, joining her in a thundering climax.



As she collapsed beneath him, he held her, running his hands over her soft body in a tender caress while she recovered. He was reluctant to let go of her, reluctant to leave her body. He stayed there for a long time, holding his weight off her slender frame, and finally he slipped out, but he kept his arms around her for a while longer.



“You okay, honey?” he asked.



“Hmm. Okay.”



“How’d I score on number one?” he asked her.



She chuckled softly in spite of herself. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s a mistake to praise a man’s performance in bed.”



“You were wonderful,” he said. “Phenomenal. Like a furnace, a blast furnace. Hot and strong. God. I thought I was going to faint,” he said.



She laughed. “You weren’t too bad.”



“Thanks. Just out of curiosity, why is it number one?”



She shrugged. “I guess I couldn’t think of a compromise. This is an awful important part of being a couple.”



“It is,” he agreed. He kissed her cheek and said, “Excuse me for just a minute.” He withdrew to the bathroom. When he came back, he was wearing a frown and a towel around his hips. He sat on the bed beside her. “Brandy, I have to tell you something. The condom—it broke.”



“Jesus,” she said in a weak breath.



“It’s okay—I’ll tell you exactly what to do. I’m a doctor. There’s emergency birth control for exactly this kind of problem. If you’ll see your doctor on Monday, he or she can prescribe something to prevent a pregnancy. If you can’t get an appointment, you can come to my office Monday and I’ll write you a scrip.”



“I’m on the pill,” she said.



“Well, that’s a relief,” he said. “Damn, I’m sorry, honey. We should sue the hotel.”



“It’ll be all right, won’t it?”



“You should be fine. I take real cautious care of myself—you haven’t been exposed to anything.” He brushed the hair back from her brow. “I’m so sorry. The last thing I wanted was for you to be worried about anything. Especially now that I know everything you’ve been through.”



She smiled at him. “Aren’t you worried that you’ve been exposed to something? You don’t know me.”



“I can take care of my concerns.” He smiled. “I get a real good deal on lab tests, if I feel they’re in order.”



“No reason you should believe me, but it was necessary for me to be completely checked over after my… After he moved out. Quite a while ago.”



“Thanks for telling me that, Brandy.” He lowered himself to the bed and gathered her up in his arms. “As long as you’re all right, that’s all that concerns me right now. As far as I’m concerned, you have everything on the list covered. Very nicely.”



“This should never end,” she said.



“It doesn’t have to,” he said, kissing her neck. “God knows, I don’t want it to.”



“But it will,” she said, a hint of sadness in her tone.



“That’s up to you. I’d like to know more of you.”



“I’ll have to think about that,” she said.



“You think,” he said. “I’ll try to offer incentives.” His hands began to move and she moaned, instantly responsive to his touch. He was on the rise again, and it was obvious against her thigh.



She said, “Do you think the next condom will hold?”



“I don’t think it much matters. Now.”



It was a very long time before they slept. He made love to her again and again, each time sweeter, more satisfying than the time before. It shouldn’t have been so effortless, so right, but it was. For someone who had been tense and frightened, she had shed her inhibitions quickly and unfolded at his touch, responding to him with a heat and passion that surprised and thrilled him. The level of physical intimacy was greater than he expected, more profound than he’d imagined. He’d had his share of one-night stands, but he couldn’t remember one that felt like this. He wanted more of this woman, and not just more of her in bed.



In the morning, early, when the sun was barely up, she was awake and touching him. “I have to go now,” she whispered.



“Not yet,” he said, reaching for her. “Not yet.”



She ran a hand along the hair at his temple. “It was a beautiful night, but I have to go.”



“I want to see you again,” he said. “Tell me how to get in touch with you.”



“My life is so messed up right now,” she said. “You have to understand that much, or last night couldn’t have happened…”



“I’m not afraid of a little mess…”



“Let me go and do the things I have to do, straighten things out a little, then get in touch with you. Can you do that?”



He kissed her deeply. “I think if we spent more time together, we could fall in love. I want to know if that could happen. I have a real good feeling about us.”



She couldn’t help but laugh at him. “Cameron, you picked me up in a bar…”



“I know. What a piece of luck. When does something that great happen? I don’t want to let you go.”



“You’re not going to try to keep me from leaving, are you?”



“Of course not, but I’d like to call for breakfast. If you won’t stay, I at least want to see you again. Take you out, talk to you…”



“Write down your number. Or give me a business card,” she said.



“Tell me your last name. Give me a number if not an address. You know you don’t have to be afraid of me.”



She sighed and put a soft hand against his cheek. “It’s really important that I feel in control right now. Please understand?”



He thought briefly, then smiled at her. He gave her a little kiss and got out of bed. He found her bra and panties on the floor and picked them up to hand to her. His trousers were flung across a chair and he slipped into them, sans underwear, while she put on her dainties. Then he held her soft, gold dress for her and helped her into it, turning her around to zip up the back. Next he pulled his wallet from his back pocket, flipped it open and produced a business card. “I want you to feel safe and in control, just like you were last night. All night. Go ahead, have me checked out.” He pressed it into her hand.



“Maybe you’ll want to have me checked out,” she said with a soft smile.



“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m going to let you tell me everything you want me to know. That’s a better place to start.”



“Thank you,” she whispered.



“Don’t make me wait too long, Brandy,” he said. “Even if I can’t see you until you get your affairs in order, I’d like to talk to you. Just touch base, that’s all. Let me know you’re okay. I promise, I’ll be patient for the rest.”



She smiled and said, “Sure. How could I not?”



Nine



October flew into the mountains and in the first couple of weeks provided a rainbow of color around Virgin River. Mel, Jack and their friends had been back from Joe’s wedding in Grants Pass for two weeks and fall was crisp in the air, the nights cold and the hillsides in full autumn bloom, fiery-colored leaves scattered amid towering green pines.



Doc was at the computer behind the reception desk when Mel came in from the kitchen. “Kids are settled into naps,” she said. “What are you doing?”



“Playing around,” he said. “I’ve been meaning to ask you—any word on Cheryl Chreighton?”



Mel shook her head. “It’s confidential treatment. If Cheryl didn’t put us on the list to call her, we can’t get through, can’t get information. I called to ask how she was doing and was told I wasn’t on her list—which tells me she’s probably still there. I could go speak to her mother, but I don’t know about that. Her mother is—”



“She’s not well, and she’s not the least neighborly,” Doc said. “Mean as a snake, if you ask me. If I were Cheryl, the mother wouldn’t be on my list.”



“I was going to say exactly that, but much more nicely,” Mel said, smiling. Doc seldom minced words. “Are you going to be around for an hour or two?”



He looked at her over the top of his specs. “Looking to get out of here for a while?”



“I don’t want to put you out, but they’re asleep in the kitchen…”



Doc looked back at the computer. “I’ve never been put off by the children. That’s some of your best work.”



She laughed at him. “If I didn’t agree, I’d get a little pissy that you don’t give me half that much credit for my actual practitioner work.”



“Your head is big enough,” he barked. “Go. Take a break. I’ll holler when they wake up.”



“Are you sure? Because if your arthritis or acid reflux is bothering you at all…”



“Not much bothers me besides you,” he said. “Tell Jack it’s getting time to get on that river.”



“He’s on the porch at the bar, tying off flies. I think he’s way ahead of you.”



When it wasn’t appointment day at the clinic, Mel took the kids with her to work. Because David was getting around much faster and fussier, he spent a lot more time with his father than her. Jack would take his son with him on errands to buy supplies for the bar or even keep him in the backpack while he served, but he would have his early-afternoon bottle with his mom at the clinic, then a nap in the playpen kept in Doc’s kitchen. Emma, after nursing, would have her nap at the same time as her brother in the little Port-a-Crib, also in the kitchen.



Of course, Doc was more than happy to comfort, change and jiggle Mel’s kids. He adored them. He grumbled a little about babysitting, but he never once refused. In fact, if she tried to get someone else to stand in, he seemed disappointed. Maybe offended, as if he’d been considered too old.



This was just such a typical day, a beautiful mid-October afternoon. Mel left the sleeping kids in Doc’s charge at about one-thirty and found Jack on the porch of his bar, tying off beautiful, feathery flies. Fishing season was starting to get good—the fall was excellent for salmon, sturgeon and trout. Jack was an amazing angler.



“Things have been really interesting in your little bar,” Mel said.



“A little tense and steamy.” He laughed. “Think someone should take Luke aside and warn him about this place?”



“I thought you’d finally learned your lesson,” she teased him. “You’ve been in the business of almost every romantic relationship in this town….”



“Yeah, but this one’s different. The second Shelby saw him, it was a target lock on. She wants him. Can you see the struggle on his face? He’s getting lines.”



“Yeah, what’s that about?” Mel asked. “She’s adorable. You’d think he’d be thrilled.”



“Well, the first night he met her he said he took one look at her and thought he was going to be arrested. He might be having a little trouble with her age.”