Lover of My Dreams (22 page)

He waited for her to get angry but she just stared up at him. He could feel that she was still feverish and wondered just how lucid she really was.

“You have the most beautiful blue eyes, Sam,” she told him quietly. “Why do you have to be so damned handsome?” With that she turned onto her side and burrowed under the covers.

Sam couldn’t help but smile. His ego needed that little boost that she had just given him. He reached out and brushed back the long hair that had fallen forward to cover her face. His brows furrowed with concern when he felt the heat of her skin. The fever was still hanging on. He could see that she was starting to shiver again.

He stood and looked down at her for a moment, debating what to do. There really was no choice. He removed his clothes and pulled on his sweatpants and hooded jacket, leaving it unzipped to bare his chest and abdomen. He lowered the flame of the lantern so that it was barely lit, knowing that he would need to have some light in the camper when he had to give her the next dose of medicine in the middle of the night. He turned then and climbed over Rachel to get under the covers with her.

He drew her into his arms to share his warmth with her. He pulled her tightly against his body so that her back was against his chest, wrapping his jacket around her so she was cocooned against him. Settling back onto the bed, he pulled the blankets over them both to protect them from the chill of the night. He knew that she would give him hell in the morning if she was able to make sense of her surroundings, but he didn’t care.

Rachel snuggled against him immediately and leaned her head back into the hollow of his throat. The clean smell of her hair filled his senses and his body tightened at the incredible feeling of her bottom pressing intimately against him. He was glad that she was oblivious to the immediate hardening of his body. It took every effort to not pull her body closer to his. He gasped when she snuggled her bottom more firmly against his, pressing against his erection. It was sweet torture. He didn’t dare move.

When she moved restlessly before finally settling, he couldn’t help but moan with the pure pleasure of the feel of her rubbing against him. He kept picturing the beauty of her body that he had seen as he had cooled her with the wet cloth. He loved the feel of the softness of her curves as she pressed so closely against him.

He thought about the bruises and bite marks that covered her delicate skin. The idea of someone being so brutal to this gentle woman made his body tense with anger. He wanted just a few minutes with the guy who had attacked her. His mother had always taught him to be a kind and gentle man, but he would certainly be ready to unleash his fury on the man who had dared to hurt this woman that he really wanted to be his.

“Rachel Williams, you’re driving me crazy,” he whispered into her hair.

He lay awake, holding her. Despite the torment, he enjoyed the feeling of her body pressed against his. Suddenly she turned to face him, still asleep, and snuggled closer to him. He gasped as a new wave of excitement overtook him. He groaned at the feeling of her breasts pressed against his chest and her arm wrapped around his body beneath his jacket.

He took a deep breath and hugged her closer to him, gasping as her arm rested trustingly across his hip and her hand lightly touched his lower back. If her hand moved any lower he would have to remove himself from her side. He just couldn’t handle the sweetness of being so close to her without touching her.

When she lifted her leg and draped it over his hip, he held his breath, afraid to move. As her leg settled behind him, her body was pulled against him, and his groin pressed closer to the sweetness of her core. She rested against him and he groaned as her body rubbed his cock with her movement, causing him to tremble at the feel of her innocent seduction. He wanted to pull her clothes from her, and bury himself deep within the delicate folds of her body to the place he knew would hold wetness and warmth for him.

She kissed his chest lightly, humming softly as she settled her face against him. It took all his energy to calm the shudders of anticipation that shook him. Just when he thought he had himself under control, she moved against him once again, causing another round of forbidden pleasure.

“Rachel, you need to rest,” he whispered against the top of her head, unable to prevent himself from kissing her hair lightly.

“Okay,” she whispered, kissing his chest once again.

Her hand caressed his back gently, making him sigh with contentment at the feel of her tender touch. She settled her hand on his hip and pulled him tighter against her core, rubbing her body against his erection.

“Rachel, you have to stop,” he told her firmly, touching her hip and pushing her gently away from him so that she wasn’t rubbing against his hard cock.

Rachel lay back and looked up at him. “Sam?” she asked, her eyes struggling to focus.

“What, honey?”

“Don’t you want me to hold you?”

Sam closed his eyes and took a steadying breath before opening them and looking at the beautiful woman beside him. He reached up and gently brushed the long silkiness of her dark brown hair from her face, rubbing the silky threads through his fingers as he gently placed it behind her shoulder to settle the long tresses behind her.

“Rache, I love that you’re holding me,” he told her honestly. “And I love holding you. I just want you to choose to do it when you’re aware of what you’re doing, honey. You’re sick. You don’t really have control over what you’re feeling or doing.”

Rachel reached up and touched Sam’s face lightly, slowly pushing her fingers into his black hair and holding on tightly. “I know what I’m doing,” she insisted.

“No, baby, you really don’t,” he told her softly. “As much as I want to have you touch me and as much as I want to touch you, I’m not going to take advantage of this. I want you aware when you choose to be with me.”

Rachel smiled and leaned against his neck, kissing it lightly. “Sam, I’ve wanted to be with you for a very long time,” she told him, leaning back to look into the blue eyes that had haunted her memories for years.

She reached between them and cupped his groin, rubbing it firmly. His responding groan made her smile. He covered her hand quickly, unable to take her hand away before she wrapped her hand around his length and traced the head with her thumb.

“Baby, you don’t know what you’re doing to me,” he croaked as he pulled her hand away from him.

“Am I doing it wrong?” she whispered, pulling his hand to her mouth and kissing it gently. “You’ll just have to teach me what you like.”

Tugging her hand free, she ran her hand down his naked chest, slipped her hand beneath the waistband of his sweats, and took hold of his shaft. Her touch was gentle as she gripped him and pulled up on the hard shaft with tenderness. She swiped her thumb over the flared head of his cock, drawing the drop of liquid that escaped him, and used it to ease her movements down his length once again.

Sam grabbed her wrist and gently pulled her away from his cock, ignoring the way his cock was screaming at him to leave her hand exactly where it was. Taking her hand and placing it palm down on his chest, he struggled to maintain his control as his heart beat frantically against her touch.

Rachel leaned up on her forearm and looked down at him. He watched her silently as she pulled her hand from his grip and brought her thumb to her mouth, sucking his essence from it and smiling down at him.

“I like the way you taste, Sam,” she told him, winking. “I want to taste more.”

He groaned and flipped them so that she lay beneath him. “You have to stop, Rachel. You don’t know what you’re doing. You don’t really want me.”

Rachel’s eyes were glazed with fever as she looked up at him. She smiled softly and removed her right hand from his grip.

“I’ve wanted you forever,” she told him honestly. “If I didn’t want you then my body wouldn’t be wet for you.” She smiled seductively. “I think you need to check and see if I’m wet for you.”

Sam closed his eyes and groaned. “You’re killing me,” he told her, his determination wavering. “I can’t do that. When you’re better, we’ll talk about this, but until then, you need to go to sleep and rest.”

He watched as Rachel lowered her hand between them. His eyes were glued to her actions as she slid her hand into her sweats and moaned as she touched herself. His cock throbbed at the thought that she was actually sinking her fingers into her sweet pussy.

She sighed at the contact of her fingers against her mound. She slid two fingers into her dripping channel and dragged them up across her clit, groaning as the swollen bud demanded attention. But she had another use for her fingers right then. Pulling her hand out of her sweats, she showed Sam the wetness that made her fingers glisten.

“See,” she told him huskily. “I’m wet for you, Sam. Only for you.”

She reached up and touched his lower lip with her index finger, pushing both fingers inside his mouth as he opened to accept them. His tongue licked at them, and he sucked her juices from them like a dying man taking in life-giving liquid.

Her taste exploded in his mouth and he couldn’t prevent the groan that escaped him. He wanted to pull her clothes from her body and taste her directly from the source until she screamed in ecstasy. Once he brought her to orgasm he would plunge his cock deep into her pussy and love her until his seed erupted from him and found a home within her.

But he couldn’t. He wouldn’t. Not without her being fully aware and giving him her complete consent. He needed her to choose to be with him.

It took every bit of willpower that he had to stop himself from making love to her right then. He lay beside her, gathering her tightly against his chest, and petting her hair gently. She settled against him tiredly, her body exhausted and ravaged with sickness.

“Rest, Rachel,” he told her firmly. “I’ll take care of you.”

It seemed like forever until she fell into a deep sleep. Only then could he relax a little and try to calm himself. Sam kissed the top of her head, breathing in the scent of her. She hugged him tightly, even as she slept, kissing his chest lightly every few minutes.

The joy he felt at her innocent affection gave him an unbelievable feeling deep within his chest. He smiled and pulled her closer to him, wrapping the blankets around her securely and settling back to get some rest.

It was a while before his body relaxed. He was amazed that the excitement he felt gave way to a deep contentment from lying beside Rachel. When he finally fell asleep, he was totally at ease and relaxed. Lying there with her in his arms felt right. Her body fit against his perfectly. The way she held him and kissed him as she slept made him smile. Even as she slept she gave him comfort and love. In that moment, he realized that he was not only content to hold her—he was determined to keep her.

Sam opened his eyes suddenly. It was the middle of the night and something was wrong. Rachel was moving about restlessly. He could feel the heat radiating from her body. She was kicking off the blankets, and he had to reach out to hold her arm to stop her from climbing down from the bed.

“No, Rachel,” he stopped her, gently pulling her back onto the bed. “You have to lie down and get some rest so you can get better.” He tugged on her arm carefully to settle her back down beside him.

She turned and looked straight at him, but he knew that she wasn’t really seeing him. Her eyes were bright with fever. He knew that she was most likely delirious.

He climbed over her, zipped up his jacket to protect himself against the frigid night air, and prepared another dose of medicine. She looked up at him with strangely haunted eyes as she swallowed the mixture that he brought to her lips. She drank the water he offered, never letting her eyes leave his face.

“Are you taking care of me?” she asked him, confused.

“Yes, for a little while, until you can take care of yourself,” he told her, smiling.

“I’m glad,” she said seriously. “I didn’t like the other man.”

“What other man?” Sam asked, smiling at her confusion.

“You know,” she whispered, closing her eyes and lying back down on the bed. “Richard. He wasn’t very nice at all.” Her voice held a dreamlike quality as she spoke. “He hurt me.”

Sam looked down at her for a long time. He felt as if his heart was being squeezed. He ached for her and the pain she had suffered at the hands of this man named Richard.

“I’m too hot, Aunt Kay,” she said suddenly, throwing the blankets off her body. “Make it go away.”

Sam reached for the wet cloth that sat in a bowl of cool water, squeezed out the excess, and began to wipe her body with it. She relaxed under his touch, and he found that he didn’t mind losing sleep to make her more comfortable.

He wiped down her arms in soothing motions then pulled up the pant legs of her sweatpants to expose her long, muscular legs. He exposed as much skin as he could and still protect her modesty.

His pattern of wetting the cloth and wiping her body continued for nearly an hour. He was at the sink pouring fresh cold water into the bowl and rewetting the cloth when he heard her soft whimpers of fear. He sat down on the bed, bringing the bowl of water with him and putting it aside on the counter, making sure that it was still within reach. He raised his hand and touched her face gently. She looked up at him with fear in her eyes.