Cloud Waltzer by Tory Cates

Author:Tory Cates
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pocket Books

Chapter 7

As broad stripes of daffodil-colored sunlight crept across Archer’s room, Meredith drifted lazily into the cozy limbo stage halfway between waking and dreaming. She was awake enough to be aware of a sense of handspringing joy percolating through her. She wasn’t awake enough, though, to identify its source. For a few groggy moments she was back in the bedroom she’d grown up in in Chicago and it was the first day of summer. That was the last time she’d known such untrammeled exuberance. She lurched at the sound of Archer’s phone ringing on the bedside table. It caused her to remember that Archer had slipped out of bed early to let her sleep in peace.

Archer returned and rushed to grab his phone. He was trying to keep his voice low so as not to wake her, but Meredith welcomed the sound of the deep, male tones. They satisfied some elemental longing within her that had been too long denied. She slowly opened her eyes. Archer’s back was turned to her. She reveled in the sight. His years of hard labor and continuing physical upkeep showed in the densely mounded muscles of his broad shoulders that tapered away to his waist. Two indentations like giant thumbprints pressed in just above the rise of each hard buttock.

“Okay, Phil, I’ll meet you out there. Have her ready to launch, okay? Appreciate it, buddy.” Archer ended the phone conversation and leaned forward to replace the receiver. His back was transformed into an anatomy lesson as the bony ridge of his spine and the curving spokes of his rib cage jumped into relief. Meredith marveled at the splendid mechanisms that drove Archer’s magnificent body. If only, she thought with a bitterness that was never far from her reflections, I had such bodily splendors to display.

“Sorry,” he said, “I didn’t expect any early morning callers.”

“I should have been up hours ago,” Meredith muttered, pulling the sheet more tightly around her as she searched the room for her clothes. A flutter of panic disturbed her tranquillity as Archer turned to her.

“Did you sleep well?” His marvelous voice caressed the simple words as he moved under the sheet, pulling her to him.

“Better than well,” Meredith answered nervously. There was too much light. She was too exposed. “Weller, wellest? I slept wellest.”

“Wellest, indeed,” Archer chuckled, his hands outlining the tightening muscles of Meredith’s stomach. “You know what you look like when you’re asleep?”

“You were watching me?”

“For quite a long time until I went into the other room. You look like a Botticelli angel.”

Sliding away from his teasing fingers, Meredith asked, “And how does an oil field worker know about Botticelli?”

“I managed to cram a lot in during my off hours,” he joked. “And don’t change the subject. We were talking about you. And since we are, just where do you think you’re going?”

With a growl of mock ferocity, Archer pounced on Meredith, playfully nuzzling her neck and capturing her in his arms. As always, his embrace sent the mental hobgoblins that plagued Meredith running for their hiding places.

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