He bent to her, kissed her, his tongue stroking hers while his thumb slipped under that tiny vee of lace and found her clitoris.
She sobbed his name, and Nick’s world spun.
He had not planned this. Had not intended to take this so far. There were logical reasons why he shouldn’t and he knew them all, but her soft, primitive cry was his final undoing.
He forget everything but this.
This, he thought as his mouth plundered hers.
This, he thought as she lifted herself to him.
This, he thought, this moment, this woman, and he swept both his arms around her so he could lift her against him, feel every inch of her against him as he brought her down the length of his body.
One of his hands slid into her hair.
For one brief flash of time they stayed that way, he holding her, her hands on his shoulders, their mouths fused in a kiss so deep, so sweet, so erotic that nothing existed on the planet but them.
Then Nick swayed.
No, he thought, Christ, no…
The crutch toppled and fell to the floor.
And Nick went down with it. Hard. Fast. Gracelessly, like a once-mighty oak now splintered by lightning.
Pain screamed like a banshee down the length of his leg. He had never felt anything like it, not since the day the IED had gone off under the Humvee.
Bile rose in his throat; for one terrible moment, his world went black and he started to go under, but Lissa’s shrill cry dragged him up and up and up, until he surfaced.
“Nick!”
He had landed on his side. Now, panting, gasping for air, he rolled onto his back. Lissa was on the floor beside him. She reached for him and he jerked away.
“I’m OK.”
The words sounded like the worst possible lie, even to him. To her, too, because she shot to her feet.
“Where are you going?”
“For help. I’ll get somebody—”
He grabbed her hand. “No.”
“But your leg—”
”I’m fine.”
“Nick. Please. I’ll go the bunkhouse. Ace will—”
He clamped his fingers hard around wrist.
“Find my crutch.”
“Nick. Let me help you—”
“Find the fucking crutch,” he snarled.
He raised his eyes to hers. She looked terrified. Why wouldn’t she? One second, he’d been a man making love to her; the next, he’d become a useless hulk all but sobbing at her feet.