If it were possible, the light in her eyes grew even brighter.
He made love to her, the warmth of their bodies forcing back the cooling night air. Even the fire’s heat faded as he touched her, stroked her to a higher pitch. Licking and sucking, caressing her breasts, the smooth slope of her belly. Priming and readying her for when he could wait no longer. They slipped together in one blissfully perfect moment, him surrounded, her accepting. The fire crackled and snapped as she moaned out her pleasure, calling louder on each progressive thrust. Melanie lifted her heels, dug them into his ass to help slam him into her core until there was no hope of retreat and only an explosion to experience.
Derrick stared into her eyes as she came, bliss causing her focus to blur. Then she shoved him over the edge as well, her sheath constricting around him so hard his climax ripped loose. Pulse after pulse of pleasure beat through him. Nothing remained but the connection between them that stole his ability to think. He clung to his sanity long enough to lower himself beside her instead of crushing her under his weight. Still connected, still intimately joined, he stroked her skin as she smiled sweetly at him. It took a long time for their breathing to return to normal as their bodies came down off the incredible high of passion.
But one thing was never going back to the way it had been before. Derrick wondered if the fact he’d fallen in love would be written on his every move from this moment forward.
Chapter Nine
Choss: Rotten rock—looks solid and safe, but is actually brittle and dangerous.
Melanie pulled up to the front of her rental, confused by the sight of her big brother Kane’s truck parked outside.
“Do you want us to wait here?” Derrick asked.
“No, you may as well help me carry my gear inside before we nab some supper. There’s no way I’m cooking, and I don’t think there’s much in the fridge anyway.”
Nathan grabbed her duffle bag off the backseat and winked at her. “Dinner’s on me.”
She returned his smile easily. There was nothing awkward between them, and she was so thankful. Even Saturday night, after she and Derrick had basically stripped and gone for it in front of the man, she’d experienced no discomfort. Sharing the tent with the three of them, breakfast and the hike out—all of it companionable and relaxed, and it was due to Nathan’s easygoing attitude. She knew it, Derrick knew it. Nathan was there, a part of their time, but not a challenge to their relationship, and grateful seemed an understatement for what Melanie felt.
It wasn’t just the ease between the three of them that made her giddy. They’d stopped to fill her car, and she’d suddenly become aware she was chatting to Derrick out the window as he pumped gas, her bare arm resting in plain sight on the open window ledge.
Someone had wandered past en route to paying at the kiosk, glanced at her and continued without another look.
There were no words to describe what a rush that was—to not have panic hit. To not want to hide.
She was still grinning from ear to ear when she opened her front door and ushered the guys into her small rental house. Kane rose from her couch, his face a storm ready to happen.
“Hey you, what you doing?” Melanie dropped her climbing bag on the countertop and headed to give him a hug.
“Waiting. I didn’t think you were going to be this late.” He nodded curtly at Derrick, eyed Nathan with suspicion. “You guys have good climbing conditions?”
“It was great. We got the pictures we needed for the article as well.” And she had slept fantastic after all the attention, sexual and otherwise, but she wasn’t about to tell her brother that part.
Kane glared at Nathan but spoke to her. “Did you sign anything? Do you have to let him keep the pictures?”
A small bubble of her happiness burst. His unexpected and harsh tone confused her. “Why are you asking that? What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong is that Mr. Big Shot Photographer over there has been feeding you a line, and I’m worried.”
“Nathan? He’s working for Rave—”
“Right. A ‘where are they now’ update to show how far people have come since their tragedies. Well, the first story in the series was in this weekend’s magazine and it’s nowhere near the inspirational thing you told me Nathan was looking for.”
Nathan stepped forward. “What are you accusing me of?”
“I don’t know, maybe setting my sister up?” Kane snapped. “The article was supposed to be something Melanie could be proud to be involved with. If this is your idea of good publicity, then you’re going to be in a great deal of pain when I’m done with you.”
Holy shit. Melanie stepped between her brother and Nathan. “Kane, stop. What are you talking about?”
He slapped a magazine into her hand. It was folded open to a page with bold pictures. The photos were gorgeous, a celebration of light and shadow. She recognized Nathan’s work from the test shots he’d done for her.
Nathan moved to her side. “What’s wrong? My photos are good.”
“The pictures are great, the story is crap,” Kane growled. “It’s dark and bitter, and more like a National Enquirer or a scandal sheet than anything else. The man was supposed to be making a comeback from a drunk-driving accident—turns out he’s the one who was drunk, and the article shows he’s even more of a loser than before the incident.”
“Oh, come on, so just because someone else in the series hasn’t done as well as Melanie, that’s my fault? My byline is on the photos, not the story.”
“Yeah, but it seems that you’d be in on the whole series concept. What do they intend to write about Mel?”
Nathan shook his head. “What I shared was what I was told—it’s all supposed to be positive stuff. I had no information about the guy in this article other than clicking the shots, so don’t make me out to be some kind of evil villain.”
Melanie had had enough. She swung to Nathan’s defense. “Kane, stop it. Stop it right now. I trust Nathan. We not only go way back, but we’ve talked a ton over the past couple days, and I know he’d never do anything to hurt me.”
Kane glared at Nathan for another moment before turning on Derrick. “And you—I thought you were my friend until I had an eye-opening conversation with Jack. How the hell could you think taking another guy into her bed would be a good thing for Melanie? What kind of asshole are you?”
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She held out a hand to stop Derrick from answering. “Oh my God, Kane, you did not just say that. How dare you stick your nose into my personal life?”
“It’s true though, isn’t it? You fooled around with them both this weekend.”
The fact she hadn’t actually slept with Nathan was none of Kane’s business. “Derrick’s number-one focus has always been what’s best for me.”
“Letting another guy into your relationship? That’s not how a man who cares about you acts, Mel.”
The implied insult that she wasn’t capable of making her own decisions was more than enough to ignite Melanie’s temper. “Oh, like you’re the one to give me shit. You’re sleeping with Dara, and so is Jack. How it that any better? In fact, if anything it’s even weirder because you and Jack are like best friends. Don’t be a bloody hypocrite.”
“We both had a long-term relationship with Dara before we stepped into anything physical. You’ve only been with Derrick for a couple months, and he’s already inviting another guy into the action? When you don’t know how long the dude will stick around or what his real motivations are? It’s not the same.”