Whispers (Argent Springs) (20 page)

“What?” He centered himself at her opening,
remaining focused on her face.

She’d swear love radiated from his eyes, but their
relationship wasn’t old enough for feelings that deep. The thought that this
gorgeous man who’d been so tender and dear to her aunt might possibly care
about her, too, pushed her over the edge. She shook her head, too scared to ask
the truth. “Don’t make me wait any longer.”

He slid slowly into her, pushing her boundaries
until she wanted to scream from pleasure. She bit into her bottom lip. The
shock of him inside her was so exquisite. She gasped when he reached bottom.

“Oh my god.” Nothing had ever felt so good or so
right.

“Good?” he whispered, his voice breathless.

“So good.” She wasn’t sure what was different, but
every other experience she’d ever had paled compared to this.

“Yeah.” He nodded before leaning toward her, giving
her a kiss that left her quivering around him.

He began to move then, each slide in and out
intensifying the pressure building inside her. She gripped his biceps, holding
on to the powerful muscles as they flexed with each move he made. The gentle
lovemaking he’d began with was quickly replaced with demanding, possessive
thrusts that took from her body, yet gave her so much more.

Damn. How would she ever come back from this?

She gripped him tighter and tried to hold onto a
shred of her sanity. “Don’t let go of me, Rick.”

He growled with pleasure, pumping into her harder
and harder until the ferocity of it enveloped her and sent her spiraling into
hot, satiated bliss. She cried out before she could stop herself and then
prayed that no one downstairs had heard her.

“Yes, baby. Yes,” he said breathless as he
continued his relentless pace.

She clung to him, trying to catch her breath. She
only had a second before the things he did and said to her captured her again
and propelled her upward again.

“Please don’t stop,” she whispered. “Don’t ever
stop.”

The moment the words left her lips, she wished she
hadn’t implied there might be more to their evening than sex for her. She
didn’t want to pressure him. Didn’t want to ruin the beautiful moment between
them.

She soon realized it didn’t matter. Either Rick
hadn’t heard or didn’t care. He lifted from her, thrusting harder and harder,
and she sensed that he was close. Emotion played across his face in an erotic
display of pleasure and need. She focused on him, letting herself get caught up
once again in the sensations of having him inside.

The moment the look on his face changed, she
clenched in response, knowing she’d brought him to this point. He paused,
gripping her tightly and she followed his release with another sweet one of her
own.

*        *        *

Rick tucked Erin tightly against him, loving the
way her body fit against his. He drew a slow finger down her side and over her
hip before hugging her again. “Thank you for that.”

“Thank you,” she answered with a soft laugh. “I
feel wonderful.”

“Me, too.” He did, and the strength of it left him
vulnerable. But he wasn’t afraid. This felt too right.

“I take it your back is much better,” she said
with teasing in her voice. “From the way you performed, no one would have
guessed you’d been flat on your back a few days before.”

“Much better. But it wouldn’t have mattered. I
would have suffered through the most excruciating pain just to be next to you.”
Nothing could have kept him from her. “You’re my own personal painkiller.”

She laughed. “You sure know how to make a girl
feel wanted.”

“Never doubt it. You’re wanted.”

He caught the unmistakable scent of lavender, and
he buried his nose in Erin’s hair to see if that was the source of it.

Nope. Maybe it was lotion. He leaned up and
sniffed her shoulder.

She squirmed against him. “What are you doing?”

“I smell lavender, but I didn’t notice it earlier
this evening. All I smelled then was sugary-sweetness.”

“From the candy shop.” She laughed. “The lavender
is Rosa. Don’t you know? She haunts this place.”

He chuckled. “So I’ve heard.”

“No, really. Ask Annabelle. Rosa has been
following me around since I arrived. I actually heard her once, the day you
made me an omelet and then stormed out of the kitchen.”

“I didn’t storm.”

“Well, you were sure in a hurry to leave.”

He nuzzled against her again. “That’s because it’s
hard to be around you for very long without losing my head and wanting to do to
you what I just did.”

She snorted. “Could have fooled me.”

“You were too big of a temptation to be nice to. I
knew the second I let you in, I’d be lost.”

“And you were waiting for Melinda,” she said
softly.

Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt to hear her name. “I
was trying to do the right thing, while she was out doing the wrong thing.”

“She cheated on you?”

He paused for a moment, playing back his recent
history with Melinda. “I don’t know if she cheated for sure, but I think so. I
rarely talked to her, and she wouldn’t let me visit her.”

Erin turned in his arms, facing him. “I’m sorry
she hurt you. But I’m glad that you’re no longer attached.”

He chuckled. “You are, huh?”

“Yes, because now we can do this.” She ran a hand
up his chest before she slipped it behind his head and pulled him toward her.
Her lips met his with a fierceness that surprised him. He was hard in an
instant.

No doubt he’d made the right decision by letting
Melinda go.

He pushed Erin back on the mattress. “You think
you can do whatever you want?”

She laughed and wrapped her legs around him as he
settled between her thighs. “Would you like me to prove it to you?”

He grinned. “Oh, yeah. That’s exactly what I’d
like.”

Erin woke to the sound of pounding on the bedroom
door, the ferocity of it startling her and sending her heart racing.

“What the hell?” Rick sat up, reminding her they’d
spent the night curled against each other in her little bed.

He walked to the door and opened it. Light from
the hall rushed into the room, and she pulled the blanket over her naked body.

“Where’s Erin?” Hans’s distinctive voice echoed in
the quiet.

“She’s in here with me.” His answer was harsh and
possessive. Obviously, the man didn’t like being awakened too early in the
morning.

“Annabelle’s not responding. You’d both better
come.”

“
What
?” Erin threw back the covers, not
caring if either of the men saw her as she groped through the pile of clothes
between the beds.

“We’re coming,” Rick said and shut the door in his
face, turning on the light.

She found her shirt and flew into it before
jerking on her pants. “Oh, god.” She opened the door with Rick right behind
her, and they sprinted down the stairs toward the glowing lights.

She stopped in the doorway to the kitchen. Blood
pounded through her veins in sludge-filled thumps as she caught sight of Joel
performing CPR on her dear aunt.

She rushed forward. “Oh my god. What happened?”

“We don’t know.” Hans answered. “She got up early
with us to make breakfast before we head out for training. She was standing
there talking, and then she kind of gasped and dropped.”

“
Where’s your phone
?” Erin asked Rick,
desperately searching for something to stop the impossible scene playing out in
front of her. “
We need an ambulance
.”

“I’ve already called the emergency number,” Hans
said before Rick could respond. “The sheriff’s coming.”

Joel paused long enough to check her pulse before
shaking his head and continuing.

“No,” she whispered, turning to Rick as a
bottomless ache began to consume her. She gripped his hand as tremor after
tremor rocked her. This couldn’t be happening. Not now, not after she’d finally
found the one person in her family who understood her. Rick pulled her into his
arms, and she crumbled against him. “Help her.”

Rick crushed her with his embrace as though
clinging to her might save Annabelle.

It seemed like hours before the deputy EMTs rushed
into the house and relieved Joel. One guy placed his fingers against
Annabelle’s neck while the other pulled a small green box from their supplies
and began to prepare the defibrillator.

“Stop.” Rick released her and stepped forward,
addressing the EMTs. The room grew silent.

Shock vibrated Erin’s body, and she struggled to
makes sense of what was happening.

“She has a do-not-resuscitate order,” Rick
continued. “It’s in her room.”

“
No
.” Though she spoke, her voice sounded
distant and hollow. “You love her as much as I do. Let them help her.”

Rick turned to her with a tortured expression.
“It’s not what she wants, Erin.”

“You let Joel try. Let them try. I can’t lose her
now.”

He came to her and took her by the shoulders,
tears sliding down his cheeks. “I should have stopped him, too. She made me
promise, Erin. She said when her time came, she was ready for the next
adventure.”

Erin shook her head, staring at him through
watery, accusing eyes, her throat so tight it hurt.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

Then suddenly, the energy caused by the frenzied,
frantic moments evaporated and a solemn hush took its place. The EMTs began to
pack up their belongings, no longer in a hurry. They lifted Annabelle onto
their gurney and covered her with a sheet, leaving her face still in view.

“We’ll need to transport her to the morgue in Sage,”
said a younger man with a dark goatee. “Would you like a few moments with her
first?”

Despair overwhelmed Erin as she stared at the man
in front of her.

“Yes, please,” Rick said from somewhere behind her.

Everyone in the room cleared out with Hans and Joel
offering condolences before they departed. She stood in the now oppressive
kitchen, quiet settling over her like a suffocating blanket. She struggled to
breathe through her tears.

Rick stuffed tissues into her hands, and she wiped
her face, still struck by the sudden, overwhelming loss.

She approached the gurney and took one of
Annabelle’s frail hands between hers, disbelief and agony leaving her fighting
for a breath. Her aunt’s flesh was cool, her spirit already off into the ether
without a care of what she left behind.

She couldn’t lose her. Not now.

“Come back,” she whispered. “I’ve waited my whole
life to meet someone like you. Please don’t go.”

Rick wrapped an arm around her. “She’s the best
woman I’ve ever known.”

She tried to shake him off, not wanting comfort,
but he held tightly to her. She didn’t want his compassion. The only thing she
needed was for Annabelle to open her eyes.

Her throat constricted, and she had to swallow
several times before it would open enough to let words out. “I love you.”

After that, she couldn’t speak anymore. Only tears
and grief would come. Rick held her for a long time, both of them sharing their
pain and loss.

Finally, the EMTs interrupted, and Erin allowed
them to remove the body from the house. Annabelle was never coming back. She’d
never share a laugh with her again. Never share another shot of whiskey, and no
one would tell her stories of the past like her aunt.

How would she ever survive?

With numb blood running through her veins, she and
Rick followed the EMTs out the door. They stood on the porch as the medics
loaded Annabelle’s body into the ambulance before driving away. The moment they
were out of sight, Rick pulled her back into the house and shut the door.

The comforting scent of lavender filled the
entryway, and Erin glanced around. “Rosa’s here.”

Rick nodded. “I smell it, too.”

The thought suddenly dawned on Erin that only
Annabelle’s body had driven away in the ambulance. Her spirit could be
anywhere. “Do you think she came for Annabelle?”

He nodded. “Maybe so.”

*        *        *

Hours later, after the sun had long-since set, the
house finally quieted down. People had come to the notorious house on Black
Street to share their love and stories of Annabelle with Rick and Erin. There
were so many dishes of food that the fridge was nearly bursting. The only
difference between this day and a party was that the guests had cleaned up
after themselves.

A solemn emotion crept through Erin. She’d cried
and laughed so much that she was certain she had nothing left. Out of respect,
Hans and Joel had found another place to stay with someone else in town,
leaving only her and Rick in the house.

“I think I’m going to bed early,” she said as Rick
rejoined her in the atrium after locking up the house. Exhaustion owned her,
and she’d have to spend the following day planning the cremation and whatever
else would follow.

“Me, too.” He held out a hand and helped her up
from the chair where she’d sat most of the day.

They walked together in silence through the house
and up the stairs.

“It’s so empty without her,” Erin whispered,
surprised that tears had filled her eyes once again.

“Yeah.” Rick took her hand and squeezed it as they
reached the top of the stairs.

Erin stopped, not sure where she should sleep. She
didn’t feel like changing the sheets in her newly-vacated room, and sleeping in
Annabelle’s bedroom just felt wrong. “Is it okay if I room with you for one
more night? I just…” She lifted her shoulders and let them drop in defeat.

An empathetic smile curved his lips, buoying her
spirits, giving her the tiniest sliver of sunshine in the darkest of days.
“Come on.” He tugged her toward his room.

Erin took her pajamas and toothbrush to the
bathroom, and then returned to slip into her bed as Rick passed her in the
hall.

She was sure she’d fall asleep immediately, but
she laid awake long after Rick returned and shut off the lights before crawling
into his own bed. What a difference a day could make. Yesterday at this time,
she explored a new lover, wondering exactly where he would fit into her heart.
Today, that same heart lay quivering and quaking, and she wondered if she’d
ever feel whole again.

A sudden, powerful wave of grief stole over her,
and she curled into a ball, trying not to vocalize her pain. She’d wanted to
learn so much from Annabelle, to share far more memories than their short time
together had allowed.

The mattress next to her sank with Rick’s weight
as he climbed into bed beside her. His chest was solid and warm against her
back, and her body softened as he pulled the blankets over both of them and wrapped
his strong arms around her.

“Shh,” he whispered in her ear. “I’m here, and
we’ll get through this together.”

She gripped his forearm, hugging him against her.
“I hope so,” she whispered into the darkness that seemed like it would never
end.

*        *        *

The residents of Argent Springs held a splendid
memorial for Annabelle at the town hall. Her wildly flamboyant friends insisted
that it be a celebration of Annabelle’s life instead of a dour, depressing
event. Her service consisted of a few prayers, Sakima reading a poem she’d
written, and a theatrical review by Agnes of Annabelle’s accomplishments
including a small bit directed toward Erin and Rick about how glad she was to
have had the two of them in her life.

At the end of the short service, Allen presented Erin
with an urn holding Annabelle’s ashes that she was to secretly scatter in the
hills above Argent Springs. She took it with shaking hands, sure that once spring
arrived, Rick would accompany her in this task.

When the guests had dwindled to a small amount, Livia
pulled her and Rick aside. She held both of their hands, giving them a
consoling smile. “I thought I would let you know that Annabelle had a will.
It’s pretty simple. She bequeathed everything to Erin except the money, which
she divided evenly between the two of you, giving you both just under a hundred
thousand each.”

Erin gasped. “That much? She always talked about
how she needed people to stay in the house to help with bills.”

“I think that came more from enjoying a steady
stream of visitors than anything else,” Livia said. “She was happiest when her
house was full.”

Rick’s eyes were wide as well. “I knew she had
some money, but I never expected…”

Livia squeezed their hands. “She loved you both so
much. She wanted the house to go to Erin so that it would stay in the family,
but really, she considered you both her kids.”

Still, Erin felt like she was taking something she
didn’t deserve. “But I’ve only known her for a couple of weeks. How could she
be sure she’d wanted me to have so much?”

“Do you love her?” Rick asked as he faced her.

“You know I do.” She ached with loss.

“Then why do you doubt she could feel the same in
that amount of time?” he returned.

“I don’t know.” She sighed, feeling an
overwhelming amount of love marred by sadness. “She was just so amazing. I feel
like I don’t deserve her.”

Livia hugged her then. “We all feel the same. She
was a truly remarkable person. My advice? Take what she left for you and go
have a wonderful life. It’s what she wanted. And if she contributes to that in
anyway, she’d be more than pleased.”

“Thank you, Livia.” Relentless emotion clogged her
throat, making it hard to speak. “I’ll try to do just that.”

*        *        *

The next couple of weeks were a time of healing
for Erin. Annabelle’s money removed the need to go back to her miserable life.
The dear lady had left her a house and a source of income from the bed and
breakfast. Erin had decided she’d continue with the business and might even set
up shop and offer massages at some point. She’d returned to Salt Lake long
enough to pack her things, leaving most of her furniture for her roommate.
After all, why would she want her rundown stuff when she had Annabelle’s
priceless heirlooms?

After that first night, she’d moved back into her
bedroom. Pursuing their romance seemed somehow disrespectful while trying to
mourn Annabelle at the same time. Rick had been kind and given her space.
Perhaps he’d needed a little of his own.

But the strong scent of lavender had followed her
constantly for the past two days, becoming an almost tangible entity when Rick
was near her, making her wonder if Rosa was somehow trying to send her a
message. Or more, if Rosa
and
Annabelle now worked in cahoots with each
other, continuing the matchmaking Annabelle had started.

Regardless, more and more, she’d found herself
eyeing the curves of his muscles and looking for reasons to accidently brush
against his arm while they cooked dinner or passed in the hall. She’d caught
his eye a time or two and wondered if he had similar feelings.

Livia headed home after sharing dinner with them,
and now Erin was left alone with Rick once again, both of them sitting in the
atrium, her trying to focus on a book and him doing something on his laptop.
The scent of lavender swirled around her, nudging her to make a move, as fat
flakes of snow cascaded beyond the large picture window.

She stood, and his gaze immediately followed her.
“I’m feeling kind of restless. I think I might go through some more of
Annabelle’s things. She’s stored some amazing history.”

A look of disappointment flickered in his gaze,
but he nodded. She sensed that he might be feeling the same way she was,
wondering if and when they’d come back together as a couple. But each time she
thought about saying something, it hadn’t seemed like the right time. Maybe
tomorrow.