Page 20 of Getting Off

Lucas put his hands on her waist and lifted her back down to the ground.She liked the way his hands felt on her waist.

She felt silly and strangely exposed as she hustled off to do her business—but not too far, because she didn’t want to get lost or anything crazy.Nothing like trying to peel out of that stupid bodysuit to pee behind scrub brush in the desert.It had been so long since she’d done anything like this—not even camping.And yet, she felt strangely alive.This was so different from her usual world of the hospital and patients and seminars.She didn’t know if that was good or bad, but it was definitely different.

It all felt like something she would’ve done when she was a kid.Back before she’d lost her brother.The thought of him made her feel a little sad and wistful.

Lucas was still waiting when Brooklyn got back to the Bronco.“Ready?”

She nodded.Her throat felt thick.There were so many memories bouncing around inside her head.Lucas lifted her once again onto the tailgate.Brooklyn turned and crawled into the cargo area.

Dylan was already there, reclining in what seemed to be a far too comfortable position against some gear bags.He patted the space in the center of the small square space.“You get the middle, sweetheart.”

Brooklyn bit her lip and thought about the moment of obvious sexual awareness that Dylan and Lucas had shared inside the locker room.And Dylan’s admission that he was bi.“Are you sure you don’t want to be in the middle?”

Dylan laughed, obviously taking her meaning.“I would, but this way it’s less likely you’ll end up squished against the wheel well.”

As soon as Lucas was inside the Bronco, Dylan fastened what looked to be a nylon curtain of sorts to the back of the Bronco’s cargo area.It created something that resembled a tent flap.

“I’m willing to bet,” Lucas said after a moment or two of comfortable silence had passed, “this is Brooklyn’s first time camping.”

Brooklyn smiled in the darkness and realized she was proud to be able to argue the opposite.“You lose.I did a lot of camping out when I was young.”

“Is that right?”Dylan’s interest was plain in his tone.“I thought you were a dancer.”

“I did dance.Ballet, tap, modern dance, I dabbled in all of it, but I really liked being outside too.”

“Where was this?”

“Wyoming.Not far from Jackson.”It was funny how confessions in the dark felt so much easier.“I…I had a twin.Colin and I were forever finding someplace to camp out.We’d take the quads out with tents and food for the weekend.Just the two of us.”

Dylan took her hand in his.Brooklyn suddenly wished they weren’t wearing these stupid suits.“How long ago was that?”

“Colin died when we were fourteen.”How could it be so easy to say that right now when she normally couldn’t talk about it at all?Brooklyn swallowed the lump in her throat.“He was the cautious one.I was the one who never thought about consequences.”

There was a rustle, and Brooklyn realized that Lucas had turned in her direction.He gently stroked her hair, the backs of his fingers brushing her face.The gesture wasn’t sexual.It was an offer of comfort.“I can’t even imagine how something like that would change your life.”

Brooklyn thought about the rest.About what had happened.“I made a bad decision.Colin paid the price.”

“Head trauma,” Dylan guessed.“Is that where your passion for treating brain injuries came from?”

“We weren’t wearing helmets.He came off the quad and hit his head.”Brooklyn remembered the entire thing as though it had happened yesterday.“Everything was normal.He was fine.We didn’t want our parents to be pissed.So we didn’t tell anyone.And then two days later, he got the flu.At least, that’s what we thought.”

Brooklyn would never forget that morning.The morning she woke up and found her twin dead.“He died in the night.I could tell you right now exactly how and why it happened in every diagnostic detail, but back then, I didn’t know.I woke up, and he was gone.He used to get up first.He was so much more responsible than I was.And that morning, I woke up late and couldn’t figure out why he hadn’t gotten me up.I was even mad at him because we were going to be late for school.”

Now Dylan turned in the darkness.They were both cupping her between their big bodies.Their warmth touched her on so many levels.For the first time in a long while, Brooklyn didn’t feel alone.They were stranded in the desert, and she had opened her heart, and she was not afraid.She lay there in the darkness in the back of a Bronco and felt as though she were exactly where and when she needed to be.

They held her.She didn’t say anything else.She finally drifted off to sleep, and her dreams were sweet.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Lucas Fox groaned and stretched as he woke.There was no confusion about where he was.He had absolute perfect recall of every second of the previous night.So much felt like it had changed since the fundraiser.Dylan had said he wanted to try restarting the Bronco once the engine and gasoline cooled and the vapor lock was gone, but Brooklyn had fallen asleep.They hadn’t wanted to wake her.

The interior of the Bronco was warming in the morning sun.He could feel the brilliant morning sunlight on his boots where they hung just past the flap slanted against the tailgate.There was still a bite lingering in the air, though.He felt it on his cheeks and nose.Then he gradually became aware of something pressed up against him.

It was Brooklyn.Lucas found himself staring at her curled up like a contented kitten.He tried to reconcile everything he’d learned about this fascinating woman in the last twenty-four hours.The cool, clinically minded doctor wasn’t the ice queen people claimed she was.

Unable to resist, Lucas gently moved his hand to touch her tangled blonde hair.She was so beautiful.Right now, she seemed so unguarded and genuine.No carefully controlled words and expressions or professional detachment.

It was strange.Lucas could actually see himself settling down with an intelligent, motivated woman like her.As impossible as it should have seemed, he liked the idea.There were depths to this woman—thisperson—that Lucas didn’t believe they had even skimmed.But he wanted to.That surprised him more than a little.

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