Falling Fast, Contemporary Romance (Last Frontier Lodge Novels Book 4) (10 page)

They lay like that for several moments, their breath the only sound in the quiet room. The sound of the snowstorm outside gradually filtered into her awareness. Cam slowly lifted his head. His eyes met hers, and the moment was so intimate, it almost hurt. She didn’t know what she’d expected, but it wasn’t this deep connection. She managed to keep breathing when he dipped his head and brought his lips to hers. The kiss was brief, but she felt it through her entire body. He slowly pulled away and untangled himself. He stood and walked toward the bathroom. She couldn’t help but admire his body. In the candlelit room, his skin gleamed. Every inch of him was sculpted muscle, a pure specimen of athlete. When he returned from the bathroom, he’d disposed of his condom. He paused by the couch.

“Since we already decided it was silly for me to try to drive, where are we sleeping?” he asked, his voice husky.

She leaned up on her elbows and glanced around the room. The woodstove would keep the whole house from freezing, but anywhere outside of the living room would be chilled. “One section of this couch folds out. We should just sleep down here. It won’t be horrible upstairs in my bedroom, but it won’t be too cozy either.”

“Sounds good to me.”

It occurred to her that perhaps she should feel self-conscious standing up completely bare in front of him, but she wasn’t. She stood and gathered her clothes, while he did the same. The mundane moment sent her heart in a slow flip. In the heat of the moment, she could forget to think about what was happening. Right now, the intimacy between them felt quite real…and terrifying. She took a breath and swatted the thoughts away. Thinking was most definitely
not
helpful right now. She looked over at him when she was about to get dressed. “I’m going to run upstairs and get something more comfortable. I can probably find some clothes for you.”

His eyes widened.

“Oh, it’s nothing weird. I used to help coach the local community baseball team and have boxes of men’s and women’s t-shirts and sweatpants in all sizes.”

At his chuckle, she scurried up the stairs to her bedroom. After she grabbed a soft cotton shirt and leggings for herself, she rummaged through the closet and found the box of men’s stuff for him. Rather than trying to find something for him, she carted it downstairs with George hopping down the stairs behind her. Cam quickly dug through and found a pair of gray sweatpants and matching t-shirt with the DC Batters logo.

“DC Batters?” he asked.

“Diamond Creek Batters. We were the local champs for two seasons. Don’t make fun,” she said with a grin.

A while later, they’d tugged out the fold out portion of the couch and curled up on it with George. Cam had played a few more hands of cards with her, and she’d suspiciously wondered if he was letting her win, but she didn’t really care. As she drifted off to sleep, all she knew was his arm resting on her waist and his thumb tracing lazy circles over her belly. She was warm and more relaxed than she’d been in years. His hand gradually stilled and his breathing became even.

Chapter 9

When Cam woke with Ginger’s warm body curled against his, he rolled his head to the side to look out the windows. The sun was shining brightly, glittering on the surface of Kachemak Bay. Ginger’s house was situated on a bluff above the bay, so her view of the ocean and mountains across was much closer than what he saw from the lodge. The storm had passed and left close to three feet of snow behind. Sometime during the night, the power had come back on. Ginger rolled over and pushed herself up on an elbow. One look at her tousled hair, sleepy blue eyes, and the lush curve of her breasts as the sheet slipped down and his body was instantly on notice. Just when he was contemplating if he’d completely lost his mind, her phone rang. She rolled over and wrapped one of the blankets around her as she shuffled over to the kitchen. Seconds later, she squealed.

“Marley’s on the way to the hospital! She’s having her baby!”

The next little while flew by with Ginger frantically showering and getting dressed. Gage called Cam to report the same news. While Ginger was getting ready to leave, Cam headed out to clear the snow off of his truck. He planned to drop her off at the hospital and then stop by the post office to replace the battery in her car. A quick call to Don, and Don agreed to follow him over to the hospital to drop off Ginger’s car later. While he was brushing snow off his truck, Ginger’s neighbor swung through her driveway with the plow.

Ginger came flying out the door, a red scarf whipping over her shoulder in the lingering wind from the storm. She skidded to his side, her eyes bright blue in the sun. “I have to go. Do you mind feeding George before you go? I just remembered I forgot to do that.”

Cam stood there, still trying to wrap his brain around the fact he’d had the best sex of his life last night with the woman standing in front of him. He had no idea what to do with this unexpected development. Meanwhile, a part of him was relieved Ginger had to race off because it bought him some respite from the confusion tumbling around in his brain. He forced himself to pay attention. “I think you forgot you don’t have your car. How about you take my truck? I’ll feed George and have Don come by and pick me up.”

Her hand flew to her mouth. “I can’t believe I forgot! You sure you don’t mind?”

“Not at all. Go be with Marley. I’ll take care of George and have your car dropped off later. What do I feed him?”

“His veggies are in the fridge. I keep his pellets in the pantry in a bin on the floor. Just fill the two small bowls in the bin and leave them out. His water bowl is on the floor in the kitchen.” She paused and glanced around. Before he realized what was happening, she flung her arms around him. “Thank you for taking care of everything!”

His arms came around her reflexively. When he looked into her face, her smile was wide and her eyes glittering. Once again, his brain appeared to have turned off because without a single thought, he leaned forward and kissed her. For a brief kiss, it was so hot, it nearly singed him. Her lips were plump and soft under his, warm against the contrast of the icy air around them. She exclaimed into his mouth and next thing he knew, his tongue was tangling with hers. By the time he managed to pull back, lust was humming through him. He forced himself to remember she was on the way to be with her best friend who was having a baby. He eased his hold and she slipped down to the ground, her boots crunching on the snow.

She reached for the door handle and looked to him. “Are you going to the hospital?”

He shook his head. “Nope. Gage already asked me to be on duty on the slopes. I’ll run inside to feed George and wait for Don to come pick me up.”

She nodded quickly and climbed into his truck. With a wave, she backed up and drove away. He returned inside to feed George. George was expectantly waiting in the kitchen. He bounded to Cam’s side and followed him into the pantry, while Cam followed Ginger’s instructions to feed him.

A while later, Cam tugged his ski gear on and walked out onto the back deck at the lodge. Don had picked him up at Ginger’s house, and they’d quickly gone to the post office to replace her battery and drop her car off at the hospital. He’d helped himself to the breakfast buffet and was ready for several hours of checking on skiers who needed assistance and essentially cruising around. With the lodge completely booked, everything carried on there. Don had headed to the top of the slopes to clear snow around the lift landings.

Cam grabbed his skis and hopped on the lift once he was ready. When he arrived at the main landing, an area where four different slopes could be accessed, he found Don hard at work clearing the snow around the small warming hut. Cam skied to Don’s side.

“Need some help?”

Don glanced up, his weathered face crinkling with his smile. “You know, I’d like to say no, but I’m slower than I used to be. If you don’t mind helping for a few minutes, we can have this cleared pretty quick.”

“No problem.” Cam loosened his bindings and stepped out of his skis. He snagged the extra shovel hanging high on the side of the small cabin and immediately got to work shoveling. In short order, the cabin was cleared, so skiers could access it if needed. Don stepped inside and checked the propane heater and returned to Cam’s side where he was adjusting the bindings on his skis.

“That was a big help. You headed to do your rounds?” Don asked.

“Yup. I’ll loop through every slope. I’ve got my radio, so if you see anything, holler at me.”

Don chuckled. “You got it. Any word on Marley?”

Cam shook his head. “I got the call she was in labor and they were headed to the hospital, but that’s the last I heard.”

Don nodded slowly. “Could be a while before we hear anything.” At that, he stepped to the snowmobile he used for travel on the mountain. “I’ll see you later,” he said with a wave.

The snowmobile roared when Don started it. Cam watched Don zip away, the sound of the snowmobile’s engine slowly fading. He took a gulp of cold air and glanced around. Today was sheer heaven for a skier. The storm last night had left behind a dense base of fluffy snow. For backcountry skiing, it was like skiing on a cloud. For downhill skiing, this kind of snow afforded cushioned landings. Since they hadn’t yet finished the backcountry trails and Gage wasn’t here for back up, Cam would have to pass on the temptation to take off for hours through the trails. He pushed off on his skis and headed through the trees to reach the more advanced downhill slopes.

As the day passed, it was fairly uneventful. Two teen boys overestimated their skiing prowess and tumbled together down one of the advanced slopes. Being teen boys, they insisted they were unharmed, but they respected Cam’s insistence they wait for Don to ride up and bring them down on the snowmobile. He was relieved they’d managed to escape injury and wasn’t about to let them try to ski the rest of the slope. Aside from that, he skied his way through the day, his eyes watchful on the other skiers.

He was coming to learn time did ease the loss of Eric. For so many months in Utah after the accident, Cam tried to ski and couldn’t keep Eric out of his mind. He’d worried he’d never be able to enjoy skiing as much as he once had. It was that which prodded him to look for jobs elsewhere. Last Frontier Lodge was proving to offer what he needed—a chance to stay busy and focused with work, lots of time to ski, and a setting where Eric had never been, so Cam wasn’t constantly bombarded with memories of Eric. He hadn’t thought much of it when they’d been growing up together, but sharing so much of his life with Eric made it hard to escape the memories. He still struggled with guilt. Yet, he found it had been over a week since he last recalled replaying the accident in his mind.

Today, he found himself thinking mostly of Ginger. Last night was just…well, it was out of this world, and he was half out of his mind because of it. He hadn’t even noticed a woman in over a year. Eric died and his world went into a skid. He thought he was managing to piece things back together, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to consider a relationship. The attraction between them burned so hot and fast, he couldn’t ignore it, but he had no idea what Ginger was looking for. He mentally shook himself. It didn’t help to get worked up over this. Maybe the heat between them would start to cool.

***

Ginger wound her scarf around her neck and walked through the automated door at the hospital. The cold slammed into her, and she paused in front of the building. She breathed in the icy air scented with snow and spruce. Marley and little Holly were sound asleep in the hospital room with Gage nodding off in the chair by the windows when Ginger left. Marley had asked her months ago to be with her for the delivery. Aside from Gage and Ginger, only Marley’s parents, Holly and Stan, had been at the hospital. Marley’s younger sister, Lacey, was out in the wilderness of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge running a guided trip for a group. Trips like that were planned as far as a year in advance, and Lacey had been unable to find someone to take her place once Marley became pregnant. Ginger marveled that she’d been here most of the day. It felt as if almost no time had passed.

Her heart squeezed in her chest when she recalled the look on Marley’s face when the nurse put Holly in her arms. She took another bracing breath of air and looked out over the view. The hospital was situated almost in the center of town on a small rise, which afforded a view of downtown Diamond Creek and Kachemak Bay. The bay glimmered under the colors of the setting sun. The sun was slipping behind the mountains on the far shore of the bay, leaving streaks of pink and lavender in its wake.

It felt like forever ago when she’d said goodbye to Cam this morning. Last night felt like a mirage—out of place, out of time. Simply thinking of him sent her pulse up a notch. She flushed with heat inside when she recalled the feel of him surging inside of her. When she’d woken beside him this morning and his amber eyes landed on her, she’d instantly wanted him again. If her phone hadn’t rang when it did, she likely would have tackled him.

She started walking slowly across the parking lot and considered whether to call Cam. The wish to see him made her feel restless and vulnerable, so she tried to swat the feelings away. Her mind was having none of it. She hadn’t been thinking much last night because Cam seemed to have this unique ability to turn her brain off. All she’d known was she couldn’t turn away from the flames of desire flickering between them. She had no idea what to do with what was happening inside of her—her longing for Cam was a combustible mix of chemistry and emotion. It scared the hell out of her because nothing she’d experienced before compared, and she’d still been too vulnerable.

The snow crunched under her boots as she walked to her car. She suddenly realized if her car was here, that meant Cam had replaced her battery and brought her car over to the hospital. He’d parked it exactly where she’d parked his truck this morning. Her heart gave another kick. On top of everything, he happened to be kind and helpful, which made it that much harder to dismiss him. She climbed in her car and started it. She called Cam to thank him, experiencing a twinge of disappointment when all she got was his voice mail. She quickly thanked him for taking care of her car. Even though a suddenly loud voice inside of her really, really wanted to invite him over again, she forced herself to ignore that voice. She was too betwixt and between. Last night had blown the doors guarding her heart wide open. Without even trying, Cam had made her forget all of her promises to herself that had seemed so deceptively easy to keep for the last two years. The desire pounding between them made her forget everything. All she’d wanted was to be as close as physically possible to him. To make matters worse, he had to go and be downright amazing in bed. Before her marriage to Tony, she hadn’t had a ton of experience. She’d dated here and there in high school and college, but sex had been pretty ho-hum. With Tony, it had been more of the same.