by Amy Ruttan
“I’m okay. We made it there and back.”
“I know. I can see that, but...” He rushed toward her and cupped her face in his hands. “I’m glad you’re here.”
She closed her eyes and he kissed her. Gently. Her body was thrumming with need.
“Axel,” she whispered. “I’m not staying in Iceland. You know I have to go back to New York.”
“I know,” he said, his arms around her. “I can’t promise you anything, Betty. My life is not my own. I have Eira and my work.”
She nodded. “As long as we’re clear about the terms.”
“What are you saying?”
“Is Eira home?” Heat bloomed in her cheeks.
“No, she’s at a friend’s house,” Axel said, his eyes dark and his gaze making her body quiver with need. “Are you sure about this?”
“No, I’m not. I... I was told I’m not very good at it, but for once I would just like to have a moment of living just a little.”
Axel smiled and whispered softly against her ear. “Just a stolen moment?”
She nodded. “I want you to make love to me, Axel.”
Betty had never asked a man to make love to her before. Before, it had always embarrassed her, but right here and now she wasn’t embarrassed. She wasn’t ashamed of the desire that Axel stirred in her. She wanted him and she hoped that he wanted her just as badly.
That was all she needed to say and he scooped her up in his arms. She cried out and then laughed with him as he carried her once again.
“This is the first time I’ve been swept off my feet like this,” she teased, kissing him.
“I carry you all the time,” he said.
“I know, but this time it’s different.”
“It’s not that different to me,” he whispered.
A shiver of anticipation raced down her spine. Instead of carrying her into the room she’d occupied he carried her to the end of the hall. To his room, with the large bed that was covered with a warm, thick, down-filled duvet.
He set her down on the floor in front of him. Axel gazed at her, running his hands over her hair and then down her face.
“You are so beautiful,” he said.
Her heart skipped a beat. She didn’t know how to respond, so she didn’t respond with words. She slipped her hands in his hair and brought him forward to kiss her again. To let him know how much she wanted him. How she wanted nothing between them.
She just wanted him.
“I want you, Betty. From the first moment I saw you standing in the airport in those sexy boots.”
She chuckled. “Sexy? I thought you said they were ridiculous?”
“Ridiculous to mask the sexy,” he growled playfully, nipping her ear lobe while his hands cupped her bottom, squeezing.
“Well, I thought you were sexy too. As well as broody and...”
Axel silenced her with a kiss. She didn’t want to talk any more really. She’d been dreaming about being in his arms since she’d first laid eyes on him. She’d denied her desire for so long. She’d never let herself feel anything since her heart was broken and she never lived in the moment and did something like this.
She never really lived.
Betty wanted him with a fire that burned through her. She wanted him to be buried deep inside her. She wanted him to help her forget her heartache and sorrow. To wash away her past, so she could rise like a phoenix from the ashes.
“I want you naked,” he whispered huskily.
A shiver of delight ran down her spine and suddenly she was a bit shy. She’d never gotten naked in front of a man in a brightly lit room. It had always been at night, in the dark. This was unplanned and spontaneous.
It was thrilling.
As if sensing her shyness Axel pulled his sweater off over his head, baring his chest. She ran her hands down over his bare chest and over his rock-hard abs. He sucked in a deep breath as she ran her hands down to the waist of his trousers, teasing just underneath. She could feel his erection as he thrust his hips against her.
“Betty,” he whispered. “You’re torturing me with your touch.”
She slipped off her jacket and tossed it next to his sweater.
His gaze was fixed on her. His eyes dark, twinkling and mesmerizing.
It excited her that he was watching her.
“Now your shirt,” he demanded.
She pulled it off and was glad she’d worn her black lace bra rather than the sports bra that she had been wearing under her scrubs. Next she kicked off her boots and then undid her jeans, slowly, his eyes fixated on hers. She shimmied out of her jeans and kicked them away.
She was exposed, but suddenly she didn’t feel so shy any more.
This felt right and it had never felt this right before.
He reached out and touched her face. She closed her eyes and just let the feel of his strong hands on her take over her senses. Axel wanted her just as much as she wanted him. Her need to have him, her hunger for him was just as intense as his. She’d never felt that way before.
“God, Betty. I need you.”
She moved away from him and sat down on the edge of his bed, sinking against the fluffy duvet. Axel undid his trousers and pulled off his underwear.
Heat flushed her cheeks. He came over to the bed and pressed her down against the mattress. His body over hers.
“So beautiful,” he murmured again, stroking her cheek first and then trailing his hand down over her body, leaving a trail of gooseflesh in his wake. She arched her back, his touch making her burn with a need she’d never experienced before. A sense of excitement and pleasure that she wanted never to end.
Axel began kissing her, but not her mouth. His kisses started on her neck and went lower. Down over her breasts, to her stomach and even lower. She gasped when he pressed a kiss against her inner thigh.
“Relax,” he whispered. He slipped off her underwear and her body shuddered in delight. When he kissed her thigh again, a rush of heat flushed her body and then when he kissed her, pressing his mouth to the center of her heat, she cried out.
Oh, God.
The pleasure that was rushing through her was sweet, but torture. She wanted him inside her. She wanted Axel to help her chase away the ghosts. To help her move forward. She didn’t want to be haunted or hiding in the shadows any more.
She wanted to be freed.
“Betty, I want you. You’re so wet, so warm,” he said, his voice deep as he stroked her.
“I want you too. Do you have protection?” she asked.
“I do.” He got up and pulled out a condom from his nightstand drawer. She took the package from him.
“What’re you doing?” he asked.
“I want to help you.” She opened it and rolled it over, touching him, stroking him. He closed his eyes and moaned.
“Betty,” he murmured and he bent down, his hands in her hair as he pulled her up to kiss him. Their naked bodies flush, nothing between them now.
She pulled him down against her, opening her legs as he settled between her thighs, pressing his erection against her, one arm bracing to keep his weight off her, the other hand, stroking her and making her wet with need.
She thrust her hips against him, silently begging him to take her.
She wanted him. And she wanted him now.
He thrust forward, slowly sliding inside her. It had been so long since she’d felt this way. She rolled her hips, urging him to go faster. To take all of her. She was his. In this moment, there was no other.
She wanted him to go faster, but he held her hips, guiding her to meet every one of his controlled thrusts until she came, crying out. He quickened his pace then and it didn’t take him long before he followed her. He collapsed on his back beside her. She rolled over on her side and he slipped his arm around her. Her legs were shaking, her b
ody still quivering with heady pleasure.
His fingers made small circles on her upper arm.
The only sound was their breathing.
There were no words to say. Her eyes were heavy...she was completely exhausted. So she didn’t say anything. She wasn’t even sure Axel wanted her to stay, but he didn’t move and she was too tired, so she fell asleep in his arms.
Sleeping in a kind of warm safety she hadn’t felt in a very long time.
CHAPTER TWELVE
AXEL WATCHED HER SLEEP. He’d been pacing all night before she’d arrived, the memory of his own accident at sea haunting him.
Calder haunting him.
When Betty showed up on his door step, it was all he could do not to take her right there. The whole time she was in Kulusuk he’d thought of her.
It was scary how much he thought of her.
How much he wanted her and how much she wanted him. He didn’t deserve a woman like her. And their time was limited. She’d told him she couldn’t stay in Iceland. She’d told him that she had to return to New York.
You knew this going in.
Except, he was falling for her. Completely.
You can’t have her.
Look what happened with Freya. She couldn’t handle it.
Betty is different.
Axel slipped his arm out from under her. She shivered in her sleep and he covered her with the duvet that had gotten twisted and kicked off the bed when they were making love.
He knew that the trauma team that went to Kulusuk had been working non-stop for over twenty-four hours. She had every right to be tired and he wasn’t going to disturb her. He’d let her sleep, but he needed to make himself more presentable for when Eira came home.
Eira!
How was he going to explain this to Eira? She was almost fifteen, but he hadn’t brought a woman home since Freya. And Calder had never dated again after his wife had passed away as he’d been too busy raising Eira.
If Betty woke up they could figure out what to tell Eira together. Eira loved Betty. She thought the world of her but he didn’t want to get Eira’s hopes up that Betty was staying, because Betty would be going back to America when her time was up here.
He quickly got dressed and then checked on Betty. She was still fast asleep. He slipped out of the room, shutting his door and headed downstairs, just as the front door opened.
“Uncle Axel?” Eira called out.
Axel held up his hand. “Betty is upstairs sleeping.”
Eira grinned. “Oh, really?”
Axel crossed his arms. “She just got in from Kulusuk.”
“Was she helping with the earthquake victims?” Eira asked as she set her bag down.
“She was.”
“I want to ask her about that. My science project is all about earthquakes and tsunamis. I would like to get her opinion about the medical needs in the after...” Eira winced in pain as she tried to hang up her jacket.
“Are you okay?” Axel asked.
“Just woman’s stuff.” She winced again, her face pale. “It’s been about a month, I suppose. I guess it’s starting again.”
“Do you want a heating pad?” Axel asked.
“Yeah.” Eira was doubled over and a bunch of warning bells went off in Axel’s head.
Eira sat down on the couch and Axel brought her a heating pad, plugging it in. Once she sat back she perked up, but he still wasn’t convinced that it was normal pain.
“I’m sure that Betty would be happy to answer your questions when she gets up.”
“Good,” Eira said and she flicked on the television, keeping the volume down low. Axel left the living room and went back upstairs to check on Betty. She was sitting up in bed, holding the comforter to her chest.
“How long was I out?”
“Not long, maybe an hour. Did Eira wake you up?”
“I think so,” Betty said wearily. “It’s okay, I should get back to my place.”
“I’ll drive you back home, but Eira wants to talk to you.”
Betty was pulling on her clothes. “Oh?”
“About her science project. She’s doing a project on earthquakes and their aftermath. She learned you were in Kulusuk.”
“I’d be happy to help her.”
Betty finished getting dressed.
The silence between them was a bit awkward.
“So what happens now?” Betty asked, breaking the tension.
“We go on as normal. I have to stay in Iceland and you have to go back to New York. There are no strings.”
“Good. Good. I hope we can still see each other while I’m here...as friends.”
Axel smiled gently and touched her cheek. “I would like that.”
I would like more, only he didn’t say that thought out loud. There could never be more with them. This was all he could ever have with Betty and he had to get used to the idea.
“What did you tell Eira when she learned I was here?”
He laughed softly. “I think she figured it out, but I told her you were sleeping because you’d been in Kulusuk. That’s right before she doubled over in excruciating pain. She says it’s her time of the month.”
Betty’s brow furrowed. “Excruciating pain?”
“She says it’s been happening for a day or so. She’s downstairs with a heating pad. Maybe you could take a look?”
“Of course.”
They’d walked down a few steps when Axel heard the sound of someone retching and screaming in agony.
He was downstairs in a flash and found Eira in the fetal position on the floor.
Betty dropped down to face Eira. “Eira, sweetie, talk to me.”
“It hurts,” she cried.
“I know it does, sweetie, but you need to tell me how long this has been going on.”
“A few days. Crampy pain, nausea.”
Betty checked her radial pulse. “It’s weak. Call an ambulance. I think she has adnexal torsion.”
Axel’s stomach twisted. “She’s too young for that. She just started her cycle.”
“It happens during the onset. It’s uncommon, but it does happen and I need to get her to the hospital to do an ultrasound.”
Axel nodded and dialed emergency services.
Betty was trying to keep Eira calm, but Axel could tell that she was just as worried as he was feeling. The ambulance came and he opened the door for the paramedics. It was Stellan and his partner.
“Dr. Sturlusson,” Stellan said and then Axel saw Stellan’s eyes light up when his gaze landed on Betty. “Dr. Jacinth, what seems to be the trouble?”
“Acute, persistent abdominal pain in the lower left quadrant. Accompanied by nausea, a low systolic. I will ride with you in the ambulance. She’s my patient.”
Stellan nodded and Betty stepped back as Stellan and his partner got Eira on a gurney and then got an IV with a bolus of fluids and painkillers started on Betty’s direction.
Betty climbed into the ambulance with Eira.
“I’ll be there shortly,” Axel said as he locked up.
Betty nodded. The ambulance doors shut and then took off. There were neighbors out, including Mrs. Ingborn. The woman had tears in her eyes.
Axel crossed the lane. “It’s probably nothing, but she’s got the best doctors watching her.”
Mrs. Ingborn nodded. “Please keep us posted.”
Axel nodded and then returned to his SUV. He started the car and went as fast as he could to the hospital. The ambulance had already arrived and he entered through the emergency-room doors to find his father pacing and shouting.
His father turned on him.
“Where were you when Eira came in with suspected adnexal torsion?”
Axel pushed past his father and found out what exam room she’d been taken to.
His father followed him.
“How could you not see the signs?” his father shouted.
Axel spun around. “Be quiet!”
“What?”
“You heard me.” Axel left his father standing there sputtering. It felt good to tell him off, even if it wasn’t everything he wanted to say to him, but he didn’t want to deal with his father’s attitude. Not now when Eira was ill.
An adnexal torsion, or twisted ovary, was rare but it was serious. She’d been feeling crampy for days. Hopefully there was no necrotic tissue and if there was a growth in her ovary, which was a cause of a twisted ovary, it was benign.
Eira was only fourteen. She didn’t deserve this.
And he couldn’t help but think of Eira’s mother who had died from an ovarian cancer only four months into a miraculous pregnancy. She’d refused to terminate and thankfully Eira was born safely. Soon after Magdalene had held her daughter for the first time, she had passed. The cancer had spread into her lungs.
Axel paced outside the exam-room doors, the curtains drawn to protect Eira’s privacy as they did an exam.
Betty came out of the room, shutting the door behind her. Her expression was grim.
“It’s adnexal torsion, isn’t it?” Axel asked and he felt as if he might throw up.
“It is,” Betty said grimly. “And there’s a mass, but I won’t know anything until I go in there. You’re her guardian, can you sign the consent forms at the nursing station and I’ll prep her for a laparoscopic surgery?”
Axel nodded. “Of course.”
Betty slipped back into the room.
Axel couldn’t think straight.
He just hoped the tumor was benign. He’d already lost Calder, he couldn’t lose Calder’s daughter too. He’d promised to take care of her.
Axel signed the forms and by the time he’d finished filling out all the paperwork, he was able to go into the exam room to be with Eira until they took her to surgery.
Betty had already left to prep for surgery.
He stood in the door. Tears were stinging his eyes as he stared at the last living connection that he had to his beloved late brother. She was so pale and wincing in pain in her sleep. They had sedated her to help with her anxiety and her pain.