Shelter Mountain (Virgin River #2)(74)

She smiled dreamily. “That was it.”

“That’s incredible,” he said.

She laughed softly. “Yes,” she said. “But, John,” she said, moving her h*ps beneath him. “We’re not done.”

“No,” he said, smiling. “I guess we’re not.”

She wrapped her legs around his waist, and with his hands on her bottom, he drove himself into her until he let it go, and it was more powerful than anything he’d ever known in his life. It shook him to know he could do this for her, feel this with her. Every muscle in his body flexed, then trembled, and then slowly began to relax. It took him a long time to stop panting; took him quite a while to breathe evenly. He rose above her. “Paige,” he said weakly. “I never felt anything like that in my life.”

She touched his face. “You’re just too good to be true, you know that?” she whispered. And kissed him. She knew it would be like that—his every touch was powerful yet sweet, so like him in every way. “John, promise me something.”

“Anything.”

“You can tell me anything, John. Never be shy with me again.”

“Never,” he said, and slowly lowered his mouth to her breast, drawing gently on a nipple. And she said, “Oooh, John.” He memorized the place, the sound.

So this was what it felt like when you loved someone, when you wanted to please someone rather than just be pleased. When you paid attention to what made her purr and sigh. He hadn’t known about it. As he held her close, he couldn’t stop kissing her, couldn’t stop touching her, tasting her and exploring her body with gentle fingers. With kisses. With his mouth, his tongue. “I don’t think I can get enough of you,” he whispered to her.

“Good. I’m not tired at all. And your hands on me…Your hands are like velvet. You’re so careful, but you don’t miss anything. It’s how I knew it would be, John. You’re so perfect.”

“Paige, is this how it is? Do other men know all about this?”

She laughed softly. “I don’t know what other men know. I’m not very experienced, either.”

“I’ve never…I swear, I’ve never felt like that.”

“Neither have I. You’re a wonderful lover. Wonderful.”

“I didn’t think you could want someone like me,” he told her.

“You don’t see yourself at all—I suspected that. John, you’re so beautiful, so smart and kind and strong. You don’t even realize how handsome you are. And you have the most incredible body—so big and hard and fit. Not an ounce of fat or flab.” She ran a small hand over his shoulder, down his biceps. “Your hands are so perfect—powerful and soft—all that kitchen work, I bet. Your hands on me…It’s everything I dreamed it would be. You just don’t see yourself.”

“I couldn’t believe it was really me you wanted. I thought maybe—”

“Shh,” she said. “Don’t you think after the kind of life I’ve had, I know a good man when I find one? How could you doubt me?”

“I’m sorry about how I made you feel before,” he said. “Like I didn’t want you. When, God, you were all I’ve wanted since…Since almost the first day.”

“Somebody said something,” she said, but she didn’t say it angrily.

“Mike told me I’d better step up, take care of my girl, or I might lose you.”

“I think you’re stuck with me. But just the same, I’m glad you didn’t wait any longer.”

“You make it so easy,” he said. “All I wanted was to make you feel good. I didn’t know it was going to be that wonderful for me, too. And when I felt it—your pleasure—I thought I was going to pass out, it felt so good.”

She put her hand on him. He was already rising again.

“I want to make you feel like that every night for the rest of my life,” he said.

“I kind of like that idea,” she said. “John. I don’t want to scare you away, but I’m in love with you.”

He buried his face in her neck, in her soft hair. “Baby, I love you so much, I think I’m going to die of it.”

“Do you see, John? This is all I want. You. You loving me. Me loving you.”

“Now what?” he asked her, her hand on him, his hands on her.

“Now we do it again. Slower.”

Thirteen

The sun came out, and though the December air was cold, the day was bright and sunny. When Mel got to town, she checked in with Doc to see if anything was going on. Then she went over to the bar to have a cup of coffee with her husband.

Jack was a definite morning person; it was his best time. He got his exercise splitting logs if the weather was decent, and he did this year round, even in summer when there was no need to lay a fire. He’d leave Mel sleeping and sneak away quietly. He liked to be around the bar first thing in the morning, check on what Preacher planned for food, inventory his supplies, make a list of chores to finish, be sure everything was set for the day.

She found him behind the bar with his coffee mug, Christopher sitting up on a stool, a bowl of cereal and glass of orange juice pushed slightly to one side as he colored on a page of his coloring book. His box of crayons was flipped open, at the ready.