“And probably dated plenty of boys too.”
She snorted. “Did I mention that my father was a Navy SEAL? Everyone in my class knew that and every one of the boys was terrified of what my father might do to them if they even glanced in my direction. So no. I didn’t date much in high school. Only a few of the boys were brave enough to approach me and, of those, none of them were brave enough to make a move on me. My curfew was nine o’clock on the weekdays and eleven o’clock on weekends. That meant that I was usually home by ten forty-five on any date I went on because the boys were terrified of what my father would do if I came home late.”
Zeke laughed. “Yeah, I can imagine being a bit particular about the boys my daughter dates.”
She tilted her head. “What about the girls your son dates?”
“Nah! My son will be able to take…” he stopped, realizing exactly where he was going. “Okay, let me rephrase that,” he replied with a chuckle.
Abby looked at him with a “Gotcha!” smile. “Please do.”
He grinned and reached out to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. “My daughter will know how to protect herself. And I will caution my son about the wiles of women.” He leaned over and kissed her gently. “Better?”
Abby laughed, then looked started when he shifted so that he was looming over her. “Wait a minute! How did we get into this position?”
He nuzzled her neck. “Obviously, your father didn’t teach you how to avoid precarious situations with wily men.”
She laughed, but his hand slipped under her sweater and her breath caught in her throat, shocked at the sensation of his touch and the desire that burned through her.
“What are you doing?”
He smiled, his hand sliding over her stomach. “I’m touching you.”
“But…we should wait.” Her tongue darted out, wetting her lips. “Your back. It isn’t healed.”
His mouth nibbled along her neck. “We’re not going to make love today, Abby. We’re going to take things very slowly.” He nuzzled a spot under her ear while he continued to stroke her waist. “You might trust me with your safety, but you still don’t trust me with your body, do you?”
She thought about that for a long moment, knowing that his comment wasn’t exactly right. When the realization came to her, she held her breath. She trusted him with her body, yes. Completely. But she didn’t trust him with her heart. That was the real risk she took right at this particular moment. And it scared her more than she’d thought possible.
“Zeke, we should…”
“Shhh,” he whispered. “Just tell me when to stop. We’re only going to make out tonight. Just like in high school.”
Was that more dangerous? She didn’t know and she didn’t have a chance to figure that out. Because he was kissing her again. His lips were surprisingly gentle. Brushing his lips against hers, he nibbled and teased until she uttered a protest and lifted her head, capturing his mouth with hers.
That’s when things became dangerous! Abby moaned as he took control of the kiss, his lips moving sensuously over hers, urging her to open her mouth. When she did, his tongue took over the teasing while his hands continued to slide along her skin. With every new inch of skin he touched, her body trembled and she felt as if she wanted to wrap herself around him!
Every muscle in Zeke’s body was tense with the effort to keep himself under control. They were out in the open and, it wasn’t probable, but it was possible someone could come upon them here by the creek. So as much as he wanted to make love to Abby right here, right now, Zeke held back, controlling his touches and refusing to let himself pull her sweater off so that he could feast his eyes on her breasts. He wanted to taste her nipples and…he shook his head and pulled back, his erection throbbing at the idea of tasting her everywhere!
“We should stop,” he groaned, but he didn’t move. His hips were between her legs, their jeans the only thing stopping him from pressing into her body and finding the nirvana he knew he would find there.
Abby arched. “You started it!” she hissed.
He laughed, shaking his head in a pointless effort to disperse some of the lust clouding his mind. “Yeah. I know and it was a mistake.” He pushed away, sitting up but his jeans were pretty uncomfortable with the painful erection pressing against the zipper. “Damn, Abby! You get me hotter than a teenager!” he groaned with a chuckle.
Abby sat up as well and he could see that she was shaking. “I’m…” he started to reach for her, but she pushed away, laughing. “Don’t you dare touch me again, Zeke Jeffers!” And she stood up, putting several feet of distance between them. Shoving her hair out of her eyes, she looked around. “No touching until…” she sighed, bowing her head. “No touching until your back is healed. Two more days, Zeke. Two more days and then, if you are still interested, then I’ll…” she jumped back as he lunged at her.
“My back is fine,” he vowed, reaching for her.
But Abby jumped out of reach again. “You can’t even see your back, Zeke. And it’s healing beautifully, but it’s not ready for the strain of what’s on your mind. My stitches are good, but not good enough for what will happen when we finally…”
“Get naked,” he finished for her and stepped closer, not letting her jump away from him again. “That’s what we’re going to do, Abby,” he growled with barely restrained frustration. “We’re going to get naked so fast that it will make your head spin.”
She stared up at him, not sure what to say after that. “Right. But um…”
“You’ll enjoy it,” he told her, reading her mind. “I promise that you will be screaming my name until you’re hoarse.
Abby laughed, not believing him. “Um…Zeke, I’m not really the screaming sort of woman.”
His fingers dug into her waist just a little. “Just you wait, Abby.” He looked into her eyes. “Screaming! You’ll be begging and it will be amazing! Freaking amazing!”
He could see in her eyes that she didn’t believe him, but that was okay. He had two more days to wait, and then he’d prove it to her. And afterward, when she was in his arms, breathless and limp, he’d repeat her words right back at her.
In the meantime… “It’s still early,” he commented. “Why don’t we pack this up and see if there’s a movie we want to watch?”
She looked up at him, surprised by his question. “A movie?”
He started to pack the rest of the food away. “Do you not like movies?”
She chuckled and bent to help him. “I love movies. I just…”
He realized where she was going with that statement and laughed. “Abby, I like you. I enjoy spending time with you.”
Abby paused, looking over her shoulder at him. Confused. “It’s not just sex?” she challenged, tilting her head quizzically.
Zeke snorted at that question. “Hell yes! It’s sex. But,” he paused, looking at her as if he didn’t really understand it either. “But there is more to it than just sex. So much more.”
She blinked up at him and Zeke wanted to shout or laugh or…hell, maybe howl. “I just scared the hell out of you, didn’t I?”
Abby nodded slowly, chewing her lower lip.
He kissed her again, but this time it was a gentle, sweet kiss. “Don’t be scared, Abby. We’ll take it slow. I promise not to scare you away.”
She laughed and he pulled her into his arms. In his mind, she fit against him perfectly. She wasn’t too short because when he held her like this, they just…fit. Abby felt…right.
“We’ll figure this out.”
She laughed and he felt her soft lips against his neck. Damn, he liked that! He liked her touching him, liked holding her even if they couldn’t do anything more than this. He wished she would stop worrying about his back. But then again, he respected her far superior medical knowledge so he didn’t try to downplay her concerns. She was right, he couldn’t see his back and he really had no idea what was going on. He was simply going on past experience with how his body healed.
Then he remembered that this might be more than just giving his back time to heal. Abby might need a bit more time to come to terms with what was happening between them. And damn it, he was going to give that time to her! It might kill him, but he was going to do it.
Chapter 6
Abby smiled as she walked into the hospital three days later. Zeke was…amazing! She’d never met a man that was as sweet and wonderful as Zeke. With all of his big, delicious muscles, Abby was discovering that he really was a big pussy cat. He loved to bake and, every time he picked her up, he’d hand her something that he’d baked the night before or, in the case of the bread he’d brought her last night, that he’d just taken out of the oven before coming to pick her up.
That loaf of bread hadn’t been spared and she ran a hand down over her stomach. The bread last night had been…oh my! He’d added turmeric to the dough. So, it was a yellow loaf of warm, crusty bread that smelled divine! She’d smothered it in butter, closing her eyes as she savored the flavor of the bread. When she’d opened her eyes, there had been an odd expression on his handsome features. But he’d said nothing. Instead, he’d taken her hand and led her out of her apartment, not even giving her time to put the bread away.
So far, he’d taken her to the firing range where she’d completely lost the competition that she’d secretly had going with him. She was an Army Captain, so she’d gone through all of the normal basic training that every soldier had to go through. But she’d prided herself on her sharpshooting skills. Unfortunately, her skills had deteriorated with lack of use over the years. Whereas Zeke could really shoot! He was amazing! When their target papers were taken down, there had been one large hole in his paper. One hole! At first, she’d looked at the paper and wondered where all of his bullets had gone, assuming that he’d missed. But no! Zeke hadn’t missed. The guy had zeroed in on the same place and hit the same mark with every shot. Meanwhile, her bullets had been in a good grouping, but they were fanned out across the target.
Another night, they’d gone for a long walk down by the river and he’d bought her dinner with ice cream afterwards. It had been a sweet, romantic night and she’d sighed with happiness when he’d walked her to her door. But then he’d kissed her and all of that sweetness had been obliterated by sensuality and desire. Abby hadn’t been smiling when she’d stepped into her apartment that night. In fact, she’d been frustrated, her body tingling with awareness and anticipation.
So, tonight was the night. She’d changed his bandage on his back every night and the wound had healed beautifully. In fact, she’d even considered taking the stitches out last night. His back had healed amazingly fast. But she wasn’t surprised. The man ate healthy foods, knew how to relax through baking, and exercised like a demon. He was in top physical shape. Bodies healed well when they were healthy to begin with.
“You’re doing it again.”
Abby blinked, looking up to find Cathy smirking at her from the other side of the nurse’s station.
“Doing what?”
The lively nurse leaned forward, glanced to the right and left, then whispered, “You’re thinking about him!”
Abby laughed, but felt her cheeks heat up. “Is it that obvious?”
Cathy shrugged. “Only because I know you. To someone else, you probably just look like you’re losing your mind.” She shrugged. “Only crazy people go around smiling like that all the time.” She shook her head. “And the sighs! Good grief, woman! Stop sighing!”
Abby laughed as she walked away, heading off to examine the next patient.
Several minutes later, Abby smiled, finished writing her notes in the patient’s chart, and moved on to her next patient of the morning. But the whole day, she thought about Zeke and what would happen tonight. Several times, she shivered in anticipation and had to laugh at her silliness. Sex was fine. It was good and fine and…just fine. She loved snuggling afterwards, but would it be different with Zeke?
A little after three o’clock that afternoon, just after she’d changed scrubs because a patient had thrown up all over her, she trudged grimly through the emergency room when she received a text message. Thinking it was related to one of her patients, she hurriedly checked the message.
“Have to postpone tonight. Will get back in touch as soon as I can. Z.”
That’s it. Nothing else? Where was he going? Why did he have to cancel? Was it some sort of family emergency? That must be it, she decided as she slid her phone back into her pocket. Grabbing the chart for a new patient, she read through the information, but a part of her mind wondered about Zeke’s message. It had been cryptic, but that was Zeke. He wasn’t a flowery message kind of guy.
Still, the message seemed…strange. What did it mean? Was he okay?
With a sigh, she knew that she’d just have to wait until she could call him after work. So she sighed and focused on her patients.
Chapter 7
Three days! She hadn’t heard from Zeke in three days! What in the world was going on? He hadn’t responded to her texts. He hadn’t answered her phone calls. Was this thing between them over before it had really begun?
The thought was so depressing that she pretended she hadn’t thought it. Fighting back the tears, she focused on the stitches she was sewing on a man who had cut himself in a bar fight. With a glass bottle, no less, so the edges were ragged and…and what kind of an idiot gets into a bar fight at ten o’clock in the morning?! Fighting back her anxious frustration, because she knew it was for Zeke, not her patient, she finished off the stitches. “Okay, you’re all set,” she announced.
“Thanks, Doc,” the guy said, starting to slide off of the gurney.
“Hold up,” she cautioned, writing out a prescription. And that action almost sent her to tears. Because the whole situation seemed like a repeat of what she’d done with Zeke just over a week ago. Taking a deep breath, she finished the prescription and handed it over. “Here. You’re going to need to apply this ointment to the wound twice a day and…” she paused, blinking back the tears, “…and change the bandage daily.”
“Uh…thanks.” The man took the prescription, looking at her warily. “You okay?”
Abby nodded. “I’m fine. Thank you.”
At that moment, two military police officers stepped into the exam area. “Are you finished with him, Doctor Fisher?” one of them asked.
Abby nodded at the MPs, knowing that they were there to take the guy into custody. A soldier wasn’t allowed to get into a bar fight. Not even at ten o’clock in the morning. It simply wasn’t allowed. Oh, bar fights happened all the time. But if the military police got involved, then the soldier faced serious consequences.
Taking a deep breath, she scribbled on his chart, then slid it over to the nurse who would file it.
The rest of the afternoon was just as tedious and all she wanted to do was to head home and soak in a hot bubble bath so that she could wallow with a big glass of wine. She wanted to put her headphones on and listen to music while she sipped the wine and thought about nothing at all.
Adding insult to her predicament, it was Friday night and, because she’d been hoping to go out and do something with Zeke tonight, or even better, stay in with Zeke tonight, she hadn’t made plans with her friends. So she had nothing on the agenda for her night, or even her weekend.
How depressing. She felt like a grouchy bear as she unlocked her car door. Driving home, she considered stopping by the grocery store for some ice cream. But the thought of dealing with the crowds was just too much. She didn’t seem to have the energy for that tonight.
So instead, she drove back to her apartment and lugged her bag up the stairs. She’d just locked the door, not intending to head out again, when a knock sounded on the door. A hard, demanding knock!
Who in the world?!
Opening the door, she was ready to lambast the person on the other side for being so rude about the knock when she gasped! It was Zeke! He was standing in her doorway and…nope! Not in her doorwa
y! Nope, he was walking into her apartment. He was pushing her back against the wall and…kissing her!
The melting was almost instantaneous! Zeke’s hard body, his persuasive lips, and…all of him. She even liked the way he smelled and Abby hadn’t ever thought that a man smelled good or bad! But goodness, Zeke smelled delicious! All male and powerful and manly!
His hands! Good grief, his hands were everywhere! Under her skirt and…wait, why were his hands under her skirt! Abby tried to concentrate, pulling her mouth away from his, but he simply moved his mouth to her neck, which felt amazingly good! Yes! When he kissed her there, just like that, she wanted to melt into his arms.
Still, something was bothering her. She couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was, but Abby knew that it was important.
“Zeke!” she gasped. “Wait! I can’t…!”
He pulled away, bracing his hands on the wall behind her head so he wasn’t touching her any longer. Suddenly, she felt…cold. Abandoned!
Staring up into his eyes, she tried to catch her breath but…he looked so delicious! His tee shirt was untucked from his jeans and…had she done that?
“Do you need more time?” he asked, his voice rough with desire. “I can do that. Just say the word. It might kill me, but I will wait until you’re ready, Abby.”
Was she ready? Yes! Good grief, she was so ready! More ready than she’d ever thought possible! No man had ever had her this ready! She felt as if one more touch from him might just cause her to combust.
Pushing her hand through her hair, she realized that he was watching her, his eyes glittering with need. Did he really want her to touch him that much?
More heat sizzled through her with that realization. But she paused, trying to remember…what? What did she need to remember?
“Abby,” Zeke murmured, disrupting her thoughts. “Talk to me. Tell me yes or no. Slow down or keep going. You’re in charge here. Tell me what you want.”
Zeke (Delta Forces Book 2) Page 5
