Her breasts bounce and the water sheets from her body, causing his mouth to fall open in pleasure. “Damn,” he gasps. Even bruised and battered the beauty of her body has him stiffening with desire. Beautiful, pink breasts call to him, and he is frozen in place watching her.
Kimani runs a hand over her face and stares at him through squinted eyes. Slowly she walks towards him, and he snatches the blanket from the rock and holds it out to her, forcing himself to look away. Even looking away, the image of her beautiful muscular body is burned in his mind.
“I’m sorry, I thought you’d be finished,” his deep voice is raspy with barely controlled need.
“It’s alright, you’re my doctor, and it’s not like you’ve never seen a female body before.” Kimani laughs softly, enjoying the look of desire he’s struggling to hide. She wrings the water out of her hair. The scent of honeysuckle and rose wafts around him, and he grumbles. Trembling with cold or desire, she’s not sure, but she’s seen the look of attraction in a man’s eyes before.
“For God’s sake Kimani, I’m only human!”
“Vanessa!” she snaps and snatches the blanket, just as he whirls on her.
“Why is that so important to you?”
“Because Kimani died with her family. I need to believe that,” she whispers and pulls the blanket tighter around her body.
“I’m struggling with that name. How about I come up with a nickname like Nessie?” Harris drops his cowboy hat on the rock. Next comes his gun belt, and he slowly starts unbuttoning his shirt. “Do you plan on watching me wash?”
Part of her is tempted to drop the blanket and rub her body all over his, but something in his eyes stops her. “Of course, not,” she whispers as he drags open his shirt and she stares at the carved muscles. Licking her lips, she steps towards him, and her eyes follow his hand down to his jeans. When the button pops, she jumps and whirls around, racing back through the bushes to the cabin. His sexy laughter follows her to the cabin followed by his outburst when he dives into the cold creek.
Vanessa berates herself as she stomps into the cabin only to stop when she’s greeted by a hot pot of soup and a warm cabin. “Harris?” she murmurs, and her heart falls once more for him. He always seems to take care of her needs before his own. A smile curves her lips, and she hurries to dig through her bag to find something to wear. After pulling on a borrowed dress which is big, but warm, she finger combs her hair to remove the tangles and drapes the blanket across a wooden bench to dry.
Digging through his bag, she finds a pair of denims and a clean shirt for him. She drapes them over a chair to warm up by the fire before picking up a log with a yawn.
She is smiling at him when he throws open the door. He stops in place and stares at her.
“What are you doing?” he asks hoarsely. His hair is slicked back away from his head, and his beard is glistening with water drops.
“Adding a log to the stove,” she murmurs and turns away from him.
“No, you could reopen your stiches! The last thing you need is another wound,” he snaps and kicks the door closed behind him.
“You can’t be serious,” she starts to say, but he loosens his grip on the blanket, and her mouth falls open.
“Can we argue later, I’m freezing.”
“Of course,” she turns and points to the chair. “I laid out your clothes for you, they should be warm.” Vanessa covers her eyes with a hand as she listens to him dressing behind her.
“Thank you. There are two bowls for soup, it’s the best I can do,” he moans and pulls on the warm clothes.
“Freezing! Thanks for thinking of warming up my clothes.”
Pleased by his kindness, she hurries to ladle out the soup. They eat quickly, starved from their forced trek up from the valley. After, he cleans his guns and checks the condition of his rifle while she cleans up. Walking over to stand beside him she watches him work.
“Harris, are we safe here?”
He glances at her, noting the dark bags and the way she wraps her arms protectively around herself as if to ward off any danger. “I hope so, but you need to see something.” Harris stands up and puts his weapons down before carrying the two chairs out of the way. Pushing the table off the rug, he turns back to her.
“This cabin was built with safety in mind.” He lifts the rug, revealing a hatch built into the floor. Lifting the wooden door, they both look down into the darkness below. Moist, damp earth wafts up to them, and he smiles. “This was dug as a root cellar, but it doubles as an escape route. If at any time you need to go, don’t hesitate. It will come up behind the cabin.” He slams the door down, and she helps him return the room to its original standard.
“I’m not leaving you,” she steps over to the bench to check the blanket. “Still wet,” she murmurs and yawns again.
Harris glares at her and follows her to the ladder. “I didn’t save your life, so you could throw it away,” he demands.
“I know that.” Turning to look up at him she reaches out and touches his bearded face. “Thank you for looking after me, Harris,” she says softly before climbing the ladder.
