Breathe Again (14 page)

He'd stopped his rhythmic movements and thrust deeper so she could enjoy the full effect of her orgasm. Holding her close, he sucked her nipple. She was beyond thinking. The sweat between her breasts formed lines and ran down.

She opened her eyes, and he shifted. She gasped. “That was amazing.”

His tongue twirled around her nipple, and then he sucked and pulled.

“You're. Driving. Me. Insane.”

He went back to her ear and kissed the shell. This man wasn't trained in combat. He was trained in torture. Sexual torture. Torturous pleasure.

He moved again and then he was plunging in and out of her again. This time she clutched his firm buttocks. She matched him move for move until she could see him close to the edge. Her excitement rose.

“Don't stop,” she said.

She went faster, forcing him to follow. Her body bucked against his in a frenzied dance. She squeezed him tight and held on, so afraid to let go. She wanted this moment to last forever and even if he couldn't say the words, she wished she could.

If she knew for sure he wouldn't run a mile in the opposite direction, she would have pulled him even closer, as if that were even possible, and she would have said it.

Three simple words.
I love you.
She looked into his eyes, knew the very moment he let go and felt triumph. Just when she thought there was no hope, Nick flew her to parts unknown and showed her heaven.

*****

“What do you mean he's gone?” Skylar looked at the nurse at triage and then the roster.

She had gotten up that morning to find Nick had left a note saying she should rest and he would see her later at work. She was hoping this wasn't his way of avoiding her. Their night of lovemaking was amazing, but still neither of them had spoken about feelings or what it meant.

“There is a man gone missing down at the Bays, and Nick volunteered to go on the rescue team.”

“He did?” Had he not heard her about being more careful and more responsible?

“He had the search and rescue experience they needed.”

That would be right. Whether he would like to admit it or not, Nick couldn't help himself from being the designated protector.

“Hey, where are you going?” the nurse asked.

Skylar gave the nurse a sobering look. “Hopefully, I am going to make sure he comes back in one piece.”

When she got to ground zero at the search and rescue site, she realized the weather was going to have a huge impact on what could be done in the small bit of daylight they had. After flashing her badge to the police officers helping with crowd control, she looked around for the medical team, then spotting to group of men wearing bright yellow huddled in a tent, she made her way to them. She had on her own bright yellow jacket with medical team in black writing.

She recognized some of the medics and a few of the nurses and doctors.

“What are you doing here?” John, one of the medics, asked her.

“Making sure you guys are keeping out of trouble. Is everything under control?”

He rubbed his hands together and pointed to the flurry of activity up ahead in the distance. “There are at least two search parties out there trying to get as much area covered as possible.” He looked up at the sky. “With this weather, it's going to make it close to impossible to do much more for much longer.”

Skylar nodded. The last week had been extremely cold with temperatures down to two degrees. She looked around at the ranges and saw the grass was wet, the entire place was poorly lit due to cloud cover.

“This guy has been missing since yesterday. The last thing his friends heard from him was that he was running late. He called on his cell phone, but the cover wasn't great.”

“He's alone?” she asked.

John nodded. “As many times as we tell people, they never do listen. He didn't have warm clothes, so he's going to be hypothermic.”

Her gaze couldn’t find Nick. “Have you seen Nick around?”

“He went up with the first search party.”

Skylar hunted around for anyone that would look like Nick. “I thought the medical team was supposed to wait until they had a confirmed sighting.”

John winked. “We are talking about Nick.”

Yes, they were talking about Nick.

She waited in the medical tent while Nick was out there in the cold, wet thick of the Hawkes Bay Ranges.

After a few hours of waiting, she was cold to the bone and even the two cups of coffee did nothing to help warm her. She paced the width of the tent and even though she was driving everyone else antsy with her restlessness, she couldn't help herself.

When John came back and pulled her to the main tent, she knew that there had to be a development. He pulled her aside and whispered, “The first search party has run into some trouble. Just keep out of the way and you can stay up to date.”

Skylar felt her heart kick at her chest wall, but she breathed in quickly. Nick. Dammit.

“One of the rescue party has slipped into a crevice near the falls.”

Skylar looked at the leader of the rescue party and then at John who motioned for her to keep quiet.

Surely it wouldn't be Nick. He knew better to go and slip on some dumb rocks, didn't he?

She listened to the people around her communicate with each other and the story slowly fell into place. The rescue party saw something flutter on the other side of the falls. They reported it and went in to investigate. Due to the winds and rain, it was impossible for any helicopters to survey the area.

The rescue party had chosen their best hikers to move forward, but one of them slipped. Now the rescuer was stuck in between the rocks, and there was no way they could move him. At this point, they didn't give any names, so Skylar still didn't know if Nick was in danger.

“We’re going to need a medical team to go up and assist. We will have a possible patient with hypothermia and possible leg or foot fracture. John, can you arrange a medical team?”

John nodded and made his way out with Skylar following him.

“I know what you're going to say, and the answer is no.” John shook his head.

“I'm qualified, and you need me. I don't see anyone else with my qualifications. I’m an ED nurse. You might need an IV line or someone to stabilize that fracture.”

“I can get a medic to do that.”

Skylar rubbed her hands together. “I need to go. I need to make sure Nick is okay.”

“If Nick is okay, he's going to kill me if he sees you there.”

Skylar forced John to meet her gaze. “Please, John.”

“Don't look at me like that. Those puppy dog eyes might work for Nick, but they do nothing for me.”

She smiled. “They don't have to. I am more than qualified and that’s all that matters.”

“You drive a hard bargain and if Nick says anything, I’m going to say you forced me at knifepoint.”

“Say scalpel, more believable,” she said, placing a kiss on his cheek.

The hike up to the rescue site was more than she bargained for. The path they had to take to the area of the Falls was tricky and with the biting wind and thrashing showers, it was like a game of catch-me-if-you-can and now you see me, now you can't all rolled into one. She could see why even a seasoned hiker would have a problem threading their way through these tracks.

When she reached the site, she pulled herself up. By now, it was dark enough for her to get out her flashlight. She shone it on the three members hovering over the edge of the crevice and then looked down.

Head swirl. Light-headed feeling. Slight nausea.

“Don't look down.” One of the figures in the yellow raincoat as they tried to steady her.

“Maybe lead with that, next time.” She grabbed onto a hand that had come out of nowhere.

“Skylar.”

She turned toward his voice and walked into his arms. He was safe. “Nick. You're okay.”

“Of course. What are you doing here?” he asked.

“Checking up on you.”

“It's dangerous out here. You could get hurt. You could slip. Fall.”

She wondered if he could hear himself. “So could you.”

It obviously didn't occur to him.

“Nick, are you ready?”

They both looked at the man next to them.

“Ready for what?” she asked.

Nick looked from her to the man. “To go and get our man from out of there.”

Skylar’s gaze flittered between the men, who equaled the combined weight of a buffalo. “I’m no genius but looking at the size of that hole and the size of you two, there is no way either one of you are going to get anywhere near that kid down there.”

“Hey, I am not a kid.” The voice echoed, but Skylar had to smile when she did hear the young man who was stuck in the crevice below.

“Well we have to get Dylan out of there before this weather gets worse and in case you didn't notice, none of us are light weights.”

Skylar smiled up at him. ”Well lucky I happened along then.”

Nick's glare was unmistakable. “You're not going down there.”

“Says the man who was about to go down there a minute ago.” She folded her arms.

He lowered his voice. “I'm not pregnant.”

“I
bloody hell
hope not. That would leave a lot of questions unanswered. Now who is going to hook me up? I always did like rock climbing.”

“Skylar.” Nick’s gaze went from stubborn to concern in a heartbeat.

“Nick.” She lifted an eyebrow in jest. Boy, did she love this man. If only she could say it.

The man next to Nick brought in a set of gear and started to pull it across her shoulders, when Nick took it from him and gave him a typical back-off-she's-mine stare.

Skylar smiled. He might not be able to say it, but somewhere deep down he cared.

“Damn it, woman, why won't you listen?” he mumbled.

“But I did. You said you'd see me later at work. It's later. We're at work.”

He was not impressed. What would it take to get him to smile? What would it take to get him to open up?

“Okay, you know what to do?”

“Try to get his foot loose so we can get him up.”

“You have to be really very careful. If you start to loosen the rock below, you could destabilize the entire thing.”

“That would be bad.”

“I don't want you doing this. The probability of you getting hurt is too high.”

“I have about five types of straps hooked up to me, and you're going to be on the other side of me, right?”

He glanced around. “There's too much that can go wrong. The wind, the rain. I don't like it. I need to be able to keep you safe. I can't do that if you continue to put yourself in danger.”

Maybe he meant more than this incident. “Nick, there's always danger. It would be a perfect world if we could be safe all the time.”

“Are you ready?” Nick’s colleague asked.

“Yes.” Skylar gave them both a reassuring smile.

Nick grabbed onto her hand. “Don't do it.”

She gently removed his hand. “I'm his best chance. Just don't let me fall.”

A few minutes later, she was being slowly hoisted into the crevice until she was face to face with the rescuer she had referred to as a kid.

“So, ready to get out of here?” she teased.

“Rescued by a girl. I am never going to live this down.”

“Don't tell me—newbie?”

“Yes. I joined the search and rescue team last month.”

“I'm Skylar, by the way.”

“Dylan.”

“Nice name. Okay, so I have this little hammer thingy here and I have been told to slowly hack away at this bit of rock over here.”

“You do know what you're doing, don't you?”