Despite knowing she was about to be disappointed, Chase’s heart beat faster as she crested the track to Thunder Ridge Lodge. She’d never learned not to hope, not when her mother’d been ill, not when she’d been lying in the hospital with everyone telling her she’d never walk normally again, let alone climb, and not when she’d said good-bye to Lily. She slowed approaching the main building, heaviness replacing the buzz of anticipation in her depths that she hadn’t been able to crush. The lot was empty except for Sarah’s green Jeep. Of course the place was deserted late on a Sunday night. The campers had been gone for two weeks, the fourteen days she’d spent at a remote spike camp on Eagle Peak, too far from a trail for anything except a flyover airdrop of supplies every few days. They’d been lucky and kept the fire contained to minimal forest loss. The area would reforest and, given time, repopulate with the animals that had fled the conflagration. The burn had remained safely away from developed regions, and too far from cell service for calls home or even texts. Most of the crew—her included—were too busy mopping up, suppressing the few hot spots that flared up, and securing the trails to think about much except food and sleep. She’d thought about Lily, though, in the scant minutes of awareness after crawling into her shelter for a few hours of stuporous sleep. She wondered when Lily had left, if she’d left, and what she was doing now.
Chase parked, got out, and walked a short distance up the trail to look at the closed cabins and Lily’s now vacant clinic. Closed and shuttered until next summer. That answered the all-important question. Lily had left.
“She left the night the last of the campers went home,” Sarah said from behind her. “Two weeks ago, now.”
Chase took a breath and schooled her features, turning to face her sister. “Good. I guess you haven’t heard from her?”
“She texted me to let me know she’d gotten back to the city safe and sound. I haven’t heard anything since then.”
Chase pressed her lips together and nodded. “I imagine she’s pretty busy.”
“I imagine,” Sarah said pensively. Hurrying on, as if not sure of what she intended to say, she added, “You know, I’m not so sure telling her to go home was such a good idea.”
“That was always the plan,” Chase said. “We both understood that.”
“Yes, well.” Sarah sighed. “I might have suggested she go home—for your sake.”
Chase narrowed her gaze. “For my sake.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And how exactly did you do that?”
“I might have suggested that it wouldn’t take much encouragement for you to hare off asking for a transfer—which you know you would get—to some municipal posting downstate.” Sarah bit her lip. “I’m sorry. I just can’t stop meddling when I’m worried about you!”
“Did she scream and run off at that scenario?” Chase hesitated. “I might not tell you everything I’m planning, but I did vow a long time ago not to lie to you. I can’t say I haven’t considered the idea.”
“She screamed—at least, what amounts for a scream for Lily. She raised her voice and proclaimed you were to do no such thing.”
Chase smiled.
“What?” Sarah said. “What don’t I get about this?”
“Lily knows me.” Chase shrugged. “I’d try it—you’re right—if she asked. If I thought she wanted me there. Hell, who knows. Maybe I’d even like it.”
Sarah snorted.
“Okay. No. But I’d trade what I have here for her.”
“Lily would never forgive you,” Sarah said.
“I know. She’d never be happy.” Chase shook her head. “I wouldn’t do that to her.”
“This is a mess,” Sarah said. “How are you really?”
“You don’t have to worry,” Chase said.
“That’s not an answer, but I love you. And I trust you.” Sarah pulled an envelope from her back pocket and held it out. “Lily left this for you.”
Chase stared at it. This she hadn’t expected. She’d expected Lily to leave, even when she’d hoped she hadn’t. Now Lily’d surprised her again—just like she’d been doing all summer. She reached for it. “Thanks.”
“Chase,” Sarah said, “I’m sorry.”
Chase smiled. “Don’t be. I wouldn’t have traded this summer with her for anything.”
“That’s quite a statement.”
“Lily is quite a woman.”
Chase turned and headed back for her Jeep. She sat behind the wheel with the envelope in her hand for a few minutes before she finally opened it and read the single line. Her hand shook as she read it again and then a third time.
There’s always another summer.
Chase leaned back and closed her eyes. Sarah’d said Lily had talked about returning for another season. Next year. Summer flings were supposed to end, and they sure as hell weren’t supposed to turn into love. One thing she’d never be able to do was pretend another summer with Lily would ever be enough. She couldn’t do it.
Summoning the will that had gotten her through every other trial set in front of her, she radioed Nat. “Fielder, reporting back.”
“You’re off rotation for a week unless we get an emergency,” Nat said.
“Not necessary,” Chase said. “I’m good.”
“Not optional.”
“Copy. Fielder out.” Chase clicked off the radio and headed for home, debating whether to stop to buy groceries. She passed the convenience store without pulling in. Whatever was in the freezer would do along with the bottle of wine or two she’d stocked for the times Lily visited.
Lily. Everything came back to Lily.
Chase turned up the track to her cabin, more a glorified deer trail than anything else, and rolled all the windows down. Usually traveling these last five miles gave her the chance to throw off the hassles and stress of the job, to let the fatigue slide away like an unneeded cloak, and to purge her mind of worries and regrets. She loved leaving everything behind as the pines closed in on either side, as the Jeep bounced from hot sunlit glades into dense cool shade and out again and, with the windows down, as the fresh clean air flowed through the Jeep, carrying the sounds of the wild.
Today, the sunlight seemed duller, the shadows grayer, and the forest bereft of song.
She slowed entering the clearing in front of the cabin, a quick flash of hope quickly smothered by uncertainty and the fear of being wrong. An unfamiliar Jeep stood in front of her cabin. She parked behind it, got out of her vehicle, and walked toward the cabin. No one waited on the porch. Chase stopped below the stairs and watched the door.
A moment later it opened, and Lily stepped out. She looked exactly as she did in all Chase’s memories—effortlessly beautiful in casual navy-blue shorts, a scoop-necked white top with a row of small multicolored stripes along the edge of the sleeves and waist, and low hiking shoes. What grabbed Chase’s attention and held her captive, though, was the intensity in the depth of Lily’s green eyes. A fierce focus Chase could feel from feet away.
“It wasn’t locked,” Lily said, her voice as soft as her gaze was potent. “So I took that as an invitation to enter.”
“You have a standing invitation whenever you want it, Lily.” Chase tempered the urge to bolt across the space between them and pull Lily into her arms. Lily had the lead here. “How long have you been here?”
“Just since this morning. I was about to raid your freezer.”
Lily shrugged and grinned, a motion Chase found about as sexy as anything she’d ever seen. Her stomach actually rolled with the need to touch her. She swallowed hard. “Nice vehicle.”
Lily smiled. “Sarah always told me I needed a Jeep. She was right.”
“Can’t argue there.” Chase laughed. “But raspberry, Lil? Really?”
“Nothing says you can’t have a pretty Jeep.”
“Where’d you leave the Beemer?”
“My parents are safeguarding it.”
Lily’s smile widened as she came down the steps and stopped only inches from Chase. The familiar aroma of coconut and vanilla and an undercurrent of dark spices hit Chase hard. The ache in her midsection dropped lower, and her hips tensed. “What are you planning to do with that 4-by-4 in the city?”
“I didn’t buy it for the city,” Lily said.
Chase carefully framed Lily’s face, running her thumbs along the edge of Lily’s jaw. Lily made a sound a lot like a purr, and her lids flickered. Lily’s skin was so soft, her gaze so deep and inviting, Chase trembled. “What are you doing here?”
“Did you get my message?”
“I did.”
“Well, that’s why I’m here.”
“I don’t…I don’t understand.” Chase’s throat tightened, want so fierce her body refused to move. “You said next summer…I thought you meant you’d be back then.”
“Mmm. That too.” Lily threaded her arms around Chase’s neck and kissed her.
The kiss was everything Chase remembered and more, warm and sweet, like the air she breathed, and as wondrous as every dream she’d stopped dreaming. She didn’t want the kiss to end, for the moment to pass, for whatever came next to shatter the perfection. She didn’t move, her fingertips lightly grazing Lily’s cheeks. “Help me out, Lily. I’m out on the edge here without a guideline, and I’d rather not fall.”
“You won’t. I’ll never let you fall.” Lily leaned back, her gaze on Chase’s. “There will always be another summer, and I want to be here for all of them. But I don’t want to leave when summer ends, not as long as you want me.”
“Lily,” Chase said, “I will never not want you.”
“That’s good,” Lily said, “because I love you. And I want you for as long as I live.”
“Ah, Lily.” Chase closed her eyes and rested her forehead against Lily’s. “I love you, baby. So damn much. But—”
“I quit my job, Chase.”
“What?” Chase stiffened. “Lily, no. You—”
Lily laughed. “Don’t worry. I didn’t turn in my doctor card, and I’m not having a midlife crisis. More a midlife awakening.”
“But—”
“I know we have to talk,” Lily said, pressing into Chase again, her breasts tauntingly soft against Chase’s chest, “but I really need you. Can we please talk later and make love first?”
Chase’s inertia imploded on a surge of desire. She scooped Lily up and crushed her to her body. No matter what it took, no matter what she had to do, she wasn’t letting her go. Nothing mattered as much as a life with Lily in it. “Anything you want, Lily, anything. But absolutely that.”
She crossed the porch, pushed the cabin door open with her foot, and carried Lily through.
* * *
Lily tightened her grip on Chase’s shoulders and pressed her face to her neck, drawing in her scent, that unique mixture of earthy mountain fragrance and crystalline air. She’d thought of that scent—missed it—every time she’d stepped out into the city these past weeks. Her senses felt blunted, as if she couldn’t quite experience everything as clearly as she had all summer. The sun was certainly just as hot, but not nearly as bright, filtered through the ever-present haze that hung over the metropolitan area. She’d never really noticed it before, but then she’d rarely actually looked up. Her world had been concrete, steel, and stone, not earth and sky and green growth. She’d lost the exhilarating sensation of being surrounded by vibrant life everywhere she looked, and the loss only intensified the ache that was constantly with her—the hollow void inside her chest that was missing Chase.
“You didn’t get hurt out there, did you?” Lily murmured, trying and failing to touch all of Chase as she carried her through the bedroom door to the bed.
“Nope. Bumps and bruises.” Chase leaned over and gently laid her on top of the covers and then eased down beside her. “Nothing serious. And right now, I’ve never felt better in my life.”
Chase’s tone was low and heavy, and she kissed Lily with slow, probing restraint. Her fierce control fired Lily’s need, and Lily tugged Chase closer until Chase lay full-length upon her. “You should keep kissing me like that, and maybe I can make you feel even better.”
Chase groaned, a sound that shot through Lily like heat lightning, bright and sharp and tinged with wild sky. She gripped Chase’s shirt and tugged it from her pants, needing skin. Needing the feel of Chase’s firm muscles, the sweeping planes of her back, the power that she longed to set loose.
Chase’s kisses came faster, harder and more insistent, and Lily sensed her tremble on the edge of control. She pulled away and struggled to form words through the longing that tightened her throat. “I want to be naked with you. I have to be naked with you. I need you.”
“Lily,” Chase gasped, her mouth on Lily’s neck, her lips tracing the pulse down Lily’s throat. “I love you, Lily.”
“Oh,” Lily sighed, a lightness of wonder filling her, “I love you too. God, I love you.”
Chase sat up, her knees on either side of Lily’s hips, and tugged at her shirt. Buttons flew and Lily laughed. “You’re ruining your shirt.”
“I don’t care. Take your clothes off, Lily.”
Lily half sat and pulled off her top and everything underneath. She opened Chase’s ruined shirt and kissed her breast. “I don’t ever want you to move.” She traced Chase’s nipple with her lips. “You are gorgeous.”
Chase threaded her fingers through Lily’s hair and hissed out a breath. “Lily, let me get you naked. I want you. I’ve wanted you for weeks. Please.”
Lily leaned back on her arms, bare to the waist. “Be careful—I’m so aroused I feel like one of those rockets on the Fourth of July—I’m afraid I’ll go off the second you touch me.”
“Then we’ll just start over.” Chase climbed off the bed, kicked off her boots and shoved her pants down, and, an instant later, unbuttoned Lily’s shorts. Her fingers were deft, the backs of her hands warm against Lily’s belly as she slid the shorts down her thighs along with her panties. The air in the cabin was hot and still, the last bit of sunlight drifting lazily through the windows, etching Chase in golden tones.
“You’re beautiful,” Lily whispered.
“I’m yours, Lily. However you want me.”
“Always, always.”
Chase knelt on the bed between Lily’s legs and played her fingertips lazily up and down the insides of Lily’s thighs. Lily quivered, each stroke coming closer and closer to where she needed Chase most.
“Tease me later,” Lily said, knowing she sounded desperate and not caring. She wanted Chase to know how very much she needed her. “Take me now. Go slow later.”
Chase laughed, a wild, primitive, possessive sound that drove Lily even higher. She wanted so badly to come, and she wanted so badly to stay right at that pinnacle of urgent need and incredible desire and consuming, magnificent pleasure that flowed from Chase’s every touch. She wanted to lose herself in loving Chase.
“I love you,” Chase murmured, covering Lily’s sex with her palm.
Lily’s hips tensed. “I can’t wait. Please.”
And then Chase was inside her, deep and knowing and filling her, stroke after stroke. Lily cried out.
Oh, now.
Her eyes closed against her will. Colors more glorious than sunrise played across her inner landscape, and the roar of the wind and the rush of the waterfalls flashed through her consciousness. And she came, gloriously long and gloriously hard until her muscles went limp on a sob. Chase was above her then, her mouth taking Lily’s again, hard and deep. Chase straddled her thigh, her hips thrusting wildly.
“God, Lily.” Chase groaned and came, quivering in Lily’s arms.
When Chase lay stunned and loose-limbed upon her, Lily stroked her hair. “I love you. I love it when you make me come. But I love making you come more.”
Chase shuddered and kissed the corner of her jaw. “Win-win.”
Lily laughed and filled her hands and her heart with all that was Chase, stroking her, wrapping herself around her, reveling in being with her again.
After a few minutes, Chase rolled onto her back next to Lily and reached for her hand. “I don’t know what to say now. You’re here, and I’m not sure what’s next.”
“Say what you need to say,” Lily whispered, lacing her fingers through Chase’s. Whatever it was, whatever Chase needed, whatever troubled her, they’d find a way.
“I’m crazy in love with you, Lily,” Chase said quietly. “And it will make me crazy if you leave again, so I’m scared, right down to my boots.”
“Well, that part’s easy.” Lily leaned over and kissed her. “I’m not leaving again.”
Chase’s brows furrowed and worry swam in her eyes. “But, Lily, I can’t ask—”
“You never asked. And I know you never would.” Lily held Chase’s gaze, making sure Chase could see the truth in hers. “I’m here because this is where I want to be. I told you I wanted to be with you for the rest of my life, and this is where we belong.”
Chase took a long breath. What she needed to say was the hardest thing she’d ever said. “This is where I belong, Lily. But you—”
“No,” Lily said, pressing her finger briefly to Chase’s lips. “This is where you belong, and this is where I want to be. Because of you, yes, but for me too. Can you listen? Can you hear me?”
Chase trusted her, believed in her. And knew that Lily would always speak her truth. “I’m listening, baby.”
“On the drive back to New York, I realized something.” Lily laughed a little unsteadily and shook her head. “God, it took me a long time. I told you about my parents, right, about meeting in a war zone?”
Chase nodded.
“At the time,” Lily said, “they were both doing what they’d always known they would do. And then, after they’d met and fallen in love, they wanted something else. They came back here, and they made a different life.”
“I’m with you.”
Lily settled her cheek against Chase’s shoulder and wrapped an arm around her waist. Chase rested her chin against the top of Lily’s head. She’d never been so content, so thoroughly happy in her life, just lying with Lily in her arms.
“I’m my parents’ daughter. I wanted to be an ER doc, and I am. I wanted to work in the most challenging, demanding, wildly unpredictable place I possibly could, like they had done—short of going to war—and I did that. Then I went to war, and now my war is over.”
“Lily,” Chase whispered. “You’d be giving up everything you’ve worked for.”
“I want more than a job, Chase. I’ve discovered something else that I want in my life, what my parents found. Not just you,” she said quickly, “although I want you more than I have the words for, but I want you and the life I could have here with you. A life with love in it. I didn’t know how much I needed that. I can be a doctor in an ER up here, and I can still make a difference in people’s lives. I learned that this summer.”
Chase kissed her. “I always knew the summer would never be enough. I fell in love with you the first time we kissed.”
Lily sat up. “We were never meant to be for only this summer, Chase. Our love is for every summer, and all the times in between. You are who I want, and this is the life I want. Will you have me?”
Chase framed Lily’s face for another kiss. A kiss that said forever. “Always, Lily. I’m yours for all the summers of our lives.”