Page 67 of Anywhere with You
“Cara,” I said. I didn’t raise my volume at all. The night was still full of crickets, bats chirping, wind rustling every plant, and a distant coyote, but it was plenty quiet enough for my voice to carry.
She stomped back, her voice at a near scream. “I told you we should’ve gone back. I told you, hours ago. God, what was I thinking? Take a nosedive off a sand dune, Cara! Let’s take the elevator, Cara! Come take a closer look at this wild animal, Cara! Why are you even here?”
I almost laughed, but I could tell she was afraid. “I’m here because I want to be,” I told her gently.
She collapsed forward, leaning her head against my shoulder.
“Everything will be fine,” I said, wrapping my arms around her. “We’ll just sleep here.”
“Sleep…where?”
I gestured to the ground. “It’s probably midnight already. Five or six hours, and there will be daylight, and we’ll make our way back easily.”
She stepped back from me. My light wasn’t shining on her, but I could see her staring at me.
“This isn’t a quirky goddamn adventure for Mesmio, Honey. What if there are snakes? No, not what if. Therearesnakes. There are thirteen species of rattlesnake in Arizona. And that’s just rattlesnakes.Thirteen.”
“Then I’ll stay awake,” I said, my voice calm, as though I could calm her by broadcasting my lack of worry like radio waves.
“What?” she asked, shaking her head as though she truly didn’t understand.
“I’ll stay awake and keep watch with the light and make sure no snakes or javelinas or desert centipedes come near.”
I regretted the comment about desert centipedes instantly. Cara’s flashlight went instantly to our feet. There was nothing but a damp area where we had dripped onto the rock.
“You’re…you’re going to stay up all night and watch out for me?” she asked, her voice full of doubt, almost mocking.
“Yes,” I said. “Of course.”
I held back the rest of what I wanted to say. Of course I’ll watchout for you. Of course I’ll protect you. Of course I will do anything, literally anything, Cara, to make sure you’re happy and safe. There was nothing I wanted more.
A still, quiet moment passed between us while she turned from staring at her feet to staring at me. Then she bent to set down her flashlight, stood straight, took a step forward, and kissed me.
Chapter Twenty-six
“I’m sorry,” she said, gasping. “I should’ve asked.”
“I already asked. That implies consent,” I said in a rush, hurrying to get her mouth back on mine.
She laughed against my lips.
I made myself pause and pull away. “Why did you say no, before?”
She was breathless, her lips less than an inch from mine, the nearness unbelievably tantalizing, as though I hadn’t already tasted her. My craving for her had only grown.
She swallowed. “I thought…I thought you were being impulsive. I thought that once you’d had a chance to think about it, you’d change your mind about me.”
“Cara,” I whispered, but I couldn’t find another word to follow it. I just kissed her more.
I dropped the canvas bag from my shoulder, hearing the crack of the wine bottle as it hit the rocks. It was probably broken. It was empty, at least, but I’d be lint-rolling glass shards out of our clothes for hours. I didn’t care.
I wrapped both arms around Cara, and yes, I had been right, so very right, about those lips. They were soft and delicious and so warm they were almost burning. Her tongue touching mine, so gently, then so fiercely, made me instantly so tingly and eager for more that even the very erotic dreams I’d had about her didn’t compare. She kissed me with hunger, with fire, as though whatever reservations Cara had had about me were forgotten.
I could offer her a few. I was married and probably about to be bankrupt. Iwasimpulsive and incapable of treading lightly. Ihad barreled my way into Cara’s life the same way I’d barreled into Bridget’s, focused more on what I wanted than on what was best. For either of us.
But the thought was passing, subsumed by the softness of her skin and the pressure of our bodies.
One of my hands found the damp hair at her neck. I wrapped my fingers in the soft, dark curls, still carrying the warmth of the hot springs.
