One Summer in Santa Fe (6 page)

Piper turned. “Good. Is Alex okay? He looked like he might have got some scrapes on that last bit.”

Trembling, Taylor looked away from her. “He’s remarkably okay.”

“Uncle T., I’m thirsty.” Alex shook his water bottle. “I’m out.”

“Here, you can have mine till we get back to the car,” Piper said, and gave Alex her water bottle as she watched Taylor walk a few paces away. Crouching beside Alex, she inspected the scrapes on his legs, arms, and face, but he appeared no worse for wear. “You okay?”

“Yeah! I can’t wait to do it again,” Alex said, and guzzled her water.

Piper grinned. Kids were so much more resilient than adults. She pulled a few energy bars from her pack and handed them to Alex. “You’re going to need these, too. I’m going to check on your uncle.”

With caution, she approached Taylor. He stared off into the canyon, his thoughts a mystery, but she could well guess the internal litany of curses he was hurling at himself. “Taylor?” She spoke softly. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he said, his voice flat, and he didn’t look at her.

She watched while he removed his gloves and noticed an abundance of deeper abrasions on his arms and legs. Removing his helmet, he tossed it onto the ground beside him. “You don’t look okay.”

Angry eyes turned on her, and she almost stepped back from the intensity pouring out of him, but he didn’t
scare her. He was hurting and blaming himself for something he wasn’t responsible for. Strong men often hurt the most. Intentionally invading his space, she stepped closer and closer until she almost touched him. The heat, the energy, the power he exuded washed over her like the canyon winds. Everything about him spoke of anger, but she knew beneath that anger was an all-consuming fear he didn’t know how to deal with. Strong men also didn’t know how to deal with fear.

“I’m ready for my hug now,” she said, raised her arms and placed her hands on his shoulders.

“What?” Incredulous, Taylor blinked. She wasn’t serious, was she? A hug? Now?

“At the park the other night you said you’d give me a hug. I’m ready to collect on it now.”

“Piper, now really isn’t the time,” he said, and swore under his breath, looking away from her. He’d nearly killed his nephew and almost maimed her.

“Now is the perfect time,” she replied, her voice husky with emotion. Without his consent, she put her arms around his shoulders and drew him closer to her.

Surprised by her audacity, Taylor’s arms automatically went around her and fit her body against his. The tension that had fired every muscle in his body paused. The feel of Piper against him, the way her lithe body fit against his, and the anxiety of the climb conspired to rob him of his good sense. He should step away from her, and he tried to, but when his hands touched her hips to push her away, something shifted in him, something needy broke free, and he pulled her tightly against him. Burying his face in the side of her neck, he closed his eyes and drew in a ragged breath, savoring the feel and the sweet scent of her. God. She was right. Now was the perfect time.

“I’m sorry, Piper,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.” The women he’d taken climbing in the past had been experienced climbers, and he hadn’t had to worry about them. Today had been a disaster that he never wanted to repeat. Of all the stupid things he’d done in his life, this was one of the worst.

“It’s not your fault. And no one was seriously hurt.”

She squeezed her arms tighter around his shoulders and held him. The feel of her lush breasts against his chest, her hips pressed against him inspired a new kind of tension in him, and he pulled back to look into her lovely face. His gaze dropped to her parted lips and a wild hunger for her raged through him.

Without thinking, he took her mouth with his and poured out all his fear and frustration into the embrace. Desire, hot and urgent, swept through him, matching the ferocity of the canyon winds surrounding them. Her mouth parted beneath his and the sweet thrill of her tongue gliding against his made him hunger for more. In a flash, he knew he wanted to take her home and explore every inch of her. Tunneling his fingers into her hair, he held on to her head and deepened the kiss as a dam of emotions broke free in him.

Piper jumped and pulled back. “Ow,” she said, and raised her hand to her head.

“I’m sorry. I got your bump, didn’t I?” he said, stepping away from her and the intensity of shocking desire that surged between them. A few deep breaths did nothing to calm his heart or the needs raging in him.

“Yes, you did, but it’s okay.” She smiled and touched his arm. “I liked everything else.”

That brought a slight smile to him, and he trailed a knuckle over her cheek. “Me, too. Probably more than I should have.”

“This wasn’t your fault, Taylor. The winds weren’t something you could have planned for.” Her eyes were serious, trying to convince him, but he knew better.

“I brought Alex here. I’m responsible—”

“Stop beating yourself up,” she said, and gave him a quick smack on the arm. “It was an accident and we’re okay.”

“But—”

“Shh. Shh.” Piper hugged him to her, then stepped back. “I suppose we ought to collect Alex and head back.”

For a second longer, Taylor stared at her and absorbed the effect his kiss had had on her. Blue eyes limpid with desire, lips red from his kiss, cheeks filled with color. Desire looked good on her. And it was dangerously compelling. Better to give that a wide berth right now.

“Okay. Let’s go.” He took her hand and turned, but stopped. Alex was gone.

“A
LEX
!”
Taylor cried, and turned to Piper. “Where is he?”

“He was right there by the packs,” she said, and pointed a few feet from them.

“Then where is he? Maybe he was more seriously injured than I thought.” Taylor cupped his hands around his mouth. “Alex! Where are you?”

“Coming! I’m coming.”

Turning, Taylor huffed out a sigh of relief as Alex came running out from behind a clump of cedar trees and straightened his clothing.

“What were you doing?” Taylor asked.

“I had to…you know,” he said, and turned a vibrant shade of red. “I drank a lot of water.”

Relief shot through Taylor, and he placed a hand over his face, wiping away the lingering fear. Suddenly, the day had ceased to be enjoyable. “Why don’t we head home now? I don’t think I’m in the mood for a picnic,” he said. Without another word, he gathered the fallen equipment and began placing it into the packs.

Alex looked at Piper with tears in his eyes that he tried to control. “Am I in trouble?” he whispered.

“No, you’re not.” Piper reached out to hug the boy
against her side. “I think your uncle was just really worried about you.”

“I just had to go to the bathroom,” he said, and wiped his face on his arm and pulled away.

“I know. Sometimes we adults don’t say the right things at the right times.” She patted his shoulder and cast a glance at Taylor, who continued his task. “He’ll be okay. Don’t worry.”

Nodding, Alex kept his gaze downward and pulled away from Piper, apparently not convinced by her words of reassurance.

Taylor picked up the stuffed packs and looked their way. “Ready?”

Without a word, the three returned to the vehicle. The drive back was solemn and tension vibrated in the air. Attempts to draw Taylor into conversation failed, and Piper settled down to watch the scenery.

When they returned to Taylor’s house, Alex climbed out of the vehicle and raced through the garage into the house. As Taylor and Piper entered a bit more slowly, the slam of a bedroom door echoed through the house.

“You really hurt his feelings,” Piper said, and carried the untouched picnic lunch into the kitchen.

“I hurt his feelings? He scared the devil out of me,” Taylor said, and tossed the packs onto the floor.

“And you yelled at him for it. Why don’t you go talk to him?” she said, and picked up the picnic basket and set it on the counter.

Taylor stared at Piper. “What the hell am I supposed to say?”

“‘I’m sorry’ for starters.”

“About what? Being cautious? Being safe? For being scared out of my mind?”

Starting to feel as upset as Alex, Piper frowned at
him. “For being a stubborn, pigheaded uncle who doesn’t know how to say he’s sorry when he was scared and not angry. He thinks you’re mad at him, that he did something wrong.”

Taken aback at that, Taylor looked at Piper. She was completely serious. “When I was his age…” He stopped. When he had been Alex’s age, he’d been hospitalized twice by his father for supposed injuries sustained in falls from rocks.

“What is it?” Piper approached him and placed her arm on his, her anger forgotten and her gentleness moving out to him.

Taylor sat down abruptly on one of the kitchen chairs and shook. She knelt in front of him and placed her hand on his face, raising it until his eyes met hers. “What’s wrong? You can tell me, Taylor.”

“Caroline is going to have to come back. I can’t do this anymore, Piper. I just can’t do it.”

“You have to. Your sister is depending on you, and Alex…needs you. I think more than you know.”

“There’s so much you don’t know about me, about why this was an impossible task to begin with.” Taylor raised his hands to cup her face. “Caroline should never have asked me. Being alone and on my own is the way I live my life. I don’t have it in me to care for a child.”

“You do, Taylor. You just have to dig deep inside yourself to find it. I know what it’s like to have the responsibility of a child thrust on you. But it’s something we do for family, right? Why don’t you go talk to Alex? He’ll understand. You just have to talk to him.”

Looking into her clear blue eyes, Taylor wanted to reach out to her, wanted to erase the events of the day and lose himself in her soft touch, in the honey sweetness of her woman’s body. But that was out of the ques
tion. He wouldn’t use her that way. No matter how upset he was right now, he wouldn’t do it.

Heaving out a long sigh, he nodded. “You’re right. I’ll go talk to him.”

Piper stood, but stiffness was in every movement, and she groaned. “Yikes. Guess I’m going to be hurting tonight.” She placed a hand on her hip.

Concerned, Taylor stood, too. “Your back?”

“Yeah.”

Though she tried to hide the frown of pain, he saw it. “Let me see. You fell flat onto your back, didn’t you?” he said, trying to recall the sequence of events when he had released Alex into Piper’s waiting arms. He clenched his jaw as the memory of the day came back to him. He should have done more to protect both of them. It was his fault that they were both hurting, and he had come away with just a few scratches that would be gone by tomorrow.

“I did. I’m sure it’s nothing that some ibuprofen and a hot shower won’t fix.” She tried to wave away his concern.

“Still, let me see.” Determined to examine her back, he turned her round and eased her shirt up. Clenching his teeth against the anger that wanted to surface again, he turned her into the light and pulled her shirt higher. “Why didn’t you say something sooner?”

“It really didn’t start to hurt in earnest until just a little while ago. What is it?” Twisting, she tried to see her back.

“Abrasions, embedded gravel, and you’re going to have a hell of a bruise on your right flank.” All because of him. And he was going to fix it right now.

“Well, no wonder it hurts.” She gave a quick laugh and patted his hand. “It’s okay. I’ll live.”

He dropped her shirt. “I’m going to have to pick out some of that gravel. Why don’t you take a shower here
to see if that takes care of some of it, then I’ll remove the rest?” Offering her a shower and cleaning up her back was the least he could do.

“Oh, no, Taylor. I’m sure it’s going to be fine.”

He looked down at her, gave her his best unblinking stare that he usually reserved for stubborn patients who didn’t want to listen to him. “That really wasn’t a request.” He took her by the shoulders and walked her to the door to his private bathroom, knowing she didn’t want to trouble him, but he was insistent. He needed to do this to make amends, despite what she had said. “Take a shower. Help yourself to anything in there.”

“Okay, okay. I’m going.” Piper entered the large bathroom and closed the door. She removed her clothing and looked in the mirror at her back. “Ew.” No wonder he was concerned. It was much worse than she had first thought. Tiny grains of dirt peppered the lower half of her back, and she had abrasions on her shoulder blades. Taylor was right, she was going to have a doozy of a bruise. At the time it hadn’t felt like much, but the adrenaline must have been pumping and had masked the pain. She pulled a large fluffy towel out of the linen closet and started the water. As she entered the glass enclosure, she tried not to think of Taylor standing there naked every day.

She really tried, but thoughts of him leaning with one hand against the tile wall as the water sluiced down over his shoulders and back and lower refused to leave her brain. An image of herself stepping into the shower with him flashed into her mind and the fever of desire hit her hard. She’d never considered herself a really passionate person, more content to stay at home on a Saturday night than hook up with nameless men in nameless bars. Around Taylor, the dormant needs of her body seemed to have shed their husks and were blooming to life.

Turning her face into the blast of water, she closed her eyes and tried to think of other things. The scent of his masculine soap filled her senses with thoughts of Taylor that weren’t going away. And, Lord, the man could kiss. Her body tingling from the memory of his mouth on hers, Piper reached up and cooled the water a bit. She was no lover of icy showers, but something had to take her thoughts off Taylor.

The water stung her skin, but she bore the discomfort in order to cleanse out the wounds. A little sting now was better than a raging infection later. After tolerating the water as long as she could, she dried off and put her shorts on. If she put her shirt on, she’d just add dust and dirt to the scrapes she’d just cleaned. Not sure what to do, she wrapped the towel around her torso, trying to keep it from sticking to her back.

Steam billowed out of the bathroom in puffy white clouds when Piper opened the door. She returned to the kitchen and hesitated in the doorway, Taylor stood at the sink, staring out the window. Maybe the smell of soap or something alerted him to her presence, but he turned and stilled. Piper’s mouth went dry as that intense gaze of his rolled over her from her bare feet up over her legs, and lingered the longest on the towel. Then his eyes met hers and there was no doubt that he found the sight of her to his liking. If she were brazen enough, brave enough, bold enough, she’d drop the towel. Unfortunately, she wasn’t that brave or brazen and there was a boy in the house. But if things had been different, brazen would have been her middle name. She tried to swallow down that flutter of anticipation winging its way up from her stomach.

“How was the shower?” Taylor asked, his gaze following her as she entered the kitchen.

“Great.”
Just trying not to imagine you naked in it,
she thought.

“Sit down and straddle the chair while I’ll look at your back.” Taylor flipped a chair around at the table and adjusted one behind it so he could sit while he worked.

With just a nod, she sat as instructed and swallowed. This was going to be harder than she’d thought. No man had seen her naked, or even half-naked, in a very long time and the thought of Taylor’s touch aroused her beyond any memory of past lovers. With a sigh, she tried to control her swirling senses and rested her forehead on the back of the chair.

Seeing her wrapped in his towel almost snapped whatever control Taylor had left today. For her sake, he needed to control himself. Standing in the doorway of the kitchen all damp and fresh from the shower made him forget about not being attracted to her. His body had instantly hardened and tensed, ready for action it hadn’t seen in way too long. If the circumstances had been different, he would have been hard-pressed to stay away from her at that moment. Seduction and innocence wafted off her, and he wanted to take a bite out of the tempting fruit she unknowingly offered. She wasn’t the kind of fruit he normally indulged in, but lately it had soured him. Allowing himself to look her over had probably been a mistake and hadn’t cooled his interest or desire one bit. She adjusted the towel to cover her front, and he parted the ends to reveal her back. The first sight of the long expanse of her curved back and flare of her hips made him want to reach out to stroke the silky skin and cup his hands around those luscious curves she covered so well.

Concentrating on the task at hand, Taylor pulled a surgical kit from his first-aid supplies and picked out the
tiny bits of gravel left behind. Brushing her hair aside, he applied an antibiotic ointment to the abrasions, covered them with light gauze, and added soothing balm to the bruise that had begun to turn ugly. “There.” He’d gotten through that without unleashing the demon of desire struggling to get out of him.

“Thank you.” She looked away for a second, then looked up at him, her eyes filled with hesitation. “I don’t want to put my shirt back on.”

“By all means.” Taylor grinned and the tension between them burst.

“Taylor!” She laughed and colored brightly. “I meant because it’s filthy, not because I’ve turned into an exhibitionist. Could I borrow one of yours until I get home for a clean one?”

“Certainly.” He returned shortly with a clean T-shirt and handed it to her. “In case you change your mind, the other option is open anytime. Just watch it around Alex, though, he’s very impressionable.”

She gave him a drab smile. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

As Piper closed the bathroom door behind her, Alex opened his bedroom door and entered the kitchen. Eyes red and puffy, he approached Taylor. “I’m sorry, Uncle Taylor.”

“I’m sorry, too,” he said, and reached out to fold his nephew into a hug. “I didn’t mean to be upset, and you didn’t do anything wrong. It was all my fault. I over-reacted when things got tense, and I didn’t make them any better.” The boy’s arms closed around Taylor’s neck and his thin body shook. Taylor squeezed him tight and thought that Piper might be right after all. Hugs were good for a body. Especially those that came from a child.

Piper didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but she heard part of the conversation when she left the bathroom. Clearing
her throat, she entered the kitchen with a bright smile. “Hi, guys.”

“Hey, Piper.” Alex pulled away from Taylor. “Wanna see the new video game that Uncle T. got me? It’s really cool.”

She laughed at his abrupt change in disposition. Evidently, the talk with Taylor had been a good one. “Sure.”

Alex shot out of the room. “I’ll set it up.”

“Everything okay?” she asked. “I know it’s none of my business, but he looks a lot better.”

“It’s okay. He does look a lot better and, frankly, I feel better, too.” He raked a hand through his hair, not ashamed to admit that to her. Though they hadn’t known each other very long, he had shared more with her than he had with just about anyone else in his life. At least, for a long time. And it felt good, it felt right. Like the way things were supposed to be. But for her sake, he knew he needed to not depend on her so much. Giving her the wrong impression was a bad idea. “It’s been an odd day, hasn’t it?”

“It has.”

“Piper, I’m ready,” Alex called from the living room.

“I’ll go see the game for a few minutes and then head home myself.”

Taylor only nodded and watched her walk away, wondering why he’d become so enamored with Piper so quickly and how he was going to get through the next five weeks without depending on her so much.