And they were doing plenty. It got off to a roaring start. Lots of deep kissing, heavy petting, incredible rubbing. They’d done a lot of bumping and grinding on the outside of clothes, but now they were getting right down to the skin, deeper than skin, but not going all the way. They were catching on real fast. It hadn’t taken them long to figure out how to have orgasms without penetration, for which Rick was sublimely grateful. Even so, he wanted more. Wanted it real bad, and so did she. He was about ready to have the big talk with her, but he knew he had to save it for the clear light of day, not the dark of night while they were pawing each other in the cab of his little truck.
He loved making her feel good; she really wanted to please him. He hadn’t imagined it could be this wonderful—holding someone, loving them, touching them, giving these feelings, receiving them. Nothing had prepared him for how you could be swept away by it all; it was as though the sheer pleasure had a life of its own.
He had moved over to the passenger seat and held her on his lap, kissing her, hard and hot while she squirmed around deliciously.
His hand wandered under her short skirt and met with… Nothing.
“Oh my Jesus,” he whispered.
“Surprise,” she said, grinding on his lap. Then her hand went there, feeling him through his clothes, making him nearly cry out.
She scooted forward on his lap a little. He slid back in the seat slightly, knowing that she would now take him in her small hand. He lived for that. As she opened his pants to free him, he massaged her with his fingers of one hand, fondling her breast with the other, drowning in her mouth, holding her tight against him. She was moving roughly against his hand, wriggling, reaching desperately for her special moment, when suddenly she shifted her weight slightly. She was straining toward him, he was straining toward her, her hands went to his shoulders, his hands grabbed her fanny, her knee went across his lap and she was over him. She moved down, he moved up and they were suddenly disastrously, wondrously, exquisitely merged. She came right down on him. He lifted right up into her; she was all around him. It was a whole new world, a lot better than a hand. He couldn’t breathe.
“Holy God, Liz,” he whispered. “Oh my Jesus.”
She was oblivious, pressing furiously into his lap, on a mission.
“Liz. Lizzie. No. Lizzie. Holy God. Holy Jesus.”
He was half trying, half hoping to fail to lift her off him, to get out of her, when it happened for her and the sensation of her body squeezing around him, clenching in hot spasms as she moaned her ecstacy, caused him to lose his mind. He thought he might have been momentarily unconscious. He lost all will. And that wasn’t all he lost. He blew it—erupted inside of her with the force of a volcano. Right after he thought Ahhhh, he thought Oh, Fuck. Way to go, genius.
She collapsed into his arms and he held her, stroking her back as she calmed. As he calmed. As they caught their collective breath. Finally he said, “That could have been a huge mistake.”
“Oh-oh,” she said. “Oh-oh. Now what?”
“Well, I sure as hell can’t reel it back in,” he told her. “If I’d known that was going to happen… Liz, I have a condom, for Christ’s sake.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Well, I didn’t know we were going to do that.”
“I didn’t know, either.” She sniffed. “I’m sorry.” She dropped her head to his shoulder and cried. “I’m sorry, Rick.”
“No. I’m sorry. Okay, baby, take it easy. Can’t do anything about it now. Shhhh.” He held her and she rested against him, close in his arms. He kissed her cheeks and lips until her tears stopped. Then he took her open mouth again. God, her mouth was hot. And after a little while, as he held her, he began to grow firm again, and he was still there, inside. Without meaning to, without planning to, he began to pump his hips up and down again, driving himself into her. And she pushed into his lap. What the hell—the damage was done, he thought. And he said, “Can’t do anything about it now…”
Eight
There were no patients in the morning and Mel took the opportunity to drive over to Clear River for gas, there being no service station in Virgin River. She took the pager with her so that Doc could call her back if something happened, but hardly anything ever happened.
Every time she went to one of the little surrounding towns she looked in particular at the women, wondering where Jack might have gone once in a while for “something a little basic.” It didn’t take her long to realize that he probably had his pick, and that there were plenty of attractive women around these towns.
She thought she might like to get something like a salt lick or some kind of feed for the edge of her property to draw the deer, so went to the very small strip mall on the main drag. As she passed the hardware store, she saw a window display of shears mounted on pegboard. They ranged in size from tiny scissors to clippers with six-inch, thick, curved blades. She stared at them, frowning, for a long time.
“Help you?” a young woman in a green store apron asked.
“Hmm. What do you do with those?”
“Roses,” she said, smiling.
“Roses? I haven’t seen that many roses around.”
“Oh, you’re not looking hard enough,” she said, grinning.
“Hmm. Well, I’m looking for something that would draw deer,” Mel said.
“Like a doe call? But hunting season is months away.”
“God, I wouldn’t shoot at them! I like seeing them in my yard in the early morning. Can you tell me where to find that?”
“Um, if you want deer in your yard, you’re the only one. Just plant some lettuce or a couple of apple trees. With deer, if you don’t want them in your produce, you can hardly keep them away.”
“Oh. If I throw some lettuce out there, will that work? Because I don’t garden.”
The woman tilted her head and smiled with eyes that frowned. “Where you from?”
“Los Angeles. Concrete jungle.”
“I mean, now.”
“Up in Virgin River. Kind of back in the woods, you know…”
“Listen, don’t try the lettuce, okay. Because there are also bear. Just keep your food indoors and don’t press your luck. If you get deer, you get deer.” Then she looked down and said, “Nice boots. Where can I get a pair like that?”
Mel thought a second, then said, “Can’t really remember. Target, I think.”
Rather than going back to Doc’s, she drove out to the river. She saw that there were six anglers in the river, and that one of them was Jack. She pulled up, parked, and got out to lean against the front of her car to watch. He looked over his shoulder at her, smiled a hello, but went back to his sport. He’d pull out some line and let it slack, then gracefully cast out, the line reaching behind him in a large S before sailing smoothly out over the river, touching down on the top of the water as lightly as a leaf floating lazily down from a tree. And again, and again.
She loved to watch the arc of the lines, the whir of them going out, the clicking of them reeling in. They seemed almost synchronized, choreographed, the air above the water filled with flying lines. The men, in waders and vests, would walk around the swirling shallow waters while fish jumped now and then in the river. If there was a catch, the fish would either be released or go in the creel dangling from a shoulder strap.