by Rhian Cahill
Gordie took her time. Learned what made him squirm beneath her, what made her gasp above him. There was no frantic rush to reach the top, only a slow, sensual stroll. His hands left her waist, slid up her ribs to cup her breasts. He pinched her nipples between thumb and forefinger and she leaned into the biting touch. Her blood hummed with arousal, rushed to fill tender tissue with molten fire and set her body alight.
Steve used the pressure of his hands to urge her upright and Gordie gasped as his cock slid over new terrain, making her pussy clench and weep. She cupped his hands with hers and together they squeezed her breasts, played with the tips until they were hard knots of need. He tugged his hands from under hers and dragged his fingers over her belly. Her breath caught and her stomach fluttered. Warmth pooled and dripped lower to her sex.
“Don’t stop. Keep playing with your breasts. Show me what brings you pleasure.”
His words sent a shiver of delight through her and Gordie granted his wish. She tweaked her nipples, pulled them away from her body and twisted. A moan slipped from her throat, the sound deep and gravelly as it vibrated in her ears. She jolted as Steve’s finger brushed her clit. The contact sent a dart of fire from the tight bundle of nerves to her core, delivering heat and need.
Her hips rocked, rode his cock in small, sharp thrusts as she concentrated on the wicked swirl of desire skyrocketing inside. Steve continued to ply her clit with skilled fingers. He took her to the edge and backed off only to push her up again. His other hand cupped her ass, his fingers delving between her cheeks to tease the puckered flesh of her anus. She bucked wildly, thrashed back and forth as he pressed harder on the delicate opening.
He touched her in a way no one ever had. Inside and out he knew just what she needed for maximum pleasure. His touch quickened, slowed, sped up again. The varied pace drove her mad. She tried to catch his rhythm but every time she caught on he changed the beat.
“Steve.” Gordie gasped for air. “Please. I need.”
“Then you shall have.” He breached the tight ring of muscle to her back entrance at the same time he applied pressure to her clit and drove his cock up into her. Gordie disintegrated. Stars burst before her eyes as the climax roared through her, dragging every last breath from her lungs and every thought from her mind.
Chapter Four
Gordie woke to sunshine streaming through the skylight above her. Crystal-clear, blue sky without a cloud in sight filled the large, circular glass roof section. Steve stirred next to her and she turned her head to look at him. Dark stubble covered his chin and cheeks, soot-black eyelashes fanned out over his tan skin and the thick slash of his eyebrows curved over his closed eyes.
She wouldn’t call him beautiful, he was too rugged, too large for that. But the very thing that kept him from being handsome made him striking. There was an edge to his attraction, a hard one. Gordie had always found him gorgeous. In high school he’d been the one she wanted to date. All the other girls wanted Brogan or Quinn, even Marcus had pulled his share of clamoring females, but Steve was different.
He dated but not like the others. Rarely did she see him out with a girl more than a few times. In fact she couldn’t remember him ever having a serious girlfriend. She certainly hadn’t seen him date anyone since she’d come home from medical school. It struck her as strange that a man as appealing and manly as Steve wouldn’t date.
“You think too hard, Doc.”
Her gaze darted to his, those deep-brown orbs studying her. “I didn’t know you were awake.”
“I noticed. You wouldn’t have been checking me out so thoroughly if you’d known I was.”
“I wasn’t—”
“Uh-uh.” He pressed a finger to her mouth. “No more hiding, Doc.”
Gordie sighed. “Fine, I was checking you out.” She spoke against his skin, the rough texture catching on her lips as they moved.
“And what did you find that was so distasteful?”
“What? Nothing. Why do you ask that?”
“Your nose was all scrunched up and your lips were puckered as though you’d eaten something sour.”
“Oh.” She tried to think of something to tell him, anything but what she’d actually been thinking.
“Well? And stop trying to come up with a plausible answer.”
“Hey. I wasn’t.”
“Gordie, what were you thinking about?”
She huffed out a breath. “If you really must know, I was thinking how I hadn’t seen you date anyone since I came home and that’s not normal.”
“Ah. So that wonderful mind of yours was about to come up with reasons why you haven’t seen me with anyone.”
“Well, no. I hadn’t gotten that far yet.” She smiled sheepishly. He was right. It would have been the next logical step.
“I’m not sure you’re ready for the answer to that, Gordie.”
“Why?”
Steve brushed his fingers over her temple, pushed a few strands of hair back from her face. “You.”
“Me? I don’t understand.”
“I know you don’t.” He cupped her chin and tilted her mouth toward his for a quick kiss. “Come on. Let’s get going. We’ll round up the troops and get them out of here so we can have this conversation in private.”
“We are in private, why can’t you tell me what you mean now?”
“Because I don’t want to explain myself right now.” Steve rolled over and climbed out of bed.
“What? Just like that, Steve doesn’t want to talk so he gets to stay silent but Gordie can’t have the same privilege?”
“Doc.”
“No. No more hiding goes both ways. I want to know now.”
“Fine.” He stomped around the bed until he towered over her. “You want to know why I don’t date, I’ll tell you. From before you married Anthony I wanted you. No one else. But it scared the shit out of me knowing I’d have to turn you. You were human, Doc, and I wasn’t even out of my teens. I never touched you because I knew if I did I wouldn’t stop and I wasn’t sure either of us could handle that back then.”
He took a deep breath, dragged his fingers through his hair, making it stick up at all angles. “And then it didn’t matter. You were with Anthony.”
Oh God. She hadn’t known. Probably wouldn’t have accepted Anthony’s proposal if she had. “Oh, Steve.”
“No.” He stepped away. “I don’t want your pity.”
“Pity’s the last thing I’m feeling.” She sat up, pulled the covers over her bare breasts. “If I feel anything it’s sadness—guilt. I never would have agreed to marry Anthony and let him turn me if I’d known how you felt.”
Steve stood staring at her, probing with that intense gaze of his. Gordie couldn’t stop the anger bubbling inside her. Not at him, never at Steve. At herself for being selfish enough to accept the offer of a friend when she’d known full well it was a one-sided relationship. She’d used Anthony and he’d let her. They were both to blame for so much, but the majority of shame fell on her.
“He’d still be alive if I hadn’t been so selfish.” She lowered her head. “Hadn’t wanted desperately to be like everyone else.”
“No. If we’re laying down guilt then I’m to blame for not coming to you with how I felt. If I hadn’t been a coward…”
Gordie’s head snapped up and she stared at Steve. “That’s ridiculous.”
“Yes, it is.” He reached for her hand, entwined their fingers. “So is blaming yourself for Anthony’s death. No one could have stopped the accident. And you and I know that even if you hadn’t been married you both would have been going on that trip. The crash would still have happened.”
She heard his words, knew he was right but her heart wouldn’t believe it. Not when she’d spent years living with the heavy weight of guilt over Anthony’s death. Gordie tried to smile, her lips trembling as she made the effort to reassure him. “I know you’re right but it’s hard to accept when I’ve made so many life-altering mistakes.”
Voices coming from the other side of the door drew their attention. Gordie could hear Kat clear as a bell yelling she’d have breakfast on the table in thirty minutes. She smiled. Her sister might be loud, pushy and a pain in the ass, but Gordie loved her to pieces and had from the minute she’d been born.
“Sounds like everyone is up,” Gordie said.
“If they weren’t, they are now. Does Kat have a volume switch?”
Gordie laughed. “Not that we’ve ever found. When she was little, Mom always threatened to gag her if she couldn’t be quiet.”
“Mmm, that might work.” Steve tugged on her hand. “Come on, let’s get showered and dressed. We’ve got a long day ahead of us and the sooner we get started the sooner we’ll get finished.”
“I’ve got nothing to wear.” Gordie let him pull her to her feet but held onto the sheet. She had to let it go when her feet got tangled up. If it wasn’t for Steve’s grip she would have fallen on her face.
“You can borrow something of mine and change when we get to your house. You can pack enough clothes to last until you open the clinic back up in the New Year while we’re there.” He pulled her behind him as he headed for the bathroom. “We’ll worry about moving all your stuff later.”
Gordie stumbled. “My stuff?”
“Yeah, clothes, furniture, any knickknacks you want to keep, that sort of thing.”
“Furniture?”
Steve twisted the tap in the shower and turned to face her. “Doc, did you think you wouldn’t be moving in with me now?”
“Moving in?”
He shook his head. “I’m going to assume you’re still shaken up after yesterday because I know you’re smarter than this, Doc. I want you here, in my house. If you want to wait until your mom and Doctor Monroe can get back to Whispering Springs to get married we can, but that’s the only thing we’re going to wait for.”
“Oh.” They were getting married? The words rolled around her head. They felt comfortable and Gordie felt a fluttering in her belly. Married to Steve. The idea thrilled her. “Okay.”
A sexy smile curled one side of his mouth. “Back to agreeable Doc?”
Gordie couldn’t help it. She grinned. “Oh yeah, definitely agreeable.”
Pushing up onto her toes, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his mouth down to meet hers. The kiss went on and on. By the time they pulled apart, both were breathless and steam filled the space around them. Hot and wet, inside and out, Gordie tried to remember what they were doing.
“Damn, woman. You trying to scramble my brains?” Steve licked his lips and a shiver snaked down her spine.
She laughed. “If I am, I can’t remember why.”
Steve’s arms tightened around her waist and he lifted her against him. He stepped back, maneuvering them both under the shower. Warm water cascaded down, wetting her hair and splashing into her eyes. She shut her eyelids and tilted her head back to let the water flow over her face. The air surrounding them was charged with heat, the steamy enclosure trapping the sexual energy as easily as Steve clasped her body to his.
He lowered her to her feet, her skin sliding along his sent sparks of desire shooting through her. His arms loosened and she turned in his embrace to reach for the soap. Gordie lathered her hands before dropping the bar back in the holder and spinning back to run her soapy fingers all over Steve’s chest. She left no area untouched, took extra care to be sure she cleaned every inch of his broad torso. Her insides swirled with desire, touching his muscular physique ramped up her arousal with each stroke of a finger. She moved on to his shoulders.
The wide expanse reminded her of just how big he was. At six feet six inches, Steve was easily the tallest man she’d ever met. It made her feel small and delicate—feminine. She wasn’t small for woman, a little above average at five feet six, but he was a full foot taller than her and yet they fit together so well. Gordie stretched to rake her hands up and around his neck. He bent forward, giving her better access and she curled her fingertips into his muscles, used gentle pressure to work out the knots.
“Man that feels good.”
“You’re all tense.”
Steve chuckled. “I’m in the shower naked with you. Believe me when I say the tension you’re feeling is the good kind.”
“Oh.” Gordie stood on her toes and ran her fingers over his scalp. Her body brushed against his, her breasts pressed into his chest and her nipples pebbled as his coarse hair abraded them. She shivered.
“Gordie.” Her name was a whispered breath seconds before his head lowered and his mouth took hers.
He thrust his tongue between her lips, probed inside with bold strokes and carnal demands. Heat swirled deep in her belly, her pussy weeping with a demand of its own. She moaned into his mouth, drove her tongue forward to tangle with his. Her fingernails dug into his scalp as she held him to her and took as much as she surrendered.
The kiss was a challenge, a duel. A meshing of mouths designed to bring each of them to their knees. Only it made them stronger. Fueled their desire until the flames threatened to consume them both. His hands cupped her ass, pulled her tighter to him and brought their pelvises together in a lock as old as time. Gordie lifted her legs and wrapped them around his hips. They both moaned when her pussy rubbed against his cock.
He tore his mouth from hers. “Put me inside you,” he growled.
“Yes.” She reached between them as Steve used his grip on her behind to lift her away from his body. Her fingers encircled his length and held him in place as he pulled her back against him. Slick folds opened, welcomed him with grasping contractions as she sank down his length—each ripple firing nerve endings like a match to a fuse. Gordie buried her face in his neck and moaned.
Steve’s grip on her ass tightened and he worked his fingers closer to where his body joined hers, teasing sensitive flesh with skill. He knew just where to touch, when to touch, to drive her crazy. She rocked her hips, tried to get him to move inside her but he continued to tease her while holding her snug against him. Desperate for more, she tangled her fingers in his hair and pulled.
“Move, dammit.”
“No.” His breath puffed in her ear and he nipped at her lobe with his teeth. “Want. To. Last.”
Gordie could hear his teeth grind as he clenched his jaw in an obvious effort for control. But she wanted none of that. She wanted hot and wild. Needed it with razor-sharp edges. With a growl, she sank her teeth into his shoulder. He jerked, his cock sliding over her swollen walls.
“Yes.”
She tugged on his hair, licked at the slope of skin that led from his shoulder to his neck and worked her pelvic floor muscles in a punishing wave of catch and release. His control snapped with the click of his jaw. One breath he was still and the next he was powering in and out of her pussy like a man possessed. Gordie let go of his hair to wrap her arms around his neck and hold on.
Over and over he drove into her. Hard. Fast. She bounced against him with the force of his thrusts, her clit grinding on his body with every lunge. Her pussy clenched with the first of many convulsions as her orgasm roared through her and into him. Gordie’s hips bucked and thrashed as Steve’s name fell from her lips and her name burst from his. They came together in a rush, the ride over before it had barely begun.
Gasping for air, she held on to him as he leaned on the wall behind them and slowly slid to the floor. She straddled his hips, his cock still buried and pulsing inside her. Cold water poured down over them but she didn’t care. Nothing could take away the bliss coursing through her veins.
“Water’s cold. We have to get out before we turn into icicles.” Steve let her go to reach up and switch the shower off. He put his arm back around her and squeezed. “Just need a minute to catch my breath.”
“When you’re done hunting yours, can you chase down mine?” she murmured into his neck.
His chest vibrated with a chuckle, the tremors tickling her nipples and sending tiny shards of pleasure blasting out in all d
irections. A shudder raked through her from head to toes.
“You’re getting cold.”
He surged to his feet, his softened cock slipping from her body as he stood. Her pussy clenched with loss, a hollow ache filling her core where his warmth had been. Steve placed her on her feet and enveloped her in a warm towel. Goose bumps sprang up along her skin as he rubbed her down. The soft terrycloth gently absorbed every last droplet of water. Banging on the bathroom door startled them.
“Come on, you two, breakfast is ready,” Kat yelled.
“We’ll be right out,” Steve answered.
They waited until they heard the bedroom door close behind Kat before venturing out of the bathroom. Steve tossed a clean t-shirt and sweatpants on the bed for her and Gordie quickly pulled them on. The first thing she planned to do when she got to her house was dress in some of her own clothes. She shivered with the thought of what she might find this time when she unlocked her front door.
“Hey.” Steve stepped up behind her, ran his hands from her elbows to her shoulders and back again. “It’ll be fine. I’ll be with you when you go inside so there’s nothing to worry about.”
She knew he would do his best to protect her from any danger, but he couldn’t stop the dread eating at her gut. Her biggest fear was that Dale was right. The game had changed and now no one was safe from Marcus’ madness.
Steve turned Doc to face him. He bent his knees to bring their eyes level. “I promise he won’t hurt you again.”
“You can’t promise that, Steve. We have no idea what he’ll do or when. All we can do is take precautions and be prepared.”
“He won’t hurt you.” Steve’s gut churned. The idea of anything happening to Doc burned in his chest and tasted foul on his tongue. He pulled her close, tucked her head under his chin and breathed her in.
She relaxed and cuddled into him. He knew she was right, he couldn’t promise Marcus wouldn’t hurt her but he’d be damned if he didn’t do everything he could to protect her. He’d start with moving her into his house permanently. After they’d had something to eat and plowed their way to town. Steve hoped their trip to her place was uneventful but he didn’t discount the buzz of his instincts. There was no way he would let her out of his sight until they’d driven back up the mountain and locked the front door behind them.
