Hot to Touch (Kimani Romance) (9 page)

T
he aroma of bacon and the hum of a deep baritone singing off-key brought Emma from a sound sleep.

Yawning wide, she opened her eyes as Shane entered the bedroom, wearing nothing more than an apron around his lean waist and balancing a tray overloaded with food.

She narrowed her eyes and read the slogan on his apron as he approached the bed. In bold red letters were the words “Firemen like it HOT,” and on a fireman’s pole was a woman wearing a helmet and a pair of stilettos and carrying an ax.

And nothing else.

When he noticed her appraisal of the apron, he actually blushed, mumbling, “It was, uh, a gift.”

She laughed outright at the almost boyish look of
chagrin on his face, but she decided to let him off and not ask who the gift was from.

He sat down, tray in hand, near her on the bed. “I thought you might be hungry,” he said.

“Shane, there’s enough here to feed an army!” she said, eyeing the array of food as she scooted over to make room for him on the bed.

“I thought you could use the energy, rebuild your strength.”

She caught the twinkle in his eyes, groaning, remembering their marathon lovemaking session the night before.

Last night, after a side trip to her room, where he’d instructed her to pack for a weekend away from the station, they’d quickly rid themselves of their clothing, their desire for each other building to a slow boil, until it was ready to explode.

She hadn’t had time to question his order to pack, much less do any actual packing, before he was on her.

Removing only the bare essential clothing before tumbling on the bed together, their lovemaking had been hot and fast, leaving them both temporarily sated and completely breathless.

She’d played with the heavy sprinkling of hair on his chest, twirling it around her finger, his chest pillowing her head.

“Pack for what?” she’d asked, once her heartbeat had returned to normal.

“I thought you’d like to get away from the station.” As she toyed with his chest hair, he stroked a casual
hand down her. “I thought we could take a trip to Sweetwater Gap, near Wind River Peak. That is, if you’re interested?” he asked, looking down at her.

“It sounds like fun. I’d love to!”

“Great.” He nodded. “I have a small house near downtown Lander. It’s not much, but it’s home. We can go there tonight. We’ll wake up bright and early and drive down to the site. It’s got a lot of history, and it’s a great place to take some photos as well. I haven’t been there since Kyle took me, right before I joined the smoke jumpers.”

At the mention of his mentor, Emma had become more alert. He had rarely spoken of him, beyond mentioning him that first time, at the bar. Beyond that, she only knew that Shane considered Kyle his best friend and owed his life to him. The fact that he wanted to share it with her, a place that held special memories for him, with her hadn’t escaped her attention.

By the time they’d reached his home, it had been late. After taking a quick shower together, they’d fallen into bed. Waking up hours later, he’d made slow, leisurely love to her that lasted throughout most of the night.

“This looks amazing. Please tell me you ordered out for this!” she said, and he laughed, picking up one of the plump strawberries from the platter and dipping it into the saucer of cream.

She dutifully opened her mouth, allowing him to pop the strawberry inside. Closing her eyes she moaned. “Mmm…delicious.”

“Nope. I made it myself.” Her eyes sprang open when she felt his mouth cover her chin, his tongue sweep out
and lick away the dollop of cream and strawberry juice that had eased from her mouth.

When his wicked tongue licked a path up her chin to her mouth, Emma opened wide and met his tongue with hers.

When Shane felt her stomach rumble against his chest, he reluctantly drew away from her.

“Guess I know which hunger we have to take care of first,” he quipped, and smiled when she wrinkled her nose at him. “Besides, we have to leave soon for Sweetwater.”

“How far is it from here?” she asked around the bacon she was chewing.

He leaned back against the headboard and swiped a piece of toast from her hand right before she could take a bite, dodging the swat of her hand.

“Hey, get your own!” she groused as he crunched down on the toast in satisfaction.

“It’s about a two-hour trip to the actual site, not including the hike to the Wind River Peak. We’ll pack a lunch and gear. Wait…I didn’t even think to ask you. Do you like camping?”

“I’ve done my fair share.”

“Good, we’ll take camping gear as well.”

He settled beside her and this time took food from the platter, instead of stealing from her plate, after she cast a playfully evil look his way.

“Sounds like fun. So besides the photo op for me, what’s special about this place?”

She turned to him. The answering smile slid from her face when she noticed the look on his.

“I’ll tell you all about it on the way.” He finally answered. “Sound fair?”

“Okay. Sounds fair,” she replied, tucking away her curiosity. They made quick work of the food, and before she knew it nothing remained but scraps.

She laughed. “I guess I was hungry.”

“Me, too. But now I’m hungry for you.”

He pushed the tray away and planted a kiss on her mouth.

“I thought you said we didn’t have time to
indulge
in those hungers right now.”

“There’s always time for a little indulging, Emma. Always,” he replied, before capturing her mouth with his.

D
ry air blew warmly across Emma’s face as she peered through the lens of her Nikon.

She angled the camera toward the billowing clouds and took several shots before refocusing so that the majestic-looking Wind River Mountains were brought into tighter view.

Beyond the few scattered ranches they encountered on the way to Sweetwater and the occasional convenience store/gas station peppered along the endless stretch of country highway, the route could have appeared as the set of a movie depicting the end of civilization.

They’d stopped only once to refuel at one of the rare stations they encountered before they drove over the last pass that would take them into Lander Cutoff. From
there it was another twenty miles until they reached their destination.

“We’ll be there in ten minutes.”

Emma leaned against the seat and smiled over at Shane. Despite the long drive, Emma couldn’t deny the appeal of being alone with Shane.

And she loved the other side of his personality, one she’d glimpsed only occasionally. The carefree boyish side, where he’d do anything and everything to make her giggle. And one of those had been his driver’s side karaoke rendition of an old Ike and Tina Turner song.

When the song had come on the radio, Emma reached forward and turned up the volume, dancing lightly in her seat, feeling carefree and just…happy, happier than she’d felt in a long time.

When he’d started singing along, complete with falsetto, Emma had laughed until her side ached. “Your voice is higher than Tina’s!”

“Yeah, well, you have to admit, I do a damn good falsetto!”

“Oh yeah, you’re good, all right,” she’d quipped back.

When he wriggled his brows up and down, Emma shook her head, completely enjoying their exchange and enthralled with this side of him, one she was beginning to see was yet another part of the complex man that he was.

“If you ever want to think about a new career, I think you should seriously look into doing a karaoke tour. You’re a natural!” She smirked as he pinned her with a mock glare.

“I’ll have you know I’m known as the karaoke king of Lander,” he said, one side of his mouth quirking in a smile he was trying to hide from her.

“You are not!”

“Am, too! I take my karaoke seriously. In fact, I’m thinking of taking my act on the road after the fire season is over,” he said, totally deadpan. If not for the glimmer of humor in his light blue eyes, Emma would have sworn he was serious.

“Oh, God, you need help!” she replied, dissolving into giggles.

Emma brought her camera from her lap. Instead of bringing the lens to her eye, she simply observed the landscape unfolding. Throughout the drive, she’d been struck at times by the desolation of the area. Although she’d traveled extensively in her profession, usually in remote locations, at the moment she couldn’t recall another place where she’d felt so completely cut off from the world. Ordinarily the feeling of being alone was as familiar as it was comfortable for Emma. She’d felt alone for most of her life.

She turned and glanced over at Shane. A small smile played around his sensual mouth as he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel in time to the music from the radio.

As though aware of her thoughts, he turned his attention from the road briefly, his thick eyebrows lifting in question.

She shook her head, silently reassuring him that everything was fine.

When he returned his attention to the road, she immediately amended her thoughts.

Despite the isolation of the area, she
didn’t
feel cut off or alone. And that was because of Shane. The realization came at the same time as another one hit, and this one made her draw in a shuddering breath.

She blew out the air slowly, her heart racing as she glanced down at her hands.

Her fingers were clutching her camera, her arms trembling from the tension of her grip. She forced them to relax, breathing in and out in even breaths to try to combat the dizzy feeling that was making her head spin and her stomach roll.

She allowed herself to lay against the headrest as she closed her eyes.

She was falling in love with him.

“You okay?”

“Yes…I’m fine,” she replied after several moments, and cleared her throat. She kept her eyes closed, unable to look at him, the reality of her feelings slamming into her, hard and unexpected.

“Just resting my eyes for a minute.”

“Okay. But don’t rest too long. We’ll be there in another few minutes or so.”

She cleared her throat, forcing words through lips gone dry. “Great.” When she felt the dizziness pass, she glanced over at him. The lines of his forehead creased, concern in his eyes.

“You sure you’re okay?”

She made herself nod, past the melon-sized lump
rolling around in her stomach. She turned away from him, staring out the window, lost in her own thoughts.

“Ohhhh, Shane…”

Shane paused in his unpacking, shielding his eyes from the sun’s glare as he glanced up at her, the look of rapture on her face tugging a grin from him.

“Should I be jealous?”

She laughed lightly but didn’t respond, too busy taking a rapid-fire succession of pictures.

She all but vibrated with excitement.

Shane stopped unpacking, unable to look away from her.

They were headed toward the southern end of Wind River Range, which would lead them to the remote Sweetwater Trailhead. After setting up camp, he planned for them to hike to Wind River Peak early in the morning, before he’d take her to the site itself.

After he’d found a good spot to set up camp for the night, he’d brought out their gear, and as he worked getting them set up, she roamed the area, taking shot after shot.

As he watched, she alternated between snapping off shots and glancing over the landscape, occasionally looking down at her camera and checking the images she captured. Once satisfied with what she had, she brought the camera back to her eyes and took more pictures.

Sitting back on his haunches, he allowed his gaze to rake over her, relieved that whatever happened in the
truck to dispel their lighthearted banter and make her go silent on him had gone away, recalling the change that had come over her during the last ten minutes of their drive to their base camp.

When he’d asked her to come to Sweetwater, he’d asked her for a few reasons. The first was to help her with her article, thinking the opportunity for her to learn about the site and take pictures would be invaluable to her.

The second reason had been less noble, which was to simply be alone with her without having to share her attention with the others, a time for just the two of them. The third was one he was still struggling with.

He hadn’t brought anyone to Sweetwater. And the fact that he wanted to bring Emma further into his world, on a more private level, in a way he’d not shared with anyone else, lurked in the back of his mind.

“It’s absolutely beautiful, Shane,” she said with near reverence in her voice, finally turning around to face him.

“You’re a nature lover, are you?”

“Without a doubt!” She grinned at him, before bringing the camera back to her eyes and taking a flurry of shots.

In her excitement, her chest swayed just the smallest bit, jostling beneath the T-shirt she wore as she moved around, angling her camera toward whatever it was that had caught her eye.

After taking a few more shots, she released the camera and allowed it to hang from the strap suspended around her neck.

“Got enough for now?”

“Yep, I think I have enough.” It was then that she glanced at the site, noticing the work he’d done. “Oh, Shane, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to get caught up in work. I should have helped.”

He stood, dusting his palms against his khakis, smiling down at her. “It’s no problem. I enjoyed watching you.”

“So what’s on the agenda?” she asked as he walked toward her, her face glowing.

“You know, I like this side of you,” he said, pulling her into his arms.

When he wrapped his arms around her, holding her loosely within his grip she immediately lifted her arms around his neck.

“Oh, yeah? And what side is that?”

“I don’t know…laid-back, content.” He shrugged. “Carefree. I don’t think I’ve seen this side of you. I like it,” he finished simply. She tilted her head to the side, considering him, a grin on her face.

“There are many sides to me, Shane Westwood, and don’t you forget it. I’m a complex woman, didn’t ya know?” she quipped, and he kissed the tip of her round nose and pulled away.

“Yes, I’m beginning to see that.” He smiled down at her.

Devoid of makeup, her thick hair secured in a high ponytail, her lips, pouty and full, smiling up at him, Shane was struck with her natural beauty.

When she stood there, within his arms, gazing up at him, only a hint of a smile on her face, Shane felt his
heart ricochet inside his chest, as the reality of what he felt for her hit him like the proverbial ton of bricks.

He noticed the ghost of a smile slip from her face. He must have stared too long.

He moved one hand away from her waist and skimmed it up the length of her back before reaching her neck.

Her gaze remained glued to his, as he trailed his fingertips around until he reached her slender neck, spanning the hollow of her throat with his outstretched hand.

Right there, he wanted to lay her down and make love to her. Make love until the two of them were too weak to do anything but lay useless and weak. Make love to her until there was no memory of anyone else for either of them. Make love to her until neither one of them could deny what was happening to them. Make love to her until he could forget the reasons he felt more comfortable being alone and didn’t buy into the notion of happily ever after with a woman. He immediately rejected the thought. What they had was hot, amazing. The sex was the most explosive he’d ever shared with someone else. But that’s all it was, all it could ever be, even if sometimes his heart told him otherwise.

He rested his forehead against hers briefly before easing away.

“We’d better get a move on, while there’s still light.”