The Five Dollar Mail Book 3: The Road Home

54: Stolen Moments That Leave Too Quickly

Cover painting by Angela Taratuta. Chapter artwork of Fiona by Diego Candia. All graphics by me.

"Fiona, are you crazy?" Storm whispered as Fiona pulled him behind the guest quarters, in the close corridor between the cabin and the stockade wall. "Do you think the scouts aren't going to notice I'm gone?" She felt him stop, pulling on her hand and turning her around to face him in the darkness. "That they're not going to figure it out?"

All she could see of him was the lightless silhouette of him. The place behind the cabin was pooled in heavy shadow, hidden even from the moonlight. "If they're anything like you, they've already figured it out, haven't they?" she whispered back, intertwining her fingers with his. "It's not like they'd tell anyone."

He huffed, exasperated. "Fiona, this is serious. We can't take these kinds of risks."

"I know it's serious. You almost got yourself killed today," she said, leaning close to his ear, keeping her voice barely audible. The scent of him invaded her senses. "I wanted to make sure you weren't injured. I could see that Collins hurt you. I was terrified."

"I'm alright." His fingers melted softly against hers in the darkness, his thumbs caressing the backs of her hands. "I could have done without him grabbing my shoulder, but I'm not hurt."

"I had to see you." She settled against him, her head resting against his uninjured shoulder and her hands slipping around his waist. He was her rock in the shifting desert, and she sighed heavily, taking comfort from his strength. "I couldn't sleep. I'm so afraid of what's going to happen, Storm. I don't know what to do."

He wrapped his arms comfortingly around her, stroking her back."I know," he whispered, his breath rifled her hair, fluttering warmly against the shell of her ear. "I'm going to protect you. It's going to be alright."

She closed her eyes. "It's not me I'm worried about. I'm afraid for you. It's not safe for you here."

"It's not safe for either of us. That's why we shouldn't be making things worse."

I don't care about worse. I just want to be together. We could die here anyway, couldn't we? "How many years have we had to hide?" she said, her lips brushing against his ear. She felt him shiver, and she snuggled against him again, his heat like a brand in the cool air. His hands settled into the small of her back, pulling her closer, and her knees started to weaken like wax melting in the sun.

She brushed his cheek with her lips, wordlessly beseeching him to turn his head. He uttered a throaty growl that sent suns exploding inside her, claiming her mouth with his. Yes, I'm crazy, she admitted to herself as she kissed him, breathing him in, clutching desperately at him. She knew it to be true. And he might be shocked to realize just how crazy and for how long. His hands tangled in her hair and he held her tightly, irresistibly, the softness of his lips as intoxicating and addictive as morphine. She pushed him back against the stockade wall and slid her hand over his chest, over his galloping heartbeat and the ragged heaving of his ribs. If anyone catches us... What was left of Fiona's reason was evaporating, burning off in a rush of heat and madness. If anyone... Storm's lips were nipping along her throat, obliterating her ability to think, and she wished desperately that there was no heavy brocade dressing gown between her body and his wandering hands. She fumbled with the buttons at his collar, pulling them apart, and the feel of his heated skin against her palms was nearly too much. She'd never in her life wanted anyone or anything as much as she wanted him now.

"Fiona..." he groaned, gasping as she let her fingers slip down his belly and across the buttons on his trousers. "Fiona...we can't." He gripped her wrist with a shaking hand, breathing hard. "We can't. Not here."

She felt as though she'd been doused in icy water. She leaned on him, frozen in his grasp. "What's wrong?"

"No." He reached up, pressing his thumbs into his temples. She could hear him fighting to control his breathing. "Not here. Not like this." He shook his head.

"Storm, what..." Fiona was startled, dumbfounded. "Are you that afraid of Collins?"

"Collins?" There was an edge of exasperation in his voice, a wounded defensiveness. "Fiona...I love you." He took her both of her hands in his. "We're hiding in a dirty alley in an army fort we both hate. You deserve better than this. We deserve better."

"We deserve each other," she said, hurt. "We deserve to be together."

"Fiona..." Storm cradled her head in his hands, pulling her face up to look at him. "You're the more beautiful and more sacred than anything in my life, woman. I'm not going to...just take you against the stockade wall like I'm some drunk behind a saloon..." He sighed, frustrated. "This isn't...what I want for us."

"I just want us, Storm." She gripped his wrists, frustration and sudden fear bringing heat to her face. "I don't care about anything else. I love you, that's all that matters."

He cupped her face in his hands. "I love you, too. You know that. But you have to care about it. The world's not going to change for us."

She closed her eyes, steadying herself. Her voice threatened to break in her throat. "It's always going to be like this, isn't it?"

"Yes." He nodded, caressing her cheek. "Yes, it is. Maybe we'll find a place someday where it isn't. But this isn't it. This is the worst place imaginable for us. You've got to understand that there are some places we can't be together. There are some places we can't even look at each other."

She felt her face tightening, her eyes suddenly wet and spilling over. She knew this. They'd both known it. But hearing him speak it aloud here, where they were both literally hiding like thieves in the darkness, sharpened the pain of it. Made it cut and bleed. "So...what are you saying?"

"I'm saying it's going to be hard, Fiona. And I want you to consider if it's worth it to you. Because I'd rather be dead than face a day that you're sorry...that you regret... because of me."

Book 1: The Green, Book 2: Lynch's Boys, Book 3: The Road Home, and the Riders & Kickers Anthology are available on Amazon under the name Regina Shelley. So if you hate waiting for chapter posts and/or want a more polished read, the finished product is available now.

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