Chapter 14
Reese’s hands were under Gus’s shirt, and she pushed it up and over his head. Two days had passed since the PTSD incident…when they’d been steps away from his bedroom before he’d been called away to work.
Two days since she’d woken up alone, disappointed and worried that he might’ve changed his mind about being with her.
But when she’d seen his dirty clothes on the floor of the guest bathroom, and how exhausted he still looked lying in bed, she’d realized that he must’ve gotten home extremely late.
She’d managed to stay up until midnight, but had fallen asleep waiting for him to return.
He’d been apologetic upon waking, but she’d shut him up with a kiss. He hadn’t been able to stay with her that morning because he’d promised to check in on the guest who’d had the PTSD episode, and the last day and a half had been spent making sure the man and all the other guests were really okay.
Since Gus had been so busy, Reese spent some time filling out an application for the National Laboratory, helping with more of the wedding prep, and attempting to talk with Angelo.
She’d also hung out with Isabella and assisted with random chores around The Refuge, including spending some time with the guests herself, along with Alaska.
Making sure everyone had what they needed, joining them in various activities to take their minds off the PTSD incident.
This was the first time neither she nor Gus were needed since the other night, and Reese was more than ready to pick up where they’d left off. In fact, they were even standing in the hallway.
She got Gus’s shirt over his head and without hesitation, leaned down and licked one of his nipples.
“Damn, woman!” he exclaimed. One of his hands went to the back of her head, encouraging her.
The other went to the waist of her leggings and burrowed under, palming one of the globes of her ass with his large, warm hand.
He squeezed the flesh tightly when she closed her lips around his nipple and sucked, hard.
His back arched, and Reese smiled as she continued doing her best to drive him crazy. She felt a little feral. She’d been fantasizing about Gus for longer than she could remember, and now that this was actually happening, she was almost desperate.
She let go of his nipple with a pop and grinned as she looked up at him. His hand was still down her pants, and he jerked her closer, grinding his erection against her belly. “I want you,” he said, his chest heaving as he did his best to control his lust.
“It’s a good thing, because I want you too,” she reassured him.
He was reaching for the hem of her shirt when someone knocked at the door of the cabin.
They both froze.
“Ignore it,” Gus ordered as he began to lift her shirt.
But whoever it was, they knocked again, harder this time.
“I can’t believe this,” Gus muttered as he lowered her shirt and rested his forehead against hers.
Reese couldn’t either. But if someone was there, they obviously needed something.
“Reese? Are you in there? I’m worried about Scarlet Pimpernickel,” Jasna called out from the front of the cabin. “Tonka’s in town and she’s mooing pathetically and I can’t find anyone else to help!”
Reese wasn’t sure that was true. There were always people around, and the guys never left the property all at the same time, not when guests were in residence.
“Shit. You want me to go with you?” Gus asked.
Reese sighed. “No. I’m sure it’s nothing. She’s just a little paranoid. I’ll go with her to the barn, make sure everything’s okay, then come back.”
“Okay.” Gus sighed. “I might as well start something for dinner. Unless you want to eat at the lodge?”
Reese bit her lip and looked up at him from beneath her lashes. “It’s Taco Tuesday,” she said with longing.
Gus chuckled. “Right. The lodge it is.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to be alone with you, but whatever Robert and Luna do to the meat is outstanding. And their queso is to die for.”
“You don’t have to convince me,” he said.
“After, though, I’m all for coming back here and ignoring any and all phone calls and knocks on the door,” she reassured him.
Gus’s hand tightened on her ass and he kissed her once more, hard and fast. “Go with Jas before she has a coronary. She loves that calf more than anything.”
Reese put her hand on Gus’s cheek, sighing when he pulled his hand out of her leggings. She loved how he touched her. With control and passion. And a little bit of the same desperation she felt.
He turned her and gave her a little push. “Go, before I change my mind,” he joked.
Straightening her shirt, Reese gave him a small smile before heading to the door.
They didn’t get to enjoy Taco Tuesday together at the lodge, after all.
Once Jasna was assured the calf was fine, Reese was intercepted by Alaska.
The two women, along with Henley and Isabella, had gone to Los Alamos for dinner, meeting Ryan at a Mexican restaurant in town.
Alaska had suggested it as a sort of mini-bachelorette party for Isabella.
Woody and Spike had dropped them off, and when they’d returned two hours later to bring the women back to The Refuge, had found them completely hammered from the restaurant’s very strong margaritas.
Apparently, someone also had the great idea to do a few shots after the drinks, and those had pushed them over the edge from tipsy to drunk.
“They’re completely shitfaced,” Tonka said with a laugh when he saw the women in the lodge after they’d returned.
He wasn’t wrong.
Alcohol wasn’t allowed on The Refuge property. The last thing anyone needed was the guests trying to use it as a way of deadening whatever it was that was causing their PTSD.
“Henley’s been working her ass off,” Tonka continued. “She deserves to cut loose a little.”
“I’m not sure what we would’ve done without her here the other night,” Brick agreed.
“She was amazing,” Stone added. “She was able to calm our guest better than any of us had.”
The guest in question had left that morning, and his regular psychiatrist had already called and talked with Henley about what had happened, and how she could best help him in their upcoming sessions.
“Alaska and Reese were pretty awesome too,” Tiny added. “They spent a lot of time with the other guests yesterday, making sure they were calm and happy.”
“Don’t forget about Isabella hanging with Jasna so Henley could take extra counseling appointments. That was a huge help,” Owl threw in.
Spike agreed with his friends, and he was grateful everyone had worked as a team to keep what could’ve been a volatile situation under control.
Though he had to secretly admit to also being a little frustrated.
Tonight was supposed to be his and Reese’s night.
But he wouldn’t make love with her when she was three sheets to the wind, especially not for the first time.
Still, he had to admit she was adorable. All of the women were. They were sitting in the lodge, laughing and joking with each other.
“I’m thinking it’s about time we shut this down,” Brick said dryly when Alaska almost fell out of her chair, and the other women laughed so hard they were crying.
As if they’d all just been waiting for someone to call it a night, Tonka, Woody, and Spike moved at the same time. They headed for their women, saying their good nights to the other guys as they did.
Spike approached Reese and couldn’t keep the smile off his face as she tilted her head back to look up at him from her seat. “Hi!” she said happily.
“Hey,” he returned, putting a hand on her shoulder to steady her.
Reese continued to smile up at him. “You’re beautiful,” she slurred.
“Time for us to go home,” he told her, still grinning.
“Home,” she mused and closed her eyes. “Your cabin is home.”
Her words hit Spike hard. Had he ever truly felt as if he had a home?
He’d had places to sleep between missions, apartments that were nothing more than a place to store his stuff.
Even after moving into the cabin here on the property, he wasn’t sure he truly saw it as a home.
It was where he slept, and convenient to where he worked, but a home? Not really.
But since Reese had arrived, it felt more and more like the place where he belonged.
Where he looked forward to going to at the end of the day, simply because she’d be there.
And while she hadn’t moved in officially, she’d gotten a few boxes of her things from Missouri that her neighbor had boxed up and stowed in her car before its transport.
Having her clothes, shoes, and even a few knickknacks around the cabin had solidified her presence.
It made Spike grin every time he saw her things mixed in with his.
“Can you walk?” he asked gruffly, trying to hide his pleasure at her thinking about the cabin as home.
“Pbsshaw,” she muttered before standing—and promptly swaying to the side.
If Spike hadn’t been there to hold her up, she would’ve fallen on her face for sure.
“Of course I can walk!” she insisted, even as she grabbed Spike’s arm with a death grip.
“Tonight was awesome,” she told him. Then she turned to the other women who were similarly holding onto their men.
“Tonight was awesome!” she proclaimed again.
“Awesome!”
“Super-duper awesome!”
“Muy bien!”
“Remember, we’re gonna all meet in the morning and have breakfast together,” Henley said excitedly.
The men all chuckled. It was more than obvious none of them would be in shape to get up early, let alone want to eat.
“See you in the morning!” Alaska said with a wave as Brick led her to the door.
“Manana!” Isabella offered with a huge grin. It was cute how she reverted to Spanish when she was drunk. Woody put his arm around her and guided her out of the room, following Brick and Alaska.
“We’re gonna go down and check out the aminals!” Henley said as she gazed at Tonka adoringly.
“Is that code for sex?” Reese asked bluntly.