Page 20 of Vistaria Has Fallen
“You going to tell me what’s eating you?” Minnie asked as she steered the car around another group of fiesta-goers wendingtheir way home.
Calli stirred, her attention drawn from her dark reflection on the side window. “No,” she said, as gently as she could.
“Duardo thought he’d upset you.”
“He did? I’m sorry, I didn’t intend that.”
“Then you do like him?”
Calli roused herself, trying for Minnie’s sake to give an honest answer. “He’s an honorable and loyal officer. But, Minnie, he’s in the army. They lead suchprecarious lives. Especially now. There’s danger for him, being with you. Are you aware of that?” The echo of Nicolás’s words set up a pang of sadness in her.
“The army people don’t mind Americans,” Minnie said. “No one was rude to us tonight, just as Duardo said.”
“There is more to Vistaria than the army,” Calli pointed out.
“Lots of civilians work at the mine Dad is setting up. They don’thold grudges either.”
Calli shook her head. “It’s not that simple.”
Minnie thumped the wheel. “Damn it, Calli, I have to live here. While Dad is working the mine, I have to live here. I have to find acceptance where I can. Do you think I’m so stupid I don’t know what they think of us? I can’t do anything about what they think, because they don’t know me. The only thing I can do is ignore themand find the few who don’t think I’m a parasite. Quit trying to depress me, because I don’t want to hear about it, okay?”
“Okay,” Calli agreed. “I’m sorry, Minnie. You seem to move through life with so little concern.”
“I get concerned,” Minnie muttered.
“About the latest dress length.”
“That’s something I can fix!”
“Okay.” Calli held up her hand, motioning for peace and realized the gestureechoed Nicolás Escobedo’s motion. She dropped her hand back to her lap and held it with the other. “God, I need sleep,” she muttered.
* * * * *
Something warm and soft supported her back. A hand, warmer still, pressed against the back of her shoulder, holding her. His hot heavy body moved against her. Hot skin touched hot skin, the moisture building between them. Sweat. And a softness of fleshover unyielding bones.
The pressure of his body against her was good. Welcome. It had been far too long since she last enjoyed the sensation of a man laying over her. It had never been like this. She had never been overwhelmed by a man’s size and weight and feeling smaller, weaker and more feminine.
He looked into her eyes. His hand was on her waist. It slid along her hip. The muscles therequivered as his thumb stroked across the little dip by her hipbone. Only, his touch did not give her the sharp jolt of pleasure she expected. It was ghostly, distant. She tried to protest only she could not speak, no matter how she struggled to get the words out...
* * * * *
Calli wiped the sleep from her eyes and let her hand fall back on the pillow with a sigh. Her body zinged with arousal.She swallowed, wishing she had put a glass of water by the bed.
Why couldn’t she speak in these dreams? What held her mute? The inability to talk shadowed both nights’ dreams, along with the thundering arousal.
The arousal was another novelty. She had not experienced a sexy dream since meeting Robert and never one this explicit, this stimulating.
The hand along the hip...Of all the imagesand sensations in the dream, this one burned in her mind. The possessive sweep of his hand against her hip had feltrealin the dream, more real than the other ghostly, unsatisfying sensations.
She sighed again and turned over, bringing the sheet up and over her shoulder, burying beneath the cotton. The ache was worse now she knew he wanted her, too.
Why him? Why, after five years since Robertleft did she now yearn for sex? And why with someone so impossibly out of reach?
Just before she fell asleep the solution occurred to her and astounded her with its simplicity. Sex was the issue. So go get some. Problem solved. Life back on track.