AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER15
Lying on top of Tanner under the stainless-steel table in the kitchen, she took a deep breath. What the hell had she just done?
Was she totally out of her mind? And yet it seemed right. When he kissed her and they started ripping at each other’s clothes, the moment had been perfect.
They were partially unclothed with nothing but a swinging door separating them from the dining hall. The place where they held the arts and crafts classes, the dance lessons, the card games. People were all around them and anyone could walk in at any second.
And if they were discovered, she was certain she would be fired.
Their joining had been urgent and insistent and something neither one wanted, and yet they couldn’t get enough of each other.
When Tanner started into his hallucination, she’d instinctively reacted like she did when John had one. And her soothing voice and singing brought him back. If she could get close enough, touch also helped, but she had learned to be observant. Sometimes they thought you were the enemy.
Tanner had responded to her touch and her voice and he’d come back once she climbed under the table and covered his body with hers. Singing to him and calling him, telling him she was here and she needed him.
And, oh, how she needed him.
At the sound of her voice, Tanner instantly reached for her and somehow they found themselves tearing at each other, trying to get to one another’s flesh. It had been a frenzied act where they could not touch one another fast enough.
Where she craved the feel of his skin against hers.
Oh no, it hadn’t just been Tanner, it had been the two of them. And now, how did she get out of this awkward situation? Had her brain turned to mush and all logical thinking dissolved at his touch?
It certainly felt that way. Because she had wanted him as badly as he desired her.
His breathing had returned to normal and she didn’t want to look at him for fear of the loathing she would see there. For fear of how they now would handle this indiscretion.
He’d made it very clear that he wanted nothing to do with her, and yet, here they were. Almost naked, spread out on the floor beneath the flour for her bread, she just had the most mind-numbing unbelievable sex of her life.
Had it been the same for him?
“We better get dressed and clean this mess up,” Tanner said.
A chill scurried down her spine at his words.
There was no mention of his episode. There was no mention of them having the most amazing sex she’d ever experienced. Oh no, it washide the evidence and do it now before we get caught.
Rolling from under the table, her feet hit the floor. She ached in places she’d forgotten all about. People didn’t have sex on concrete because it was hard and uncomfortable, even being on top.
Straightening her clothes, she glanced down at her chef’s coat and saw the flour clinging to it, and her black pants were dusted like a fine crepe. Tanner didn’t look much better. The back of his shirt was covered and his jeans had a fine coating of white powder.
“Let me brush you off,” she said. So far, he’d said barely eight words to her and while she didn’t expect roses, a little acknowledgment would be wonderful. A littleit was good for me, was it good for you?
Athank you for helping. Anything besides this cold man who didn’t want to acknowledge what had just happened between them. This explosion of heat and sensuality they had ridden to the moon and back on.
He turned, and as he was tucking his shirt into his jeans, she brushed the white powder off the back of his shirt as best she could.
Now fully clothed with everything in the right place, he faced her and she could see he wanted to say something.
Damn it, why had she let this happen again? Because she had witnessed pain like this before and it just seemed natural to comfort him. To help him escape from the images in his mind.
But sex?
“I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
Not physically, but the emotional toll she was afraid would come as soon as he left.
“No,” she said. “John used to have the same type of episodes where suddenly he was fighting a battle. Is that what happens to you?”
