CoyoteWhispers (9 page)

He took a deep breath, dragged his fingers through his hair,
making it stick up at all angles. “And then it didn’t matter. You were with
Anthony.”

Oh God.
She hadn’t known. Probably wouldn’t have
accepted Anthony’s proposal if she had. “Oh, Steve.”

“No.” He stepped away. “I don’t want your pity.”

“Pity’s the last thing I’m feeling.” She sat up, pulled the
covers over her bare breasts. “If I feel anything it’s sadness—guilt. I never
would have agreed to marry Anthony and let him turn me if I’d known how you
felt.”

Steve stood staring at her, probing with that intense gaze
of his. Gordie couldn’t stop the anger bubbling inside her. Not at him, never
at Steve. At herself for being selfish enough to accept the offer of a friend
when she’d known full well it was a one-sided relationship. She’d used Anthony
and he’d let her. They were both to blame for so much, but the majority of
shame fell on her.

“He’d still be alive if I hadn’t been so selfish.” She
lowered her head. “Hadn’t wanted desperately to be like everyone else.”

“No. If we’re laying down guilt then I’m to blame for not
coming to you with how I felt. If I hadn’t been a coward…”

Gordie’s head snapped up and she stared at Steve. “That’s
ridiculous.”

“Yes, it is.” He reached for her hand, entwined their
fingers. “So is blaming yourself for Anthony’s death. No one could have stopped
the accident. And you and I know that even if you hadn’t been married you both
would have been going on that trip. The crash would still have happened.”

She heard his words, knew he was right but her heart
wouldn’t believe it. Not when she’d spent years living with the heavy weight of
guilt over Anthony’s death. Gordie tried to smile, her lips trembling as she
made the effort to reassure him. “I know you’re right but it’s hard to accept
when I’ve made so many life-altering mistakes.”

Voices coming from the other side of the door drew their
attention. Gordie could hear Kat clear as a bell yelling she’d have breakfast
on the table in thirty minutes. She smiled. Her sister might be loud, pushy and
a pain in the ass, but Gordie loved her to pieces and had from the minute she’d
been born.

“Sounds like everyone is up,” Gordie said.

“If they weren’t, they are now. Does Kat have a volume
switch?”

Gordie laughed. “Not that we’ve ever found. When she was
little, Mom always threatened to gag her if she couldn’t be quiet.”

“Mmm, that might work.” Steve tugged on her hand. “Come on,
let’s get showered and dressed. We’ve got a long day ahead of us and the sooner
we get started the sooner we’ll get finished.”

“I’ve got nothing to wear.” Gordie let him pull her to her
feet but held onto the sheet. She had to let it go when her feet got tangled
up. If it wasn’t for Steve’s grip she would have fallen on her face.

“You can borrow something of mine and change when we get to
your house. You can pack enough clothes to last until you open the clinic back
up in the New Year while we’re there.” He pulled her behind him as he headed
for the bathroom. “We’ll worry about moving all your stuff later.”

Gordie stumbled. “My stuff?”

“Yeah, clothes, furniture, any knickknacks you want to keep,
that sort of thing.”

“Furniture?”

Steve twisted the tap in the shower and turned to face her.
“Doc, did you think you wouldn’t be moving in with me now?”

“Moving in?”

He shook his head. “I’m going to assume you’re still shaken
up after yesterday because I know you’re smarter than this, Doc. I want you
here, in my house. If you want to wait until your mom and Doctor Monroe can get
back to Whispering Springs to get married we can, but that’s the only thing
we’re going to wait for.”

“Oh.” They were getting married? The words rolled around her
head. They felt comfortable and Gordie felt a fluttering in her belly.
Married
to Steve.
The idea thrilled her. “Okay.”

A sexy smile curled one side of his mouth. “Back to
agreeable Doc?”

Gordie couldn’t help it. She grinned. “Oh yeah, definitely
agreeable.”

Pushing up onto her toes, she wrapped her arms around his
neck and pulled his mouth down to meet hers. The kiss went on and on. By the
time they pulled apart, both were breathless and steam filled the space around
them. Hot and wet, inside and out, Gordie tried to remember what they were
doing.

“Damn, woman. You trying to scramble my brains?” Steve
licked his lips and a shiver snaked down her spine.

She laughed. “If I am, I can’t remember why.”

Steve’s arms tightened around her waist and he lifted her
against him. He stepped back, maneuvering them both under the shower. Warm
water cascaded down, wetting her hair and splashing into her eyes. She shut her
eyelids and tilted her head back to let the water flow over her face. The air
surrounding them was charged with heat, the steamy enclosure trapping the
sexual energy as easily as Steve clasped her body to his.

He lowered her to her feet, her skin sliding along his sent
sparks of desire shooting through her. His arms loosened and she turned in his
embrace to reach for the soap. Gordie lathered her hands before dropping the
bar back in the holder and spinning back to run her soapy fingers all over
Steve’s chest. She left no area untouched, took extra care to be sure she
cleaned every inch of his broad torso. Her insides swirled with desire,
touching his muscular physique ramped up her arousal with each stroke of a
finger. She moved on to his shoulders.

The wide expanse reminded her of just how big he was. At six
feet six inches, Steve was easily the tallest man she’d ever met. It made her
feel small and delicate—feminine. She wasn’t small for woman, a little above
average at five feet six, but he was a full foot taller than her and yet they
fit together so well. Gordie stretched to rake her hands up and around his
neck. He bent forward, giving her better access and she curled her fingertips
into his muscles, used gentle pressure to work out the knots.

“Man that feels good.”

“You’re all tense.”

Steve chuckled. “I’m in the shower naked with
you
.
Believe me when I say the tension you’re feeling is the good kind.”

“Oh.” Gordie stood on her toes and ran her fingers over his
scalp. Her body brushed against his, her breasts pressed into his chest and her
nipples pebbled as his coarse hair abraded them. She shivered.

“Gordie.” Her name was a whispered breath seconds before his
head lowered and his mouth took hers.

He thrust his tongue between her lips, probed inside with
bold strokes and carnal demands. Heat swirled deep in her belly, her pussy
weeping with a demand of its own. She moaned into his mouth, drove her tongue
forward to tangle with his. Her fingernails dug into his scalp as she held him
to her and took as much as she surrendered.

The kiss was a challenge, a duel. A meshing of mouths
designed to bring each of them to their knees. Only it made them stronger.
Fueled their desire until the flames threatened to consume them both. His hands
cupped her ass, pulled her tighter to him and brought their pelvises together
in a lock as old as time. Gordie lifted her legs and wrapped them around his
hips. They both moaned when her pussy rubbed against his cock.

He tore his mouth from hers. “Put me inside you,” he
growled.

“Yes.” She reached between them as Steve used his grip on
her behind to lift her away from his body. Her fingers encircled his length and
held him in place as he pulled her back against him. Slick folds opened,
welcomed him with grasping contractions as she sank down his length—each ripple
firing nerve endings like a match to a fuse. Gordie buried her face in his neck
and moaned.

Steve’s grip on her ass tightened and he worked his fingers
closer to where his body joined hers, teasing sensitive flesh with skill. He
knew just where to touch, when to touch, to drive her crazy. She rocked her
hips, tried to get him to move inside her but he continued to tease her while
holding her snug against him. Desperate for more, she tangled her fingers in
his hair and pulled.

“Move, dammit.”

“No.” His breath puffed in her ear and he nipped at her lobe
with his teeth. “Want. To. Last.”

Gordie could hear his teeth grind as he clenched his jaw in
an obvious effort for control. But she wanted none of that. She wanted hot and
wild. Needed it with razor-sharp edges. With a growl, she sank her teeth into
his shoulder. He jerked, his cock sliding over her swollen walls.

“
Yes.
”

She tugged on his hair, licked at the slope of skin that led
from his shoulder to his neck and worked her pelvic floor muscles in a
punishing wave of catch and release. His control snapped with the click of his
jaw. One breath he was still and the next he was powering in and out of her
pussy like a man possessed. Gordie let go of his hair to wrap her arms around
his neck and hold on.

Over and over he drove into her. Hard. Fast. She bounced
against him with the force of his thrusts, her clit grinding on his body with
every lunge. Her pussy clenched with the first of many convulsions as her
orgasm roared through her and into him. Gordie’s hips bucked and thrashed as
Steve’s name fell from her lips and her name burst from his. They came together
in a rush, the ride over before it had barely begun.

Gasping for air, she held on to him as he leaned on the wall
behind them and slowly slid to the floor. She straddled his hips, his cock
still buried and pulsing inside her. Cold water poured down over them but she
didn’t care. Nothing could take away the bliss coursing through her veins.

“Water’s cold. We have to get out before we turn into
icicles.” Steve let her go to reach up and switch the shower off. He put his
arm back around her and squeezed. “Just need a minute to catch my breath.”

“When you’re done hunting yours, can you chase down mine?”
she murmured into his neck.

His chest vibrated with a chuckle, the tremors tickling her
nipples and sending tiny shards of pleasure blasting out in all directions. A
shudder raked through her from head to toes.

“You’re getting cold.”

He surged to his feet, his softened cock slipping from her
body as he stood. Her pussy clenched with loss, a hollow ache filling her core
where his warmth had been. Steve placed her on her feet and enveloped her in a
warm towel. Goose bumps sprang up along her skin as he rubbed her down. The
soft terrycloth gently absorbed every last droplet of water. Banging on the
bathroom door startled them.

“Come on, you two, breakfast is ready,” Kat yelled.

“We’ll be right out,” Steve answered.

They waited until they heard the bedroom door close behind
Kat before venturing out of the bathroom. Steve tossed a clean t-shirt and
sweatpants on the bed for her and Gordie quickly pulled them on. The first
thing she planned to do when she got to her house was dress in some of her own
clothes. She shivered with the thought of what she might find this time when
she unlocked her front door.

“Hey.” Steve stepped up behind her, ran his hands from her
elbows to her shoulders and back again. “It’ll be fine. I’ll be with you when
you go inside so there’s nothing to worry about.”

She knew he would do his best to protect her from any
danger, but he couldn’t stop the dread eating at her gut. Her biggest fear was
that Dale was right. The game had changed and now no one was safe from Marcus’
madness.

Steve turned Doc to face him. He bent his knees to bring
their eyes level. “I promise he won’t hurt you again.”

“You can’t promise that, Steve. We have no idea what he’ll
do or when. All we can do is take precautions and be prepared.”

“He won’t hurt you.” Steve’s gut churned. The idea of
anything happening to Doc burned in his chest and tasted foul on his tongue. He
pulled her close, tucked her head under his chin and breathed her in.

She relaxed and cuddled into him. He knew she was right, he
couldn’t promise Marcus wouldn’t hurt her but he’d be damned if he didn’t do
everything he could to protect her. He’d start with moving her into his house
permanently. After they’d had something to eat and plowed their way to town.
Steve hoped their trip to her place was uneventful but he didn’t discount the
buzz of his instincts. There was no way he would let her out of his sight until
they’d driven back up the mountain and locked the front door behind them.

“Come on, let’s eat.” He dropped a kiss on the top of her
head and released her. Curling his hand around hers, he pulled her with him out
of the room and toward the noise coming from the other end of the house.

When they reached the dining room, everyone was already
there and before he could say a word Doc sprinted across the room.

“Tatum.”

The two women embraced before Doc pushed Tatum to arm’s
length and glanced down at her pregnant belly.

“Yeah, we’re growing a little bigger than expected.”

“A little? What have you got in there, triplets?”

Tatum laughed. “No, just your run-of-the-mill, everyday
twins.”

“Have you been taking your vitamins? Eating right? Getting
plenty of rest?”

“Yes, yes, yes.” Tatum laughed.

“Wait. When did you get here? How did you get here?”

“Sit down, my back is killing me.” Tatum took her seat
again. “We’ll catch up while we eat. I’m starving.”

Steve pulled out a chair for Doc, sliding it back in as she
sat. He took the chair next to her and began loading her plate and his with
scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausages and bacon. Kat passed him the coffeepot
and he filled both their mugs.

“Hey, I can’t eat all this,” Doc complained.

“Try to put a dent in it,” he said.

“I’ll eat whatever you don’t.” Tatum patted her protruding
belly. “Bottomless stomach.”