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“Well, there are flying paramedics in Texas. Perhaps you can get your license?”
Kody scrubbed a hand over his face. “It’s costly and you need to invest a lot of time in learning to fly. Perhaps one day. Right now, Lucy needs me.”
“You’re a good dad.” She smiled at him, her brown eyes twinkling in the flickering firelight. “I misjudged you.”
“How?” he asked.
“You were this fun-loving, charismatic guy. Men I know like that often play the field.”
He was shocked. “I’ve never been a player. There’s only been Jenny, and a handful of dates I went on about a year ago that went nowhere. That’s hardly playboy material.”
“I understand that now,” she said. “And I’m glad you’re not. Guys like that aren’t good for the heart.” She blushed. “What I mean is...”
He chuckled. “I understand. Still, it does secretly please me you thought I was charming enough to be a player.”
And it did. It made his pulse quicken in anticipation that she thought he was something of a bad boy. That she thought of him like that. That she thought about him more than just as a paramedic who annoyed her.
Sandra smiled at him; there was a dimple in her cheek and her chocolate-brown eyes lit with a sparkle he’d never seen. It made him feel warm; it shook away the remnants of the pain that were threatening to take over. The grief that he’d learned to compartmentalize in the last five years since Jenny slipped away.
“You have a beautiful smile, Sandra. Really beautiful,” he whispered.
“Thanks.”
“You should smile more.”
“Why? Because I’m only pretty when I smile?”
“No! No, you’re beautiful all the time. I’ve always thought so. I just like it when you smile at me.”
And before he knew what he was doing he reached out to touch her face. She let out a little sigh and she leaned forward, kissing him and sending an electric buzz through him that he hadn’t felt in a long, long time.
Sandra didn’t mean to kiss Kody. When he’d told her she was beautiful and touched her, she’d lost all control. Kissing him had never been in the plans.
Liar. It so was.
She’d thought about it once or twice or more since she’d met him. She’d just never thought she’d act on it.
Liar. You so did.
“I’m sorry,” she said, quickly breaking off the kiss. And she was. She didn’t know what had come over her. She was so moved by his story. So moved by the emotion he stirred in her, she couldn’t hold back. It had been so long since she’d felt this way about anyone.
She’d thought, after Alex and her failed marriage, that she would never feel that way about another man again. She was so burned out, so lonely, but then Kody had shared a piece of himself with her. She’d shared her vulnerability and he in turn had shared his own.
It meant a lot.
“Don’t be sorry,” Kody said and then he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her back. She rose to her knees and he rose to meet her. Their bodies pressed together. His kiss was tender at first, but then urgent.
And she responded in kind to that urgency.
That need that she had been trying so hard to ignore. She hoped that if they just shared this moment of release, she could move on. He’d be the first man she slept with since Alex, and Kody was the exact type of man to help her move past the pain that held her back. Still, the thought that Kody was the first since Alex scared her. Being intimate and vulnerable was overwhelming, but she wanted—needed—this moment. She wanted to move on, and she was glad that it was with Kody. She moved her hands down his back, slipping them under his shirt.
“Sandra, are you sure?” His voice was husky.
“I’m sure. I know that you can’t promise me anything and I can’t do that either, but I think we both need this.”
Kody didn’t respond vocally, but kissed her again, making her blood sing with need. His hands were in her hair and then on her back as he pressed her down against the blanket on the floor, in front of the fire.
The only sounds were crackling fire, the roaring rain and her pulse thundering in her ears as her body came alive under his touch. Sandra melted against his kisses and there was a frenzied need to be just skin to skin with him.
To have no layers between them.
Just warmth and touch.
Human contact.
A groan slipped past Kody’s lips as her hands slid inside the waistband of his jeans. She undid the button and the fly and then he pulled off her sweater. It was a joint effort. No words were needed. They both knew what they wanted.
The only sounds between them were their hungry kisses.
She knew what she wanted in this moment.
And that was Kody.
She wanted to feel every inch of him. Feel him buried deep inside her. His kisses left her lips, burning a path of flames down her neck, over her collarbone to her breasts. She arched her back. She was ready, so ready for this to happen. So ready for him to claim her and that it was Kody for this first time since Alex. Since her heart was broken.
She wrapped her legs around his waist, letting him silently know she burned for him, just as she knew he burned for her.
“Are you sure, Sandra?” he asked again.
“Yes.” She kissed him, running her hands through his silky black hair. “So sure.”
Kody didn’t kiss her, just held her locked in his gaze. She was lost deep in his eyes as he entered her. Sandra cried out, but not from pain, from the release she felt at trusting someone to be intimate with her again. The sense of vulnerability he made her feel.
As if she didn’t have to hold back in this moment. It was freeing. It was hot and frenzied and exactly what she needed. For far too long she’d been holding back, trying to find the bits and pieces that Alex had stolen from her when he’d cheated on her, when he’d told her that she was a disappointment for not being able to carry a child.
Kody didn’t expect any of that from her and it was freeing. So freeing it was heady. The feel of his strong hands on her body, on her hips, guiding her in a rhythm they both found pleasurable. She held on to his shoulders, not wanting to let him go, not wanting this moment to end.
It didn’t take long, and she climaxed around him, crying out, and he joined her soon after. He rested his head on her shoulder for a moment, before rolling over on his back, trying to catch his breath, his arm wrapped around her shoulder.
“We should probably get dressed again, so we don’t freeze to death,” she said. Not that she wanted to get up. Her legs felt like jelly and her head was spinning. She pulled on her clothes and then grabbed the blanket.
Kody tended the fire and threw on some more wood. He’d put on his jeans, but not his shirt. She arched an eyebrow in question.
“It’s better for body heat.” He smiled and kissed her forehead. “Thank you.”
Heat bloomed in her cheeks. “Thank you too. I hope... I hope this won’t be awkward at work. This can only be a one-time thing.”
“I know and, no, it won’t be awkward.” He smiled and wrapped his arm around her. They lay back down on the hard floor. He let her use his shirt as a pillow, as her head was throbbing still, and he tucked the blanket around them. He spooned her from behind.
“That feels nice,” she murmured.
“Good,” he said gently. “Try to rest. Hopefully someone will find us in the morning. If not, we should be able to walk to your place and let people know we’re still alive.”
“What about your little girl?” Sandra asked.
“She’s with her grandma and grandpa. She’s safe.”
“Good.”
No more words were needed, and Sandra slipped into a peaceful sleep as she hadn’t had in a long, long time.
CHAPTER THREE (#u6912cb45-7db5-51fd-b9fc-ba2e1723427f)
“KODY!”
Kody woke to someone screaming his name.
“Kody!”
He blinked as sunlight streamed in through the open window. It was blinding and right in his eye.
Where the heck am I?
And it took him a moment to realize that it was morning and that Dr. Sandra Foster was curled up beside him. It all came flooding back to him then. He’d made love to Sandra. He’d become lost in the moment after they’d opened up and shared and he’d completely lost his head and all sense of reason.
Completely.
He’d never opened up about Jenny before and he’d never thought he could ever be with someone again, but Sandra had got through to him.
It had been a long time since he’d wanted someone, but reaching through to Sandra and understanding why she held people at a distance just made him admire her drive and determination more.
And she looked so peaceful, sleeping beside him. A touch of pink in her cheeks, her lips parted as she breathed softly.
He remembered the touch of those lips against his and the warmth of her embrace. The feel of her nails in his back.
He wanted her again.
You can’t have her again. One time only, remember?
And he had to keep reminding himself of that. This was a one-time thing. A moment of comfort between the two of them.
That was all it could be.
And he’d thought one time would be enough. It scared him that he wanted her so fiercely again.
“Kody!”
He recognized that voice. It was Sally calling him. He got up, trying not to disturb Sandra, and his back protested after having spent the night on a hardwood floor. He went to the door and walked outside. The temperature had dropped, breaking the heat wave that had been plaguing Austin the last couple of days. The breeze was cool and earthy, but also there was not a cloud in the sky, which meant the risk of flash flooding was past them.
He saw a team of first responders and a fire truck down the hill. And part of the first responders was his sister, Sally, who was calling his name frantically.
“Sweet Pea! Here!” He waved and Sally came running up the hill. She ran straight into his arms.
“Oh, thank God!” she said. “When I saw your truck... I was worried you were washed away, like the other one farther down the creek.”
“The SUV?”
Sally nodded, stepping back. “Yeah, we couldn’t find a body, though. Ross has his team looking farther downstream of Burl’s Creek.”
“That’s Dr. Fraser’s SUV. She was hit by a mudslide and I got her out.” Kody turned and saw that Sandra was standing in the door, looking just as confused as he first was when he’d woken up this morning.
“What’s going on?” Sandra asked.
“We’re being rescued,” he said over his shoulder before turning back to Sally. “You can call off Ross’s search party. Dr. Fraser is fine.”
“Is she hurt?” Sally asked, noticing his crude bandage job on Sandra.
“She was hurt, but it was superficial.”
“Still, it should be looked at. Both of you need to be checked out. If you have any cuts, you’ll need a course of antibiotics. You know mudslides contain bacteria that can contain flesh-eating properties,” Sally stated.
“Right,” Kody said, exhausted. He ran his hand through his hair and winced.
“You okay?” Sally asked, worried.
“Just stiff. Please take care of Dr. Fraser.”
Sally nodded and approached Sandra. He could hear them talking—Sandra was a bit standoffish. More like her old self, but he couldn’t shake the image of how it had been last night. When it had been just the two of them, as one.
His blood heated as he thought about her in his arms. The way her lips had felt on his and how tender she’d been.
It had been a long time since he’d been with anyone.
There hadn’t been anyone since Jenny, and in a way he felt guilty. Even though Jenny had told him to move on, to find happiness after she died, there was a part of him that still felt guilty. As if he had cheated on her memory.
You didn’t. Jenny’s been gone for five years.
And it was a one-time thing. He had to keep reminding himself of that. It was a one-time thing. Only he was fooling himself. Why did he ever think that once would be enough?
Either way, it had to be.
He’d promised Sandra that.
Sally helped Sandra out of the cabin.
“Let’s just go to the hospital to get checked out, Dr. Fraser,” Sally said gently.
Sandra nodded and briefly glanced at him.
