Nita had forgotten her cover-up on the chaise, so when she entered the house Daniel and Simon were nowhere to be seen.
As she headed for the steps, Rosita scooted out of the kitchen. “Nita, could you please take this up to baby Bella? I’m needed in the kitchen right now, and these old knees have a hard time with those steps.”
“Certainly, I’m headed that way.” Nita looked at the clear bottle. “What’s in this, anyway?”
Rosita laughed. “It’s an old recipe that’s been in my family for probably a hundred years. You’re a modern doctor, so you might not understand the old ways, but we’ve been settling upset tummies long before the Spanish conquerors ever came to this area.”
“I’ll admit, shots and pills aren’t always the cure.” She pinned Rosita with a hard stare. “How do you make this? I’m truly curious.”
“Mostly fruits. The mountain man brings me elderberries, which can sometimes be a little tart, so I add orange juice and some cane sugar.” She looked a little nervous, but added, “Then there are a few spices that I add in as it cooks. I strain it so there are no seeds. I let it cool, but babies like things warm.” She quickly added, “It’s all good for her.”
Nita smiled. “It sounds like it. The berries and oranges will give her plenty of vitamins C and D and the sugar will give her a boost of energy to help fight this off. I’m not sure which spices you’re using, but I’m sure they’re good for her. Probably makes it taste better, too. Let me get this up to her.”
After knocking quietly, Nita cracked the door. Kira was taking Bella’s temperature and recording all her vitals.
“Come on in,” Kira called. “She’s asleep, but I expect her to wake any minute. Thanks for bringing up the bottle.”
Nita’s gaze swept over the living room portion of Daniel’s suite then glanced down the short hallway toward his bedroom before she heard the shower running. The thought of him naked, lathering soap and rubbing it all over his body made her wet. She could easily imagine her hands running over his chest, curving those powerful shoulders, then down over his hard abs, following that happy trail of dark hair to his—
“I take it you haven’t heard back from the lab yet?” Kira’s question shattered Nita’s daydream.
“No, not yet. Some of the tests take twenty-four hours to run.” Nita looked at the dark pink cheeks on the baby in the crib. “Is her fever back up?”
“I’m afraid so. The acetaminophen doesn’t seem to last long for her, and I’m very careful not to overdose.” She looked at Nita, nurse to doctor. “Given her weight, and that she’s small for her age, I’ve calculated the dosage, but it doesn’t even last four hours. I checked with a pediatrician friend of mine back at Walter Reed, and he cautioned me not to exceed the recommended daily amount.”
“If we have to, we’ll get the chief of neonatology on a conference call, but he’s going to want to know the results of those tests.” She considered for a moment. “If we don’t hear something in a couple hours, I’ll go over to the lab myself.”
Relief showed on Kira’s face. “Thank you, Nita. When we got orders to come to Costa Rica to help out the Ladies of Black Swan team one, I never expected to be using these nursing skills. I thought I’d be patching people up, maybe working triage, perhaps even at the side of a surgeon in the operating room.”
Nita chuckled. “I haven’t been in a research lab in six years. I feel so awkward in there. But I’ll do what I have to do to accomplish the mission.” She patted Kira’s well-muscled bicep. “Trust me, you’ll see your share of blood and guts and gore. You’ll also be the cause of plenty of it. Our jobs are far from pretty.”
Returning to her own room, she stripped out of her bathing suit and tossed it over the towel rod. Stepping into the glassed-in shower with multiple heads, she scrubbed the salt water and sand off her body. Wrapped in a towel she headed toward her dresser.
At the light tap on her door she automatically called, “Come on in.” She figured it was one of the women on her team. They had all seen each other naked more times than she could count. Without looking to see who’d entered, she dropped her towel and started digging through clothes in her dresser on the far side of the bed. When no one spoke. She glanced over to find Daniel standing motionless, staring at her.
He’d also seen her naked. She’d never been self-conscious about nudity, so she simply asked, “Is there something I can do for you?”
“Fuck, yes.” He closed the distance to her and pulled her down onto the bed. “We never got to finish what we started.”
She giggled like a virgin at this playful side of Daniel. “I believe you’re wearing far too many clothes for this party.”
His mouth crashed on hers, only leaving her lips to slide off his T-shirt. Naked chest to naked chest, he writhed above her as he shucked his shorts and tossed them next to her towel.
“I want to be inside you so bad my cock hurts.” He attacked her breasts with his hands and mouth, rolling her nipples before lightly pinching them. Her hips automatically shot off the bed and found what they sought.
He was hard and ready. So was she. Daniel seemed to bring her from zero to ready in seconds. She didn’t know how he had that effect on her, but at this point she really didn’t care. She loved what he was doing to her.
He dragged his hand between her breasts over her stomach and cupped her mound. Dipping one finger down her wet slit he kissed her desperately before he lifted his head to stare into her eyes. “Do you want me anywhere near as much as I want you?”
She placed her hand over his and moved it down as she widened her legs. “What do you think?”
“I think you’d better have condoms somewhere close, or I’m going to have to make a trip to my bedroom and embarrass myself in front of whoever is watching Bella at the moment.” He shoved two fingers inside her and moaned as he rocked his erection into her hip.
She reached for the nightstand, but her fingers couldn’t quite make it to the knob on the drawer, so she flipped him over onto his back and retrieved a packet. Ripping it open with her teeth, she decided to tease him and slowly rolled it down his shaft, pumping a few times. Before he could move she straddled his hips and watched his face carefully.
He reached up and cupped a breast in each warm hand. “I like this position.” He gently massaged and rolled the nipples between his thumbs and forefingers. The way he touched her sent tingles straight to her clit. Then he pinched her nipples. Hard.
Her eyes flew open and she stared into his deep sapphire gaze. “Don’t just sit there, angel. Ride me.”
She normally didn’t like taking orders in bed, unless it was one of the parameters determined ahead of time, but she wanted him inside her, now. She lifted up, and up some more, so she could take him in. At the last minute, she decided to tease him. Grabbing his shaft, she rubbed the tip of his cock from her opening to her clit and back again.
His shuddered intake of breath was her reward. So, she did it again. “I believe you like that.”
“I like everything you do to me.” Then he pulled her down and pressed her chest into his. “Way too much.” He kissed her temple in the sweetest gesture any man had ever made. It was as though he truly cared for her, about her.
Then he ruined it.
He smacked her ass.
“Fucking ride me, or I’m going to flip you over onto your hands and knees and take you from behind.”
She pushed up off his shoulders and gave him a slow grin. “And what makes you think I wouldn’t absolutely love that?”
“I think you like to be in control of every situation.” He held her gaze for a long minute. “I’m going to let you be in control of this one…this time.” He sat up and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in so her ear was next to his lips. “But if you don’t slide onto my dick in the next minute, I’m going to have to get out of this bed and take care of the situation myself. In case you’ve forgotten, this house is filled with people who don’t understand the meaning of a shut door.”
He ran his tongue around the edge of her ear then sucked the lobe into his mouth. “Now,” he kissed her jaw just below her ear. “Be the angel of mercy.” Two more kisses on her jaw. “And let’s finish this.” He captured her mouth as his hands dropped to her hips.
She rose up and guided him to her entrance. In one swift movement he was completely inside her.
His fingers gripped her hips, hard. “Hold it. Right there.” He squinted his eyes closed, and his face became a mask of torture. “I…didn’t expect—” He gently squeezed and released his tight grip on her hips.
She contracted her Kegel muscles just to torture him. “Hold it like this?” she asked innocently.
He opened his eyes. “I’m serious, Nita. I need a minute if you want this to last.” He glanced away. “It’s been a while for me.” He swallowed hard. “And you just feel so good. It’s hot and soft inside you.”
She relaxed her inner muscles. He was practically begging. She wondered how long it had really been?
When the tension in his face eased, she knew he had his body under control.
He slowly opened his eyes. “I want this to be good for you.” He grinned. “I know it’s gonna be great for me.”
Well, damn. There he went again, being nice. Sex was supposed to be sex. She preferred it fast and dirty, done and gone. But nothing had been the same with Daniel.
“Okay. Time to move, angel.” He reached down between them and circled her clit with his thumb.
She drew in a shaky breath and rose up, tightening every muscle from her butt cheeks through her thighs. She came back down and swore she felt him at the entrance to her womb. He pressed on her clit, and every muscle in her body tightened. It was the first time they’d done this, but it was as if she and Daniel had been having sex for years. He knew exactly what she liked and gave it to her when she needed it most.
She made every stroke count, keeping a tight grip around his cock. For some unbeknownst reason, she wanted to be the best he’d ever had. She wanted Daniel Callahan to remember these few minutes in her bed. Because they would probably be their last together. Neither was into long-term relationships.
“Are you close?” Daniel asked between pants.
“Almost there.” She was so damn close, maybe two more strokes.
Daniel rubbed the length of her clit with the pad of his thumb, and her world blew apart. His large hand grasped the back of her head and pulled her lips to his. He kept rubbing and pressing hard as her entire body shook with what had to be the biggest orgasm she’d ever had in her life. It was definitely one of the longest. She was falling forward onto his shoulder when he arched up inside her one last time, stiffened and groaned through clenched teeth.
Nita lay sprawled on top of Daniel. His softening cock was still inside her when she recognized voices at the bottom of the stairs.
“Let me see if I can find Nita.” Katlin’s voice seemed to be coming closer. “I’ll grab Daniel, too. I’m sure he’s going to want to know what you found out.”
Nita leaped out of bed. “Go into the bathroom,” she ordered on a whisper.
He’d barely shut the door behind him when Katlin lightly tapped. “Hey Nita, Dr. Johnson has discovered something and is waiting for you downstairs. I think Daniel’s going to want to hear this, too.”
Naked, but unconcerned because both people in her room had seen her naked on more than one occasion, Nita finished pulling clothes from her drawer. “Would you go entertain Dr. Johnson while I get dressed? I’ll grab Daniel, and we’ll be down in a few minutes.”
Casually, Nita picked up her beach towel, slyly wrapping Daniel’s board shorts and T-shirt so they were hidden inside.
“I can grab Daniel.” Katlin turned to head out the room.
“Let me,” Nita insisted. “I want to explain to him the tests that I had the lab run before we hear the results.”
As though that made perfect sense, Katlin agreed and left the room heading back down to distract the researcher.
In her bathroom, she tossed the board shorts to Daniel who had already disposed of the condom. He turned on the water and cleaned up.
“That was close.” Nita hung up her towel.
Daniel wrapped his arms around her from behind. “Would it bother you if Katlin found out?”
Nita turned in his arms and laid her palms on his chest. “You don’t think it’s weird to fuck one of your sister’s good friends?”
“No.” He placed his forehead on hers, which felt more intimate than the fact their bodies were naked and perfectly aligned. “I fucked one of my friends…and we both enjoyed it. I actually like this friends-with-benefits relationship. With you, once was not enough.”
His cock twitched against her belly, and her clit ached for his touch.
He lightly brushed his lips across hers before releasing her. “But I can’t have you the way I want right now. I need to know what that researcher found and if he can help Bella.” He stepped away and slid on his shorts.
She wanted him again, but valued her relationship with his sister even more. She had no idea how Katlin would feel if she knew what Nita and Daniel had just done. The brother and sister were close. But, damn it, Nita didn’t know if she could walk away from him. If she had to make a choice between the Ladies of Black Swan and Daniel, in that moment, she had no idea which choice she’d make.
Nita walked to her bed and laid out pretty pink boy short panties and a matching satiny-soft bra.
Daniel was instantly beside her. “Let me.” He kneeled. “I’ve never dressed a woman before.” Lifting her foot, he bent and kissed her ankle. “I’ve never wanted to either.”
Kissing his way up her legs, he pulled up the panties, dragging his fingertips lightly the length of her legs, igniting every nerve ending. Wanting him again chased the need to meet their company throughout her entire body. When he nuzzled into the curls at the apex of her thighs, she nearly came. Using his thumbs, he parted her and placed a light kiss on her clit. She dropped her hands to the back of his head holding him there, begging for more.
He grinned up at her. “We have company waiting for us.”
He kissed his way up to her breasts. After a nipping kiss on each nipple, he picked up the bra.
She slid her arms through the straps and he moved around to the back. “Which hook?”
“Second, please.” She could barely speak. Lots of men had taken her clothes off her body, but Daniel was the first to put them on. It seemed even more sensual than stripping her.
Reaching around her, he slid his hands under her breasts, readjusting them in the cups. When he withdrew, her breasts felt chilled, missing the heat of his hands.
“Arms up,” he commanded.
She did as asked, but before he dropped the T-shirt over her hands and head, he placed an open mouth kiss just above her belly button.
He grabbed the pink plaid shorts and kneeled in front of her. Although she could easily balance on her own, she laid her hands on his shoulders just so she could touch him one more time as she stepped into the shorts. His fingers dragged up her legs from ankles to thighs as he pulled the shorts up to her waist.
“We really have to go.” Nita headed barefoot toward the door, but Daniel spun her around before she reached for the handle.
He gave her the most tender kiss she’d ever had. Grabbing her hand, he gave it one last squeeze before they walked into the hall.
“Now, Nita, what do I need to know about these tests?” Daniel dropped her hand.
She completely understood he’d done it for her.