Authors: Lindsay McKenna
“I’d love to do that!”
“I thought you might,” he gloated, teasing her.
Cav was surprised when she slid her hand against his unshaven jaw, leaning into him, pressing her lips against his mouth. Taken off guard, he groaned, his arms coming around her swiftly, bringing her close. Lia had a way of being spontaneous that delighted him, but she was unknowingly pushing him to his limits. Her lips were soft and pliant—searching his, her moist breath feathering across his cheek as she hungrily let him know she wanted his reaction. And she got it.
The moment her tongue tentatively touched his, a sheet of fire roared down through him. Lia was definitely more assertive than before and it made his body hum with possibility. How far did she want to take this? Was she ready to stand naked before his gaze and not retreat from him or push his hands away as they grazed her body, even touching those scars?
Cav was reveling in the shy touch of her tongue against his lower lip. This was definitely a sign of progress, revealing that Lia had decided to trust him.
As she moved her hardened nipples against his chest, Cav had to consciously stop from lifting his hand to curve around the delicious breast closest to him. He wanted to move his thumb teasingly across her nipples that were just begging to be touched. He wanted hear Lia’s sounds of pleasure as he did so.
More than his physical body reacted to her shy venture with him. Cav recognized her courage, her wanting to overcome her wounds to be spontaneous and loving with him. He allowed a growl of satisfaction to rumble through his chest, letting her know how much enjoyed that small tongue of hers on his lower lip. He felt her quiver as he barely touched her tongue with his own, inviting her to go further.
And then he felt her hesitate. He knew that, for tonight, it was enough. It was more than enough. In fact, it was more than he’d dreamed could happen between them after being apart for over a week. As she eased away, her lips glistening, slightly swollen from the power of his kiss, he saw dark, stormy arousal in her half closed eyes. Her fingers were flexing against his shoulders and he could literally feel her wanting so much more.
He caught the scent of her sex and knew she was wet between her thighs from the kiss they’d just shared. Settling his hand on her hip as she sat down next to him, he rasped, “That was one helluva welcome home kiss, baby.”
Lia tried to take stock of herself by the week’s end. The best news was on Monday? Cav had talked to Dilara and he’d taken the job she was offering him. The surprise on his face when he entered her office later, to tell her that he’d taken the job, had made her smile with joy. Cav didn’t realize that he’d be working in HER office and he’d grinned, more than happy about it. She was nervous, giddy, hopeful and crashing back into old fear on a daily basis. All week long she and Cav, had been working long, hard hours together. He never made any kind of sexual move toward her, never touched her inappropriately, or even let on that they had a budding relationship with her. She was grateful for his decorum because the construction people were constantly in sight and Lia didn’t want to be the subject of gossip.
But at night after work, either Cav cooked dinner for them, or she did. Lia was finding it easy to spend every night with him, talking at length over a variety of topics. Cav was intelligent, a global-traveler, and knew much more than she did about the world in general. He never bored her and his stories ranged from heart breaking to uplifting, to just plain funny.
She could feel him opening up to her on every possible level, and she was doing the same. More than anything, when Cav walked her up to her condo after a meal and chaste kiss her goodnight, Lia was left aching, and later dreamed erotic dreams of Cav loving her, touching her.
Of course she knew he wanted to love her, and she hated herself for her sensitivity about her scars, even after all this time with Cav.
There wasn’t a night that didn’t go by when they didn’t cuddle on the couch after dessert. Those moments were what Lia looked forward to more than anything. She loved his touch, and how Cav made her feel about herself as a person, as a woman. And she could always feel him holding back. At last, she’d begun to understand that he was allowing her to go as far as she wanted, and where she stopped, he would stop, too.
Just knowing that gave her a newfound sense of power and relieved her of most of her fears. She’d been with men in the past that didn’t “get” nonverbal signals to stop, and when she gave a verbal reminder, it was usually the end of the relationship.
Lia knew a man would never use her again. She wanted an equal relationship between herself and the man that interested her. And more and more, she saw that the man she wanted was Cav.
She thought of his poor, abused mother. Probably, as a child, he’d seen his brutal father use his strength and violence against his mother. It had taught Cav never to treat a woman like that, and the lesson stuck, because he was always careful and respectful with her.
Lia swore she could feel Cav monitoring her, gauging her reaction, reading her body language, listening to the tone of her voice, watching her expression for clues or signals. She wished more men had that developed sense within them. It would save a lot of relationships from hitting the rocks.
Every day, she wanted to talk to him about that terrible scar across her belly. And every day, she chickened out. She was so ashamed of it. Her head told her that Cav wouldn’t react at all, and would probably disregard it. But her emotions still weren’t ready for that particular roller-coaster ride.
She felt like a hurt child wanting to hide it so he couldn’t see it, and she knew that was childish. But it told Lia how deep the wound was. If only she could talk to Cav about it. In fact, she might just get up the nerve to speak about it without showing it to him. Just talking about it might help, and prepare him for seeing it when she felt courageous enough to stand before him naked. She hadn’t prepared Manuel to see it, and when he did, the look on his face was repugnance and disgust. No, she had to talk to Cav, had to prepare him for how ugly looking it was. She didn’t want him looking at her like Manuel had. She just couldn’t handle that kind of rejection again.
Lia hated her crazy emotions, and wanted desperately to ignore them, but she couldn’t…at least, not yet.
A soft knock on her condo door made her start. It was Cav. She picked up the small wicker basket that held the picnic lunch she’d made for them. Opening the door, she smiled up at him. Today he was wearing his typical casual outfit: body-hugging jeans that showed off his long, hard thighs and tight butt and a bright red t-shirt that played off the power of his chest. Her fingers immediately itched to slide beneath that fabric and luxuriate in the feel of his flesh against hers.
He wore a small green pack on his shoulders and there was a dark green blanket draped over his left arm. On his feet, he wore boots because they were going into a cave. A dark blue baseball cap sat on his head, and when she saw his big grin, her whole body went on red-hot alert. Lia saw that he wanted her, too, and loved the lusty look he shot her way.
“Ready for our local first adventure together?” he teased, taking the wicker basket from her hand.
“More than you could ever know,” she bubbled, shutting the door and locking it. “The day is perfect!”
Cav nodded, pleased that Lia’s jeans showed off those cute cheeks of hers, as well as her curved thighs. “It’s a perfect day because you’re in it,” he told her, walking her to the elevator.
Because they were going in a cavern that was only fifty-four degrees year round, Lia wore a long-sleeved red blouse and carried a jacket in her other hand. She too, wore hiking boots.
“Do you always say the right thing?” Lia teased, entering the elevator.
Cav grinned, pushing the button that would take them down to the parking area beneath the building. “Don’t hold me to that high a bar,” he chuckled. “’Cause sure as hell, I’ll fall off it.”
He’d bought a Jeep Wrangler three days ago, just in time to take them to Grottoes, Virginia, where the caverns were located. Cav intended to take them on a lot of back roads because he knew Lia loved caving and nature, just like he did. It was yet another thing they had in common.
Soon, they were speeding westward away from the craziness of Washington, D.C., the Jeep’s tires humming on the freeway, putting plenty of distance between the city and the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance.
He took I-66 West, heading for I-81. Without traffic, it was a two and half hour trip one way to the Grand Caverns. Saturday morning traffic at 8
A.M.
was light, and he pushed the Jeep, making good time as they headed toward Strasburg, Virginia. There, they would pick up I-81 South, which would take them directly to the caverns.
It was a hundred and fifty three miles of quality time spent with the woman he was falling deeply in love with. Cav’s heart lifted as he looked at Lia, the wind whipping lightly around them with the Jeep’s top down, open to the turquoise, cloudless sky. It really was a perfect day for them.
Earlier in the week, thunderstorms had moved across the area. From time to time, he glanced at Lia. She had put her head back on the seat, her dark glasses on, like his own, a hint of a smile on her lips. She needed this, he realized. No one worked harder or longer hours than Lia, and already Cav could see part of his job was to gently disengage her from her duties and get her out of that office after her eight hours were finished.
She had a tendency to take work home with her, too, and he was already discouraging that practice. Because Lia was so responsible, she didn’t know where to draw a line and tell herself, “That’s enough for today.”
They stopped in Strasburg for mocha lattes at a small stand in one of the plazas, and then hopped onto I-81 South, aiming for the Grand Caverns. At one point, Cav wanted to pull over, put the Jeep in park, and lick a spot of whipped cream off the corner of Lia’s mouth. Then, he’d kiss her until she melted into him but Cav put those yearnings away for another time.
So he was pleasantly surprised when Lia placed her hand on his thigh as he drove. It was a small thing, but very significant for both of them. He yearned for such intimate gestures as much as she did.
By 11
A.M.
, they pulled into the parking lot of the Grand Caverns. Lia inhaled the clean, fragrant air. She saw a lot of tourists parking their cars. She smiled as she watched children jumping up and down excitedly as their parents held their hands while walking towards the huge cave complex surrounded by trees.
Cav put everything in a small locker that was bolted down in the rear of the Jeep so no one could steal it. Lia shrugged into her jacket and zipped it up. There was also a pair of gloves in one pocket. Because she’d become used to a tropical climate, her blood was thin. Fifty-four degrees was cold to her, so she dressed appropriately.
Cav came around the Jeep and slid her hand into his, leading her toward the ticket office near the caverns. “It’s going to seem odd not to be pulling on our caving gear,” he grinned.
Lia had a suggestion. “Maybe they’ll let us cave. If they do, we can come back here another weekend and spend Saturday and part of Sunday in those twenty miles of tunnels.”
He raised a brow. “You’d stay overnight?” His heart thudded. He felt her beginning to worry a bit, and suggested, “We could always get two rooms.”
Instantly, her expression changed and relaxed. “I’d like that.”
She gestured toward the maw of the cave. “It really looks beautiful and I’d love to see a lot of those shield formations. They can’t all be located in the one-hour trip we’re taking into the cave.”
“True,” he said. At the booth, Cav paid for their tickets and asked whether spelunking was allowed. The young woman said “Yes,” and gave him a brochure for cavers. She suggested that after they read it, if they wanted to spelunk, they could make a reservation.
Lia was thrilled, and eagerly took the brochure as they walked toward the waiting line of tourists who would enter the cave shortly. She entrusted herself to Cav, who gently guided her toward the line as she devoured the brochure. When she looked up, she saw five cavers going in at another entrance point. Cav had noticed them, too.
“Can we do this next week?” she asked. “I’d love to spend the whole weekend exploring this cave system. It’s alive, it’s wet and it’s still growing. That would be really exciting to see.”
Cav could never be immune to her excitement. She was like a child in that moment and he realized how badly Lia needed to go back to that part of her life. He smiled over at her. “Sure, let’s do it.”
The joy that shone in her eyes made him ache with love for her.
Lia listened intently as their guide moved them through an amazing one-hour walk into the living cave system. It was cool inside, and she was glad that Cav put his arm around her as she walked next to him, enjoying his extra warmth. The woman told them that there were hundreds of Civil War soldiers’ signatures scrawled into the walls of the cavern, which had played a role in the War Between the States. It was often a place to hide, to rest, or to ponder strategy.
Lia liked that the cave had such a wonderful history, and she appreciated that their guide told tourists not to touch anything in the cave, since human germs and bacteria could destroy the delicate ecology of the cave.
That was why cavers wore gloves, to protect the living beauty of the caves they were grateful to be able to explore.
All too soon, they were wandering out into the bright noon sunlight.
“Hungry?” Cav asked her as they walked back towards the ticket booth.
“Starving!” Lia agreed.
“Let’s see if we can sign up for caving next week.”
Lia smiled and took off her gloves, glad to be out in the warm, low-eighties temperature once more. “Fingers crossed,” she said excitedly.
In a few minutes, Cav had signed them up and they’d filled out the forms. There was a long list of rules they had to follow but they were rules they already followed when caving.