Sanctuary (New Reality Series, Book One) (4 page)

She grabbed her pack and started walking, shifting the bulky weight into place as she went. She heard them fall into step behind her without a word. She hoped she hadn’t made things awkward. Things had been going so well up until now. They all got along great. Granted, she had to work overtime to keep her lust under control, but she accepted that. It was one thing to lust after two unattainable men; it was another thing altogether to act on it and ruin a good thing.

And it was hard to keep her feelings hidden. Damned hard. Watching the two men together—the intimate touches, the kisses. Then, there was the night before… Her cheeks blazed as she thought about it. She’d been having a restless night, waking often. One of those times, she’d heard distinct sounds coming from outside the tent. She’d peered out the screen, unable to help herself. The dying fire had given off little light but she could make out their forms enough to realize what they were doing. Noah and Ethan making love not twenty feet from her. She knew they were trying to be quiet, but their grunts and moans floated on the air and aroused her to no end. Just the memory of it accomplished the same.

She unclipped the water bottle from where it hung off her bag and took a long swig as her entire body heated. She needed to pull it together. Surely, she could handle another two days without completely giving herself away.

Her foot caught a root, and she pitched forward.

“Whoa, careful, sweetheart.” Ethan grasped her arm and steadied her. He shot her a smile and moved past her along the trail.

Grace rubbed the tingling skin where his hand had touched. Oh yeah, two days. No problem. Shit, she was in trouble.

* * * *

“I’m going to the river to give my clothes a wash,” Grace told the men, stretching her aching muscles.

They’d just finished setting up camp, and while she wanted to do nothing more than sit on her ass, she knew once she was down, she’d wouldn’t get anything worthwhile done.

“Do you guys need anything washed?” she asked, gathering her extra clothes from her bag along with a bar of soap.

“You don’t need to wash our clothes but I’ll join you for laundry duty. Ethan?” Noah questioned.

“Grab mine, will ya? I’ll be down in a sec to help you out.” He glanced up from the fishing line he was currently untangling and shot his lover a bone-melting grin.

Arms full, Grace and Noah walked down to the river, where Callie was already frolicking gleefully in the cool water. Grace squatted and began working up a lather on a lightweight tank. She looked at the rest of her pile and wondered how she was going to manage washing her underwear in front of Noah and Ethan.

What are you twelve? I’m sure they realize you wear underwear.
She shifted her gaze to the side and realized Noah apparently had no such issues as he scrubbed a pair of boxers. She shrugged and turned back to the task at hand. After a few minutes, Ethan joined them.

“I’ve got this,” Noah insisted when Ethan moved to grab some clothing. “Go throw your line in the water and catch us some dinner.”

“Gladly.” Ethan laughed and moved down the bank.

“Don’t get too smug. Next laundry day is yours,” Noah called after him.

“Deal.”

“He thinks I’ll forget,” he mock-whispered, winking at Grace.

She giggled and gave her last garment a final rinse. Now, she just had to find some low hanging branches to hang her clothes on. She held her wet bundle and straightened. Her legs having been bent so long protested, and she swayed on her feet. She dropped the clothing and tried to widen her stance to regain her balance. Her foot hit a slick rock, and she went down hard in the shallow water. Intense pain shot through the palm of her left hand, and she cried out.

“Grace!” Noah raced to her.

“Apparently not so much today.” She winced. “Grace,” she clarified when he looked at her with a confused frown. “I’m not so full of grace today… Ha ha. I made a funny.”

“Here, let me look at that.” He reached for the hand she was cradling close to her body.

“Just help me up. I’m cold and wet now.”

“Shhh,” he hushed. “Damn, that’s a deep cut.”

Gently, he wrapped the garment he held around her hand.

“Noah,” she protested. “You just washed that shirt!”

“And I’ll wash it again,” he said simply. “C’mon.”

He pulled her to her feet, keeping a tight, steadying hold on her. Bringing his free hand up to his mouth and whistled loudly. Grace peeked around him and saw Ethan a ways up the river.

“Grace cut herself. Gotta go patch her up,” Noah called out.

“You okay?” came the quick reply.

“I’m fine!” she shouted then in a normal tone, “I can take care of this. I’ve got a first aid kit in my pack.”

“So do I.” He held her hand, keeping pressure on the wound, as they walked back to camp.

Before she could protest again, he had her sitting on a fallen log while he fetched his pack. He knelt in front of her and, after unwrapping the soiled shirt, began to clean the cut.

“Noah, really, this is ridiculous. It’s a little cut; no big deal. It’s—Ow!” She sucked in a stunned breath as her palm was lit on fire.

“Antiseptic,” he said.

“You don’t’ say,” she snapped.

All the fight left her when he leaned forward and blew on the stinging hurt. Then, he was all business, and soon, a white bandage engulfed her hand.

“Thank you,” she said softly.

“You’re welcome.” He bent his head and pressed a kiss to the center of her covered palm. “There, all better.”

When he lifted his gaze to hers, she smiled and moved forward to kiss his cheek. “Thank you,” she said again against his skin.

Even as she mentally screamed at herself to stop, Grace turned her head slightly, and when Noah did the same, she kissed his firm mouth. A quick, closed-mouth kiss, but it stole her breath. She pulled away slightly and found his blue eyes open and on her.

Neither said a word. Next thing she knew, his hands were fisted in her hair, she was straddling his thighs, and his mouth…oh God, his mouth. It teased, seduced, and entranced her. He nipped at her lips then laved lazily over the delicious ache. She circled her hips, pressing against the rather impressive erection he was sporting.

“Grace,” he murmured.

The sound of his voice, even at a rough whisper, gave her a jolt. Realizing what she’d done, she scrambled back, sitting heavily on the log again.

“Oh my God, Noah.” She lifted her hand to her swollen lips and stared at the man before her. “I am so, so sorry! You and Ethan are together; I had no right to do that. You’re my…friends. My only friends. I can’t believe I did something so stupid to jeopardize that. Please, forgive me. Please.”

“Grace, it’s okay,” he insisted. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I—”

“No, no, it’s not okay.”

She jumped to her feet and stepped back over the log. Spinning around, with every intention of fleeing, she ran headfirst into Ethan. Her entire body went numb when she realized he’d probably seen and heard everything.

“Ethan, please let me explain.” Grace racked her brain trying to come up with a reasonable explanation.
You and your boyfriend made me so horny I lost my mind
certainly wouldn’t cut it.

She didn’t have a chance to form another word as Ethan cupped her face and took her mouth with his. Grace’s mind went to mush. Where Noah’s kiss had been playful and teasing, Ethan’s was hard, rough, demanding. He didn’t coax, he took. His tongue plunged forward to claim hers in a sleek mating.

Then, as quickly as it had begun, it ended.

Ethan shifted his gaze in Noah’s direction before looking back at her.

“I’ll be back in a couple hours,” he said harshly.

Releasing her, he turned on his heel and stalked away.

She stared after him, heart pounding furiously.
Oh God, oh God, oh…

“Gracie?”

Noah came beside her and touched her arm lightly. She jerked away and shook her head. “I need a minute. Alone.”

She raced into the woods beyond their small camp until her trembling legs threatened to give out on her. She sat on the ground and pressed her hands to her head.

“What did I just do?” she whispered to no one.

* * * *

Noah walked back to camp, arms full of clean, dry clothes. After Grace had run off earlier, he’d gone back down to the river, rewashed the bloody shirt and hung all their clothing on branches. Then he’d set his mind on catching more fish for dinner while he waited for the garments to dry. Busy work, really, to give Grace the space she needed. Because honestly, it was as much for him as for her. He didn’t know if he could keep his distance, and he didn’t think crowding her at that moment was the best thing for the situation.

Now, several hours later, he’d pulled it together enough to actually be around her without grabbing her and finishing what they’d started with that kiss.

Part of him was relieved. While the kiss had taken him by surprise, it really simplified matters. She’d made the first move, acted on the attraction he’d seen reflected in her eyes over the past few days. In his mind, that was the green light he and Ethan needed to explore if she were up for more than conversational companionship.

When Noah entered the small clearing where they’d set up camp, he found Grace coaxing the fire to life. The fish he’d caught rested on a flat river rock beside her, cleaned and ready to cook. His gaze was drawn to her ass, sweetly stretching the denim as she crouched down.

He cleared his throat. “Where do you want these?”

She turned her head toward him, and her lips trembled slightly before turning up into a smile. “You remembered the laundry! I completely forgot. Um, if you could just set it inside the tent, that would be great.” She tilted her head up toward the sky. “There are some clouds rolling in. Looks like rain. You could set your and Ethan’s stuff in there too, so if it does decide to come down, we don’t have to scramble around trying to keep everything dry.”

Immediately, his mind went to close quarters inside the tiny tent. Heated skin against skin as Mother Nature raged around them.
She wasn’t exactly inviting you and Ethan in, dumbass. Just your bags.

He moved around, gathering and moving things inside. When he finished, Grace was skewering the fish on sticks, and he joined her next to the fire. She gave him another quick smile when he grabbed a stick to help roast the meal, but quickly averted her gaze.

“Looks like Callie’s tired out,” he said, searching for a neutral topic to put her at ease.

Grace glanced over where the dog lay sprawled at the base of a large tree and laughed. “It was a tough day. She’s in pretty good shape for a dog—she used to run with me everyday—but she isn’t used to the number of miles we’ve been putting in.”

“None of us are. How are you holding up? And how’s the hand?” He nodded, noticing she’d taken the bandage off.

“Oh, it’s better. Much easier to move and get stuff done with this.” She held her hand up, showing him the adhesive bandage on her palm. “And, overall, I’m fine. Sore, yes. I’ll be happy when we don’t have to hike twenty plus miles a day! Of course,” she pressed her lips together a moment, “all of that will be behind us in a couple days. Well, behind me anyway.” She shot him a quick look. “What about you? You doing all right?”

He reached over and brushed away a long lock that had escaped her braid from her forehead. She sucked in a breath, and her face reddened. He skimmed his knuckle down her cheek before withdrawing.

“Believe it or not, we used to do this most summers. Hiking, backpacking through the wilds. For fun.” He winked at her. “So I’m doing just fine.”

“Really? All summer?” She turned the fish over, staring intently into the fire.

“Ethan and I were both teachers, and had summers off to head off wherever we wanted.”

“Really?” Surprise colored her tone.

“Yup. That’s how met; we both worked at the same high school. I taught math, and Ethan taught biology and coached the football team.”

“Where did you teach?”

“In Bolton. A great little place to live—far enough on the edge of the city to have a small-town feel, but close enough for all the conveniences.”

“I know where that is.” She shook her head. “God, we lived fifteen, twenty minutes from there.”

“Hmm, maybe we crossed paths before,” he teased. “Faces in a crowd. And what did you do for a living, Gracie?”

“I was a radiologist. So I was out of work long before the virus hit. No power grid, no equipment to work with. And the generators only lasted so long.”

“Yeah,” he mused, “things were shitty enough after the flare, let alone after everyone started getting sick. Most people I knew were going nuts just not being able to use their cell phones and all the things we took for granted.”

Grace murmured in agreement as she pulled the fish from the fire and, stripping them off the stick, laid them on the metal plate from her mess kit. She took the other stick from Noah and added those fish to the pile.

Movement caught Noah’s attention, and he turned his head to see Ethan stride into camp. The other man gave a quick nod.

“Smells good. I got some things that’ll taste real good with today’s catch,” he said, moving beside Noah.

With a groan, Ethan sat on the ground. Sweat dampened his hair and flushed skin, and rivulets danced down the sides of his face. Noah grabbed his water bottle and passed it his partner.

“Thanks.” Ethan handed the small cloth bag he carried to Grace as he took a large gulp. “You pick, sweetheart. What’s your fancy tonight?”

Grace ooh’d as she pulled a couple of small potatoes and some cans from the sack. Noah couldn’t help but grin at her excitement over the items.

“Peaches?” She cradled the can to her chest and beamed at Ethan. “And beans and tomatoes. Oh and soup! We’ll save that one for lunch tomorrow. And,” she drawled, pulling the last can out then frowned, “cat food?”

Ethan laughed “I figured Callie would enjoy it. I wish I’d been able to find more, but the entire town’s pretty well picked over as far as food goes—not surprising. Most of the small towns have been, and this one was barely a speck on the map.”