law of the mountain clear to you, ' she said. 'As long as we're Lying on my little overlook at the base of my mountain, I get to ask the questions. That's the law. Take it or leave it.'
'But what happens to those unfortunates, like me, who don't have a mountain?'
Her eyes, and the very corners of that exquisite mouth, formed the smile that was, perhaps, her most alluring. 'In that case, ' she said, 'you must adopt one. I'll send you the paperwork in the morning and have our social worker come by for an interview as soon as possible. Meanwhile, we'll save all that stuff from between the lines of my curriculum vitae until you get approved, okay?'
Zack shrugged. 'It's your mountain.'
'Exactly. It's my mountain. Do you think I'm too forward, touching you like this?'
'No. Not forward. Maybe a little tough to read, though, considering that a couple of hours ago you were trying to rush me out of the house and down the hill.'
'Ah, ' she said, 'but that was before you said the magic word.'
'Oh, of course. The magic word. How stupid of me. Why, I've used that damned magic word approach so often, it's become automatic… In fact, it was so automatic this time that that ol' magic word just slipped right past me.'
She took his face in her hands and drew him toward her. Again, as at the dinner table, he saw a strange sadness in her eyes. 'The magic word, Zachary, was friend.'
Her kisses, first on his eyes, then around his mouth, and finally over his lips, were as sweet and warm as the mountain air. For one minute, two, she held him, her tongue exploring gently beneath his lips, and then along his teeth and around the inside of his cheeks. Finally, she drew away. 'Was that okay? ' she asked. Zack swallowed hard. 'There are at least a hundred words I would pick before settling for okay.'
'I'm glad. You look a little bewildered, though. I suppose I owe you some kind of apology-or at least an explanation-for being so inconsistent.'
Zack ran his hand through her hair, then down her back and over the seat of her jeans. Her body was fuller than Connie's but tighter, and far, far more exciting to touch. 'You don't owe me anything, ' he said. 'Shaw wrote that there are two tragedies in life. One is not to get one's heart's desire, and the other is to get it. At the moment, I think he was wrong about number two.'
'Zack, out by the camper before you said, No strings attached. Does that promise apply if we make love-right here, right now?'
'It applies.' He slid his hand beneath her blouse and over her breast.
Her nipple hardened instantly to his touch. 'Whatever's going on, I just want to make it better.'
'You're making it better, ' she said. Again and again, they kissed.
There was an urgency and hunger in her lips and her touch. Zack knew that it was the secret of her sadness that was driving her into his arms. He knew that, this night at least, she needed him rather than loved him. But this night, at least, it was more than enough. She helped him slip off his shirt and nestled her face against the hair on his chest. 'Slowly, ' she pleaded. 'Just make it last. Please, just make it last.'
Zack undid the buttons of her blouse, pausing between each one to kiss her lips and her wonderful breasts, then eased off her jeans.
He worked his moistened fingertips over her nipples, then down her belly, along the edge of her soft hair, and finally to the tense nubbin of her clitoris. 'Touch me here, ' she murmured. 'Two fingers. That's it. Oh, God, Zachary, that's it.'
Moment by moment, what questions he had faded in the smoothness of her skin and in her craving for him. With every touch, every kiss, he felt himself drawn closer to her. He brushed his lips over her ankles and along the softness of her inner thighs, and then he drew his tongue over her again and again. She dug her nails into the skin of his back, pulling him even more tightly against her. 'Don't stop. Oh, don't stop yet.'
She was an angel-at once vulnerable and knowing, chaste and worldly wise. And making love with her was unlike anything Zachary had ever experienced in his life. She drew his face to hers as she eased him onto his back, caressing him, then sucking on him until he begged her to let up. 'Now, Zachary, ' she whispered, her lips brushing his ear. 'You're so wonderful. Please, do it now.'
They made love-slowly at first, and then more fervidly, each immersed in the other, each focused on pleasing, rather than being pleased.
Darkness settled in across the valley. Far below them, the lights of Sterling flickered like so many stars, mirroring the expanse overhead.
'Zachary, what time is it?'
'Midnight. A little after, actually.'
They were half dressed, bundled in the blanket against a slight, early morning chill. The connection between them had already transcended their lovemaking, and each minute, every second, it grew. 'Do you know, ' she said, 'that in my entire life I have never come like that? What a wonderful rush.'
He kissed her on the neck, then on the lips. 'It must have been that chardonnay.'
'Yes, of course, ' she said, buttoning her jeans. 'How foolish of me to overlook that. Next time we'll have to try it without the wine.
A controlled experiment. Just to be sure.'
'My mountain?'
She laughed. 'Your mountain it will be. You know, I keep saying it, but you are really a very kind and very sweet man.' She kissed him lightly on the mouth. 'I only hope you'll still respect me in the morning.
Believe it or not, making love like this is a bit bevond my usual first date fare.'
'Not to worry, ' he said. 'Doing what one wants in situations like this is a payback for all of the headaches and responsibilities of having to be a grown-up.'
Her expression darkened. 'Zachary, I'd like you to know what's going on-why I've been acting so weird all night. Well, almost all night.'
'Listen, it's perfectly all right if-'
'No. I want to. Besides, by tomorrow night you'll know anyhow.' She rolled onto her back, took his hand, and guided it to her right breast.
'The upper, outer quadrant, ' she said. 'Fairly deep.'
It took his fingers only a moment to find the lump-a disc-like mass, the diameter, perhaps, of a half dollar, and as hard as the sidewall of a tire, which was to say, too hard. His first impulse was to reassure her, to label the mass a cyst. But he knew better. There was, without a biopsy, absolutely no way to tell. Suddenly the whole night- her distraction, her mood swings, their passion, everything-made sense.
'How long since you first felt this? ' he asked. He ached for what he now realized she was going through. If, at that moment, the lump were offered as an exam question with only one correct answer, he would have to call it trouble, all the way down the line. And so, he knew, would she. 'A month. Six weeks now, I guess, ' she said. 'There's been no change over that time. Mammograms were equivocal. A needle biopsy came back normal breast tissue, and rather than go through that procedure a second time, I elected to go ahead with an excision, and, if necessary, a modified radical.'
'When?'
'I'm going in tomorrow evening. Surgery's scheduled for Friday morning.
And in case you couldn't tell, I'm scared stiff.'
He held her tightly. 'I'm just grateful you didn't send me away tonight, that's all. You've made arrangements for Jennifer?'
'My partner in the gallery is going to take her. She has a son two years older than Jen.'
'Good. It's going to be okay, you know.'
Suzanne nodded grimly. 'Just keep reminding me. I tell you, being a physician, I just know too goddamn much. And I'll tell you something else, no matter how much you read, no matter how many Donahue shows you watch, the prospect of what might happen just doesn't compute.'
'It's going to be okay, ' he said again, forcing conviction into his voice. 'You've got a friend who's going to be with you all night tomorrow. Will they be doing the excision under local?'
She shook her head. 'No, ' she said. 'The anesthesiologist and surgeon both recommended general. And frankly, I was relieved.'
'Who's the anesthesiologist?'
