Just This Once, Contemporary Romance (Last Frontier Lodge #3) (22 page)

He slowly drew away, making his way back up her body with soft kisses. He eased himself to her side and lay still. She rolled her head. “You…”

“That’s all we’re doing for now. Anything else, and you’ll end up hurting yourself by accident.”

“But…”
His eyes met hers. “There’s no halfway with you. If I’m inside you, I might not be able to hold back,” he said with a gruff chuckle.

***

Aidan stretched his arm across the back of the booth, curling his hand over Becca’s shoulder. They were due to leave Last Frontier Lodge in a few days. Tonight, they were enjoying dinner in the lodge restaurant with family and friends. Becca was still limping a little, but she was otherwise on the mend. She’d spent most of her follow up appointment arguing with the doctor about how long she needed to wear the brace on her forearm.

Ginger leaned across the table and topped off Becca’s wine. “So, you two finally seemed to have stopped dilly-dallying?”

Becca took a sip of wine, her cheeks flushing. ‘What do you mean?”

Aidan watched their exchange curiously. On the surface, by all appearances, he and Becca had been behaving the way a couple would behave. Yet, they hadn’t really talked about it.

Ginger was a longtime friend of Marley and Delia’s. Aidan had quickly discovered she cut right to the quick of any topic, irrespective of its sensitivity. She arched a brow at Becca. “If you insist, I’ll just say it. I mean that you two were dancing circles around each other before and now you’ve finally gotten over yourselves. You’re clearly mad for each other, so you might as well stop pretending otherwise.”

Becca flushed even deeper, but her mouth curled into a slow mile. “Okay. I suppose we’ve stopped dilly-dallying.”

Ginger rolled her eyes and swung them to Aidan. “Are you as coy as her about all this?”

Aidan shrugged. “I’m not much for public discussions of my love life.”

Ginger burst out laughing. “You win!” She paused and took a sip of wine. “But you did say the word love.”

Aidan groaned and shook his head. Don Peters, Delia’s father, approached their table at that moment, conveniently interrupting the conversation. Marley, Gage and Garrett were with them while Delia was busy working in the kitchen tonight. Don leaned against the side of the booth. After quickly greeting everyone else, he turned to Gage. “Hot water heater blew out on the east wing. I’ll head up to fix it now before I finish up tonight.”

Gage started to stand. “Nah, I got it. You…”

Don cut in. “You have family here for only a few more days. Just keeping you in the loop. We should think about replacing that water heater. This is the third time we’ve had trouble with it in the last few months.”

Gage nodded. “Right. I’ll order a replacement tomorrow. You sure you don’t mind taking care of this?”

Don grinned as he turned away. “Not at all.”

Conversation moved on. Becca’s thigh was warm against his. Aidan couldn’t help it, but every time she was near, his body hummed with need. It waxed and waned with the tides of opportunity. With two of her brothers right at the table, now wasn’t the time to let his body get its own ideas. He forced himself to focus on the conversation.

Garrett glanced at Becca. “Are you two taking the ferry back to Seattle or flying?”

“The ferry. How else are we going to get my car and Oscar back?” Becca asked with a grin.

Garrett shrugged. “Oscar can fly, and you can make other arrangements for your car. You sure you’re up for that long of a trip?”

Becca balled up her napkin and tossed it at Garrett. “I’m fine! It’s not like being crammed in a plane will be any easier. At least we can stop and stretch our legs on the drive. Plus, I want Aidan to see the Inside Passage. It’s amazing! You and Delia should take the trip sometime.”

Garrett grinned, his eyes catching Aidan’s. “Make sure she gets enough rest on the trip, okay?”

That earned Garrett another tossed napkin from Becca. “I can take care of myself. Do I have to remind you again that I’m technically older than you?”

“Only by a few minutes,” he said with a shrug and a chuckle.

Eventually, the small gathering broke apart. Aidan walked slowly upstairs at Becca’s side, his hand lightly cupped around her elbow. When they reached the suite, he closed the door quietly behind them and leaned against it. Becca walked to the kitchen table and leaned her hips against it, resting her hands on the edge. Her eyes met his, and he knew she’d been chewing on whatever she was about to say.

“We haven’t talked…about…about us.” She paused and took a gulp of air.

He realized Ginger’s question had gotten to her. He knew they probably needed to talk, but he was hesitant to rattle the place they’d been floating along in since the other night. He nodded slowly, waiting to see what she said next.

Her eyes held a glimmer of uncertainty. He wanted to wipe it away. If there was one thing she didn’t need to question, it was how he felt about her. But he knew it wasn’t that simple. It suddenly occurred to him that he hadn’t quite articulated his feelings. While he didn’t doubt them, saying them aloud elicited a sense of fear—a fear he’d never experienced. He’d raced into dangerous situations for most of his adult life and never flinched. He took the approach that if you had a plan, if you controlled for the possibilities, you could handle the risks. All those years of assessing risks hadn’t prepared him for emotional risks. If he stopped and let himself think, the truth was he loved Becca. He’d convinced himself he was letting her have the space she needed, but it was also convenient for him because he didn’t have to make himself vulnerable.

She started to wrap her arms around her waist and swore, glancing down at her arm brace. “Dammit! This stupid brace. I can’t even cross my arms when I want to.” She looked at him across the room, a wry grin spreading across her face.

He chuckled softly and pushed away from the door. Inside, something shifted and his heart clenched. He walked to her and stopped a few feet away. He watched her for a long moment and decided to stop holding back.

“I love you. In case you were wondering. I have for years.”

He felt as if he’d just stepped off a cliff, the feeling terrifying and exhilarating at once.

Her eyes widened. He waited, suspended in the moment, and realized he didn’t care if she’d reached the same place just yet. He knew with certainty what lay between them ran deep—for both of them.

In the quiet, he heard her breath draw in slowly. “Oh, oh,” she said with a tinge of wonder. Her eyes flicked away and back to his, the guarded quality he knew so well was gone completely. “I, uh…” She paused and her hand flew to her mouth. Suddenly, she burst into tears and flung herself at him. He caught her and held her close. She mumbled into his shoulder.

“I love you too. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I don’t know what to do about it and I don’t know what you want or what you expect and…” She ran out of words and looked up at him.

His throat was tight, but he managed to speak. “I only want you. It’s safe to say I didn’t have any expectations to begin with. When you said ‘just once,’ I was ready to take that, but I couldn’t promise I wouldn’t want more. Expectations? Don’t worry about that. This is much more than I ever expected,” he said, gesturing between them.

Her mouth curled up at one corner. “Just this once? I can’t believe I thought I could stick to that.”

The tightness in his chest and throat eased. “I’m damn glad you couldn’t.”

She slipped a hand up his chest to curl around his neck, tugging him down to meet her lips. Instantly, he was lost. Lust jolted through him. He stroked a hand down her back. He moved swiftly, hooking his thumbs over the waist of the swinging cotton pants she wore. In seconds, he tossed them across the room. He’d been keeping his desire in check for days, trying to be careful and not accidentally jostle her knee or arm. He’d find a way to be gentle, but he couldn’t hold back anymore.

She didn’t make it easy though. She tore at his shirt, shoving it up. He reached behind his head and yanked it off in one swoop. He curled his hands under her hips and lifted her onto the kitchen table. Just when he planned to set the pace, she threw him off. She unbuttoned his jeans with a few quick flicks and curled her palm around his cock. With her one good hand, she freed him and stroked up and down. Lust pounded through him. He gritted his teeth and fumbled in his jeans pocket. Stepping into the cradle of her hips, he pushed her hand out of the way, tore the packet open with his teeth and rolled a condom on.

All the while, her lips traveled over his body, kissing, licking and nipping on the planes of his abdomen and chest. Need pounded through him so hard and fast, he could barely see. He stroked his hands up her thighs, gently pushing them apart, careful of her knee. When he reached the juncture at her thighs, he cupped his palm over her, feeling the heat and moisture through the cotton. Her breath caught. He dragged his fingers back and forth, savoring every gasp from her. Unable to hold back any more, he shoved her panties out of the way and dragged her hips to the edge of the table.

His cock throbbed with need, desperate to be inside of her. He held still for a moment as he stepped close to her, resting against her. He took a deep breath and arched his hips, slowly sinking into her as he exhaled. She felt so good, so damn good, around him. Her slick channel pulsed, clenching his length. Keeping one hand on her hip to hold her steady, he brought the other up to thread into her hair and looked down at her.

“Becca.”

Her eyes opened, slamming into his.

“Mmm?”

“Just…this.”

He seated himself all the way inside of her as he spoke and began a slow, steady rhythm, rolling in and out of her, almost drunk on the feel of her throbbing around him. Her breath came in pants and gasps. He stroked his hand between them, bringing his thumb over the center of her desire. She cried out, her channel convulsing around him. He finally let go, his orgasm crashing through him, the release so deep, his own cry echoed hers.

He dipped his head into the curve of her shoulder as he came down, breathing in the scent of her. She tucked her head against his shoulder and stroked a hand in lazy circles on his back. After several moments, he lifted his head and looked down at her. She angled her head up and grinned.

“Finally!”

“Huh?”

“If you kept treating me like I was made of glass, I was about to take matters into my own hands.”

He couldn’t hold back his smile. “Good thing you didn’t have to.”

He pulled away slowly and tossed his condom in the trash nearby before turning back to her. “How’s your knee?”

She glanced down and swung her foot gently where it hung off the edge of the table. “A little sore, but don’t go thinking this made it worse.” She lifted the forearm wearing the brace. “This is just annoying.”

“The doctor said you can stop wearing that in another few weeks. I’m pretty sure you can handle it.”

With a roll of her eyes, Becca started to shimmy off the table. He stepped to her side and helped ease her down. She curled her hand in his and led him to the shower.

Epilogue

Becca leaned against the ferry railing and watched a pod of orcas swimming in the distance. A gust of ocean air blew her hair wild. She felt a warm hand slide down her back. She glanced over her shoulder, her eyes colliding with Aidan’s. He brushed her hair out of her face and dropped a quick kiss on her lips. When he drew away, fluttery joy rose inside. It had been a year since they’d taken the ferry home to Seattle from Alaska and now they were returning for another visit. She glanced back out to sea.

“Look,” she said, pointing to the orcas. They swam in an undulating rhythm through the water, their distinctive black and white markings evident even from a distance.

Aidan followed her gesture, a slow smile spreading across his face. Orcas were fairly common in the Pacific Northwest, so it wasn’t that they hadn’t seen them before. Yet, there was something about watching them as they rode through this remote part of the world with the mountains rising tall along the shore, glaciers sparkling an otherworldly blue under the sun and nothing indicating civilization was anywhere in sight, save the large ferry cutting slowly through the icy ocean waters.

The trip up this year was so very different from hers last year. Last year, she was on a forced vacation and mentally spinning in circles in her mind over Aidan. Since then, she and Aidan had returned to Seattle together with Oscar. After a few months of back and forth between their respective apartments, she’d moved in with him when her lease was up. Oscar had been ecstatic. He was just as attached to Aidan as he was to her, and he simply adored being able to be with both of them all the time. As Ellie had tried to persuade Aidan once upon a time, Oscar became his sidekick during his workdays since it wasn’t practical for Becca to have him with her.

As she stared out over the water, seagulls called and circled above the ferry. The ferry entered a narrow passage with mountains rising tall on both sides. A cluster of puffins with their distinctive orange beaks and almost comical faces rested on the rocks in the water. Her mind rolled back through the past year. Even after she’d managed to come to terms with the fact she loved Aidan, she’d hemmed and hawed those first few months back in Seattle. She’d been uncertain about moving in with him and committing herself to someone again. Not because she didn’t want to, or because she doubted her feelings, but because of the lingering traces of distrust after the spectacular implosion of her first attempt at commitment. She trusted Aidan completely. It was more that she wasn’t sure she could trust in her own happiness.

Oddly enough, it was Oscar who tipped the scale. One night after she’d worked late and was too tired to turn around and leave again, she looked over to see him waiting expectantly by the door. When he concluded they weren’t going anywhere, he’d curled up next to her on the couch and sighed rather dramatically. At that point, she realized she wanted nothing more than to go home to Aidan every night.

Every night with Aidan was pure heaven. A few months after she’d moved in with him, he’d somehow managed to finesse a ring onto her finger, something she’d never thought she’d let happen again. Rather than making a grandiose gesture, he’d stopped in the middle of a walk with Oscar and flat out asked her to marry him. She’d agreed with one condition. No big wedding. The very idea turned her stomach. Aidan had been more than happy to agree. They’d had a simple ceremony at the courthouse with Garrett, Delia, and her parents as witnesses. The rest of her siblings had complained, but she knew she might chicken out if too much planning was involved.