There was no thinking involved. No moment of indecision. Gage came out of his seat like a rocket. In the next second, he had Aubrey pinned against the counter.
Green eyes met his, an array of emotions flaring in their smoky depths. Surprise. Curiosity. Arousal. Nothing to indicate displeasure or unwillingness. It was all the invitation he needed.
“I’m filthy.” He bent to nuzzle her cheek and ear. “And I stink.”
“So I noticed.” Sighing, she linked her arms around his neck. Her breasts fit snugly against his chest, and Gage could discern her taut nipples through the fabric of her shirt. He longed to tease them with the tips of his fingers or, better yet, the tip of his tongue.
“Take a shower with me.”
She wrapped an ankle around his calf and adjusted her hips to align with his.
“Will we still fit?”
“Hell, yes.” He’d find a way or die trying.
Mouths meshed and tongues tangled in an explosive, heat-generating kiss that left them both shaking and short of breath. He fumbled with the top button of her shirt, desperate to be skin to skin with her. Body to body. Soul to soul.
With a smile both coy and shy, Aubrey brushed his hand aside and unfastened the buttons herself. She didn’t stop there.
Giving her room to maneuver, Gage eased backward until his behind hit the table. He would have liked to participate in her undressing, but his injured hand pretty much prevented that. No matter. Standing idly by and watching Aubrey shuck out of her clothes wasn’t exactly torture.
Then again, maybe it was.
She paused, one finger hooked beneath the strap of her skimpy pink bra. A rumble of desperation emanated from his chest. Had she changed her mind? He hoped not. Almost as much as he hoped his radio wouldn’t go off for at least an hour or so.
“Do you have any protection?” she asked.
She hadn’t changed her mind. Thank you, God.
“Uh, yeah. I think so.” He dove through the door to the bathroom and snapped on the dim overhead light.
An unopened box of condoms sat on the medicine cabinet shelf, and he could have cried with joy. His foot caught on the doorjamb in his haste to exit.
“Sorry.” He offered a half smile in way of apology for his clumsiness.
Her eyebrows lifted. Not so the corners of her mouth. “You keep condoms in the medicine cabinet?”
Gage realized how sleazy he must look to her. “These are Kenny Junior’s,” he hurriedly explained. “They’ve been here for I don’t know how long. When I first moved the motor home to the station, he planned to use it for a bachelor pad.”
“Kenny Junior?” Aubrey cracked a smile, and they both burst out laughing. The volunteer firefighter had the heart of a teddy bear and a physique to match. She eyed the box of condoms speculatively when their laughter finally died. “Are they still good?”
Gage held the box in a death grip and read the label. His sharp burst of laughter bordered on giddy. “They don’t expire for another six months.”
Aubrey tipped her head to one side. “Okay.”
“Really?” The single word hardly summed up everything he was thinking and feeling, but coherent sentences were beyond his present capabilities.
“Yes, really.”
Her smile was warm and genuine and filled Gage with an elation he hadn’t felt in years. Ten years to be exact. She sauntered toward him, picking up where she left off and easing the straps of her bra down her shoulders. He dropped the box of condoms on the table and opened his arms.
Like the teenagers they’d once been, they tumbled into the bathroom. The remainder of their clothes landed in a heap on the floor. Gage cursed his inept hand more than once.
“Take it easy.” Aubrey reached inside the shower and adjusted the spigot. The ancient plumbing squeaked and gurgled before releasing a sputtering spray. “You’ll hurt yourself.”
In that moment, a thousand needles could have pierced Gage’s flesh and he wouldn’t have noticed. Aubrey was exquisite. All feminine curves and angles in exactly the right proportions.
She spun around, and her wide eyes followed a path from his face, down his chest, and then lower. There, it lingered. Gage couldn’t hide his very obvious desire for her, nor did he try.
“Water’s taking a sec to heat up,” she said in a thready voice.
“We can wait.” He made the offer strictly for Aubrey’s sake. A dip in the Arctic Ocean wouldn’t diminish his ardor, much less a little cold water.
“I’d rather not.” Her eyes met his again and she moistened her lips.
The dozen or so inches separating them instantly diminished to one. Pushing the plastic curtain aside, he scooped her up in his arms and deposited her in the shower. Water pelted her, collecting in rivulets and streaming down the length of her body to pool at her feet. He stared, mesmerized. She was so incredibly beautiful.
“Aren’t you going to join me?”
“In a minute.”
“Gage.” She laughed self-consciously and reached for the plastic curtain.
“No way.” He stopped her before she pulled it closed and climbed into the shower with her.
There was enough room for the two of them if they stood plastered against each other, an arrangement that suited Gage just fine. He wrapped his arms around Aubrey’s waist, liking the feel of her slick, wet skin sliding along his. He’d missed this, missed her, more than he let himself admit.
Before he could kiss her, she picked up a sliver of pink soap from the recessed dish and rubbed it in her palms until a frothy lather dribbled between her fingers. She spread the lather over his shoulders and chest and across the flat plane of his stomach. Repeating the process, she washed his hips and thighs. Gage didn’t dare move, anticipating her next move.
To his surprise and pleasure, she cradled his cheeks in her hands and washed his face and neck. The sweet, tender treatment of his sunburned skin affected him far more greatly than any bold strokes in more intimate places might have.
“My turn,” he said after rinsing his face beneath the spray and then snatched the soap from her slippery fingers.
Rotating her around so that they stood with her back to his front, he rubbed the soap back and forth over her breasts until they were covered with suds. He paid special attention to the plump undersides before focusing exclusively on her nipples.
“You don’t have to.” She sighed contentedly as he continued soaping her with his uninjured hand.
“Try and stop me.” He had plans, and they included giving better than he got.
He traveled down her belly, making large, sweeping circles with the soap, and eventually ended at the junction of her legs. She parted her thighs and let her head loll back into the crook of his neck.
“Do you want me to touch you?” he asked, nibbling the side of her neck and fitting his erection into the cleft of her buttocks.
In answer, she moved her hips.
“Say it,” he urged.
“Touch me. Please, Gage. I’m going crazy.”
She wasn’t the only one.
He dropped the soap, reached between her legs and began exploring. His left hand didn’t possess the dexterity of his right one, and he cursed it. Showing no hesitation whatsoever, she covered his hand with hers and gently guided him. Her lack of inhibition was such a turn-on, he very nearly lost it then and there.
Aubrey hadn’t climaxed their first several attempts at lovemaking. They were both too young and inexperienced. Fortunately, sex improved as the weeks passed. Gage was an apt student, paying careful attention to what she liked. He put his learning to good use now, adding the patience he’d acquired as a grown man. The results were incredible.
“Like that?” he croaked when she arched her back and moaned seductively.
“Just like that.”
When the first tremor took her, he wrapped his right arm around her middle and held on for the ride. He didn’t loosen his grip until she fell limp against him.
“Let�
�s get out of here,” he suggested.
Without waiting for her answer, he turned off the spigot, ripped open the shower curtain and grabbed a towel. Laying it across her shoulders, he stepped out of the shower, then helped her do the same. Gage then had the enjoyment of toweling Aubrey dry. It was as much fun as he remembered.
She giggled when he knelt and picked up her foot to dry her toes. “What about you? Is there another towel in here?”
“I don’t need one.”
Most of the water on his skin had already evaporated due to extreme temperature—his internal temperature, not that of the motor home. Sensing her watching him, he glanced up.
“That was nice,” she said in a throaty whisper.
Not sure whether she was referring to the shower, the toweling off or her climax, he said, “I enjoyed it, too.”
“Hurry.” Aubrey spun sideways and dashed out the door.
Gage chased after her, grabbing the box of condoms as he flew by the table. She got only as far as the overhead bunk before he caught her. Considering her impish grin, that may have been her plan all along. He boosted her into the bunk before crawling up after her. Laughing, they fell onto the sagging foam mattress.
“Just like old times.” She toyed with a lock of his damp hair, twirling it between her fingers.
“Better.” He kissed and nibbled her lips. Lightly. Playfully.
Their mood turned serious when Gage rolled Aubrey onto her back and positioned himself over her. He removed a condom from the box before tossing it in a corner. Extracting the condom from the foil package with his left hand defeated his abilities.
“I’ll do it.”
Aubrey not only opened the package, she placed the condom over his erection. She didn’t hurry, testing the very limits of his willpower. When she at last finished, he settled himself between her legs, looked into her eyes, and watched them darken from emerald to hazel. It was like coming home after a too long absence.
“Make love to me, Gage.” She elevated her hips in an urgent plea.
“Aubrey. Oh, God.”
She did want him. Every bit as much as he wanted her, and Gage was able to put their uncertain—if not impossible—future from his mind. For the moment, at least. Today, she was his. He’d worry about the consequences tomorrow.
*
Aubrey took a small bite of food and grimaced. She wasn’t a fan of cold pizza, but eating gave her something to do while Gage inhaled his meal. She washed the cheese-and-pepperoni combo down with a swallow of soda, wondering how to start a conversation and when. They really needed to talk, which was the reason they’d come to the motor home in the first place. More so now that they’d made love. But Gage also needed to eat and sleep.
Maybe she should wait for another day.
“You okay?” He caressed the back of her hand, a tentative smile on his face. “You seem a little preoccupied.”
The rumpled, just-flopped-out-of-bed look gave him a sexy edge that would be difficult for any woman to resist, especially one who’d finally accepted she was starting to fall for him all over again.
“I’m fine.” She smiled back, also tentatively.
They sat across from each other at the small dining table, knees knocking and feet scuffling. While Aubrey had dressed in the bathroom, Gage scrounged up an old pair of jeans from the bottom of the closet. No sooner were they dressed than an awkward tension descended upon them. It had yet to ease. Talking, Aubrey mused, might only increase the tension.
And not talking is going to relieve it?
The metallic crunch of an aluminum can being compressed jarred her from her reverie. Gage leaned over, opened the cabinet under the sink and deposited his trash in the plastic container stored there.
“You done?” He reached for her soda.
“Not yet. Thanks.”
Aubrey still had half her pizza slice left and most of her drink, which she was reluctant to give up. Picking at the remains of her food would give her something to do while they talked—that was if they ever got around to talking.
Damn. She really needed to say something. Gage might have…expectations…given the manner in which they’d spent the last hour. Unrealistic expectations.
Screwing up her courage, she blurted, “This changes nothing. No matter what happens, I’m—”
A shrill chirping cut her off. Gage’s cell phone. He lunged for the bathroom where he’d left his dirty pants on the floor. Aubrey wasn’t so much frustrated at the interruption as she was worried that Gage might be called back to the fire. She’d yet to bandage his injured hand.
“Raintree here,” he said from the bathroom, slightly out of breath. “Yeah, Marty.” A pause. “No, I didn’t leave. I’m in the motor home.” Another, longer pause. “All right. I’ll stick around for a while just in case.” He emerged from the bathroom, the phone wedged between his shoulder and ear. “No problem. Thanks for calling.” Disconnecting, he dropped the phone on the dining table. “Looks like we’ve been relieved of duty.”
“That’s good news.” And it was. For Gage, for the thousands of wilderness acres spared and for the people living near Saddle Horn Butte. Aubrey pushed away the remains of her meal. “Let’s finish bandaging your hand.”
Doing something routine might put them—put her—at ease enough so they could converse comfortably.
She operated by rote, applying an antibiotic ointment and bandaging the tip of each finger. A break in the conversation didn’t come, mostly because there was no conversation.
Now or never, she told herself and opened her mouth to speak.
Gage beat her to it. “Do you remember our secret spot?”
“Sure I do.”
He grinned. “And the day we found it?”
“How could I forget?” She fitted a gauze pad over the blister on his palm and taped the dressing in place. “I still have a scar from your fishhook.”
“That was the first time I kissed you.”
“I seem to remember it was me who initiated the kissing. You were all freaked out over a little blood.”
“I wasn’t freaked out.” His grin went from amused to sly. “It was an act to trick you into kissing me.”
“You’re terrible.” She shot him an appalled look, entirely feigned.
“That was also the place where we first made love.” His voice dropped in volume. “Then decided to elope right afterward.”
Her hands stilled, as did her breathing and, she was relatively certain, her pulse.
“Gage…”
“Don’t you freak now. I’m not going to suggest we elope again.”
“Good.” The single word came out on a rush of relief.
“But I do have feelings for you.” His tone was reassuring and reasonable, two things she didn’t feel at the moment. “And I think you have feelings for me, too. I know you, Aubrey. You wouldn’t have made love with me if you didn’t.”
He was right, of course.
“What do you want from me?” she asked. More importantly, what was she willing to give?
He cupped her chin in his bandaged hand. “I’d like for us to try and make a go of things for the remainder of your stay in Blue Ridge.”
“A go of things?” she asked hesitantly. “As in boyfriend and girlfriend?”
“Yeah. Pretty much.”
Aubrey mulled this over with amazing calm, considering her chaotic frame of mind. She supposed she could blame their sleeping together today on raging hormones trapped in close, familiar quarters. Or nostalgia, even. But dating Gage? Dinner at her house Friday night and a movie in Pineville Saturday afternoon? That would involve a conscious decision, one she might eventually regret.
“What if we do make a go of things? What happens when it’s time for me to leave?”
“We’ll figure something out. Find a way to be together.”
“Oh, Gage.” He could be so sweet. So optimistic. The complete opposite of Aubrey, who tended to anticipate trouble around every corner. “It’s not that simp
le.”
“You have a job, I know.”
“Not just a job, a career. One I’ve worked hard for. As have you.”
“Okay.” He nodded jerkily. “So we compromise. Tucson isn’t the only place with a hospital. Pineville has one. Granted, it’s not as large.”
Aubrey rubbed her temple, though it was her chest that really hurt. “If it were merely a matter of me finding another nursing job, I’d say yes. But there are other factors to consider. What about your obligation to your family’s ranch?”
“Hannah’s taking over in another year and a half. Two at the most.”
“Which means you can’t move to Pineville until she’s graduated college.”
Tightly thinned lips were his only concession to her point.
“There’s another reason I need to go back to Tucson General. One I haven’t mentioned.”
He waited for her to enlighten him, one eyebrow quirked.
Aubrey hesitated, worried he might view her as incompetent once she revealed her problem. She took pride in her skills and abilities, and her periodic freeze-ups had carved a huge hole in her confidence.
“You remember our family friends, Jesse and Maureen Donaldson?” she started out slowly. “They died a few months ago in an automobile accident.”
“Your grandmother told me. I never met them, but you talked about them a lot and I know you were close.”
“I was on duty the night they were brought into the E.R.” She paused, waiting for the lump in her throat to shrink enough for her to continue.
“Oh, jeez. I’m sorry, sweetheart. That must have been awful for you.”
“When I recognized them, I froze. It was like my brain stopped communicating with the rest of me. While they lay there, dying, I did nothing.”
“You were in shock.”
The prickle of impatience she felt was directed at herself, not Gage, but it was him she snapped at. “An E.R. nurse can’t afford to be in shock.”
“Okay.”
“Sorry.” She was instantly contrite. “This is hardly your fault.”
He accepted her apology with a shrug. “So you’re human like the rest of us.”
She shook her head. “When you work in a large metropolitan E.R., someone you know and care about is bound to be brought in eventually. You have to be able to detach yourself from any personal involvement until the crisis has passed. I didn’t detach myself,” she finished on a miserable note.
Just Kate: His Only Wife (Bestselling Author Collection) Page 27