fought against the fear with bravado and started to move toward him. “I love you. I want to be with you. I want to take something away from this place when I go. And I want it to be you. You’re the very best memory of the Res that I have.”
She reached for the hem of her T-shirt. She was shaking, wondering if she dared to do it, to just yank it over her head and bare herself to him to find out what he would do about it. She looked up into those midnight-blue eyes, as sharp as glass now. “Are you going to stop me, Hunter? Don’t. I have a good head of steam up here.”
He made a choking sound but said nothing. There was only promise in his eyes.
She tugged the shirt over her head. The hot, arid air licked her skin. Maybe it was that, the kiss of the sun, or maybe it was the fact that she was being so incredibly brazen. Maybe it was everything tied into one, but she felt her nipples tighten, almost hurting. If he turned away from her now, Liv knew she would die.
She held her breath, waiting for an interminable time. Then he brought his hands up almost reverently and closed them over her breasts. She cried out, a sound of relief and release, then she flung herself at him. She jumped and wrapped her legs around his waist and found his mouth with hers.
Finally, finally. It was all she could think. Oh, how she loved him! She’d loved him since she was twelve years old.
They fell together into the dirt, ripping at each other’s clothing, and suddenly Liv was no longer shy or frightened at all. She was exhilarated, almost weeping with the joy of it. When he finally found his way inside her, she whimpered his name and rode with him, with every thrust, every glorious beat of his body connecting with hers. Then they lay together in the dust, spent and naked, their hearts rioting.
When she found her air again, Liv just came out and asked him. “How long are you staying this time?”
He hesitated for the barest beat. “I have to be in New Mexico tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? Why?”
“I’m joining the Army.”
Her stomach dove. “Write me as soon as you get there. Give me your address so I know where you are. Send it general delivery to Flag. I’ll pick it up there.”
“I will.” He wrapped his arms a little more tightly around her. “Livie.”
She rubbed her cheek against his chest, sensing what was coming, trying to savor all the good she could manage before the bad crept in again.
“I love you,” he said. “And you’re the only person who’s ever loved me back.”
She wanted to argue that it wasn’t true, but she was afraid it was. “We’re soul mates,” she murmured. It was a game they had played before. “Two of a kind. Peas in a pod.”
“I’ll always be there for you.”
“I might not always need you to be.” She couldn’t resist the barb. He was leaving again—so soon.
“So when that happens, I’ll go and leave you alone.”
The possibility hurt too deep for words. Liv hugged him fiercely, suddenly. “Are you sorry we did this?”
“I should be.” He kissed her hair. “But no.”
“I’m old enough now to make my own choices.”
“Well, you sure started out with a bang.”
She laughed, her mouth against his skin again. “One more time before you have to go.”
“I’m not going until tomorrow.”
“Then love me all night.”
She rolled on top of him. They didn’t make it inside until dark fell over the desert and small, nocturnal animals began rustling through the tufted rabbitbrush. Then they went into the hogan, their arms still wrapped around each other.
When Liv woke the next morning, he was gone again. But he left a note this time, promising that he would find her in Flagstaff the first time he was on leave.
Liv crushed it in her fist and dropped it into her morning fire.
Chapter 2
His doctor was a small man with a nervous Adam’s apple. Watching the thing bob up and down was beginning to irritate Hunter in a big way.
“Just say whatever it is you’re trying to say,” he warned the man. His voice was still vaguely raspy from the effects of yesterday’s anesthesia. He was in pain.
“I simply can’t clear you to get behind the wheel of a race car in four hours.” The doctor stepped back quickly at the change in Hunter’s eyes, something that could only be likened to a sudden, solar flare.
“Explain to me why I need your permission.”
“I’m your doctor—”
“Do better than that.”
“You had surgery for a ruptured spleen twelve hours ago!”
Hunter made a sound of disgust. “I’m driving.”
“Actually,” said Pritchard Spikes, his longtime friend and team owner, “you’re not.”
“It’s our season! Are you going to throw it away over some stitches?”
“The stitches don’t bother me too much.” Pritch poured a cup of water from the jug on the nightstand in Hunter’s hospital room. “But throw in the fact that you’re now spleenless—and it’s going to take even you some time to adjust to that—I’m not going to let you drive my car.”
“Don’t overlook the seriousness of four broken ribs and a concussion,” the doctor warned hastily.
Hunter glared at him again, then back at Pritch. “Ricky Stall is only sixty-two points behind me in the Cup race.” There was a calm to his voice now, as though he was confident that he could win this by pointing out the obvious. “If I don’t drive today, he’ll gain the lead.”
“Has anyone told you that you’re insane?” Pritch asked. “Stall might well take home the Winston Cup this year. You’re not getting in a car again for at least another month.”
The idea was so absurd that Hunter didn’t even hear it. “I’ll hang back in the pack today. I don’t have to win. Anywhere from fifteenth to twentieth place will do me. I just have to finish so I can keep the points close going into next week.”
“I talked to Alan Carver this morning about running your car. Damn it, Hawk, you’re going to need four weeks to recover from all this—six before your body could tolerate another crash.”
“I heal fast.”
Exasperated, Pritch put down his paper cup. “People won’t forget you if you come in second for the Cup. Is that what you’re afraid of?”
It wasn’t fear, Hunter told himself. It was loathing. Free time was the antithesis
