Stranded
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Jennifer D. Bokal
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17,0K
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21
Chapter 1
The scent of salsa, fried corn chips and cinnamon hung in the air. Eva Tamke wiped her mouth with a paper napkin and set it onto the empty plate. Warmth crept up her chest and settled onto her cheeks. The heat had nothing to do with the spicy food she’d eaten or the margarita she’d finished an hour earlier.
It was all because of the man who sat across the table.
Brett Wilson was a medevac pilot at San Antonio Medical Center—the same place she worked as an ER nurse. The medical center was so large that she’d never met him before tonight.
After months of being matched only with creeps on dating apps, Eva was beyond dubious when a mutual friend from work promised that Brett was perfect. But he was. Heck, they even shared a history of serving in the armed forces. He’d been full-time army, flying Black Hawks, and had served overseas more than once. She’d been in the Air Force Reserve, using the GI Bill to pay for college.
Thank goodness she’d worn her favorite dress—a coral sundress with spaghetti straps and tight bodice that fell to her knees. The color matched her lipstick perfectly and brought out the caramel highlights in her brown hair. Truly, in this dress, she felt confident. Even beautiful.
And for the first time in what seemed like forever, she wanted to be attractive for a man—this man. Brett was tall, over six feet if she had to guess. He had broad shoulders, blond hair, blue eyes and a square jaw. His jeans hugged his rear and the cuff of his blue T-shirt accentuated the muscles in his biceps.
“So, what do you think?” he asked, pointing to her plate. “Was I right? Or was I right? That was the best burrito in all of San Antonio.”
“It was good,” she said, being honest. The chicken had been fresh and tender. The cheese was mellow. The beans had a spicy kick. “Then again, you only have food from an army base for comparison,” she said, bringing up the old joke that army fare was horrible, while the air force fed their people well. In all honesty, she didn’t know if the joke was true or not. She’d never eaten at an army facility. They’d talked about their military service, swapping stories, and he’d felt like someone she’d known for years. Comfortable. Familiar. And excitingly brand-new at the same time. “There’s a Tex-Mex restaurant near my apartment. The food there is excellent, too.”
“Excellent is nice,” he said, smiling. In the dark restaurant, his teeth were brilliantly white. “But this was perfection.”
“Perfection is pretty hard to come by.” With Brett, she liked being flirty and charming. She flipped her hair over her shoulder.
Brett reached across the table and traced the back of her hand. An electric current danced along her skin. “Trust me.” Again, he gave her that smile. Her cheeks warmed even more. “I know perfection when I see it.”
She let him slip his fingertips between her own. Her pulse spiked. For a moment, she almost forgot about the call she’d gotten earlier in the day.
Her sister. Katya told her that their grandmother had fallen. Baba was taken to the hospital near Eva’s childhood hometown of Encantador, Texas. Thankfully, Baba had only sprained her ankle. But the doctor had been clear: their grandmother could no longer live alone.
It brought up an interesting predicament. Katya shared a three-bedroom house with her husband and three kids. The home, though filled with love, was already too crowded to add an elderly lady who needed care.
Eva lived in San Antonio and worked full-time.
Their father and his new wife had moved to California almost two decades earlier.
Aside from the three of them, there was no other family.
Her grandmother had always resisted moving into an assisted living community. Eva had to do something...
Her mind drifted back to the restaurant. Nearby, a server placed an upside-down chair on a table. Another server pushed a broom across the floor.
She inclined her head toward the workers. “Looks like they want us to get out of here.”
She could easily spend another hour here, talking, sharing, getting to know him. They’d covered all the first-date topics—basics about their families and where they were from, favorite foods and movies. They had a lot in common. They’d both even served in the military years before. Between their easy back-and-forth and her attraction to him, she’d managed not to let her sister’s call trouble her during the date.
“I guess so.” Still holding her hand, Brett rose from the table. She stood as well. “I’ll walk you to your car.”
He led her through the empty restaurant and pushed the door open. It didn’t matter that the sun had set hours earlier, it was still hot outside. Sweat collected at the nape of her neck and pooled at the small of her back.
“Where’s your car?” he asked.
The restaurant sat in the middle of a shopping plaza adjacent to a sprawling neighborhood. At this time of night, the parking lot was all but empty. Her car, a dark blue sedan, was two rows back, bathed in the glow of a tall lamppost.
“It’s over there,” she said.
“I’ll walk with you.”
With her hand in his, they crossed the parking lot. Using a fob to start the engine, she unlocked the doors. The date, it seemed, was over. But she really didn’t want the night to end.
“So,” Brett said, stepping toward her.
“So,” she echoed, closing the distance between them.
Brett leaned toward her, touching his lips to hers. A spark ran through her body, and despite the heat, she wanted him closer. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she ran her fingers over the nape of his neck and pulled him close.
He gave a low growl. She felt the sound in her middle. It traveled to her toes and left her knees weak. Sighing, she stepped back. “Thanks for taking me out. It’s been a long time since I’ve had this much fun on a date.”
“It doesn’t have to end,” said Brett. “We can go to my house for a drink.” He pointed to the neighborhood next to the shopping center. “I live over there.”
“I really shouldn’t have any more alcohol. The margarita’s out of my system, but...”
“Coffee, then,” he said, before adding, “I even have decaf if you prefer. So it won’t keep you up all might.”
It was too hot for coffee. But she didn’t care. Brett was more than handsome and funny. Talking to him was like getting together with an old friend, rather than meeting someone new. Then again, she didn’t usually go home with men on the first date. At thirty-six years of age, she’d gained some wisdom. She knew that one-night stands were just that—a distraction for one night.
With Brett, she saw the potential for more.
But her life wasn’t so simple. Her grandmother’s accident had made things complicated, and she had some tough choices to make.
Brett’s lips were oh, so kissable. His arms were strong, and his legs were long. Just standing next to him left her toes tingling. Maybe what she needed was a distraction for one night. And she found herself saying, “A decaf coffee would be nice.” She scanned the parking lot. “Where’s your car?”
“I walked,” he said. “My house is less than five minutes from here.”
“Well, then.” She opened the driver door. “Get in. I’ll give you a ride.”
Even with the engine running the past few minutes, the air conditioner had done little to cool off the car’s interior. As she settled into the driver seat, she dropped the car’s fob into a cup holder. While fastening her seat belt, she tried not to look at Brett. She tried not to think about what was going to happen next. Because, honestly, she wanted more from him than just a cup of coffee.
After a six-month-long romantic drought, it was no wonder that she was going home with the handsome pilot. But it was more than that. It seemed like her world had actually spun off its axis.
Her grandmother was her emotional support. After her mother left, it was Baba who put the little family back together. When her father remarried and moved to California while she was in college, she kept going back to Baba’s house for holidays and breaks. The fact that her grandmother was now the one in need of care left her facing an uncomfortable truth. Nothing in life was certain beyond change.
Maybe that was why she wanted to go home with Brett. She was tired of playing by the rules and ready to really live—even if it was just for the night.
With an exhale, she put the gearshift into Drive and eased forward out of the space. “Which way?” she asked.
He pointed to a stop sign. “Go out of the parking lot over there.”
Within minutes, she was parking her car next to the curb in front of a small house with a manicured lawn.
“Welcome to Casa de Brett,” he said.
Pushing a button on her dashboard, she turned off the ignition. “You have a nice place,” she said. “I’ve been in an apartment since moving to San Antonio—and that was almost eight years ago now. I’m never sure how I feel about home ownership.”
“I bought this place three years ago, and I’ll be honest, you’re right to feel both.” He paused. “Do you still want to come in?”
Without the engine running, the air-conditioning had turned off. The car’s interior started to get warm. Sweat dampened her skin until her dress clung to her back. If she wanted to leave, now was the time. Lifting the fob from the cup holder, she slipped it inside the crossbody bag draped across her chest. “I don’t work until noon, so I don’t have to get up early.”
After all, she could leave anytime she wanted. She’d agreed to a cup of coffee and nothing more. Yet, the kiss had awakened something deep inside of Eva—something that had been asleep for far too long—and reminded her that she was a woman with needs.
He slipped from the passenger seat and closed the door. Waiting at the curb, he lingered as she came to stand next to him. Reaching for her hand, he led her up the sidewalk.
Somehow, a swarm of butterflies had been let loose inside her, their wings beating against her belly. She hadn’t felt this much nervous excitement in years, and the sensation left her giddy.
At the door, he entered a code into an electronic keypad. The latch unlocked with a click. He pushed the door open, and several interior lights began to glow.
Brett kicked off his shoes next to a mat. Eva did the same. The tile floor was cool under the soles of her feet. The air-conditioning had been set to polar, and the sweat dried, leaving gooseflesh on her arms. The front door opened to a living room, and a coffee table sat in the middle of the wooden floor. It was surrounded on three sides by a tan sofa and two matching chairs. A large TV hung on the wall.
“How do you take your coffee?” Brett turned left, passing through a dining room and into the kitchen.
Following behind him, she said, “Cream and sugar,” before remembering her manners and adding, “please.”
In the kitchen, he pulled a phone from his back pocket and set it on the counter. The device was inside a clear plastic case.
“I know this isn’t any of my business,” she said, picking up the cell, “but what gives?”
“Oh, that.” He laughed. “A year or two ago, Wade had everyone over to his apartment complex for a cookout. There’s a real nice pool, and we were all sort of goofing around. I ended up in the water and never thought to get rid of my phone before jumping in. Anyway, it ruined my phone and took forever to get all my information back.” He picked up the phone and shook it. “Hence, the dry bag.”
Wade was their mutual friend—the one who’d set them on the blind date. He was a new addition to San Antonio Medical Center’s trivia team. After the first night joining the team at a local bar, she’d gotten to like Wade’s sense of humor and eagerness for fun. She could well imagine a pool party gone awry. She also trusted him enough that when he told her that he knew the perfect guy, she let herself get fixed up with the pilot on his flight crew. Turns out, Wade had been right about Brett.
He was perfect for Eva.
She’d been quiet for a beat too long. Smiling up at him, she touched the waterproof pouch. “So, you have this just in case a crazy pool party breaks out.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Something like that.”
A coffeepot sat on the counter next to the sink. A window looked out over the front yard, the sidewalk, the road and her car. He removed a container of decaf coffee from the fridge and scooped the grounds into a paper filter. “I don’t have cream,” he said, turning the maker on to brew. “I have skim milk or some kind of flavored creamer my sister left when she visited last month.”
For Eva, flavored creamer was better. “That’ll work.”
As the earthy scent of fresh coffee filled the kitchen, Brett opened the refrigerator door. He stared at the shelves for a moment before reaching inside. “There it is.” He held up a plastic container, handing it to her. “I think it’s still good.”
“This stuff keeps forever,” she said, before reading the label. Yep, it’d be good for another three months. “Hazelnut. My favorite.”
The simple domesticity of the situation hit her in the chest. She couldn’t get wrapped up in thoughts of forever—or even tomorrow. There was only tonight. In the morning, well, a different set of problems already waited for her. But she’d worry about those then.
She moved closer to Brett, resting her hand next to his on the counter.
Stroking her pinky with his own, he said, “Seems like you’re meant to be here.”
“Seems like.” A shiver of anticipation traveled up her arm.
He removed two mugs from the cabinet, setting them on the counter. The coffee maker hissed, spitting out the last drops. After picking up the full pot, he began to pour. “Tell me when.”
“That’s good,” she said when the mug was nearly full. Flipping the lid, she opened the creamer and poured. Like liquid silk, cream swirled through the coffee, creating moving art. “Where do you keep your spoons?”
Brett opened a drawer and pulled out a spoon. He held it up. “Do you want anything else?”
Was there a bit of an invitation in his question, or was Brett just being a polite host? She took the spoon, letting her fingertips graze his palm. “Do you have sugar?”
From the same cabinet where he’d found the mugs, he pulled out a ceramic dish with a lid. He set it on the counter next to her. “I’m not judging,” he said. “But even with decaf coffee, the sugar’s going to keep you from getting any rest.”
She stirred in a teaspoon of sugar and took a sip of coffee. Looking at him over the rim of her cup, she said, “Maybe I don’t want to sleep.”
“The night’s long,” he said, his voice smoky and filled with desire. “What do you plan to do with your time?”
She licked the spoon clean and set it on the counter, along with mug. “I was hoping that you had some ideas.”
“I might be able to come up with something we can do.”
“Oh yeah?” she asked, feeling flirty and powerful. “Like what? Maybe, this?”
She wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him to her.
She claimed him with a hard kiss, which quickly turned more passionate than their first in the parking lot earlier. Eva opened her mouth, and Brett slipped his tongue between her lips. Like a storm cloud rolling across the plains, her thoughts darkened with worries. She shouldn’t be here, not when her grandmother was in the hospital. No matter how much she wanted Brett—and she did want him—taking him as a lover was selfish.
Without any more thoughts, she stroked the front of his jeans. He was hard under her touch. She rubbed him through the fabric.
Kissing her deeper, he growled, “Damn it, Eva.”
His words danced along her skin. She was going to do this and regret nothing. Shoving away the last of her worries, she unfastened the top button and pulled down on the zipper. She reached into his underwear and touched him, skin to skin.
Brett edged her back until her butt hit the kitchen counter. The scent of coffee hung in the air, mingling with the muskiness of their shared desire. He used a cord to lower the blinds over the front window. Then he stroked her breast, running his thumb over her nipple.
But she wanted to feel his touch on her flesh. She lowered a strap on her dress, along with the band of her bra, exposing herself to him. He traced her nipple with his thumb. Arching her back, she pressed herself into his hand. Lowering his head, he took her into his mouth. He sucked hard, before scraping his teeth over her breast.
Eva shuddered. Her skin was too tight, and she ached with the need to have him inside of her. “Do you have protection?” she asked.
He removed his wallet from the back pocket of his jeans, then took out a foil packet. “Right here,” he said, holding up the condom.
Reaching under her dress, Eva pulled down her panties, shimmying them to the floor. She kicked her underwear away as Brett tore the packet open and rolled the condom over his length. He lifted her up, resting her on the kitchen counter. Eva wrapped her legs around his middle, pulling him closer, and he entered her in one stroke.
Holding on to the counter’s edge, she moved with Brett. The friction between them built. With one hand behind her back, he pulled her closer. As he claimed her mouth with his own, she knew what it meant to be alive and not simply exist. It didn’t matter that she never slept with a guy this quickly—this moment would stay with her for a long time to come.
She felt an orgasm building, a tightening of her muscles. She was so close to her release. Reaching between their bodies, she found the top of her sex. She rubbed, and a shockwave curled her toes. She cried out as she came.
Brett kissed her again, driving into her hard and fast. She gripped his shoulders as he pumped his hips. Finally, he threw his head back and came as well. For a moment, they held each other. Her heart raced, and her breath was ragged.
He kissed her gently. “I’ll be right back,” he said.
Eva dropped to the ground. Her legs were wobbly. She held on to the counter to stay upright. “Of course.”
“Give me a second.” He held the front of his jeans together and hustled out of the kitchen.
She slipped into her panties. As she was straightening her dress, Brett returned. He reached for her hand. Pulling her to him, he wrapped his arms around her waist before touching his lips onto her own. “I won’t be able to look at a cup of coffee for the rest of my life without thinking of you.”
“Well, aren’t you a charmer?” she teased.
In truth, he really was. He was smart, funny, and they shared an undeniable sexual chemistry. But what was she supposed to do next? Honestly, she didn’t know if she should stay or go home.
Her mug sat on the counter. She dumped the coffee down the drain and set her spoon inside the cup, leaving both in the sink. “Well, I better...”
“You don’t have to leave,” he said, interrupting. “I mean, I’d like you to stay. But I understand if you...can’t.”
That old saying came to mind. Wham! Bam! Thank you, ma’am!
Okay, she didn’t want to be one of those people.
Before she could say anything else, Brett added, “I make the best pancakes in the world. I can make you breakfast in the morning.”
She chuckled. “First, you know of a restaurant with the best burritos in San Antonio. Now, you personally make the best pancakes in the whole world?”
“It’s a hidden talent,” he said before giving his wide smile.
Honestly, she didn’t want to go anywhere, not now, at least. After all, she’d given herself permission to enjoy Brett for the night. And for her, the night was far from over.
