Chase rolled over, emerging from a restless sleep, and checked her watch. Almost two a.m. She lay awake in the early June morning, almost exactly a year from the day she’d first met Lily. She’d been waiting for Lily then too, but she hadn’t known it. Hadn’t known her life could be full and bright and filled with expectation, all because she’d opened herself to love and be loved. Love changed her life—changed her, and every day brought possibilities. Along with the joy came a little kernel of anxiety that took up residence in the pit of her stomach whenever she waited for the rumble of the Jeep coming up the track, bringing Lily home. Lily’s shift was over at midnight, and she should be home anytime.
Most of the time Chase was the one coming home in the middle of the night, but Lily had been trading shifts pretty regularly to accumulate time for her leave, and night shifts were the ones everyone wanted to switch. For the next two months, Lily wouldn’t be traveling back and forth forty-five minutes to the ER.
Chase sat up at the sound of the cabin door opening, and a moment later Lily came into the bedroom.
“Have you been awake long?” Lily asked, leaning down to kiss Chase. Somehow, even in the middle of the night after a twelve-hour shift, she managed to smell like a fresh morning breeze.
“Just a couple minutes,” Chase said, watching Lily’s figure in the moonlight as she moved around the bed, taking off her scrubs. She’d cut her hair to just above her shoulders—easier in the ER, she said—and her generically shapeless scrubs hid the swelling in her midsection Chase swore she could see, even though Lily said it was too soon. “Your T-shirt’s on the chair over there.”
Lily chuckled softly. “You straightened up, didn’t you?”
“Wasn’t much to do.”
“Were you awake worrying?”
“Nope, just woke up.”
“Uh-huh,” Lily murmured. “How did things go up at Big Bear with the hiker who fell?”
“She’ll make it. Broken femur. She was lucky to get away with just that. She fell fifty feet, and we needed the helicopter to get to her.”
“Rough insertion?”
“Not really. The helicopter drop was a little tricky. It was windy.”
Lily made a slight huffing sound. “You know, I’m a lot better at this than I was a year ago.”
“Better at what?”
“Being the wife of a forest ranger. I know what you do now. And helicopter and windy do not equal easy or simple.”
Chase pushed back the sheet, and Lily settled in beside her. “Tricky’s part of the job.”
Lily kissed the angle of her jaw. “I know that. Just remember, I speak ranger now too, so I’ll know if you’re obfuscating.”
“Obfuscating?”
“As in sugarcoating the rough stuff.”
“I’ll remember that.” Laughing, Chase ran a hand over the curve of Lily’s belly. “How are you doing?”
“I’m happy to report that I have progressed from water and crackers for breakfast to oatmeal. I’m fine.”
“You know, I was thinking, maybe we ought to get a place in town.”
“And why is that?”
“So you don’t have to drive the Jeep up and down the track.”
Lily laughed. “Love, women ride horseback until they’re practically ready to deliver. The Jeep is a lot more comfortable than that, and the track is not exactly a rock face.”
“Yeah, but still…”
“It’s way too soon for you to start being worried. In fact, there’s nothing to worry about at all. Childbirth is a thing that women do pretty naturally.” Lily kissed the corner of Chase’s mouth and settled her hand in the center of Chase’s abdomen. Lily’s skin was warm and soft, and the slight pressure sent distracting sparks southward.
“Yes,” Chase muttered, trying to ignore the growing arousal, “but you’re my woman.”
“I am. And right now I’m a woman with needs.” Lily pulled off the T-shirt she’d just put on and slid on top of Chase. In the moonlight, her eyes glinted with humor and something else Chase recognized. Something that brought more heat to her belly and a fist of need to the center of her chest. “Aren’t you tired?”
“Not even a little bit,” Lily murmured. “The other nice thing about being pregnant and not feeling queasy is I’m horny.”
“Is that something new?”
Lily ran her nails down the center of Chase’s belly. “No, but when it hits, it’s pretty urgent.”
Chase skimmed the muscles in Lily’s flanks and cupped her hips, pulling Lily tightly against her. Lily was hot and wet, and Chase hissed in a breath. The pulse beat faster between her thighs. “You’re beautiful, and I want you so damn much.”
“Show me?” Lily murmured and leaned down to kiss her again.
Chase did, with all the tenderness and fervor and love that burned through her, hour after hour and day after day. When Lily lay in her arms again, her hand straying down between Chase’s thighs, Chase sucked in a slow breath. “You should go to sleep.”
“I will,” Lily said. “Starting tomorrow, life gets easy.”
Chase, her concentration torn between the light stroke of Lily’s fingertips brushing over her and the lull of Lily’s voice in the darkness, managed to mutter, “How’s that?”
“Camp starts. I’ve got ten weeks to spend up here in the mountains, and I heard from Sarah that Marty’s coming back. They’re going to be a camp counselor this year.”
“That’s nice,” Chase said, the words strained with a little hint of desperation.
Lily laughed. “What’s nice, my love?”
“Lily,” Chase groaned. “Come on. You know.”
“You’re right, I do know. I know you love me. And I know what you need. And by the way, I love you.” Laughing, Lily kissed Chase again and took her to that place that felt like summer, every time.