She grabbed his wrist, stopping the finger that was circling her belly b.u.t.ton lazily. "Practice makes perfect." And she drew his hand between her legs.
Max"s smile died as he slid his finger into the hot sweetness that would always beat ice cream as his favorite treat.
With his fingers and tongue, he teased her body through a climax that made his body tighten almost painfully.
"Need you," she told him breathlessly, reaching for the front of the towel he wore.
Max got to his feet and dropped the terry cloth, then swept her up, turning so he could sit with her on his lap. With a knee on either side of his thighs, she reached between them to stroke him as he fumbled with the condom. Finally sheathed, he grasped her hips and moved her over him.
"I had some plans for the ice cream and hot fudge, too," she told him.
He looked up into her eyes and gave her a grin that he hoped conveyed even half of the love and happiness he was feeling. "Good thing we have forever, then."
He brought her down as he surged upward, sliding home.
They moved together slowly at first but with heat and speed building quickly. They were soon calling out each other"s names and then collapsing together on the cushions.
"So," Bree said a few minutes later, after she"d caught her breath, "this romance thing isn"t so bad."
Max laughed and hugged her close, his hand on her b.u.t.t.
Their laughter died a minute later as Max"s phone beeped. It was another weather alert.
He frowned and sat up, rolling Bree to one side and reaching over her to the end table where he"d left his phone.
"Another?"
"Southwest of here," he said, running his thumb over his screen. "Down by McCook."
"Okay." Bree wiggled out from under him and reached for her clothes as well.
Max paused for a moment to appreciate the feel of her body sliding against his, but unlike the feelings of longing he"d had before, he now felt a soul-deep satisfaction in knowing she was going to be sliding and wiggling against him a lot. For the rest of his life.
He still couldn"t help grabbing her as she started to stand to pull on her pants. He tugged her back to him and took her mouth in a deep kiss.
When he pulled back, she blinked, slightly dazed. Yep, he loved that.
"What was that for?"
"The fact that you"re going out storm chasing still all sticky with ice cream from having s.e.x with me. That"s really hot."
She grinned and shook her head. "You get off on some interesting things, Grady."
He swatted her b.u.t.t as she got to her feet.
Her smile grew sweeter as she pulled on her shirt. "But this all was romantic, wasn"t it?"
Max nodded, suddenly feeling like something was stuck in his throat. "I think you"ve got the romance thing down."
Her face brightened as if he"d just told her she"d won first place at the dirt-bike track.
His phone beeped again, interrupting the moment, then it beeped again and then again as they scrambled to dress. It was going to be a busy night.
"Okay, I"m ready." She reached up and pulled her hair into a ponytail, the holder appearing in her fingers as if by magic.
She"d always been able to produce or make a hair tie in any situation. It was one of the little mysteries about her that he was looking forward to figuring out in the years ahead of them.
He shook his head. "You have no idea how much I want to-"
"Me, too. But you"ve caught me. We need to go chase another storm right now," she said with the most beautiful smile he"d ever seen.
Max grinned, his heart full. "You are definitely the girl for me."
She gave him a wink as she started for the door. "Always have been."
Seven months later "Bree!"
Bree turned as Ashley came through the door to the training center. "Hey!" She gave the younger woman a warm hug. "I didn"t know if you"d make it."
"Barely did," Ashley said, brushing melting snow from her hair. "It"s coming down hard. What can I do?"
A blizzard was bearing down on Chance, and everyone was preparing. Ashley had asked to spend the last two weeks of her winter break in Chance. She was graduating in May and had gotten a job in Dayton, another small Nebraska town, about sixty miles away. The position was emergency community resource manager and was only part-time, but she was also working under a grant for weather study at the university, teaching a couple of cla.s.ses and helping out with Chance"s training center. She wanted to be fully prepared for her new position, so she"d spent time in Chance through all the seasons. Nothing major had happened in Chance since the tornado-at least not with the weather-but she was still on hand to learn and help.
And now they were expecting sixteen inches of snow.
"I think we have a lot done," Bree said. "We"ve got food stores, generators, people on call for snow removal. Max is out sealing some of the upper windows on the rooms where we"re going to put cots and supplies. Let"s go see how he"s coming along."
She was thrilled for a reason to go see Max, and loved that it was a legit work-related reason versus the pseudo-legit reasons she sometimes had to come up with. But working together in Chance, particularly at the training center, gave her more legit reasons than not. Sleeping with the hot teacher was a definite perk of the job.
She pulled on her coat, hat, and gloves as she and Ashley headed out the front door of city hall. The training center was on the first floor, and Max was working on the second-floor windows on the east side of the building. Outside.
The cold air and swirling snow made her take a sudden breath as they stepped out into the wintry day. The snow had started about an hour ago, but it was acc.u.mulating quickly. It was soft and powdery and pretty as it blanketed the ground and covered the evergreen trees. But in her line of work, Bree saw a beautiful wintry scene and a threat all at once.
Even so, a snowy night still made her eager to get the fireplace going and curl up with her favorite heating element: Max. It was true they never knew when they might get called out to help with a problem, but they focused on the moments they were in, appreciated them, and made the most of them. Even ten minutes of sharing body heat with Max was better than nothing.
Bree and Ashley started down the sidewalk that led around the building, and Bree made note of the snowfall amount and the conditions of the road in front of city hall. She was going to need to get out on the streets and highway soon to check them out.
She and Ashley stepped around the corner of the building just as Max was rappelling down the side. Bree felt her heart thump at the sight. It was a familiar feeling now. That same thump happened every time she saw him. Or heard his voice. Or thought of him. But it wasn"t getting old. If anything, it was getting stronger.
The rappelling definitely gave her a little extra tingle, though. She watched as he jumped to the ground and unhooked the harness. His knee bent perfectly, and she knew he wasn"t hurting. His surgery and rehab had gone amazingly well, and his physical therapist couldn"t stop commenting on what great shape he"d been in, even going into all of it.
Bree had taken a lot of the credit for that.
Max shot her a big grin as he strode toward her.
Yep, heart thumping very much intact.
She met him partway.
"d.a.m.n glad to see you," he told her. "Parts of me are pretty cold, but seeing you gets my blood pumping to all the parts I really don"t want to lose to frostbite."
Bree kissed him before grinning up at him. "You know what you climbing around on roofs and in rafters does to me."
"The whole reason I do it, babe. You think I like it up there?"
"I know you like it up there," she said. The snowflakes were clinging to their lashes and hair, and the wind was picking up, but she felt completely warm and happy. "You act like I make you jump out of planes and race dirt bikes, but you love it."
He didn"t confirm or deny that. He gave Ashley a big smile instead. "Hey, Ash."
"Hey, Max."
"Hope you"re planning to stay for a while. We"re going to be snowed in for a bit," he said.
"No safer place to be than Chance," she said with a grin.
They were interrupted by the squawk of Bree"s police radio.
"Calling all units. Motor-vehicle collision. Highway 141, three miles east of Chance. Three vehicles. Be advised the driver of one car is in labor."
Bree started for her car that was always parked at the curb. She didn"t love accidents or huge snowstorms or mixing the two, but she did love serving and protecting her town. It might be quiet and slow most days, but there was plenty to keep her going. And the thrill of going home to Max at the end of the day couldn"t be matched.
"See you later!" she called to Max and Ashley.
"Tell Dillon I"m going to need him to pay up on the beer he owes me," Max said over the wind.
Dillon would, for sure, be on the scene. He was the best physician in the area, but he couldn"t stay away from the emergency situations and had become a first responder so he didn"t have to.
"Got it," she told him.
"I"ll save you dessert," Max said. "It"s a great night for hot fudge."
She flashed him a grin. "Hot fudge makes everything better."
Max completely agreed.
She was still feeling warm when she pulled up at the accident scene.
And saw Dillon standing in the snow behind the ambulance clearly arguing with the woman in front of him.
Bree sighed and got out.
"Kit, what are you doing here?" she asked, raising her voice to be heard over the wind as she approached them.
"I was with Avery when she got the call," Kit said. "It"s not like she was going to drop me off at home before responding."
Well, she had a point. "So what"s going on?" Bree asked.
They were clearly squared off.
"Dr. Derby forgot which end of the body she specializes in," Dillon said crossly.
"Dr. Alexander is just p.i.s.sed because he didn"t get to be the big hero this time."
Bree looked around. Surely someone else could play referee here. But her fellow officers were taking statements, and the firefighters, along with the EMTs, were fixing up the victims.
"What are you talking about?" Bree finally had to ask.
"How would you feel if I were counseling someone with depression?" Dillon asked Kit.
"Like I was glad that person was talking to someone-and someone who was at least marginally qualified. Unless you skipped your psych rotation or something," Kit said.
"I kicked a.s.s on my psych rotation," Dillon said.
"Well, I kicked a.s.s on my OB rotation," Kit said. "I do have a medical degree, and at last count, I"ve delivered more babies than you have."
Of course these two were keeping track of something like that.
Still . . .
"Really?" Bree asked. "You"ve delivered babies?"
"Five. Counting today," Kit confirmed.
Bree"s eyes widened. "You delivered a baby today?" Bree"s eyes went to the ambulance where the new mother and baby must be.
"Yes. I was the first medical person on the scene," Kit said.
The wind was whipping her dark hair around her face, but she looked completely composed. She wasn"t even shivering.
Bree, on the other hand, was freezing her a.s.s off.
"And your first thought at an accident scene is to get between a woman"s legs and check her cervix?" Dillon asked.
"When her water has already broken and she"s screaming that she"s in labor?" Kit asked. "Yes."
"You should have waited for the EMTs," Dillon said with a scowl.
"You mean I should have waited for you," Kit said.
"I am the doctor here."
"You"re not the only doctor here!"
"You"re on my turf, Kit, and you know it."
"Right. Between a woman"s legs is your turf. How could I forget?"
Whoa. Kit only ever lost her cool around Dillon, but even when she did, she somehow managed to be composed and sophisticated about it. At least in public. Bree was really wondering how things actually went down when it was just Kit and Dillon.