Fiery (7 page)

The fun, joking Ryan was a charmer. It would be nice to have him around longer. Curbing the desire to make a smart-assed remark, she smiled. “Didn’t she tell you she’s a twin? Yeah. There’s a fun one who likes music and dancing and an argumentative one who takes offense to everything and everyone.”

His lips curled as he rubbed his thumbs over the top of her foot. “Well, as much fun as that other twin is, I find myself in a mood for you.”

“Ryan.” Serious thoughts tumbled through her mind with all the joking ones flitting away. She didn’t want to argue and she didn’t want to brush over what could be an important moment. She just didn’t know what she wanted to say.

He moved her ankle from side to side, flexed it and turned it. “I think you’ve just sprained it, but you should have Dani or Jon take a look at it. And stay off it until you do.”

“I walked here, and I stand on my feet all day at work.”

“Then we’ll go see the doctor now.” Ryan said nothing else and left her no time to argue as he stood.

Whatever his next plan was, Carmen placed her fingers against his wrist, halting him. “Thank you.”

He shrugged. “I’d do the same for anyone else.”

She shook her head. She seemed to do that a lot with him. “Thank you for the work you’ve done here and for the daily messages telling me how it’s going. I’m sure a part of you would have been happier to write me off entirely.”

“Honestly?”

She nodded.

“You’ve been a challenge from the first moment.” He knelt beside her and exhaled a heavy breath. “But I’d rather fight with you every day than not talk to you at all.”

Her heart sighed. No one had ever said anything sweeter and she’d never wanted to kiss a man more than she wanted to kiss Ryan. Leaning in, she moved wrong and a stab of pain shot from her ankle into her leg. She winced and reached toward the offending pain.

Ryan turned his back to her and patted a hand on his shoulder. “Hop on.”

“What?”

“I’m taking you to the doctor.”

“You want to give me a piggy-back ride to the clinic?”

“My crew has my truck.” He glanced over his shoulder. His eyes were narrowed in challenge. “Would you rather I carry you like I did from over there? I’m sure the town gossips would love to create stories for that one.”

Byron, especially. “Like a piggy back is any better?”

“Carmen, I’d give my sister or any little kid a piggy-back ride. Being carried is something you save for someone else.”

Someone cherished. Ryan didn’t say it, and it might not have been what he was thinking, but it’s how she’d felt when he carried her. It was a feeling she’d like to experience again. He was right, though. She didn’t want to give Byron the satisfaction. “Can you grab my shoes before we go?”

He did as she asked and even slipped one of them on her non-injured foot. Turning in front of her, he again patted his shoulder. She stood on her good leg and wrapped her arms around his neck. Standing, he lifted her up and hooked his arms under her legs.

His body, strong and warm and hard beneath her, was not personal. His hair brushing her temple as she held on to his neck made her want to bury her hands in the silky locks. It was all very chivalrous that he didn’t want her walking, but if he thought for a moment it was less personal, he was sorely mistaken.

Chapter Seven

Ryan had waited, worried more with each passing minute, while Carmen was in with the doctor. If she’d gotten more than a sprain on his worksite he wouldn’t have forgiven himself. Though her injury had only been minor, he still felt responsible.

He walked with her, ready at every moment to catch her if she dropped a crutch, until they reached her apartment. She’d wavered a few times and each time he reached for her, wanting to carry her instead of watching her struggle.

He helped her get inside and settled onto the couch, plotting a way to stay and take care of her. He’d stepped into the quicksand of her appeal on the beach, sunk deeper with their argument and then deeper still when she cut his hair. Kissing her, carrying her to her room with every intention of going all the way, had pulled him down more. He hadn’t thought he could sink further, but then they’d gone a week without speaking.

Absence might make some hearts grow fonder. It had him bordering on obsessive stalker to the point that he timed his days with hers, going for coffee before heading to the site just so he could watch her pass. He found a reason to go by the hardware store at least once a day just so he could catch a glimpse of her in the salon’s window.

All of it had been a tease to his senses. Then he’d stepped through the gate of the site. And it wasn’t sunk or captivated or interested he’d felt. He had been, blatantly and unavoidably, lost.

Alone, when no one should be watching, Carmen dropped her shields and allowed herself to be free. Her body swayed with a looseness that said, at least for a few minutes, she’d let every oppressing thought fall away. Her skin had shimmered like the specks floating in the sun’s rays.

It might not have been love the first time he saw her, but in that instance of perfection he’d seen his future with Carmen at his side. The smile that curled his lips then, when he’d realized every decision he’d made in life had led him to her, curled his lips again as he offered her the remote and a magazine from her coffee table.

“Ryan, I’m fine.” Carmen called from the couch, but she didn’t have to raise her voice much since the place wasn’t big. “I can take care of myself.”

“Except you’re not going to. Watch TV or read.” He shook the items he held. “I’m going to get you something to eat, an ice pack and a pain pill.”

“It’s just a sprain.”

“That will heal faster if you stay off your feet.” He shook the remote and magazine again. “Why are you arguing about this?”

“Because I’m not an invalid and I don’t want you waiting on me because you feel guilty somehow and I don’t want to listen to the gossip when people hear you’ve taken care of me.”

Lowering himself to look her in the eyes, he knelt in front of the couch. “I don’t think you’re an invalid, but rest will help you recover faster. I’m not waiting on you out of guilt.” That was driven by another emotion he wasn’t prepared to name at the moment. “As for the gossip, they’re already talking about me carrying you to the doctor and walking you home. If you make me leave this soon they’ll think it just as odd as if I stay.”

“No way.”

“How long have you lived in Whispering Cove?”

“Over a year now.”

“That should be long enough to know how the gossip mill works. It doesn’t matter what you do to protect your privacy, if people think you’re interesting they’re going to find something discussion-worthy in your actions.” He set the remote and magazine in her lap and stood. “You relax. I’ll get you some food.”

In the kitchen, he pulled out the stuff to make sandwiches, choosing peanut butter and jelly over lunchmeat. He pulled out a skillet and grilled the sandwiches, melting the peanut butter and jelly together. He found some chips in the pantry and scooped some onto each plate.

Locating a fifties-style serving tray, not at all surprised she had one, he loaded it up with the plates, drinks, her meds and an ice pack. In the living room, Carmen had stacked some pillows on the coffee table and propped her foot on them. Captain Jack was on the TV, with his boat sinking more the closer he got to shore. The dock served as his life raft, saving him from drowning in failure. Getting to know Carmen, Ryan began to see her as his saving harbor. Knowing her eased the regret that came with leaving the Marines.

Joining her on the couch, sitting carefully so he didn’t jostle her and her ankle, he passed her a pill and drink.

She accepted them with the side of her mouth lightly pinched. “You’re overbearing.”

“You’re injured. Swallow.”

She obeyed and set her drink on the side table. “My problem will go away in a few days.”

He passed her a plate. “If you deal with mine long enough. Eat.”

She chuckled. It was little more than a small shake of her shoulders and a puff of air, but he was taking it as a chuckle. She wasn’t as annoyed with his presence as she pretended to be.

She lifted her sandwich and took a bite. The toasted bread crunched lightly between her teeth. Moving her hands from her mouth, she closed her eyes and chewed. Her mouth curled higher the longer she chewed. After she swallowed, she raised her lids and looked at him.

“Why’d you grill a PB&J?”

“It’s how my mom always made them.” He shrugged. “I guess I missed them while I was gone.”

“I had one once. In Ohio.” She smiled. “I wouldn’t have thought it would be as good as it is. Thank you.”

“My pleasure.” He brushed the back of his finger along her cheek and stared into her eyes until she broke the moment with a blink and returned to her sandwich.

Silence moved in, a completely comfortable one, as they ate and settled in to watch the pirate take on the local government. It was a first for him to sit with a woman and not feel a need to make conversation. It was a first for him to sit in a Whispering Cove living room and not feel like he was missing out on something better.

Ryan took Carmen’s empty plate from her lap and set it on the coffee table with the tray and his plate. He stretched an arm along the cushions behind her, but he didn’t touch her. If he did he wouldn’t stop with a touch. He would want to pull her close and kiss her and feel her curves against him again.

Then she shifted, leaned against him. His breath stalled on its last inhale and his restraint shuddered.

“Do you regret giving up your military career to be here for your family?” Her question was unexpected and aligned closely with his recent thoughts.

“I did at first.” He shrugged. “Now, not so much.”

“Did you love the Corps?”

“I didn’t when I joined, but I quickly realized it was where I was supposed to be.” He’d spent his life looking for a place to belong. He’d thought he found it a few times on sports teams, but after a year or so the feeling would fade and he’d be right back to wanting more. “I never got tired of it or wanted to be out.”

“Why did you think the military would give you something more? And why’d you choose the Marines?”

“The business was struggling when I was in school, so money was too tight to make college a reality. My grades weren’t bad, but they weren’t enough to get me scholarships, either. The military came with an education and gave me the chance to travel, which meant I wouldn’t be getting bored.”

“I wanted a similar escape by the time we aged out of foster care, but travel wore thin quickly.”

“Now that I’m home, I’m starting to realize it was doing the same for me.” More accurately it was Carmen who was making him see the truth. “The Marines gave me what I needed, but it’s time to move on.”

“What did you need?”

“I needed to learn about my biological father.” He’d only ever put it into words for his mom, and though sixteen years had passed for him to come to terms with everything, it was still tough to say it. “I needed to know about the man who knocked up my mother and then turned her away when she reached out to him.”

“Because you were afraid you’d turn out to be as callous?”

“Maybe.” Ryan stroked her hair, smoothing it along her temple and neck. Its softness blended with her skin. Tingles ran through his fingertips. “At the time, I just needed to know who’d made me. I didn’t realize the man who really made me had been here all the time.”

“Mr. Alden.”

“I got to know my real father. Served under him for a while.”

“Did he know who you were?” She moved so she was looking up at him. The caring in her eyes brought a smile to his heart. He was definitely where he belonged.

“Not as far as I knew. He recommended me for a promotion, which took me out of his unit.” Ryan looked down, stared into her eyes, as he talked about the man few people knew existed. “On my last day under his command, I told him who my mother was. It flashed into his eyes that he knew, in that moment, who I was.

“After reporting to him for almost a year, I knew better than to expect any emotion. He didn’t surprise me.”

“How do you mean?”

“He didn’t apologize for never being there. He didn’t offer a single platitude to try and make it better.”

“So what did he do?”

“He said, ‘I hope you don’t expect a relationship of some kind. I released emotional hang-ups long ago.’ Then he turned and walked away as if I didn’t exist.”

“What a jerk.”

“I had a different name for it,” Ryan said with a smile. “You know what, though?”

“What?”

“Everything I’d gone in looking for, every question, had been answered before that. I should have felt disappointed, but seeing him walk away released, I think now, the first link on the chain holding me to the Corps.”

“Then you got the call that your dad, Mr. Alden, needed you.”

He nodded. “I would have re-upped, but I was needed, and while I still wasn’t sure I belonged in Whispering Cove I didn’t have the driving need to discover myself or where I belonged.”

“You’re talking in past tense. Does that mean you’ve discovered yourself and where you belong?”

“I think I have.” He leaned down and kissed her. His intent was to keep things soft. Carmen, it seemed, had a different idea.

She reached up, grabbed the back of his neck, and pulled him down. Her tongue slipped between his lips and teeth, swept against his. The arousal was instant.

He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close. Her breasts pressed against his chest. She curled her legs, crawling up onto the couch and practically into his lap.

Arousal shot to the level of heated passion. Ryan’s heart kicked his ribs. “Carmen.”

“Make love to me, Ryan.” She kissed his neck, nibbling a path along his jawbone. “Please.”

He bit his bottom lip and swallowed. She was asking him to do what he’d been dreaming about. His libido did the hell-yeah-let’s-go jig, but he couldn’t rush things. Wouldn’t. A few deep breaths slowed his heart rate, but only a fraction.

Her fingers brushed the hairline at his nape. A thousand sensations seduced him toward surrender. He shifted his hold on her, placed a hand behind her knees and lifted her into his arms as he stood. It was exactly the way he’d carried her in the town square when she’d hurt herself.