Safe Haven (Xcite Romance) Read online

  He’d got used to talking aloud to the puppy and he nearly did so now, but caught himself just before his lips moved. So he kept up the banter in his head instead.

  Please don’t pee on me in front of this woman, G. Promise me, and I promise to let you lick the grease from my fingers next time I have bacon.

  The puppy, content in Darrin’s arms, had merely raised a baby puppy eyebrow without a sound and waggled his little white paw

  Darrin took that as a yes.

  Either way, Gauntlet hadn’t peed on him, not one little bit. And Kallie had invited him into her beautiful barn and he’d wanted nothing more than to touch the curl that kept escaping next to her ear. To make her laugh. To look into her hazel eyes, the way the green was split with little rays of yellow that reminded him of the woods on a sunlit day. To lean in and press his lips to hers, to see if she tasted as alive as she looked.

  He’d been so close to that last one.

  Then that belligerent beast of a horse had stuck his face through the slats of his pen and bitten the back of his calf right through his jeans, and now the most beautiful woman in the world was kneeling at his feet. Which would have been hot as hell if he wasn’t in screaming pain and she wasn’t pressing a bag of frozen raspberries to the back of his leg. He was afraid to look at the damage and, despite the fact that the pain was making him feel a little woozy, he was content just to look at her instead. She was the perfect distraction. The strap of her tank top had slipped to the side, revealing a tiny bit of pale skin that he couldn’t stop looking at. It looked like cream, like meringue. He could just feel the tips of her hair brushing his jeans, and he found himself almost sad that the horse had bitten a place she could access without removing his pants

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ she was saying. ‘He’s new. He was really, really in bad shape when I got him. I’ve been working with him, but ... God, I’m just so sorry.’ She was babbling in a cute kind of way, the pinks of her cheeks flushed lightly as she pressed the bag at what felt like random spots to his calf, making his head swim with cold and pain.

  She pulled the makeshift icepack off his skin, touched a spot with his finger. He let out half a yelp before he stopped himself, forcing the sound into something more manly.

  Gauntlet, who’d been amusing himself by chewing on something that Kallie had given him, perked his ears as Kallie began to laugh quietly.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, between giggles. He could tell she was trying very hard to be serious, but the edges of her mouth twitched every time she closed her lips between words and the corners of her eyes were all wrinkled up. ‘It’s just ... you’re fine, but you have Toddy’s dental records on the back of your calf.’

  ‘Seriously?’ he asked.

  ‘Look for yourself,’ she said.

  The throbbing in his leg told him that he didn’t really need to look. That he probably shouldn’t look. Pain he could handle, even if it did make him sound like a rabbit in a trap. Blood was OK too. But the sensation in his calf told him it was already turning the colour of grape jelly and swelling to at least twice its normal size, and that was something he did not need to see.

  ‘I’ll pass,’ he said.

  ‘Big baby,’ she said, glancing up at him from the corner of her eye. The tease and that flash of her honeyed eyes made his chest do that warm, puppy-pee thing again. ‘He didn’t even break the skin.’

  ‘I liked you better when you were apologising,’ he said, but even through his pain, he couldn’t keep the tease from his voice. She had handled the whole thing with such calm coolness that he’d found himself first surprised, then impressed. Although why he was surprised, he didn’t know. If she could handle all of these animals and herself, it made sense that she’d be able to handle a situation in which a stranger walked into her barn and was brought to his knees by the dental records of an equine.

  She pressed the icepack back against his skin, and he ground his teeth against the yelp that threatened to follow, pushing it into a soft curse instead. Who knew a horse bite could hurt so much and not even need stitches? Not that he wanted stitches. But still, it would make it easier to explain the very unmanly like yelps he made every time she shifted. It would also make it easier to explain the reaction that her presence was having, the way he had to move away slightly every time she leaned against him, or brushed him with her hair or her breasts or even just her elbow. He’d noticed the sensation the first time her hair had fallen around his thighs, and he’d had a sudden image of her naked and kneeling, her hand around his cock. He’d felt the shift, the half-hardening and felt like his cock was betraying him; how could it react at a moment like this?

  ‘Here, can you hold it for a second?’ When she asked it, he was still thinking about his cock and her fingers, and it took him a moment to realise she meant the ice pack. He leaned down carefully to press the frozen bag against his leg, trying not to wince. ‘Thanks. Now that you no longer look like you’re about to pass out, I’m just going to call the vet real quick.’

  ‘The what?’ The strain of speaking made his head swim a little, and he lowered his voice. ‘The horse is fine. He bit me. It’s not like I’m going to bite him back.’

  ‘The vet is for you.’

  She flashed him that grin again, half-sweet and half-wicked. For the first time since he’d started this cross-country motorcycle tour, he wished he had his camera. He wanted to capture that expression, the way her eyes darkened, the green deepening as the yellow flared.

  ‘Trust me,’ she said. ‘You’re better off with Shar than with the doctors around here. Besides, she’s cheaper. And she can check out your puppy while she’s at it.’

  She unhooked the receiver from a yellow rotary phone that looked like it had been in the barn for a long, long time. Before she dialled, she turned to him, and her voice, while attempting for playful, fell far short of it, her smile faltering. ‘I just want to make sure you’re OK. I’ll cover the vet costs, and whatever else you need. I can’t afford a lawsuit. I’m really sorry.’

  Hearing that, Darrin felt the need not just to reassure her, but oddly to protect her. He didn’t know from what, and the pain in his calf was making it hard to think. If he’d been able to stand up and reach her, he would have hugged her close. Which probably would have earned him another bite – this time from a pissed-off farm owner instead of said farm owner’s horse. Probably a good thing he couldn’t get up.

  ‘I’m not going to sue you,’ was the best he could come up with.

  She didn’t respond, but through the pain, he could hear her talking on the phone. He leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes. This was not what he’d expected to find when he’d left San Francisco for a month-long trip around the country. He’d expected to find the open road. He’d expected him alone on the bike for miles and miles, for days at a time. He’d hoped to find his creativity again once he’d left behind the day-to-day work of shooting stuck-up models who all looked the same.

  What he wasn’t expecting was to find an abandoned puppy by the side of the road. Or this adorable woman with her amazing curves and her intense gaze. And lust? Desire? A half-hard cock throbbing almost as much as the pain in his leg? That wasn’t even something that had been on his radar. And yet, here he was, unable to stand and in serious pain, still wanting to open his eyes just enough to see what the woman in front of him was doing, to see the curves of her delicious ass as she walked around in the slanted sunlight and the hay chaff.

  Kallie hung up the phone and came toward him, holding out two blue pills on her palm. ‘Shar will be here shortly. She said to take one of these.’

  ‘Let me guess? Horse tranquilizer?’ It was a running joke on the set, something the models always said if someone got nervous and asked them if they’d eaten. Horse tranqs for breakfast.

  Kallie canted her head at him. ‘Noooo. Those would involve sticking you in the ass with a needle. Which I can do if you like. These, however, are just Midol.’

  ‘Midol?’ This was
getting worse and worse. Whatever lust he might feel for this woman was clearly not going to make a difference. She’d seen him get bit, heard him squealing in pain and was now offering him pills for PMS.

  She tucked the pills into his palm. ‘They do wonders for swelling. You’d be surprised.’

  He took them, coughing a little at their size, and then leaned back against the barn wall. Kallie was kneeling at his feet again, and he tried to push away the new images that her movement brought: her, looking up at him with those gorgeous green eyes while she swirled her tongue around the tip of his cock, dragged her lips up the sensitive veins along the underside ... That was a mental image that made him want to take photos again. And fuck. God, how long had he been alone, with nothing between his legs but a motorcycle? Far too long.

  He could feel Kallie taking the ice pack from his hands, rolling his pant leg higher up, her fingers cool against his skin, her breath heating the places her touch had just cooled. How could one have pain and pleasure at the same time? He didn’t know, but he felt he could sit there forever, letting her touch him and soothe him ... He let the daydream come, only because it wouldn’t stay away and he was already hard beneath the tightening pull of his jeans, Kallie licking her lips and lowering her mouth over his cock, slow so he could watch her take the whole thing in, his hands fisting in her hair, knowing by the heat in her eyes that she was enjoying it as much as she was.

  ‘I think he’ll live.’ A voice he didn’t know, something slightly off about it. Not an accent but ...

  He opened his eyes and realised he’d been, maybe not dozing, but definitely not all there. Or maybe he had been dozing, because it was no longer Kallie at his feet, but someone else. Strawberry blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail, and then the face lifted and he was looking into a pair of dark hazel eyes full of amusement. An odd-shaped stethoscope with an electronic box on it rested around her neck.

  ‘So, I was just telling Kallie that we’ll have to take off your leg,’ the woman said. Her words were slightly clipped, but easy enough to understand. ‘But other than that, you’ll be fine.’

  ‘What?’ he asked. He felt suddenly awake, the pain in his leg amplified. ‘No, wait, what ...?’

  ‘Kidding,’ she said. ‘Kallie, I thought you said he had a ...’

  The woman turned away from him, her fingers flying as she faced Kallie. Kallie answered back, her fingers moving just as quickly. Suddenly, he understood the unusual sound of her voice. She was deaf. Or partly deaf? He didn’t even know that someone who had hearing loss could be a doctor. Or, in this case, a vet.

  The two women laughed together, and then returned their attention to him.

  ‘Shar, Darrin. Darrin, Shar. Oh, and that’s Gauntlet,’ Kallie said, pointing to the puppy who was sleeping under one of the rabbit hutches.

  Shar cocked her head. ‘Oh, you’re the stray my husband found.’ She was looking at the puppy, but Darrin got the impression she was talking about him.

  ‘Your husband is the fire chief?’ Small town. He’d forgotten how those worked. Everyone knew everyone or was married to someone’s brother or engaged to or ... Which made him wonder whether Kallie was attached. She hadn’t said anything, but then they’d barely got a conversation in before, well, this.

  ‘You’re going to be fine,’ Shar said. ‘He didn’t break the skin, and he’s got all his shots. I’m going to give you something for the pain, and I think you should stay here and rest for a couple of days so I can come back and check on you. That calf’s going to be too sore to ride with anyway, plus the meds. I’ll give Gauntlet his first round of shots, too. He’ll be sleepy for the rest of the day. More so than usual. You too, probably. I’m sure Kallie can take good care of you both.’

  At that, Kallie responded with a flow of fast fingers that was clearly a curse of some sort, which brought laughter to Darrin’s lips. Something was happening between the two women, but he couldn’t tell what. He guessed they’d been friends for a long time, not just from the way they teased each other, but with their ability to switch communication tactics. It was like watching twins with a secret language.

  The fingers flew, until Shar took Kallie’s wrists in her hands and held her still.

  ‘Don’t argue with the doctor,’ Shar said. ‘Nor with your best friend. One of us always wins.’

  Chapter Three

  FOR A DAY OR two. Kallie sighed. Damn Shar – she knew Darrin was just fine to leave. Just as Bill had known Safe Haven didn’t take puppies. And yet there was currently both a man and a puppy sitting in her living room, looking at her expectantly.

  Sighing, Kallie made the puppy a place to sleep – a pillow, a stuffed bunny that Shar had found in her vet van and that he’d latched on to fast, plus a couple of old bowls for food and water. Last, she wound up an old alarm clock and tucked the ticking machine under the pillow.

  ‘It’ll sound like a heartbeat,’ she told Gauntlet. In turn, he gave her a puppy face lick, smelling of sunshine and dog food.

  ‘Puppy seal of approval,’ Darrin said. When she turned, he was standing one-footed in the hallway, leaning against the doorjamb.

  ‘I have a feeling it’s going to last until I leave the room and that’s about it.’

  ‘He hasn’t made a peep the couple of nights I’ve had him.’

  ‘And he slept where?’

  Darrin had the smarts to at least flash her a sheepish grin. ‘Well, kind of near me.’

  ‘As in, on your pillow?’

  ‘If I say no, will you believe it?’ God that smile again. It was like it zoomed across the room every time he flashed it, hit her hard in the chest and then zoomed down between her legs. It made her feel like she was the one hobbling around instead of him.

  ‘You can sit, you know.’ He did so, releasing an involuntary oof that made her realise just how much in pain he actually was. Even sitting there, even in pain, she liked the way he looked in her living room. He’d pulled his dark curls back into a low, short ponytail that showed off the angle of his jaw, the strong line of his neck. She wondered what he would smell like, if she were to tuck her face into the crook of his shoulder.

  In the kitchen, the coffee maker hissed its ready warning and she poured two cups. She handed over one of the mugs, their fingers just touching around the cup. She felt it all the way to her wrists and up into her chest. Damn.

  ‘Hungry?’ she asked, retreating to the doorway. ‘I can cook something.’ Something else to occupy her. A way to keep busy. What else was she going to do with this man in her living room? Besides try desperately to stop looking at him.

  He shook his head. ‘Not in the least.’

  Kallie curled her hands around the cup. ‘Sorry about Shar. She can be a pain.’

  ‘I liked her,’ he said. It seemed like a genuine comment. Beneath that, she could clearly hear his unspoken question.

  ‘She’s only fully deaf in one ear, partly in the other,’ she said. ‘She reads lips like a motherfucker, though. Mostly when you don’t want her to.’

  ‘And the signing?’ he asked.

  ‘The doctors were sure she was going to go fully deaf before she was an adult. We kind of learned together. It’s a bastardized version, though. No one else understands it.’

  It was easy to talk about Shar, it gave her something to think about besides him sitting on her couch with his easy posture. His long fingers wrapped around the mug. Those blue eyes which seemed, impossibly, to be getting brighter and bluer as afternoon slipped into evening.

  ‘Thank you for letting me stay here,’ he said. ‘I feel ... like a ...’ He dipped his head to sip at his coffee.

  ‘I don’t even know what you’re doing here.’ It was out before she meant it to be, before she thought it through. ‘I mean ...’ she started. Shit, what did she mean? She meant she wanted to know everything: where he’d come from, what he was on his way to, whether he would stay just for a little while to strip her down and kiss the lonely parts of her body. If the answer to that was y
es, that he would stay and then go, she thought she could let her guard down, invite him in. But she didn’t even know how to ask it.

  ‘I know what you mean,’ he said, and she thought he actually might.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ she asked.

  Darrin seemed to consider this. ‘I’m a photographer, in LA. I got burnt out. My photos were getting ... stale. So I took a little time to ride around the country. See if I could find my, I don’t know ...’ He looked at her, that clear blue gaze steady and strong, the weight of it sending her desire up through her thighs, into the heat of her cheeks. ‘...passion again.’

  Kallie returned the gaze as long as she could, savouring the stream of lust through her body, and then she lowered her head to stare at the surface of her coffee. ‘So you’re only passing through?’

  ‘Yes,’ he said. And suddenly, ‘I’d like to touch you.’

  The words, the ease with which he’d said them, the strength, and his bright blue gaze as it fell on her, all of it made her feel unsteady again, as if gravity was changing its laws every second.

  ‘Nice segue,’ she said, trying to keep things light, refusing to admit the impact he was having on her.

  He laughed, shook his head, setting his coffee on the table. ‘I feel stupid, like this. Not being able to get up and come to you, to make the first move, but, well ...’ He waved a hand at his calf, the pant leg still rolled up to his knee, the swelling visible from where she stood.

  ‘So you’re saying you’d like me to make the first move?’ Her smile surprised her; it felt sleek and sly. What was she doing? She held her cup tighter, as though that might stop the words from coming out, or stop the tumbling, falling lust that filled her stomach.