by Jennie Adams
‘We should go before this gets any worse. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.’
‘Wait.’ In sync with his demand, the lights in the building flickered out, too, as did all the discernible lights outside the area. With the street momentarily empty of cars, they were pitched into utter darkness by what appeared to be at least a localised blackout, possibly something more widespread.
He swore, sharply and fluently, and heard her draw a sharp breath.
‘Would you help me to my car?’ Her words were stiff. ‘I’m…not very good in the dark.’
‘I can’t see, either.’ But he could hear, could sense her presence to his left and could smell her light, familiar scent.
I could find her in a snowstorm even without that elusive scent. She’s like a homing beacon to me. I would find her anywhere.
He sucked up a startled breath. Chrissy was no homing beacon, and he was no marooned life form looking for someone to guide him to safe harbour!
Yet he wanted her so much. The last thing he needed was a night in close proximity to her. He wasn’t sure his resistance could meet the challenge.
Would the blackout last all night? It would probably depend on how widespread it was. His frustration flared into incautious words. ‘Great. Now we’re trapped here together for who knows how long. Could it get any worse? This is about the last thing I need.’
As soon as he spoke, he wished the words unsaid, but the damage was done.
‘If you don’t want to assist me to my car,’ she enunciated in frozen tones, ‘I’ll get there myself. I certainly don’t want to be any sort of burden to you.’
Damn it. He hadn’t felt this inept since high school. He softened his voice and reached for her hand, found it in the darkness and clasped the chilled fingers. ‘Let’s get to my car, first of all. It’s the closest.’
‘Fine.’ She tugged her hand free and clasped his arm with stiff fingers. ‘When we reach it, you can shine your lights so I can find my way to Gertie. Being trapped any place with you is the last thing I need, too, you know!’
‘I didn’t mean to upset you—’
‘That’s perfectly all right.’ He sensed the stiffness in her body at his side. ‘I’m reassured, actually, that you’ve finally come to your senses and accepted there should be nothing between us.’
‘There’s nothing wrong with my senses and never has been. You’re the one who’s been fighting your own nature and throwing down ridiculous dictates.’ It was because his senses wouldn’t let up that he felt so irritable now.
‘I don’t dictate,’ she huffed. ‘I request in a polite and rational manner. There’s nothing ridiculous about me.’
‘No, there isn’t. Actually, I think I’m the fool.’ He guided her toward his car in silence, cursing the darkness that made movement slow. ‘Here it is.’
He unlocked his car and looked at her in the glow of the dim interior light. Fire and anger burned in her face, in her eyes. Every shred of sense told him he should see her to her car, then spend however long their incarceration lasted safely tucked into his. Far away from her.
Except that, even in anger, she was so beautiful she took his breath away. And that her unease with the storm and the darkness clearly showed despite her efforts to disguise it.
‘Thank you.’ She stepped back, the tremble in her voice barely detectable. ‘If you’ll shine your headlights—’
‘You can’t drive away, Chrissy. We can’t get out at all. We’re trapped here until the blackout is over.’ He could have finessed the bald truth. Instead, he simply sounded frustrated again. ‘With the electricity off, we’re stuck. The boom gates—’
‘We can’t be trapped. Surely we can…’ The pitch of her voice was higher than usual. It revealed her tension and unease.
But there was a different kind of unease in her eyes. Only one thing brought that particular look to a woman. Despite what she had said on Saturday and her behaviour since, she still wanted him.
‘The only way out would be to try to smash through the boom gates with one of our cars.’ His harsh words reflected his state of mind.
‘We’re really stuck here until the lights come back on, then.’ She pinned on a brave face that stripped away his anger. ‘I guess we can’t get back into the building, either.’
‘The keypad for the lift is electronic. There’s a stairwell escape from inside the building to the parking lot, but it’s—’
‘Locked from the inside.’ She rubbed her hands together in a nervous gesture. ‘Well, I guess I’ll just sit in my car until the lights come back on. I hope I can get a reception on my cellphone down here so I can let Bella and Soph know what’s happened.’
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘I DON’T want to leave you alone in your car for who knows how long.’ Nate’s words were as dark as the storm, but underlaid with a gentleness revealed by the transient touch of his hand against hers.
They stood in the arc of light thrown by his car’s opened door. Chrissy wanted to remain angry toward him. Instead, his caring warmed her. She understood his frustration, too, for she shared it. His words earlier had simply been a snarled attempt to keep need at bay.
That need in him fuelled hers and her hunger warred with her caution. Emotions polarised, she held back a moan. ‘I…don’t want to be alone.’ She shouldn’t have admitted it. But this—the storm, the blackout, the two of them trapped as though they were alone in the world—was too much.
‘Damn it, Chrissy.’ He didn’t move, but it seemed as though all of him drew closer to her. ‘I’m on a thin line, here. That didn’t help me.’
Inexplicably, hearing it, knowing she had voiced her feelings, released her and she stopped worrying quite so much. She gestured toward the other side of the car park. ‘I have some things in my car that might be useful. If we’re going to be here awhile, I’ll be happy to share them.’
‘We should wait the storm out in my car. It’s roomier.’ Despite his words, she noticed his hesitation.
‘We can just talk.’ The need to reassure him was alien, but somehow seemed right just now. ‘Or doze or something. Look on the bright side—at least we had dinner brought in earlier.’
‘Yeah. I guess that’s something good, and we can do that. Talk, and stuff.’ His voice held residual disbelief, but he flicked the convertible’s headlights on and they moved to her car.
She sent a quick text message to Bella—Blackout. Stuck at work. Don’t worry. Then leaned into the car.
‘OK. Let’s see what I’ve got here.’ She retrieved two Afghan lap rugs from the backseat, a red cushion in the shape of a heart and a bottle of water.
Nate’s brows rose with each addition to their pile of goodies. ‘Not a bad haul.’
Still feeling a bit embarrassed about that heart-shaped cushion—a Valentine’s day gift bought for herself a couple of years ago—she muttered something she hoped was appropriate and made for his car.
‘Do you have any necessities hidden away in your car?’ She asked the question to cover the return of her nervousness as they shucked off their coats and climbed into the convertible. The leather bench seat was slippery. She almost slid right into his lap. ‘Somehow I don’t think of necessities when I look at this car, though.’
‘What do you think of?’
‘Oh, you know.’ She flapped the hand that didn’t hold the heart cushion.
Sin in all its most tempting, Nate-related formats is mostly what I think of when I think of this car.
‘Ah, I think of, ah, a past era. Drive-in movies.’ Necking. Kissing you. ‘That sort of thing.’
He grinned and held the blankets up. The expression on his face told her he had read her thoughts. ‘We’ll pool these and our coats for warmth.’
‘Are you sure we need to share? We could sort of huddle into one each….’
‘We do need to huddle.’ He agreed readily enough, but with a gleam in his eyes. ‘We just need to do it together, that’s all. But don’t worry. You said we should ta
lk or snooze. I’m game for that if you are.’
She gulped air while her heart pounded and her palms moistened and blood rushed to her head. ‘Oh, sure, I don’t mind sharing body heat, and, um, talking and stuff. Just how much heat do you think we’ll be making between us though?’
He slammed his door shut, plunging them into darkness. ‘Come this way a little, Christianna, and I’ll shift, too. We’ll meet in the middle and discover the answer to your question for ourselves.’
‘I won’t kiss you.’ It was a last, pathetic effort to hold back. To prevent her feelings from betraying her. To prevent herself from kissing the man senseless. And making herself senseless in the process.
‘I didn’t ask you to.’ She felt him shift in the darkness, heard the faint rustle of his clothing against the leather seat and caught the scent of day-old cologne from his skin.
‘O-OK.’ She removed her glasses and laid them on the dashboard. Then shuffled across the seat. Felt the softness of the Afghans close over her as he tugged her against his side and covered them both. The weight of their coats followed.
The red cushion slid onto the seat. She had Nate’s body to warm her, and the rise and fall of his chest beneath her hand for comfort.
With a slight gasp, she raised her hand away from where it had unknowingly settled.
Nate caught it and returned it to its position against his chest. ‘Whatever you want, Chrissy. However little or however much, any way, any time.’
Did he realise how little restraint she had right now? She wanted to bury her head against his shoulder and soak him in through her skin. Her head drooped toward that enticing shoulder. She tried to lift it.
He put an arm over her shoulders and tucked her against his side, making the decision for her. ‘I haven’t tried to hide what I want, but this can still just be the two of us keeping warm in a car while we wait out a storm and a blackout. It doesn’t have to be more than that. You’re the one who chooses. OK?’
‘I don’t think I know if I’m OK any more.’ But they talked in low voices in a desultory fashion and eventually the combination of soft Afghans and hard, warm Nate lulled her into a state of contentment.
Her eyelashes fluttered and came to rest against her cheeks and with a quiet, confused sigh she drifted into the first layers of sleep. Aware but not fully conscious, she snuggled automatically closer as Nate’s arm tightened around her and he bent his head to nuzzle her face.
When his fingers moved in her hair, releasing it from its pins, she mumbled and sighed again in pleasure as the restraints were taken away.
‘Your hair is so beautiful. I wonder why you don’t wear it loose more often.’ Nate spoke aloud, aware that Chrissy was too far into sleep now to register his words. It was just as well, because he didn’t know how much longer he could have continued the pretence of being in control of his desire for her.
He wound a handful of those long brown tresses around his fist, and her face pressed into his neck. Her hand still rested against his chest, and he wanted it there. Wanted every connection with her that he could get.
Christianna Gable, if there was any way in the world that I could stay with a woman, I think that woman might very well be you.
The thought slipped through his defences. He shifted restlessly, but didn’t let go of her. After a long hesitation, he laid the seat back gently so they could rest easier.
‘Mmm. Nate.’ She snuggled into his side like a contented kitten, sending his body into instant overdrive.
He stared into the darkness, told his body to quiet and finally, in the early hours, when the city outside was at its quietest, the storm reduced to steady rain and her hair still fisted in his hand, he slept.
Chrissy woke to the sensation of Nate’s warm, sensual mouth pressed over hers, their kiss already deep and hot and greedy. Her senses awash with need, her defences all but non-existent, she moaned and clenched her hands on his shoulders.
They were lying down, their bodies melded in a needy press. As she opened her eyes a car passed by outside, illuminating just enough for her to see the heat in Nate’s sensual blue eyes. She should stop this. But right now, in Nate’s embrace, she couldn’t remember why.
She managed instead just a single word. ‘Nate?’
‘I’m here.’ Darkness enveloped them fully once again. His hands shaped her spine, and his voice deepened even more. ‘If I’m dreaming, I don’t want to wake up.’
‘The storm has finished.’ No rain, no thunder. Just her inner turmoil for company.
‘Has the storm finished?’ His soft question shivered down her spine. ‘Because I still want you, and there’s nothing calm or tranquil about that.’
‘Right, um, well, I guess…’ They had gravitated to each other in mutual desire, and now she wanted to let that desire take them further.
This will never happen again, so if I want to kiss him, why shouldn’t I? If I want to do more than kiss him— her breath caught—why shouldn’t I?
When he pushed her hair back off her face, she made her decision. She could have this one experience with him, and then let it go. Let him go. After all, it wasn’t as if she loved him or anything.
Forcing aside a sudden uneasiness, she curved her arm around his mid-section and raised her face to his.
His mouth covered hers in a swift, hungry press. The touch of his lips both demanded and gave as he drew her deep into the circle of his arms.
Nate…I want you to care for me as I care for you.
The thought rose, and again she squashed it. Later. She would worry about that later.
‘Sweet Christianna. I’ve wanted this.’ He rolled, taking her with him until she lay almost beneath him. Her heart almost stopped, then fluttered to deep, turbulent life as the kiss changed, deepened even more.
‘You have no idea how much I want you.’ His words brushed against her ear, whisper-soft, thrilling, empowering.
‘I want you, too.’ More than I can say. More than I’m willing to admit.
‘Chrissy.’ He moaned her name against her mouth, every muscle in his body locked, fighting need, fighting for control. ‘I think I should have insisted you leave your glasses on. You tempt me too much this way. I want to make love to you…’
He broke off. Took a moment to retrieve the Afghans and coats they had lost in their distraction and tuck them over her. Protection against the chilly air.
‘If you want to make love to me, then why don’t you?’ In her heart it was the only decision she could make.
‘Sweet lord, Chrissy. If you mean that…’
‘I do.’ It was all she could say, and the darkness shrouded her feelings, made it easy to say it.
He let out a low, growling rumble and bent to lave the flesh just beneath her ear with his tongue.
Shivers enveloped her.
‘You humble me.’ Nate nipped Chrissy’s skin with his teeth. His entire body was on red alert, utterly sensitised to hers. ‘You should stop me, if you don’t want this. I realise you might not have thought about what you’re doing, about what you said—’
‘I’ve thought.’ She tugged him closer. Made it clear what she had thought about. ‘I’m sure.’
‘Ah, dear lord.’ He buried his face in her hair, fighting for the control that had never deserted him with a woman. Pressed his body against hers for a single moment of mind-numbing relief that caused an equal amount of frustrated pain. Yet he couldn’t stop. ‘Open your mouth to me.’
‘You do the same.’ Her throaty directive fired his senses.
Tenderness gave way to a deeper need that rocked his world. Made him want to shout that she was his. That they belonged together and principles and scruples and every other impediment be damned.
All rational thought left him at that moment. Chased out by need and hunger and a sensual greediness that shocked him it its raw, elemental intensity. He had to have her. Had to make her his.
The storm of emotion that raged through him at the thought cut off his breath. He
didn’t understand it, and now wasn’t the time to try to work it out.
His arms locked around her. ‘Don’t move. Don’t change anything. I want you here. Right as you are.’
‘I don’t want to move, Nate. I…it feels too good.’
When their mouths met, he understood the sense of welcome he had felt upon waking with her in his arms. She made him feel as though he belonged, and he wanted that feeling of belonging. Rashly welcomed it.
With shaking hands, he tugged her blouse from the waistband of her skirt. His fingers swept her midriff with long strokes. ‘You’re so beautiful.’
‘I’m out of proportion. Thin and not very shapely on top—’
‘You’re perfect.’ His hands rose, cupped the lovely softness of her breasts. ‘Absolutely perfect in every way there is.’ He caressed her back, her bottom, her thighs. Clenched his teeth as desire begged for fulfilment. ‘Beautiful everywhere.’
‘I want to touch you, too.’ Her hands rose to the buttons of his shirt. ‘May I?’
‘Yes.’ Oh, please, yes!
Her hands on his bare chest made him tingle with longing. ‘You’re—I need you. Let me—’
‘I want it to be you, Nate. Only you.’
At her words, his mind whispered a warning, but his body refused to heed it. Locked to her, he couldn’t make himself let go.
But he hesitated for just a moment, and in that moment the lights in the car park flickered on. He could see her clearly. The innocence, the determination, the awakened look of a woman awaiting fulfilment.
‘No.’ He forced the denial from tight lips. ‘What was I doing? This shouldn’t have happened.’
How could he have let things get this far, when he knew he wouldn’t stay? Self-recrimination filled him with bitter regret.
‘What do you mean?’ Confusion rang in her voice. The beginnings of the truth clouded her eyes. ‘Nate, we don’t have to stop. We can—’
‘Don’t say it.’ He dredged the words out of the shred of control that remained. Growled them in a tone roughened by self-blame and residual hunger.
