by Dani Worth
“Yeah, thanks.”
Chase passed his brother on the stairs. “I hear movement outside, so I’m going to stoke the fire back up.”
Keera peeked out of the window when she went to brew more tea, watched Chase join the others who were up and moving around. She handed Tripp a mug, then opened her refrigerator. “I’m not much of a breakfast eater. What do you think everyone would like?”
“You don’t have to worry about breakfast. I’ll just grab a piece of that flatbread. It was really good.” Tripp leaned against the counter. “Sorry for yelling and scaring everyone.”
“I would yell if a snake slithered onto me while I was sleeping.” She shuddered, then chuckled. “But you were sleeping with Cadmar’s boot on your chest this morning. Now that was funny.”
“I was?” He frowned. “You’d think I would have noticed that. But then, we stayed up pretty late. Thanks again for the movie player.”
“No problem. I have another down in the shelter, so you’re welcome to keep it.”
“Thanks. Again. I feel like I should just tattoo that on my forehead.” He watched her move around the kitchen. “Keera?”
“Yeah.” She set two jars on the counter. One had peaches, one cinnamon apples. She looked at him.
“You kind of like my brother, don’t you?”
“My mouth didn’t give that away yesterday in the car with the humiliating shivery remark?”
His lips twisted. “It sort of did.” He looked down at his cup before taking a deep breath. “Chase is great. He’s honest, strong, really good at hunting and fixing things.”
Keera blinked at him, put her hand on his arm to shut him up. “You sound like you’re trying to sell your brother.”
His shoulders slumped. “Maybe I am. A little. I know we all just met, but it’s been so long since we did meet people and you’re really pretty and I think you could…I think you could make him happy. I don’t want him to be alone.”
For some reason, the way Tripp said that tightened her gut. She stared at him. Hard. “Your brother isn’t alone. He’s got you.”
“I know. But anything can happen.” He looked over her shoulder to the window. “I just need him to be happy.”
She didn’t know what to say to that so she merely nodded and began to fill a basket with jars of fruit. Then she poured a Thermos of tea, added more mugs and the entire time they walked down to join the others, she worried about that note in Tripp’s voice. It sounded as if he expected to be out of Chase’s life. She wondered if she should tell Chase about it or just stay out of it.
The kid was right. They had all only just met.
Ross leaned under the open hood of his truck. “I have to change the filters out often with biodiesel when it’s cold. The temperature is dropping fast today.”
Chase nodded even though Ross couldn’t see him. “I’m just impressed you make your own fuel. I read about it, but didn’t look into it too much because we found the solar RV.”
“I’ve never seen one quite like that.”
“We added more panels to it, changed a few things. But it’s past its prime. It might be time for me to learn to make biodiesel.”
“It’s not that easy, but we did set aside the barn just for that purpose. We plan to build another one if we can talk Caddie’s parents into coming to live with us. They have animals.”
Chase leaned against the side of the truck. “Like a milk cow?”
“And pigs. But I doubt there are going to be pigs if his family has raiders staying there.” He groaned. “Bacon. I can still remember how good it was.”
“But if there’s a milk cow, there’s butter. Oh my God, there could be real butter.”
The bigger man laughed as he set the old filter down. “You sound like Georgia.”
“Georgia?”
“Young woman who lives on the mountain with us.”
“She a part of your…um, you…”
Ross stood up, threw his head back and laughed. “No, she’s not with us like that. Not everyone up there is jumping into bed together. Outside of the four of us you’ve met, there are three other adults up there and two of them are married.”
“Think Georgia might like Tripp?”
“Trying to set up your younger brother?”
“I just want him to be happy. I’d kind of hoped he’d hit it off with Keera.”
Ross picked up an old stained shirt he was using as a rag. He wiped his fingers, all the while watching Chase closely. “Keera doesn’t look at your brother the way she looks at you.”
“Yeah. Surprises the hell out of me, but I’m not complaining.”
“I wouldn’t either. The woman is skilled, self-sufficient and pretty. I spent years looking for someone like her. You’re a lucky man if she decides she wants you.”
“We just met.”
“There are sparks.” He frowned. “Jenna has made me watch too many chick flicks. Sorry.” He grinned.
“Well, I barely know her and besides, Dorian and Jenna are nice. You’re not doing so badly.”
“No, I’m not. Even when I was looking for another woman, I wanted them. Just felt bad about it for a time.”
“Sorry to be frank here, but that was dumb.”
Chuckling, Ross tossed the rag onto the side of the open truck. “No need to apologize. I was.”
Chase caught movement out of the corner of his eye and grinned when he saw Dorian kissing the breath out of Jenna against a tree.
Ross followed his gaze, his eyes flaring hot. “We’ve been on the road awhile with Cadmar so we’ve learned to take any alone moments we can and use them wisely. The boy is a bit skittish about sex. I didn’t find him in the best of circumstances.”
“That’s been one of my fears for Tripp. Kid is good looking and he didn’t get his height until late. Like Cadmar, he had that small, delicate prettiness to him for a time. He grew out of it.”
“I don’t think Cadmar will. He’s already nineteen. Of course, Jake said he did the same thing. Didn’t have enough food at first so he shot up fast once he did have it.”
“Jake is one of the others?”
Ross nodded. “He’s from Oklahoma, too. You guys would probably hit it off. He’s a nice man. I knew it the first time I saw him. Took a chance and invited him to live up there.”
“Jenna took a chance and invited Keera, Tripp and me to come last night.”
Ross nodded again.
“You knew?”
“Of course. She wouldn’t have done that without knowing Dorian and I were okay with the idea first. We work together.” His gaze strayed back to the two in the woods and his eyes widened.
Chase turned and had to bite his lip when he saw that Dorian’s hand was down the front of Jenna’s jeans. She had her head thrown back, showing one of the longest, prettiest necks he’d ever seen.
“Guess I should tell them they aren’t as hidden as they think they are.” Ross’s voice had dropped an octave.
“There’s no hurry,” Chase murmured, then grinned when Ross curled his lip at him. “I’ll turn my back. Remove temptation. But damn, I’m not sure how you’re still over here with me.”
“I wouldn’t be, but Cadmar and Tripp are coming up.” He cleared his throat, then yelled out. “Hey Caddie!”
Chase couldn’t help looking back at Jenna and Dorian, who had yanked his hand back out of her pants. The blonde woman looked so disappointed until she spotted Cadmar, then her shoulders slumped. She then balled up Dorian’s sweater in her fist and pulled him deeper into the woods.
Chase could tell his brother had spotted Dorian and Jenna. He looked like he wanted to follow, but Cadmar captured his attention when he stopped chattering. The kid turned red, looked at the ground.
Ross cursed under his breath, but broke off when Keera joined them. He towered over the petite woman. She still wore the soft sweater and old jeans from earlier. They hugged her thighs and made Chase want to touch.
She shivered. “I’m thinking we migh
t be in for storms.”
Ross looked at the sky. “Still clear, but I think you’re right. I feel it in the air. I’d planned to get on the road.” He looked down at Keera. “We might have to stay another night if it rains.”
“I’d like that. And if you want, you guys can take the spare room. I should have offered it last night but—”
“You do not need to worry about that. We’re all still strangers. You’ve done enough just by inviting us to your home and sharing your fantastic food. Have to say, I look forward to whatever you share tonight.”
Cadmar stepped up to Ross. “We’re not even two hours from my farm.”
Ross started to put his hand on the boy’s shoulder, but he dropped it and stuffed it into his coat pocket instead. “It’ll take longer with the roads and we don’t really want to be out if there’s a bad storm.”
Keera nodded. “Not with all the downed trees around here. Where is your farm exactly? Do you know the name of the town?”
“Outside of Choudrant.”
“Then yeah, it’ll take longer. Most of the roads between here and there aren’t passable. You’ll probably have to go east and then north. It’ll add a few more hours to the trip, maybe another day.”
Cadmar’s lips tightened.
“Hey,” Ross said softly, ducking until the boy looked up at him. “I promised you we would help your family and I mean it. But even if we did leave today, we wouldn’t be pulling them out by tonight. We’ll have to park away, sneak in and get to know the situation. Watch them.”
Tripp cleared his throat. “Chase and I want to help. We have guns.”
Ross looked at Chase, who nodded. “We do. And yes, we do want to help.”
“So do I,” Keera added. “I have weapons in the shelter and I also have several CBs and can rig them to power off the lighters in the trucks.”
Ross nodded. “That should work to keep us in touch on the road. We tried both CBs and walkie talkies when I first went out on supply runs but neither transmitted far off the mountain.”
“It’s possible you could get a CB to work with the right antenna. Know anything about them?”
“Guess I should have learned.”
“My father taught me a lot. My walkie talkies have rechargeable batteries but I don’t know if they still work and since no regular batteries still work we could have a problem with them. But we could test them out. I couldn’t before because there wasn’t anyone on the other end.”
“Cadmar and I will test them out,” Tripp offered.
“Okay. Let me charge them first. That’ll take a while.” She eyed Cadmar’s feet. “I’m also going to see if I can find boots my father and I stored down there. I think I have some that will even fit him. He has big feet like my dad’s.”
“My mom used to say I’d grow into them, but I’m nineteen, so I doubt it.”
“I don’t,” Ross broke in. “Some men keep growing into their early twenties and because you are finally getting the nutrition you need, it’s possible you’ll grow into those feet.”
Tripp grinned and smacked Cadmar’s shoulder. “You could grow taller than me.”
“I really doubt that,” Cadmar muttered.
Keera started toward the shelter, then stopped. “If we don’t plan to leave until tomorrow, I have an idea. Any of you ever had a crawfish boil?”
Most of them shook their heads, but Cadmar perked up. “You got traps?”
“Lots of them. The mudbugs are slow right now, but they’ll still check out a baited trap. If you and Tripp want to put them out, I’ll charge the walkie talkies and then later you guys can test them and the new boots out when you go pick up the crawfish.” She pointed. “Traps are right inside the garage, hanging on pegs inside one of the cabinets. You can use the small nets to catch minnows for them. I have some deer sausage in the fridge that might work as bait too.”
“Too bad we don’t have any chicken livers.” Cadmar said. “I can’t help but wonder how many chickens will be left at home. The raiders were eating them so fast.” His mouth turned down, his expression going so bleak, Keera felt it in her soul.
Tripp must have felt it too. He stepped closer to Cadmar, towering over the younger man, and placed his hand on his shoulder. “I have never eaten a crawfish. Do they taste like chicken?” He frowned. “Not that I remember what that tastes like either.”
“Seriously?” Cadmar’s mouth fell open.
“Seriously. And I really, really want to have this crawfish boil, so how about you teach me how to set those traps?”
The nineteen-year-old grinned, looking eons younger. “Let’s do this!”
Keera started walking toward the shelter, but stopped and looked over her shoulder. “Chase? Want to help me carry stuff back?”
He nodded and followed. He knew why she wanted him to follow her down there and he let her know the second their feet touched the floor. He turned and backed her into the one free wall, smiling when she gasped as their bodies touched.
“Wanted to get me alone, did you?”
Chapter Eight
Keera pushed Chase’s hair behind his ear and traced the puckered scar with her fingers. His cheekbone had literally been dented, leaving a knotted scar in the middle of his cheek with lines zigzagging in all directions. “I can’t imagine how much this must have hurt.”
He closed his eyes. “Not as much as losing my sister.”
“You could have died if the bullet had been a couple of inches higher.”
“This isn’t my only scar.” When he opened his piercing blue eyes, her stomach flipped. It wasn’t very bright in there with the light from the oil lamp, but she could see his eyes clearly and it was like looking into the sky before a storm. A darker blue than usual, vibrant and startling. Stark emotion passed quickly in that sharp gaze. It ripped into her chest and suddenly, she was the one who felt exposed even as she watched him slide the thin flannel off his shoulders then yank his T-shirt over his head.
Mouth dry, she watched as he revealed taut, smooth, tanned skin with a sprinkling of light brown chest hair—just a shade darker than the hair on his head, the same color as his beard. She felt his eyes on her as he continued to reveal more of his gorgeous skin. Muscles in his stomach rippled when he reached up to smooth down his hair after the shirt made it stand up.
Keera worried about making a fool of herself then. She wanted to crawl up that big, male body, wanted to taste his skin and rub all over him like a cat. She clenched her hands into fists to keep from jumping him. Running her gaze up, she saw what he was talking about.
His upper right chest was a mass of more thick lines, some wrapping his shoulder and arm. “That’s not from just a gunshot wound,” she whispered.
“Two bullets and a shitload of glass.”
Wincing, she raised her gaze back to those blue eyes and took in his narrowed stare, the flare of his nostrils, and knew he expected her to be sickened by the sight. What she saw were scars, yes, but the ones he carried on the inside were the ones tearing her up right then.
With her heart threatening to beat through her rib cage, Keera reached for the hem of her sweater and quickly pulled it over her head. She wore no bra—hadn’t owned one since her last had turned to threads and she’d never bothered to learn to make another. Her father hadn’t considered bras necessary clothes to stock in this shelter.
Chase sucked in a breath, lifted his hand then dropped it.
Before she lost her nerve, she stepped close until the tips of her breasts brushed his chest hair. “Oh,” she breathed, glanced back up.
He’d closed his eyes and a look of near pain flattened his lips, flushed his neck. The man was holding himself back with such a tight leash, it threatened to snap any second. She’d thought to take this seduction slow but in that instant, she wanted the snap. Standing on her tiptoes, she put her mouth on his and this time, she was the one who sucked in air when he did finally snap.
Within seconds, her back was against the wall again as he inc
reased the pressure of his mouth, opening her lips and sliding his tongue in to meet hers. He touched her bare waist, running his calloused palms up to rest on the sides of her breasts. His rumbling groan caused his chest to vibrate against hers, but he pulled back and gazed down at her with something like awe before his lids fell. He cupped her breasts, ran his thumbs over her nipples. “So soft,” he murmured. “Never felt anything so soft.”
He growled and abruptly wrapped his hands around her jean-covered ass and lifted her higher against the wall.
Keera felt small and weightless, surprise sending her eyes open wide at the strength revealed in the wiry muscles of his arms. When her chest was even with his face, he stopped, held her in place and slowly rubbed his cheeks over her nipples before burying his face between her breasts, rasping his whiskers side to side.
Squeezing her eyes shut, Keera speared her fingers in his silky hair and led his mouth to her nipple, then gasped when he took it into his hot mouth. He sucked and pulled lightly on it and she felt the answering tug in her womb. Instinctively, she spread her legs.
He set her back on her feet and reached for the snap of her jeans and had them down around her thighs before she could blink.
She pushed him back. “Wait. Damn.” She bent over to catch her breath, staring at him between strands of her disheveled black hair.
His hands were clenched into fists so tight, his knuckles were white. A thick ridge filled the front of his threadbare jeans and they were so worn, she half expected his dick to poke all the way through.
“You don’t think your brother or Cadmar will come down here, do you?”
He shook his head. “You sent them off with the traps and the promise for food. Not much takes Tripp away from a food goal.” His gaze raked down her body, narrowing. His chest began to move faster as his breathing picked up. “I’ve never seen anything as beautiful as you. Wish I didn’t have the scars to offer back.”
She pointed to her side, turned slightly so he could see the thick, three-inch scar she had there. “A raider tried to stab me. He missed. He didn’t miss with Dax.”