Page 11

Chapter 11

Flames licked at her clothing, smoke obscured the light creeping through the cracks in the old boards and seared the inner lining of her lungs. Brenna coughed and dropped to her knees, crawling across the dirt toward the door.

“Help! Please, help!” she cried, her lungs filling with suffocating smoke with each breath. She pulled her shirt up over her mouth as she dragged herself farther, fear clutching her heart. Smoke stung her eyes, and she clenched them tightly together, feeling her way across the barn.

She bumped headfirst into a wall and scrambled for the doorway, her fingers feeling their way upward to the handle. At last, freedom from smoke and the fire moving swiftly through the hay bales, lighting them like giant torches.

As she shoved hard on the door lever, fire leaped onto her back and ate hungrily through the thin fabric of her blouse, to her skin.

Pain blinded her, and she screamed, slapping at the angry fire, unable to extinguish the blaze. She had to get out. Had to get help. Then she realized the lever wouldn’t lower like it had the twenty or more times they’d been through the door that day playing hide-and-seek. Excruciating pain raced across her shoulder blades and down her backside. Fire surrounded her, overwhelming her and consuming the skin on her back and legs. She fought against waves of dizziness and screamed as loud as her tortured lungs could manage. She couldn’t die like this. She wouldn’t. But no one came. No one heard.

“Brenna, wake up!”

Hands gripped her arms. Someone shook her.

“Have to get out. Have to breathe.” She struggled against the arms holding her in the hellish place of dark and smoke, fighting to reach the light and clean, fresh air. “Let me out!” She pummeled the door, sobs wracking her body. “Let me out! Oh, please.”

Lips descended on hers, briefly stemming her pleas for help. Then gentle words were spoken against her cheek. “Please, Brenna, wake up. Everything will be okay. Just wake up.”

Clawing her way out of the smoke and fire, Brenna opened her eyes and stared around a completely smoke-free room. She gulped in air, tears streaming from her eyes.

“It was only a dream,” someone murmured against her ear. Those strong arms now held her in a warm embrace. Not warm like the scorching heat of a fire, but warm like a blanket on a cold day.

A gentle hand curved around her jaw and turned her face to look into the intense green eyes of Nick Tarver.

“What happened?” Still unable to comprehend her surroundings, Brenna clung to him, her savior from burning to death. “Where am I?”

He fingered aside a hair plastered in the tears on her face. “You had a really bad dream.”

She released a heavy sigh and sagged against him. “Thank God.” Her arms circled his waist, and she pressed her face into his chest, reveling in the hairs tickling her nose. “It was only a dream.” Images of fire climbing the inside walls of the barn flickered across her memory, and she shuddered. “It seemed so real.”

“But it was only a dream. You’re here with me. There’s no fire, no smoke. Just me.” His arms tightened around her, and he rested the side of his face against her hair, his hands stroking her back.

How long she sheltered in his arms, she didn’t know, but his tender, soothing fingers eased the tension from her shoulders and massaged the length of her spine. Nestling deeper into his arms, she inhaled the woodsy scent of his aftershave and the clean smell of freshly washed hair. With her cheek pressed against his nipple, her hands skimmed across his back, the feel of skin against skin at once grounding her from her dream and spinning her in a different direction altogether. Forcing her body not to react, she allowed her fingers to test the firmness of his muscles. They climbed up his ribs to the skin that felt warmer around his heart.

Nick’s hands stopped moving, and his body tensed. “Brenna, are you awake?”

Yes, she was. Would he believe she was still dreaming if she pressed a kiss to his nipple? How would he react if she told him she was awake and wanted to make love to him? Would he insist on lights? Would he recoil in horror when he saw the scars covering her back?

Could she handle his rejection?

Tears leaked from the corner of her eyes. “Hold me?” she asked tentatively. Maybe that was all she needed, the reassurance of another living soul in the same room to dispel the terror of her lingering nightmare.

“I don’t know if I can,” Nick whispered against her hair.

Brenna held her breath and then let it out slowly. He couldn’t hold her. He didn’t find her in the least attractive, and all his tender care was nothing more than what he’d give to a child in distress. How pathetic was she to want more? “It’s okay. You don’t have to.”

Instead of letting go, his arms tensed. “I’m afraid if I hold you much longer, I’ll forget myself.”

She managed to force air past her constricted vocal cords. “How?”

“Right this minute, I want to kiss you.”

Her heart stopped, and she stared up into his face.

Nick continued, “And I’m afraid I won’t stop with a kiss.”

Joy warred with fear, pressing against her lungs, making her words even more difficult. “Who said I’d stop you?”

“You’re suffering the effects of a nightmare. I’d be taking advantage of the situation.”

Brenna reached out and slid her fingers around his neck, pulling his face down to hers. “My eyes are wide open.” Then she kissed him. She pressed her breasts against his chest in an attempt to get closer, immediately regretting the shirt that kept her from the skin-to-skin contact she craved.

Nick pulled back, his lips hovering over hers. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” she said with a sigh, her fingers digging into his shoulders, loving the feel of the taut muscles beneath bronzed skin.

Nick’s arms wrapped around her, pulling her against him, and he took her mouth in a savage kiss, no holds barred. His tongue pushed past her teeth to war with hers, tangling, teasing and tasting of mint toothpaste and Nick.

The dream pushed to the farthest corner of Brenna’s mind as her head spun in the rapid bombardment of sensations.

His hands slid up her back and inside her shirt, kneading the flesh and scar tissue.

Brenna stiffened and pulled her mouth from his. “No.”

Eyes glazed, Nick sat back on the bed, his hands resting on her back. “What? Am I going to fast?”

“No, you’re not.” She reached for his hands and moved them around the front where scars weren’t an issue and more pleasure would be gained. “I’m just...reticent about certain things.”

He stared down at where she’d moved his hands, and his lips pressed together. Gazing into her eyes, he trailed his hands around to where they’d been. “I’m not bothered by your scars, Brenna. They are a part of you and what makes you beautiful.”

Tears welled in Brenna’s eyes, and she blinked to clear them away before he saw. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. You don’t have to live every day of your life knowing you’re damaged goods.” She pushed at his hands, but his grip tightened. “You haven’t even seen them.”

In a soft, persistent voice, Nick said, “Then show me.”

“No,” Brenna said, her voice strangling in tears. All her thoughts of making love to Nick were crushed beneath the overpowering desire to hide. Hide from Nick, from the kids who’d teased her in school, from Victor who’d told her she wasn’t pretty and from her mother who wanted her to “settle” for someone. “I can’t,” she said, lowering her head.

With one hand, he cupped her face and tilted her head up until she was forced to look into his eyes. “Then I’ll help you.”

His gaze locked with hers as his hands pulled the hem of her tank top up and over her head. He leaned forward and kissed one breast, twisting his tongue around the nipple until it hardened into a beaded peak.

Brenna moaned and locked her hands behind his head, holding his mouth to her while he lavished attention to first one then the other aching breast. She could handle this as long as he didn’t pay attention to her back and the wretched scars there.

Nick laid Brenna against the pillows, branding a trail of kisses from her breasts down her ribcage, delving into her bellybutton. His hands worked ahead of his lips, moving lower to where her pajama bottoms rode her hips.

With her breath lodged in her throat, Brenna waited for him to push aside the fabric and continue on his downward path. She wasn’t disappointed. His fingers eased the elastic down over her hips, exposing inch by sweltering inch of her to his gaze, his tongue and the coarse tips of his long fingers. When the elastic reached the top of her curly mound, she moaned, and her hands reached down between them to help the situation along. Her body burned for him, wanted him inside her, filling her completely.

He laughed, his breath soft against her skin, only making her hotter. “Are you in a hurry?”

“Yes!”

“Then by all means.” With one strong tug, he yanked the pajamas the rest of the way down her legs and tossed them into a corner. Now, with nothing between them but one pair of boxers and a minuscule scrap of lace panties, Brenna writhed on the bed, her knees falling open to him.

Nick slid his body between her legs and pressed a kiss to the lace, a smile curving his lips. “Black lace? Amazing secrets you North Dakota agents hide.”

“So, I like pretty underthings. Is it a crime?”

“On you? Maybe. But I’m not complaining.” He tongued her through the lace.

The wet heat pierced her like a bolt of electricity, sending her nerve endings skyrocketing. She wanted the rest of her clothing gone and him inside her, but she was too afraid to say so. A sudden case of shyness rendered her incapable of speech. Why now? Why, when she wanted so much? But what did she want from Nick Tarver? A one-night stand? A quick tumble and good-bye?

“What do you want, Brenna?” He spoke her jumbled thoughts aloud, his breath hot against her most intimate place, his hands splayed out over her thighs. His fingers hooked into the elastic around her hips, tugging the panties downward until his mouth had full access to her.

Brenna’s body screamed for him to take her, fill her and love her until she couldn’t move. “I want you,” she gasped.

In one smooth glide, he pulled her panties past her knees, kissing the inside of her thigh as he moved lower. When the last of the lace cleared her ankles, she sighed.

A gleam flashing in his eyes, Nick slid his boxers off and stood next to the bed in all his naked glory, fully erect and pulsing in the faint light from the study.

Brenna’s eyes widened at his length and girth, her legs parting automatically.

“Wait,” he said and jogged out of the room.

“Wait?” Brenna sat up. “Wait? You’ve got to be kidding.” Her body was on fire, and he wanted to wait? Had he changed his mind? No way. Not now.

Within moments, he returned sporting a square, foil package and an apologetic grin. “Sorry, but I thought you’d want protection.” He tore the packet open and eased the sheath down over his erection.

Brenna fell back against the pillows, relieved but with her passion a bit cooled. Was she making a mistake? Would sleeping with Nick change everything? She bit on her lower lip.

“Don’t start second-guessing now,” he said, leaning over her to press his lips to hers. His kiss slid along her jaw line to the sensitive spot behind her ear.

“How did you know?” She turned her head to the side, allowing him more access, her desire leaping back to fever pitch with just one touch of his lips.

When his hand slid down her belly to bury itself in the mound at the juncture of her thighs, she arched upward to meet him.

Nick nibbled at her lower lip. “You were biting your lip.”

“Umm. I like it better when you do the biting.”

“Me, too.” Nipping at her neck, Nick pushed his fingers lower, sliding inside to find the special place between her folds. That place that vanquished her mind of all thoughts except Nick and the wonderful things he was doing to her.

Tension built, tightening her muscles, until Brenna clutched at Nick’s shoulders. “Now. I want you now!”

With a lingering kiss pressed between her breasts, Nick settled himself between her legs. “I want you, too.” Then he kissed her full on the lips and slid inside her, easing his way into her slick channel and back out.

Her muscles constricted, holding him within. But she wanted more, faster. Brenna raised her knees, planted her feet on the bed and met him on his next thrust and the next until they rocked in rhythm, climbing higher until Brenna burst over the edge, her body shuddering her release.

Nick thrust one last time, deep and hard, then went still as his climax rocked him, then he dropped down on her, his breath coming in ragged gasps against her throat.

She welcomed his weight, loving the feeling of his naked body stretched over hers from cheek to toe, glistening in sweat. Even the way he crushed the air from her lungs made her smile.

Then Nick rolled to the side, taking her with him, never losing the intimate connection. With his hand resting on her hip, he kissed her. “You’re beautiful, Brenna. Don’t let anyone tell you different.”

Lying in the warmth of his arms, Brenna feigned sleep, praying he wouldn’t want to talk. Her emotions raw from what she’d just experienced, she didn’t want to put words to how she felt.

Nuzzling his face into the side of her neck, Nick pulled her close, chest to chest, and draped a leg over hers. Not long afterward, his eyes drifted shut, and his breathing deepened.

Brenna relaxed and opened her eyes, her gaze filled with Nick in all his naked glory.

Broad, muscular shoulders narrowed to a trim waist, a tight butt and rock-hard thighs. The man was truly blessed. A dark lock of hair fell over his forehead, adding mystery and vulnerability to an already perfect picture.

When Brenna reached out to brush the hair off his forehead, Nick’s arm tightened around her waist, his hand splaying over her back where the scars stretched tight and ugly.

He’d told her she was beautiful. Yet, he hadn’t seen her in the light. Brenna knew his opinion would be different once he did. And she couldn’t bring herself to let that happen.