Winning Love (18 page)

“Someone likes watching me.”

She didn’t look away from his working hand, but she did smile wider. “Oh, yeah. I like watching your cock get hard.”

His arm shot out and yanked her to him. “My hard cock would like to be deep inside you.”

He left her for a brief moment to dig protection out of his sopping wet jeans, then his mouth was on hers again as he lifted her up. Wrapping her legs around his waist, she looped her arms around his neck, but kept her hands dangling free. He pressed her into the damp wall and, in one motion, embedded himself inside her. They groaned into each other’s mouths. Bucking into her in a fast, hard rhythm, he massaged one breast while gently rolling her nipple between two fingers. Moaning, she leaned her head back. His lips immediately went to her exposed neck, sucking, biting, and kissing.

“Jesus, Mac,” she stuttered out.

When his mouth closed around her nipple, sucking deeply, and his hand stroked between her legs, she came apart instantly. She expected him to join her. Instead, he slowed the aggressive motion of his finger to just a gentle rub of her clit as he thrust. He buried his face in her neck. “Fuck, woman, I can’t get enough of being inside you.”

Then his fingers resumed their skillful dance. This time her orgasm was stronger, longer, and loud. Mac thrust forward, and his body tensed against hers. “Fuck,” he bit out. “Fuck.”

A massive quake shook his frame, then his muscles slowly relaxed. When he finally lifted his head, a lazy smile curved his mouth. He kissed her gently and put her back on her feet outside the tub, not letting her go until he was sure she had her footing. After he got out, he snatched a white towel off the rack, gently dried her, and wrapped the towel around her body, tucking it closed between her breasts.

“I’m going to dry off. I’ll be out in a minute to treat your hands.” He kissed her again, then sent her out the door with a soft pat on the rump.

Smiling, Gayle padded into the room, grabbed an oversized T-shirt and panties, and slipped them on. There was a lot to be said for having someone special. Someone who understood what you were feeling and didn’t hesitate to give of himself. Someone you could trust.

Her smile faded. Those were dangerous thoughts. She
didn’t
have Mac. She needed to remember that. He would be gone in a matter of weeks.

“Sit down on the bed,” he said as he strode in from the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist.

Perplexed by her thoughts, she did as he asked, watching him pull on a pair of checkered pajama bottoms and grab the first aid kit.

He knelt before her and she studied the top of his head, trying to sort out her feelings. She liked him. A lot. There was no doubt she could very easily fall for the man. And that scared the hell out of her.

Relationships and Gayle Matthews did not work. She’d accepted that three years ago. If it wasn’t death that separated her and the man she’d allowed in, it was her job, or her immaturity, or her seriousness, or her goofiness, or her commitment. Seriously? Could the reasons be any more bipolar?

The end result was always the same…he left.

And Mac would, too. Even if he weren’t already leaving town.

She had to protect her heart from him. First, there wasn’t a part of her that believed for one instant he would stay in Kansas, and there was no way she’d ever move away. Second, at the mud race, he’d told her he wasn’t looking for anything serious. Which led her to believe he only wanted to test out the waters, since he hadn’t dated since his wife died.

She couldn’t blame him. He deserved to date. To have fun and enjoy the single life after the solitude he’d sentenced himself to the last few years. She studied him for a moment, really studied him. And saw that he did look less haunted. He was smiling now, laughing. He needed time to reacquaint himself with that happier man, become comfortable with him again. Have a few good experiences to offset the bad. And then maybe he could find the right woman and be able to love again.

Mac was capable of endless love. He’d already proven that. When he loved, he loved with his all.

As he worked the antibiotic ointment into her palms, then carefully wrapped them with gauze, she ran her fingers over his hair. He deserved a woman who would fill the huge void Ally had left behind when she died.

Gayle wanted that for him with all her heart.

But she wasn’t the one to do it. She just couldn’t see them working long-term. There were too many obstacles.

But that wasn’t going to stop her from enjoying the man while he was here.

“There,” he said as he taped the end of the gauze down and sat back on his haunches.

She grinned at her wrapped hands. “Should I bring my fists up to protect my chin?”

“That’d be pretty fucking hot, actually.”

“
Huh
. I’ll have to remember that when I can bend my fingers without cringing in pain.”

He sat beside her on the bed. “I wanted to ask you about the teddy bears. That was so nice of you. It meant a lot to those kids.”

“I started carrying them after seeing my first destructive tornado.” How would he react when he found this out? At the time it hadn’t felt appropriate to blurt out she’d chased the very tornado that had destroyed his life while he’d been reliving it in his head. “I started chasing six years ago, but it wasn’t until about four years ago that I actually saw an EF-5 rip through a town.” She looked away.

He stiffened beside her. Yeah, he got her implication.

“You were in Emerald Springs.”

She nodded. “I followed it straight into town and jumped out immediately to help. I’ll never forget, as the people emerged, how stunned they were. Especially the ones who’d ridden it out inside a house. Like they couldn’t believe they had survived and were questioning how that had happened.”

“I know the feeling,” he murmured with a sigh.

She touched the bandage he’d so tenderly wrapped around her hand. “The children were all panicked and crying, and I remember seeing a little boy who was completely distraught over a stuffed puppy. His mother explained to me he’d had the puppy since he was eight months old, slept with it every night. It hit me then that while this was difficult for the adults, it was even worse on the kids. They don’t have the ability to make sense of what happened. How can they, when even as adults, we can’t?”

“I take it he didn’t find the puppy.”

She smiled. “No, he actually did. Dirty and missing an eye, but he found him. Ever since, though, I’ve carried around the box of stuffed animals in the SUV. These kids have lost everything, especially their sense of security. I figure I can give them back a little of that feeling with the teddy bears. Something to start over with.”

“You really do a lot of good, Gayle. I see that now.”

The praise made her uncomfortable, and she gave a slight shrug. She didn’t do it for glory. She did it because it was the right thing to do. Lots of chasers did what she did. “I can’t imagine what they’ve been through. I have never gone through what these people—what
you
—have experienced. I have no idea what it’s like to crawl out of the rubble, or open the door to a storm shed and see everything familiar to me gone.”

“But you lost your family in a tornado.”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t with them. I was away at college. It was—” Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply, controlling the pain that immediately surfaced. Seven years later, and it still hurt to talk about it. “It was my birthday, and they were driving down to surprise me. They got caught on the interstate. Had nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. They were stuck. The damn tornado ripped right through my family and my high school sweetheart.”

His face was wreathed in empathy. “Hell. I’m sorry.”

She swallowed the lump of emotions stuck in her throat. “I often wonder what they were thinking in those final moments. I know they had to be terrified, but were they thinking of me, wishing they’d taken a different way, stopped for lunch…?” Her voice broke and she pressed her lips together.

She tried not to think about that day too often, but days like this made it hard for the memories to stay repressed. Amazing how she was the one sitting here so helpless, and Mac seemed to be so strong after what he’d gone through. But, after one of these big twisters that leveled towns, it sometimes took a few days to collect herself. It was like the past came roaring back and all the questions that had haunted her the last few years refused to leave until she could get back into her routine and tuck them away again.

“I wasn’t even aware they were killed until two days after the tornado.” Her vision swam with unshed tears.

Mac’s hand found her lower back and rubbed circles, but he remained silent, for which she was thankful. For the most part she dealt with these moments alone. It felt good finally to get them out.

“For two days I was hurt and angry they didn’t remember my birthday. I left some nasty voicemails I can never take back, but I thought they were safe, thought they’d just forgotten me.” She stared straight ahead. “Twenty people died in that storm. It didn’t level any homes or hit any towns, but it crossed a busy interstate and took twenty people’s lives. I even watched it on TV, having no clue my family and boyfriend were dead.”

“Jesus, I’m sorry, Gayle.” He tugged her to his side and kissed the top of her head.

“They were all I had. We were close, too. Sam and I had dated since high school, and somehow had made a long distance relationship work when I went off to college. I was so lost afterward. My home—the place where I’d grown up, had celebrated birthdays, Thanksgiving, and Christmas—was still standing, but the day I returned it was just a shell. The people who’d made it a home were gone.” She pulled away to look at Mac. “I suppose if you think about it, our reactions weren’t so different. I sold our house. I haven’t been back to my hometown since. I threw myself into my studies like you threw yourself into fighting, and I started chasing the season after they died. I’m determined to further tornado research and, in the process, if I have the chance to save one life directly in the path of Mother Nature’s destruction, then I’m going to save that life. Nobody should have to die like that. The people I loved shouldn’t have died like that.”

She laid her head on his chest, and he was silent for a long time.

Then he whispered, “No. No one should.”

Chapter Ten

T
he next afternoon, Mac was using a chainsaw to cut through a tree that blocked a street. After the tree trunk split in half, he released the lever and let the engine idle as he searched for Gayle among the volunteers and displaced homeowners. He found her, standing with an older woman, picking through a pile of wreckage. He’d checked her whereabouts a lot over the course of the day. He needed her within sight at all times…although it bothered him how much he stressed over her well-being. A little worry was healthy, but this was borderline obsessive. He ran his arm across his forehead, wiping off the sweat.

The morning and most of the afternoon had passed fairly quickly. Rick was hauling debris to the side of the street, while Mac was helping wherever someone needed him. Gayle had mostly hopped from person to person doing the thing Gayle did best—making them feel special while helping search for whatever missing items they hoped to find in the rubble.

Just as he was about to go back to sawing again, a ginger-headed man with rounded glasses came striding toward him with the little girl from yesterday in his arms. She was still clutching the teddy Gayle had given her, her face buried in its fur. The man didn’t say anything. Just put the little girl down, then grabbed Mac in a bear hug.

He didn’t question the man, knowing he had to be the husband of the woman he’d freed yesterday. He clapped the man on the back and let him hug his fill.

When he released Mac, he stepped back and picked up the little girl again. “I’m Dennis King. You saved my wife.”

Mac gave him a compassionate smile. “I’m thankful I could help.”

“I was at work. I was on the phone with Brandi as it hit. I thought I’d lost them both. Never felt so helpless in all my life. When I saw the neighborhood…the house”—the man swallowed heavily—“th-thank you.” He looked as though he might break down any second.

“You’re more than welcome,” Mac said, then gave him a moment to regroup by glancing over at Gayle.

She had stopped sifting and stood watching him. A sad, encouraging smile came to her lips. No matter what, she was always strong for everyone around her. Last night had been an anomaly for her—a moment of weakness he might never see again, because that wasn’t who she was. She was strength and dominance wrapped up in a small package. He’d never be able to forget what she’d shared with him last night, or the connection he’d felt with her on far more than a sexual level. Two people who’d had to learn to move on after losing those closest to them, and in such a similar way. Only someone who had gone through it could understand. It was a rare thing.

“How is your wife?” Mac asked the man when he seemed to have gathered himself.

“She had to have surgery. Her hip was completely crushed. She broke a couple of ribs, too, and sprained her wrist really badly, but her prognosis is good.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Mac said. He smiled down at the little girl, who was carefully studying the bear. “How are you doing?”

She looked up, her face somber. “I miss my momma.”

“I’ll bet she misses you, too, a whole lot. I see you still have your teddy bear.”

She hugged it tight. “We get to sleep in the big bed with Daddy at Nana’s.”

He suspected the little girl would probably have many nights sleeping close to her father. The man knew what he’d come close to losing and would be forever changed because of it.

“So, you’re staying at your nana’s.”

“Nana made me cupcakes for dinner. We took some to Momma.”

The father smiled down at her. “She loved them, didn’t she, pumpkin?”

The girl brightened a little as she nodded.

“What do you think you’ll do now?” Mac asked him, glancing at the empty place where the man’s house once stood.

The guy stared out over the flattened land. “Rebuild. Brandi and I met here, got married, and made a family here. Neither of us can imagine living anywhere else.”

Would Mac have done the same thing if things had ended differently? That hadn’t been his path, though. His path had led him—

Again his eyes found Gayle. She was chatting with the older woman now, who was actually laughing.

He didn’t exactly know what place she was meant to have in his life…or what she should be to him. Maybe nothing more than the person who brought him back to life and helped him move on. But he would always have a connection with her, especially after this experience. And somehow, he didn’t find that connection as frightening as he once did.

“I wish you and your family all the best,” Mac said.

“We wish the same to you.”

“Daddy, look. It’s Gayle.”

“Want to go say hi, sweetie?” The little girl nodded, and the man looked at Mac again, sincerity etched in every cell of his face. It reached deep inside Mac. “Thank you. If there’s ever anything…”

Mac smiled and shook his hand, then the man strode off toward Gayle. She gave him a warm smile that squeezed Mac’s chest. The man lowered his daughter, and Gayle squatted and returned the hug Sophie flung at her, then said something animatedly that banished the somber little face and earned a genuine smile from the girl.

Gayle would make a great mother one day.

But how would she ever be able to juggle family life with her dangerous profession? Though Mac had seen the true benefits of her storm chasing, he was also acutely aware of the risks. Carried the bruises on his back from the hail yesterday as a reminder. If he hadn’t been there, the hail could’ve seriously hurt her or worse. How could she continue putting herself in danger if she got pregnant? Or with a family back home waiting for her?

Why did the very idea twist his stomach?

And which part of it didn’t set well with him? The idea of a family worried sick over her every time she headed out to chase a storm? Or the thought of her family not including
him
…?

Nope. The last thought didn’t set well with him, at all.

However, he was
not
staying in Kansas. And no matter how he may or may not feel about Gayle, he wasn’t prepared to live the life of a chaser’s spouse, or even significant other.

A special friend with benefits? Sure. He was definitely up for that.

But anything more…there was no possible way.