There was one way to answer it and he didn’t think first, just reacted. Joshua pulled her into his arms and cuddled her close. Don’t tell, show, he thought and kissed her. He’d meant to take it slow and easy but when his lips touched hers, he went a little berserk. All his worry and mixed feelings about Tina powered the kiss and took it to an extreme level. His mouth ached with want, lips as sensitive as his bruised skin. Her lips yielded to his, sweet and tender. Although he wasn’t gentle, she held her own and gave back his heat, intensified.
Though he ached to run his hands over her breasts and reach between her legs, Joshua didn’t. If he did, he’d be gone and past stopping. No matter how much she liked the kiss, he doubted she’d be willing to fuck on the kitchen floor. Instead, he kissed her until he had to pause for air. He drew breath and lowered his lips to the soft hollow of her throat. He planted a gentle kiss, shivering at the velvet of her skin. He kissed her mouth one more time and pulled back, eager, yet afraid to see her expression.
Tina’s warm smile erased his fears that she might be angry. Her blue eyes met his gaze without blinking. She touched the back of one hand to his cheek and let it linger long enough to be a caress. “I do believe a kiss like that would stop me,” she told him. “It would definitely distract me.”
Hell, he’d almost forgotten the question that prompted the kiss in the first place but he grinned. “I’d certainly hope so.”
If he kept staring into her eyes, he might drown in their blueness or lose all restraint. After a long, increasingly awkward moment, Joshua exhaled. “Coffee’s ready.”
“Sit down and I’ll grab two mugs,” Tina told him. She seemed as eager as he was to move past the unplanned kiss.
“Sure, thanks.” Joshua wondered if her emotions were as unsettled as his, if she experienced the powerful pull of desire. Maybe she longed to know all about him, the way he ached to discover all her little details right down to her favorite color. He wanted to know, but right now he needed to sit down. Any lingering chill, however, had vanished in the feverish heat of their kiss.
Coffee restored some measure of calm. With a big supper in the works, they lunched on grilled cheese sandwiches. Afterward, Tina bustled around the kitchen cooking and although weary enough to nap, Joshua stayed and watched. He enjoyed her domestic goddess routine as she squinted at a faded recipe card, stirred up a cake, and stuck it in the oven. As it baked, Tina put together a meatloaf in what seemed a haphazard fashion, with no recipe card in sight, but the end result appeared to be correct, as she crammed the mixture into a loaf pan.
“I’ll put it in as soon as the cake comes out,” she said. The kitchen had warmed as she worked, enough to flush her cheeks. A smudge of flour on one cheek endeared him all the more. She’s about the prettiest woman I’ve come across in a long while.
“I’m not in a hurry,” he said.
Tina smiled. “I know, and I’m glad because it’ll be awhile until we eat supper. You look tired. There’s plenty of time if you want to grab a nap.”
He did but he didn’t. “I’ll pass.”
“As long as you don’t pass out, that’s fine.” A hint of laughter flavored her voice, teasing and yet sympathetic. “I should’ve helped you with the witch hazel and comfrey before I started cooking but I forgot.”
“No problem.”
“If you want, we can take care of it after supper. I can help you after I get everything cooking but I don’t want to make supper smell like herbs.”
“I can wait,” he said, although the promise of any relief from deep muscle soreness tempted him to apply it himself.
Watching her putter around the kitchen, her movements as graceful as a dancer’s, gave Joshua pleasure. He managed to push the simmering tension about his situation and hers to the back of his mind, and was able to savor the moment. He longed for more quiet interludes and pleasant afternoons like this one, so much that it gnawed at him, almost as sharp as his hunger pangs.
By the time she served supper, Joshua was starved. The meatloaf tasted so delicious he let each bite linger on his tongue and relished it. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten homemade mashed potatoes and gravy. Although the peas were frozen, Tina dressed them up with a little butter and onion and he had no complaints about the hot rolls. Her version of Wacky Cake was just as rich and decadent with chocolate as he remembered, and by the time he finished the huge slice she served, his belly was tight and he was near a food-induced coma.
“Thank you, Tina. I haven’t had a meal this good in a long time.”
Her slow smile sparkled. “I’m glad you liked it. You look so sleepy. Let’s go treat your hurts and I’ll clean up the kitchen later.”
He should refuse and offer to help but the heavy weariness creeping over his consciousness like fog prompted him to nod. “Okay.”
“If you want to shower first, go ahead, but don’t get dressed afterward.”
Uh-oh. Maybe he should volunteer to treat his own injuries, although he doubted he could reach some of the sorest places. Joshua opened his mouth to protest, then changed his mind. She’s a nurse, after all, he rationalized. She’s seen nude guys before.
“All right, I’ll go splash through the shower.”
“Do you want a couple of pain pills first? You haven’t taken any since this morning and I’m sure you’re hurting.”
Joshua was but he wanted to wean down his drug use. “One will do.”
“Are you sure? It may hurt when I apply the witch hazel and cover the wound with comfrey?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I am.”
After a steaming hot shower, relaxed to the point of boneless contentment, Joshua found Tina waiting. She’d mixed the comfrey powder with water into thick, brown goo and had a pile of cotton balls beside the witch hazel. “Here you go.” She handed him a towel and he dried off, aware of his nudity, although she paid little mind.
Tina began with comfrey, her fingers spreading the paste over his injured side with light, gentle strokes. She covered the area with a thick coating and stepped back to check her work.
“Once it dries, it should harden,” she said. “Then I’ll go ahead and replace the gauze over it. Are you ready for me to apply the witch hazel?”
Aware of her touch, his skin became ultrasensitive. Joshua wasn’t sure he could manage to have her touch him any further without his cock coming to attention. He could feel the heat rippling between them and the slightest brush of her fingers against his body turned him on with incredible force. With his emotions engaged even reluctantly, Tina’s close proximity presented temptation he wasn’t sure he could resist.
“Maybe I’d better do it,” he mumbled.
She dampened a cotton ball with witch hazel and dabbed it across a large bruise on his left shoulder. Joshua shuddered with an erotic chill, delicious as it rippled down his spine and through his body. Tina paused. “Are you cold?”
Like an idiot, he stammered. “No, I’m good.”
“You’re shivering.”
“I’m not cold.” He snapped the words out, short and harsher than he’d intended.
Her frown wrinkled her forehead. “Then what’s wrong? Am I hurting you?”
“No,” he said. “God, no.”
“Then what is it?”
Truth or lie? He debated for a long moment. It would be easier to lie and say he had suffered a chill but he hadn’t. He burned with desire, hotter than summer pavement. She might not want to hear the truth but he chose it. “I, uh, want you.”
Her eyes doubled in size. “What?”
“I want you,” he said. Damn it, she couldn’t be so thick-headed she failed to understand his meaning. On cue, his dick stiffened, something she surely couldn’t miss.
Tina’s frown faded as she glanced down. “Do you want me to stop?”
He should say he did and offer to finish applying the witch hazel. But Joshua didn’t.
“No.”
She paused with one hand in midair. “I can, if you’d rather I did.”
Something shifted in her eyes and he figured he’d made her angry. Next she’d screech like a panther and scold him, remind him she’d opened her house to him out of kindness. Joshua wished he’d said nothing or lied, certain he’d put his foot into it until Tina spoke. “So, why wait?”
Common sense vanished faster than smoke in the wind. He jerked the cotton ball from her fingers and tossed it, then lowered his mouth onto hers with the fierce precision of a snapping turtle. Her soft lips melted against his fiery attack and yielded as Joshua pulled her against his nude body and wrapped one arm around her back to hold her there. Her mouth gave back what he took and he savored her taste, sweeter and richer than chocolate. He didn’t know if she’d really scream, but he intended to find out and fast.
Chapter Nine
After Joshua kissed her for the third time, Tina latched onto him and held on tight. From the first kiss until now, desire had smoldered between them, as potent as bootleg moonshine and heavier than wood smoke on the wind. As a nurse, she thought she could treat his bruises and wounded side with the same clinical detachment she’d displayed before, but she failed. The sight of his nude body evoked immediate appreciation, and desire curled in her belly. Tina tried to remain aloof but working and touching his skin inches away from her made it impossible.
When he shuddered, she thought it was genuine but the way he acted, she knew it wasn’t. His stiff cock delighted her and she flirted with him, shameless as a street hoochie. Tina couldn’t resist and his responses were priceless. When he said he wanted her, she played dumb until he revealed the truth and the moment he spoke, she knew what would happen.
His heat was contagious, a fever he spread to her via his mouth. Within seconds of impact, Joshua kindled her need into flame. He kissed her until she thought she’d pass out from lack of oxygen, but the sensations flooding her were too delicious to protest. Joshua pulled away long enough to gaze into her eyes. “Bedroom,” he said with a gasp. “Now.”
Tina nodded, too breathless for words as he grasped her hand and led her there. He stripped away the comforter and they fell onto the sheets together. Facing him, Tina stroked his skin, careful to avoid the wound she’d just doctored, and grinned when goose bumps spread beneath her touch. Joshua caressed her too, his hands fondling her breasts and fingers rubbing her nipples with slow, gentle motions. She savored the sensation, titillating, yet bordering on the edge of torture. When he fastened his mouth onto a nipple and suckled, an erotic shiver rippled through Tina.
To give back, she ran one finger down his chest and belly, taking her time until she reached his crotch. Tina seized his cock in her hand and squeezed, then ran her hand up and down it until he groaned. “You tryin’ to kill me or what?” he muttered as he flipped her onto her back. “Get ready.”
“For what?”
Joshua grinned. “To scream, honey, to scream.”
Before Tina had time to think, he mounted her hard, slamming into her pussy with force, but she welcomed him. She whimpered as he slid into place, her walls tight around him, and she clung to him to drive him deeper. Joshua filled her to capacity and with each stroke, every thrust he delivered brought pleasure. Tension built as her body craved more, as they strained together toward climax. Tina, though she hadn’t believed she would, did cry out, a hoarse, wordless noise. Her hands clawed the sheets beneath her and then clung to him.
Vision vanished but her other senses heightened until she doubted she could bear much more without losing either her mind or consciousness. Her ears echoed with his roar and her noise until everything else faded. Nothing mattered but his body and hers, the heat between them so potent and so strong she thought they might explode into flames. The world shrank to them, nothing more, and still Tina locked her legs around his torso to keep her place. If she didn’t, she might fly into oblivion.
At last, teetering on the brink of madness, her body tense with need, urgency triumphed. Joshua withdrew all but the tip of his cock and then re-entered with force. His impact set off waves of pleasure and her body spasmed with orgasmic wonder. He took time to kiss her and at the utmost instant, they came together in a glorious rush, mouths connected as tight as their bodies.
He collapsed onto her and she put her arms around him, cradling him close. As her breathing gradually slowed and returned to a normal rate, Tina could feel his heartbeat against her breasts. Once he caught his breath, Joshua rolled to the side and shot a grin in her direction.
“Oh, honey,” he said.
With more composure than she felt, Tina said, “You did it.”
“What?”
“I screamed like a peacock.”
“Yeah, I noticed.”
Tina traced his smile with one finger and grinned back. He caught it and kissed it. “I thought I might pass out for a few minutes there, but I managed to hang tough.”
A flicker of alarm invaded her contentment. “Oh Joshua, you’re serious?”
“I am. but it’s all right, honey. I didn’t.”
She managed to wrap her fingers around his wrist. His pulse beat ran steady and at the proper pace so she relaxed. “You probably shouldn’t have exerted yourself so much,” she said and smiled. “But I’m glad you did. Are you okay?”
His lip curled. “I’m worn out and a little woozy but I think that’s from the loving. A little sleep, I’ll be good.”
She noted he called it ‘loving’ and not sex. Tina liked that, very much. “Sleep’s my prescription for you but we need to finish with the witch hazel and comfrey.”
Joshua touched his side and lifted fingers stained brown. “I think you’ll have to re-do it.”
The herb paste hadn’t had time to dry. Deep brown comfrey smears marred the sheets and comforter. So did a little blood. “Damn,” Tina said. “I’ll have to strip the bed and remake it, I guess. Or we can sleep in my bed upstairs.”
She’d done the deed in Gramps’ bed but she didn’t mind. The old man would’ve liked it, she thought. Her grandfather had an earthy side and hadn’t been afraid to show it.
With a groan, Joshua raised up on one elbow. “You’re gonna’ make me climb stairs?
A teasing note lightened his voice. “Yes.”
“Then all right, I’m game.”
An hour later, with his wound covered with comfrey, then gauze, and the bruises treated with witch hazel, they settled into her bed. Joshua’s eyes drooped with fatigue but his spirits remained high, and Tina decided their intimacy hadn’t derailed his recovery. She’d worried for a little while that it might have. She lay tucked against his right side with his arm around her, content.
Tina basked, comfortable as a cat lying on a sunlit windowsill. She’d never been loved with such intensity combined with tenderness. Her free hand stroked his chest, mindful to be cautious of the bruises. “Are you good?”
The slight shake of his head was almost imperceptible. “Uh-huh,” he murmured. “I’m fantastic, never better.”
“No pain?”
“What? Oh, yeah, some but not worth talkin’ about. I’m damn sleepy, though.”
“So sleep.”
“I think I will. Staying with me?”
She snuggled closer. “I am.”
Within minutes, his body relaxed and breathing shifted. Tina used her free hand to pull the quilt over them both. She savored his closeness, very aware she’d never slept with a man after sex until now. Her partners had always dressed and departed—or she had. The lingering closeness pleased her and the idea she might love Joshua flitted through her mind, elusive but real. In her cozy state, Tina soon slept too and dreamed.
Sunlight
filtered through the trees, green and full with leaves. She walked across the emerald grass, inhaling the succulent aroma of honeysuckle on the light wind. Joshua met her and kissed her, his mouth sweeter than honey. His heat rivaled the summer temperatures and she ran her hands down his shirtless torso. No bruises remained and his side had healed.
“I love you,” he told her.
Happiness bubbled up from deep within as Tina laughed with delight. She loved him too and opened her mouth to tell him so.
Noise roused her and shattered the dream with reality. Tina opened her eyes, disoriented and clueless for a moment. The phone, she thought, it’s the damn telephone. She switched on the bedside lamp and groped to answer, unaware of the time. “Hello.”
Her cousin’s voice rang loud. “Tina? Were you asleep?”
“Uh, yeah, I think so.” Her thickheaded brain struggled to function. “What time is it?”
It had to be late, midnight or past, but Charley debunked her theory. “It’s about nine thirty, that’s all. I didn’t figure I’d wake you up and I’m sorry but I need to talk to you.”
Something in his sharp tone warned her. “What’s the matter?”
“I told you he’d be trouble,” Charley said, smug.
“Who?”
“I’m talking about your catch of the day.”
“Joshua?” As if there were anyone else it could be.
On cue, he stirred beside her and sat up. “Tina, what’s up?”
Charley heard and swore. “Shit! Don’t tell me you’re in bed with him? You are, aren’t you?”
“That’s none of your business, cuz.”
“Maybe, maybe not, but you’ll want to know what I do.”
“What?”
“Two guys showed up over here, nosing around the truck and boat,” Charley said. “I went out to see what in hell they wanted and they hedged around the questions, finally said they were looking for a friend. They described your friend to a T. I said I’d never seen anyone like that and they said they were looking all along the river. I got a bad feeling about them, Tina, and if your buddy’s associated with them…”
Quite the Catch Page 6
