The Lost and Found (12 page)

“Are you trying to get me to take my shirt off?” he asked. He kept his voice low, gentle, but there was a world of weight in it.

And Crimson saw it for what it was. She responded. He saw it in her eyes; saw it in the blush staining her cheeks. She quickly tried denying her desire to see him undressed, stammered, and stuttered. Josiah felt the raw, male animal in him growl in anticipation. He chuckled and swiftly stood to remove his shirt.

He watched as Crimson devoured him with her eyes. It was like she was touching him. Everywhere her eyes landed he burned. And then as she stood up and stepped close to him, barely a breath separating them, and lightly touched his chest; he’d barely been able to stand still. What he wanted to do was rub against her, to pull her into him and wrap his arms around her. To take her mouth and possess it. Instead, he held himself absolutely and perfectly still. When her eyes caught his, he saw the questions in them. She’d seen his scars, had touched them gently, hesitantly.

He explained about his mother and saw the horror, the sickness in Crimson’s eyes. He also saw the flash of anger. That fury sparked something inside him. She was protective of him. And that gave Josiah peace. He turned around, let her see his back. It was a beautiful work of art. Dragon wings were tattooed there in intricate detail. He’d picked a dragon because the fire that was meant to break him had only made him stronger. Dragons were not conquered by fire; it was their weapon, their defense.

Josiah turned back around so they were facing each other. Crimson kept her eyes on his chest. Those golden brown orbs just moved enticingly slow across his skin. She tried, once again, to veer off from where he wanted to take her, or maybe it was just that she was trying to slow things down. She asked him why. Why was he helping her? Why had he made her wake up and make a choice?

Josiah knew where his answer was going. He knew he was going to kiss this girl. So, as he told her his reasons, he stepped closer to her; he brushed against her and felt her slight tremor. He traced his hands gently across her shoulders, those shoulders that drove him crazy, reveling in the softness under his palms, feeling the smoothness of her skin, savoring it. He trailed those hands up her neck, acknowledging just how small she truly was. Traced her jaw, ran his thumbs over her lips, priming them just a little before he took them.

He moved his hands into her hair, weaved his long fingers through that soft platinum thickness, and fisted them there, holding tight, but not too tight. He wouldn’t hurt her. He hoped and prayed she wouldn’t be frightened, that she would accept his advances, because he honestly wasn’t sure how he was going to pull it back if she said to stop. When his mouth, hot and dry, finally touched hers, tasted hers, he thought he’d died. She was so sweet. So hesitant and willing. So trusting. He felt that trust like a physical touch and refused to do any damage to it. He clamped down tightly on his desire and released her mouth, pulled back then gently placed a tender kiss on her forehead and returned to the job at hand.

Together they made quick work of the rest of the fence. Josiah had to put forth extra effort to stay focused on the job at hand and not on the woman working alongside him. He could still feel her, still taste her. And he wanted more. He’d kept this fire carefully banked and under control, but that simple kiss, his mouth on hers, had stoked the flame and now it burned. Hotter and hotter.

Quietly he observed her, making sure Crimson wasn’t upset by what had happened between them, that she was all right. She seemed to be. Twice she’d caught his eye and a blush crept across her face, and then a smile curved her lips.

Josiah pounded the last nail into the wood and tugged on the wire to see how tight it was. “It looks good,” he said. “Let’s grab that last bit of debris and the tools and call it a day.”

Crimson nodded as she began lifting a broken post into the truck bed. Once all the supplies were loaded up and all the broken pieces of fencing, too, they headed back to the ranch.

Alpha and Dangerous

Crimson Sage

BY THE TIME WE’D
arrived back at the house Ethan was already home, playing outside with Daisy. We sat in the truck for a moment, just watching them. “Josiah?” I asked after a moment.

“Yeah?”

“Are we going to tell anyone… about us?”

“That depends. Did you not want to?”

“I’d like to keep this private for the time being. Ethan is just finding himself here, and I don’t want to supply him with any distractions. Is that okay?”

“It’s okay. I’m not sneaking around though. I won’t be made to feel like we’re doing something wrong. We’re not.”

“No, I didn’t mean that. I just don’t want to confuse him. And what about Billy? What do you think he’s going to say?”

“I’m pretty sure Billy already has a pretty good idea of how I feel about you.”

“He does?”

“I’ve done my best to keep everything under wraps, mainly because you weren’t ready, but Crimson? I’ve had my eye on you long before you arrived here.”

“I don’t understand.”

“We’ll talk about it later. Just know that Billy shouldn’t be a problem and we’ll keep things under the radar for the time being, so as not to confuse Ethan, but if it comes up, then I’m going to be straight with him.”

“Thanks.”

“Seeing as how we have an audience right now, I won’t kiss you. We’ll have a bonfire tonight, and I’ll figure something out, because I definitely want to be kissing you again. Soon.”

I blushed at that and nodded, opened the door, and stepped out. Ethan ran up and threw his arms around me.

“Hey, Sis.”

“Hey, Kid. School okay? You have homework?”

“Just a little.”

“Well, I’m going to jump in the shower then you boys meet me at the table so we can get it done.”

“Ah, c’mon! It’s Friday! I have all weekend to get things done.”

“Well, you’ll do it now and then have all weekend left to enjoy your free time.”

Ethan grumbled good-naturedly then ran to tell the other boys. Normally I find taking a shower to be a calming experience. But today I couldn’t seem to get Josiah out of my mind. I remembered everything. The texture of his lips as they pressed against mine. The taste of him. The heat in his hands as they roamed my neck and shoulders. The way my body responded to him, the way it craved him. No, this was not a calming shower.

Thirty minutes later as I entered the kitchen, my mind was still replaying that kiss. But the sight of those boys seated at the kitchen table, just waiting for me, brought my wandering mind to a halt. I hoped they didn’t notice the heat that stained my face as I sat down and prepared for our lesson.

I was really impressed with these boys. They’d remained dedicated and had put in a lot of effort. This was our second week working together and already I’d had notes from their teachers letting me know how well they were doing. We worked on math, going over basic algebra. I told them to not look at it like math, but rather like they were detectives and each problem was like a crime scene that offered so many clues that would allow them to solve it. This seemed to help, because they embraced it rather than fighting it. It certainly made tutoring them easier. I made a “crime” board, and for each assignment we completed we added a “solved/case complete” badge to it.

After dinner we all gathered outside for the bonfire. Billy let them stay up an extra hour due to their efforts and how well they were all doing in school.

I listened quietly to the conversations taking place around me and smiled to myself at their antics. The boys had changed and grown so much. They were braver, and each had a newfound sense of accomplishment in their schoolwork. Work that had been difficult, if not impossible before we’d begun working together, was now easily understood and completed. I couldn’t help the pride that welled up inside me.

Josiah had told me that most of them had stories similar to his; abusive parents, negligent parents, no parents at all. My heart healed a little, softened a little toward Billy as I realized where his heart lay here. He really did love these boys and desperately wanted them to succeed.

At 10:00 Billy called it a night, had them turn in. Josiah stayed me, with a light touch to my wrist. I settled back in my seat and waved Ethan off, told Billy goodnight. It bothered me a little to see how he reacted to that. The way he stopped and his breath hitched a little. The way his eye caught mine and I saw
relief
and gratitude in them. Tonight was the first time I’d said it
to
him; usually I just responded; I never initiated.

Josiah and I silently watched as the lights in the house were slowly turned out and it became dark and quiet. The fire had burned low; Josiah stood up and added another log to it. Soon the flames were rising up again. He sat back down beside me, scooted his chair a little closer to mine. He reached out for my hand and just held it, slowly rubbing my palm with his thumb. We sat that way for roughly an hour, not speaking, just enjoying the fire, the night, each other’s company and companionship.

With each pass of his thumb across my skin, my heart pounded deeply in answer. I wanted him to kiss me again, but I could see, could sense his hesitancy. I guess it wasn’t hesitancy so much as control. He was in complete control of himself. I couldn’t deny the part of me that wanted to see him lose a little of that control. When the flames were once again down to ashes, Josiah squeezed my hand gently, released it, and stood up again.

I watched him, trying to get my pulse to calm down, as he used the hose to douse the ashes and put the fire completely out. There was a three-quarter moon shining just above the tree line, so we weren’t in complete darkness. Josiah stepped toward me and held his hand out. I took it, gripped it, and he swiftly pulled me to my feet and against him. His arms wrapped around me and his mouth found mine. He growled a little, just a gentle rumble in his chest, but I felt it and I liked it.

Josiah wasn’t like any boy I’d ever kissed or known before. He didn’t allow me to set the tone or the pace. Josiah was entirely in charge here, yet he wasn’t forceful. I never felt like I was out of my element, or that I couldn’t stop things if I felt the need to. Josiah was just confident. He knew what he was doing. He knew what he wanted to do to me, and he knew what I wanted him to do. Josiah also knew when to draw the line and back off.

He nibbled my mouth, lightly tasting, brushing his lips across mine. His hands moved slowly up my back, holding me to him, wrapped into my hair. He ran his fingers through it, letting the pale blonde strands slither through his fingers. Now he cupped my face, ran his thumb over my lower lip, touched my tongue, kissed me again.

I was dazed. Dazed and fluid. I felt like I could just slip into a puddle on the ground. My eyes wouldn’t focus; my heart was pounding out a heavy, steady rhythm. I swallowed and he gently kissed me again. Josiah stepped back, took my hand, and kissed my knuckles.

“You’d better go inside. Get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”

I leaned up on tiptoe and kissed his jaw. “Goodnight, Josiah.”

He watched me as I entered the house. I made my way carefully through the darkness, had just begun climbing the stairs, when I heard a noise above me. Looking up with a gasp, I saw Rob standing there. He was taking up most of the stairway, leaving me little room to get by.

“Rob!
Jeez
. You scared the snot out of me!” I whispered at him.

Rob didn’t say anything. Just stood there and stared at me. I felt a shiver tickle the back of my neck. “I was thirsty,” he finally said. “Real thirsty.”

“Well, okay. I’ll see you in the morning I guess.”

He didn’t move aside; as he stood now I’d have to rub against him to get past him.

“Excuse me,” I said, looking him in the eye.

Rob grinned and shuffled minutely to the side. Only by tightly hugging the wall was I able to make it by without touching him. I could feel his eyes on me, on my body, and quickly climbed the steps to get away from him. I’d just reached the top when he said, “Sweet dreams, Sage.”

OUT BEHIND THE BARN
, Josiah had created a small patio area for himself; he’d leveled the ground and paved it in large flat stones he’d dug up around the ranch. He’d dug out a small fire pit and built rustic log benches and lounge chairs that were grouped around it. We were seated on one. Or, Josiah was seated on one; I was seated on him.