WindSwept Narrows: #21 Charlotte Bell & Natalie Templeton

by Diroll-Nichols, Karen

  His hands wanted to be everywhere at once, followed a close second by his mouth. He didn’t know what the hell she was doing, but her hips began rotating in a slow, torturous circle to the left and then switched to the right.

  Natalie took his hands in hers, twined their fingers and pressed them to the bed as she rose over him. She couldn’t breathe, she could feel the muscles tightening again, feel the ripples building and then they were free and she called his name and thrust hard down on him.

  Tre heard her name ripped from his throat, raw and rough, his hips thrusting up to meet hers again and again until she seemed to float down to lay against him. Their scent filled the loft, a steamy heat rising in the summer evening.

  “Oh god…that was incredible…I’ve never…oh, shut up now, Nat,” she murmured against his throat, her tongue out and sweeping along his throat, tasting him and purring softly. “Tell me again why we weren’t ready for that?”

  “Are you going to run on me?” Tre had released her fingers, his hands sliding over the light coating of moisture on her back and behind, cupping her in his hands and pulling her down with a low, thick groan.

  “Not sure my knees work yet. You’re safe,” she answered drowsily. “God, you smell good…and I love the way you taste,” she whispered sexily.

  A low chuckle broke from his lips, his mouth moving over her forehead before he shifted her to the side and went into the bathroom. She hadn’t moved when he returned, but he did see one eye open and watch him as he pulled a pair of shorts on before sliding her to the side and climbing into the bed with her.

  “You wear pajamas? How cute,” she murmured, curling on her side against him. “You are really nice and warm…and sexy…and patient…and sweet…”

  “Could of done without the last one,” Tre whispered against her head, his palms now enjoying the free roaming as they lay facing one another beneath the light blanket. The breeze coming in from the water sent an occasional whiff of ocean through the house.

  “What’s wrong with sweet?” Natalie yawned and pushed her hands up and around his neck, pressing herself against him. Her toes stroked over the light coating of hairs on his calf.

  “If it makes you happy, I’m good with it,” Tre answered, slightly distracted by the soft rounded breast in his palm, fingers moving around the darker nipple lazily. Her body arched just a little closer, a shiver racing through her and straight to her sex making her hips move against him.

  “Why did you think I would run, Tre?” She could barely see a trace of sparkle off his eyes, lights coming from the outside lamps. She let her arm rest on his shoulder, fingers brushing the hair from the side of his face before tracing along his jaw.

  “Because I think you’re still healing. I don’t want to be…”

  “Rebound? You aren’t. I don’t think I’m healed but I know I’m not…whatever makes me lock things away isn’t because of him as a man, it’s because of him as a jerk and me as an idiot. All the clues were there and I ignored them. So I think maybe what you sense is me beating myself up,” she peered into the patient eyes, her hips pressing against the hardness that hadn’t really vanished. “Think maybe you should have left the pajamas off…”

  “I don’t think you’re an idiot,” he said before kissing her, thrusting his tongue against hers and taking them both far from conversation.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Morning slithered over him whether he wanted it or was ready for it or not.

  And after a night with Natalie in his bed, he was definitely not ready for morning. He felt his cock give a half-hearted lurch when he slipped from her side, the delicious curves outlined in the early light beneath the light blanket.

  He was a thirty-three year old doctor. But he had no idea his body could be ready and hungry for more of Natalie like she had become oxygen in his system.

  True, he’d slept less during rounds and training. So he could adjust.

  “Is it morning?” A soft, sultry voice murmured against the empty space.

  “It’s morning,” Tre answered, giving into the urge and stretching out beside her, his gaze sweeping to the pajama shorts she’d tossed across the room and he’d never bothered to put on again. His palm slid over the surface of the blanket, tracing the feminine form and groaning when a body that should be satisfied, demanded more.

  “I’ll make coffee,” she mumbled, yawning and rolling to her back, stretching and sitting upright, unaware of the male eyes watching the round breasts reaching for the ceiling and calling to him.

  Tre watched his palm just miss cupping her breast when she bolted to her feet and stretched again, a long, lean cat reaching to the sky. Her head tipped first to one side and then the other.

  And god, the deep breath she took and held…he heard his mind slam the door on him. He closed his eyes and searched for something gruesome and distracting to think about.

  Then he opened his eyes in time to see long legs and rounded ass sway across the room, gathering her night shirt and going down the stairs.

  Tre continued into the shower, sighing and plotting the next moves. First, too many people, mainly her family, were involved in her life. Second, convincing her that he was the only one that needed to be there. For the rest of their lives.

  He was dressed and in the kitchen, listening to the music coming from the guest bathroom. His girl liked to sing in the shower. He sat before the computer with a large glass of juice and several slices of toast and chunks of pineapple on a large plate at his side.

  Carter had been working on his quest and hadn’t come up with good news.

  The fool that bought her bike had wrecked it two weeks after buying it. It now lay in pieces in a junk yard ten miles outside of Portland. Tre pushed a deep breath between his lips at the same time a slender hand lifted a slice of toast and bit down.

  He turned from the screen, taking in the tall figure in those comfortable boots she liked, long, lean jeans and a comfortable t-shirt, the scooped neckline keeping everything nice and demure. Let’s not mention the holster she wore beneath her left arm, he thought, a light jacket lying on the chair.

  “You’re staring, doc,” Natalie leaned against his desk.

  “Trying to remember that wild woman who woke me up in the middle of the night.” He was surprised to see her look nervous and took her hand pulling her closer. “Natalie?”

  “I think I was testing a theory…and you didn’t seem to mind.”

  Reconciling the professional cop he’d seen in action with the less than confident woman wasn’t hard to do. He stood up and shifted her to the outside. He sat back on the desk and pulled her in between his knees.

  “Why in the world would I mind having my very sexy lady putting the make on me?”

  Natalie shook her head. “You are so good with those words, Tre,” she kissed him, soft and long, breaking off to step out of his grasp. “I’ve got to go.”

  “Come back for dinner tonight,” Tre didn’t let her fingers leave his, standing up and walking with her to the things he had waiting by the front door. A cup of capped off coffee waiting for her. He watched her look at it and then at him, that sexy little frown creasing her lips.

  “I…ah…need to stop at my place and get clean clothes,” she met his gaze, laughing when that grin lit up his face, hair falling over the edge of his glasses. She reached up, tucking the sides behind one ear and leaning in to kiss him. “Tonight. I’ll bring a swim suit.”

  “Natalie…what theory were you testing?” Tre pulled his jacket on, grabbed the helmet and keys and followed her outside.

  “Kind of a personal theory.”

  “Huh…and you don’t want to tell me?”

  “Maybe tomorrow morning,” she teased with a wink, sliding into her car and starting the engine after buckling her belt. “I’ll see you tonight, Tre.”

  He watched her leave, his mind returning to Carter’s report once his brain could focus on something other than Natalie Templeton. He knew what he wanted to do, eventu
ally and would have that plan in effect for the future. For now, he’d settle for having her behind him when they went out on the bike. He tapped out a quick thanks to Carter and would wait on the second part of his request.

  Now he had the ex and her family to deal with.

  And a huge collection of friends should he need help.

  Natalie spent the day doing paperwork and canvassing neighborhoods, searching for witnesses and missing people. It wasn’t the most thrilling of her jobs since becoming a cop, but it was always a puzzle. And sometimes she got lucky. But it was rarely that the person searching felt lucky when she had to tell them their missing person was deceased and the case turned over to homicide.

  She winced at the door that closed loudly in the run down apartments, the sobbing behind the thin wood reaching into the hall as she wandered back to her car.

  It was just before one when she wandered to the EMT bay, carrying a bag of lunch. She’d checked. He wasn’t out on a run and was kicked back in a chair on two legs, reading one of the books he’d picked up when they were out together.

  “You lost, detective?”

  “Never, Mulvaney,” Natalie tossed back to the man who had often partnered with her ex.

  “This isn’t your usual haunt,” he persisted, pacing her along the corridor.

  “And you’re not my mother,” she snorted, striding straight to Tre and laughing when the chair bounced to the floor, his glasses slipping down his nose. She reached out and pushed them gently in place. “I brought lunch. Busy?”

  “For you, gorgeous, always,” Tre closed his book and rearranged his chair near the table. “Why such a sad face?” He leaned in and kissed her when she sat down next to him.

  “I closed a case this morning,” she said, offering the sandwich and container of possible things to go on it.

  “Shouldn’t you be a little happier at that?” Tre watched, the little shrug she gave and the dark lashes blinking too rapidly.

  “Too often closing a case in missing persons isn’t a happy thing, Tre,” she said simply, opening her sandwich and garnishing it with pickles and tomatoes.

  “Ahh…I’m sorry. How many days until you’re assigned to the resort unit?”

  “Two weeks from today. It’ll be different. Varied. Partially paid for by the resort and part from the city,” she chatted about that, answering questions and laughing when he talked about his morning runs which included freeing a woman from behind a locked cabinet where her husband had put her, at her request, to keep her from the kitchen. He lost the key and she was hyperventilating.

  “Humans,” Natalie shook her head, her palm sliding to twine with his on the table top. “Thanks for listening and making me laugh.”

  “Anytime. I get lunch with a beautiful girl…a guy can’t have a better day then that, Natalie,” Tre took a long drink of the soda she’d brought him. “You have the code and key I gave you? Mrs. Yang made dinner…she said we’re too skinny and to eat or she’s calling my mother,” he winked at her. “I told her we’d be at the pool if the weather held…so I’m not sure what she fixed.”

  “Anytime I can get real food, I don’t usually protest,” she said with a smile, relaxing and quizzing him about his reading, learning new things and just enjoying listening. She checked her watch, reluctantly cleaning up and standing. “Gotta get back to it.”

  Tre took her hands and carried them to his shoulders. They were alone in the quiet room so he kissed her, long and deep.

  “I’ll see you at home?” Tre stepped back, grinning when she nodded.

  “I’m stopping by my place now and putting a few things in a bag,” Natalie took a step back. “I don’t think you’ll be kicking me to the curb anytime soon…and a girl’s gotta have clean undies.”

  “Imperative,” he agreed, his grin matching hers. “Be careful out there, babe.”

  “You, too. I come armed at least,” she winked and turned, striding down the corridor and ignoring the looks from the various rooms with people in them.

  She stared at the blinking messages on the home phone and walked away. She had her cell with her and made the decision to cancel the home phone, tapping in the number and working through their menu as she packed a gym bag to take to Tre’s house.

  She liked him. A lot. And being with him made her happy.

  Not a single thing wrong with a little happy in a girl’s life, she decided, locking the door behind her and jogging to the waiting car.

  She’d packed her running clothes and managed to get through more paperwork and get to his house an hour before he was due home. She changed, stretched and found her music before setting out to run the new neighborhood.

  It was a good neighborhood, stretching in a long rolling collection of hills above the Sound and not far from the resort. When she stopped outside the gates on her way back, bent over and leveling her breathing, she could see the sprawling resort laid out on the acres of land that had been bought and reclaimed for an interesting social plan. She was going to be part of that plan. And she liked the idea.

  Natalie went through the gates, taking in the layout a little more. The garages were to the left of the house, set away from it. She walked slowly around the side of the house, her eyes on the expanse of blue-grey waters spread below, the huge bridge off to the left and the jagged outline of mountains in the far distance to the west. And she smelled food. Her stomach took a leap at the same time she saw Tre coming from inside the house carrying a large tray of containers and drinks.

  He was cute. Sexy. And house trained, she thought, her traitorous girl thoughts wandering to last night and how well his hands and mouth had worked her body.

  “Is the neighborhood safe?” Tre asked, striding to greet her with a pair of sure palms cupping her face, tipping her mouth up for his kiss. First step in the plan, get her addicted to you, he mused, letting his mouth cruise gently against hers, his tongue out to taste the salt dotting her lips.

  “It’s a nice neighborhood,” she said when the kiss ended. Way too soon. But since her stomach had priority at the moment, the other would have to wait. “Can I go shower quick?”

  “I tossed your bag and other things into my room, Natalie,” Tre told her with a nod. “I’ll have stuff ready when you get back. But I’m thinking I might move it inside,” he looked off to the west and frowned.

  “We’re pretty lucky to have had a few good spring days,” Natalie laughed, grabbing up a tray of food. “I’ll help and be quick in the shower.” She left the tray sitting on the heavy wooden table in the dining area before sprinting up the stairs to the bedroom that was on the second level above the kitchen.

  The jump she gave up was visible when she came out of the bathroom wrapped in a large towel and carrying her dirty clothes. The bedroom was lit with half a dozen candles, the small table by the west facing window filled with the food that had been below.

  “The laundry basket is by the closet, Natalie. Just drop your stuff in there. Mrs. Yang will return them to the bedroom,” Tre had arranged the chairs so they could watch the wild colors spreading across the western sky, dark clouds edging the sunlit day out of sight.

  “I’ve never had dinner in my bedroom before,” Natalie did like he said, lifting the knee length cotton pants from the bed and stepping into them before dropping the towel and letting the oversized shirt fall over her head.

  “It seemed a nice alternative since it’s getting windy outside. The rest of the week promises to be normal wet and spring chilly,” Tre patted the chair at his side as he stabbed a cube of chicken with his fork and bit down hungrily.

  They talked about their days and about the wind whipping up outside, the bright colors of sunset replaced with layered, building clouds in shades of grey and darker.

  “Whatever you’re paying Mrs. Yang, it’s not enough,” Natalie declared, sighing deeply and settling back in the chair with a contented wiggle. “This is like a luxury hotel. You even have the fireplace going.”

  “Romantic luxury hote
l,” he winked, watching her stretch, the flames of the gas fireplace behind her and sending a gold highlight around her lean, long figure. “Beautiful.”

  “It is romantic. Peaceful,” she sighed and glanced over at him. “I canceled the home phone today.”

  “So now people can only harass your cell?” He laughed at the face she made, standing up and moving to take her hands. He led her to the bed and stretched out across it sideways, patting the spot in front of him so they could star at the fire. Until they became distracted.

  “With my family, you ignore them until something else catches their attention,” she told him, backing against him and letting his warmth seep into her. “This…is nice. I could so get used to it.”

  “That’s what I’m hoping,” he told her, kissing the bare expanse of throat.

  “So you have a nefarious plan?” Natalie wiggled, repositioned and faced him, her hand just happened to fit right between them where his waist was. The other palm up and brushing those stray hairs behind his ear.

  “It’s devious,” he confessed direly. “You’re doomed.”

  “It’s brave of you to let me in on the plan.”

  “It’s that good.” He assured her slyly, brows wiggling.

  “I adore your confidence, Tre,” she moved closer, her tongue out and tracing a languid line around his mouth. “Just remember, I’m not always compliant.”

  “But you are an adorable challenge,” he returned, his palms sliding down as he rolled to his back, taking her over him. Her knees were split by his thigh, her lower body stroking seductively and bringing his erection to life. “I think it’s a little warm in here,” his hands slid beneath her shirt, skimming it higher and pulling it over her head, his gaze on the round breasts freed and against his chest. “Nice…really nice…”

  Natalie put her palms on the bed and straightened, adjusting her leg over him and squeezing his hips with her knees. She held up one hand when he reached up, one finger wiggling at him. She reached for the hem of his shirt, tugging and freeing it until it was pulled over his head and dropped to the floor with hers.