Heat of the Moment

by Lori Herter

  His lips fastened on to hers with a gentle, warm insistence while his hand slid along her shoulder to her neck, pushing her long hair out of the way. His fingers curled upward, toward the nape of her neck. He held her head in place while his mouth worked over hers, briefly letting go, then kissing her again. Though she’d felt almost numb at first, she found herself tentatively, haltingly, kissing him back.

  And then, as if satisfied with her simple response, he drew away, slowly ending the kiss. His manner was a bit more chaste than she’d anticipated, as if he were holding himself back. His hand retraced its path along her neck and down her shoulder. He drew away and sat straight in his wheelchair again.

  “Josie, I have a…well, let’s say it’s a…suggestion, that’s a good word…a suggestion to make.”

  His hesitant manner made her focus. “What?”

  “I’m glad to know you’re not afraid of me. Because you are still afraid of most men, aren’t you? It would stand to reason, after what happened to you in college.”

  Josie nodded. Where was he going with this?

  “I’ve been thinking that you and I could make an agreement, an arrangement, between us.”

  “Arrangement?”

  “It would be good for you to overcome your fear of men, don’t you think?”

  She nodded, but began to tense a bit.

  “We seem to get along well. You told me earlier that the reason you feel ‘halfway’ safe with me is because I’m in this wheelchair. And, because I’m in this chair, I don’t get out much. I’m…a little lonely for female companionship.” He paused, his eyes traveling over her face. “So…we could make a sort of bargain. I’ll help you over your fear, and you can make me feel not so lonely.”

  Josie stared at him for a couple of long seconds. “So, what’s the bargain? Y-you’re talking about…what?” She lifted her shoulders hesitantly. “Physical contact?”

  He nodded. “For example, I can kind of tell you’re not used to being kissed. I could help you—” he smiled slightly “—get used to it. By doing more of it. Until it feels natural to you.”

  She felt a little sheepish and looked down. “I could use some more experience that way, yes. Actually…it’s funny you should bring this idea up, because I was kind of thinking along the same lines. I do feel comfortable with you, and I wouldn’t mind…um…you know, getting used to being physically close to a man.” She made herself glance up at him.

  Peter looked a bit astonished, but pleasantly so. “You were thinking about—about getting to know me better? Since when?”

  “Since I fell into your lap.” To be honest, she should have said since she’d slept in his pajama top, but that was a little too personal to share with him.

  He grinned. “Well…so you weren’t as upset by that as I thought.”

  “It did unsettle me,” she told him, smiling. “But afterward, I realized I actually liked it. I even wished I hadn’t backed away when you tried to kiss me.”

  His eyes got so bright, it was as if sparks were emanating from them. “Then maybe this arrangement is just the thing we need!”

  Josie straightened in her seat, feeling the sudden need to put on the brakes. “But we also need to set some parameters.”

  He looked chastened. “Of course. I don’t ever want to do anything that makes you uncomfortable. I won’t go any further than you want me to. If things are getting a little too heated, we can stop anytime you say.”

  “Really?” Josie felt relieved. She wouldn’t have believed any other man who told her something like that. But Peter seemed so sincere. Besides, there was only so far that he could go.

  “Really,” he assured her. “You set the pace. You say when to stop.”

  He kept talking about stopping. It made her wonder if he could go further than she thought. “When was the last time you were…um, with a woman?”

  “Just before my accident.”

  “And since then…?”

  He spread his hands. “As you see.”

  She wanted to ask him if he was paralyzed, if he was in fact unable to have sex. But it wasn’t the sort of question she felt was appropriate to ask a handicapped person. “And you’re…lonely?”

  “Women don’t gravitate to men in wheelchairs. The woman I was seeing at the time of my accident dumped me when she realized I was going to be an invalid.”

  Because they couldn’t have sex anymore, Josie assumed. Otherwise, what woman in her right mind would dump Peter, even in a wheelchair? Maybe she wanted children, and that was why she left him.

  “That’s a shame,” Josie murmured sympathetically.

  “No. It left me free to meet you.” He grinned his fabulous grin. “So, we have an agreement?”

  She swallowed. “We can keep negotiating how this will work as we go along, right?”

  “Absolutely. You have any doubts or fears that pop up, we’ll talk about it.”

  Josie nodded hesitantly. “Okay.”

  “Okay!” He took her hand, drew it to his mouth and kissed the back of it. “You look tired, Josie. Better get some sleep.”

  She blinked. “I feel wide-awake now.”

  Peter shook his head. “Still, you look like you’ve been stressed to your limit. I see it in your eyes. It’s been a long work day, your emotions have been stirred up, and you’ve just made a life-changing decision.” He held her hand, gazing at her like a doctor with the perfect bedside manner.

  Life-changing decision. The words echoed around her brain as if he’d said them through a loudspeaker. He was right, she was too strung out and fatigued to think about all this anymore tonight. And he was still holding her hand, which made it impossible for her to think straight anyway.

  She smiled. “You’ll have to leave if you want me to go to bed.”

  “Hmm. Right.” He let go of her hand and touched her cheek. “Good night, Josie. Come over for breakfast?”

  “Okay.” She pulled her brain together. What was tomorrow? “Are we working tomorrow? It’s Saturday. Oh, right, you said we were.”

  He paused, apparently rethinking what he’d said earlier. “Maybe only half the day. We can spend time in the pool in the afternoon if it’s warm enough.”

  The pool? “You swim?”

  “In the water, I can float. It’s good exercise for me.”

  Josie nodded, understanding. “But it’s February.”

  “I have a heated pool.”

  “Well, I don’t have a bathing suit.”

  “Don’t have a suit! I’ll send you off to the mall to buy one.”

  “Wh-what?”

  Peter smiled. “Don’t worry about it. Just get some sleep.”

  5

  AFTER WORKING all Saturday morning, Peter and Josie sat at the table outside having a late lunch by the pool. The February day was growing warm and the weather was as fine as California could produce—just about perfect.

  Peter chewed his ham sandwich and mulled over ways to coax Josie into the pool. A little playfulness in the pool might further loosen her inhibitions. But last night she’d been happy to tell him she didn’t have a swimsuit, so he knew he had his work cut out for him.

  “I think I’ll go for a swim,” he said offhandedly. “I haven’t been getting enough exercise lately. My doctor won’t be happy.”

  This, actually, was quite true. Peter had exercise equipment in the room next to his bedroom, but he hadn’t had much of a chance to use the treadmill, or the weights, or to do the special set of floor exercises that had been recommended. Stiffness and some pain were beginning to set in because work and pursuing Josie had interrupted his routine. Playing the invalid in the wheelchair prevented him from getting exercise he usually got just walking around his house and grounds.

  “Do you do laps around the pool?” Josie seemed genuinely interested. “I suppose that’s good for your cardiovascular health.”

  “Exactly.” Indeed, at one point, swimming was practically his only form of exercise, and he’d had to have the help of
a physical therapist.

  “Well, go ahead. I’ll just read or take a nap. I had trouble falling asleep last night, so I’m a little tired.”

  He eyed her, understanding. Their agreement had kept him awake, too. All morning they’d been a little nervous around each other. Peter was still doing mental cartwheels over the fact that she’d readily agreed to his suggestion. And their kiss last night was just about the sweetest, if the most innocent, he’d ever experienced.

  “Getting in the pool will wake you up,” he said.

  “I don’t have a suit.”

  Peter nodded. “You told me that last night.”

  “Well, it’s still true.”

  “You could run over to the mall and buy one.”

  She shook her head. “It’s been years since I’ve done any swimming. It’s not worth it to buy a suit.”

  Peter guessed that she didn’t own a suit because she didn’t want to wear anything in public that might make her look sexy. Even today, a Saturday, she was wearing one of her long skirts and loose sweaters. “You can swim here anytime. It’s a private pool. The yard has high walls. No muscle-bound hunks to ogle you.”

  She glanced at him wryly. “You’re here.”

  “Muscle-bound hunks run along the beach or play volleyball on the sand. Can’t do any of that.”

  She smiled at his self-effacing humor. “Nevertheless, I’m not interested in swimming.”

  “You need your exercise, too, Josie. And I wouldn’t mind some company.”

  “I don’t have a suit,” she repeated.

  “You have a pair of shorts and a T-shirt?”

  “I brought along jogging shorts. That’s what I do for exercise.”

  “You can wear that in the pool.”

  “Shorts?”

  “Why not?”

  “But—”

  “Remember our agreement? I’m supposed to help you come out of hibernation. Look upon this as step one.”

  After another five minutes of friendly persuasion, she gave in. While she disappeared into the cottage to change, Peter took off his shirt and stripped to the bathing trunks he’d put on under his jeans. He hurried into the pool before she reappeared, so she wouldn’t see how easily he could jump in.

  Josie came out a few minutes later in navy-blue nylon running shorts and a big white T-shirt. She looked self-conscious, but stopped in her tracks when she saw him. He swam up to the edge of the pool nearest her.

  She seemed distracted looking at his bare shoulders and arms. Long months of using his arms to lift himself in and out of the wheelchair and pushing its wheels had increased his muscularity. Perhaps that’s what had her so mesmerized. He supposed he didn’t look much like an invalid from the waist up. The scars on his legs told another story.

  “Your shorts are perfect. That oversized T-shirt may weigh you down, though.”

  “That’s okay,” she said, slowly approaching him.

  “Of course, I’ve never minded the wet T-shirt look,” he told her, raising one brow. “You have something on under that?” He figured she did, but he wondered how she’d answer.

  She hesitated. “A sports bra.”

  “Good. Let’s see it.”

  She swallowed, and he felt he could read her mind. She was probably thinking, why did she ever go along with his idea of an agreement?

  “Once that T-shirt gets wet, I’ll see what the sports bra looks like anyway.”

  She nodded, then gripped the T-shirt and pulled it off over her head. After tossing it on a nearby chair, she set her hands on her hips. “Happy?”

  “Oh, yeah…” Peter drawled. The navy-and-white sports bra was cut high and revealed no cleavage, but it certainly revealed her beautiful shape. Her breasts were full and round, contrasting with her slim waist and rib cage. She had graceful shoulders and a delicate collarbone. He watched, mesmerized, as she pointed her toes to slip off each of her sandals, making her legs look as gorgeous as a ballerina’s.

  She saw him watching her. Giving him a quelling look, she jumped into the pool, deliberately splashing him as she did. She treaded water a few feet away from him as he held on to the rim of the pool, wiping chlorinated drops out of his eyes.

  “Can’t ogle me now, Mr. Wheelchair Hunk!”

  He took off after her, and she darted away. Using his legs to swim faster, he quickly caught up with her.

  JOSIE WAS SURPRISED to find herself being grabbed about the waist. Peter could move swiftly enough in the water! She managed to wriggle away, but wherever she turned, he was always there, hands at her waist, preventing her from escaping. He quickly discovered she was ticklish around her midriff, and she was soon out of breath from laughing so hard. She grabbed on to the nearest edge of the pool, still trying to pull out of his grasp, but he was too strong for her. Splashing him as much as she could did not make him give up. As a last resort, she managed a swift jab of her elbow into his ribs. That worked.

  “Hey!” he exclaimed, loosening his grip.

  “Hey, yourself!” She turned on him, facing him.

  It was a mistake. She found herself mesmerized again by the breadth of his muscular shoulders and upper arms, the broad expanse of his chest. Beneath the rippling water, she could make out brown chest hair. If he were any other man, she would have found him way too masculine, far too overwhelming. Even as it was, knowing he was incapacitated, she still found it difficult to maintain her equilibrium being within a foot of his manly physique. If he could walk, she would have felt intimidated. She tried not to think of what had happened in college, what she’d suffered from a man whose well-developed athletic body was not unlike Peter’s, at least what she could see of it from above the water. Her heart began to pound and she felt as if the water were pressing in on her chest.

  Peter, always so surprisingly observant, studied her face. “I’m not him, Josie. I’m Peter. Don’t let a little muscle scare you.”

  Josie felt self-conscious that he’d read her mind. “I know. But you do a good impression of a muscle-bound hunk.” She made the effort to smile, trying for a bantering tone. “You may not be able to chase me around a room, but you sure can chase me around this pool!”

  Peter smiled and her heart skipped a beat. He had the most radiant smile, one that could comfort as well as charm. She found herself relaxing, and she leaned against the tiled edge of the pool so that her feet weren’t quite touching bottom.

  “All you have to do is climb out. The steps are over there,” he said, pointing. “You’re in no danger.” But even as he said this so reassuringly, she felt his hand slip around her waist, over her bare midriff. In the water, his hands had a silky feel on her skin. The water was lapping gently over her breasts, making her feel sensual and unusually aware of all her body’s reactions. She grew still as his hand moved upward over her bare skin until it encountered the bra. His thumb lightly touched the outer swell of her breast, and she made a shallow, inaudible gasp. He edged toward her, his hand beneath her breast gently pressing her backward into the wall of the pool.

  “You’re excited, aren’t you?” His voice was soft, his eyes shining and alive.

  “Wh-what?”

  He used his thumb to touch the nub of her hardening nipple where it protruded into the bra.

  Josie gasped again. She wanted to object, but reminded herself that this was exactly the sort of male contact she needed to get used to, that she’d agreed he could initiate with her. “Y-you’re taking things just a little bit fast,” she cautioned him. But she realized as she told him this that her voice sounded breathless and eager.

  “The water isn’t cold, Josie. Neither are you. There’s nothing wrong with being aroused.”

  She didn’t have any reply, lulled as she was by the water lapping around her and his big hand caressing her. He slipped his hand around to her back and gently pulled her up against him. She closed her eyes as she felt her breasts slowly crushing against his solid chest. He took one of her hands and brought it up to his shoulder. She looked up and
found him gazing into her eyes. His pupils widened, making the dark ring around his green irises more noticeable. He began to bring his mouth closer and she experienced that panicky feeling again. But she felt anticipation, too. She wanted to kiss him again, to feel those lips on hers, the rough traces of his beard against her skin. Somehow she didn’t mind the idea of being sensually overwhelmed by Peter. Yes, she was aroused. She hadn’t known she could feel this way until she’d met him. She didn’t even mind that he knew he could arouse her. Josie relaxed against his chest and inclined her head toward his until their lips met.

  His mouth was warm and coaxing. She heard his breathing quicken, felt a sigh of moist air from his nostrils against her cheek. His arm around her tightened, pressing her more firmly against him, as if he craved the feel of her breasts against his chest. She sensed his male desire ignite; his body grew hot and his mouth more insistent.

  Though part of her was adventurous enough to want to see where this might lead, another part of her mind was sending out warning signals. This was getting to be a little more than a splashy flirtation in the pool. But as she listened to her inner thoughts, she grew annoyed and told herself, Don’t be such a wimp! This was exactly the sort of experience she needed to get past her old fears, to be a normal, healthy, well-adjusted female.

  When his hand slid down her back, below her waist, she drew in her breath. What was he doing? At first his hand on her rump seemed playful, a new way of testing her boundaries. But then he pressed his hand into her soft buttocks to urge her pelvis forward against his. And then she felt it; the long, swollen hardness beneath his swimming trunks, nudging her inner thigh.

  She twisted her head away to break the kiss, pushing on his chest with both hands to put space between them.

  Peter looked dazed as she bolted from his arms. “What…?”

  Josie backed along the edge of the pool. Her heart was pounding. Her mind raced. Her stomach was churning, and she ordered herself to calm down. She turned her shoulder to him and averted her head.

  “What’s wrong, Josie?” He sounded concerned now.