Every Little Thing: Butler, Vermont Series, Book 1

by Marie Force

  Lucy was descending into a full-on pity party when a shout from the hill had her snapping out of it in time to see Simone mid-fall.

  She landed hard on the packed surface and let out a scream that made Lucy’s blood go cold. She took off running toward her niece and Colton, who was on his knees next to her.

  Simone’s shrieks had the attention of everyone in the area.

  Her heart pounding, Lucy tried to walk up the small hill, but the snow and ice were so slippery, she kept stumbling.

  The snow patrol team had spikes in their boots that made it possible for them to rush by her in their haste to get to Simone.

  Lucy stopped and looked up at Colton, hoping for info.

  He held his arm up and pointed to the elbow.

  “Please let her be okay,” Lucy whispered as she watched the snow patrol remove Simone’s skis and load her onto a sled-litter thing to bring her down. “Please, please, please.”

  As soon as they started down the mountain with Simone, who was still screaming, Colton came down to where Lucy stood at the foot of the hill, feeling useless and frightened.

  He kicked up a wall of snow as he came to a stop beside her. “I think her elbow is dislocated.”

  “Oh no.”

  “The good news is it can be fixed pretty easily. The bad news is it hurts like hell.”

  At the thought of Simone in so much pain, Lucy felt like she was going to be sick.

  “Hey,” Colton said. “Look at me. Breathe. She’s okay. It sounds worse than it is.”

  Lucy watched as the snow patrol headed for a building with a big red cross on the outside. “If you say so.”

  “Hop on.”

  “What?”

  “Jump on, and I’ll give you a ride to the first aid building.”

  “Um, I…” Visions of calamity danced through her brain, making her hesitate.

  “Lucy, come on! She needs us.”

  His urgent tone got her attention. She jumped onto his back and held on for dear life as he pointed his skis toward the building while she tried not to scream her head off. Colton brought them to a swift stop right by the door.

  Simone’s shrieks could be heard from outside.

  Lucy dropped down from Colton’s back, landing on unsteady legs.

  He had his skis off and his arm around her within seconds, guiding her through the door. “We’re her aunt and uncle,” he said to the nurse who met them. “What can we do?”

  She thrust a clipboard in their direction. “Sign for authorization to treat her.”

  Lucy took the clipboard and signed where directed, her hand shaking so hard, she could barely hold the pen.

  “What’s the plan?” Colton asked.

  “The doctor would like to do what’s called a reduction. We'll need to take some X-rays and she’ll be mildly sedated.”

  “Wh-what’s a reduction?” Lucy asked.

  “They’re going to snap the bone back into place,” Colton said. “Which hurts like a mother-effer. That’s why they want to sedate her.”

  “We do them almost every day around here,” the nurse assured her.

  Lucy’s vision began to swim, and she was overly warm all of a sudden.

  “Lucy,” Colton said, giving her a little shake. “Breathe.”

  “Would you like to be in with her when they do it?” the nurse asked.

  “I will,” Colton said. To Lucy, he said, “Go sit and keep breathing. I’ll be in there with her, and she’ll be fine. I promise.” He kissed her forehead and directed her to the waiting area. Then he took off with the nurse.

  Feeling like a total wimp, she landed in a chair and dropped her head between her knees the way she’d seen done on TV medical shows. Breathe, Lucy. Breathe. Tears filled her eyes at the thought of her precious Simone in such terrible pain. Emma. I need to find Emma. She took a chance and tried her sister’s cell phone, but the call went directly to voice mail, which meant Emma was somewhere in Butler without service. After leaving a message for Emma to call her, Lucy stood on her shaky legs and walked to the reception desk. “Is there a phone I could use?”

  “Of course. Come around the counter.”

  Lucy did as directed and tried to summon the number to the Abbott home from a memory that had gone blank. She closed her eyes, took a couple of deep breaths and tried to concentrate. Simone needs you, Lucy. This is no time to go stupid. She was about to ask for a phonebook when the number came to her. Her hands were still shaking as she punched in the numbers.

  Molly answered on the third ring.

  “Hi, it’s Lucy.”

  “Hey, what’s up?”

  “So, um, Simone fell while skiing and dislocated her elbow.”

  “Oh no! The poor thing! That’s so painful.”

  “Yes, it is. I’m looking for Emma. Is she there?”

  “No, honey, she went off somewhere with Grayson a couple of hours ago. I have no idea where they are, but I’ll call my sister to see if she knows.”

  “If you’re able to find her, we’re at the clinic on the mountain.”

  “I’ll tell her. Keep me posted.”

  “I will.”

  “She’ll be fine, Lucy.”

  “Keep telling me that. All I can hear are her screams. It’s horrible.”

  “It’ll be okay. I promise.”

  “Thank you, Molly.”

  “Any time.”

  Lucy ended the call and thanked the receptionist. She was on her way back to the chairs when she heard Simone’s screams reach a whole new level. That was the last thing Lucy heard before everything went dark.

  * * *

  Chapter 6

  Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.

  —Maya Angelou

  This has to be a dream, Emma thought as she woke from a short nap to Grayson’s warm body snug against her back, his arm around her waist and his legs intertwined with hers. If it’s a dream, I never want to wake up.

  She’d read about sex like they’d had in romance novels, but she’d never expected to experience it. And it wasn’t just the sex, but the connection she’d felt with him from the beginning. How would she ever go back to her regular life after this? Even though she loved her life with Simone in the city, it would seem so boring and mundane after this exciting week in Vermont.

  She already ached for him, and she hadn’t even left him yet.

  Sighing, she reached the hand he’d tucked under her breasts and smiled when his fingers curled around hers.

  “What’s with the deep sigh?” he asked in a gruff, sleepy-sounding voice.

  “Just thinking.”

  “Don’t do that. Not yet anyway.”

  “Easier said than done.”

  “I know, but for right now, today, everything is perfect, and I’d like to wallow in the perfection for a little while longer before we let reality intrude. Would that be okay?”

  Smiling, she said, “That sounds like a good plan. What does this wallowing consist of?”

  He pushed his reawakened erection against her back. “More of this. Lots more of this.”

  “Mmm, I could be talked into more of that.” When she would’ve turned over to face him, he stopped her.

  “Like this,” he said. “Just like this.”

  Emma had never done anything other than good old-fashioned missionary, so she waited breathlessly to see what he had in mind.

  Grayson released her hand and cupped her breast, rolling her tender nipple between his fingers and making her squirm. His lips brushed against the back of her neck, and she gasped from the sensations that zinged through her body. “Your skin is so soft,” he whispered, his warm breath giving her goose bumps. “I love how responsive you are to me.”

  His hand moved from her breast to her belly and then to her core. He drew her leg up and over his hip, opening her to his fingers.

  Emma trembled as she anticipated his touch.

  He teased her, r
unning his fingertips over her inner thighs and tracing the outer lips of her sex, making her crave his touch. “Grayson. Please.”

  His low chuckle had her groaning in frustration. “Patience, sweetheart. You’ll get everything you want.”

  “When?”

  “Soon.”

  Not soon enough for her. “You’re enjoying this a little too much.”

  “No such thing.” He took mercy on her, sliding his fingers through the dampness between her legs and caressing her clit.

  Emma gripped his forearm and bit her lip to keep from screaming from the pleasure. Then he turned her, and she was facedown on the bed, his lips skimming over her back as he continued to stroke between her legs. She was drowning in a sea of sensation with her every sense on high alert. Even the rub of her nipples against the sheet added to the overload. She grasped the pillow, needing something to hold on to as he continued to kiss her back. And when he reached her bottom, he added some gentle nibbles to flesh that had never been so sensitive.

  He kept her on the razor’s edge of release for so long that by the time he finally began to enter her from behind, she was more than ready to let go, coming harder than she had before.

  Groaning, he grasped her hips and drove into her, triggering a second wave that was stronger than the first. She came down from the incredible high to discover he wasn’t finished with her yet. Not even close.

  He arranged her on her knees, spreading her legs farther apart, and started the climb all over again with deep strokes of his cock while still caressing her clit.

  The bed creaked and the headboard banged against the wall, which was, fortunately, on the outside of the house where no one was apt to hear it. Not that she could be bothered to care about who might hear them while being taken on the ride of her life.

  “Emma, God, you feel so good. So, so good.” His fingers dug into her hips.

  She would feel his fierce possession in every muscle she owned tomorrow. But in this moment, she couldn’t be bothered with caring about anything beyond right here and right now.

  He surged deep into her and held still for a long moment before she felt the heat of his release. His head dropped to her back as he took a series of deep breaths. “Christ have mercy.”

  Emma laughed. “Someone needs to have mercy on me.”

  He withdrew from her and arranged them so they were facing each other. “I was rough. I’m sorry.”

  She laid a finger over his lips. “Please don’t apologize. That was… I have no words.”

  “Is that a good thing?”

  Moved by his obvious concern, she said, “The best thing ever. It was incredible. I didn’t know… I had no idea…”

  He leaned in to kiss her. “Me either.”

  She felt better knowing they were equally stunned. When she’d come to Vermont for Christmas with her sister’s new family, she’d had no idea she’d be having wild sex with her sister’s fiancé’s cousin. Emma reached for him, and he came into her embrace, capturing her lips in another heated kiss that quickly had her wanting him all over again.

  Apparently, he felt the same way, because before she knew it, he was on top of her and inside her once again, moving slowly this time, slaying her with tenderness that was in stark contrast to the earlier frantic pace. This, she thought as her gaze collided with his, is what it must be like to make love.

  Then he was turning them so she was on top of him.

  “You’re so beautiful, Emma,” he whispered gruffly as he cupped her breasts and toyed with her nipples.

  She’d never felt more beautiful than she did right then with him gazing up at her with such blatant desire and affection etched into his expression. “Tell me how… I haven’t… Not like this.”

  “Easy, baby.” His hands fell to her hips to guide her. “Nice and easy.” A huge shiver went through her as she tried to process the new position and how it made her feel. He urged her to move and helped her find a rhythm that had them both gasping. Then he sat up and gathered her in close to him as they continued to move. “How does it feel?”

  “So good.” The word good seemed so inadequate, but with every brain cell focused on other things, it was the best she could do.

  “God, Emma…”

  The desperate tone of his voice had her moving faster, her every thought focused on the almost unbearable pleasure. He captured her lips in a desperate, carnal kiss at the same time he reached down to where they were joined to coax her to an explosive finish that left her reeling in the aftermath.

  She collapsed into his embrace, holding on tight to him through the emotional firestorm that followed the epic release.

  He held on just as tightly to her. “Holy shit, that was hot,” he said after a long silence punctuated only by the sound of heavy breathing.

  “Mmm.”

  “Are you all right?”

  Had she ever been more all right? “Mmm-hmm.”

  He reclined against the pillows, bringing her with him. His lips brushed against her forehead as his fingers combed through her hair. Happy, sated, warm and cozy in his arms, Emma drifted on a wave of contentment. She should check on Simone and Lucy. She should get up, take a shower, get back to her real life. But she couldn’t bring herself to move, to burst the delightful bubble that surrounded her and Grayson.

  Real life would still be there in an hour or two. For right now, while her daughter was safely occupied with the aunt and uncle who adored her, Emma decided to take a little more time for herself.

  * * *

  Simone was released from the clinic two hours after the procedure, with the good news that there were no broken bones. Her arm was in a splint and a sling. The pain medication she’d been given had Simone fighting to stay awake.

  Lucy had wanted to ask for something for the aunt’s shredded nerves to go along with the pain meds for Simone.

  As they drove to the barn with Simone sacked out in the backseat, Colton reached over the center console for her hand. “How you holding up, babe?”

  “Great. Never better.”

  “She’s fine, and in a couple of days, she’ll be good as new.”

  “It might take longer than a couple of days for the aunt to recover.”

  He squeezed her hand. “You were a trouper, Luce.”

  “No, you were a trouper. I was a disaster.”

  “You were not. You were understandably freaked out by the way she was screaming. So was I.”

  “You’d never know it. You were Mr. Cool Under Pressure.”

  “Not on the inside I wasn’t.”

  “I wonder where Emma is. It’s not like her to be out of touch for so long. Usually she calls to check on us when I have Simone.”

  “She’s probably off having fun with Grayson and lost track of time.”

  “Probably.”

  “How’s your head?”

  “It’s fine.” She had smacked it on a chair when she fainted in the waiting room. “I feel like a fool for being so wimpy.”

  “You were upset. I’m just glad you’re both okay.”

  “Bet you can’t wait to spend another day with the two of us.”

  “You’d win that bet. I love every minute I get to spend with you guys. Don’t be too hard on yourself, Luce.”

  Darkness came early to northern Vermont this time of year, and by the time they pulled into the Abbotts’ driveway, it might’ve been midnight rather than ten after five.

  Colton carried the sleeping Simone inside while Lucy got the doors for him.

  “How is she?” Molly asked when they stepped into the family room, where she and Linc were reading and the dogs were sacked out in front of a roaring fire.

  “Better now,” Lucy said. “They gave her something for the pain that knocked her out.”

  “Poor thing,” Molly said, standing to caress Simone’s hair and kiss her forehead before Colton settled her on the sofa.

  “No word from Emma?” Lucy asked.

  “Nothing yet.”

  “I wond
er where she is.” Lucy tried Emma’s cell phone again, and like before, the call went straight to voice mail. “Did you try Grayson’s phone?”

  “Earlier,” Molly said, “but I got his message.”

  “Wherever they are,” Linc said, “they’re out of cell range, which means they could be anywhere around here.”

  “Why don’t you two get something to eat?” Molly said. “The fridge is full of leftovers. We’ll keep an eye on Simone for you.”

  “Thanks, Mom,” Colton said. “I’m starving. Come on, Luce. Have something to eat. You’ll feel better if you do.”

  Though she wasn’t sure she could eat, she followed him into the kitchen and took a seat at the table while he made sandwiches for both of them. He wolfed his down while she picked at hers.

  “Eat, Lucy. She’s fine. Everything is fine.”

  “My stomach is still a mess. I’m not sure it’ll stay down.”

  “I’m an expert at holding your hair when you’re sick. I’ll take care of you.”

  His reminder of the time he’d come to her rescue when she had food poisoning made her smile. “I’d rather skip the whole being-sick part of the program.”

  “You need to eat, babe.”

  She made an effort for his sake, even if she really didn’t want the food. “I’m so bummed this happened today of all days, when Emma was off doing something fun for a change. She never gets a break, and the one day she does…”

  “Shit happens. She knows that.”

  “I wish I could be more like you. Nothing ever gets to you or rattles you.”

  “Lucy, honey, I was as rattled today as I’ve ever been. Your beautiful niece was entrusted to me to teach her to ski, and she got hurt on my watch. Trust me when I tell you it was upsetting for me, too.”

  “It wasn’t your fault. Like you said, shit happens. I’m just thankful she only hurt her arm.” Lucy tried not to think about how much worse it could’ve been.

  “Now you know why I insist on the helmet. Skiing is dangerous. People get hurt. It happens. Ask Will about the crash that ended his Olympic dreams.”