An Early Spring

by Ann Lister

  Colby curled against him, waiting for him to catch his breath.

  “I don’t know how you’re able to make me feel like this over and over again,” she said.

  Nick smiled and kissed her forehead. Long moments passed, with each of them silently stroking the other. Colby closed her eyes and snuggled closer to him.

  “I need to get up,” he finally said.

  “What for?”

  “The walkway needs to be shoveled again and I should bring in some more firewood for tonight, too” he said. “With any luck, we’ll be evacuated tomorrow and the guys will need a way to get into the cabin.”

  Colby watched him walk into the bedroom and step into his pants. She pulled the quilt up around her chin. The sting of Nick’s last comment rattled in her head. He thought it would be lucky if they were evacuated tomorrow? Luck to her would mean being able to spend a few more days wrapped in his arms.

  “I’ll be right outside, if you need me,” he said. He slipped on a thermal shirt and walked back into the living room to collect his coat and gloves.

  As soon as Colby heard the door close to the cabin, she rolled onto her side and began to cry. She didn’t want to be evacuated. She wanted to stay in the cabin with Nick and hope for an early Spring to melt all the snow, so she could enjoy the summer months with him. She pushed her face into a cushion to stifle a sob.

  She was crazy about him. Everything about him made her heart beat faster. Somewhere in between the piggy-back ride and making love to him on the couch, she had fallen in love. It was completely unexpected and not something she was looking for, but still it had happened. Meeting Nick Gaffney had changed her life.

  Chapter Five

  Nick and Colby spent their last night at the cabin eating dinner, drinking wine and talking by the fire, before moving to her bed to explore each others body some more. Hours later, she fell asleep curled contentedly against his chest. She felt warm and safe and crazy in love with him. The thought of having to leave tore at her heart.

  In the morning, she woke first and gazed at Nick’s slumbering form beside her. His face was relaxed in a state of serene peace. She was desperate to know his dreams and thoughts, if he had any feelings for her beyond lust. She sensed his feelings for her ran deep, but he had been careful not to reveal too much during their four days together. Now that it was almost time for her to say good-bye, she needed to know what was in his heart. She wasn’t sure why any of it mattered, but it did.

  Colby shifted against him and heard him moan softly, but he didn’t wake. She pressed her nose to his neck and inhaled his scent. If there was ever a moment she would have wanted frozen in time, it would be now, laying entwined in his arms. She could feel the subtle thud of his heart beating beneath his ribs, the heat of his body warming her insides.

  Then, for the first time in days, she saw the sun flickering in through the bedroom curtains and dancing across Nick’s face and chest. Seeing the beams of light filtering into the room meant one thing: the snow had finally stopped. She guessed their evacuation was already in the planning stages and within hours, she’d be forced to say good-bye to him.

  Colby kissed his chest and ran her fingers down the firm expanse of his stomach. She felt Nick responding to her touch, his hands begin to move across her back, his lips kissed her temple.

  “You’re up early,” he said, inhaling deeply as he stretched.

  “So are you,” she said, gently gripping his expanding erection.

  Nick pulled her to him, his lips lightly brushing against her cheek, then he saw the sun lighting her face.

  “Shit!” he said.

  “What?”

  “The sun’s out. Rescue will be coming for us soon,” he said, and jumped from the bed. “I’ll go start the generator. You should probably get up and start packing your things,” he said. He stepped into his pants and zipped them. “I don’t know how much time we’ll have before they get here.”

  Colby covered her face with a pillow and swore loudly. Nick climbed up onto the bed and straddled her. She felt his body compress the mattress around her body, tightening the bed sheets and quilt to her. She removed the pillow and looked up at him, bare chest still exposed, hands on his thighs, and a sly grin on his magnificent face.

  “I don’t want to leave, Nick,” she said. Emotion began to pool in her eyes.

  “I’m not crazy about leaving, either, but its inevitable, right? You have to return to Los Angeles and I have to get back to work.”

  Nick bent forward and rested his weight on top of her, his head settled between her breasts. Her hands went to his hair, stroking and working her fingers through the dark strands, then hugging him tightly.

  He lifted his head, his eyes making contact with hers. There were so many things he wanted to say, but he feared exposing how he really felt would only complicate the situation when it was time for her to leave. The visual he had in his head of seeing her walk away, pained him. He didn’t want her to leave but he had no idea how he could make her want to stay. She hated the cold and she didn’t like snow. What else was there at the resort, except for him, and he wasn’t sure if being with him was enough to make her want to stay.

  He ran his index finger across her eye brow, then cupped her face in his palm. He studied her eyes, so fluid and sincere. Colby was beautiful beyond words, female in every sense, strong-willed and independent and he loved each and every trait. They were barely together four days, two of those days they spent endlessly making love, and he couldn’t imagine not being with her. Falling in love with her was the farthest thing from his mind when they met, but that’s exactly what it felt like now, and losing her was going to hurt.

  “Do you want to take a shower?” he finally asked, swallowing hard around the emotion beginning to build inside him.

  Colby nodded.

  Nick rolled off of her and stood up beside the bed. “I’ll go start the generator,” he said and disappeared from the room.

  He finished with the generator and made one final sweep of the walkway with a shovel leading into the cabin, then made his way into the bathroom and washed up, before starting the coffee maker. When he returned to the bedroom several minutes later, he was holding a mug of fresh black coffee for her. She was standing naked beside the bed neatly folding her clothing and packing it into her suitcase. Her feminine form mesmerized him.

  “Coffee’s ready,” he said.

  “Thank you,” she said, barely giving him a passing glance.

  Nick silently watched her pack. The reality of her leaving was beginning to sink into his brain and he didn’t like it.

  “Could you get the crutches for me, please?” she asked.

  A moment later he returned and set the crutches onto the bed. She sat down on the edge of the mattress and allowed him to unwrap her ankle, then made her way into bathroom and started the shower. While she waited for the water to heat, she went to the sink and brushed her teeth. Her reflection in the mirror above the sink caught her eye. Why did she look and feel so different? she thought, and began to cry. Nothing had changed - she hadn’t changed, or had she?

  She stepped beneath the shower spray and quickly began washing the emotion from her face but it didn’t help. Fresh tears replaced the ones being washed away with the water. She leaned up against the shower stall wall and pressed her forehead to the cool tile, hugging herself tightly. She felt a cold burst of air, as the shower curtain opened and Nick stepped in beside her.

  He saw her emotion and instantly pulled her against him. Her arms eased around his waist and clung tightly.

  “Don’t cry, Colby,” he said. He rubbed at her back, then tipped her head and kissed her mouth. “It’ll be okay.”

  Her hands skimmed through the wetness on his back and slid onto his buttocks. His arousal flared like a lit match being dropped into a bucket of gasoline. His reaction to her touch was instantaneous. Her fingers moved across his hip and settled between his legs.

  “Let me get a condom,” he said.
>
  “I don’t want to wait.”

  She gripped onto his foreskin and managed one stroke, before he lifted her against the tiled wall and penetrated her.

  Colby barely had time to wrap her legs around his hips. Then he held her still, suspended in his arms; his ragged breath heating her lips, his tongue teasing before he fully kissed her. She wiggled for more but he continued to slowly kiss her, his hips not moving; his cock pulsing so very deep inside. Skin to skin, it was beyond bliss.

  He took his time and loved her. Completely. When the shower water turned cold, he took her back to bed and continued to love her beneath the warmth of the bed quilts. It was the sudden ring of his cell phone that finally forced him to stop. He slipped from the bed and ran into the living room to retrieve his phone.

  “Yeah!” Nick called into the receiver.

  “Why aren’t you answering your phone?” Glen asked Nick.

  “What’d you mean? Did you call before this?”

  “Once on the walkie-talkie and I left a message on your cell phone, too.”

  “I was in the shower,” Nick said.

  “For an hour?”

  “It’s too early for you to be busting my balls.”

  “It’s almost noon!”

  “Whatever. What’s going on?”

  “A transport vehicle is on its way to evacuate you,” Glen informed Nick. “I thought you might want a little advanced warning.”

  “How long do I have?”

  “Well, they left base about forty minutes ago, so I’m guessing you can expect to see them within the next few minutes.”

  “Shit!”

  Nick quickly ended the call and ran back into the bedroom. He found his pants and began to dress. “Colby, you need to get dressed. Transport will be here any minute.”

  She saw the tension in his face and understood the seriousness of the situation. She moved from the bed and pulled on a pair of sweat pants, then found a shirt and covered her bare breasts.

  Nick heard a knock at the door and cursed loudly, then walked into the living room. He opened the cabin door and let two of his co-workers inside.

  “Rise and shine, Nicky-boy,” his co-worker, Bill said with a sly smile.

  Nick moved to the couch to lace his boots. “It’s about time you guys got here,” he said.

  “I bet the last four days have been pure hell for you,” the other co-worker, said with sarcasm.

  Nick’s eyes darted toward the bedroom. He could see Colby moving around the bed, collecting the the last of her things.

  “So, what’d you find up here to keep busy?” Bill asked.

  Nick tipped his head at Bill in irritation. “Board games - lots of board games.”

  Bill laughed loudly and playfully punched his partner on the arm. “Do you see any signs of board games around here?” he asked, then directed Sam’s attention to the bra and panties sitting on the back of the couch and the empty bottles of wine on the coffee table.

  Both men nodded knowingly. “The only thing missing are the Mardi Gras beads, Nick.”

  Nick stood up, grabbed the bra and panties from the couch, and disappeared into the bedroom, handing the garments to Colby.

  “We’ll be outside Nick - when you’re ready.” The men laughed in unison.

  Nick turned his attention back to Colby. “Do you need help getting your things together?” he asked.

  “I think I’m done,” she said. She tossed the bra and panties into her suitcase and zipped it.

  “I’ll go load this into the Evac vehicle,” Nick said, reaching for her luggage.

  When he turned to leave the room, Colby touched his forearm and stopped him. “Nick…”

  His eyes met hers, and in that instant, he knew exactly what was flashing through her head - the same thing that was racing through his.

  “What?” he asked, already sensing what she wanted to say, but wondering if she’d be the one to say the words first.

  She touched his face and tried to smile. “I, ah…”

  “Hey, Nick!” Bill called from the front door. “How much longer you gonna be?”

  “I’m sorry, Colby, but we’ve got to go,” Nick said with disappointment.

  “I know,” she nodded.

  “I’ll take your bag out first, then come back for you. Why don’t you take one last look around to see if you forgot anything?”

  Colby slipped on her coat and zipped it. She grabbed her crutches and began slowly making her way around the cabin. She double checked the bathroom, then drifted into the living room. She saw the empty bottles of wine on the coffee table and her eyes began to mist with tears at the memory it evoked. Then Nick stepped through the door.

  “Ready?” Nick asked her.

  “I just need my other boot and that’s it,” she said, and pointed to her boot on the floor beside his feet. He picked it up and walked to her.

  “You can leave the crutches here,” he said. “Triage will give you another pair to take home.”

  “Okay.”

  Nick handed her the boot to hold, then slid his arms beneath her thighs, lifting her against his body. Her fingers gripped onto the back of his neck, sending a quick bolt of heat down his spine. His eyes connected with hers and held briefly before he began moving toward the door.

  He carried her to the transport vehicle and set her carefully onto the backseat, then went back inside the cabin to take a final look around. He made sure the fire was extinguished, double checked he had turned off the generator, then stopped in the doorway of the bedroom. He sighed heavily. Too many memories flickered through his head making it hurt. He turned away and walked through the living room and shut the front door to the cabin for the last time.

  The ride down the mountain was endless, with the Evac vehicle carefully navigating the deep snow, chewing it up with its heavy-duty snow cleats. Nick looked at Colby several times, but her face remained pointing out her window. He saw the tension in her jaw, her hands balled into tight fists in her lap. He could tell she was struggling with everything, as he was, but it didn’t change the fact she was leaving of her own choice. Nick reached across the backseat and squeezed Colby’s thigh, only to have to retract his hand moments later, when his co-workers began making small talk from the front seat.

  Colby kept her eyes focused outside, doing her best to stay in control of the emotions that threatened to spill from her body at a moments notice. She could tell Nick was looking at her but she couldn’t respond. It hurt too much. She felt his hand touch her leg and closed her eyes. It felt like everything was spinning out of control. She wanted it to stop, or at least slow down so she could catch her breath.

  She tried to keep her mind focused on the beauty of the landscape outside her window and away from thoughts of going back to California. The sun hitting the fresh snow was just as Nick had described it to her, looking like millions of sparkling diamonds. It was no wonder he loved this place so intently. The mountain was magical for many reasons and she knew it would hold a special place in her heart forever.

  Colby turned to Nick. Their eyes fused and his hand reached out for hers, lightly squeezing it. The expression on his face was full of sadness.

  “Are you cold?” he asked softly.

  She shook her head and dropped her gaze to their clasped hands.

  Upon their arrival at the triage unit, two male technicians met Colby at the vehicle and carried her inside the building. She was whisked into an examination room, while Nick was tugged in the opposite direction to be debriefed by his supervisor. Almost thirty minutes passed before she saw him again.

  “Hi,” he said, finally appearing in the doorway of the small examination room Colby was sitting in. “Have you seen a doctor yet?” he asked.

  “No.”

  He moved toward her slowly, wrestling with the right words to say to her, when nothing he could think of made any sense. “After the doctor discharges you, you’ll be free to leave,” he said.

  Suddenly, a loud bell began to ring
inside the building, sounding much like a fire alarm, announcing the next emergency. Nick sprang to attention.

  “Gaffney! Brickman! Get your bags - you’re on the mountain!” the supervisor instructed.

  “I’ve gotta go, Colby,” he said. “Listen, I’d like to see you before you head to the airport. I’ll find you when I get back from this rescue. Okay?” he said, trying to force a smile.

  Colby nodded, as new tears ran down her cheeks.

  Nick got as far as the door, when Colby called his name. He turned to face her.

  “Be careful,” she said, wiping at her cheeks.

  “Always.”

  He gave her a quick wave, joined his partner by the exit door, and ran from the building with his medical bag.

  A few minutes later, a doctor breezed into the examination room and introduced himself.

  “Colby Hansen?” a silver-haired man asked. “I’m Dr. Harrison. I understand you hurt your ankle.” He pulled a chair in front of Colby’s knees and eased her sweat pants above the injury.

  Colby watched him examine her shin and ankle.

  “Who worked on your leg?” he asked, carefully peeling off the bandages on her shin.

  “Nick Gaffney,” Colby said. Even saying his name aloud was emotional.

  The doctor raised his eyes to her and smiled. “He’s one of our best,” he said. “And, it looks like he’s done a fine job taping the wounds for you. The middle laceration could have used a few sutures, but the tape is holding the skin together nicely. It should heal just fine,” he said, covering the cuts with fresh bandages.

  “Do you think it will scar?” she asked.

  “It’s too early to tell,” the doctor said. “Can you put any weight on your ankle?”

  “No, not yet.”

  “It looks like a bad sprain, but I’ll send you to x-ray to rule out any hairline fractures. If the x-ray is clear, then you’re free to go home,” he smiled. “I’d suggest staying off the ankle for another 3-4 weeks and leave the tape on the lacerations for another week. Make a follow-up appointment with your own personal physician when you get back home so they can assess your injuries, otherwise, I think you’re doing great.”