Yours For The Taking Part 21

"Not yet, I guess we'll see if it wears off, but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you." Ben's hands rounded her waist and pushed her down onto him, raising his hips and gliding smoothly into her, filling her in one swift motion.

As if holding her breath was an option, h.e.l.l, she could barely catch her breath around him. His body cradled hers, arousing and comforting. He caught her gaze and looked as if he could read her mind. She hoped he'd be more successful making sense of the storm of emotions and feelings swirling through her than she was. She tried to turn off her mind and just concentrated on feeling the rush of his pulse under her lips as she kissed his neck, the quickening of his breathing as her hands slid over his chest, the thundering of his heart beneath them. But it was the look on his face when she pushed herself up to ride him that shook her. She'd never had any man look at her the way he did. She was used to having men want her, and he wanted her, all right; but there was something more, deeper, scarier. Whatever it was, it was her undoing. Her o.r.g.a.s.m took her by surprise, paralyzing her.

Ben rolled them over as one climax rolled into another, drowning her in emotion. He breathed her breath and took her back up pus.h.i.+ng her over the edge of sanity before he stiffened and groaned out her name. She wasn't sure if it sounded more like a curse or a prayer. Whatever it was, Gina was too tired to do anything more than sleep.

Ben caught his breath and rolled his sleeping wife onto her side facing him. Jasmine whined; her cold nose poked his bare a.s.s. He lifted her off the ground and set her down on the foot of the bed. The two of them watched Gina sleep.

His phone vibrated on the dresser. Ben rose, called the puppy, and grabbed his pants before leaving the room to answer the call.

"Trapper, what the h.e.l.l do you want?"

"Other than to be in your position, not much."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that."

"Why? Problems in paradise?"

Ben sank down on the couch. "I'm so f.u.c.ked."

"Oh yeah, you have a little s.e.x kitten warming your bed and absolutely no ties after the two of you part ways. My heart's just bleeding for you, bro."

"I love her."

There was dead silence. After a moment, hysterical laughter. "And here we were worried about Gina. Oh G.o.d, this is beautiful! Who'd have thought that little bit of a thing would take down Big Ben. We all thought you were one of the last remaining untouchables."

"Hey, you should talk. I don't recall you ever taking the plunge."

Silence again, but this time it wasn't followed by laughter. Ben checked his phone to see if he lost the signal. No such luck. "You there?"

"Yeah, man. I'm here. Did you share your little epiphany with Gina?"

"Yeah, it didn't go well. She started crying-"

"G.o.d, I hate it when women cry."

"Tell me about it. In between crying jags she told me I was crazy. She said if I ignored it, it would go away."

"You're kiddin' me."

"No, I wish I was. But Trap, the thing is it's not going away. What the h.e.l.l am I supposed to do now?"

Trapper laughed. "I guess since you're already married, you could try the whole happily ever after thing."

"Not if she still wants a divorce."

"Well, you just have to make yourself impossible to leave."

"How the h.e.l.l do I do that?"

"Beats me, bro. If I knew that, I wouldn't be single."

"What? You never-"

"Look, I just called to tell you Hunter and I were coming up your way to check the rafts after winter. I thought we'd stop by, but maybe not."

"I guess it wouldn't hurt. Maybe you could try to make me look good. Just keep your d.a.m.n hands to yourself." Jasmine sat in front of the door and whined.

"What the h.e.l.l is that?"

"Gina adopted a puppy on the way up the mountain."

"Did you just say a puppy?"

"Yeah, she named her Jasmine and it seems as though she has no problem falling in love with a dog, she just doesn't want anything to do with me."

"Dogs are easy. You, my friend, have never been easy."

"Thanks for all the help. Now I have to take Jasmine out so I don't have another puddle to clean up... or worse."

"Good luck, Ben, with both the women in your life. It sounds as if you're gonna need it."

"Thanks. Just do me a favor, give me some warning before you come up and don't stay long. And you might want to bring a present, like a leash and collar for a fifteen-pound puppy. Be sure to tell Gina it was all my idea when you do."

"Got it. See you soon."

Ben ended the call, tossed his coat on as he put Jasmine's collar around her neck, and headed out into the cold. He s.h.i.+vered as Jasmine sniffed every rock and stone in the area before taking care of business. He figured it wouldn't be long before Gina needed to make a trip out in the cold too. She certainly wasn't going to be happy about it.

He could kill Delbert for not winterizing the cabin. He just hoped the pipes would defrost by tomorrow. If not, he was going to have a h.e.l.l of a time keeping Gina at the ranch; and right now, he felt as if their entire future depended upon it.

Gina awoke with her head resting on Ben's chest, nose to nose with Jasmine. For all his bellyaching, it didn't look as if Ben minded having a puppy in bed with them. He was just a big softy.

That's when she remembered Ben had told her he loved her. Or thought he did anyway. G.o.d, even after her meltdown, he kept saying it. Love terrified her. Those three little words were so easy to say, but did anyone actually live up to them?

Sure Tina and Sam were solid, they'd only been married a year and a half. Nick and Rosalie looked as if they had the real thing, but they'd been married for what, a year? No marriage she'd ever seen lasted more than five years, and from what she could tell, most of that time was spent in that lovely place where they teetered on the brink of divorce. As far as she was concerned, love did nothing but bring sorrow and heartache. She'd had enough of that in her life without asking for it.

"Morning, sweetheart."

Ben stared at her again as if he could read her thoughts. "Are you talking to me or Jasmine?"

"You. I was up with Jasmine three times since 6 A.M. We've already exchanged morning greetings."

"Sorry. You should have woken me."

"I didn't mind." He leaned over and kissed her full on the mouth.

Gina pushed him away. "I haven't brushed my teeth yet."

"So?"

"So, I don't kiss anyone without first brus.h.i.+ng my teeth and downing a cup of coffee." Actually, she never kissed anyone good morning, ever. "Not to mention, I really have to pee."

"I'll walk you out."

Gina got up and looked around. Her clothes from last night were hanging neatly on the chair beside the bed. She pulled them on. "I'm fine going out on my own but it would be lovely if the pipes would hurry up and defrost. All this becoming one with nature c.r.a.p is really getting on my nerves."

"Yeah, not to mention the fact that it's about 20 degrees this morning."

"You're kidding."

Ben shook his head as he stepped into his jeans and pulled on a sweats.h.i.+rt. "You might want to put on those wool socks we bought yesterday."

"It's practically summer."

"Sweetheart, we're in the mountains. It's not summer here until after the Fourth of July, and even then, there's still snow on the ground in some places."

"Right."

Ben tossed her a jacket before he bent to put Jasmine's leash around her neck. Gina opened the door and couldn't believe her eyes. "Ben, tell me that's not snow I see flying."

"s.h.i.+t. I better call the guys."

"What guys?"

"Trapper called last night. He said he and Hunter might stop by on their way to check out the rafts. They better wait to see how much snow we get."

"Oh, come on. It's almost June. Surely it won't be more than a few flurries." She ran all the way to the outhouse and swore she'd take her blow dryer to the pipes before she pulled her pants down out of doors again. d.a.m.n, it was cold. She never peed so fast in her life.

She bundled back up and pulled Ben's phone she'd nabbed off the dresser out of her jacket pocket. Dialing the number on the card, Gina was put through to d.i.c.k, the private investigator's voice mail. If she were him, she'd have her name changed. She left a message telling him to only call back if he'd learned something before ending the call and running back to the cabin.

By the time she got back inside, there was a good inch of snow covering everything. The sky was dark with clouds and it looked more like January than June. For the hundredth time, she wondered what Ben ever saw in this place, and for at least that many times, what he saw in her.

Ben went back into the bedroom to get his phone to call Trapper and the ranger station to ask for an updated weather report, but his phone was missing. He looked high and low, checked his jacket pocket, but swore he remembered leaving it on the dresser before getting back into bed with Gina last night.

She came running into the cabin, stomping her feet. "It looks like a blizzard out there."

"Yeah, I was just going to call the ranger station for an updated weather report, but my phone is missing."

"No it's not. I have it. I had to call... and check in."

"Everything okay?"

She shrugged and looked away. "I left a message and told them to call me if they had an emergency."

Ben rubbed the back of his neck to get rid of the p.r.i.c.kly feeling that settled there. Why would she lie about that?

He took the phone and called the closest ranger station in Stanley. The forecast wasn't good. It didn't look as if he'd have a problem keeping Gina in the mountains. As far as he could see, there would be no way to get down without a helicopter. He wasn't going to mention he could get one to come up after the storm pa.s.sed. What she didn't know wouldn't hurt her, and could only help him. It looked as if they'd be stuck there for the next few days at the very least, with or without a working bathroom.

Gina sat on the couch with Jasmine in her lap watching the snow fall.

"Are you hungry? I could cook up some flapjacks."

"What?"

"You know, griddle cakes, pancakes. I make great breakfasts."

"Don't you think we should pack up and leave?"

"Nope, if we wanted to leave, we should have done that before the storm hit. We're snowed in."

"In May?"

"Yup. Once it pa.s.ses, the snow won't last long, at least not where the sun can get to it. It's unusual. They haven't had a storm like this since before they started keeping records in 1955. The average snowfall this month is under an inch. It's kind of nice though, huh? I always loved the snow. I have snowshoes, if you want to give them a try. We can take a hike to the meadow. Make a snowman, or we could just curl up in front of the fire."

"How much snow are we expecting?"

"A foot, maybe more if the system sticks around longer. Up here, you never really know."

"Oh, G.o.d. It's like that story you told me about those women who froze to death. It was a bad omen. I knew it. We're trapped here."

"You're exaggerating. We have plenty of food, we're safe, and warm-"

She stood and paced across the room. "As long as you don't have to use the outhouse. Warm is not a word I'd use to describe that that experience." experience."

He got in her way and grabbed her before she could turn. "With any luck, the pipes will thaw. I have the heat up so it shouldn't be much longer."

"How much longer?"

"I don't have an exact time, Gina. Just think of this as an adventure."

She blew her bangs out of her eyes and drilled a hole in him. "An adventure is walking through Bedford Stuy at night. This is a nightmare."

"Oh, come on." He dropped a kiss on her forehead. "You and me in a cabin for a week, and nothing to do but eat and make love. It sounds like heaven."

"There's no TV, no Internet, no communication other than your phone. And what if you-I don't know-have appendicitis?"

"There is life flight in Boise. If we needed to be medevaced, I'm sure they'd come in as soon as the snow stops."

"Oh, that makes me feel so much better."

"Good, glad I could help." He kicked off his shoes and went to the kitchen. If she wasn't hungry now, she would be just as soon as she smelled his flapjacks. While he was beating the egg whites, the secret to making light, fluffy flapjacks, he called Trapper to make sure he'd heard the weather report. It was unnecessary. Trap and Hunter knew better than to go into the mountains without first checking the weather.

"So, you're snowed in? Lucky you."