Page 37 of Wind Called

Oh, right. All he could do was lift his shoulders. “I suppose we just tell them everything that’s happened and see what they think.”

A flicker of a dimple appeared next to her mouth. “Everything?”

Several of the activities they’d just indulged in flashed through his head, and he found himself very glad that his olive complexion wouldn’t allow him to blush in a highly visible way. “All right, noteverything,” he replied, and raised an eyebrow at her.

He could only imagine what his grandmother would think if she learned that he’d jumped into bed with Bellamy McAllister only a few days after meeting her. True, he was a grown man and no one in his family had any real say in his personal life, but still….

“But most of it,” he said. “The voices you heard, the way you’re not sure whether being here in Sedona is affecting your powers somehow.”

Her expression abruptly sobered, and she reached for her glass so she could help herself to another swallow of wine. “Maybe we should try an experiment,” she said, and he found his eyebrow lifting again.

“‘Experiment’?”

“Well, we’re both planning to go hiking tomorrow morning, right?”

He nodded.

“Then how about we swing by my place after dinner, and I can pack my hiking gear and a few other things so I can stay over here tonight? That way, I might be able to tell whether what I experienced at the ranch was a Sedona thing in general or something that’s only connected to that particular property.”

Marc had been hoping they’d spend the night together, so he wasn’t put off at all by this suggestion. Since he hadn’t slept at the Airbnb yet, he had no idea whether the Sedona energies would affect him as well, or whether this was something that seemed to be focused solely on Bellamy, for whatever reason.

“That sounds like a good idea,” he said. “Because you’re right — it’ll help to know whether the ranch has its own powers, or whether this is all about Sedona in general.”

“Or whether I imagined the whole thing.”

“I don’t think you did,” he said, knowing how serious he sounded now. “You’re not the sort of person to make up that kind of thing.”

Their gazes held for a moment. Her expression was thoughtful, and he got the feeling she was glad that he hadn’t discounted her concerns, hadn’t tried to tell her it was all in her head the way a lot of other guys might have done.

“Okay,” she said. “It’s a plan.”

They returned to their food, and after they were done eating and had cleaned up, they got in his truck and drove over to her place. She had a small overnight bag packed in a very short amount of time, and once again he found himself thinking how easy she was to be with — no drama, no fuss, just doing what needed to be done.

And, it seemed, more than happy to spend the night with him.

The alarm went off way too early the next morning. Bellamy opened her eyes and blinked, staring at the ceiling overhead. It was plain white drywall, not the tongue-and-groove that covered the ceiling in the main suite at the ranch, and for a second, she couldn’t quite recall where she was.

But then Marc rolled over and slapped his hand on the alarm clock and she remembered everything — the way they’d come home from wine tasting yesterday and made love in this very bed, how they’d decided it would be better if she slept over…how they’d stayed up far too late, exploring one another’s bodies until they passed out from sheer exhaustion.

No wonder that alarm clock going off had sounded like a fiend from hell. They’d probably gotten six hours of sleep at the most.

Marc leaned down and pressed a kiss against her temple. “How’d you sleep?”

“Just fine,” she said. No strange whispers in her mind, nothing to make her think there was anything particularly different about the night that had just passed.

Well, except she and Marc Trujillo had made love. More than that, they’d declared their love for each other as well. No plans for the future yet — it felt too early for that — and still, Bellamy knew everything about her world had changed.

“Good to hear. How about some coffee, and then we can get ready to hit the trails?”

Right then, she was questioning their decision to go hiking so early. It seemed like it would have been much more fun to stay in bed and have an encore of last night’s activities.

But she knew Marc really wanted to go hiking, and it wasn’t as if they wouldn’t have tonight to snuggle in this bed and get acquainted with each other all over again.

“Okay,” she said, and pushed back the covers so she could find her panties and put them on. “Time to explore the great outdoors.”

Marc could see why Bellamy had chosen this hike. It cut through the Secret Mountain wilderness, traversing rocky trails that eventually led them to the aptly named Devil’s Bridge, a span of natural rock that led from one side of a canyon to the other, with a dizzying drop beneath.

Good thing he wasn’t afraid of heights.

---