Just Perfect (14 page)

Instead, he nodded toward the parking lot. “Come on, I have an extra coat in the truck.”

She followed him through the sea of SUVs and Outbacks with ski racks. He pointed his remote key toward a four-wheel drive, dark green pickup with crew cab, lights on top, and the word “Rescue” splashed in silver across the side.

“Wow, is this your truck?” Her eyes lit. “Talk about a man’s wet dream on wheels.”

He barked with laughter over her choice of words. “It comes with the job.”

“Which is what, exactly?”

Pride expanded his chest. “I’m the county coordinator for search and rescue.”

“Oh, really?” She raised a brow. “Impressive.”

He opened the passenger door and greeted an enthusiastic Buddy, who took several sniffs and knew there was a rescue afoot. The dog barked and wiggled, waiting for Alec to put on his red vest, which was his cue to go into work mode.

“Sorry boy. Fun’s over.” Buddy whimpered when Alec didn’t reach for the vest. “Oh, now don’t pout. I can’t stand it when you pout. How about I take you on a pretend rescue later, eh?” Buddy barked with glee at that idea. “There, that’s my boy.” Alec ruffled the fur.

With Buddy placated, he reached back into the crew cab and grabbed the firefighter’s coat he wore whenever the need arose and held it out to Chris. “Here, try this.”

Removing her ruined coat and protective gloves, she folded everything inside out and tossed it in the bed of the pickup. The hat came next. The instant she ripped it off, her blond hair tumbled down around her. She gave her head a good shake, tossing her hair back and forth.

His brain blanked at the sight of all that glorious hair whipping about her.

Next time he kissed her, she could forget the no-hands rule. He wanted his hands buried in that hair while his mouth feasted on hers.

When she presented her back, he slipped the coat up her arms, then indulged himself by helping pull her hair free of the collar. It felt like silk that slid sensuously through his fingers.

Too soon, she stepped away and faced him. “So how do I look?”

He raised a brow, caught off guard by an intense punch of arousal. The coat engulfed her. He had no idea why that turned him on, but his body heartily approved of seeing his coat covering her.

“Looks good.” He nodded, warning himself to keep things light. He wasn’t after a post-rescue bout of hot sex. He wanted to talk to her, sort things out, and score a date. “You could start a whole new fashion trend.”

“Rescue gear on the runway in Milan?” She sent him an impish smile. “Now there’s a thought.”

Not trusting himself to speak, he went around to the driver’s side and climbed in. She was already in the cab, accepting sloppy kisses from his dog.

“Come on, Buddy, show some pride.” He shooed the dog farther into the backseat.

“Ooh.” Christine pouted, then turned to face him, studying him for a minute before she smiled. “So. You’re a paramedic
and
you do search and rescue? Isn’t that unusual? I thought search-and-rescue volunteers, or in your case workers, had to be available twenty-four hours a day, which generally cuts out those of us in other emergency fields.”

“Which is why I’m certified as a paramedic, but I’ve never worked as one.” He started the truck and headed across the parking lot. “For me, it’s always been search and rescue, and I’ve been working my tail off for years to land a paid position.”

“When did that happen?”

“Two years ago. Before that, I did everything from work in ski shops to bus tables, usually working two jobs at a time and living with three other guys in cramped apartments just to be close enough to the mountains to answer a call.” He smiled at her. “Kinda blows your theory of me as an unemployed ski bum, huh?”

She smiled. “Kinda.”

He studied her before turning onto the road that led around the back of the village. “So you’re an ER doc.”

“Kinda blows your pampered rich girl theory, huh?”

“The pampered part, anyway. I don’t think there’s any getting around the rich girl part.”

“Is that a problem for you?”

He thought about it. “Just so I’m clear, how rich are we talking?”

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “My family is ‘comfortable.’”

He whistled. “Anyone who downplays it that much is megarich.”

“I thought we agreed that money is irrelevant. I think that’s especially true when it’s family money, not something a person earned.”

“Is that why you became a doctor? Sitting around spending your daddy’s money lacked integrity?”

She pursed her lips. “Actually, that would be my granddaddy’s money, from my mother’s side of the family. He founded a brokerage firm. My father is a pauper by comparison.”

“I thought he was a surgeon.”

She nodded. “He’s the chief of cardiology at St. James Hospital in Austin.”

“Now you’re scaring me.”

“I am not,” she teased, then seemed to reconsider. “Am I? Does money matter to you?”

“I like to think not, but what you’re talking about is a little intimidating.”

“Why?” She tipped her head, studying him.

He released a dry laugh. “Okay, just so we’re both clear upfront, I come from poor, Chris. I’m talking white trash, dirt poor. You know all those Jeff Fox-worthy jokes about ‘You might be a redneck if…’? They pretty much describe my family. And I may have scraped some of the trash off my boots when I stuck out my thumb and hitched my way out of there, but the poor part isn’t going to change. I barely make subsistence wages working for the county, and what money I do make, I spend buying equipment. So I can’t lavish you with fancy dinners, but I can show you one heck of a good time if you like outdoor sports.”

“Doesn’t the county buy your equipment?”

“Most of it, but never enough.” He pulled into the parking lot for Central Village. “In fact, that’s why I took a week of vacation time to give you ski lessons. I wanted to buy one of those new, specially equipped all-terrain bikes for summer rescues.”

“I’ve seen those.” She nodded with interest. “They’re like an ambulance on two wheels.”

“Yeah, really cool, huh?” His eyes danced like a kid describing a new toy—and everything fell into place.

“That’s what your friends meant Friday night when they said you spent all your money buying toys?”

“Guilty.” He pulled into an empty space and set the brake.

“And what Trent meant when he said you don’t work, you just play all day.”

“I seriously like what I do.” He shifted on the bench seat to face her. “It’s got to be the best job on the planet, even if it doesn’t pay squat.”

“I can relate. There’s no greater thrill than working ER. Well, at least I didn’t think so. But today… that was quite a rush.”

“That was nothing. You should go on a backcountry rescue.”

“Really?” Her heart beat faster at the idea. Or maybe from sitting in a truck with Alec and knowing he wasn’t off-limits. “Would you take me?”

He narrowed his eyes. “If I say yes, will you go out with me?”

“That depends.”

“On… ?”

She bit her lip. He’d obliterated her main obstacle to dating him, but there was still one left. “How old are you?”

He sighed. “It’s the face, isn’t it? Do you know I still get carded, which the guys think is flippin‘ hilarious.”

“You don’t look
that
young. I mean, you aren’t, are you?”

“I’m twenty-nine.”

She sagged in relief. “That’s only four years’ difference. I can live with that.” Which left no reason why she couldn’t spend every minute of the next two weeks with Alec. Grinning, she crooked a finger at him. “Come here.”

His eyes lit with understanding. Ripping off his seat belt, he leaned over, moving in for a kiss. Before his lips met hers, though, he pulled back. “Wait a sec. You’re only twenty-five? How’d you get to be a doctor so young?”

She laughed. “No. Four years the other way. I’m thirty three.” She traced his jaw with her fingertip. “But you win major points for thinking the opposite.”

“An older woman.” He smiled slowly. “Cool.”

“Hey.” She scowled.

He wiggled his brows. “I can be your boy toy.”

“I thought that was insulting.”

“Only if that’s all it’s about.” He reached down and unfastened her seat belt with an audible click. “I’d like this to be about more.”

“Good.” She wrapped her arms about his neck. “Because I don’t want a boy toy. I want a man.”

“Then I’ll be your man.” He lowered his mouth over hers.

She sank willingly into the heat of his kiss, as joy and arousal unfurled inside her. One of his hands slipped inside the coat, and she arched in response, needing his hands on her body as desperately as she needed the taste of his mouth, the scent of his skin.

Ravenous need built as they fumbled to touch through bulky clothes, struggling for more body contact in spite of the confines of the truck.

One of his hands buried in her hair as the other swept down her leg. She felt herself being lifted and turned. Afraid he’d end the kiss, she held his face in both her hands and kissed him back with her whole mouth. She wound up straddling his lap in the middle of the bench seat as their tongues tangled.

Moaning, she indulged herself fully as he cupped her bottom and brought her snuggly up against him. The instant his hard arousal connected with her aching center, she broke the kiss, arching back with a gasp of delight.

His mouth trailed down her neck, then lower, where too much clothing covered her breasts.

Hearing his growl of frustration, she tried to shrug out of the coat at least. A loud blast split the air when her elbow hit the horn. Buddy planted his paws on the back of the seat, wagging his tail as he came to see what was going on.

Laughing, Christine leaned against the dashboard.

Alec’s laugh sounded strained as he looked at her. “A public parking lot in broad daylight probably isn’t the best place for this.”

“Probably not.” She glanced around, relieved to see no one nearby. Turning back to Alec, she gave him a naughty grin. “I think we can safely say my charm vaccine wore off.”

Laughing, he pulled her to him for a hug. “You know what?”

“What?”

He leaned back enough to see her face. “I like you.”

The words filled her with a rush of happiness unlike anything she’d ever felt before. He liked her. It was so simple, yet so wonderful. He liked her. Just like that. Without asking for anything from her. Without her having to earn it. He liked her.

A smile spread through her. “I like you too.”

“Good thing. Since you’re going to be seeing a lot of me. Although”—he looked at his watch—“right now I need to drop by the station, check on Tim, and fill out a report on what happened.”

“Oh.” That deflated her. “I should let you go.”

“I’ll walk you home.” He patted her bottom.

“You don’t have to.” She moved back to her side of the bench seat.

He cocked a brow at her. “You think I’m going to give up the chance to kiss you again at your parents’ door?”

“Well, there is that.”

“Come on, Buddy,” he called as he got out of the truck. The two of them came around to her side and Alec looked in the bed. “Sorry about your coat.”

“It’s not a big deal,” Christine assured him. “Natalie refuses to wear real fur, so it wasn’t as expensive as it looks. If she’s upset, I’ll buy her a new one.”

He took her hand as they entered the pedestrian area. “Are you going to go skiing with me tomorrow? Not as a lesson. Just to spend time together.”

“Are you still on vacation?”

“No, but part of my job is monitoring tracks into the backcountry. That takes skiing a lot of black diamond trails and even going out-of-bounds.” He gestured to the mountains that stood like giant sentinels over the village. “I can take you places others rarely see. Places where the snow is pure powder and the views will take your breath away.”

“You really know how to tempt a girl.”

“So, how about it?” He grinned suggestively. “Wanna go out-of-bounds with me?”

“Oh, you are bad.”

“I get the feeling you like bad.”

She did. That was part of her problem. “I’m supposed to go skiing with my dad and brother in the morning.”

“Ah yes, the big challenge. Tell you what. You can meet me in the afternoon and let me know how it goes.”

“On one condition.” They’d reached the condo entrance and she led the way into the warm lobby. “Teach me how to snowboard before my brother learns how.”

“You got it.”

“And kiss me good-bye here.”

“That’s two conditions, and I’d rather neck on the elevator.”

“No. And definitely no to necking outside my parents’ door.” She shrugged out of the firefighter coat and handed it to him. “I have visions of us getting carried away, rolling all over the floor in the hall, and Mom opening the door to see what all the racket is.”

“You’re a big girl.” He pulled her against him. “What with you being the ripe old age of thirty-three, surely she knows you neck with boys.”

“Watch it.” She poked his ribs. “If you want any kiss, you’ll lay off the age jokes.”

“My lips are sealed. For anything but this.”

She melted against him as he kissed her. By the time he finished, her head was spinning nicely. She barely managed to nod in agreement when he told her when and where to meet him the following day.

Then she drifted upstairs to e-mail Maddy and Amy. She couldn’t wait to tell them everything that had happened.

“Daddy!” Little Charles jumped to his feet and ran full tilt for the door. Lying on her back amid a jumble of toys, Christine turned her head to watch Robbie and the others return from the snowboarding competition.

“Hey, Chuckie!” Robbie scooped up his son and tossed him in the air, much to the toddler’s delight. Noisy kisses and laughter followed.

Christine smiled at the scene. Falling in love had done wonders for her formerly uptight brother.

“Don’t I get a kiss?” Natalie asked while Robert Senior hung up all their coats in the entry closet.

Robbie tipped Charles sideways so the boy could give his mother a smacking kiss. Then, with his son on his hip, he led the way into the living area. He nodded gravely at the tree. “So this is this year’s tree.”