The Beauty's Groom

by Taylor Hart

  “You can check me out, doctor. Don’t worry about it.”

  “I wasn’t.” She cleared her throat and turned to her notebook.

  “Right.”

  She let out a sigh and tried not to smile. “Is there something you want to talk about?” she asked.

  His gaze went to her neck. “I want to know who the locket is from. It’s the second night you’ve worn it.”

  The intensity in his eyes pierced her soul. She thought about all the hours she had spent watching quarterbacks on the field. They were always intently focused, and she’d realized as she’d grown up that they always looked like they were strategizing, which they were. That was how Forest looked now.

  She put the folder down and touched her locket. “My dad,” she said. “He gave it to me for my high school graduation.”

  He smiled softly. “I can tell you loved him a lot.”

  “My dad was my world. My dad hated Jeffrey, and it kept us apart.” She paused. “I don’t know why I’m even telling you all this.”

  “’Cause life sucks sometimes,” he said dryly. “And it feels better to talk about it with a friend.”

  “I messed things up at the end, and …” A tear streaked down her face, and she sucked in a breath. The idea of talking about her father made her vulnerable.

  “It’s okay.” He looked into the fireplace. The fire’s glow highlighted his high cheekbones and his strong jawline. The man was a freaking romance novel cover.

  She looked away, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment. “Is that what we are? Friends?”

  “I think so,” he said softly. Then he stood and dragged a chair closer to her. When he sat, the arms of the chairs touched. “I hope I’m your friend.”

  She nodded. “I’d like that.” At least, she thought she’d like that. Right now, she was confused; she’d never felt like this with a man. Every emotion was heightened when he walked into the room, and every thought was overwhelmed with him.

  But he was her patient, she reminded herself. She’d never had a patient that she thought about this much. Not even close. “I don’t connect with many people, Forest.”

  The feel of his hand on hers startled her. “I don’t connect with many people, either.”

  “My father was the last person I connected with, and I was horrible to him at the end. I mean, not at the end end, but I was so caught up with Jeffrey that I wasn’t paying attention.”

  “That’s why we have to forgive ourselves every day for the horrible things we do.”

  She stared at this man who’d been through way worse things than she could imagine. “You still have faith?”

  He shrugged. “It’s all I have most days.”

  She commanded herself to relax. “Christmas is extra hard, ya know.” With a stab of guilt, she thought of Lorin at her apartment with her twins. No. She couldn’t think about that.

  Forest let out a slow breath. “My mother loved Christmas.” He leaned back in the chair. “Well, strike that. Everything makes me think about her. But ya know, when we were all living in different homes, the worst part was Christmas. I mean, I had some great foster families. But you just miss people you love more at Christmas.”

  Tears filled her eyes, and she stood and turned away from him. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s fine.”

  She moved to her desk, where she grabbed a tissue. “I honestly don’t know why I’m getting like this,” she said, sniffling. “But you’re right. It’s going to be Christmas, and I miss my dad so much, and being here with you all has meant so much to me and … Never mind. Oh man.” She stared out the window, just as Forest had stared out of it earlier. This was embarrassing. She was the therapist.

  His hand settled on her shoulder. “It’s okay to have pain. We all have pain.”

  Before she knew what happened, she fell against him.

  He wrapped his arms around her and held her. “It’s okay, Doc. I got you.”

  Later that night, in the middle of Thor, Marcus turned off the movie. “Alright! Let’s go, peeps!”

  Forest laughed as everyone stood. “You ready for the best time ever?” he asked Lu.

  Lu nodded. “I guess.”

  Tricia took her hand and tugged her out of the living room. “Marcus, go get the costumes.”

  Marcus rushed up the stairs, then came back down, holding a box of clothing.

  Tricia yanked out the fake white beard on top. “Best hair.” She draped it around her neck, then put on a Santa hat with hair attached to it. “Cool, right?”

  “You guys dress up like Santas?” Lu laughed. Realization hit a moment later, and she yelped. “You guys are the bearded Santas with sunglasses! I saw a news clip two days ago, where you bought people gifts in that toy store.”

  Forest took a beard, a hat, and sunglasses for himself. “Shh. It’s our secret.”

  “We do random acts of kindness,” Marcus said. “You in?”

  She was grinning like a fool. “Totally in.”

  Tricia put a wig on Lu and slid on the hat.

  Forest handed Lu a pair of sunglasses. “Are you ready for this, doctor?”

  Lu felt more alive than she had in a long time. “Yes!”

  An hour later, they were all running through the main street in Frisco. Forest had given them each a sack of candy canes with five-dollar gift cards attached. They had split up to put them on the windshields of as many cars as they could.

  A car alarm went off. Forest froze for a split second, then booked it.

  Lu laughed and ran as hard as she could.

  Forest crossed the street and met up with her, a huge grin on his face. “Let’s go down a different street,” he hollered, straining to be heard over the alarm. He took her hand and pulled her with him.

  As they approached a parking lot, Forest asked, “Are you glad you came?”

  Somehow, between refusing to help this man and running wildly around in the night with a Santa disguise on, she’d begun to feel so many things about him. “I was until that alarm went off and I visualized myself in handcuffs.”

  Abruptly, he stopped walking.

  She slipped, falling into him.

  “Oops,” he said, catching her shoulders. “Don’t fall.”

  They searched each other’s eyes, and she said, “You’re a lot different from most quarterbacks I know.”

  “Oh really? Is that the one you dated in high school?”

  She grinned. “Okay, I never dated one.”

  “I knew it!” He touched her hair. “My sister was right, ya know?”

  “That’s definitely true, but what exactly are we talking about?”

  “Your hair is gorgeous.” He dropped her hair, running the back of his hand down her cheek. “You’re vampire beautiful.”

  Not expecting that, she laughed. “Haven’t heard that before.”

  “My sister always talks about these vampire books and how they describe these pale, beautiful people with flaming-red hair.”

  Impossibly, she got what he was saying. “I’ll take it as a compliment.”

  He leaned forward, staring at her lips.

  He was going to kiss her. He was going to kiss her! “Wait,” she said. “I’m your doctor.”

  “Coach,” he said, cocking an eyebrow at her. “You know this situation is way different from what you have with most of your other patients.”

  “I’m not sure how to deal with this … whatever this is.”

  His fingers lingered on her face for a moment more. “Well, as a quarterback,” he said, “I’m always thinking about strategy on how to get the ball down the field.”

  “I don’t know how this is relevant,” she said. His amazing cologne washed over her, and she relished it.

  Slowly, he traced her jawline until he reached her chin. “It’s relevant because right before I get the ball down the field, this extreme calm washes over me and I know exactly where I want to throw the ball. It’s all instinct.”

  She was feeling anything but ca
lm. “Still not seeing how this applies.”

  “What’s your instinct, Coach?” He touched her lips with his thumb.

  She pulled back from him, sucking in a breath. “My instinct is we’d better get this done.” She tried to steady herself. She’d almost kissed him.

  His focus shifted to the parking lot. “C’mon, let’s do this.” He took off, stopping at each car and stuffing a candy cane and gift card, then moving onto the next.

  Lu was feeling crazier and crazier. What was happening between her and Forest?

  But she didn’t waste time thinking about it; she let out a whoop and took off the other way, putting candy canes on each car’s windshield. She could imagine how happy it would make these people the next morning. Most of them would initially think it was a ticket, and then they would smile and feel loved.

  Emotion clogged her throat. Her father would have liked Forest Hightower. A lot.

  Chapter 13

  The next morning, Lu woke to the sound of Forest pounding on the apartment door. “Doc, wake up!”

  She pulled on a robe and ran to the door, swinging it back quickly. “What time is it?”

  A lazy smile crossed his face. “Ten. You skipped the session today, and I sat there, waiting.”

  “What?” This was unheard of. She rushed back into the apartment, checking the time. It was ten. She turned back to face Forest, who looked overly happy with himself.

  He tugged on a beanie cap. “I’m heading out to the slopes. If you come, I’ll go with you on the bunny hill today.”

  The offer sounded half appealing, especially after seeing the man so freely handing out Christmas joy the night before. “I’ll think about it.”

  Forest hesitated, then winked at her. “You look good in the morning, doc.”

  She tugged her robe tighter around her. “See you tonight, Hightower, for therapy.”

  “Marcus wants to do takeout Chinese to get more time with you watching the classics.”

  She laughed. “Ya know, I think I’m Marvel now, all the way.”

  He nodded appreciatively. “Marcus will be glad to hear that. So, Chinese and Hulk.”

  “Sounds good.” She pointed at him. “Then a session.”

  Forest lifted his brows. “After Secret Santa-ing?”

  Oh man, she’d be exhausted. “Yes, but I don’t know how you keep up this pace.”

  He winked at her and flexed. “Told you. Put all the comparisons of superhuman abilities in the notes. Make sure you preface it with ‘He reminds me of Captain America because …’ and then fill in the blank.”

  She picked up a pillow on the floor and threw it at him. “It’s getting deep in here, quarterback.”

  He chuckled. “See you later.”

  She closed the door, her heart racing. What was happening to her?

  Later that night, after Chinese and half of Thor and madly running around putting candy canes and gift cards on doors, she and Forest sat in the chairs next to each other in the office, warmed by the fireplace. It was late, almost midnight. They both stared at the fire.

  Forest’s hand brushed hers, making her heart rate kick up a notch. “So what do you think, doc?”

  How had these sessions suddenly turned into her talking? “About what?”

  His fingertips slid over the back of her hand. “About me.”

  “About you?” Fire erupted inside of her. She stood, trying to get some clarity even with this attractive beast sitting so close. “Triggers,” she said, pulling out a trick from her therapist hat. “Let’s talk about triggers.”

  Forest took her hand and kissed the back of it. “I like thinking about triggers.”

  Wow. This was getting real. “I’m your doctor. I can’t …”

  The side of Forest’s lip tugged up. He turned her palm up. “You’re fired.”

  With a laugh, she tugged her hand back. “We need to focus, Mr. Hightower. We need to focus.”

  Forest moved to stand in front of her. “I’ve decided I like when you call me Mr. Hightower.”

  She gulped. “You’re being impossible.”

  “Fine, I’ll be serious. What triggers you to kiss someone? I mean your personal triggers.”

  She pushed a hand through her hair. “We aren’t having this conversation during your therapy.”

  He brushed a hand down her hair. “Then let’s end therapy for tonight.”

  “You’re one of the cockiest men I know.”

  With a chuckle, he asked, “Did you ever think that cockiness is part of survival for me?”

  “I’m not following.”

  “For guys in my profession, we have to be a certain way to get the respect from other guys.”

  She hadn’t thought about it that way before. “I can see that.”

  “I act cocky to cover up my insecurity sometimes.” He pumped his eyebrows at her. “Psychology 101.”

  “That’s right, you majored in psych.” No wonder he was the worst patient ever.

  Forest wandered over to the window that faced the resort. “I never thought I’d be good enough to play in the pros, let alone be a starting quarterback. So yeah, I have to keep focused. Keep my walls up.”

  “You don’t have walls with Tricia and Marcus.”

  He sputtered. “Well, of course I don’t. They’re my people.”

  She nodded. “Forest, there’s something I want you to consider. What if you didn’t need walls to do the job you do?”

  “You mean be a quarterback? Do you know why we have a whole offensive line blocking for me?”

  “That’s not what I mean.” She stared up at him. “What if you could let some of the walls down with people and be vulnerable? What if everyone wasn’t out to hurt you?”

  “What if you could let down your walls?”

  “We are talking about you.”

  “I thought we’d agreed that therapy is over.”

  Lu couldn’t say anything. Her vulnerability was too much.

  “You want to know the real reason I doubt myself? Most people don’t know this, but my career is a miracle.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “From my file, or if you stalk me online—” He flashed a grin. “—you know that I had a scholarship to college at CSU in Fort Collins.”

  “Yes, I know the great Forest Hightower’s history.”

  “Good.” The side of his lip turned up. “The truth is, I wasn’t good enough to go pro. I didn’t think I’d be drafted. But there was a man named Pete Chaos.”

  Lu startled and dropped the folder she’d been holding.

  Forest frowned and looked from her to the folder. “Are you okay?”

  He knew her father! Of course he’d known her father. He’d come to the Storm when her father owned the team. Her mouth was dry. “Go on.”

  “After one game, he waited for me outside of the stadium. I’d just come out of the locker room, and he called out my name. Of course, I knew who he was. He told me he was going to draft me into the Storm. I told him I didn’t know why, because there were much better guys. He said to me, ‘I’m an underdog, boy. I had an eighth-grade education, and I scraped and battled my way to the top in retail stores until I owned the store, then bought new stores, then bought real estate, then bought this team.’” Forest let out a soft laugh. “The man was an amazing guy.”

  She hadn’t even known her father had only had an eighth-grade education. Her hands trembled, and she clasped them together.

  “Anyway, Pete told me that he knew all about me. He knew about my mother and my father. He knew that I was in the process of petitioning a judge about getting my brother and sister out of foster care.” Forest sniffed. “He told me he recognized players with heart. More than that, he recognized people who were trying to do good things. And he took a chance on them. He gambled on goodness, he said.”

  Lu’s eyes stung with tears.

  “Are you okay, Lu?” he asked.

  “You want the truth?” she whispered. The question placed a burden
on her shoulders. Forest would hate her if he knew the whole truth—how she’d abandoned the man he was speaking of.

  He turned to fully face her. “I always want the truth.”

  She blinked rapidly and sucked all of the emotion back. “I can’t do this.” She felt bare, naked, exposed.

  “You don’t have to be afraid with me.” Gently, he took her hand.

  “I can’t help it.”

  “I’ve been hurt, too. All the things that Marcus and Tricia told you the other night about Kerry were true. She did a bit of a number on me for a long time.” He sighed. “It’s hard for me to trust people.”

  More emotions warred within her. This man was so good, and her father had bet on his goodness. She let go of his hand and wiped beneath her eyes. What would Forest think when he learned about how she’d basically abandoned her father at the end? “You wouldn’t like me if you knew how horrible I am.”

  “It feels like your jerk ex did a number on you, too.”

  How did she answer that? Panic made her throat tighten. She couldn’t tell him about her father. “I’m not blameless. I’ve hurt people, too.”

  “So it sounds like you’re a normal person and you have some things to work on too, doctor.” A mischievous glint shone in his eyes. “But our time is almost up for tonight. We’ll have to resume this tomorrow.”

  Lu let out an inadvertent laugh at the bad joke, then swallowed back more fear. She stepped back. “I don’t think we should keep doing this.”

  “What?” He cocked his eyebrow at her.

  She motioned back and forth between them. “This thing we’re doing.” Then she felt like an idiot. She turned away from him. “Never mind.”

  This time, Forest tugged her to him, staring at her lips. “What if we can’t quit?”

  “Are you going to kiss me or what, Hightower?”

  He laughed. “Do you want me to?”

  “Maybe. I’m not one hundred percent sure.”

  “What if both of us can put our walls down and just accept that we’re two imperfect people who are trying? Maybe failing sometimes, but maybe doing okay at other times. And what if that’s okay?”