Hope

Hope swung her crutches forward, making good time through the garage toward the doorway leading into the safe house. When she reached the little concrete step-up before the actual doorway she tried to figure out how to get up the steps on crutches. With a sigh she put the crutches down and very gingerly placed a small amount of weight on her injured ankle, just enough to get her up the step.

Danny’s voice echoed through the cavernous five car garage. “What the fuck are you doing!”

Chagrined, and irritated, she picked up her crutches. “Danny, I didn’t break it, I sprained it. I’m all taped up now and secure with the walking boot.” She lifted her injured foot in its brace with gel packs on the inside to cushion and cool her ankle. It really didn’t hurt that much and she could have hobbled on her foot with the help of the ankle brace, but Danny got all growly when she’d brought it up.

Boden came into the garage from the side entrance where he’d been doing a security sweep. None of them actually expected DeLuca to be here, but better safe than sorry. “I’d offer to carry you, but I think Danny would shoot me on the spot.”

The glare Danny gave Boden was indeed deadly and she tried not to giggle as he practically ran to get to her before Boden did. A moment later he reached her side and swept her into his arms, careful not to jostle her. Giving her a stern look he said, “Hope, while I applaud your independence I do not appreciate you harming yourself because you’re too stubborn to accept help.”

Boden laughed as he opened the door for them. “Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.”

Before she could reply, Danny had her inside the small foyer leading to the kitchen and the laundry. Piercing feline cries and frenzied scratching immediately came from behind the laundry room door.

“Slasher!” Pushing at Danny’s chest she tried to wiggle out of his arms. “Put me down, I need to see him. Poor guy has been locked up in there all day.”

Danny took in a deep breath, no doubt getting ready to argue with her, when Boden came up beside them with her crutches and locked the door. “Tell you what. If you let Danny take care of Slasher, I’ll let you use the elevator to go upstairs on your own instead of being carried around like an invalid.”

“Agreed,” she said in a sweet tone, noting Danny’s momentary panic as Boden offered him up as a sacrifice to Slasher.

Boden showed her the elevator that led to the second level, a small affair with a sliding wrought iron grate instead of the usual doors. He did a sweep of the upstairs before letting her out, giving her five long minutes to imagine all the horrible things that could be waiting for her. The drugs the hospital had given her were beginning to wear off a bit and the weight of the day came crashing down on her shoulders. By the time Boden returned to help her to her room she could have happily curled up on the ground and taken a nap.

To her surprise, Boden took her to Danny’s room instead of hers. “Umm, wrong room,” she said with a tired sigh. The big sleigh bed with its pale grey silk duvet looked all too inviting.

“I know, but I have a feeling Escobar won’t want you out of his sight tonight. Men tend to do get a little crazy when a woman they care deeply about almost died.” He gave her a shrewd look. “And when you have your nightmares, he’ll be right there for you.”

Lifting her chin, she hobbled her way across the room. The moment she spied the half open door to the bathroom her bladder let her know that she needed to go, now. “What makes you think I’ll have nightmares?”

The smile he gave her was so sad it almost broke her heart. “Sugar, we all have nightmares. I think it’ll also be good for Escobar to have you next to him...shit like this tends to bring back memories from the war that we’d sometimes rather forget.

She would have smacked herself in the forehead if she didn’t need both arms on the crutches. “Of course, a situation like today would be a trigger.” Now back on the familiar, solid ground of taking care of others her mind cleared. “Do you think he’ll talk to me about it?”

Boden snorted and leaned against the doorframe, crossing his arms over his chest. “I doubt it.”

She opened her mouth to question him more but, before she could, he held up his hand. “Not my story to tell. Why don’t you stop doing the potty dance and take care of business while I move your things in here.”

The temptation to fish for information was there, but she didn’t know how soon Danny would be done with Slasher. Usually, the cat was starved for affection after having been left alone for any amount of time, but Danny was a guy and Slasher would let a rabid female bear touch him before anything male.

After taking care of her business, she came out of the bathroom and was glad to see that Boden put her duffle bag on the bed and opened it for her. After retrieving her toiletry items, she went back into the bathroom and began the painful process of trying to remove the sweatpants Danny had bought for her from the hospital gift shop while jarring her ankle as little as possible. The doctor had assured her that her ankle would heal quickly, and she took a couple aspirin to dull the ache before brushing her teeth.

Danny’s muffled voice came from the other side of the bathroom door. “Hope?”

She spit out her mouthful of toothpaste. “I’ll be out in a second.”

“Okay.”

Using the washcloth next to the sink and standing on a folded up towel to absorb the water she gave herself a quick sponge bath. The prim and proper voice in her mind insisted that she was merely preparing for bed while the sultry sex kitten hidden deep inside her soul insisted that she was preparing for Danny. Despite all that had happened today, she wanted him badly. She wanted to touch him, to taste him, to reassure herself he was alive.

That she was alive.

The time for regrets was done. Now she had the opportunity to be with Danny in a way she’d been dreaming about for ten years. She didn’t care what happened, he was going to be in bed with her tonight. Sending up a silent prayer of thanks to Boden for putting them together in the same room, she slid the long, silky nightgown over her head. It was sheer, bordering on scandalous, but it was the only pjs she’d brought with her that weren’t pants. Frowning down at her ankle she wondered how she was going to seduce her man without banging her foot.

After giving herself one more look in the mirror, she took a deep breath, slapped some steel in her spine and opened the door to the bedroom.

“Hope, I...”

Danny looked up from placing her suitcase over on the large dresser and licked his lips. “Well, hello there.”

A silly giggle, the kind a teenage girl would make, wanted to bubble up out of her throat but she managed to hang onto her dignity. “Hi.”

Rubbing a hand over his shaved head, he looked away as she strolled across the room as best she could with her ankle in a splint.

“Woman, why aren’t you using your crutches like you’re supposed to?”

“Because, like I told you and, like the doctor told you, I only have to use them if I need them. And I don’t. Honestly, Danny, my ankle isn’t that bad. I had a worse sprain from playing beach volley ball, and I still danced at my girlfriend’s wedding two days later.”

His gaze darted to her breasts, then her face, and back to her breasts. “I’m sure you’re exhausted, so just let me get the...”

Hope gently brushed her lips over Danny’s, enjoying the unusual sensation of the soft, dark hair around his mouth tickling her skin. Now, after years of dreaming of this moment, she was finally here with the only man she’d ever loved with all of her heart and soul.

With a muttered oath Danny pulled her to him, almost crushing the breath out of her lungs with the strength of his arms. He turned his head to slant his lips across hers and she had a dizzying sense of déjà vu mixed with complete elation. He was here and she wasn’t dreaming, wasn’t going to wake up in her bed alone and needy, aching for his touch.

She eagerly kissed him back, but he slowed the kiss, turning it into a long, unhurried meeting of lips and breath, teasing her with the wet rasp of his tongue before sucking on her lower lip. Her skin tingled and grew more sensitive with each passing moment until the stroke of his hand down her back had her practically purring. Pleasure grew low in her body, increasing with each taste of him, each shared breath.

He was so much bigger now that his body had grown into the mature piece of art only hinted at by his gangly teenage frame. She eagerly explored his shoulders, feeling the curve and dip of the solid muscles, reveling in the primal part of her that delighted in such a powerful man holding her close. A low groan vibrated through his chest when she opened her mouth to the silky touch of his tongue sliding between her lips.

She’d kissed many men in the years they’d been apart, but no one had ever been able to turn her on like this. It was almost as if Danny gave off some secret pheromone mix that drove her wild, made her crave more no matter how many times she’d had him. His tongue danced against hers and she started to straddle his lap, but he pushed her back onto the bed, covering her with his weight. They touched from their heads to their feet but it still wasn’t enough for Hope, she wanted more.

A part of her wished she’d saved herself for Danny, but she was also glad she could enjoy him without the pain of losing her virginity. That was all that mattered to her right now, to have him deep inside of her, joined together as one. His tongue explored her mouth while his hands traced the sides of her face. It became her turn to groan when one of his strong thighs slid between hers, rubbing against her pussy.

Her nipples throbbed with the beat of her heart and her whole body tensed as her clit came into contact with his body. She tilted her hips and began to rub her sex along the ridge of his thigh, the silky slide of her pajamas making it feel almost as if she was naked. He muttered something that became lost in their hungry kiss.

One of his hands clutched her bottom and it was his turn to groan as he kneaded her rounded ass. Her Danny had always been a butt man, and she knew hers was better than most. She smiled against his lips and turned the kiss slow again, wanting to savor every moment with him. All the things she wanted to ask him, to tell him, faded into the background of her mind as he began to rub his thigh between her legs, supporting her weight with his hands and body.

Her back arched and he kissed his way along the column of her neck while keeping up the steady rocking of his thigh along her core. The way he moved reminded her of dancing, a sensual flexing of muscle that woke all of the nerve endings. She easily fell into the rhythm of his movements, her senses overwhelmed by the feel of his mouth biting along her neck, his thigh rubbing against her swollen clit. He shifted a bit and his well-endowed erection pressed into the softness of her stomach. She wanted to switch positions, to have him on his back, to explore his body, but if she didn’t come soon she was going to go crazy.

Her body screamed for release, the muscles of her lower abdomen tensing and her empty passage aching to be filled. He slid down from her neck to her breasts, easily finding her erect nipples pressing against her nightgown. With a hungry grumble he locked his mouth around one nipple, sucking it through the thin fabric.

“Danny,” she whispered his name into the air like a prayer, that one word holding all the emotion she didn’t dare name.

He stopped tormenting her breast and held her gaze, slipping his hand down to replace his leg against her hot core.

The firm press of his fingertips against her pussy tore a wordless cry from her throat. His clever fingers massaged the labia, drawing even more blood into her aroused flesh and ratcheting up her desire even higher. She wrapped her arms around his head and held him against her chest, reaching up to touch his face with one hand and stroke his cheek as he pleasured her.

She was so close, hovering on the edge of what promised to be a fantastic orgasm. His thumb found the small bump of her erect clit and she spread her legs wide, encouraging him to give her more, to help her come. Unfortunately, that also jarred her ankle and she stifled back a yelp, hoping he thought it was a moan of arousal.

“Fuck. What am I thinking?” Danny muttered against the top of her head. Moving her carefully he scooped her up in his arms and carried her across the room to the bed. “I’m sorry, baby, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“You didn’t hurt me.” She tried to pull his mouth down for a kiss and growled when he resisted her efforts before gently setting her onto the bed. Frustrated, aroused, and grumpy, she smacked his hands away when he tried to arrange her pillows for her. She grabbed one of the pillows and pressed it over her face, yelling obscenities at him for leaving her wet and wanting.