by Jill Shalvis
“I care about her,” he said, his voice low. “I know that sounds crazy, but I do. Maybe as much as you care about my brother.”
She stared at him, unexpected emotion clogging her throat. “Well, then we’re both crazy.” With that, she tried to turn away from him, but he held her back.
“Lyndie, this is none of my business, but about Griffin—”
“That’s right, it isn’t any of your business.”
“I lost him for an entire year.”
She let out her breath. “I know. But he’s back now, and he’s—”
“Falling for you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, he’s just trying to get back to the living, he’s—”
“Falling for you,” he repeated quietly. He leaned in and whispered in her ear. “Are you falling back?”
She stared at him. “He’s not over what happened to him last year. He’s not ready to fall for anyone.”
“Probably not, no.”
Each word felt like a stab to her heart, which didn’t make any sense.
“But they’re gone,” he said softly. “They’re gone and he isn’t. He’s learning he’s not dead. That his heart can love again—”
“Oh, no.” She laughed. “Listen, you’re way off base here. We’re not in love, we’re just…” Jumping each other’s bones.
Brody laughed. “Yeah. You’re just.” He twirled her around again. “You know you’re really different from anyone he’s ever been with.”
She scowled. “So?”
“So…” He looked amused now, damn him. “That’s a good thing. You’re strong, independent. Tough as hell. I think that’s exactly what he needs. Someone to challenge him.”
“I’m going to challenge you here in a minute. To a nice dunking in the creek.”
Brody laughed again. “Hey, I’m not trying to pry. I want him happy again, that’s all.”
“He’s going to be plenty happy once I fly you both back in the morning.”
“And what about you?”
“I’ll be happy, too.”
“You sure?”
“Positive.”
Brody stared at her for a long moment, then sighed. “All right.” He lifted his hands in surrender. The song ended and he stepped back, a sad smile on his face. “Don’t hurt him, Lyndie.”
And then she was standing on the dance floor by herself, suddenly and desperately in need of quiet.
Whirling to find a door, she plowed right into Tom.
“Hey,” he said. “I was just looking for a pretty dancing partner.”
“No way, I—”
He spun her until she was cursing at him and laughing. “That’s better,” he said. “That’s way better. I know there haven’t been many reasons to smile down here for the past few weekends—”
“We’ve almost got it all behind us now.”
“Yes,” he agreed with a relieved smile. “But in any case, I believe things happen for a reason.”
“The fire? You think something good can come out of all that damage and destruction?”
For a moment he didn’t say anything, just continued to spin her around the room to the wild, loud music. “Yes,” he finally said. “I do. I think the ranchers learned a valuable lesson, one that the U.S. government has been trying to teach them for a long time. Their slash-and-burn methods have to change. I think the town realized how much of a team they are, and how important every single person is. I think Nina learned the world doesn’t always revolve around her.”
“Did you learn something, too?”
“Nothing I didn’t already know. Life is short, Lyndie. Too damn short. Things happen. Bad things.” He clipped her lightly on the chin. “So make the most of it. Make the most of every single second.” He smiled. “Though given what you learned, I probably don’t even have to say it.”
“Oh, really? And just what is it you think I learned?” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Griffin enter the courtyard. Immediately he sought her out, and when he found her, she felt her heart stutter just a bit.
Tom touched her nose, his smile widening. “You just smiled genuinely for the first time all evening, did you know that?”
Startled, she looked back at Tom. “I did not.”
“You did. And you know what else? It suits you. Do you know yet what you learned down here, Lyndie?”
“What is it about tonight that makes you all think I want or need to hear about my life? I don’t need advice, I don’t need any lessons attached to what’s happened down here. Bottom line, you needed help, and getting you that help is my job. End of story.” And if she’d gotten a little action on the side, well then, that was no one’s business but her own. “But if you need it spelled out…I learned what a nosy bunch you all are. Now get out of my way, big guy, I need out of here. Badly.”
Tom laughed. “You can run, but you can’t hide.”
“Cut him off,” she said to Rosa, who was coming by with a tray of beers.
If Rosa did, Lyndie couldn’t have said, because she went out of the inn and into the night, drawing a deep breath of it into her lungs, holding it for a long moment before letting it go slowly.
She should be up in that air right now, flying her ass off, without an important thought in her head.
She shouldn’t be standing here by the creek, wondering if Griffin was going to give her another mind-blowing orgasm tonight. She shouldn’t be wondering if he was wondering about her.
And she sure as hell shouldn’t be wondering if he was going to miss her, even a little. She took a deep breath and reminded herself that here was her peace and calm whenever she needed it, a place that had stolen a chunk of her heart.
It would be enough.
“You needed out, too.”
She took her gaze off the sky and eyed the man most on her mind, who stood there, hands in his pockets, his shoulders slightly hunched as he stared off into the night.
“Yeah.” She pushed away from the wall, came toward him. “Everyone in there seems to feel so comfortable telling me how to run my life, so I felt comfortable getting the hell out.”
“It’s funny what people do in the name of love.” Griffin lifted a brow when she stopped midstride. “Oh, that’s right. You don’t like that L-word. It must really overwhelm you to come down here then, with Tom and Nina and Rosa all so crazy about you that they’d do anything for you. Including each of them threatening me with bodily harm if I hurt you.”
“What?” She sputtered over that for a moment, then growled, but Griffin cocked his head, studying her with an interest she wasn’t sure was a good thing. “Look,” she said. “No one hurts me. I make sure of that.”
“Right.” He nodded agreeably, and walked around her.
She turned in a circle, keeping her face to his. “What does that mean?”
“I know exactly how tough you are. I know you don’t let people close enough to even think about hurting you.” Reaching out, he stroked a cheek. “And when I first met you, when I first felt that zing of heat between us, I worried about that—I worried about leading you on, hurting you somehow in spite of it.”
“Because of what happened in that Idaho fire.”
“Because I knew I was no good to a woman, not in the state I was in. In any case, you were so impenetrable, I decided it didn’t matter.”
Direct hit.
“But then I got to know you.”
“You did not,” she said. “It’s only been a week.”
“I got to know you,” he repeated gently. “And you know what?”
Seeing that heated, affectionate look in his eyes as he stepped close and put his hands on her hips, she started to shake her head. She didn’t want to know, she—
He kissed her, just once, soft and undemanding, but her body flared to life. “You might be fearless,” he whispered. “You might be independent, but on the inside you’re just as in need of love as the rest of us.”
“No—”
He put his finger on her lips,
came in even closer. “I know you think you don’t need it. I know love’s hurt you in the past, that you’ve suffered losses, too—” When she started to shake her head at that, he cupped her jaw with his other hand to hold her still. “Your parents, your grandfather…”
“Not like you,” she whispered past the sudden lump in her throat.
“We’ve already been there. Loss is loss, remember? But before that Idaho fire, I’d never experienced such tragedy. My life had been easy and good and filled with warmth and love from every corner.” He stroked an uneven strand of hair from her eyes. “I had that solid foundation beneath me. I don’t think you did.”
“I was fine.”
“Sure. Fine. All on your own, right?”
“Right.”
“Because you don’t like to let people in. That way you don’t have to lose anyone else.”
She went very, very still.
“Anyone would feel that way if they’d had your life,” he assured her very quietly. “They would, but Lyndie, you don’t have to live like that.”
She pulled free. “Says the man who was running out of the party as fast as I was.”
He let out a gust of air. “Yeah. My brother—”
“He’s trying to rush you along in the life department?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, welcome to my world.”
“Tom and Nina and Rosa all have your best interests at heart—” He broke off and let out a low laugh when she gave him a long, knowing look. “Okay, fine. I get the message.”
“Do you?”
“Yeah. They have your best interests at heart. I suppose in the same damn way Brody does mine.”
She smirked. “Doesn’t make it any easier to take, though, does it?”
“No.”
They fell silent, just looking at each other for a long moment. There was something different in his gaze tonight. Something that snagged her breath. “This is our last night,” she whispered.
His eyes heated. “Yeah.”
Her nipples hardened. Her skin tingled in anticipation. “So what do you say we blow this Popsicle stand, Ace?”
His eyes heated again, his hands tightened on her, pulling her flush to his body—a body that already knew hers. “What did you have in mind?”
She arched against the interesting bulge behind the buttons on his Levi’s. “I’m thinking the same as you.”
22
They ended up in Griffin’s room, which had a nicer bed and a soft, warm Tallulah on the covers, fast asleep. They kicked her out and put a chair in front of the door in lieu of a functioning lock.
Lyndie tried to draw Griffin down to the mattress immediately, her engines revved and roaring to go, but he held her face and kissed her, turning her away from the bed with his body.
“Standing up?” she murmured, game for that, surprised when he let out a low laugh. Pulling back, she blinked up at him. “What? What’s so funny?”
“Are you always in such a hurry?”
She could feel his chest brushing her nipples, his long legs so snug to hers, his impressive erection low on her belly. Hell, yes, she was in a hurry. “I want you,” she said simply, and ran her fingers down his body to cup him. “And you want me.”
“Oh, yeah.” He tipped her face up again, his voice hoarse. “I want you. I just want to take it slow.”
“Why?”
“You know…” He kissed her ear, her jaw. “The confusion on your face is adorable, and bears discussing—” He kissed the tip of her nose, then her chin. “But you taste so good—” And now her mouth for a long, delicious moment, and when he pulled away this time she heard her own little murmur of protest.
He danced his thumb over her wet lower lip. “I just can’t believe I’m here. With you. About to kiss and lick every inch of you.”
“Our bodies work fairly well together, in case you’ve forgotten.”
“Yes.” He watched his hand as it grazed her throat, her collarbone, then a breast, which he lifted and cupped and ran a thumb over a tight, aching nipple until her knees nearly buckled. “Our bodies definitely work fairly well together. I just didn’t think mine worked anymore, period.”
Lyndie went still, then covered his hand with her own. “Look, I’m a little blown away over all this, so I can only imagine how you’re feeling. I can go—”
“No.” He pulled her flush against his body, in an embrace that made her want to burrow in even closer and hold on for dear life. “Don’t move.”
“I won’t.” She sank her fingers into his hair. “I’d say I’m sorry for encroaching on all that sexy broodiness you had going, but—”
He kissed her again, nibbling on her lower lip. “But you’re not?”
“No.” She tugged on his shirt. “What I am sorry about is how many clothes you’re wearing. I’m really sorry about that.”
“I didn’t think you could do it,” he said on a sigh, letting her strip him out of his clothes one piece at a time, while she reveled in his hard, athletic body that made her mouth water.
“Didn’t think I could do what?” Distracted, her fingers ran down his chest, over the belly that made her want to kiss every inch of him, down to the current center of her universe, which was hard and heavy and pointing right at her.
“Stay still.” With mock disappointment, he bent and grabbed her behind her knees, straightening with her in a fireman’s hold, which meant she flopped over his shoulder.
“Hey!” She smacked his bare ass. “Put me down. What are you doing?”
He dumped her onto the bed, the expression on his face a mixture of wicked mischief and fierce intent as she bounced. Her heart skipped a beat, then two. “Grif—”
“Shh.” He sprawled out beside her, skimming his fingers down her body, thoroughly engrossed in watching his own hand on her. “You said you wouldn’t move.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“I did.” Leaning in, he tugged open her blouse while he kissed her ear. When her hands snaked up to touch his bare, sleek chest, he sucked in a breath and shook his head, his voice thick and heavy, filled with dark promises. “You don’t seem to be able to follow directions.”
“Not very well,” she admitted, but he brought his free hand to the side of her face, holding her cheek in his palm, his fingers running through her hair at her temple.
The gesture felt so tender, so raw, she felt the unexpected sting of tears, and when he kissed her softly, then pulled back to say, “You turn me upside down, Lyndie, like no one ever has,” a little moan stuck in her throat.
“Upside down,” he repeated softly, and swiped at a tear she hadn’t even known she’d let loose.
“I haven’t the foggiest idea what to do with you,” she whispered.
“No?” Holding her gaze, he slowly stripped her out of her clothes. “Good thing I know what to do with you.”
“You mean to me,” she gasped when he stroked her nipple with his tongue.
“Uh huh.” He kissed her ribs, dipped into her belly button, then slipped between her legs, his broad shoulders holding her open to him. He ran a finger over her, absorbed the helpless little gasp that escaped her, and said, “Am I driving you crazy?”
She arched up into him, and then he lowered his head, kissing her right…there. “Y-yes.”
“Good.” He did it again, and her every muscle went on quiver alert. “Because you’re driving me right off the very edge of sanity.” Another mind-blowing stroke of his tongue. “So we’re doing this to each other.”
That sounded a little too relationship-involved to her, and she surged up to her elbows to tell him so, except he chose that moment to bend his head again to his task, and this time he took it quite seriously. She fell back, sinking her fingers into his hair to hold him in place, which turned out to be unnecessary because he wasn’t going anywhere—he promised it in every touch, every kiss, stoking her into one desperate, feverish mass of nerve endings.
When she came, she lost track of all her
senses for what might have been an hour, or only a moment, but when she could see again, Griffin towered over her, his big beautiful body poised to take hers. “You back?” he asked.
“I’m not sure.…Did you get the license plate of that truck?”
He placed a soft kiss over her temple, his breath fluttering over her hair like a gentle touch. “No truck, Lyndie. Just me.”
Just him. God, just him. “Well, then, run me over again, could you?”
His low chuckle sounded in her ear. After that, she lost her train of thought because then he was kissing her mouth, a heavy, intoxicating kiss somehow deeper and more exquisite than anything he’d done to her before. Holding on for dear life, she kissed him back, letting herself fall into the moment, into the unrelenting heat and passion in a way she didn’t fully even trust. “Griffin—”
“Don’t worry, I still know what to do—” He broke off on a groan when she slid her hand downward and got a grip of him fully aroused.
“I’m glad,” she whispered, and held up the condom they’d snagged from her room.
He put it on, then sank inside her wet, willing body to the hilt, their twin moans dancing in the air around them.
“Oh, yeah,” he whispered against her mouth as he began to move, began to take them both to the place they desperately needed to go. “I definitely still know what to do.”
* * *
At dawn, Nina sat barefoot on the edge of the creek, splashing the water with her toes. She wasn’t usually up at this hour. In fact, she wouldn’t be up now except her body still hummed from all the things Brody had done to it.
Her heart felt full to bursting.
But her stomach…her stomach was dancing with butterflies in tune to the rushing water.
“Hiya, Princess.”
Pasting a confident smile on her face, which had caught her more than her fair share of men in the past, she turned to face a gorgeously rumpled Brody.
He might be just another man…but he was also the first she didn’t want to walk away from.
He hunkered at her side. The day was already hot, and he wore dark blue surfer shorts to his knees, with a wild blue Hawaiian shirt for the flight back, and just looking at him made her want to cry.
