In the Midnight Hour

by Deborah Cooke

“So, you start over to do it right. That’s exactly what I mean. It’s a good metaphor.”

  His praise made Haley feel like a good student. “But what about sharing your energy?”

  “When you find a knot,” Damon’s hands unerringly returned to the tightness at the base of her spine. “It might mean that the chakra is stuck or moving very slowly. You want to help the patient move beyond that challenge and you can nudge the chakra with your own energy to do that.”

  “I thought I read that practitioners were supposed to open the patient to the energy of the earth but protect their own.”

  “That’s one school of thought. This is mine.” His hands bracketed her waist, his thumbs working circles against her skin. She felt him leaning over her, putting more weight into his movement. Haley closed her eyes as the heat of his touch flowed through her.

  The effect, though, seemed to be on the lower chakra. She hadn’t been so aroused in years.

  “Where did you learn it?”

  “From my dad. The Marco Perez school of massage therapy.”

  Haley smiled. “Where did he learn?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe he invented it.”

  “Did he really have a school?”

  Damon laughed. “No. My mom was a ballet dancer. She always had aches and pains. He was a carpenter. He liked fixing things.”

  Haley closed her eyes, liking the explanation and what it told her about his parents’ relationship. He didn’t say more and she didn’t ask, just enjoyed.

  “This is called kneading,” Damon said as his hands lifted, squeezed and rolled one side of her waist in steady circles.

  “That feels awesome.”

  “It loosens the muscle at a deeper level, making it more flexible and supple.”

  Haley felt about as supple as a wet burlap bag. She couldn’t remember that area not aching, but it felt a thousand times better. He eventually moved to the other side, lavishing attention upon her.

  That was all new. Haley had never felt so pampered.

  She really hoped Damon didn’t stop anytime soon.

  One of his hands kept making circles and applying pressure, while the fingertips of his other hand pressed hard against the spot to one side of her spine. She felt them vibrate, buzzing against the muscle. The resonance seemed to go right through her, shaking the tension loose. “There are several percussion strokes,” he said. “Never use any of them against the bone. This is vibration. You’re liberating the tension, then smoothing it away with your other hand.”

  “Yes,” Haley said, exhaling the word.

  “There’s also cupping and hacking, which have similar effects.”

  “Yes.” Haley hoped he’d use them all. Slowly. Repeatedly.

  “I can pour my energy into you by making a connection with you,” he said, his voice low and soft. “That was my dad’s secret to healing with touch.”

  “What kind of connection?”

  “An emotional one.”

  Haley blinked. “What do you mean?”

  “Talk to me,” he invited. “Tell me something about Nurse Haley Slater.”

  She stiffened despite herself. “There’s not much to tell.”

  “Bull,” Damon said. “I can feel how you’re tensing up just because I asked. So, you’re a private person.” The pressure of his hands increased, working out the tension. “Tell me about knitting, then. What do you knit?”

  “Baby sets.”

  “Should I know what that means?”

  She smiled, liking how low his voice was, how he drawled the question, how easily she could imagine the gleam of interest in his dark eyes and the corner of his mouth almost lifting in a smile. “Caps and booties and little mittens. Matching sets.”

  “You have children?”

  “No. Nieces and a nephew, but they’re too big for that.”

  “Why knit baby sets then?”

  “I knit for the neo-natal ward, for the preemies. It’s hard to keep them warm because they’re so tiny.”

  “So, you knit for strangers.”

  “Babies don’t have many social connections,” she said and he chuckled.

  “I guess not beyond their parents.”

  “Who are usually pretty busy when they have a baby in that ward.”

  “Too busy to knit.”

  “Exactly.”

  “That sounds like a nice thing to do.” There was approval in his tone, a warmth that Haley liked a lot.

  “It’s useful. It helps. I like that.”

  “Because you like to take care of people.”

  She felt herself blushing again.

  He bent over her, his whisper so close that his lips must have been almost against her shoulder. “It’s how you share your energy,” he murmured. “I knew you understood how.”

  “But I don’t...”

  “Aren’t you tired at the end of your shift?”

  “Yes, but...”

  “It’s not just physical. When you take care of others, you give them some of your own energy.” His voice dropped lower. “The world needs people like you, Haley Slater.”

  Haley did shiver with delight then. “You take care of your mom.”

  “True, but she’s the only one. It sounds like you try to take care of everyone.”

  “Not exactly.”

  “Who takes care of you?”

  Haley opened her mouth and closed it again. “I take care of myself.”

  “Of course.” His tone was soothing but she guessed he wasn’t convinced.

  “Who takes care of you?” she countered and he laughed again.

  “Touché. Tell me about the nieces and nephew.”

  “I have two brothers,” Haley admitted. It was ridiculously easy to talk to Damon. The words just flowed, without her thinking about it at all. It was almost a relief to confide in someone, even though she wasn’t admitting anything that was a secret. “The older one’s a firefighter and the younger just finished med school. The older one’s married with three kids.”

  “And the doctor?”

  “Not married. He signed up for a stint doing relief work with Doctors Without Borders.”

  “Is he in the picture on your fridge?”

  Haley nodded, a bit startled that he’d noticed. “That’s him and his group when they arrived last month.”

  “In Afghanistan.”

  “Yes.” There was no question in his voice. How had he guessed that? It wasn’t written on the picture...

  Haley thought then of how Damon stood. Straight and tall, maybe not just because it was good posture. No. He stood at attention without realizing he did it. A habit, and one she almost hadn’t noticed because men like him were familiar to her.

  The silence invited her to continue and she did. “And I have a sister. She’s a paramedic. Not married but she lives with her boyfriend.”

  “Parents?”

  “My mom’s a nurse. ER.”

  “Sounds like a family devoted to service.”

  “Because of my dad. He used to say that giving back was his religion.” Her throat tightened and she realized just how long it had been since she’d mentioned her dad to anyone. She thought about him all the time. She felt his presence beside her often, but she didn’t talk about him.

  “He’s gone?” Damon invited when she didn’t continue.

  “Yes. He was a firefighter.” Haley took a breath, knowing she should stop but taking a chance all the same. “First responder.”

  Damon let that linger in the air for a few minutes, his hands returned to that chakra at her lower back. When he pressed the flat of his hand against it, Haley wanted more, far more, than just this massage. “He died in the line of duty then.”

  “Yes.” Haley found herself nodding. “You might remember the day,” she added, wondering at her impulse. She was never this chatty but something about Damon invited her trust. Maybe his massage was at root. She swallowed. “September 11.”

  “2001,” Damon said quietly and his hands paused for a mo
ment before he resumed. His voice was husky when he spoke again. “I remember.”

  The apartment seemed to fill with understanding and a kind of communion that had become unfamiliar to Haley. Her apartment felt golden and warm to her, not practical like it usually did. A haven, not just a place to sleep.

  Because of Damon and his touch.

  She knew then that she had to convince him to stay. He would finish the massage and, if she didn’t act, he’d just leave. Maybe forever. She knew she couldn’t bear that, not after this.

  She wanted more, and she wanted it enough to ask for it.

  “You were here in the city, too?” Haley asked.

  “Just about a mile away, at my mom’s house.” His hands continued their seductive moves. “You must have grown up in New York, then.”

  “Mostly. I was a teenager when my dad died. My mom never liked the city so she took us all back to Illinois.”

  “And your big brother still became a firefighter.”

  Haley smiled. “Yes.”

  “I guess the inspiration was stronger than the warning.”

  “You could say that. Or you could say that the acorn never falls far from the tree.”

  “Your dad would have?”

  “Yes.”

  Damon’s hands worked over her with much less pressure, back to the lightest level of stroking, and Haley knew it was now or never. When his hands were just above her waist, she abruptly rolled over to her back. Damon froze, but his right hand still ended up cupping her left breast. The nipple tightened, right on cue, and his gaze flicked to it, then back to her mouth and to her eyes.

  He didn’t seem to know what to do.

  She knew he would err on the side of being a gentleman.

  That was the last thing Haley wanted. She reached for him, sliding her hands up his arms to his shoulders, savoring the hard strength of him.

  That was apparently all the invitation he needed. He bent and captured her lips with his, even making a little groan of satisfaction when his mouth locked over hers.

  Chapter Three

  Damon had been determined to resist temptation, but when Haley reached for him, he was lost. Her expression was sultry, her skin glowing and warm, her lips parted and her hair loose—and her breast was in his hand. He was only human. The way her nipple tightened before his eyes sent a jolt through him. There was no way he could have refused the kiss she offered.

  Her lips were soft and firm, her fingers locked around his nape, holding him closer. He could have drowned in the sweetness of that kiss. His arms were full of her curves and there was way too much denim in the way. He stretched out over her, pinning her to the carpet and loving how she moved beneath him, as if she couldn’t get enough contact between them. He felt her wriggle and realized she was getting out of her clothes, then he caught the scent of her arousal.

  Warm, wet, and inviting. It nearly finished him. Her hands were on his jeans then, working at the fastening and he broke their kiss while he still could.

  “Haley,” he whispered, his voice hoarse. “If you want to stop, now’s the time.”

  “I don’t want to stop,” she said fiercely. “I want all of you and I want you now.”

  It was the last thing he would have expected her to say and it set him on fire. Damon kicked off his jeans and ran his hands over her smooth curves. He kissed the nipple that had seduced him, then suckled it, liking how she arched her back and moaned a little.

  “They’re kind of big,” she said, referring to her breasts as if she’d apologize for them.

  “They’re perfect,” he replied between kisses, meaning every word. “Lush. More than a handful.”

  “Oh! I thought you’d like fit women.”

  “You are fit,” he replied, stoking her length and feeling the muscles beneath her curves. “But a woman, too.” His fingers eased between her thighs and the slick heat he found there made his heart pound in anticipation.

  “The couch makes a bed,” she gasped, but Damon didn’t care.

  “Screw the bed,” he growled, not wanting to wait, not sure he could. “The floor is fine.”

  She started to laugh, but his fingers moved against her, sliding over the labia until he found the hard bud of her clitoris. She gasped aloud when he caressed it, seizing him with both hands, her nails digging into his shoulders. She rocked her hips when he slid two fingers inside her, rubbing herself against his hand in ecstasy.

  Damon knew he’d never seen anything as hot as her raw need.

  He wanted to be the lover she never forgot.

  He braced his weight on his elbow, enjoying the sight of her pleasure as he teased her. She blushed like no one he’d ever known before, the rosy heat starting on her cheeks and spreading over her breasts, like a wildfire beneath her skin. She looked like a different woman than he’d met at the hospital, a much more impulsive and sensual one, and he was honored to see this side of her.

  She whispered his name and bucked her hips, as if to encourage him to hurry.

  “Slowly,” he reminded her as he eased another finger inside her. Her lips parted in a gasp and she arched her back. “Very slowly.”

  “You’ll kill me.”

  “Probably not, and even if I do, it’s only fair.”

  “Fair?” She had that adorable look of confusion again.

  “You’ve been driving me wild since I got here.”

  She blushed more deeply, her eyes sparkling with delight, then Damon eased down her length. He flattened his hands against her thighs and bent to close his mouth over her. Haley moaned and shivered, but he didn’t let her go. He held her down and ate her leisurely, taking all the time in the world to slide his tongue slowly over her, to trace little circles on her clitoris, to graze that taut bud with his teeth until she gasped and shuddered. He coaxed the heat within her to build, then backed off, starting again and again.

  It wasn’t unlike massage, a very intimate style of effleurage that stroked and soothed and stimulated at the same time. He didn’t rush and he felt her responding to his touch vehemently as if she’d never been pleasured like this before.

  Maybe she hadn’t.

  Maybe he was the first to go down on her.

  That only fed Damon’s determination to make it special. Her entire body grew taut and all he could smell was her arousal mixed with the scent of the lotion. She was writhing beneath him, on the very cusp of orgasm for what seemed like a thousand years.

  “I can’t make a sound,” she whispered in desperation. “My neighbors! The walls are thin and they can’t know...”

  Damon moved quickly, knowing this was holding her back. He locked one hand over her mouth and leaned over her, pinning her down as he pinched her clitoris with his other hand. She screamed suddenly, the sound muffled by his hand, and shook from head to toe with the force of her release. She shivered as he drew her close and she clung to him.

  “All of you,” she whispered against his chest. “Now!”

  She curled beneath him and licked his nipple, making it tighten just the way hers had done. She reached down and closed her hand around his erection, caressing him, and her touch nearly sent him to the moon. Somehow he managed to reach back for his jeans and get the condom from his wallet. Haley took the package out of his hands and opened it, smoothing the condom over him with sure strokes. Her fingertips made little circles against his skin, and her eyes glowed with mischief when she glanced up at him. “Next time, I’ll do the mouthwork.”

  The suggestion was enough to make Damon’s heart thunder. She was efficient about taking him inside her and he was glad of that. He’d linger over it the next time. She was hot and tight and slick, urging him all the way inside her before she suddenly rolled him to his back. She was astride him, riding him, her hair wild and her smile radiant. There couldn’t have been a better view in all the world.

  How had he ever thought she was prim? Restrained? One who stood back and watched?

  Damon seized Haley’s waist as she started to move, th
en put his hand beneath her. With every stroke, she collided with his fingertip and he moved so that the impact had maximum effect. She was blushing again, the red rising from her breasts this time, her nipples taut and her breasts bouncing slightly. Damon lifted his hips, filling her completely, knowing he wouldn’t last long.

  “I’ll suck you dry next time,” she whispered.

  “I’ll have you against the wall next time,” he promised. To have her talking dirty to him was incredibly exciting.

  “I’ll let you be on top next time.”

  “I’ll take you from behind next time.”

  She gasped, her mouth opening in surprise, and Damon knew she was close. He rolled, pinning her beneath himself, locking their hands together. She bucked beneath him, clearly enjoying herself. “As soon as I silence you, you’ll come,” he whispered and her eyes danced.

  “You know me too well already,” she had time to whisper in reply, then Damon kissed her. He drove deep and rubbed against her, savoring the way she arched against him, the way she trembled, the way she roared with her release. He devoured the sound, wanting to devour her, then felt her nails as she gripped his hands hard and shook to her very marrow.

  It was enough, more than enough to send him over the edge. He managed to bury himself deep inside her before he came. He would have shouted but Haley consumed the sound with her delicious kiss.

  * * *

  Damon rained kisses over Haley’s cheek, her temple, her throat, then sat up with her in his lap. He bent his head and rested his brow against hers, then sighed with apparent contentment. Haley could only agree.

  She curled against his chest, tucking her feet beneath herself, and ran her hands over his shoulder and upper arm.

  Why this tattoo? She knew they often meant something, but this one was just graphic and dark. It looked mean, which she didn’t associate with Damon.

  “Too bad neither of us liked that,” she teased and he chuckled.

  “Too bad.” He stole a kiss and there was a wicked glint in his eyes. “Maybe we should try again.”

  She laughed. “Maybe you and your energy are a bad influence.”

  Damon grinned and she liked how much younger he looked. “Seems like an influence that suits you just fine.” He pushed a hand through her hair, cupped her nape, and pulled her close for another satisfying kiss.