Course of Action: Crossfire (8 page)

Cait felt the moistness of Dan's breath as it washed across her nose and cheek. Her lashes closed as she strained toward his descending mouth. His other hand came to rest against her other cheek, guiding her, holding her tenderly as his mouth barely brushed hers.

His kiss was so light, and yet devastating to her that her heart threw open the doors, wild with joy over their contact. Cait wanted more. Much more. She moved another inch forward, meeting his mouth again. This time, she slid her lips shyly against his. Instantly, she heard Dan groan, felt his fingers grip her chin a little more firmly. He tasted so male. He felt so powerful and yet Cait could feel him watching for her every reaction. When his tongue moved against her lower lip, she whimpered softly, her hand lifting and coming to rest against his expansive chest, the T-shirt damp beneath her fingertips as she dug them into the fabric.

He deepened the kiss slowly, artfully and absorbed every sound that rose from her throat. His mouth created need and set a fire within her as he moved his lips from one corner of her mouth to the other, worshipping her. And when he slid his tongue between her parting lips, she froze with pleasure, drowning in his heat, the sensations stabbing downward into her taut lower body. Dampness collected between her thighs as he adored her mouth, his tongue gently engaging hers, inviting her to join him in the sensual foreplay.

Her breathing became choppy, shallow, her fingers digging insistently into his T-shirt, the muscles of his chest reacting to each touch. He smelled male, he smelled of perspiration and the Ivory soap he used. It was an aphrodisiac to Cait and she hungrily returned Dan's kiss, wanting so much more.

Cait was trembling as Dan slowly eased his mouth from hers. As she opened her eyes, she was lost in the stormy gray of his, which were focused only on her. He released her chin, his hands framing her face as he seemed to drink her into his heart and memory. The feeling was so profound, so life changing, that all Cait could do was stare up into his eyes. She'd never wanted a man more than she did Dan. How many dreams had she had of him? Of her loving him? Pleasing him? And him pleasing her.

Because now, at her age and experience, Cait could tell just by the way Dan caressed her, was tender in his advances, that he would be a consummate lover, interested in pleasing her first, not last. Not like the other men from her past who were more interested in climaxing first and then, maybe, pleasing her if they weren't too tired afterward. It didn't always happen, and often Cait had gone away frustrated and dissatisfied. All her screamingly alive senses told her that Dan would make her pleasure a priority, bring her along, engage her fire, understand that she was slower to come alive than a male. Dan had always been patient with her, sometimes the student, sometimes the teacher. But now, as always, he was her equal, introducing himself to her. Her heart thrilled at his bold move to let her know he wanted her.

“That was a nice hello kiss,” he rasped. He released her and sat up, but he was unwilling to break the connection with Cait. He saw clearly the arousal burning in her eyes. Even though she wore a bra and those ugly blue scrubs, Dan could see that her nipples had hardened. His hands itched to curve around her breasts, expose them. He wanted to suckle her awaiting nipples, hear her crying out with pleasure, wanted to give her so much more. He moved his fingers lightly through her hair, taming the strands into place here and there. Cait's eyes were clouded with arousal and he saw her struggling to come back from that wet, torrid kiss they'd just shared.

“That was...” she whispered, touching her wet lower lip, “so nice...”

Dan studied her in the silence around them. Cait's cheeks were flushed, her eyes radiant with yearning for him, so much unspoken between them still. “Let me come over to your house, Cait. The kind of food I want to share with you, though, isn't coming off a stove. Do you understand?”

She nodded. “Because things have changed between us.”

“We need privacy to really talk about this...about us,” Dan pressed.

Cait looked around. “This isn't the place to do it,” she agreed quietly. Pushing her fingers through her tamed hair, she took a deep breath. “I didn't know, Dan. I didn't know until just now how you felt toward me.”

“Sweetheart, I've been trying to tell you this for a while. I wasn't sure my subtle signals were reaching you.”

“Oh, they did, Dan, but I thought I was making them up. Because I wanted you so much, I thought I was reading what I wanted to read into it. I didn't trust myself to read you accurately.”

Wry humor sparkled in her eyes. “Funny,” he rumbled, “I saw things in your eyes, felt hints in your touch, and I thought I was making it up, too, Cait.”

“Because we were taught we could never want one another,” she whispered rawly, sliding her hand into his. “I was so afraid, Dan...afraid that if I showed you how I really felt toward you, you'd say no...”

He gripped her hand in his, wanting so badly to kiss her again. Kiss her and take her down on the blue mat and love her until she melted into his arms. “I was thinking the same thing, sweetheart.” He squeezed her fingers gently. “Let's talk more when we're at your house.”

She looked up, giving him a brushing kiss on his cheek before she rose to her full height. “There's so much to say...to explore with one another,” she promised in a husky voice. “Tomorrow evening, I want you to come over for dinner.”

* * *

The next day Dan sat in a pale green contemporary lounge chair. Everything in Cait's home reflected her minimalist style. She had moved the chair around so that he could see from the living room where she worked in her U-shaped kitchen. It was an open-concept home and, although small, it appeared large and airy. The lounge chair was modern and S-shaped so that as he sat in it, his legs were propped up, allowing him to fully relax.

It felt damn good to be dressed in his own clothes—a black-and-white Hawaiian flower shirt, a pair of tan loose-fitting cargo pants and sandals. He was back into his surfer-dude Hawaiian gear and Dan couldn't begin to tell Cait how grateful he was to her. After his PT session, he'd gone into the heated whirlpool to help his aching leg.

Afterward she had driven over to his small apartment. He lived near the Army base and he'd given her the key. Cait had brought some of his civilian clothes to Tripler. Then, behind closed curtains, she'd helped him dress in them instead of that damned blue gown with the loose-fitting cotton pants everyone wore at the hospital.

This time, she was not embarrassed as she pulled the covers off the frame above his legs. He wore nothing beneath those covers and it was clear he was partially erect. Her heated smile as she'd carefully pulled the loose-fitting cargo pants over his lower body, told him all he needed to know.

Cait had taken him home with her at five that evening. Trussed up in that special external support system, his thigh screamed at him like a banshee, but he'd been able to slowly fold his tall frame and get into her Prius. The comfortable lounge chair at her home was wide enough for him to sit in without feeling as though he might tip over one side of it or the other. He was a big man and didn't always fit in normal-sized furniture, but it was as if this lounge chair were made especially for him and his wounded leg.

Cait had already changed out of her medical uniform, trading it in for a dark blue, green and purple sarong that damn near made him leap out of that chair and take her right then and there on the highly polished blond bamboo floor.

She had taken her red hair and piled it up into a loose topknot with two gold combs. His heart leaped when he saw she'd tucked three white plumeria blossoms above her right ear. It wasn't lost on him that when a woman in the islands did that, it was a signal to young males that she was single and open to a relationship with the right man. He'd never seen Cait wear flowers on the right side of her head before. She looked beautiful, alluring and incredibly open to him. Had their kiss from yesterday evening opened the door of possibility? He'd barely slept last night, his mind and body in utter turmoil, pitching from hell to heaven and back. Cait had returned his kiss. What did that mean? How far was she willing to go with him?

Dan forgot about the pain drifting up and down his thigh. That silk sarong was gathered between her breasts with a tortoiseshell buckle, and it was his undoing. His imagination ran hot and wild. The ends of the sarong were pulled through the two openings, hanging there, tempting him. All he had to do was pull those ends through that buckle and the sarong would open, revealing Cait's small, beautiful breasts and the rest of her body. Of course, most women who wore sarongs in the tropics usually had a sports bra and panties on beneath. Sometimes...they didn't. It just depended. He couldn't discern an outline of bra or panties beneath that sarong. His imagination burned hot with the idea that she might not be wearing anything beneath that knee-length sarong. His erection pressed tightly against the zipper of his cargo pants.

Dan tried to keep his mind off sex with Cait, but he couldn't do it. The scent of nutmeg and ginger in the air couldn't keep his mind on dinner as she began to mix ingredients in a wok. From his vantage point, he could see her move, her bare, slender arms, a peek every now and then of how the silk flowed across her breasts. Dan swore he could see her nipples pushing up against the material. She was barefoot, her toenails painted red. Cait looked like a young college-aged woman so ripe and willing that he was in a constant ache to take her. When was he going to get up the courage to honestly talk to her about his feelings for her? It seemed impossible that Cait would willingly allow him to love her.

Would she?

That kiss of hers had melted him in a split second. She had kissed him passionately, without any reservation. Cait had not been shy. Her kiss had been bold and direct, and Dan wanted her so badly. In every possible way.

 

Chapter 7

C
ait felt her heart pound as they finished off a dessert of sliced mango, papaya and pineapple. She'd pulled a chair next to the green lounger and sat facing Dan as they ate. He wasn't able to sit at a table or on a regular chair yet. Tonight was the night when she was going to find out if there was something lasting between them. There was no question he was aroused. For her, that was a sign but not the ultimate answer.

Rising, she took their empty bowls and spoons to the sink and rinsed them off. The winter sunset had been a watercolor palette of reds, oranges and yellows before it disappeared into the Pacific Ocean. Now, from where her small house sat in a cul-de-sac, the jungle behind it, she could see the stars wink and twinkle through the large picture window in the living room.

She felt Dan's gaze on her back, as if he were soaking up each of her movements. It made her feel good. Hopeful, maybe. Throughout the dinner, she had occasionally seen an unknown emotion banked in his expression as their eyes met. It made her lower body yearn.

He'd never made a sexual advance on her. Ever. She was haunted by what he'd told her a month ago—that he'd changed. He'd repeated it yesterday and then made the first move and kissed her. Tonight, she would get her answers. Gathering her courage she walked toward Dan, holding his hooded gaze, seeing the arousal in his eyes. She sat down, gathering the silken folds of her sarong in her lap.

“You said you wanted to talk,” she said shyly.

Dan watched her sit down gracefully, her long, slender fingers gathering the excess sarong material so that it remained closed. Now he knew without a doubt that Cait was wearing nothing beneath that sarong.
Nothing.
He was aching for her, wanting to love her senseless.

“We need to talk about that kiss, Cait. What it meant to both of us.” His voice was low, strained. She became very serious, her gaze sharpening on him. Her hands were folded in her lap and Dan saw them tighten just a little more. “I have a confession I need to make to you.” A lump started to form in his throat.

Tilting her head, she said, “Oh?”

Dan looked away for a moment. “Yesterday I told you I fell for you when we met.” He gave her a wry glance. “I liked you...way too much.” He opened his hands. “When you turned eighteen, Ben made me swear that I'd be your big, bad Texas guard dog and keep military guys from chasing you down. He saw how beautiful you were. He knew most of the guys would hit on you and that they might not be interested in a long-term relationship with you.”

She smiled a little. “Ben guarded me from my thirteenth birthday until he went into the Army. Believe me, I can repeat his concerns verbatim, Dan.”

“Yeah, he was a crusader in that area,” Dan muttered, frowning. “Cait...all those years I've kept a secret. Even from Ben...and especially from you.” Dan held her moist gaze and reached out, covering her clasped hands in her lap. “All along, I wanted you. All of you. I fell in love with
you
.” Her expression brightened. “I tried my damnedest to ignore you, to do what was right, to do what Ben had asked of me...”

“When did you know, Dan?”

He heard the emotion in her low voice. “When did I know I loved you? Forever, Cait. I knew it was wrong of me to fall in love with you. At first, I tried to tell myself it was lust, not love. The thing was, I never fell out of love for you. How I felt about you just deepened and widened across time and distance. Every time we came home on leave, I looked so forward to seeing you.”

“You never let me know. Not even once, Dan.”

“With Ben there? Yeah. I didn't want to lose his friendship. I didn't know if you had any interest in me, Cait.” He focused on the white plumeria flowers in her hair. “Until I saw those flowers in your hair tonight, I wasn't sure of anything.” His large hand squeezed hers gently. “I've never seen you wear flowers in your hair, much less on the right side of your head. I was hoping like hell it meant what I thought it meant. That you were open to a relationship with me.”

“I have a secret to share with you, too, Dan.” Cait nervously cleared her throat and bravely lifted her chin. “I told you yesterday that, from the beginning, you were like a knight in shining armor to me. I knew you were off-limits, and that you were Ben's best friend. He needed someone like you in his life and I was happy for both of you. As time went on, and you two came home, I knew I was falling in love with you, Dan. But I couldn't speak of it. If I did, I knew Ben would be shocked and so disappointed in me. I couldn't do that to him. And I was never sure you liked me at all, except as a little sister.”

Dan released the breath he'd been holding as he searched her calm face, those green eyes of hers pools of shadow and light. “You fell in love with me, then?”

“Yes.” Cait managed a shy look in his direction. “You have no idea how tough it was to be around you, Dan. So close, and I couldn't do anything. I couldn't say anything...touch you...kiss you...”

“Damn,” he muttered, shaking his head. Dan lifted one of her hands, pressing a soft kiss to the center of her small, opened palm. His hand was nearly twice the size of Cait's.

Tiny ringlets of fire radiated from where he'd pressed his strong, well-shaped mouth against her opened palm. There was another kind of fire Cait saw in his eyes—clearly this time. There was no mistaking Dan wanted her. Coals came to life at the core of her. Cait wanted to match his courage with her own.

“I think we both loved Ben so much that we held off admitting anything to one another. We knew he wouldn't be happy to hear we were helplessly drawn to one another. I know he wanted only the best for me, Dan, but I can't begin to tell you how often, especially during your last two leaves, I wanted to pull you aside and confess how I really felt about you. I was just too chicken to do it.”

“But you didn't know I was interested. I get it, Cait. We were both on our best behavior because we loved Ben. And neither of us wanted to hurt him.”

“No,” she whispered, wiping her eyes, “we loved him so much... We still do...”

Dan swallowed against a constriction in his throat, hearing the tremble in her voice. “I've had ten weeks of lying in that friggin' bed at Tripler, Cait, to think about us. Ben's not with us any longer. I wrestled with what he'd think if I came to you and told you the truth of how I feel toward you. And, hell, I wasn't sure if I could trust that the signals you've been sending me since I got moved to Tripler were real. Sometimes, I thought I saw your feelings for me in your eyes.” His mouth pulled. “And then I'd tell myself it was because I'd been wanting you for so long, that it was my imagination fueled by the morphine.”

“I understand,” Cait whispered, turning her hand, her fingers gently grazing his calloused palm. “I was torn between my grief for Ben and loving you, knowing you'd nearly died, too. There were so many times I just wanted to let it rip out of my mouth, to tell you that I loved you, Dan. It was so difficult in those first few weeks. I felt like I was living in agony one moment and then heaven the next because you were there. I could touch you, hear your voice, look into your eyes, and I knew you were going to survive your wound.”

The tears glimmering in her eyes conveyed such need. His body was hard, throbbing and ready. “That was when I started picking up little signals from you, two weeks after I arrived,” he said roughly. “And I kept telling myself it was a dream that would never come true. I dreamed of loving you, Cait. Holding you in my arms. Sleeping at your side. I wanted it so damn much. I like the long talks we always had, walks on the beach and surfing together.”

“What do you want from me, Dan?”

Dan could see Cait trying to prepare herself in case he had bad news. “I want the right to get to know you, Cait. If I can hold a love for you all these years, we both deserve a chance to explore it in every possible way. How do you feel about us?” Now, it was his turn to feel scared.

Cait brought her chair closer to his lounger, close enough for her to frame his face and lean down, gently placing her mouth against the line of his. “Kiss me again, Dan? Make this real for both of us. Because I want the same thing from you...”

Her sweet, moist breath flowed across him as her soft lips barely grazed his mouth. A groan rolled through him and he took her lips just as gently, tasting her, welcoming her, wanting her, but smart enough, old enough, to let Cait take the lead. Dan had no idea where this would go tonight. None. Except now, he knew Cait loved him as much as he loved her. And they both wanted the same thing: time to explore what was really between them. It felt as if his heart would explode out of his chest as her lips, wet and hungry, deepened their kiss. Her fingers slid up along his jaw, framing his face again, holding him in place as she slid her tongue into his mouth. Dan stiffened, gripping her bare shoulders, feeling her fire, feeling her warmth flow hotly down through him like sweet, delicious chocolate.

Dan didn't want the kiss to end, but his erection throbbed with painful urgency. As Cait drew a few inches away from his mouth, her green eyes dark with arousal, he knew. Dan knew she wanted him. Right now. Right here. His mind spun in shock.

“How are we going to do this?” he asked thickly, moving his hand with appreciation over her slender shoulders, her flesh warm and velvety beneath his fingers.

“Well, I've given this a great deal of thought.” She kissed his nose, his cheek and then his mouth. “This lounger is perfect for us. It will support that leg of yours and keep it at an angle so that you won't be in pain.”

“Sweetheart, I'm in such pain right now and it's not from that leg,” he confided wryly, watching her lazy smile.

Turning, Cait laid her hand across his thick arousal. She caressed him. “I know...hold on, let me give you some relief...”

Dan couldn't believe his eyes as she turned in the chair, unsnapping and then unzipping his cargo pants, opening them. His breath jammed as her warm fingers glided down the length of him, gently enclosing him, squeezing him just enough to make him groan and close his eyes. The sweet, scalding sensations blotted out his mind. Dan couldn't think, only feel. Her hand shifted, fingers gently manipulating him, and all he could do was grip her sarong-covered thigh, barely able to hang on.

“Cait,” he rasped, opening his eyes. “Don't... I'll come.” He captured her hand, stopping her from pleasing him. The last thing Dan wanted was to come like this. He met her half-closed eyes, those red lashes framing green eyes that burned with arousal, and he growled, “I want to be inside you, sweetheart. Inside...now...”

“Yes,” she whispered unsteadily, taking his hand and guiding it to the teak buckle held the sarong closed. “Here. Open it up, Dan. I'll do the rest.”

He was barely putting two thoughts together. Fumbling with the buckle, he heard Cait give him a breathy laugh.

“We have time, Dan. There's no hurry. Relax...”

He snorted and stared up at her. “I've waited eleven years for this. I'm in a hurry.”

Her laughter was husky and she leaned forward, making it easier for him. “Okay, you've got a point, but you're staying here with me all night. I'm not taking you back to Tripler until tomorrow morning.”

Never had he heard sweeter words than those. “I like your plan.” He eased the material through the first hole and then the second. The fabric parted and his breath jammed in his throat as he stared at her small, beautifully formed breasts. The silky sarong fell away, pooling around her hips with a whisper. Her nipples were pink and taut, the rest of her naked body a soft glow as moonlight flowed through the living room. Dan placed the buckle on the floor next to the lounger. Cait moved closer, within easy range of his hands, her fingers skimming his shoulders.

“Touch me, Dan? Please...I can't tell you how often I've fantasized about you touching me...”

Her feminine scent combined with the perfume of the plumeria in her hair surrounded him. She was so small in comparison to him. Her breasts were perfect for him as she leaned forward, fitting them into his palms. Cait rested her brow against his. The sudden intake of her breath as he grazed her curves with his fingers, feeling her warmth, her nipples responding to his caress, told him so much.

Groaning her name, he leaned forward, capturing one of those taut nipples, drawing it into his mouth. He heard a low cry and her fingers dug frantically into his shoulders, telling him how much she enjoyed it. So did he. The world tilted, all the sounds, everything around him...disappeared...and in its place, only Cait's sweet, trembling body, her feminine scent filling his nostrils, the warmth of her skin tasting so good, the little cries of pleasure filling her throat as he suckled and laved each of her nipples, became his whole world. All Dan wanted to do was please this woman. She moved against him, surrendering herself to him, her taut breasts in his palms, her breath fast and shallow.

He wanted to explore every inch of Cait but he was at an odd position and so was she. Dan heard her give a breathy laugh near his ear as she eased out of his hands.

“Let's get comfortable, shall we?” she suggested, rising and pulling the sarong away from her naked body. She placed it on the chair. The moonlight lovingly silhouetted her form as she stood there.

Dan's entire being homed in on her slender form. Cait was like a willow. He took in her form from head to toe as she stood before him. Her cheeks were flushed and he could see she felt no shame in standing naked to be appreciated and devoured by his gaze. It was one thing to see her surfing in a bikini, quite another to see her standing like a goddess before him. He lifted his hand toward her, wanting her close once again. He saw a wicked look come to her eyes.

“First things first. I'm undressing you.” She approached the lounger. “Your shirt first,” she whispered, leaning over him.