“Oh, God. Oh, God.”
He didn’t let her get it back. “Are you watching?” He thrust again.
“I can’t.”
“Keep ’em open, Izzy.” He thrust again, then lifted her and let her fall back. She seated herself fully, lodging him deep, surrounding him with the fluttering caresses of overstimulated muscles she no longer controlled. He nearly came where he stood. Lifting her once more, he said, “Tell me what you see. What you feel.”
“I see…feel…everything. It’s so perfect. Inside. Outside. I don’t have the words—”
“I know. I know.” And he did know. As he watched her rise up and meet her orgasm like a ship’s figurehead cresting a wave, he knew what it was to hold a perfect moment in his arms. To be surrounded by it. Engulfed in it. To drown in perfection so powerful it swept everything else away.
Chapter Twenty-One
Spending his day grounded at the airfield never put Trace in a good mood. Having Lenna practically force-feed him some kind of evil kale, wheatgrass, and protein powder smoothie first thing that morning hadn’t helped.
Receiving a bottle of Powerhouse Men’s High-Performance Vitality Plus multivitamins from Bridget, courtesy of her cargo run to Juneau, also rubbed him the wrong way.
Being blockaded from the maintenance hangar by Wing and Mad with instructions to “take a load off and get that strength and stamina back up,” just made him want to kick their asses to prove there was nothing wrong with his strength or stamina.
When he returned to his office, walking into the seventy-degree sweatbox Izzy had turned it into and saw her typing away at her laptop, black glasses perched on her little nose, fitted black sweater with white shirt collar and cuffs only adding to the sexy librarian look, he decided he needed a change of scenery.
“Izzy?”
She looked up from her screen. “What’s wrong?” The glasses came off and she scrutinized him. “Feeling okay?”
“I’m fine.” He stepped into the office but didn’t close the door. Bored out of my mind. Aiming his best persuasive smile her way, he said, “Let’s take a break.”
Her brows lifted and her lips parted. “A nooner? Really?” Her husky voice and scandalized-yet-intrigued expression worked nicely with her prim outfit. Those big, brown eyes slid down his frame.
Apparently, his persuasive smile worked even better than he knew. Crossing his arms, he braced a shoulder against the doorframe. “Isabelle Marcano, you have a dirty mind.”
Her gaze bounced back to his. “Hey, you’re the one who came in here with your wayward suggestion.”
“Hey, I said ‘a break.’ You, Miss Marcano, are the one who jumped right to naked break.” Not that he minded. At all.
That made her blink. She folded her hands on his desk. “I suppose you’re right. Shame on me.” A lift of her chin conveyed challenge. “What, pray tell, did you have in mind for this break?”
Well, shit. Now he had to think of something that didn’t involve getting naked—at least not straight away. A glance at the sunny afternoon out the window behind her gave him inspiration. “You’re just going to have to trust me.”
She looked behind her, then back at him, eyes round and questioning. He extended his arm and gave her a “come on” gesture with his hand, repeating it more insistently when she hesitated.
Finally, she stood and came around the desk. “Nothing too strenuous, all right?”
He took her arm. “Izzy, I promise not to strain you.”
“Not me, you fool. Nothing too strenuous for you. I refuse to be a party to you disregarding doctor’s orders.”
He grabbed her coat from the hook on the back of the door, helped her into it, then put his hand at the small of her back to encourage her into the hall. “Nothing too strenuous for either of us. A little outdoor education. That’s all. The fresh air will do us good.”
“Okay, then.” She let him lead her out of the terminal and to the passenger side of the Yukon. On the drive into town, she updated him on the status of the due diligence requests—assets, liabilities, employee benefits, and so on, and so on. His conscience flinched when she mentioned not finding any files of insurance claims, but she continued to another category, so hopefully it wasn’t too big a deal.
By the time he parked in front of the general store, she’d finished running down her progress, took in their location, and crinkled her brow. “I thought you said outdoor education?”
“Education sometimes requires preparation,” he tossed back to her as he got out of the truck. When he came around and opened her door, she crossed her arms and stayed put. Dark sunglasses shielded her eyes, but he sensed all kinds of wariness coming off her.
“This outdoor education isn’t going to involve me touching worms, or baiting anything, or killing anything, is it?”
“I’ll touch the worms and bait the hooks.” He helped his now-reluctant break buddy down and closed the door. “I’m kidding. We’re not going fishing or anything like that.”
“What are we doing?”
“You’ll see. Wait here for a second.” Noting the way she bit her lip, he added, “And don’t worry. Trust me.”
It only took a moment to go into Watkins and purchase a small bag of cracked corn. He put it in his coat pocket and stepped out to her curious inspection. “What’d you buy?”
“It’s a surprise. Come on.” Taking her hand, he walked with her up the sidewalk toward the inn. The afternoon sun warmed his shoulders. A light breeze blew cotton ball clouds around the endless blue sky and teased the loose tendrils that had escaped from Izzy’s updo. Because he held her hand, he felt it tense when they approached Seward Park. “This way.” With those quiet words, he tugged her gently toward the green space.
She dug her heels in. “Oh, um, I don’t think this is a good place for me.”
“It’s going to be fine,” he promised, and gave her hand another tug.
She fell into step behind him. Like, right behind him, hands gripping the back of his jacket, basically using him as a human shield. After a few steps she pulled him to a stop. “Are they here?” she whispered.
“Who?”
“You know who.”
“There’s nobody else here. Why are we whispering?”
“Because if they are here, I don’t want them to hear us. The geese.”
He couldn’t hold back a smile. Luckily, she couldn’t see it from behind him. “Yes, there’re here, Izzy. They live here.”