Her Hard to Resist Husband (12 page)

Using his grip on her hair to hold her in place, he kissed along one of her gorgeous cheekbones, taking his time as he headed towards her ear.

“Ben.”

His eyes closed at the sound of his name on her lips. Oh, yeah. It had been four long years since he’d heard that husky whisper—half plea, half groan. And it drove him just as crazy today as it had back then.

His teeth closed over her earlobe, while his free hand trailed slowly down the curve of her neck, continuing down her spine in long feathery strokes, until the line of her bra interrupted him. He circled the clasp a time or two, his finger gliding over the lacy strap that transected her back. One snap and he had it undone.

A whimper escaped her throat, but she couldn’t move, still held fast by his hand in her hair. He tugged her head back a bit further, exposing the line of her throat, and the vein beating madly beneath her ear. He licked it, pressed his tongue tight against that throbbing pulse point, glorying in the way those rhythmic waves traveled straight to his groin, making him harder than he ever remembered being. Unable to contain his need, he whispered, “I want you. Right here. Right now. Say yes.”

She moistened her lips, but didn’t keep him waiting long before responding. “Yes.”

“Yes.” He breathed in the word and released her hair, his hands going to the straps on her shoulders, peeling them down her arms and letting the piece of clothing sink to the bottom of the tank. He parted the bubbles on the surface of the water until her breasts came into full view.

“Beautiful.” He cupped them. “Get up on your knees, honey.”

She did as he asked, a water droplet clinging to the hard tip of her left nipple. Who could blame it? Certainly not him, because that was right where he wanted to be.

Lowering his head, he licked the drop off, her quick intake of breath telling him she liked the way he lingered, her fingers on the back of his head emphasizing her point.

He pulled away slightly, and looked up at her with hooded eyes. “Ask for it, Tracy.”

Her lips parted, but she didn’t utter a word, already knowing that wasn’t what he was looking for. Instead, she kept her hands braced against his nape, and arched her back until the breast he’d been courting was back against his mouth. She slowly drew the erect nipple along his lower lip.

“That’s it,” he whispered against her skin. “I love it when you do that.”

He opened his mouth, and she shifted closer. When his lips closed around her and sucked, her body went rigid, and she cried out softly. He gave her what she wanted, using his teeth, his tongue to give her the same pleasure she’d just given him. God, he loved knowing what she wanted and making her reach for it. His arms went around her back, his hands sliding beneath the band of her panties and cupping her butt. He slipped his fingers lower and encountered a slick moisture that had nothing to do with the water all around them. Raw need roared through him.

Knowing he was coming close to the edge of his own limits, he found her center and slid a finger deep inside her, then another, reveling in the way she lowered herself until they were fully embedded. He held her steady with one hand while his mouth and fingers swept her along remembered paths, her breathing picking up in time with his movements.

Not long now.

And he was ready for her. More than ready. He ached to be where his fingers were.

He clamped down with his teeth and at the same time applied steady pressure in the depths of her body, and just like in days past, she moaned loudly, her body stiffening as she trembled on the precipice before exploding around his fingers in a series of spasms that rocked his world. Within seconds he’d freed himself and lifted her onto his erection, sweeping aside the crotch of her panties as he thrust hard and deep.

Hell
. His breath left his lungs as memories flooded back. Except everything was even better than he remembered, her still pulsing body exquisitely tight, her head thrown back, dark, glossy hair tumbling free around her bare shoulders as she rode him. Over and over, squeezing and releasing, until he could hold back no longer and with a sharp groan he joined her, falling right over the edge into paradise.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

A
DISASTER.
T
HAT’S
what yesterday’s session in the water tank had been.

Tracy stood in front of the tiny mirror in the bathroom and examined her bare breasts. Really looked at them for the first time in a long time. She’d spent the last several years avoiding everything they represented.

And yet they’d brought her such pleasure yesterday.

It was a paradox. One she’d tried to blank out by pretending they didn’t exist. Only Ben had forced an awareness that was as uncomfortable as it was real. How much longer was she going to keep running away?

I’m not!

Tracy continued to stare at her reflection, her lips giving a wry twist. She’d believed those two words once, even as she’d scurried from one place to another. Now…? Well, now she wasn’t so sure.

She should tell him. Now that the anger was gone, he should know the truth of what she’d been facing back then.

Why? What good could possibly come of it now that they were no longer together? Did she want him to feel guilty for what he’d done? For touching her there?

No. She wanted him to remember it the same way she did—as a pleasurable interlude that shouldn’t be repeated.

She raised her hands and cupped herself, remembering the way Ben’s fingers had done the same—the way he’d brought his mouth slowly down…

Shaking her head, she let her arms fall back to her sides.

As great as their time together had been, retracing her steps and venturing back into an unhappy past was not a wise move. Ben had been miserable with her by the end of their marriage.

But how much of that had been her doing? Had been because of what she’d become? A phantom, too scared to sit in any one spot for too long—who had felt the walls of their house closing in around her any time she’d spent more than a couple of weeks there.

So how could she have let yesterday happen?

She had no idea.

Even though she could freely admit it had been a mistake, could even recite each and every reason it had been the wrong thing to do, she couldn’t force herself to be sorry for those stolen moments. She’d always known what she’d felt for Ben was powerful—that she’d never feel the same way about another man—and being with him again had just driven that point home.

Which meant she couldn’t let it happen again.

Reaching for her clothes, she hurriedly pulled them on, turning her back to the mirror like she always did and feeling like a fraud. It was one thing to admit her reasons for doing something. It was another thing entirely to change her behavior. Especially when that behavior had served her perfectly well for the past four years.

At least…until now.

By the time she made it to the makeshift hospital, Daniel was sitting in a chair next to his bed, his chin on his chest. His eyes were dry, but his arms were wrapped around his waist as if he was in pain.

She squatted next to him. “Daniel, what’s wrong? Does something hurt?”

He shook his head, but didn’t move from his slumped position.

“Then what is it?”

Several seconds went by before he answered her. “Where will we go?”

The question was so soft she had to lean forward to hear it, and even then she wasn’t sure she’d caught his words.

“I’m sorry?”

Lifting his head, he glanced around the space. She twisted to do the same and noted several of the beds were newly empty—fresh sheets neatly pulled up and tucked in as if ready for new patients. Only there probably wouldn’t be any.

There’d been no deaths in the last day or so, and the people who’d become ill after the teams had arrived had ended up with much less severe versions of the illness. It definitely made a case for early intervention.

“This is…was our living room…before my mom—before she…” He stopped and took a deep breath. “Once Cleo and I are well enough to leave here, where will we stay?”

Tracy’s heart broke all over again. She’d been worrying over her little tryst with Ben when Daniel and Cleo were now facing life without the only parent they’d ever known. And because the two had no relatives that anyone knew of, and as their home was now being used as a temporary hospital, there was literally nowhere for the siblings to go once they were cleared of infection. Oh, the military would probably take them to a state-run orphanage once the quarantine period was lifted. But until then? No one was allowed in or out of the village.

Surely they could stay here in what had once been their home. But where? Every room was being used, whether to house soldiers or medical personnel. It was full. More than full. Even Pedro—whom she’d barely had a chance to speak to in recent days—had moved from where he’d been staying and was now bunking with members of the military unit assigned to Sao Joao dos Rios.

She thought for a minute. Ben kept talking about how much he cared about these kids. Maybe it was time to put that to the test. “We can ask to have two more hammocks put up in the room where Dr. Almeida and I sleep. At least until we figure something else out.”

Once she’d said it she wondered if that wouldn’t make the whole thing feel a little too much like a family for comfort. And she didn’t want to give Daniel and Cleo the idea that they could stay together permanently. Because that wasn’t on the cards.

Besides, she wasn’t sure Ben would be thrilled about sharing his room with a preteen and a child, especially after the slow smile he’d given her that morning. The one that had her face heating despite her best efforts. He’d even stayed and slept in his own hammock last night—a first since they’d arrived. Was it because of what they’d done?

She must have thought so because it was what had set off the self-examination in the bathroom. She hadn’t touched herself like that in a long time.

“Will the soldiers let us go with you?” Daniel gave her a hopeful smile.

No backing out now.

“I don’t see why they wouldn’t, but you’ll have to get well first, which means you’ll need to get some rest.” What else could she say? They couldn’t just let Daniel and Cleo wander the streets or sleep in one of the unoccupied houses. The pair had had a home and a family not three weeks ago. And now it was all gone.

She’d been there, done that. She could at least try to help these children as much as she could before she had to leave—be their temporary family, kind of like a foster-care situation. At least until they figured out something a little more permanent.

How was she supposed to do that before she headed back to Sao Paulo?

Something she didn’t want to think about right now.

Just then, Ben walked into the room, his brow raised in question when he saw the two of them sitting together. She stood, glancing down at Daniel, and noted with horror he had a huge smile on his face.

Don’t, Daniel. Not yet. Let me talk to him first.

But even as she thought it, the boy spoke up. “Tracy says Cleo and I can stay with you once we are well.”

Ben’s glance shot to her. “She did? When?”

“Just now. I explained we did not have any place to go, and she offered to let us stay with you. Cleo was scared.” He blinked a couple of times as if that last statement had been hard for him to admit. “We both were…about what might happen. If they tried to take Cleo away from me…” He didn’t finish the rest of his statement.

Ben’s face grew stormy. “Tracy? Would you like to explain?”

“I, um… Well, I simply said we would figure something out…”

“Figure something out,” he parroted.

Daniel’s smile never wavered. He had no idea Ben’s now icy glare was sucking the heat right out of the atmosphere.

Nodding, Daniel continued, “Yes, so Cleo and I wouldn’t be alone—so we could stay together.”

Oh, no! He’d obviously misunderstood her intentions—had thought she’d meant the living arrangements would continue even after they left the town. Ben was going to blow his top.

“Well, Daniel, I’m glad to hear she’s making those kinds of plans.” He moved toward her. “Can I borrow her for a minute?”

“Yes, I have to tell Cleo the good news, anyway. One of the doctors is helping her walk around the yard outside. She should be back in a minute.”

Right on cue, Cleo and her companion came through the door and made their way slowly towards them.

“Tracy, do you mind?” Giving a sharp nod toward the door to indicate she should follow him, Ben stalked toward it.

Gulping back her own dismay, she forced a smile to her face. “I won’t be long. Could you tell Cleo I’ll be back to check on you both in a few minutes?”

As upset as Ben was, she couldn’t help but feel a fierce sense of gratitude over the kids’ steady improvement. From all indications, they were going to recover fully.

Two miracles in a sea of sorrows.

They’d lost fourteen patients in all. In such a tiny village it was a good percentage of the population. They’d have a hard time coming back from this without some type of government aid. Whether that meant sending them to another town and bulldozing these homes, or finding a way to get things up and running again, nothing would truly be the same again. They would not soon forget what had happened here.

Neither would she.

Pushing through the door, she saw that Ben was already striding down the hallway on his way out of the house. She hurried after him, knowing he must be furious. But once he heard her explanation, he’d understand that…

The second the bright noonday sun hit her retinas, a hand reached out and tugged her to the side, into the shadow of the house.

“Would you like to tell me what the hell that was all about? You expect those kids to stay with us once we leave here? Kind of hard, as we no longer live in the same house. Or even the same state.”

“No. Of course not. He took my words the wrong way. I was only talking about here in the village. That they could stay in our room once they left the hospital.” She reached out to squeeze his fingers then let go. “They have nowhere else to go. I didn’t know what to say.”