Crazy Love Part 21

Chapter Twenty-eight.

Strip? Liquid heat surged through her body. Hallelujah. Good things happened when her clothes came off around Tynan Cates. "I thought you'd never ask."

"We're both soaked through." His brows lowered and he hobbled toward her. "It makes sense to get out of our wet clothes."

"Oh, sure, right." Gah! He'd meant strip as in get-out-of-your-wet-clothes strip, not strip-naked-so-I-can-do-lovely-things-to-you-with-my-mouth-and-hands strip. Well, if she was going to try to talk the commitment-phobic man into an actual relations.h.i.+p, doing it while half-naked might help. "You're absolutely right. I'm feeling downright chilly. So we'll strip. Get you in the ice and then I'll get a fire going."

There was no way she was going to give him a single second to think about this. She whipped her sweater off, followed by her jeans. Wet jeans never came off easily, so her dream of peeling them off like a s.e.xy Victoria's Secret model died when she fell backward onto the couch and kicked them off in frustration.

"I'm fine!" She jumped up, laying her clothes over the back of the couch, more than a little nervous about standing in front of him in her underwear. "You too. Should we cut your pants off?"

His gaze ate her up. "Let me take off my boot and get a look first."

Holy cow, it was a painful process. Even using Tynan's knife to cut off the rigged-up splint and the boot laces, it had to hurt like h.e.l.l. He gritted his teeth and let her hack away at the boot until it finally came off. She rolled his sock down as gently as she could, but, oh lord, it was bruised about three different shades of purple. And the swelling . . . oh boy.

"You poor thing." She bit her lip to stop from crying.

"Let's do this." Tynan grabbed the knife back and sliced up the outside seam of the pant leg on his injured side. Once it was open he cut the fabric off at midthigh, ending up with one long pant leg and the other baring his bulging thigh muscles. Then, without a moment's hesitation, he stuck his injured ankle straight into the cooler of ice and water with a hiss of air through his teeth. "Oh s.h.i.+t."

He sat on the chair, gripping the edges of the seat for a minute while he adjusted to the pain. "While my foot is going painfully numb, you can distract me with that explanation of how you ended up in Climax."

"I stripped down to my underwear to distract you."

"Oh, it's working. Only between the sprain and the ice treatment, my pain level is pretty high." He was working those crazy eyes of his. s.h.i.+ning them on her with so much heat, her stomach swirled and flopped where she stood. "I might need you to lose the bra too."

"I just might." She could tell when his foot started to go numb; the lines in his forehead smoothed out and his ma.s.sive thigh muscles relaxed. She moved over to start a fire, bending over to peek up into the chimney to see if the flue was open.

"Christ, Lu, warn me next time."

She grinned and went about building a fire from the logs on the hearth, letting him stare at her a.s.s the whole time. She was hoping to distract him long enough for her to figure out where to start. Once the fire caught she turned back to Tynan. Outside, wind gusts rattled the windows while rain pounded, constant and heavy against the roof. DA jumped away from the window when a tree limb smacked up against it.

Lu crossed her arms under her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, trying not to look awkward. Tynan must have noticed because he pulled his T-s.h.i.+rt off and handed it to her.

"Here, put this on. I'm having trouble concentrating over here."

She ran her gaze over his face, searching for pain. "Oh no. Your concussion?"

"No. Your b.r.e.a.s.t.s."

She almost snorted, but then noticed he was actually serious, and that made her heart skip a beat. So instead, she slipped on the T-s.h.i.+rt quickly. It was soft, warmed by his body, and smelled faintly of his spicy aftershave and rain.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to focus on everything in her heart she wanted to lay out and expose to him.

"It all started when I saw your photo in the newspaper. I'd been stuck ever since Joe died. You were laughing, and I wondered how the heck you'd managed it. I saw your face that day, and I had this feeling you held the secret to helping me get unstuck. And you did-just not the way I thought.

"Joe mentioned you in his letters. A lot. That you cussed like a sailor and had a wicked sense of humor. You had a habit of adopting strays-both people and animals. You had quite a reputation with the ladies. But also that your men trusted you because you never asked them to do something you wouldn't do yourself." She shrugged. "Thinking about it now, deep down I think I trusted you'd help me too."

His blue-green eyes captured and burned into hers, holding them hostage until she couldn't breathe.

"It's been twenty minutes," she whispered.

"What?" Tynan's gaze didn't move from hers. "Oh, the ice."

Lu escaped into the kitchen to catch her breath and then returned with two dish towels, handing them to Tynan.

He took the towels from her hand and nodded but didn't move, waiting for her to continue.

"I got the job on your crew, figuring over a week or two I'd get you to open up and tell me how you'd moved on." She shook her head. "But I couldn't get you to tell me anything. Well, hardly anything. And then one day I heard you tell Kaz you were responsible for Joe's death, and I . . . I wanted to hurt you the way I was hurting."

"So you bought this c.r.a.ppy place before I could."

Her gaze shot up to his. "I'm sorry. Really sorry. You can have it. I'll just sign it over to you."

He shrugged, his large shoulders gleaming in the firelight. "It's not that important now."

What was he saying? That nothing between them mattered now? She walked back toward the window, staring out into the darkness. The storm was fierce now, slas.h.i.+ng the rain sideways, bending trees, and tossing branches. Similar to the feeling in her chest right now. Houdini hopped over and leaned his body next to her leg, and she reached down and stroked his head.

She turned back, lifting her chin, deciding she might as well say it all, even if it wasn't important, so she would know she tried.

"I'm not sure what to say. What words to use. How do I say 'I forgive you' when in my heart I know there isn't anything to forgive? I was never really angry at you. I was angry at the world, at Joe for leaving me, and at myself. And all of that was too hard to deal with. It was so much easier to take all that anger and turn it on you."

The soldier, the man, who already blamed himself for a sin he hadn't committed. And if she couldn't say "I forgive you," how in the world would she turn around and ask for his forgiveness? For the cruel way she'd blamed him. Tried to hurt him. She'd been mad at herself for being so weak, and she'd taken the cowardly way out and thrown it all at him instead of herself.

"The thing is, Joe could have died over there even if he'd never been in your unit. Lots of good men died over there. And I'm sorry you're stuck with the blame. I don't blame you anymore. I never really did, but I had so much anger and you were the safest place to aim it. I guess because you were in the way." She shrugged, then shook her head. "But also because I think deep down I knew you were strong enough to handle it. To handle everything I couldn't handle by myself."

Tynan busied himself with pulling his foot from the ice bath while he digested everything Lu had said. He used the towels she'd handed him to carefully dry off his foot, which was totally, blessedly numb. What she'd said . . . was everything he had needed to hear. Her words were like being dipped in healing waters. They flowed over him and into that dark place where he'd hid his pain and guilt and helped wash it away.

He admired her guts. Her willingness to go after what she wanted. He owed it to her, and to himself, to do the same. Carefully resting his foot on a nearby chair, he turned back to her.

"Do you think we could-I don't know-maybe one day set Joe aside so he's not sitting in between us?" He hesitated, trying to gauge her reaction. But he couldn't read her face, so he plowed ahead. "I try to imagine how it would have been if we'd met in another life. Or what if I'd met you before you met Joe? I wonder if we'd have had a better chance, or if it could have been easier."

She shook her head. "I don't think so."

Tynan stared at her as a slow, inexorable pressure squeezed his chest. Then he blinked and turned his head away. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"No, I mean who needs easier? So this wasn't like a fairy tale or some romantic movie your brother would star in. So what? I mean, I had the fairy tale once, almost . . . and it was beautiful. But I have to say, I'm really having fun with whatever this is"-she gestured between the two of them with her hand-"I don't know what it is exactly, but I like it. h.e.l.l, I think I love it. I haven't felt this alive in a long, long time."

He knew he loved it.

His lips slid slowly into a grin way past confident and all the way into c.o.c.ky.

"Tynan . . ." Lu stared at him, then moved back to stand in front of the window before turning to face him, her hands twisting at the hem of his T-s.h.i.+rt. "What about the gun? Quinn said you normally leave it with him, but this year you didn't. Were you thinking of-"

"Oh h.e.l.l no." He stood up and hobbled over to her, sliding his hands up her arms to caress her shoulders, drawing her in against his chest. "No. I did that for Ma. I wanted her to see she could stop worrying anytime I was in the woods with a gun."

"Good." Her body relaxed on a sigh and she slid her arms around his waist. "Then if you'll just get over this survivor's guilt, we can get on with living."

G.o.d, she felt good in his arms. He pulled her in tight, breathing in the sweet scent of her. "I admit, six months ago I had this burning need to prove I deserved to be one of the survivors. But then I thought, f.u.c.k that. Every one of us deserved to come back alive. It's just that some of us didn't.

"I don't regret the last six months, though, because it made me a better man . . . for you. Joey was a great guy. And I want to make sure I can offer you something-me, a man as good as Joey. Totally different, mind you, but a solid man who deserves to be in your life."

She pressed her cheek to his chest and stifled a laugh. "You two couldn't be more different. Joe was a serene mountain lake and you're a huge surfing wave in Hawaii. Joe was a falcon and you're an eagle."

Tynan stood holding Lu in his arms, feeling like the luckiest b.a.s.t.a.r.d alive.

"I'm sorry I lied to you," Lu said into his chest.

He kissed the top of her head. "I lied to you too. Remember when you asked if I thought we'd be friends if we'd met under different circ.u.mstances? The answer is yes. I like that you suck at singing but do it anyway because you love music."

She laughed against his neck.

"I love how much you enjoy food. Watching you eat is like foreplay. I admire that you had the b.a.l.l.s to bluff your way through the construction-"

A loud crack was their only warning before the window next to them shattered inward. Gla.s.s shards flew at them along with a tree branch tossed by the wind at the cabin like a grenade.

Tynan reacted instinctively, swinging Lu around 180 degrees, throwing both their bodies to the floor, covering her, protecting her with his back from the shower of gla.s.s and debris. He registered the frenzied scurry of his pets as they darted past and into the kitchen.

Lu's hands frantically touched his face. "Are you all right?"

"Fine." He had a couple more cuts than he'd had two minutes ago and had wrenched his ankle again, but otherwise he was unscathed. Talk about an adrenaline rush. He'd stack that somewhere between a face-off with a bear and getting his a.s.s chewed out by a two-star general. "Are you okay?"

Lu was busy running her hands over his shoulders, arms, and along his back, checking for gla.s.s and cuts. With his weight resting on his forearms on either side of her, their bodies were pressed together, and the tight points of her nipples teased his chest.

Focus, Tynan. Her hands and nipples were distracting him, but he needed to make sure she wasn't hurt. "Lu, what about you? Are you hurt at all?"

"No. I'm fine, except for that big flashlight in your pocket. Could you move it?" Her body wiggled under him. "It's digging into me."

"That's . . . not a flashlight. I think the guacamole and oysters just kicked in." He rolled his hips lightly, pressing his hard-on against her abdomen, drawing a moan from them both. "h.e.l.l of a time."

She ran her lips up his neck and slid one hand down the muscles of his stomach to grab his c.o.c.k. "I'm not complaining."

Good G.o.d, the woman was trying to kill him. "d.a.m.n, Lu. I can't think of anything I like more than your lips on my skin and your hand on my c.o.c.k, but I don't want you hurt and I'm covered in gla.s.s. Let's be smart about this. We'll clean up the gla.s.s, check on Houdini and DA, patch up the window, and then we can decide where we go from here."

Lu leaned up and kissed him. A hot, tongue-tangling kiss that had him even harder. "As long as it's together, the how and the where don't matter much."

It took over an hour to settle down the frightened animals, clean up the shattered gla.s.s, and rig up a temporary window with duct tape and his tent. By the time they were finished Tynan's ankle was throbbing like a b.i.t.c.h, but one look at Lu and the pain barely registered.

"Tynan, go lie down on the couch and elevate your ankle."

"Yeah, it is starting to hurt again." He limped over to the couch and stretched out, pus.h.i.+ng two of the throw pillows under his foot. "Would you mind building up the fire again?"

Lu turned, looking at the fire in front of the couch. "Really? You think it needs another log?"

"Definitely." He sent her his one-sided grin, the one that had worked like a charm for most his life. "I think so."

"Okay, sure."

She bent over the fire to stir it around and throw two more logs on.

"Take your time." Tynan enjoyed every second of the view. "Then we can talk about us; you know, where we go from here."

Lu turned to him with a hopeful smile. "I have a suggestion. We get naked right now and you let me have my wicked way with you. There are a few moves from the romance book I really want to try."

Tynan went from hard to t.i.tanium steel in a nanosecond. Oh, d.a.m.n. He clenched his jaw and closed his eyes tight, because after over six months of near abstinence, he was ready. He was more than ready. He was sporting major league wood. He was ready to drive Miss Daisy all the way home. He wanted to b.u.t.ter Lu's biscuit.

"Okay, yeah, we could do that. Or . . ." Tynan opened his eyes and he looked over at Lu. "Or we wait and take it slow. We start over. No Joe in between us. Pretend we're meeting for the first time. Have a first date, first kiss, first make-out session. Do it all from scratch."

She stood staring back at him, her teeth sunk into her bottom lip as she worried the T-s.h.i.+rt.

"Lu, I want to strip you out of my s.h.i.+rt this very minute and lick every inch of your skin. I want to nibble at your vanilla-scented neck and kiss your b.r.e.a.s.t.s. I want to wrap your long hair around my wrist and give it a tug as I enter you. I want to fall asleep tangled up in your hair. I want to dive into your eyes, down where the deep brown blends into black, and discover all your mysterious secrets. I want to try everything in chapter three with you."

Lu squeaked and slapped a hand over her mouth. Then she lowered her hand and blinked at him, her face flushed. "Everything?"

"Everything." Tynan would have thought option one was a no-brainer. But what he felt for Lu was completely different from anything he'd ever felt before. "But-and this is surprising even me-I believe I'd like the second option."

"Oh." Lu's lips pressed together and she wrapped her arms tight around herself. "Sure. Okay."

He smiled at the disappointment on her face, and held out his hand to her. "Come here, Tink."

She took his hand and he guided her down so she lay stretched out on top of him, her head resting right up against his heart.

"Lu, I've never felt this way before. This is different. I've never wanted commitment before, but I want it now." His hands caressed her back and down to her perfect a.s.s while his heart beat wildly in his chest. "I'm not using the capital L word, but I'm warning you right now, I'm fairly certain I'm heading down that road. Is that something you think you can handle?"

Every muscle in her body tensed, and then she relaxed against him on a sigh. "Yes, I think I can handle that."

"I want a first date, a first kiss on a bridge, a first movie, a first dance, and a first dinner with my family. With your family. Our first Christmas tree together. With you by my side, one of my brothers might even let me be a G.o.dfather. I'm thinking I want it all, Lu."

She propped herself up on her forearms, her gaze, luminous with unshed tears. She leaned forward and kissed him. "Me too. But, to be completely honest, I'm going to employ every womanly wile I have to get to the hot s.e.x sooner. Fair warning."

Tynan grinned at her. "I'm looking forward to it."

Lu tucked her face back down against his chest, stroking her hand along his biceps. "I'm not going to use the L word either, but I've been there before, and I'm warning you right back: when I fall I fall forever. Think you can handle that?"

"Oh, Tink, I can handle that." He wanted to capture this moment in his memory like a dragonfly in amber. Lu resting warm and soft in his arms while they talked about a future together. "Hey, how do you feel about going fis.h.i.+ng with me?"

Lu's head popped up, her dark gaze searching his, and then she smiled her bent pixie smile and made him want to do things to her.

"Tynan Cates, I thought you'd never ask. I'd love to." She leaned forward and kissed him, warm and soft, sealing the deal before resting her head back on his chest with a sigh. "Hey, will you help me fix up my cabin?"

His arms tightened around her. "You think you can afford my services?"