After the Storm

by Amy Knupp

  Penn took out one of the condoms—yes, he was either optimistic or well prepared, maybe both—and unwrapped it. As Nadia moved up next to him, he sheathed himself, then started to turn his body toward her. His back had other plans and let him know it quickly. Frustration was only momentary, though, because Nadia slid her leg across him and straddled his thighs. Bending down, she kissed around his belly button, swirled her tongue over him, then slowly trailed her mouth toward his chest. Two could play the torture game. He kneaded her breasts, ran the tip of his finger around one nipple. She continued her way to his neck, jaw, ear. He nearly bit his tongue when she whispered in his ear exactly what he made her want to do.

  When he could manage to speak, he said, “You forgot your manners.”

  “Time and place for everything.” With a mischievous grin, she rotated her hips against him, teasing him with her heat.

  “Some day,” he murmured, “I’ll be on top and the one in control. Just remember payback can be hell.”

  “Promise?”

  He never got to answer because she lowered her head and kissed him like she meant business. He grabbed her ass and guided her where he wanted her.

  At last, she lowered herself onto him, taking him inside her so achingly slowly Penn thought he might lose it. She leaned her face closer and their eyes locked.

  “Everything okay?” she asked.

  “Very okay, unless you plan to take a nap like that, in which case I’ll be forced to summon my bionic powers and flip you over.”

  She raised her brows as if challenged. Began to move her hips, slowly, torturously. Determined to make her as wild as she was making him, Penn played with her nipples. He moved one hand lower, and when he touched her where their bodies met, she threw back her head and sucked in a breath.

  “You don’t play fair,” she said, her voice lower than normal, sexy as sin.

  “Time and place for everything.” He purposely mimicked her earlier words.

  The games and teasing were forgotten as she moved faster, took him deeper. He started to respond with his lower body and realized instantly that wasn’t going to work. Though it took some effort not to move the way he wanted to, he’d gladly deal with that hardship every day till he died if it meant having her naked and on top of him.

  Their rhythm became fervent, their bodies slickened with sweat. He held on to her hips and knew she was close by the sounds she made and the things she said. She was even more beautiful as she came unglued.

  He watched her climax, the look on her face shattering his own control. He came seconds after her, arching into her, ignoring the twinge in his back. At that moment he didn’t care if he pulled it badly enough to need another surgery. The only thing that mattered was Nadia and the way she made him feel.

  He became aware that she was kissing him along the jawline, working toward his lips. With an unhurried kiss, she nuzzled her head in next to his chin and relaxed on top of him.

  Penn ran his fingers through her hair, waiting for his equilibrium to return. “That wasn’t so bad,” he said once his breathing leveled out.

  Nadia’s head popped up and she narrowed her eyes at him. Penn chuckled, realizing his error.

  “What I meant to say was that was toe-crackingly amazing.”

  “That’s a little better....” She propped her chin on top of her hands on his chest.

  He hesitated. “Have to admit I was a little…concerned.”

  “About your back?”

  He nodded.

  “And it was okay?”

  “Okay enough.”

  “You think you can walk?” she asked, grinning smugly.

  “Don’t know why I’d ever want to move from this spot, but yeah. Think I’ll make it.” He closed his eyes, trying to ignore the doubt nagging at him.

  Hell. The best way to deal with that was to ask.

  “Was…that okay for you?”

  Nadia’s drowsy eyes opened all the way. She laughed, a quiet, sexy sound. “Do you have to ask, Penn?”

  He shrugged, relief starting to seep in. “That wasn’t my usual M.O. Just want to make sure…”

  She eased up even with his face again. “You—” she pressed a kiss to his lips “—are the sexiest man on the entire island.” Another kiss. “You could be sitting in the hardest, straightest-back chair in the world, and sex with you would still rock my world.”

  Her words struck a chord in him, more so than he would admit. He attempted to lighten the moment, distract himself from thinking too hard about it. “We’ll have to try that sometime. The chair thing.”

  “Does that mean you’re not going to walk out of here and avoid me, then?

  “The only place I’m walking to right now is the bathroom, if that’s okay.”

  “I guess this once I’ll allow it.”

  When he returned, Nadia had switched off the light in the other room, and climbed in beneath the covers on the king-size bed. If he’d had any hesitation about staying, the sight of her lying there in the moonlight erased it.

  He stretched out next to her and was able to roll to his side to put his arms around her. Two weeks ago, he wouldn’t have been able to handle that small move and he thanked God for the progress he’d made.

  A comfortable silence fell between them for several minutes. If not for the light movements of her fingers on his side, he might have believed her asleep.

  “Got something on your mind?” he asked.

  “I’m thinking we’ve spent a record amount of time together tonight without arguing once.”

  “Wonders never cease,” he said, caressing the curve of her hip. As long as they avoided certain topics, he felt certain they could continue to get along. In fact, the less talking, the better. He kissed her lightly.

  “Faith and Joe’s wedding is next weekend. Are you going?” she asked.

  “Yep. Haven’t had any better offers yet,” he joked.

  “Want to be my date for it?”

  “I think that qualifies as a better offer.”

  “You think?” She traced a finger over his lips. “I’m a bridesmaid so you’ll be on your own for part of it, but once the official stuff is over, I’m yours for the night.”

  “I like the sound of that,” he said, not planning to wait until then to have Nadia like this again.

  She propped herself up on one elbow. “Would it be pushing my luck too much to ask you to the rehearsal party on Friday?”

  “Isn’t it a little late to be inviting an extra person?”

  “Well, you see, I have some connections.”

  “It’s at the hotel?”

  “Kind of. It’s on the beach but the hotel is putting it on. It’s casual. Not your typical rehearsal dinner, just a buffet, an open bar and a party.”

  “I wouldn’t want a pretty girl like you to be dateless for any of that,” Penn said.

  “Is that a yes?”

  “Definitely a yes.”

  Though a party on the beach sounded like it could present multiple problems for him with his limited abilities, he pushed his worries aside and rolled to his back, pulling Nadia with him.

  * * *

  NADIA ROLLED OVER, needing a moment to figure out where she was. As soon as she felt Penn sleeping inches away from her, she relaxed, intending to drift right back to sleep.

  Her brain had other plans.

  Instead of allowing her to bask in the contentment of being with Penn, her mind fixated on her mom’s admission about the hotel. It ticked her off that such a stressful thought could infringe on her time with this man. She fought it with all kinds of rationalizations and reassurances to herself that she could worry about it later, but nothing helped. Nothing could erase the panicked feeling that pumped through her veins.

  Her mom had said she was only exploring the possibility of selling the hotel, but no matter how Nadia reasoned with herself, she couldn’t stop the questions.

  What if she could no longer work at Silver Sands? What would she do? What if she was able t
o keep her job but hated the new management? How could she fill the hours of her life that were now taken up by her career?

  The thought struck her with the force of a wrecking crane: without her job, she would have nothing.

  Just like Penn.

  She’d spent so much of her adult life making sure she didn’t prioritize anything above the hotel. It was suddenly crystal clear how that just might bite her in the butt.

  It felt like an invisible fist had closed around her chest, forcing her heart to beat twice as hard and sucking all the air from her lungs. The darkness seemed to swallow her up.

  Penn stirred, and before she could gather her wits, he wrapped an arm around her middle. Grateful for the interruption in her freak-out, Nadia snuggled into him, breathed in his masculine scent. Her heart slowed to a more normal pace.

  She allowed herself to revisit her potential crisis but the panic was gone. She was more centered now. Calmer. Able to think rationally.

  She had her job for now, and maybe for as long as she wanted it. But maybe it was time to make some changes.

  Nadia wanted Penn in her life. Not for just random run-ins or chance cookie dates. She longed to know him better, to understand him intimately. To be comfortable enough with him that they could do anything together—talk, watch mindless TV, cook, whatever. For the first time, she could imagine herself walking away from work before her usual ungodly quitting hour—to be with Penn. Starting right now, Nadia was going to work on balance. Less work, more Penn. After years of such single-mindedness, it wouldn’t be easy, but she finally understood how such a change could be exactly what she needed.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  HINDSIGHT WAS twenty-twenty, Penn thought as he vacated the chair Nadia had insisted one of the hotel’s events staff track down for him. His special chair. The one that set him apart as being less than normal. As if he or anyone needed a chair to remind them of that.

  He never should have agreed to come to Faith and Joe’s rehearsal party.

  The sun had set a couple of hours ago and the party was in full swing. Tiki torches were wedged into the sand next to the Silver Sands, and long buffet tables filled with appetizers and finger foods lined the patio. The volleyball net had finally been deserted due to darkness, and now a group had gathered near the speakers that were pumping out bass-heavy dance music.

  “Hey, you.” His sister, Zoe, sidled up to him and made him smile in spite of himself. “Where’s your woman?”

  “Nadia’s in the middle of that.” He indicated the large group of people dancing.

  “I knew there was something between you two when I was here before. Knew it!”

  “At that point, there wasn’t.”

  “It was there,” Zoe said. “The guy is just usually the last one to know.”

  “Speaking of last one to know, why didn’t you fess up about you and Coop?” He was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that his roommate and his sister, opposites in so many ways, had started a long-distance thing after she’d left San Amaro. Serious enough that she’d flown back to town to be his wedding date. “I suspected you guys had a thing for each other when you were in town before, but I nearly fell over when you showed up on his arm. Couldn’t even warn your brother you were coming back to the island, huh?”

  They stood along the edge of the party, watching several crazy-ass firefighters who were in the wedding party—Cooper included—as well as the groom’s rowdy stepbrothers and an assortment of beautiful women form a conga line on the sand.

  “That’s kind of the point of a surprise,” Zoe said. “The look on your face was priceless.”

  “All you two did while you were in town last time was bicker and flirt. But I didn’t know you were still in touch.”

  “We were debating, not bickering.”

  “And sneaking around after I went to sleep, apparently.”

  Zoe took a swallow of her drink and shook her head. “No. We didn’t really get involved until after I went back to Colorado. It took me a while to decide if I could deal with his blockheadedness.”

  “At least you seem to know him pretty well. So why aren’t you out there acting like an idiot with him?” He motioned toward Cooper, who was currently bringing up the tail end of the conga line. He did his damnedest not to look, yet again, at Nadia, who he knew was sandwiched between two of Joe’s stepbrothers.

  Zoe watched Coop, her eyes sparkling, and it was evident she was either in deep or on her way to being in deep. Though his first instinct upon seeing her on Coop’s arm earlier was to beat up his roommate for taking advantage of his sister, Penn was starting to come around. Starting to think maybe the two of them were a perfect match, after all. Maybe they would balance each other out. And if Zoe was as happy in six months as she looked now, then so be it. He wished them well.

  “I have a general anti-conga-line rule,” she said.

  The song ended and the noisy line of half-drunk, happy revelers dispersed, most of them regathering to dance to the next cheesy disco song.

  Nadia caught his eye and she came over to them. “Everything okay?” she asked, breathing hard from dancing.

  “Just fine,” Penn said. “You better get back out there, party girl.”

  She looked torn for a moment. “I wish you could join us.”

  So the hell did he. Then he wouldn’t be fixated on which guy was touching her where.

  “Go on. It appears you can dance for both of us.”

  “I’ll be back soon,” she said, and returned to the middle of the pack, between Faith and Mercedes.

  “I’m surprised she didn’t stay here with you,” Zoe said matter-of-factly.

  “She hung out with the crippled guy earlier. Brought me a straight-back chair and everything.” He wasn’t hiding his self-disgust well, he realized. “She’s gone far beyond the call of duty.”

  “I suspect you’re not a ‘duty’ to her.”

  If he wasn’t yet, he should be. He sure as hell wasn’t much of a date.

  Penn checked his watch, wondering how much longer the party would go on. Surely the bride and groom would want to get a good night’s sleep before their big day.

  Zoe turned her attention to Penn, becoming serious. “Before I forget, I wanted to ask you something.”

  “Am I in trouble?”

  “Well, probably, but that’s not what I was going to talk about. I wanted to ask you to come home for a visit.”

  “To Colorado?”

  “Where else?”

  “My home is here now. Has been for years.”

  Zoe rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I get that. You know what I mean. You haven’t been to Boulder for years.”

  He hadn’t had any desire to go to Boulder. However, maybe it was time. The idea didn’t make him want to poke his eyes out with a needle as it once had. “What would I do in Boulder?” he asked.

  “Hang out. Visit your family.” She took another sip of wine. “I know we said maybe Christmas but there’s something coming up sooner. Mom has this thing in a couple weeks. The environmental group she’s been doing pro bono work for is honoring her with some big award and they’re presenting it at a formal banquet. She tries not to show it but she is so thrilled with the honor. I was thinking it would be nice for both of us to be there.”

  Penn ran over the objections that came naturally to mind. He was surprised to realize he didn’t mind the idea so much. Getting out of town might be what he needed. “Maybe,” he said. “I’ll look into airfares.”

  Zoe gave him a wide-eyed look of astonishment. “Really? I was all poised to do battle and was even willing to stoop to guilting you into it.”

  “Don’t know about guilt but if you want to try bribery, I’m open to it.”

  “Ha. You showed your cards too early.”

  The song ended and another one started. Cooper came over and put his arm around Zoe.

  “Get your own woman,” Coop said to Penn. “Speaking of, where’s Nadia?”

  Penn point
ed her out easily, having been unable to stop tracking her in spite of his efforts. “Right in the middle of the groom’s brothers.”

  “They behaving themselves or do I need to go kick some ass?” Coop asked, laughing.

  “They’re fine.” Penn had trouble working up any good humor about the situation. “It’d be different if her date could actually move.”

  “I’m going after some dessert. You guys need any?” Coop asked.

  “Some more strawberries, please.” Zoe grinned at him, probably knowing full well how Cooper would react.

  “I’ll grab you a couple cheesecake bars, too.”

  She shook her head and waved him on his way.

  “You don’t seem to be enjoying yourself,” she said once Cooper left.

  “I’m not.” Penn shoved his hands in his pockets, gritting his teeth. The truth was that Nadia should be here with someone who could dance with her. Someone who could have helped her move the buffet table down when she needed it. Hell, someone who could drive her home when the party was over.

  “I’m sure it’s not easy watching all those guys having fun with your girl.”

  No. It wasn’t goddamn easy. He trusted Nadia. Joe’s brothers were probably fine, too. But that didn’t make it any better.

  “I’m going for a walk, Zo. If Nadia wonders where I am, tell her I’ll be back before the party’s over.”

  Without waiting for his sister to reply, Penn stormed off into the darkness, wishing he could find a way to accept his situation because, frankly, being pissed off all the time was getting old.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  PENN WOULD HAVE LIKED to be able to say that waking up with Nadia by his side the morning after the rehearsal party made everything right in his world.

  It didn’t, though.

  Far from it.

  At 6:42 a.m. he gave up on getting any more sleep. If he didn’t get upright in the next thirty seconds, he swore he’d take a double dose of pain pills—pills he’d had to resort to for the first time in days just last night.