Racing Against the Clock Read online

  “I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life.”

  Blood flowed through her veins. His blood. She was fortified, renewed. All because of him and everything he had done for her.

  “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “Don’t you get it? Haven’t you noticed? No matter how sick or weak I am, every time you kiss me or hold me, I get stronger. There’s no logic to it, but somehow you’re my medicine, Tyler Fresno.”

  “That’s true,” he marveled. “I hadn’t realized it before. You do seem to get stronger after we kiss.”

  He angled his body beside her in the bed. His eyes intensely centered upon her. It seemed he was committing her to memory.

  “I never want to forget the way you look at this moment.”

  She raised a hand to her mussed hair. “I must look a fright.”

  “You’re radiant. In fact, I’ve never seen anything more beautiful than the light in your eyes.”

  “Are you sure you want to do this? I can’t be part of your future, no matter how much we wish it so. Even though your transfusion revived me, we both know I am still dying. Is the present enough for you?” Her bottom lip trembled. She did not want to make him suffer or cause him pain.

  “The present is all any of us has, Hannah—haven’t you figured that out by now? I held on to Yvette too long. I used my grief like a shield, blocking out the world, keeping love at bay. But you changed all that. Made me see what was really important. Even if our time together is short, it will be great. Tulips only bloom for a few weeks in the spring. A few short weeks. Some gardeners might say tending them is not even worth the effort, their life span is so short. But for those short sweet, incredible weeks, they are breathtaking.”

  Tears formed at the corners of her eyes. “I love you so,” she murmured and he responded in kind, whispering his love for her into her left ear.

  She caught her breath as his hand slid down the buttons on her sweater, popping them open one by one. His knuckles trailed over her bare stomach. His head was so close to hers. His dark eyes shone coal black with desire. He dipped his head and with lips hotter than fire tickled the hollow of her neck, his hair brushing against her chin. The tickling caused her to shimmer from the inside out.

  The sensation deepened into an ache of pure neediness that spread through her breasts, her belly, between her legs. Even her knees and elbows panged with wanting. He moved against her, all shirt and skin, man and heat, smelling of snow and sweat and Tyler.

  Hannah squirmed as his lips explored her body. Then when she could stand it no longer, she hungrily reached for the snap on his blue jeans.

  “Easy. Easy.” He covered her wrist with his hand. “We’ve got all night. We can’t go anywhere, nor can anyone come in here after us. The roads won’t be open until morning. It’s just you and me, darling.”

  “I want you so badly.”

  “You’ll have me.” He met her gaze, his lashes impossibly long, his eyes soft with amusement. “Over and over again. I promise.”

  But even as he talked, she was busy, unbuttoning his shirt, pulling it down his arms. Tyler laughed and slid free from the shirt. “You’re good for a guy’s ego, you know that?”

  “You’re good for a woman’s soul.”

  Tyler hugged her to him, his laughter filling her ears. He was solid and confident and she wanted him so much she feared she might explode with the fierceness of it.

  “Don’t deny me any longer. Make love to me. This minute. And no cheating like before. I want us to climax together.”

  “Hannah.” He groaned, and undid her blue jeans. “Do you have any idea what you do to me?”

  She smirked. “If I make you half as hot as you make me it’s a wonder you haven’t melted into a big ole puddle.”

  “Oh, I’m melting all right.”

  She arched her back, allowed him to shuck off her restrictive garment. Once she was naked except for her pair of skimpy white panties, he fumbled with his belt.

  Hannah wriggled with anticipation, unable to lie still. She half sat up and reached to help him, her hair swishing along her bare back. She freed the snap of his jeans and eased the zipper down over the expanding crotch seam. Her fingers tingled and her breath fled when she realized he was not wearing any underwear.

  He kicked off his pants with comic awkwardness, one foot getting hung up in the leg, but Hannah didn’t laugh. She was too busy enjoying the sights. Narrow hips, flat abdomen, the dark triangle of hair flaring above his flagrant arousal. “Okay, so coordination and balance aren’t my long suits,” he admitted with a wry grin as he returned to cover her with his body.

  They were eye to eye, his breath warm against her skin. He propped his weight upon his forearms, his throbbing erection pressed against her soft belly. They lay pelvis to pelvis, skin to skin. The smoothness of her breasts flush against his hard chest. It was an exhilarating and erotic moment.

  The length of her vibrated and quivered, filled her with a yearning so blind she could think of nothing but satisfying her needs.

  He kissed her and so thirsty was she for his kisses that Hannah sucked his bottom lip to her mouth, trying desperately to pull him inside her any way she could.

  “Now, now, now,” she whimpered.

  “Hold on, darling, hold on.”

  He leaned over the edge of the bed, retrieved his pants and extracted a condom from the pocket. Scrambling like an inexperienced high school boy, he struggled to open the packet and slide the thing on.

  “Let me.” She reached out, touched his hand, which was poised over his erection. She rolled the condom on, surprising herself by how easy and natural it felt to touch him there.

  They were sitting up in the middle of the bed, gazing into each other’s eyes, completely naked. Elbows flat against his sides, Tyler raised his palms. Tentatively, preparing herself for the jolt of incandescent combustion she knew awaited her, Hannah splayed her palms flush against his.

  She hissed through her teeth, enervated by the riotous sensations generated by his touch.

  Their skin seared together, instant heat spreading from him to her and her to him. She stared and stared and stared at him. Past the thickly lashed eyes, over the dark irises and into his pupils. She tumbled down, down, down into the abyss of Tyler’s eyes and, amazingly, touched his soul.

  At once she experienced a deep-seated peace, felt something inside her click into place.

  Yes. This was what she had waited a lifetime for. This man. This moment. This love.

  Her breath slipped through her parted teeth and she licked her lips with the tip of her tongue. Tyler dropped his palms and leaned forward to kiss her, edging her against the sheets, which were icy cold against her blazingly hot body.

  He slipped his hand between her legs and caressed the inside of her thighs. She trembled and jerked her hips upward, begging, begging, begging for more. He pressed her into the mattress and she wrapped her legs around his waist as his mouth found her breast and he suckled her hard while he stroked her with his fingers.

  She went wild. Raking her fingernails over his back, pulling him to her while angling her hips higher.

  Tyler spread her thighs with his and she cried out at the electrical pleasure that shot through her body when he drove himself inside her. Cried and cried and cried at the sheer ecstasy.

  “Baby, baby,” he cooed. His hands cupped the sides of her head, his fingers entangled in her hair.

  She looked up, met those heavenly eyes again. He stared back at her, his gaze serious and intense, all the while moving inside her.

  “I love you, Hannah Zachary. Do you hear me?”

  Her lip trembled as an emotion so profound she could not name it suffused her body and lifted her to a level of awareness she had not known existed.

  And then she was crying. Great tears filled with love and happiness.

  Tyler grew alarmed and drew back his head to examine her face. “Hannah, darling, what’s wrong? Have I hurt you?”

 
“I never really believed this could happen to me,” she sobbed. Finally, finally the dam had broken and she was free to experience every bright, stunning emotion flooding through her body. She lived!

  He stopped moving but he was still inside her, full, warm and comforting. His own eyes misted. Softly, he pressed his lips to her eyelids and cheeks, kissing away the tears before taking her mouth with the sweetest kiss of all.

  “Why not? You’re smart and sexy and beautiful. Why didn’t you believe it would be easy for any man to love you?”

  She swallowed and thought of the man she’d had sex with in college. The one who had proclaimed her a cold, unfeeling fish. “I was afraid I wasn’t capable of loving anyone.”

  He trailed a finger over her chin, stroked her gently. “Well, you were mistaken.”

  “I know. That’s why I’m crying.”

  “Shh. Hush and just relax.”

  And then he was moving again with a slow and lulling rhythm. She matched his tempo, her early desperate wildness replaced by a blissful serenity.

  You’re wrong, Mother. Wrong, wrong, wrong. There is such a thing as true love. Just because you and Father didn’t have it, doesn’t mean that it’s a fairy tale.

  For the first time in thirty-two years, Hannah realized she had finally found her home in Tyler’s arms. The knowledge changed everything she had previously held dear. Hard work, study, science. It all seemed foreign now, and had no place in her present life.

  “Stop thinking,” he whispered, uncannily reading her mind. “And feel.”

  She did as he suggested, concentrating on the hot, fierce sensation splitting her midsection and bringing her alive in ways she never believed possible.

  His stroking intensified, driving harder, faster, more urgent, carrying her with him as if his physical body was a magic carpet and he was flying her to the stars.

  “Tyler,” she moaned his name.

  “Yes, sweetheart, yes. Let yourself go.”

  Gripping his shoulders with her hands, she pulled him into her, urged him on. The sounds of his pleasure filled her ears, heightening her own excitement.

  A mighty rapture occupied her body. A feeling of completeness so true and real it took possession of her mind, heart and soul.

  She and Tyler were one. His blood gushed through her veins. Hers through his.

  Hot. Wet. Bright lights. Erotic noises. Sexy smells. Their entwined bodies moved in unison. Faster and faster. Higher and higher, they raced toward the ultimate release.

  And found it at the same moment.

  Tyler’s back arched. Hannah cried out.

  Then they collapsed into an exhausted heap.

  Hannah woke sometime later. The room was dark and she was confused until she realized Tyler’s naked body was wrapped snugly around hers.

  Staring up at the ceiling, she smiled into the darkness. Smiled and smiled and smiled.

  Splendor. It was pure splendor lying here in his loving arms. She felt rich and spoiled and oh, so happy!

  “Tyler,” she whispered his name aloud. Not to awaken him but simply to hear the sound of it upon her tongue. “Tyler, Tyler, Tyler.”

  He stirred. Mumbling in his sleep, he tightened his grip around her waist as if he never intended on letting her go.

  Luxuriating in the pressure of his hand across her belly, Hannah closed her eyes and allowed herself a sacred dream. She pictured the two of them getting married, buying a house together. Having children.

  And just when she was enjoying the most magnificent fantasy, reality bit into her.

  The dream was not hers to possess. She had a strange healing power that was slowly destroying her blood cells. Two armed men were after her, maybe more. She was still wanted by the police for arson. Her friend Marcus, the only man who could actually help her, was missing, if not dead. How could she be thinking of herself at a time like this? How could she be dreaming of love when Daycon was plotting to put a drug capable of turning ordinary citizens into wild-eyed killers in the hands of zealous terrorists?

  She had spent her life striving to be someone important, to create a drug that would cure the sick. She had been so devoted that she had never spent anytime on herself. She thought of her empty apartment back in Austin. An apartment she had never even furnished with personal items. She had told herself how altruistic she was, working hard for the good of mankind, trying her best to defeat the disease that had struck her parents down before their time.

  But the truth was, deep inside, she was not superwoman with a holistic agenda to save the world. She was that six-year-old girl who desperately wanted to believe in Prince Charming and happily-ever-after. She wanted to be a wife and a mother. She wanted to attend PTA meetings and dance recitals. She wanted to fit in, have friends and a place in the community.

  But most of all, she simply wanted to be loved.

  Apparently, it was too much to ask.

  Why had it taken a tragedy to make her see what was really important? Why had it taken this long for her to realize she had been living her parents’ dreams and not her own? Why, now that she had finally found what she had secretly been searching for, was it going to be ripped away?

  “Hannah?”

  “Uh-huh.” She couldn’t say anything else. She didn’t trust her voice not to give away her sadness. Whatever short time they had left together, she wanted it to be perfect and not clouded with fears of their very uncertain future together.

  “You were impressive.”

  “I was? I was worried,” she admitted. “I’m not very experienced and I was scared I wasn’t doing things right.”

  “Shh.” He laid a finger over her mouth. He smelled like sex. Their sex. “You were perfect. Beyond perfect.”

  She curled into him, reveling in the feel of his hard body spooned against hers.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked.

  “Starved.”

  “There’re provisions in the kitchenette. Wanna go investigate?”

  “Sure.”

  He wrapped a blanket around her, tied the top sheet around his own waist and drew her from the bed. She padded into the kitchen holding tightly to his hand, the blanket tucked over her breast.

  “Come.” He pulled out a bar stool and Hannah perched upon it. Without turning on a light, Tyler trailed to the refrigerator, almost tripping on his sheet that dragged on the ground behind him. He bent over to rummage through the shelves, his magnificent tush accentuated by the folds of the thin cotton sheet.

  Hannah sucked in her breath at the lusty urges rattling around inside her. She quickly tore her gaze away, forcing herself to peer out the kitchen window at the deep snow beyond, backlit by cloudy gray skies. It looked cold and dreary and she was very happy to be inside safe and warm.

  Safe.

  For now.

  But how long would it last? Sooner or later, Daycon’s men would find them again.

  “What time is it?” she asked.

  Tyler consulted at his watch. “Five-thirty.”

  “Morning or evening?”

  “Evening.”

  “I’ve gotten so turned around. All this staying up late, grabbing sleep when we can. I’m not sure if I’m coming or going.”

  “You just need food and more rest. And you’ll get it. The avalanche closed the roads. For the next twelve hours we’re going to eat, sleep and make love.”

  “Sounds like heaven.”

  “Yep, we’ll be living large.”

  “And then?”

  He turned to face her, his eyes serious. “We let ‘and then’ take care of itself.”

  Chapter 14

  She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.

  Tyler stared into Hannah’s eyes. He felt something monumental inside himself shift and melt into something new and wonderful. He had thought he would never feel this happy again. He was delighted to discover he had not lost his capacity for sensual enjoyment.

  They were sitting in the Jacuzzi, warm bubbles surrounding them, a glass of win
e in their hands. They had just finished a sumptuous meal they had prepared together of broiled lamb chops, boiled new potatoes and tossed green salad. He felt fat and happy and satisfied.

  Well, not totally satisfied. Resting in the soothing water, watching Hannah through half-lidded eyes, sent his thoughts back to the bed and whet his appetite for more of the same.

  Water glistened on her smooth, bare skin. Her damp hair lay draped over her shoulders, framing the tops of her breasts. He grew hard. So hard he felt it straight to his brain.

  Lord, she was incredible.

  Steam rose up around them. He stretched his foot across the length of the tub and ran his big toe along the bottom of her foot.

  “What are you doing way over there?”

  He was lightheaded. Giddy from giving blood, the wine and her intoxicating presence. Hannah smiled that sweet, self-depreciating smile of hers and ducked her head, denying him access to his favorite part of her, the window to her soul, the mirror of her heart, those stupendous ocean-blue eyes.

  “Would you like for me to come closer?” she asked, coyly peering at him from lowered lashes.

  “Oh, yeah.” In the worst way!

  Laughing lightly, she inched toward him, her wine glass raised to avoid the churning bubbles. Her laughter sent him into a full tilt. He loved that laugh. Wanted to hear it ringing in his head forever.

  “How about here?” she asked. “Is this near enough?’

  “Closer,” he murmured, feeling very, very lusty.

  She scooted again. “Here?”

  “Closer.”

  “You sound dangerously like the Big Bad Wolf coaxing Little Red Riding Hood into bed.” Her eyes twinkled, enjoying the game they were playing. He liked the game, too. Tyler hadn’t felt this free, this lighthearted since he was a teenager.

  He crooked a finger at her. “All the better to eat you with my dear.”

  She giggled and splayed a delicate hand across her mouth.

  “I think you’ve had too much wine,” he diagnosed.

  “Only one glass.” She smiled smugly and raised a finger.

  “I have a feeling you’re a cheap date. If one glass of wine could do you in.”

  “Not drunk,” she proclaimed. “A little tipsy maybe, but definitely not drunk.”