by Ann Lister
“Finally! It’s good to hear your voice,” Glen said.
“Oh, honey! I’m sorry. Did you miss me last night?” Nick teased his friend.
Glen laughed loudly. “How’s it going up there? You surviving?”
“I suppose so,” Nick said.
“How’s your patient?”
Nick wiped his face and contemplated his next thought. “She’s…ah, fine.”
“Fine?”
“She’s stabilized. Why?” Nick asked.
“Is she as bad as her co-workers implied?”
“No. She’s…ah…”
“Fine?”
Nick laughed. “Something like that.”
“What does she look like?” Glen asked.
Nick sighed. “Blond, blue eyed, with long legs I’d like to…”
“Christ! You’re hot for her, aren’t you?”
“Maybe.”
“Jesus, Nick! Remember what happened to Jacobs two years ago. I doubt she’s worth losing your job over, so keep that in mind.”
“How about you tell me when we can expect transport?” Nick asked, ignoring his friends last comment.
“Soon as the storm ends.”
“And what are the weather forecasters saying for a time-table on that?” Nick asked.
“It could be another twenty-four hours, possibly as long as forty-eight. Do you have enough food and water?”
Nick cursed loudly. “Yeah. We’ll survive and if we lose power the generator is ready to go.”
“How much snow do you have so far?”
“I’m guessing two feet. Visibility is about zero with wind gust to about 40 knots.”
“I’ll contact you again tomorrow morning with another briefing. In the meantime, try and keep your hands to yourself.”
Nick smiled. “What was that? You’re breaking up. I didn’t hear you,” he joked.
“You’re on your own, buddy,” Glen said.
“Isn’t that the cold, harsh truth!”
Nick stayed outside for several hours. He finished shoveling the walkway and restocked the firewood bin connected to the cabin. He wanted to make sure they were prepared if they lost power.
Inside the cabin, Colby went to work learning how to properly use her crutches, slowly moving around the cabin and becoming more fluid and relaxed. She also took the time to prepare sandwiches for lunch and heat hot cocoa in two mugs.
When Nick finally came back inside the cabin, he was covered with snow. He stood by the door and pulled off his hat, shook the snow from the ends of his hair, then removed his gloves and coat. He moved to the fire and unlaced his boots, leaving them to dry on the stone hearth, then loaded more wood into the flames.
“I made you lunch,” Colby said, and maneuvered herself into the living room on the crutches.
Nick spun around and watched her approach, his smile growing wider with each step she successfully made. “I see you’ve been practicing,” he said.
“Yes, I have.”
“Good,” he replied, and turned back to the fire to warm his hands. He could still see the disappointment in Colby’s face for not kissing her. It was clear to him, that’s what she had wanted earlier when he was holding her. Need had poured from her eyes and he could feel it in the way she responded to his touch. Lord knew he had wanted to kiss her, too, but he wasn’t suppose to act upon it and the simple truth of that pained him. The heat he felt from her was scorching. He couldn’t even begin to image the electricity they would create together in bed and, every time he allowed himself those dirty thoughts, it made him hard.
“I made you lunch,” she said again.
“You did?” he asked, and glanced at her over his shoulder.
“There’s a plate for you on the kitchen table.”
“You didn’t need to do that, Colby.”
“I know, but you’ve been preparing meals for me since we got here. I figured it was my turn.”
Nick stood and began to move toward the kitchen. “Did you already eat?” he asked, lifting his plate from the table.
“I wasn’t sure when you’d be done outside, so I went ahead and ate,” she said. She shuffled cautiously into the kitchen on her crutches and reheated his mug of hot cocoa in the microwave. “This is for you, too.”
“Thank you,” he said, looking at her. It was the first time since he’d come inside that they had made full eye contact and the smile he offered her filled her with warmth.
Colby was the first to look away, dropping her gaze to the floor, the weight of his eyes too much for her to handle. “I was thinking I’d bake chicken for dinner. Do you like chicken?” she asked.
“Chicken is fine,” he said, biting into the second half of his turkey sandwich. “I’ll give you a hand when you’re ready, just let me know.”
She smiled weakly and moved back to the living room. Nick watched her and sighed with regret. There was a subtle awkwardness between them now, that wasn’t there before he held her earlier, and he hated it. It felt like he had hurt her feelings and he wasn’t sure how he could fix it. Talking to her about what happened or admitting what he really felt for her would only make the situation worse.
He finished his sandwich and set the plate in the sink, then walked into the living room. “I think I’ll take a shower while we still have power to run the well pump,” he said. He took the clothing he found in the closet from the end of the couch. “Thanks again for lunch.”
She waited until Nick had turned away from her before she lifted her eyes to watch his form walking toward the bathroom. His male swagger was captivating. Hell, everything about him was captivating and she hated him for it.
When he returned from the bathroom, he was completely dressed. He kept himself busy, checking the contents of his medical bag and changing the batteries in his walkie-talkie, doing whatever he could to keep his mind off of Colby.
From the opposite couch, Colby scanned through every magazine on the coffee table and then reclined on the couch for a nap. She rolled away from Nick and covered herself with a blanket and closed her eyes. It was difficult just being in the same room as him. She could smell the subtle scent of him and feel his overwhelming presence, without him having to say a word.
Chapter Three
Several hours passed and finally Colby began to stir from her nap. She rolled over to face Nick and noticed he had fallen asleep on the other couch. She would have given anything to snuggle with him. Her head ached from all the naughty, sexual thoughts she had running through her mind. She rubbed her eyes, disgusted with herself and stood up quickly, sending one of her metal crutches crashing to the floor.
Nick’s body jack-knifed on the couch when he heard the noise. “You okay?” he asked, rubbing his face.
“Sorry I woke you,” she said, and hobbled toward the kitchen. “I’m going to start dinner.”
Nick rose from the couch and followed her. “I’ll help.”
“You don’t need to help, Nick. I can do this. Go relax.”
He stopped beside her and attempted to make eye contact. “I want to help.”
“Okay. Fine. You can make the salad,” she said.
Colby and Nick moved around the kitchen in unison as they prepared dinner, trying their best not to bump into each other. Their conversation was strained and short. Colby opened a bottle of white wine and filled a glass for herself. If nothing else, she would try and remove some of the tension between them by masking it with alcohol.
“Would you like some wine, too?” she asked him.
He nodded and Colby poured wine into another glass for him and left it on the counter. An hour later, Colby removed the chicken from the oven and set it onto the table to cool. As soon as she did, the lights flickered once, then a second time, before cloaking the cabin into darkness. Their only light now came from the fire.
“I guess we’ll have to light some candles,” Nick said. He grabbed the matches from the kitchen table and lit several large candles he had found earlier and scattered their pl
acement around the cabin.
“I’m going to eat by the fire,” Colby said. She filled a plate with chicken and tossed green salad and shuffled toward the couch.
Nick filled a plate for himself, then joined her in the living room.
They ate in near silence, making mindless small talk, until Nick couldn’t take it anymore. He set his plate onto the coffee table and looked at her on the other couch.
“Are you mad at me?” he asked.
“No. Why?”
“Because, you’re more quiet than normal,” he said.
“You don’t know me, so how would you know what normal behavior is for me?”
Nick shook his head. The conversation wasn’t going the way he wanted it to, but then again, he wasn’t sure what he expected. “You’re right. I don’t know you.”
Colby finished her dinner, set the plate on the table in front of her, then refilled her wine glass. Her eyes focused on the fire until her vision became blurry. She sensed Nick was staring at her because she could feel his heat, but she saw no reason to look at him. It hurt too much. He was like forbidden candy that she hadn’t been given permission to eat and looking only made her want to eat it more.
The silence hung between them like the outside tree limbs bending under the weight of the falling snow. Unless one of them started talking, this would be the longest night of his life, Nick thought. He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed.
Colby hobbled into the kitchen and collected another bottle of wine, then made her way back into the living room. As she was about to pass by the couch, he gripped her wrist and stopped her.
“I’ll take some of that before you sit,” he said. He extended his arm to take the bottle from her, then filled his glass, and hers, before setting the bottle onto the table.
Colby studied his movements. She noticed how he set her glass on his side of the table and not on the side she had been sitting. She wondered what that meant or if it meant anything at all.
“Hand me my glass, please,” she said, and pointed to it on the table.
“Sit with me,” he said. His eyes lifted to see her reaction. She blinked, as if trying to determine a hidden meaning to his request. “It’ll be easier to talk if you’re sitting beside me.”
Colby contemplated her response, then nodded.
He stood up to allow her to move between the couch and the table, softly touching her on the hips to keep her steady. His action wasn’t a necessary safety measure and, no doubt Colby knew that, but he didn’t care. He wanted to touch her.
She sat down beside him, keeping a safe distance, more so, to prevent herself from doing something she was convinced he had no interest in doing - at least with her.
He glanced at her with tentativeness and asked, “Are you in pain?”
“No, not at all,” she said. She took a sip from her wine glass; the alcohol already effecting her, making her warm and relaxed.
“I thought that might be why you’ve been so quiet.”
Colby set her head against the back of the couch and rolled her head to look at him. “No pain,” she said. “And in another hour, this wine will have me feeling nothing at all.”
“Is that what you want?” he asked.
“I think it makes a reasonable goal,” she said.
He paused, wondering what he should say next, since she hardly seemed receptive to talking at all. At least she was looking at him, he thought; which was more than she was doing a few minutes before.
“I talked with my partner earlier,” he said. “He thinks we may have another day or more before they send transport to evacuate us.”
Colby listened to the gentle timbre of his voice, trying to absorb his words. The wine in her system was beginning to blur everything together for her. He seemed nervous for the first time since they had met; uncomfortable in her company, unsettled by her closeness. She scoffed at that, since it was him that had asked her to sit beside him, not the other way around.
She watched the way his mouth moved when he spoke, found her thoughts drifting to how his lips might feel pressed against hers, moving across her body in a slow languid fashion; what the friction his beard stubble might do to her inner thighs. She watched his head fall to the back of the couch. His eyes seemed so fluid and warm, much like melted chocolate, and suddenly the urge she had to touch him became overwhelming.
Nick noticed her eyes canvassing his face, his mouth, and felt his core temperature pitch a few degrees and the familiar tightness returned to his groin. She was doing it again, seducing him with her eyes, and he was certain she was completely unaware of it or what it was physically doing to him. He saw her inch closer and didn’t move away. He couldn’t. There wasn’t a rational thought left in his head that made sense anymore, except for his need to be with Colby. He felt her fingers rub at his temple and slowly closed his eyes.
“You look tired, Nick,” she whispered.
“Relaxed,” he said, and opened his eyes halfway.
Her fingers sifted through his hair; combing out tiny tangles, and setting off sparks inside him as her fingers worked across his scalp. Her fingers settled onto the muscles at the back of his neck and gently squeezed. Every nerve in his body had come to attention from her touch. His cock began stretching and filling the space behind his zipper, making it uncomfortable to sit. Arousal was making him sweat. His brain was sending out alarm signals, but he was having great difficulty paying attention to them.
Her cheek touched his; ever so lightly making contact. She released a sigh that vibrated like a soft hum, skimming across his skin. Her lips pressed a feathery kiss beside his ear, then her mouth opened; the tip of her tongue flicking at his lobe. The ache between his legs was now a throb and he could think of nothing else but throwing her onto her back and taking her right there.
Her mouth inched closer to his lips, the heat of her tongue branding him with every spot it touched. When he felt her lips brush his, he nearly lost his mind, desperate to get inside her.
“Colby, where are you going with this?” he asked, in the calmest tone he could manage.
“I had a sudden urge to kiss you,” she said softly against his partially opened mouth; her tongue ran along the ridge of his upper lip. Hot puffs of breath bounced between them heating them further. Her nose nudged his; her lips continued to hover over his. “Actually, that’s not completely true,” she said. “The urge wasn’t sudden. I’ve been wanting to kiss you for quite a while.”
Colby’s eyes focused on his and she saw the apprehension nestled there. “You don’t like it?” she asked, tightening her grip on his neck.
Nick eased her hand off the back of his neck and set it onto her thigh, then bent back slightly, putting more space between their mouths. “I love it, Colby, but…I can’t do this.”
Colby wasn’t backing down this time. Maybe it was the alcohol blurring her good judgment. Maybe not. She didn’t care. Her fingers touched the unshaven whiskers on his face. “Do you have a girlfriend?” she asked.
“No.”
“You’re not married, are you?”
“No, I’m not married.”
Colby slid further away from him, her eyes remained fused with his. “Please don’t tell me you’re gay.”
Nick laughed. “Definitely not gay.”
Colby turned away from his gaze. The only other option was, he simply didn’t have an interest in her. Maybe she really was seeing signals that weren’t there, she thought. Maybe she was the only one feeling an attraction. Disappointment filled her for a second time.
Nick saw the emotion building in her face, although she was doing a fine job of concealing it from him. He reached for her hand and held it. “I’m not denying I’m attracted to you, Colby. Insanely attracted to you is probably the best way to describe it, but I can’t act on it.”
She looked down at their entwined fingers. “Why not?”
“Because it goes against every ethical code in our book. I could lose my job over something like this.”
“For kissing me?” she asked.
“Absolutely,” he said. “If I’d met you in the lodge and I was off-duty…the situation would be completely different.”
“How so?”
“I’d try and get your phone number, then I’d ask you out,” he said.
Colby inhaled slowly. “Isn’t this the time of day you’d normally be off-duty?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Then, technically you’re off-duty now?”
“I see where you’re going with this, but that’s not how my supervisor would see it. You’re still my patient and I’m not supposed to have any…personal contact with my patients.”
Nick lifted her hand and kissed the fingers, then he went to the fireplace and added more wood. “A couple of years ago, one of my co-workers lost his job for messing around with one of his patients,” he said, and tossed a large log into the flames. “He was in a similar situation and in the end the woman filed a complaint and he was fired.”
While Nick’s back was turned to Colby, she pulled off her turtleneck shirt and removed her bra, laying both garments over the top of the couch. “Maybe your co-worker’s performance was sub-standard and that’s why the woman filed a complaint?”
Nick heard her giggle and spun around to face her. Firelight danced across her bare breasts. Two perfectly peaked nipples, a slightly darker shade of cotton candy, were just begging to be kissed and touched. The sight almost made him lose his balance on the hearth.
“Ooops! How’d that happen?” she said, and covered her mouth in a playful gesture.
Nick groaned loudly and covered his eyes with his hand. “I’m trying to behave myself, and you’re not making it easy.”
“I thought I was making it easy for you, by eliminating the guess work of wondering if I’m going to let you touch me,” she said with a sly smile.
Nick scratched his head. “This isn’t good, Colby.”
“I think it’s going to be very good.”
“If I get caught…”
“I don’t see any witnesses here, so how would you get caught? Unless you plan on saying something, no one is going to know.”