Familiar Strangers (16 page)

She was sitting in Galen’s brightly decorated kitchen while Galen stood with his back to her, staring out the curtained window. He’d said nothing except to ask that one question. A question she could never answer.

“Why, Regin?” he demanded again. She could see his hands clenched on the steel sink. He was fighting his anger but why? Why was he so angry? Surely last night hadn’t meant anything to him.

Regin hedged toward the door. “It’s time for me to go. I don’t like being in one place too long. The hurricane was fun, the sex was good, but—”

Galen whirled around like a man possessed. “Fun?” he shouted as he paced towards her. “Good? That’s your excuse for running? ‘It’s been fun, but I’m outta here?’” he mocked. Galen looked like he wanted to strangle her. How could she not remember what they shared when he looked at her like that?

“What the hell is the matter with you, woman?”

There was only so much a woman could take and right then and there was Regin’s limit. He wanted to push! Could he deal with her pushing back?

Regin closed the space between them and poked a finger into his naked warm chest, ignoring the hot tingle the touch of his skin provided. “Me? What’s the matter with me? I’ll tell you.” Her finger continued its assault on his body. “You are what’s the matter with me. We had sex, Galen. S.E.X. We didn’t exchange vows, pledge eternal love, or make plans for the picket fence.”

Pain, anger, confusion, and hurt crossed Galen’s face before it was masked. Regin shook her head to dispel the images. Certainly he couldn’t have feelings for her? No, he was a man alone on an island, albeit a very small one, but an island none the less and she was the lone female.

She dismissed it. “We’ve been there, done that, and now it’s out of our systems. Time to move on.” With a final poke, she turned in her wet shoes and moved toward the door.

Regin made it three steps before being yanked around. “What if it’s not?” Galen came from behind her and trapped her between the table and his body.

“What if what’s not?” Breathing was a mistake around him. Every breath Regin drew came with his scent. Spicy, warm male, alive and all Galen.

“What if you’re not out of my system? Maybe I need to be there and do that again before I let you walk away, Regin.”

Oh no, he couldn’t be serious. There was no way Regin could be near Galen again, let him into her body and that much closer to her heart.

Townsend was out there. He could watch her every move. Regin knew it. She could feel the truth of it as it pressed the air down. The letter might not have shown up, but it was just a matter of time.

Galen didn’t wait for her response. He edged his body closer, pressing exposed masculine flesh against her throbbing breasts. “This is a very bad idea,” she warned him. Regin couldn’t think when he was this close. Not when he had that look in his eye. The one that spoke of hushed whispers, sensual pleasures, and hours exploring naked flesh.

“So you keep telling me,” he breathed lightly against her ear, causing shivers Regin couldn’t hide to race over her body. “This is the best idea I had since last night.” Galen’s arm reached around to cup her neck, softly whispering her name as he brought her lips to meet his hungry kiss. His mouth covered hers, hungry and hot. He sank his tongue into her mouth, and Regin gave a small moan of acceptance.

Lost in the heat of Galen’s mouth, Regin could taste his passion and the strength of his desire against her stomach. He pulled her body tightly against his, ignoring the weak protest her arms made.

****


Love demanded Galen have her again, cementing the physical bond between them while desperately searching for a way to seal Regin’s heart to his and force her to remember who and what he was to her.

He lowered her to the table, carelessly sweeping aside anything in his way. She was as inundated as he in the passion they created together. Galen wouldn’t get another chance before the truth came out. He needed this time with Regin. He would grab anything in order to strengthen the link between them. He couldn’t have found her after all these years just to lose her again.

Regin was his, damn it. He wasn’t going to lose her again, not to anyone.

****


Her brain shouted a million reasons why she shouldn’t be there kissing him, touching him, but Regin’s heart overruled reason. There was no reason with Galen. Everything simply was.

Warm lips trailed wet kisses along her neck, nipping gently along her pulse and sending shivers over her body. Regin wanted everything Galen had to give and more. She wanted the tomorrow she never dreamed of and the today that couldn’t last. Anything seemed possible when Galen held her. Regin would take what he offered today and live on the memories tomorrow.

Callused fingers edged her damp shirt over her breasts, exposing them to his exploring lips. Galen’s tongue swirled along the edge of her nipples then sucked the hardened tip into his mouth. “Tell me you don’t want this. Want me.” Lifting his head from her chest, his gaze burned through her.

Words wouldn’t form, Regin’s tongue thickened. How could Galen expect answers when he drove all thought from her head? “I don’t want to want you. It’s too dangerous.”

Regin spoke about the risk to her heart, but knew he didn’t understand as she felt Galen’s pulse leap and he doubled his seduction efforts. “It’s all right, Cheri’. I’ve got you now. It’s time to let go.”

Passion heated the kitchen, filling the room with harsh groans, frantic gasps, and the sound of cloth being ripped apart.

“God, woman, you drive me insane,” he groaned into her neck. “Tell me how I know exactly where to touch you? How do I know that if I lick the base of your spine you explode?” His busy mouth pushed aside her shirt to bury his eager lips against her swollen breasts. “Tell me how I know exactly where to bite and lick your body to make you come?” He confirmed his words by gently biting the inside of her nipple then quickly laved the hurt with his heated tongue. She could feel the moisture gathering between her thighs.

He raised his head, staring straight into her eyes. “And you know the same things about me. Don’t deny it, Regin. It’s too late for denial. Your body has answered for you,” he said as his mouth swooped back down to take possession of hers.

Clever hands unclasped the buttons on Regin’s shorts and they were shoved quickly off her damp legs. She ached to have Galen inside her as deep and complete as he had been last night.

“Galen, please,” she begged him.

“Yes, Regin. Oh God, yes, baby. I need to be inside you... Now!” She felt his hands fumble with the zipper of his jeans, cursing as the damp material refused to cooperate. Regin heard the rasp of metal being lowered and almost whimpered in relief. Her head thrashed from side to side on the hard wooden table. Blood pounded, her breasts heaved, all because this one man knew how to touch her.

“Look at me,” Galen demanded, his voice harsh with restraint and passion.

Regin slit her eyes open. She could see the taut lines etched across his mouth. Small beads of sweat formed on his brow. What was Galen waiting for?

“Galen?”

“I want you to know who you’re making love with. Who’s taking your body?” Galen didn’t give her the chance to reply or argue. His hot lips came crashing down on her mouth, ravaging the delicate lining, sucking and biting her tongue and lips. His heated breath skittered along her neck, sending shivers coursing down her skin.

Pleasure flooded Regin’s body. Galen was everywhere—in her body and mind. There was nowhere she could turn where she couldn’t see, smell, touch, or sense him.

Regin could feel his steely erection pressing into her. Lifting her hips, she encouraged him with small moans, twisting her hands in the thickness of his silky damp hair.

“Say my name,” he demanded.

“Ohhh,” was all Regin could manage, but Galen wasn’t letting up. He wanted his name on her lips when he joined their bodies.

“My name, damn it, Regin. Say it,” he demanded.

“Galen, now!” Moaning his name never seemed so right and so wrong at the same time.

“Yes.” Hips tilted back, he pressed his lips to hers. “You’re going to be mine, again.”

“Yoo-hoo! Anybody home?”

Galen was gone so suddenly chills covered her naked body. What the hell was going on? Then Regin heard the voice coming across the lawn.

“Galen, you sexy hunk of muscle. I know you’re home and you have yourself a woman in there. Come on out here before I forget the manners my mamma taught me and come bargin’ in.” It was a woman’s voice, deep and throaty with the husky drawl of the South that laced every word.

Chapter Fifteen

“Sonofabitch,” Galen swore, yanking up his jeans and throwing Regin a dishtowel. The last person he wanted to see, of course, was the first person to show up. Galen groaned while adjusting himself back into the too tight fit of his jeans.

He was going to kill their untimely visitor.

Quickly walking out of the kitchen before Lee walked in, Galen hoped to give Regin time to dress. Already swinging the screen door open, Lee’s dark face lit up with a smile.

“Whoo-whee, honey, you are a sight for sore eyes.” A rainbow poncho sailed over his head as Lee came crashing toward him. “Just let me get a quick grope of those buns and I’ll be satisfied...for a while.”

A sassy wink and smirk were followed by Lee’s hands groping Galen’s rear, before he had a chance to defend himself, made color flush his tanned face when Regin’s voice came from behind.

“Should I leave you two alone?” her voice came out sweet and filled with charm, but Galen heard the underlying edge of jealousy.

Easing himself out of Lee’s grasp, he turned to give Regin a good look at their visitor and hopefully show her there was no reason for jealousy. “Regin, I’d like you to meet, Leonard Wallace, the best defensive tackle at St. Ann’s back in ‘89.”

Regin prayed the floor would open up and swallow her. When she heard the husky drawl from her hiding place behind the door, she was sure Galen had lied about not having a woman in his life. When that voice went on to talk about groping his butt, all Regin could think was nobody was touching Galen’s anything. If there was fondling to be done, she would be the fondler.

Focusing her vision, Regin saw a pair of laughing brown-rimmed eyes with enough makeup to support Mary Kay for a year. The kind eyes made her ashamed and embarrassed of the unexpected jealously fogging her brain. The outfit did little to ease her conscience.

Galen’s football buddy was dressed to the nines in the now hanging but matching rainbow slicker, hat, boots, and umbrella. Lee was a better-dressed woman than most other real women Regin knew.

“Oh, sugar, you didn’t tell her about me?” Feinting heartbreak, Lee placed both hands on his rainbow covered chest above his heart. “Why I am positively devastated. I am supposed to be the biggest talk of St. Ann’s. Since Tim lost those two old ladies in the swamp a few years back, I’m all people talk about.”

Lee brushed past Galen in a very feminine gesture to close in on Regin, enfolding her hands within his own. “I don’t mind telling you, it took some doin’ to be brought back to the number one gossip queen here.” Placing an arm around her shoulders, Lee lea her back to the kitchen. “Why I had to tell Hattie Bovine that I was headed off to Baton Rouge for a bikini wax before folks would stop talking about those two old biddies.”

The curiously dressed man looked completely at home as he filled three glasses with ice tea before settling himself comfortably at the bare table. “You know,” Lee confided, “Hattie is the biggest gossip in town. What with her running the post office an’ being married to the sheriff. Why she thinks if she don’t have the news first then it just ain’t so.” Lee waved his long red finger nailed hands in the air to make his point before starting up again.

“Now, have you ever heard anything so stupid? People around here are desperate for entertainment and news, which is why I risked my rather lovely and delicate neck to come out here in this wretched weather. ‘Course the hurricane will keep tongues waggin’ for a few hours before they move on back to talking about them old women all over again. I swear, how many times do they have to tell the story? It’s not like they weren’t warned. What fool in his right mind hires a swamp guide with one arm and six toes? Total, mind you, on both feet.” Lee waved a ring-filled finger in Regin’s direction, not noticing her open mouthed stare nor Galen’s silent laughter as he watched the scene.

“Course he’s gonna get you lost and killed! It’s practically guaranteed. As my aunt would say, ‘A fool will lead you exactly where you deserve to go if you’re stupid enough to follow’.”

Lee seemed to finish his tirade about his fellow townspeople when he turned on Regin. “Now, darlin’, why you hidin' out here alone with my favorite man? Owe somebody money? Steal another woman’s husband? Or somebody out to kill you?” Laughing outrageously at his own joke, the big man didn’t notice the color drain from Regin’s face or his oldest friend’s gasp of shock.

****


“How far would you go for love?” Caprice questioned Regin softly, her mysterious eyes half shuttered in the late morning light.
Regin looked quickly toward Caprice. The older woman had shown up, wanted to chat, and ensure Regin’s survival after the hurricane came with no ill effects. This was the first she had spoken not concerning the weather since her arrival and Lee’s abrupt departure. It reminded Regin of their first unusual encounter in the kitchen of the cottage.