Unbridled (Unlikely Lovers) (18 page)

How
weird… 

* * * *

The brownies were already cooling on a rack when Miranda returned to the kitchen wearing a clean gown and a robe, looking calm and refreshed.

Travis, on the other hand, was as hot and bothered as ever.
The vision of her wet, naked body had made his dick so hard he was surprised it hadn’t exploded. Nevertheless, he somehow managed to control his lust, simply smiling at her as he poured her a glass of milk. “Feel better now?”

She
nodded. “Much.”

“
Glad to hear it.” She certainly looked better. Her hair was soft and shining, rather than caked with blood, although she still moved stiffly as she took a seat at the table. “I didn’t get any frosting for the brownies, but there’s ice cream left from last night. I figured we could put that and some chocolate syrup on top.”

“Chocolate syrup?”
she echoed. “I don’t have any—along with several other things I’ve learned not to keep in the house. I only had pie and ice cream last night because Levi was supposed to come home for the weekend and I thought you might stay to dinner.”

“Oh, come on,” he argued.
“Everybody has chocolate syrup.”

“
Not me, I don’t—” Her expression suddenly went blank as she stared off into space, tracing her bottom lip with the tip of her tongue. Several moments passed before she tossed him an apologetic glance and a sheepish smile. “Sorry. I thought I remembered something.”

He blew out a breath.
“I sure will be glad when you’re over that concussion. It freaks me out when you do that.”

“
Me, too.” She shuddered, drawing her robe more tightly around her neck. “Imagine what it’s like from my side—tiny bits of memories keep flitting through my head. It’s like trying to remember a dream. The harder I try, the more it eludes me.”

“
Spooky,” he agreed. “You don’t remember falling, do you?”

She shook her head. “
I don’t even remember leaving the house.”

“Weird.”
Cutting the brownies into bars, he put two of them on plates and then topped them with a scoop of the ice cream. “No chocolate syrup, huh? I suppose whipped cream is out of the question.”

“
Oh, no. That sort of thing is
way
too hard to resist. Just knowing it’s sitting there in the fridge is enough to trigger a binge.”

He arched a brow.
“Really? You’re prone to binges? I’d never have guessed that from the way you look.”

“You
’d be surprised. I can resist apple pie—up to a point—but chocolate is my downfall. I’ll probably have all of those brownies eaten before morning.”

“
Sorry, I just wanted to do something special for you—something you might like.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t
like
it—and it’s not a problem as long as I keep that stuff out of the house. Once in a while is fine.”

I’ve
really blown it now…
“Well…if that’s the case, you’d better not look in the refrigerator.”

“Why not?
” Casting him a worried glance, she began chewing her fingernail. “What else did you bring?”

“Cookie dough.”

She whimpered as though tears would soon follow.
“Chocolate chip?”

He nodded.
“’Fraid so.” 

“
Please tell me you didn’t get peanut butter.” Evidently, this was even more of a temptation than cookie dough.

I am in deep d
oo-doo now…

“
Sorry,” he said with a grimace. “Peanut butter is a staple at our house. Not sure I can live without it.”

She snorted a laugh.
“I hope you can live with a woman who’s as
big
as a house. When it comes to peanut butter, I have no resistance whatsoever.”

“
Don’t worry. I’ll help you work it off. I can think of a couple of ways for you to get more exercise right off the top of my head.”
Like fucking me senseless.
Or perhaps he could ration the peanut butter—and the chocolate syrup. Smeared on his dick, a little would go a long way. He almost came in his jeans at the thought of her licking him clean.

“I work out several times a week,”
she said. “But that’s probably not what you meant.”

“Not exactly. Look, don’t worry about gaining weight for now.” He
gave her a plate along with a cheeky grin. “Once you’re all healed up, I plan to give you a run for your money—and I promise you’ll like it even better than chocolate.”

Chapter 18

Snuggling up with Travis while they watched TV later that evening would’ve been wonderful, but since sitting bolt upright was her only comfortable position, “snuggling” was impossible. Eventually he wound up stretching out on the couch with his head in her lap, which was very nice, although it did make her wish his hair was long enough for her to play with. His short, sandy spikes suited him, however, and as long as they came with the rest of him, she really couldn’t complain.

She
sat there alternately dozing and eating the brownies he fed to her until her yawns became almost continuous.

“T
hink maybe it’s time for bed?”

She
nodded, yawning again. “Good idea.”

Travis stood
up and held out a hand. “I’ll put some more wood on the fire and then take a shower.”

Smiling up at him, she placed
her hand in his. Even with his assistance, she was only able to get to her feet very slowly. “Thanks. This damned knee is still pretty stiff.”

He threaded his fingers through her hair and bent to give her a quick kiss. “That’s wh
y I’m here...among other things.”

Patting his cheek,
she caught a glimpse of the cat just as she looked up from her perch on the back of the couch. Blinking with apparent approval, Jade let out a loud purr before curling up and going back to sleep.

While Travis built up the fire, Miranda made her way to the bedroom, wondering if perhaps sleeping on the couch might have been a better choice. By the time she’d crawled into bed and tried a dozen different positions, each one more uncomfortable than the last, she was sure of it.
In desperation, she turned onto the side with the broken ribs, which felt better, although she was at a loss to explain why.

She
was about to drift off when she felt a dip in the mattress and caught a whiff of a very sexy, masculine scent. Travis must have brought his own soap from home along with the extra clothing. Even so, his choice of soap wasn’t the issue. What mattered was that he was obviously intending to sleep with her. “What are you doing?”

He cleared his throat
. “Just following orders. That doctor told me to keep an eye on you, remember? Besides, you might need something during the night.”

Which meant he’d probably wake her up every two hours.
Great. Just when I finally get comfortable…
Miranda fully intended to exact her revenge against Dr. Schwartz at her earliest opportunity. Stealing his moccasins seemed like the best plan. The ER nurses all hated those scruffy old shoes and would probably thank her. “Hey, how are you going to keep an eye on me while you’re working tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow?”
He paused for a moment, chuckling a bit before replying. “I’ll call you every two hours to make sure you aren’t hallucinating.”

“
What if the horses start talking to me while you’re gone?”

He snorted a laugh.
“Not gonna happen. You won’t be anywhere near the barn because I’ll feed them in the morning and again in the afternoon. Don’t even
think
about doing it yourself.”

“
Hmm...Are you really planning to do neuro checks on me through the night?”

“
Absolutely. I have my list of instructions, remember?”

“Yes, but you haven’t done them all day. You should’ve been
checking my pupils and hand grasps and orientation and all that.”

“Well, except for checking your pupils, I
believe I did.”

“Oh yeah?
What about the hand grasp thing?”

He burst out laughing.
“You’re forgetting something, aren’t you?”

“What?”

“You had a pretty good grip on me in the kitchen earlier—strong enough to get white stains on your nightgown.”

She
punched him in the ribs. “Oh, shut up.”

“Nothing wrong with your left hook,” he
said, clearly unperturbed. “Let’s check your right hand.”

Taking her hand, he
guided it down to his groin. “Let’s see how hard you can squeeze now.”

H
is cock was like a steel rod. Hercules couldn’t have put a dent in it. “Geez, Travis, how many times a day can you
do
that?”

“Oh, I don
’t know,” he mused, “six or seven?”

“You
’re kidding me, right?”

“Du
nno. I’ve never kept count.” His voice deepened, taking on a sexy, drawling note. “Sounds like an interesting research project, though.”

There were
worse ways to spend a rainy weekend, and God knew there’d been plenty of them that winter. If only she’d screamed
I’m single!
at him months ago. No, he’d have never dug that ditch if she had because with him around, she probably wouldn’t have noticed the floods
or
the mud. “I’ll have to get back to you on that one. Right now, all I want to do is sleep, and you have to work tomorrow.”

“
It’s not my fault you aren’t asleep. I wasn’t going to even wake you up, but you just had to fuss at me, didn’t you?”

“
If you were only going to sleep, then why are you naked?”

He laughed.
“Noticed that, did you?”

“The way you checked my hand grasp
made it fairly obvious. Do you always sleep in the nude?”

“No,
I just wanted you to have something to do if you woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep.”

“
A toy to play with, you mean?”

H
is chuckle was soft, seductive. “Something like that.”

“I
’ll keep that in mind. Good night, Travis.”

“Good night, Miranda.
Sleep well. I hope you’ll feel better tomorrow—
and
be better oriented. I’ll be here all day to remind you that tomorrow is Sunday, not Monday.”

She
punched him again.

* * * *

Travis had rolled over for the tenth time in as many minutes when Miranda finally spoke up. “If you’re
that
uncomfortable, why don’t you sleep in the other room? I shouldn’t need anything during the night—except sleep, and I’m not getting much of that.”

“Sorry
,” he said with a sigh. “I really thought I could do it, but I guess I can’t.”

“Do what?”

He blew out a pent-up breath. “Sleep in the same bed and not touch you.”

“
Hmm…let’s see now…since we got home from the hospital, you’ve kissed me, seen me naked in the shower, I’ve sucked your dick, and then there was your peculiar method for assessing grip strength. What makes you think you can’t touch me?”

“
Because one touch wouldn’t be enough—not even
close
to being enough.”

“I ne
ver knew I had such a profound effect on you.”

“
Well, you do. Otherwise I’d have been asleep by now—part of me is sleepy, but another part is wide awake.”

“Which part is that?”

“If you can’t guess, we definitely have a problem. Let’s just say you’re making me drool, but my mouth is dry.”

“
Very clever.”

“
It’s true.” he insisted. “See for yourself if you don’t believe me.”

“I never said I didn
’t believe you.”

“Check it out, anyway.
” That squeeze she’d given him earlier had been a mistake—setting him off to the point that his little head would
not
leave him alone. “It’s bound to have been at least two hours since the last check. I need to make sure your hand grasps are equal.”

“
They never are. My right hand is a lot stronger than my left.” Nevertheless, she reached down and wrapped her fingers around his cock.

His breath went out with a hiss.

“Holy shit! No wonder you can’t sleep. It’s a miracle you haven’t passed out. Is there any blood going to your brain at all?”

“Probably not,” he admitted. “I feel
light-headed even lying down.”

“Poor baby
,” she soothed. “But it’s your own damn fault for coming in here in the first place.”

He shook his head. “
Trust me, it was like that all evening. Every time I looked at you or thought about you or thought about thinking about you or looking at you or—”

She cut him off with a dry chuckle.
“I get the idea. You should have done something about it while you were in the shower.”

He hated to admit it, but he had.
The memory of her wet, naked body had him splattering cum all over the wall in record time. Unfortunately, the mere thought of climbing into bed with her sent blood rushing back to his groin, creating an erection even stronger than before. “It didn’t do any good.”

“Travis, I
’d like to help, but I can’t lie on my back. I hurt in practically every position, and when I move—”

“I
’ve been thinking about that,” he said. “You said that sitting straight up was the only comfortable position, right?”

“Well, yes
.”

“Good.
This’ll work, then. Trust me.” He moved up closer and kissed her. “You just relax and let me do all the work.”

“Pushy, insistent fellow, aren
’t you? Always wanting to do more work for me. Too bad I had to break a rib and get conked on the head to get so much attention.”

“Oh, I wouldn
’t say that,” he murmured. “I’m trying to make up for lost time.”

“
Time? I still feel like I’ve lost some of that.”

Her
kisses were soft, wet, and intoxicating. Travis would’ve liked to forget everything else, but he had a job to do. “Speaking of time, let’s see what you remember, starting with your name.”

Her breath was warm against his lips.
“Um…Miranda. Miranda Jackson.”

“
Very good. Now, tell me the day of the week.”

“
Sunday—I think. It’s past midnight, isn’t it?”

Having glanced at his watch every half hour since he’d gone to bed,
Travis could easily confirm that. “Right again. Let’s see how well you can think while being distracted.” Trailing kisses across her cheek and down her neck, he paused at the neckline of her gown. “Tell me the date.”

“February 30
th, 1491.”

Oh, yeah…v
ery distracted.
“Close. Who’s the President of the United States?”

“There
is
no United States,” she murmured. “Columbus hasn’t even discovered America yet.”

“
There’s no such thing as February 30th, either.” He drew in a deep breath, filling his head with her sweet, lemony scent. “And you have no business wearing a nightgown at a time like this.”

“A time like what?
I’m
so
confused....”

Pulling up her gown, he
buried his face between her luscious breasts. “A time when I get to do things I’ve only dreamed about.”

“Like what?”

“Like
this
.”

Opening wide, h
e sucked as much of her left breast into his mouth as he could, which, considering her response, was probably a mistake.

“Ouch
!” She caught him by the shoulder as he started to back off. “My fault, not yours…took too deep a breath… Oh, my God, that feels good.”

Softening his tongue, he caressed her nipple, his cock pulsing with
each sigh of pleasure that escaped her.

“
You’re going to have to get up early to feed the horses. Don’t you think you should try to sleep?”

“
Later,” he murmured. “Right now, I’m too busy checking out your brain, making sure everything works. I can always come back to bed after I feed the critters. Don’t worry about it.”

“I
’m not worried—well, maybe I am. This is all so sudden...”

He raised his head. Silhouetted against the glow of the clock on the table behind her, s
he was barely visible. “Don’t you like it?”

“Well, yes I do, but—”

“No buts.” He combed his fingertips through her hair. “Now, let’s see how well you follow commands. Kiss me.”

Miranda did her best to follow that command, kissing him the way she’d always longed to kiss him—a deep, sensuous kiss with all the passion she could pack into it. Her hand explored every curve and contour of his body—the hard muscles in his arms and shoulders, the smooth skin on his back, and the hollow dip along his flank. Each place she touched was warm, sexy, and utterly delightful.