Without hesitation, he circled her waist with his big, warm hands and pulled her into his lap until they were breast to chest. Until her cheek was smashed up against his warm, rough beard stubble. Until she couldn’t tell which heartbeat was her own.
“It’s been a helluva day, huh?” His scratchy voice whispered in her ear.
“One for the record books,” she agreed, unable to hold back a little sob.
She’d experienced the joy of falling in love and the sorrow of having her heart broken all in the span of a few hours. Not to mention the horrors of the storm, the hostage-taking, the gunplay, and the death.
She was half tempted to run into the storm and let it sweep her up and carry her away like Dorothy. But if she did that, she would no longer be safe in the circle of Doc’s arms. And despite how much it hurt to hold him and know the end to holding him was somewhere on her horizon, the thought of letting go of him now was unthinkable.
She would soak it up. Soakhimup. And on those lonely nights to come, she’d take out the memory of this moment and revel in it.
When the thought had another little peep of sorrow slipping from her lips, he pulled back so he could see her face.
“Oh, sweetheart.” He brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “That sound breaks my damn heart.”
“I’ll be okay.” She blew out a shaky breath, glad he thought her sorrow was due to the terrors of the day. “I’m just feeling a little fragile.”
“Come here, then.” He pulled her into another hug. “Let me hold you together and keep you from breaking.”
For a long while that’s what he did. That’sallhe did.
He didn’t try to kiss her. Didn’t let his hand, which was running up and down her back in a soothing path, roam too low to stroke her ass or stray too wide to graze the outer curve of her breast. He didn’t try to rub himself against her. He just…lent her his strength.
The gentleness of the act, theselflessnessof it, hadherwanting more. More of his strong arms. More of his warm skin. More of his rusty voice whispering in her ear.
More ofhim.Allof him.
If I kiss him now, I know what’ll happen. We’ll become lovers. Lovers and that’s it,she admitted sadly.
And yet, what was the alternative? Tonotkiss him? Tonotmake him her lover? What would that get her?
She’d still be in love with him. She’d stillwanthim. The only thing she’d accomplish would be to deny herself the opportunity to know what it was to bewith the man who’d charmed her mind, lit a fire inside her body, and stolen her heart.
So for a few hours I’ll pretend this Dalton ismyDalton. And on all those lonely nights to come, I’ll have that memory too.
Chapter 20
9:13 PM...
Doc stilled when he felt Cami’s warm mouth press over the pulse-point in his neck.
Ever since he’d pulled her onto his lap—and even though touching her made him yearn in ways he’d never known before—he’d done his best to keep his caresses sensitive and not sexual. Comforting and not claiming.
But when her hot breath licked over his throat, andespeciallywhen her wicked tongue flicked out to taste, he could no more control the groan that rumbled up from deep inside his chest or the erection that throbbed to instant, steely life inside his shorts, than he could control the ferocity of Julia’s winds.
“Cami.” Her name filled his mouth and he gorged himself on the feel of it rumbling across his vocal cords and sliding across his tongue.
Before he even made the conscious decision to do so, he’d hooked a finger under her chin and lifted her head to claim her sumptuous mouth.
Her return kiss wasn’t tender. It wasn’t tentative. It was fierce and ravenous and so deep he wasn’t sure whose air he was breathing.
It was the kiss of two people who were starved for one another. Who wanted to eat each other alive. Who’d held back for as long as they could and who couldn’t hold back a second longer.
They’d come together, wounded and weary from the day, to offer each other a port in the storm. And now, suddenly, theywerethe storm.
Lust flew through his veins with the force of hurricane winds. Desire swirled low in his gut like a frenzied whirlpool. And the hunger that flashed through his brain was as snarled as a bolt of lightning.
She invaded his mouth. He ravished hers. Her hands were everywhere, his arms, his shoulders, tunneled into his hair. His cradled the mesmerizing flare of her hips, memorized the delicate line of her backbone, pulled her hair down from its confines atop her head to twist the dark strands around his fists so he could control the tilt of her head, the pressure of her greedy mouth.
