Page 36 of Ace
“You’re hurt,” she cried, tears washing her vision clear as she finally looked closer. Even her fingers were stained with Keller’s blood. How selfish was she?
“I’m fine,” he answered, running a hand over his head like he’d just realized his condition. “Really, I’m—”
“No, you’re not.” Savannah slid to her feet. “You’re hurt. Sit down. At least let me doctor you before we...”Before we get carried away again.
Like a well-trained dog, he sat on the bag she’d just jumped from. Sex would have to wait.
With her heart still fluttering as if a flock of butterflies were caged inside her ribs, she retrieved her first-aid kit from the cupboard beside the supply room door. She’d doctored plenty of animals before, even birds. They’d all lived How much different could doctoring an adult male be?
He’d removed his dress shirt by the time she turned around, but still wore what had once been a white t-shirt. Now dingy brown and wet, it clung to his massive chest, delineating the rigid valley between his pecs and the well-defined six-pack below.
“Holy Mother,” hissed out of Savannah. Keller wasn’t one of those massive, thickly muscled bodybuilder types. But he was athletically fit and larger than life, and so-o-o-o much better than any animal she’d ever laid eyes on.
Shaking his dress shirt, he spread it on the nearest bag before he looked over at her.
Deep dark amber eyes locked on her.
Her heart zeroed in on Keller Boniface. On the hashmarks up and down his magnificent bicep. On the amber heat in his eyes. On the tiniest quirk of a smile curling his lips. He was a magnificent golden panther, tanned from head to toe, and he was stalking her.
“Savannah,” he said with a deep throaty purr.
“Keller,” she whispered back, her feet moving toward him. Her heart already his. The hummingbirds in her chest fluttering up her throat for release. This patient wasn’t like any she’d ever treated. He was wilder. Hotter.
“You’re right.”
“I am?”Wait. What?She couldn’t imagine what he was talking about.
“I need a couple band-aids.”
The rest of the world came back into focus.Oh, that.“Y-yes, you do. Then take your t-shirt off,” she ordered before her brain melted again. “I’ve got antiseptic wipes, and I’ve stitched plenty of dogs and cats, and I’ll take good care of you, too, if you trust me.”And I’m rambling like an idiot.
“Yes, ma’am, I do.” Dutifully, he reached behind his head and dragged the t-shirt off.
Savannah never realized how hot the supply room could get with one gorgeous, half-dressed male in it. He seemed so much larger now that she could see more of him. “Whew,” she muttered as she blew a stray lock of her hair out of her sweaty face, trembling with the knowledge of where on his body her fingers had just been.
“Good,” he murmured when she set the kit on the bag beside him.
“Good?” she asked, her voice gone as limp as starched lace on a sultry southern afternoon. “What’s good about any of this?”
Keller captured her wrist and pulled her between his spread knees. “It’s good that you feel it, too.”
She couldn’t think when he touched her like this. “But I’m supposed to be helping you,” she reminded him though her voice had grown needy and soft. “You’re hurt. You need—”
Strong capable hands mapped her forearms to her shoulders, then slid to her waist, pulling her against his belly. “I need you. Stitches can wait. May I kiss you again?”
Her vocabulary narrowed down to, “Yes, please, yes!” before she closed the distance, and with her fingers fluttering on that magnificent abdomen, she gave him her mouth and her tongue. Her heart.
The sexiest sound vibrated through Keller as their tongues tangled. Savannah had kissed a few boys in her life, but this was no inexperienced kid in the backseat at a drive-in. Keller was all male and all man. He knew what he was doing. He was bigger in every way. Definitely in charge.
In seconds she found herself undressed and sitting on his lap, sucking raspberries on that strong neck while his fingers explored her naked body. Every touch of his fingertips sent electricity sparking through her. From the tips of her nipples, now hard and aching forhis mouth, to the tingle in her toes, Savannah wanted him. All of him. Every last inch and drop.
He had to get out of his pants, but holding Savannah on his lap like this was more than Keller deserved or expected. She was no little girl, and yet she was. Wearing just those blood red beads and with them dangling between her small, firm breasts like they were, he knew the moment he took his pants off that he’d ravish her before he pleasured her. Not his style. Women like Savannah were treasures, goddesses to be adored and honored, never cheapened, which was how this encounter had started. Yet he couldn’t do it.
Oh, he could doitall right. Gettingitup was not his problem. Taking her as if she were some tramp in the back room of a bar was the problem. As fast as this thing between them was happening, Keller was nonetheless a gentleman, and Savannah was something special. Something rare. She was a lady, so much like Carol Marie, yet different. Savannah was strong and defiant. She was sexy and tougher than Carol Marie. And why was he thinking of his wife now? Here? With another woman in his arms and about to come on his lap?
Keller couldn’t restrain the way his thumb had zeroed down on that tiny nub between Savannah’s legs. He could give her what she wanted. He could make her first time, this first coming—a thing of exquisite beautyfor her. Dipping his head, he licked at her nipple before he sucked it into his mouth. And that was all it took.
Savannah arched back. Her body tensed with what he suspected was her first orgasm. In doing so, she filled his mouth with a warm, soft breast. She ground herself into the palm of his hand, then exploded with, “Kellerrrrrrrrrrrr…”
