Cherish the Dream

by Jodi Thomas

  Katherine planted her arms on either side of his head and laughed for no reason, experiencing joy for the first time in more months than she could remember. “Be quiet, Cody Masters. Every time you open your mouth, I end up mad at you.”

  His hands moved slowly up and down her back as his eyes darkened. “What would you have me do?” His fingers were bold in their movement over her hips and feather light along her spine. He’d waited too long to touch her to hesitate now.

  Katherine answered him with her lips brushing his. “Kiss me. Hold me.” Her mouth moved lightly over his face. “Make me feel alive.”

  Cody whispered a breath away from her mouth, “Only one request at a time.” He rolled her beneath him. The promise in his eyes contradicted his words, for he had every intention of granting all her requests and more. “I’ve lived a great deal since I kissed you last, but I’ve never felt alive.”

  “I know,” Katherine replied, kissing his eyelids.

  “I don’t want to play any games or follow any rule but loving you right now.”

  “Agreed.” Katherine loved the way his day’s growth of beard felt against her lips.

  He kissed her, spreading fire through every part of her body. She loved the feel of him against her, pressing into every curve with his need for her.

  “There’s never been any woman for me but you.” His thoughts seemed to tumble from his lips.

  “I thought I told you to stop talking.” Katherine bit at his bottom lip, wanting to taste him, wanting to memorize every smell and touch so he’d never be fully gone from her mind.

  Cody laughed as he nuzzled her neck, loving the way she moved her head to offer him more soft skin to touch. “Are you ordering me, Head Nurse? You’ve gotten mighty bossy in your old age.” He mumbled as he kissed her. “Fortunately, I’m a man accustomed to following orders.”

  “You missed a spot below my ear,” she answered as she closed her eyes and cherished the feel of his lips sliding along her throat.

  “You’re the most manipulative female I’ve ever met.” He unbuttoned her uniform. “If you’re not trying to hit me, you’re ordering me around. Now you think you can tell me how to make love to you.”

  He reached the button between her breasts. Unbuttoning it slowly, he enjoyed her pleasure when his hand brushed her breasts as he completed his task. Her skin was velvet beneath his touch. He slowly pushed her clothes aside, loving the way she moved slightly as his fingers reached beneath the material to touch her.

  “I’m not leaving until I make love to you.” He spread his hand over her flat stomach. A storm of pleasure was already whirling in his mind, blinding him to all but her. He twisted her hair into one fist and kissed her hard as his fingers spread wide and moved slowly from her throat to below her breasts and back again.

  Gripping the material of her uniform, he jerked the blouse completely open and allowed himself the luxury of staring at her. “Dear God, but you’re beautiful.” He shoved the camisole below her breasts with a haste born of urgent need.

  Katherine watched his eyes darken with pleasure as she arched toward him, loving the fire of his gaze. She wiggled slightly so her white cotton underclothes could slide down to her waist. When his hands touched her once more, they were gentle, worshiping, loving. His fingers felt warm and strong moving over her, branding her with a passion that was only his.

  As he molded her breasts in his hands, he kissed her throat, feeling the pounding of her pulse against his lips. When his hands tightened slightly over their tender treasures, her pulse increased sending passion’s heartbeat all the way to his soul.

  Without another word, he lowered his mouth to her breast and loved the cry of pleasure that escaped her lips before she bit it back with her fist. He laughed against the sweet smell of her skin. His tongue slid over each peak, testing her efforts to stifle her cries of passion. Without his mouth leaving her breasts, he pulled off the rest of her clothes and moved his fingers over perfection. Her body was all he’d dreamed of and more. No other woman would ever feel right in his arms now that he’d touched Katherine. Every curve, every swell, was like a work of art. His mind kept telling him to go slowly, but he had no speed other than full ahead. He’d waited too long for heaven to stand at the gate now.

  When he finally returned to her mouth, she moved freely and mindlessly beneath him. She returned each kiss with as much pleasure as he’d tried to give her. With each touch she learned about passion and gave it back to him with great delight.

  Then, with a sudden impatience he’d grown to love, she shoved at his shirt, ripping the buttons in her haste. Cody straightened away from her and laughed as he removed his own clothes. For the first time in his life, he tossed them aside without a care. Before the last garment hit the floor she was pulling him against her once more, demanding he return her kisses as their bodies curved together. Only now flesh touched flesh, making them both forget to breathe as newly discovered joy whirled them into passion’s raging storm.

  When her soft breasts pressed into the hard wall of his chest, he thought it possible to die from pleasure. He wondered briefly how he’d ever lived without her beside him.

  Though unsure he could stop, he had to force himself to pull back. He looked into her face with desire, her eyes fiery with need. He’d planned to ask if she was sure, but when he looked at her lying against the pillow with her hair wild and her mouth already bruised with passion, he knew there were no questions to ask, only dreams to fulfill.

  She reached up to him, then moved her hands over his body slowly, loving the difference between his skin and hers. “Take me flying, birdman,” she murmured as she pulled him to her.

  Cody’s restraint shattered. Loving her became not a pleasure but a need. Strong and fierce with desire, he tried to think of ways to make her happy, but all he could do was that which was basic to life.

  He kissed her until she moved beneath him like a dancer to a rhythm played only in her mind. When he, could stand the movement no longer, he slowly nudged Her legs apart and joined in the dance.

  As before when he’d kissed her, he swallowed her first cry and continued until she rose once more with passion and met his rhythm with one of her own. He gave himself fully to her, holding nothing back.

  A bomb could have struck the tent and Cody wouldn’t have noticed. He felt all the love he had within him pour into her, and all the love he’d longed for radiated from her to him. The passing was far more than physical, for they became one in a white lightning flash that would forever bind their spirits.

  He collapsed, wanting to whisper words of love and beauty, but all he could do was hold her against his heart and marvel at how the reality of her could be so much more wonderful than his dreams.

  Tears rolled down her face as she cuddled beneath his arm. Ever since she could remember, Katherine had dreamed of being held close to someone who loved her. His passion and need had driven her to the point of madness and back with pleasure. But now, as time passed and his arm never lessened its grip, he satisfied the longings of the child within her. Even when he reached out and switched off the light, she didn’t feel afraid, for his long, powerful body was solid against her, and there was nothing in the darkness that could reach her.

  At some time during the night they both fell asleep with only their love between them.

  When Katherine awoke hours later, dawn had turned the room to smoky gray. Cody sat beside her gently wiping the few drops of blood off her legs. “It won’t hurt next time,” he whispered with so much love that his voice shook slightly.

  “Next time?” Katherine rose up on one elbow. “When is next time?”

  “Whenever you’re ready.” Cody laughed at the way her emerald eyes turned to fire.

  “Now,” she answered.

  Cody leaned slowly down and kissed her shoulder, smiling as she groaned with impatience. “All right,” he whispered against her skin. “Only this time, we’ll take it slow and easy.” He wanted to leave her with wonderful me
mories of loving, not just the memory of fire.

  But Katherine had no such desire. She wanted all the passion they’d had the night before and more. Within a few minutes she was driven wild by his slow touch and once more pushed him into the passionate rhythm of their dance.

  She wanted to touch him and bring him the pleasure he brought her. As her hands moved along the long, lean muscles of his body, she burned his insides with the need in her kiss. She opened herself to him, welcoming him with her body and her heart.

  An hour later, when Cody rested beside her, he decided this redhead would kill him if he stayed another night in her bed. He pulled her to him and tasted her salty skin, damp with perspiration, and decided he didn’t care. He’d lived a lifetime in one night in her arms. What she didn’t know, she tried, and what she tried, she quickly mastered.

  Smiling, he closed his eyes and forced out the sounds of artillery that had started up sometime after dawn. “Go away, world,” he whispered into her hair. “Go away and let me love Katherine forever.”

  Twenty-three

  CODY HELD KATHERINE until he was sure she was asleep again; then he pulled his arm slowly away. He knew they had only a few hours left together, but he couldn’t bring himself to awaken her. Silently he dressed and slipped from her room into the tiny office. A part of him realized it might be better to leave her sleeping. She’d have all the hopes and dreams he’d whispered during their loving to keep her until he returned…if he returned. But Cody decided to get a pot of coffee and some breakfast from the mess tent, then talk to her of the future before he left. He had to be Katherine’s friend now, not just her lover.

  Closely checking his appearance in the tiny mirror, he tried to hide the night of pleasure from his face. He wouldn’t dishonor her by walking out of her tent with satisfaction showing. Their happiness was too private a thing to share with strangers.

  At the door he almost tripped over a tray of food that someone had placed just inside Katherine’s office. As he knelt down, he smelled coffee.

  Cody lifted the tray, a question raising one eyebrow. He knew of only two people who might have guessed they’d need breakfast delivered. One was the doctor who’d smiled like a father about to marry off his last daughter, and the other was the mechanic who’d brought them the basket of food.

  When Cody turned, the sight of Katherine in the doorway to her room took his breath away. She’d pulled on the wrinkled white blouse of her uniform, but she had buttoned only the last button. The blouse hung just below her hips, revealing her long legs to his view. Her hair was a cloud of curls that tumbled below her shoulders in fiery softness. And her eyes, her wonderful emerald eyes, were huge and liquid with tears.

  “I thought you’d gone without saying good-bye,” she said in a voice that would have broken the heart of a statue.

  Cody set the tray on her desk, not caring that coffee sloshed everywhere. Then Katherine was in his arms. He held her so tight the world could have stopped turning and they wouldn’t have noticed.

  “I only went for breakfast.” He couldn’t stop kissing away her tears. “I thought you’d sleep until I got back.”

  Katherine placed her arms around his neck and swallowed her pain. “I know you have to leave soon, but promise me you’ll always say good-bye. I couldn’t take it if I woke up and found you gone.”

  There were so many things he wanted to promise her. A future. A lifetime of loving. A world of happiness. But all he could promise was that he would say good-bye before he left.

  He kissed her long and hard. A kiss that had little to do with passion. “We have to talk,” he finally told her as he held her head close against his heart. “I’ll come back whenever I can, but if I don’t—”

  “No!” Katherine pulled away. “I won’t listen!”

  Cody pulled her hands away from her ears. “Please listen, Kat. You have to.” He knew his words would upset her, but he could not allow her to refuse to face the future.

  “If I don’t come back, I want you to promise you’ll forget about me and go on with your life.” He couldn’t bear the thought of her spending her life as Sarah did, living on memories.

  She tried to break his hold, but she couldn’t.

  “Promise me, Kat!” he ordered.

  She fought his words as her body physically fought his hold on her wrists.

  “Promise me!” he pleaded.

  Fire danced in her eyes, but she stopped fighting and faced him. “If you don’t come back, Cody Masters, I’ll hate you for the rest of my life.”

  Cody laughed with relief. “And if I do come back, will you promise to love me for the rest of your life?” He loved the strength in this woman almost as much as he loved the passion.

  “I’ll let you know when you come back.”

  Cody rattled the tent with his laughter as he lifted her in his arms and carried her back to bed, forgetting all about breakfast.

  * * *

  The day passed in a lovers’ dream as they talked and slept and touched with hearts and hands. Finally, when the shadows were long, Cody knew he had to go.

  They dressed without looking at each other and moved silently out of the tent toward the airfield. Her hand rested on his arm lightly as they walked. She wanted to pull him back and hold him forever, but they both knew that was impossible. Words were unnecessary. They’d said all that needed to be said when they were next to each other in bed. Now was a time to cloak their feelings along with their bodies.

  As they reached the end of the tents, Cody turned to hold her one last time. “I want to leave you here, not at the field,” he said. “Promise me you’ll never watch me take off when I’m flying away from you.”

  Katherine grabbed his scarf, which hung loose around his neck. She wanted to make him promise he’d come back, but she knew that would be foolish. He would come back if he was alive, and if he was not, she didn’t want a false promise to be the last thing said between them. “Take care, my love,” she said as she lightly kissed his cheek.

  As Cody moved away, a stirring between the shadows of the tents caught his eye. He quickly stepped in front of Katherine and reached for his gun.

  “Masters,” a voice, thick with a French accent, whispered. “Masters.”

  “Who’s there?” Cody challenged. His one day of love was over; he had to come back to the real world. A world at war. Cody’s mind cleared of all thought except survival.

  The mechanic moved only far enough out of the shadows for his outline to be recognized. He carried a standard black medical bag of Red Cross supplies. “I need your help, Masters. I found a pilot hurt.” The man’s words, half French and half English, were almost lost in the sound of gunfire from the front. He moved closer, but turned his face so it was hidden in the shadows. “He’s hanging in the trees.” The Frenchman pointed toward a clump of trees well behind the hospital tents.

  “Well, call the ambulance drivers and tell them to get to him as fast as possible.” Cody didn’t try to hide his anger. Why had the man come to him with the problem when a pilot could be dying? “He’ll need a doctor fast. Hurry, there’s no time to waste.”

  The Frenchman hesitated, his tall frame almost shuddering with indecision. “But he’s German,” the man finally said.

  Katherine felt a scream begin at the base of her throat before she stopped its escape from her mouth. She could imagine a wounded German pilot hanging from a tree while French soldiers shot him down. “Dear God, what will they do to him?”

  Cody did not hesitate. “Take us to him,” he said. “We’ve got to get him down before anyone else finds him.” He grabbed Katherine’s hand, and suddenly they were running into the blackness of the trees beyond the camp.

  As they searched, panic mounted within Katherine. What would they do if he was still alive? Turn him over to the army? Kill him? Let him go so he might someday shoot Cody down?

  The woods were dark and confusing, with paths running between the trees in all directions. The brush and low branches
were tangled together in places, making thorny walls across the maze of paths and natural tunnels. Katherine tried to keep up with Cody and at the same time prevent the bushes from ripping her skirts.

  “I’ve found him!” Cody yelled at the Frenchman several feet ahead of him.

  Katherine looked up into the branches that spiderwebbed across the moon. Slowly the outline of a body took shape among the dried branches. It looked as if his plane had crashed almost a quarter mile away, but he’d fallen into the tree.

  “I thought he was dead at first,” the mechanic said in broken English, “but then he moved.” He slapped at his leg with his fist, “I can’t climb with this leg or I’d have gotten him down alone. I had to ask for your help, Captain Masters.”

  Cody nodded his understanding. He removed his jacket and gun belt and began to climb toward the twisted body above him. “You were right to ask me.”

  Katherine held her breath and watched. Once she heard a ripping sound as though a branch had torn Cody’s shirt. Several branches broke under his weight, but he continued to move toward the body hanging like a rag doll in a thorn bush.

  Finally Cody reached the pilot and pulled off his helmet. It was too dark to see where he was wounded, but the moon cast enough light on his face to tell Cody that he was more boy than man.

  The soldier raised his head slightly. Blood from a head wound covered most of his face, but his eyes narrowed in fear. He twisted violently, but there was nowhere for him to go except downward, and the fall would mean death.

  Cody slowly extended his hand to the wounded man.

  The German hesitated. If he reached for Cody’s hand, he would give up the safety of his branch. If he didn’t, he’d die in the fall when he could no longer hold on, or he would be shot at daybreak when the French troops would see him. He raised his hand, and the two pilots locked forearms.

  Slowly the soldier let go with his other hand and the branches twisted around him, setting their captive free. He swung like an acrobat with Cody’s arm his only support.