Vivian Arend - Rocky Mountain Rebel

He nodded. “I won’t push for the secrets right now, but…holy shit, yeah. I want to ask you something.”

She lifted her head and waited.

“Why me?”

A crease folded between her eyes. “Why you, what?”

Joel shrugged. “I promise to help you no matter what, so it’s not like we have to fool around to make this work. If you’ve gone this long without having sex, why do you think you have to change things up now?”

“Because you don’t want to have sex with me?”

Oh God. He beat down the images flashing into his brain. “Because most women I know want sex to be something special. Especially their first time.”

Her mouth twisted into this teasing grin. “You saying you suck in the sack, Joel? That’s not what I’d heard.”

“You’re not making this any easier,” he complained.

“Look, if it’s too freaky to consider then, whatever. But sex is sex. I have my own reasons for not having had it until now, but…”

She turned those bright eyes his direction, and something inside just about melted. Whether it was from how hot she made him or her total lack of self-consciousness, he understood a little better what a deer felt like when the headlights hit them.

Vicki squirmed closer. “You’ve always been on my radar, although I never did anything about it, both because of my family and the you and Jesse thing. But honestly, if there’s anyone in this town I want to get intimate with, it’s you. So why don’t you think about it for a while and get back to me.”

The absurdity of her statement struck like a bat. “Call and let you know I’m okay with fucking you?”

“Don’t think being crude is going to scare me off.” She knelt on the bench. “And don’t be stupid. I feel like some hick-town kid as it is. What happens when I get the hell out of here, and I meet some guy I like? I’ll be all messed up and stereotypical, and I’m so goddamn over being left out. I want what I want for once in my life. And yes, that means I want to fuck you.”

There was just enough of the ridiculous in the situation Joel found his lips curling into a smile. His amusement increased instead of fading, especially when Vicki arched one perfect brow.

Her eyes widened. “You think this is funny?”

“Well, it sure as shit isn’t sad.”

Her lips twitched this time as well, and she bloomed. Sunshine in her eyes, delight dancing across her face. “You gonna help me, Joel Coleman?”

“Seems like we need to get this straight. We’re gonna help each other. You said you’ve never been a girlfriend, well, I’ve never had one either.” It was his turn to sit back and feel a little uneasy at her laughter. “Yeah, yeah, fine. I’ve had sex, and fooled around enough, but it’s always been just fooling around. Exciting, but over and done before it got serious.”

Vicki blinked hard. “This is not supposed to get serious, Joel. That’s not what I want at all.”

“It’s more serious than me picking you up at the bar and us going home for a few hours, isn’t it?” Her slow nod helped clarify his thoughts. “You have things you need to accomplish, and so do I. If we spend the kind of time together over the next while we’ll need to, it’s going to be more than a casual thing. And that’s okay. We can make this fun. I like the idea of having someone to call up who can come join me for…whatever. A movie, or a horseback ride, once you get comfortable, of course.”

“We’re going to bullshit ourselves as well as everyone else in town?” Vicki asked. “Gonna make us into some kind of special friends forever ?”

She’d sat back on her heels, and Joel lifted a hand and brushed his knuckles along her cheek. “Who said it’s bullshit? There are things about you I already admire. Like, man, the way you were ready to take Eric’s head off in the café? Loved it.”

“That was terrible. I need to get over the flame-ups I tend toward as well.” She wrinkled her nose, and it was the cutest sight. “If I could trade in my temper for some cool horse sense, I’d do it in an instant.”

“Take your energy and redirect it. It’ll be fine.” He finally let his gaze go where he’d been longing, taking in the swell of her breasts, the trim cut of her waist. She filled her jeans nicely, but she wasn’t showing it off like…

He stopped and scratched his head to drag his thoughts away from the rest of the Hansol family and what they usually wore around town.

Okay, parts of this were going to be fun, and parts were going to be hellishly difficult. In the end, though, he would learn a few lessons, and so would she. With her leaving town in the spring, there was a solid deadline involved as well.

He could handle it. And enjoy it.

Vicki fidgeted where she perched on the bench. “Well, I suppose I should go. Let you think it over a little.”

He caught her and again prevented her from escaping. “Nothing to think about. Just one more question.” She stopped bouncing for long enough he rose to his feet and pointed at her motorbike. “Can I take her for a ride?”

All the sexual innuendo from their previous discussion left her confused for a moment as to what exactly Joel was asking. She didn’t think he was going to simply lay her out in the grass and fuck her right then and there. If he tried, she would give him a violent reason to change his mind.

She might be naïve, but she wasn’t an idiot.

She’d seen porn. Which, for the most part, seemed stupider and more hickish than she felt at times, but even they took a minute to move past the “bad cop pulls over the innocent-yet-way-too-busty miniskirt-clad speeder”.

But when he ran a hand over the leather seat of her bike, her earlier amusement returned with a vengeance. “Typical guy. You only want me for my Harley.”

Joel straightened from where he’d been examining the bike, his gaze coming down hard on her chest, lowering to between her thighs before rising back to her face. “Oh, darling, are you ever wrong.”

A flash of anger struck, and she turned away to hide her reaction.

She’d asked for this. He’d done nothing wrong, and taking it out on him would be stupid and ignorant, not to mention screw everything up before they even began.

She needed a minute to figure out how to deal with her conflicting emotions. Vicki forced all the enthusiasm into her voice she could muster, that is, she lied her fucking ass off. “Why don’t you take her for a spin. I’m going to hang out and relax for a minute.”

“Vicki? You okay?”

“Hell, yeah, just—like I said, I’ve never been here before.” She pointed down the riverbank. “I’m going for a walk. Take your time. You need a hand?”

Joel caved. There was no other reason her pathetic excuses worked, because he looked suspicious as hell. But he nodded and lifted the bike to vertical, rolling her out from under the tree and aiming her toward the main highway. “I’ll just try her for a bit. Always wanted a bike, just never seemed to get around to buying one.”

“She’s nice on the highway. Take as long as you want.” Vicki grabbed the helmet off the bars and pressed it to his side. “It’s not going to fit great, but wear it anyway.”

She waited until he’d cooperated, both of them real careful and polite. By the time Joel had mounted up, she was ready for him to be gone. She needed some space.

Vicki slipped down the bank before he even fired up the engine. The rush of water grew as the bike’s motor faded. The farther Joel got away, the more her surroundings were nothing but wilderness. Birds chirping every now and then. Mostly the water, and this weird creaking sound she finally figured out were the trees themselves shifting in the wind.