Ride the Thunder

by Lindsay McKenna

  “You’re smiling, Nolan Galway,” she whispered wickedly, sliding her fingertips across his curved lower lip. How much she enjoyed kissing that mouth, and tonight, the hunger for him she’d felt so strongly, for so long, would be satiated.

  “Wouldn’t you be?” he whispered back, even more wickedly. Gently turning her onto her back, Nolan rested on his side above her. Rhona wore no clothing to bed; she hadn’t from the beginning, because the nightgown always tangled irritably between her legs and would wake her up at night. Nolan liked that because he never wore anything to bed, either. Watching the play of shadows across her face, her gray eyes warm with desire for him, he lifted his hand and cupped her chin.

  “Yes.” She laughed softly. “I’m hungry, sweetheart…and not for food. For you…”

  “Music to my ears.” He sighed, gliding his fingertips down her neck. Avoiding the still swollen and bruised flesh that was healing near her left collarbone, he lightly grazed her left breast.

  A ragged sigh issued from her parting lips. Drowning in his lambent green gaze, Rhona said, “I want to love you, Nolan…. Don’t treat me like fragile china, okay? I’m bruised and sore, but I’m tired of waiting. I want you….”

  “I’m beginning to really like women warriors,” he murmured, placing his lips against her brow, then her cheek, and finally, her lips. “They are bold, brazen and fearless when it comes to telling a man what they want.”

  Laughter bubbled up from her throat as she gloried in the brush of his strong, cherishing mouth against hers. “I’m only brazen, bold and fearless with you. I’m not like this ordinarily,” she said, sliding her hand across his hip and down his strong thigh.

  As he pressed his mouth to hers, Nolan felt her lips open like a blossom and welcome him eagerly. The last week spent exploring, talking and sharing was making this night with Rhona, their physical coupling, so very special.

  “I need you,” he told her, looking down into her half-closed eyes. “And I love you, Rhona. With my heart…my soul…”

  His words vibrated through her like thunder rolling across the vales and swales of her beloved desert. Breath hitching as his fingers followed the curve of her breast, she arched toward him.

  “You are my moonbow,” she whispered as she moved her hand in a warm, exploratory fashion down the taut, warm length of his belly. “A rainbow around the moon in a dark night sky,” she murmured against his mouth. “You give color, meaning, richness to me, Nolan…and I love you so much it hurts….”

  Lifting his head, Nolan smiled tenderly down at her and caressed her loose, damp hair. “One of the many things I’ve come to appreciate about you is how you see the natural world, and how we’re all a part of it.”

  “Like me seeing you as my moonbow?”

  Nodding, Nolan grazed her flushed cheek and absorbed the silver sparkle in her drowsy, luminous eyes. Her lips were parted, moist and beckoning to him. “Yeah, I hope I can always bring color, laughter, hope and happiness into your life, darlin’. You certainly bring that into mine….” And he leaned down and captured the hardened peak of her breast. Instantly, she moaned, pressing her lower body demandingly against his. The time for talk was over, like a shimmering rainbow moving on with a passing shower.

  The heat in her aching lower body exploded. Moaning his name over and over, her hands opening and closing frantically against his taut, damp shoulders as he moved above her, Rhona could do little but let all the emotions she felt toward him flood her. Yes, he was a moonbow, a man who had come to her as dark and threatening as the night. Yet like the moon, whose luminescence exposed the darkness, Nolan had owned up to his unhealthy prejudice toward women. He had transformed a negative, a darkness, into something positive and beautiful—something that included Rhona, showed her respect and even admiration.

  As his knee moved between her legs, she opened to him, welcoming him, urging him to come into her, to complete the rainbow of colors she ached to share with him. As his hands framed her face, she opened her eyes and looked up at him. Nolan’s eyes were narrowed and intense, his face a mask of taut desire barely leashed. Excitement throbbed through her as she parted her thighs so that he could surge forward into her.

  Lifting her hands, Rhona ran them across his bunched, tense shoulders. His lips lifted away from his clenched teeth. She felt the power, the thrust as he slid into her hot, moist depths. Her moan joined his as they surged together like the ocean crashing onto golden, sandy shores. And shutting her eyes again, she actually saw the scintillating colors of the moonbow at night, red-violet meeting and melding with a shimmering cobalt-blue, and the palest of lilac turning soft fuchsia, then pink….

  Rhona welcomed him fully into her. Joy overwhelmed her as he moved with her like the tides of the great ocean, gliding together with a oneness that made her gasp in delight.

  The feel of Nolan’s breath, warm and moist against her mouth as they clung to one another, only heightened the boiling need that was moving toward an explosion within Rhona. His hands were strong, cherishing and caressing, urging her to participate wildly in their meeting and mating.

  As he suckled her, slid his hand beneath her hip and brought her tightly against him, her world collided with his. A bolt of wild, frantic lightning exploded deep within her, and she cried out with exquisite pleasure and surprise. Almost simultaneously, she felt Nolan drag in a breath, and then a primal growl rolled through him, vibrating through her in turn as he spilled himself deep within her singing, shuddering form.

  Once again colored lights shimmered brightly behind her closed eyes. Rhona felt his mouth, rough and demanding, against hers. Meeting and matching his frantic, pleasurable kiss, which made her soar on the arc of the rainbow about the moon, she became one with him.

  A long time later, it was over. She felt Nolan’s hard length and weight move off her. When he lay at her side, he drew her tightly against him, kissing her eyes, cheek and mouth repeatedly. As he caressed her hair, she sighed, relishing the minor explosions, the heat and pleasure, still bubbling within her.

  Nolan felt Rhona’s arms, strong and nurturing, move around his neck. Just the soft brush of her lips against his cheek, his mouth and neck, sent his heart soaring. The fierceness with which he loved her left him stunned and shaken. Slowly, he became aware once more of their surroundings. The weak light peeking through the drawn curtains illuminated her soft, satisfied expression as he gazed at her.

  “I love you,” he told her, his voice unsteady, his hand cupping her flushed cheek. “I don’t know when it happened, Rhona, or how or why. And I don’t care….”

  Nodding, her throat closing with sudden, unexpected tears, she realized Nolan was completely vulnerable to her. He was able to share his heart, his feelings with her, and that elated her as little else ever could. “I know…I feel the same, sweetheart.”

  “I know it’s too soon,” he told her, his voice husky, “but I like what we have. We got off to a rocky start, thanks to me,” he said, his voice wry with mild derision.

  She saw his mouth hitch upward in sincere apology. Reaching over, she stroked her fingers against his damp brow and nudged back several strands of dark hair. “Nolan, you were wrong and you admitted it. That’s one of many things I’ve come to like and love about you. We’re not always going to do everything right. We’ll make a lot of mistakes, but the key here is getting pride and stubbornness out of the way and admitting when we’re wrong.” Rhona’s mouth curved wickedly. “Besides, I like the making up that happens afterward.”

  Chuckling, he combed his fingers through the silky, ebony strands of her hair. “No argument from me. I think I’ll try to be wrong a lot.”

  “You’re such a ham!” Rhona laughed delightedly. “Have you thought about the fact that as of tomorrow night we are going to be sleeping on the hard, cold ground in our sleeping bags?”

  His brows rose, and he chuckled. “So? We’ll just zip them together and make a nice, cozy bed for both of us.” Tracing a finger across her smiling mouth, h
e whispered, “Besides, I don’t think we’ll feel the hard ground beneath us. If our lovemaking out there is half of what we shared just now, I won’t feel the ground, I’ll just feel you.”

  His compliment warmed her heart. She smiled and then became more serious. “We need to talk about the future, Nolan. I wasn’t planning on falling in love with a marine pilot, believe me.”

  Seeing her seriousness, the worry in her eyes, Nolan stopped smiling. Then he laid his hand against her naked shoulder and caressed it gently. “Listen to me, darlin’. We have time.”

  “In one way, we do, Nolan, but in another…Well, that day that Frank was going to kill you brought home to me the need to live every minute of my life in the now. Not as some future thing waiting to happen.”

  Bringing her into his arms, he drew the sheet up over them. This was a discussion he’d known was coming and he hoped he had the right words for what he had to say. As Rhona pressed her face against his jaw and neck, he murmured, “Standing there with that gun pressed against my temple, I didn’t think I was going to live, either.” Nolan’s voice was deep and troubled. “The only thing I regretted, Rhona, was that I hadn’t told you I loved you. Standing there, I realized I did love you. And in the next second, I felt a sadness like I’ve never felt in my life—that I hadn’t had a chance to tell you. What I didn’t say. Well, that taught me a helluva good lesson—to share with you what’s in my heart and head in the moment—because there might not be another one coming.”

  “Awful way to learn it—with a gun to your head, literally,” Rhona murmured worriedly.

  Sighing, Nolan said, “Yes, but it brought home to me what you’d said earlier about men being closed up like clams and not sharing their thoughts and feelings with the women they love. I understand that now as never before.”

  “I like hearing you think out loud, Nolan. About how you’re feeling. It helps me stop guessing about how you’re really feeling versus what I think you’re feeling. It stops a lot of possible misunderstandings and assumptions before they get started.”

  “I see that now, too,” he murmured, smiling down at her. Rhona looked incredibly beautiful in that moment, her hair in soft disarray around her face, her eyes slumberous, and that sensual mouth of hers soft and well kissed. “Friends talk to one another. We’re learning how to talk and share with one another, darlin’. I like it. I want it to continue.”

  Heart singing, she whispered, “So do I. I like you being my friend…and my lover. It’s a great combination.”

  “So, where do we go from here?”

  “We’ll have weeks…months…of flying together,” Rhona said.

  “Yeah, I like that part of it. We just need to keep our relationship behind closed tent flaps.”

  Rhona agreed. The military would frown upon their having a personal relationship with one another. Only at night, behind the closed flaps of their small tent, could they be intimate. “I can handle it, Nolan. Can you?”

  “Barely.”

  She laughed softly.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he told her. “It’s going to be hell keeping my hands off you in the cockpit, stopping myself from reaching out to touch you like this….” And he trailed his fingers across her soft cheek.

  Closing her eyes, Rhona sighed raggedly. “I know what you mean. It won’t be easy for me to keep my hands off you, either. I’m a toucher….”

  “Yeah, I like the way you touch me.” Nolan smiled into her opening eyes.

  “I’m even more worried about the Diablo gang, Nolan. You found out from Morgan three days after the shooting that Frank wasn’t working alone, but that the rest of the gang are still in area five. They must miss Frank by now. They must know something happened to him.”

  Hearing the fear and concern in her voice, Nolan leaned down and kissed her lips, then rasped, “We’ll stay on guard, Rhona. Since that incident, Señor Gonzalez has alerted his people to be on the lookout for strangers coming into the barrio. That was the mistake we made. Everyone saw Frank nosing around, but no one stopped him, challenged him or did anything. Now we know better.” His brow furrowed. “And they’ve got the marine fire team in place in area six. The new SOP will be that when we land, they’ll be there, M-16s locked and loaded. The guys and gals in Logistics know they have to protect these helicopter flights ferrying supplies to the civilians that need them.”

  “Yes, but that’ll limit the marines from doing much law enforcement, not to mention setting up shelters and essential services. They’ll have to hang around the baseball field during daylight hours yet they have two square miles they’re responsible for, filled with people who need protection from roving gangs like Diablo.” Frustration ate at Rhona. “They won’t be able to keep the whole area protected, Nolan, if they’re meeting us every time we land.”

  “Shh,” he whispered, pressing his finger to her lips. “Listen, darlin’, we can’t solve the world’s problems tonight. This earthquake disaster is stretching us in ways none of us could ever have envisioned. We had all hoped that no matter how desperate things got, people wouldn’t resort to doing the kind of things that Diablo are doing. Even the best government emergency measures can only go so far. For experts to be able to guess what every single human in a bad situation will do to survive…well, that’s impossible.”

  Frustrated, Rhona whispered, “I know you’re right. I just worry about it all….”

  Kissing her gently, Nolan realized where her worry was coming from. She’d had to kill a man to save a life. She had met this disaster head-on, and had to do something no one ever wanted to do: take another life. Even though they were in the military, and their careers were about protecting their country, no one wanted to take life unless absolutely necessary.

  “Morgan Trayhern is working with Logistics to get more plans in place to protect the innocent people at risk in these areas. I know he’s working on a new scheme of putting a Marine Recon team with a medical person into area one, which is just outside Camp Reed. The Recon team is composed of five men, one of whom is a paramedic. They can provide law enforcement plus medical expertise to the people there.”

  “It sounds promising, but you have only so many Recon teams in the Corps.”

  “I know,” Nolan soothed. “We have limited trained resources, but I know Morgan is good at utilizing them in the best way possible. He’s the right man for this job. He’s got the vision, and he’s used to working in tight, dangerous situations. He’s trying to make it as safe as possible out there for us. He knows that we’re the only lifeline these people have.”

  Closing her eyes, Rhona slid her arm around his torso. “I love you, Nolan Galway. And one day, this disaster will end.”

  “And when it does, what will you do?”

  She smiled softly. “Go back to my eco-friendly crop-dusting business. Do what I did before. The guy I love is only twenty miles away. I think I’ll keep him, and what we have.”

  Chuckling, Nolan said, “Yeah, I was thinking along the same lines. When this is all over, I have a beautiful woman in my backyard to share a home with….”

  Opening her eyes, Rhona gazed up into his shadowed face, which was tender with love for her. “Maybe, when this is all over, six months down the road or so, we’ll want to make what we have more permanent?”

  “Count on it, darlin’. You’re the first woman I’ve loved since Carol died. What I’ve found with you, I want to continue to explore. This isn’t some roll in the hay for me. And it’s not some convenient relationship I’ll throw away later.”

  Rhona already knew that about Nolan. He was someone she could trust with her heart, with her soul. “Same here,” she told him, her voice unsteady. “But I’m going to make every day count with you, Nolan. I’m going to live every moment with you, sweetheart.”

  Lifting her hand, he pressed a kiss to the back of it and held her lustrous gray eyes, which were wide with love for him. “Out of the hell of a disaster, I met a woman I love more than anything. She saved my life. I wa
nt to share my life with her. Somehow, we’ll get through this, together. We’ve got time. We’ve got the right stuff going for us, darlin’. And I’m planning on being with you, at your side, forever.”

  Epilogue

  When Nolan approached their Huey the next morning, he spotted a fire team of marines waiting at parade rest nearby. With a quick glance at the helicopter, he saw Rhona was already in the cockpit, going through some preflight prep. Turning his attention back to the fire team, he saw the leader, a lance corporal dressed in combat cammies, his M-16 rifle slung across his thick, broad shoulder, give him a slight nod.

  “Corporal,” Nolan said, returning the salute the enlisted marine gave him as he came to attention, “you’re riding with us this morning.” Glancing at the set of orders in his hand, he noted the name: Lance Corporal Quinn Grayson. Looking up into the tall marine’s square face, Nolan was pleased. Corporal Grayson and his men, who also came to attention, all looked like seasoned vets.

  “Yes, sir,” Grayson replied.

  “At ease,” Nolan murmured, tucking the transit orders in a pocket of his flight suit. Glancing around at the expectant marines, Nolan could see that they were ready for combat, which was exactly what they were going into. He and Rhona were to fly them into area five, where they would try to stop Diablo. He wasn’t sure five men could do it, but they were marines, and even outnumbered, they were the best trained field force in the world, as far as he was concerned.

  Besides, looking into Grayson’s glacial blue eyes, which were narrowed and thoughtful, Nolan felt a frisson of satisfaction. The leader of this fire team was no one to mess with. That was obvious. Nolan felt sure he had probably been in the Corps at least seven years, and seen action in the Gulf War.

  “You were briefed at Logistics on area five?” Nolan asked as the lance corporal spread his feet and stood at ease.

  “Yes, sir, we were. An hour ago.”

  Nodding, Nolan frowned. “It’s a hot area, Corporal.”