Washed Away by Carol Marinelli Page A

just touching. Her eyes closed as he drew her in closer, an urgency prevailing now as his cool tongue, as sweet and decadent as candy, explored her softly parted lips. His other hand tangled in her scented hair, and his kiss blazed a scorching trail through her body. Cheryl felt the pounding of her heart, and another distant, insistent pulse flickered to life deep inside her. As the kiss deepened, their tongues mingling, the heavy weight of his arousal pressed against her thigh, and she arched her back. His lips traced the hollow of her throat, moving down to her bruised collarbone, taking away the pain and replacing it with something infinitely more pleasurable. She yearned for him to move lower, to take her swollen breasts, to cool them with the feathery stroke of his tongue….
    “Cheryl….”
    She anticipated his detachment even before he said her name and she gently pulled away.
    “Cheryl, we can’t.” He was reaching for a towel now, wrapping it around her. “We can’t,” he said again, as if he were trying to convince himself more than her. “I don’t know anything about you, and you don’t know anything about yourself, who you are, where you’re from….”
    “Oh, yes.” It was hard to keep the bitterness out of her voice. Disappointment flooded her veins when only seconds before, ecstasy had prevailed. “I could be a drifter, an animal abuser….”
    “You could be married, Cheryl.” His voice was thick with regret. “You could be a wife and a mother. You could be engaged, getting married this weekend. Who knows who we could be hurting if we see this through?”
    She almost wept with frustration. It would have been so very easy to go on loving him back.
    But Noah was right.
    “We’d be hurting ourselves, too, Cheryl.” His eyes were imploring her to understand. “If we take things further, what’s going to happen when we have to say goodbye?” His voice was firmer now. “I should never have let things go so far. It was never my intention when I came in. I heard you call out…I thought you were…”
    “Don’t be sorry.” She forced a gentle smile. “It was a kiss, Noah, that’s all. And if my name is really Tiffany, if your prediction comes true and I’m married with three kids, then…” She gave a small shrug. “Well, given the circumstances, one tiny kiss is hardly grounds for divorce.”
    “You understand why I had to stop things?”
    Cheryl gave a reluctant nod, but forced a bright smile. “Let’s forget it happened.”
    But it wasn’t just a kiss for Cheryl. Trying to go back, to rewind a few moments and erase what had just taken place was like asking for the moon to be taken down and packed away. She could still taste him, feel the warmth on her back where his hand had caressed her skin. He walked out of the bathroom and she quickly dragged a comb through her hair and dressed in the surgical blues he’d left for her. Blowing out the candles and walking out of the bathroom herself as if nothing had taken place was the hardest feat imaginable.
    Cheryl held on to the banister as his flashlight guided her down the stairs. The storm was stirring up more than just emotions now. The sky was black outside, the wind screeched a haunting melody and not for the first time that day, Cheryl felt real fear.
    “It’s getting close.” Noah’s face was grim in the beam of the flashlight, shadows sharpening his cheekbones. “We’d better move into the clinic now.” Picking up the portable radio, he headed for the window and took one last look outside.
    Cheryl joined him, staring in nervous awe at the ominous sky. Trees were bending like rubber, and belts of rain were lashing the windows so fiercely, Cheryl found herself stepping back.
    As Noah stared out at the black swirling landscape, Cheryl could feel the tension emanating from him.
    “The animals will be terrified,” he said.
    “They’re safe, though.”
    Noah shrugged. “The ones I’ve got here are.” Still he stared out