by Debbie Burns
“Small things bridge it together, I guess. Like the search-and-rescue work I did with Samson while I was in vet school. And the buddies I’ve kept in touch with after walking away from the life. But without heading into that fire, I can’t imagine a way in which I’d have become friends with Yun. I had close to a dozen guys, most of whom I still keep in touch with, that I considered my best friends. A couple are from childhood, but most were buddies at the firehouse. The thing is, in rescue work like that, you tend to move through an unbelievable amount of tragedy every day nearly unscathed. There’s just no end to it, and not just the fires. It’s the car wrecks and heart attacks and freak accidents. The list goes on. Before you know it, you feel like you’re wearing this coat of impermeable armor. At least you think you are. Then the world shifts, and you realize you never really had it at all.”
Olivia’s eyebrows knit together as she listened. “I can see that.”
“After the fire, after Claire broke off the engagement, I pretty much lost interest in connecting with people. As far as I was concerned, the world could go to hell. All I needed was Samson. I even pulled away from my family for a while. I didn’t drop them entirely, but it wasn’t the same. Not for a while.”
Olivia placed a hand over his and gave it a light squeeze. “It was the same way with my sister when she left home so young. For a while it was like she cut all ties, except with me maybe, but even with us, when we talked, she just wouldn’t open up anymore.” She shrugged. “I guess she opened up again so gradually I didn’t realize she was doing it.”
“Yeah, it was like that for me, too, with my brother. The thing is, if I hadn’t been through all that, I never would have become friends with Yun. She’s organized to the point of being maddening sometimes, but—I don’t know—somehow I recognized she’s that way to stave off vulnerability. Me, I shut people out. She gets meticulously organized. And I’m telling you this because earlier tonight you didn’t seem to care that my closest friend at this stage of my life is a woman, and I appreciate that.” He flipped his hand over, locking her fingers in his. “But I also want to lay all the cards on the table and make sure you don’t have any questions or concerns about it.”
Olivia’s top teeth dug into the side of her lower lip, and she sat up a little straighter. “No questions really. I mean, I hope that if there was anything unresolved between you, you’d tell me. You don’t seem like the type to play games that way.”
“Thank you, and I’m not. There’s nothing unresolved because there’s never been anything like that between us. When I met her, she was dating this guy her mom was crazy about. I guess Yun’s mom is a lot like her, because she’d all but planned out their life for them. The way Yun tells it, her mom’s pretty much been planning out her life since she was a kid. It just took Yun awhile to realize it. Which is why tonight when she said she was ready to try something new, it meant something.”
He traced his thumb along the soft skin of Olivia’s hand and underneath her wrist. “But regardless, I can’t remember ever seeing her as anything but a friend. By the time she broke it off with that guy, she was more like a kid sister who was a hundred times smarter than me than anything else. And that wasn’t an exaggeration earlier; I really do credit her with helping me get through vet school. I did pretty good in undergrad just winging it, but somehow I never acquired study skills.”
Olivia smiled and let out a little huff. “I suspect you’re being hard on yourself, but it’s awesome you have a friend like that. And thank you for telling me about her so openly. There are no worries here.”
“That’s what I was hoping to hear.”
“What you shared—it brought some stuff up.” She sipped her wine and gave a little shrug of her shoulders as she set the glass down. “I’ve known for a while now I paid a price in getting so tightly locked into a relationship as young as I did. I had friends, of course. But there was always somebody else in the picture who took precedence over them. Not that I blame him. I blame me. But whatever the case, the last six months I’ve enjoyed just answering to myself and—this might sound a bit lame—figuring out what it really means to be Olivia Graham.”
“That’s not lame. Trust me. I went through that while deciding to enter vet school. In my family, college was pretty much for other people. Everyone calls my dad ‘Doc’ because of everything he knows about cars, but he’s entirely self-taught. I took a lot of jabs from all of them when I decided to go for it and applied. I think I’m the only one on either side of the family to have gone further in school than a bachelor’s, and honestly there are only a couple of us who’ve earned those. It took trusting myself and shutting down a lot of voices inside shouting that I was a Wentworth and wasn’t going to cut it.”
“How are they now?” Olivia twisted in her chair and slid her hand up the length of his forearm. Her touch was tender and affectionate but still warmed Gabe’s blood.
“The voices or my family?” he winked.
“Your family,” Olivia said, laughing. “I’m hoping those voices got quiet when you did it.”
He smiled. “Quieter anyway. And my family’s good. I’m ‘Doc Junior’ now to all my cousins, but since most of them are bringing their pets to me now, I’m okay with that.”
“Good for you.”
Gabe swallowed the last of his wine as the server approached, offering a polite reminder that the kitchen would soon be shutting down for the evening.
“You in the mood for anything else?” he asked as the server pulled out her order pad.
Olivia gave an emphatic shake of her head. “I couldn’t eat another bite. I honestly could’ve gone without this, even as good as it was.”
When Gabe asked for the bill, Olivia fished through her purse and pulled out a card. “This one’s on me, remember?”
He fought back the urge to debate her. “So long as you let me get it next time.”
“Deal.”
Looking relieved when ownership of the bill didn’t escalate any further, the server took off with Olivia’s card.
“I’m just glad we’re both in agreement about there being a next time,” Olivia added once they were alone, a smile tugging at her lips.
Gabe gave in to the desire and let his fingers trail down the length of her hair. Her eyes blinked closed a second and she suppressed a shiver, but from the way she leaned in just a touch closer, he was confident what it meant. “If you want the truth, I’m hoping there are enough ‘next times’ that we lose count.”
“I’d like that.” Her gaze dropped to his mouth, and he could just make out her clearing her throat.
Suddenly, the server couldn’t return quickly enough for Gabe. The light but steady evening breeze that had caused Olivia to slip into a cardigan hadn’t relented, but he would swear the temperature had swelled twenty degrees.
“I, uh, know it’s dark, but I thought it might be fun to walk by the lake.” He pointed toward the trees lining the western edge. “There’s a trail running along it over there.”
She craned in her seat to see where he was pointing. “Sure. I’d love to.” She excused herself to the restroom and wove around the now-half-empty tables, headed to the main door of the restaurant. By the time she came back out, the server had returned with her credit card slip.
“How about I get the tip?”
Olivia looked up from signing to give him a wink of her own, causing an internal reaction that snaked all the way down into his groin. “Next time.”
He wasn’t about to argue with that. She flipped the receipt book shut and added, “Ready if you are.”
You’ve no idea how ready I am. Gabe locked his hand against the small of her back as they headed out, the soft, flowery scent of her perfume blending with the smells wafting from the kitchen and off the lake. He’d been in hermit mode for so long, he wondered if there was a chance the time of year had anything to do with why he was suddenly so ver
y ready. He knew from experience that even spayed and neutered domestic animals tended to be friskier in spring. That’s it; tell her you can hardly hold back because your internal clock’s ticking, even though you promised there’d be no pressure tonight.
She fell into stride beside him as they took off around the building, the top of her shoulder finding that spot against his lower deltoids again. There was hardly a cloud in the sky, and stars and a few planets shone brightly enough in this darker section of the park. The moon was three-quarters full and bright enough to light the ground when it wasn’t blocked by the towering oaks. Off to their left, moonlight danced across the water, and the soft lap of the waves was just visible. Ahead in the grass, a small group of people sat in the dark at a picnic table, filling the night with their laughter.
“Considering your first-aid training and how prepared you were to walk into that flood, am I right to assume there’s no need to wonder about the safety factor of heading away from the crowds in a public park at night?”
Gabe chuckled. “I wouldn’t say that goes for any park or even all sections of this park, but this area’s pretty well traversed. And it’s not that late yet.”
After a second, Olivia gave a little nod. “I’m good with that answer.” She slipped her arm underneath his and locked her hand around his waist just above his jeans, her thumb tracing his side just over his shirt.
They walked in silence along the trail for a few minutes before she spoke again. “Is it too forward to tell you that I love the way you feel against me?”
“Ahh, no, definitely not.”
She laughed softly and tucked her head against his shoulder. “Good, because I do. And it’s not just that you’re tall and fit and—you know, that sort of stuff. I just feel like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be when I’m close to you.”
If she could’ve said anything else to hit home like that, Gabe wasn’t sure what it could be.
As far as he could see ahead and behind, they were alone on the trail. Gabe stopped walking and turned to face her, brushing the tips of her knuckles across his lips. “It’s that way for me, too, Olivia. I don’t know how or why, but the first time I saw you, something about you felt so right. I guess that’s why everything rose up in me to declare it was otherwise—so much so, I almost panicked and left you stranded at that garage with that asshole.”
“You’re forgiven for that. Almost.” She traced her thumb along his lower lip, then with her other hand, she pressed the flat of her palm against his abdomen smack-dab between the button of his jeans and his belly button.
An inferno of heat raced up and down his abs, and his cock struggled to salute against the fabric of his jeans. Stay cool, man. “Almost?”
“Yeah, almost. But if you spend a few minutes kissing me, I bet it would morph into full forgiveness.”
“I’d be good with that, but fair warning, there’s something else on the verge of morphing here too.” He pressed her back against the base of a thick tree a few feet off the trail. Her purse thumped against his side as she locked her arms around his neck. Rather than holding back, this time he let himself be free, drawing her tightly in toward him and opening his mouth fully to hers. She met him with the same eagerness, their tongues and hands as ready to join in the dance as their bodies.
Her sweater was open, and he tugged down the shoulder of the silky shirt she had on underneath until it was halfway down her arm and one half of her satiny bra shone in the night, perky and taut from the beautiful swell of the breast underneath it.
He swallowed hard. It was going to be all he could do not to explode right here on this path.
Confident he was blocking her from the view of any chance passersby, he slipped the cup of her bra down, freeing her breast. “Dear God, you’re beautiful.” He wanted to take his time, to savor the way she looked in the moonlight, but his hands and mouth proved more eager than his eyes.
Her fingers dug into his hair at the back of his head, and he felt the heat of her breath against his ear. He was still savoring the sweet taste of her when he heard the roll of soft laughter up ahead on the path. Covering her with one side of her sweater, he pulled her around to the other side of the tree facing out to the lake.
As soon as he had her pressed against it again, she moved her sweater to the side and arched her back. He had just enough time to appreciate the glow of the moon against the bare skin of her breast before she locked her hands on the sides of his head and drew him toward it.
“Full disclosure,” she whispered in his ear, “I think I’m still a little tipsy because a part of me doesn’t even care who might see.”
It had been so long that a part of him was impossibly close to exploding, but her words sent a wave of warning over him. He rose back up and closed his hands at the sides of her head. After brushing his lips against her forehead, he said, “I don’t want this to be something you might regret later.”
She tugged up his shirt and locked her hands over his bare waist. She looked him in the eye without fear or embarrassment. “I said tipsy, not drunk. I’m in full control—sort of. When you kiss me like that, I kind of lose my senses. At least all of them but the feeling ones.”
He dropped his hands to her hips and brushed his lips over hers. “If you’re sure, absolutely sure, we could go back to my place.”
“Ah, it wasn’t going to be, but that’s a yes. A hard yes. Only can we stay here a few more minutes? Because this—out here, with you—just happens to be the most beautiful thing that’s ever happened to me, and I want to savor it a little longer.”
Her words struck a chord, reverberating through him. He nodded and looked up and down the path, confirming that the couple had passed by and were on their way back to the Boathouse. “We can savor it as long as you want.”
Until now, it hadn’t occurred to him that one of the advantages of all those hours and hours of practice with his hands the last several years, learning to use them with delicate precision performing countless incisions and sutures, could be making them useful in an entirely different way.
With a few deft movements, he unbuttoned her jeans and slid down her zipper, his eyes still locked on hers. He opened his hand and spread his fingers wide, placing the flat of his palm against her low abdomen as she’d done with him, only he was against her flesh.
Her jaw fell open, and she let out a half-stifled gasp.
“Still okay?”
She nodded and closed her eyes as he stepped closer and moved his hand lower, cupping her, savoring her mound and her heat. He’d never wanted to lose himself in anyone more than he did her. Right now. Only this wasn’t the time or place for what he really wanted to do. He raised his free hand and dug his fingers into the bark of the tree to keep from losing himself. Her breath against his ear was almost enough to drive him over the top.
He moved his fingers back and forth inside her, let them dance in a slow circle, searching for the rhythm that most moved her. He could tell when he found it by the way her body arched and her hands locked over the back of his neck.
“Oh God.” The words came out against his ear as a soft, stifled whisper, too quiet for anyone walking on the path to overhear.
He gripped the tree over her head hard enough that a hunk of bark disintegrated in his fingers, but they were both too lost in the rhythm to care about the tiny pieces that rained down.
“That a girl,” he whispered when her climax rocked through her hard enough that she buried her face against him, stifling a cry into his chest. He kept on, making sure she could fully ride it out, till she pulled away, a few tears streaming down her face.
Finally, she clamped a hand over her mouth, stifling a laugh. “I can’t believe that just happened.”
Releasing his grip on the tree, he brushed his thumb over her cheek, drying those tears. “Yeah, well, for the record, being here with you is the most remarkable thing that’s eve
r happened to me too. And if I know nothing else, it’s that I’ll never forget it.”
Chapter 20
The wine buzz had waned by the time they were back at Gabe’s apartment, leaving Olivia a bit in shock over what had just happened. They hadn’t exactly reached the level of closeness where she could explain how out of character it was to lose herself like that. With Trevor, climaxing hadn’t been an impossible task, but it had never happened even close to so easily.
Just the thought of Gabe’s easy, understated confidence warmed her blood as she ascended the wooden steps leading to his top-floor apartment. It wasn’t just what he’d proven he could do with his hands; it was what he’d said afterward about how affected he’d been too.
Her mind kept trying to downplay it, but her heart told her this was the real thing. Realer than anything she’d experienced before. How was it that exactly this time last week, she’d had no idea Gabe Wentworth even existed? And now, thoughts of him filled her chest like a giant hot-air balloon, threatening to sweep her away on winds she had no idea how to navigate.
He was sexy and kind and caring, and if there was any doubt about his character, it had been washed away by how he was with Samson and with Yun. And she wanted him. Olivia’s thoughts flashed back to the park. Along with a fresh wash of desire, insecurity swept in. He’d grown up in the city and had a blossoming career and a life that was chock-full of friends and family. She grew up in the sticks and didn’t even have confidence in her ability to keep employment here in the city. What if she gave her heart to him and nothing worked out?
Oblivious to her thoughts, Gabe unlocked the door to his apartment and swung it open. Samson was waiting there, wagging his tail so hard his whole body rode along with it in a dance.
