Last Chance

by Natalie Ann

  He walked back over to watch as another victim was pulled from the wreckage. “This one’s face is messed up. Why don’t people wear seatbelts?” one of the EMTs asked.

  “I’ll call it in now. See who’s on call this weekend,” another one said. “They’re going to need a few surgeons at this rate.”

  “Trevor,” he heard shouted, and turned to one of his officers.

  “Yeah?” He walked over to the car that they suspected had caused the wreck. So far, no one had been able to say much more than they came upon the wreck and it was a chain reaction. The two cars in the front had victims that were either unconscious or in too much pain to say much.

  “Look inside,” his officer said.

  Trevor leaned into the hole the Jaws of Life had left behind. Two empty bottles of liquor. Guess they had an idea of the cause of this wreck.

  He blew out a breath. “You know where I’ll be once everyone is cleared out.”

  Looked like he would be spending his night in the hospital waiting to get statements.

  It was another two hours before he got the last statement he could. He’d left the road clean up to his deputies. The state police had left right after him. By now, it was pretty obvious who caused the accident and why. The rest was just piecing everything together for his report.

  “Trevor,” he heard. He turned and saw Max Hamilton walking out of one of the doors in scrubs, followed by an older man. One that looked way too close to Max in appearance to not have been related.

  “Hey, Max. Guess you lucked out on this one. I heard the EMTs say they were calling in a surgeon.”

  “Not how I wanted to spend my Sunday night, but then again, I never do. Trevor, this is my father, Dr. George Hamilton. It was one of the patients’ lucky day my father was in town and could step in. He took over another case while we were all hands on deck.”

  Trevor reached for the hand that was extended to him. “Nice to meet you, Dr. Hamilton.”

  “George,” he said. “Anyone with the patience to date my daughter can call me George.”

  Trevor had no clue Riley’s family knew they’d been on two dates. She’d never said a word. Then again, it seemed it wasn’t much of a secret at this point. Thankfully, Riley’s father was smiling when he said it.

  “That’s funny. I’d say Riley has the patience of a saint herself.”

  Max and George looked at each other, then Max laughed. “I told you, Dad.”

  Trevor didn’t know what Max meant by that statement and was afraid to ask. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to collect a few more statements and get to the office to straighten this mess out. No casualties at the moment, right? Has anything changed I need to know about?”

  “So far everyone is alive. I can’t say they’re in good shape. Some better than others. One is in a coma right now, last I knew. I haven’t heard anything else,” Max said. “Then again. I didn’t see everyone.”

  “I heard the same,” Trevor said.

  “Sounds to me like the one in the coma is the one you need to talk to the most,” George said.

  “He is. Looks like he’s the cause of the accident. Just waiting on the tox reports to confirm what I pretty much know.”

  “I have to say,” Max said, “when I got that call and heard where the accident was, I worried about Riley. Seems like she just missed it.”

  “She did,” Trevor said. “By about ten minutes. I rerouted her around the lake and back through another town to get home. She made it there safely.”

  George looked at Max again, then said, “You checked in on her?”

  There was no reason to be embarrassed and every reason to give direct eye contact back. “I did. I sent her in that direction; I needed to make sure she got home safe.”

  George nodded. “See that you keep her that way. Safe.”

  Trevor wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean. Especially after Max laughed when he walked away with his father.

  Domineering Side

  The next few days seemed to be somewhat of a conspiracy in terms of Trevor and Riley having no time together. Either he was called in because of emergencies, covering shifts, or just plain nuisances, or she was called in, which was always a shock.

  There very rarely were dental emergencies, yet she had two this week. One kid who got his tooth chipped horsing around and his parents were distraught over it. And an adult who had too much to drink with friends, tripped and fell, knocking her two front teeth out.

  Wednesday afternoon, she was getting ready to examine Gail Duggan. She was older than Dr. Fielding, or as some of her colleagues back in New York would say, “Older than dirt.” She still had the majority of her teeth, so she was doing something right.

  “Hi, Mrs. Duggan. I’m Dr. Hamilton, it’s nice to meet you.”

  “Do you refer to all of your patients as Mrs. or Mr.?” Gail said, eying her hard.

  She hesitated, then said, “Not usually.”

  “Then don’t to me. Gail is just fine.”

  So much for showing some respect to the elderly. “Well then, Gail, how are you doing today? Any problems I need to know about?”

  “I’m doing just fine. My teeth are all in place and staying that way. Don’t be telling me they have to come out, because my answer is no.”

  Riley felt her lips twitch. “I wouldn’t even consider it. Especially since they look so nice.”

  Gail huffed, then cracked a grin. “I hear you’re getting friendly with the chief in town. He needs a girl like you.”

  Oh boy, not again. Riley decided to sidetrack that conversation. She grabbed a tiny disposable cloth and put it under Gail’s bottom lip. “Can you stick your tongue out for me?” She wrapped Gail’s tongue up and moved it side to side, looking underneath it. “Everything looks good.”

  “Told you it did,” Gail said. “Back to Trevor. Don’t you be avoiding my question.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it,” Riley said, smiling. She’d never had to deal with this in New York. “But I don’t recall you asking me a question.”

  “You’re a smart one. I like that. Bet Trevor does, too. We always knew he’d come back here. Even after he’d spent some years being a Ranger.”

  “Trevor was a park ranger?” That didn’t seem to fit him at all.

  Gail laughed. “Of course not. He was an Army Ranger.” Gail lowered her voice a touch. “He was a sniper, but he doesn’t like it when people bring that up, so I wouldn’t if I were you.”

  Riley had no response to that. She knew there were levels to Trevor that were deep under the surface. He wasn’t as laid back as he appeared, it seemed. She didn’t know much about the armed services, but she knew Rangers were an elite group, snipers too. You had to be cold as ice and hard as steel for something like that.

  It didn’t seem to her they were talking about the same person right now. Not Lake Placid’s Chief of Police, who walked around handling disputes with neighbors over scratches on cars and stolen vegetables.

  “My lips are sealed,” Riley said. For now.

  So later that night, when Trevor showed up at her house for a visit, she had a hard time looking at him in the light that Gail had painted him. And since she’d promised not to bring it up, she wasn’t going to.

  Still, there was something really sexy about thinking of him in an army uniform, a hard cold look in his eyes. Hmm, yummy. Maybe she would bring it up just to see if it was really true or not.

  “No emergencies tonight?” she asked him when he walked in her door, then gave her one hell of a kiss that told her he had a domineering side after all. One she might not mind seeing more of.

  “Not at the moment, and hopefully you didn’t just jinx it by saying that. How about you?”

  “Nothing. Not unless someone knocks another tooth out. I can’t believe that’s happened twice now.”

  “Summer months and people are just out having fun. Nothing wrong with that. Especially if it’s innocent fun.”

  She understood that. “Yo
u’ve got a point. Have you eaten yet?”

  “No. I’ll grab something later. I just wanted to see you.”

  “I’ve got pizza. I picked it up on my way. There are six slices left,” she said, lifting her eyebrow at him.

  “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to take a few off your hands.”

  She got him a plate and filled it with two slices. “It’s not cold, but not warm either. Want me to heat it up?”

  “Nope. I’ll take it just like that. Sit down and chat with me,” he said.

  She got a beer out of the fridge. “Are you on duty?” she asked, wiggling it around.

  “Nope. I’d kill for that right now.”

  She grinned and poured him a glass. “Is it only me, or does the whole town know we went on two dates?”

  Gail hadn’t been the only one to bring Trevor’s name up to her. She’d dodged those conversations as best she could, but she actually lost count of the number of times it slipped into conversation during a patient’s exam.

  “Small towns. Sorry. Unfortunately, your name has come up a few times, too. Does that bother you?”

  “No. Should it? My brother and father know, so it’s not even a secret in my family.”

  “I ran into them at the hospital after the accident on Sunday. I get the feeling they were giving me the third degree, or their form of it. I wanted to ask how they knew about us, but figured it was one of two ways. Either you told them, which was totally fine with me, or they heard it through gossip at Max’s office.”

  She liked how easygoing he was about this conversation. “Max’s office for Max. I told my mother. I slipped the other night when we were talking about my little fender bender. She told my father, which surprised me, as that’s not normally a topic that comes up with them.”

  “Why’s that?” he asked around a mouthful.

  “It’s been two dates. I’ve dated before. Names and details don’t get thrown around that early. At least not usually.”

  “Why now? Like I said, it seems I was getting an inquisition.”

  Which was very odd to her. “What did they say?”

  “Something along the lines that I needed to have the patience of a saint to date you, and that I needed to keep you safe. Max laughed the whole thing off, so I guessed it was a joke.”

  Riley was stunned. First off, there was no reason for her father to say she needed to stay safe. She’d never let on about anything to them. To anyone in her family. Nothing. Second of all, the patience statement annoyed her.

  “I’ve been known to be the one that wears the pants in a relationship,” she said, her voice dryer than she planned on it being.

  He stood up and walked behind her to put his dish in the sink. “They’re pretty nice pants, too,” he said right before he slapped her ass…the sound echoing in the house.

  She yelped, not expecting that. No one had ever done that to her before. No one would dare. Yet, she found she actually liked it. Maybe if it didn’t sting so much, though.

  She turned and looked at him, caught his grin, and yanked him forward by his shirt, bringing her mouth close to his. “So no problem with it then?” she asked.

  Her eyes shifted to his, trying to read his thoughts. All she saw was arousal, mirroring her own. “Sometimes you can wear them. Sometimes I can wear them. And sometimes, neither one of us will be wearing them.”

  “Sounds fair,” she said, then lowered her head and kissed him with all the pent-up energy and sexual frustration she’d felt for the past several days.

  He must have been feeling the same amount of frustration as her, because his hands were everywhere. Taking her over, taking her under, and taking some control. Control she gladly handed over.

  They were circling her kitchen right now, moving around it, moving out of it, then somehow making their way toward the stairs. He pulled his head back. “Am I finally going to see your room?”

  She hadn’t realized that she was leading them there until he asked that question. “First, I need to ask you something.”

  “Ask away,” he said, his lips on her neck now. He wasn’t giving her a lot of time to think, let alone form a question.

  “How long are you staying for?”

  He stepped back and looked at her. “Meaning?”

  “Meaning, are you going to get up and leave when you’re done? Go home, or stay the night?”

  “I’ll give you points for being blunt.”

  “Takes the guess work out of things. So?”

  “I make one mean omelet that I was hoping to cook for you, but if you’d rather I leave afterward, then I can do that too.”

  She smiled, slid her hands down to his hips, and pulled his shirt out of the waist of his jeans and over his head. “I love omelets.” She tossed his shirt to the floor, grabbed his hand, and pulled him to her room.

  Taking Charge

  Trevor had no clue what that question was about but figured he’d answered it right. He’d find out before the night was over, though. Right now he had other things to focus on. Like the hot woman that was pulling him toward her room.

  The thing was, he wasn’t about to let her control this moment. Not this time, not at first.

  He had no problem being equals in a relationship and actually preferred it. So she’d just have to get used to that.

  But right now, no, right now he was taking charge. Because he’d seen the spark in her eyes when he smacked her ass, then saw the arousal. So though she might say she was used to being the lead in a relationship, he got the feeling it wasn’t always her preference.

  When they got in her room, he twisted his hand so that he was holding hers, then yanked her forward against his chest. She fit nicely against him, exactly how he’d been dreaming.

  He gave her no chance at all to respond to that move before his mouth was over hers and his hand going to the waist of her shirt. As much as he wanted to just whip it over her head like she did his, he wanted the slow teasing dance tonight. The buildup and release that made it all the more pleasurable for them both. The gliding and the twirling, then the spinning them both around.

  “Your skin feels like silk,” he said as he ran his fingers up her back and unhooked her bra.

  “Yours doesn’t, and I like that a lot.”

  She sure knew how to compliment a man. “I don’t spend a lot of time putting lotion on like I’m guessing you do.” She smelled like honey right now. Sweetness to go along with the silk.

  “Good thing. I don’t like a man that’s softer than me. Or smells fruity, either.” She brought her mouth to his chest, inhaled his scent, then bit him sharply. “I like a man that smells like a man. Clean and fresh and nothing like a bouquet of flowers.”

  He laughed. He didn’t know what to say to that and was glad for his mountain-fresh-scented soap that he’d never paid much attention to before. Now he’d buy it in bulk. “Flowers aren’t quite my thing, either.”

  Her hands moved to the buckle of his jeans, so he pulled his hands out from under her shirt and stopped her. “Hang on there. What’s the rush?”

  She looked in his eyes, then let those dark orbs of light roam over his chest, down a little lower, and back up. “I like the way you look. All big and strong. Lots of muscles. I need to get my hands on them.”

  He didn’t think it was possible to get any harder than he was, but the pulsing in his pants told him he was wrong. “I’d like to get a better look at you first.”

  “You have a funny way of showing that,” she said. “Let me help you.” Then she reached down and pulled her shirt over her head along with her bra.

  She was a tiny thing. Skinny wasn’t a good word, more like toned. Not a lot of muscle, not real firm, but shapely. Perfect, even. Her breasts were a good size, not overly large but proportioned to her body.

  “Do you like what you see?” she asked him, an abundance of laughter in her voice. She had a way of making him feel like he was sixteen again.

  “Hell yeah,” he said, moving forward. Rather than kiss
her again, he pulled her close, picked her up, and tossed her over his shoulder. He took the last few steps to her bed and brought her down fast, his body covering hers.

  He silenced the whoosh of her breath from that move with his mouth, his fingers threading through hers and holding her in place. He wasn’t about to let her hands start roaming all over him again. Not yet. She could have her turn when he was done.

  As much as he loved the taste of her mouth, the feel of her tongue dancing with his, there were other parts of her body he wanted to get his mouth on. Other parts he was guessing were just as deliciously sweet.

  Without releasing her hands, he slid down and found a nipple. Hard and begging for his touch, for his taste. No need to rush, so he swirled his tongue around a bit, covered it with his lips in a nice gentle kiss, sucked lightly, then nipped her fast. Her hips bucked up and she let out a groan of pleasure.

  “I’m thinking you don’t always like it so soft and sweet,” he said.

  “I don’t know,” she said back. “Why don’t you show me what you’ve got in mind so I can decide.”

  He couldn’t get any more of a go-ahead than that. He went back to her nipple and did more of the same. Moving from side to side. Licking her, teasing her, kissing her, sucking, then not-so-gentle nips. The nips got more of a reaction than anything, and he found there was a part of Riley that she might have never shown to another person.

  She yanked her hands free of his and put them in his hair, then tugged his head up to look at her. “Move down,” she said, grinning at him.

  Yeah, he was liking this side of her…a lot.

  No use keeping her waiting then. He inched down her body some more, undid her trousers and pushed them off her legs with her panties. Would he have liked to do a nice little slow strip of her? Sure, but that could come at another time.

  She took very good care of herself. Her body was nice and smooth here, too. Little Miss Riley had a secret wild side to her, it seemed.

  He eased his hands under her hips, lifted her up, and brought his mouth down. Sweet and juicy just like the honey she smelled like. There was so much of her he wanted to taste and touch, and he couldn’t get enough. She wasn’t letting him either, not with the way her nails were biting into his shoulders.