The Beauty's Groom

by Taylor Hart

  Lu realized that this man might be a better therapist than she was. Tentatively, she leaned in, knowing that she was on shaky ground. “Okay.”

  A real smile appeared on his face, not unlike the ones he gave Tricia and Marcus. “I think we’ve made progress during this session, doctor.”

  “For who?” She smiled back.

  “For both of us.” He winked at her. He leaned down, and she tilted her head up.

  When their lips met, a bonfire sparked to life inside of him, fed by the attraction that had built between them. Her hands ran up his shoulders, then behind his neck.

  He pulled back, smiling. “So I’m the first quarterback you ever kissed.”

  She laughed and shoved him. “Don’t let it go to your head.”

  Chapter 14

  The next morning, Lu was on time for their session. She was nervous. Dang, she’d kissed Forest. After that, she’d held hands with him during the movie. Marcus had given them barbs about how Forest was in love with the doctor.

  Forest rushed in, falling on the couch. “I don’t understand why we can’t cut out the morning sessions.”

  Her heart raced as she thought about the make-out session with him last night before she’d gone into her apartment. Gah, was she making a big, fat mistake? Yes. She knew she was. She opened her notebook and focused on doodling. “Hey.”

  Forest hopped off the couch and circled around the desk to watch her doodle. He tugged at her hair. “Hey.”

  She batted at him, and he diverted the swat.

  He pointed at her. “Triggers, Dr. Lane, triggers!”

  She laughed and stood, pushing him for real in the chest. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

  Of course, he didn’t even budge. “Should have gone for the head,” he said in a deep, serious voice.

  She had no idea what he was talking about. “What?”

  “Bahh!” He threw up his hands. “You haven’t seen Avengers: Infinity War.”

  She was confused, but she shoved him and dashed off.

  He chased her. “You’re going to pay!”

  With a giggle, she ran down the hallway.

  Forest was a larger-than-life man, and he was reminding her of that fact. She squealed as she ran through the kitchen. He tried to cut her off and anticipate which way she would go to escape.

  She bolted around the counter and into the living room, falling on the couch and picking up a big cushion to shield herself.

  He slammed down next to her, and his head hit the cushion. “You!”

  She erupted into giggles.

  Then he was tickling her beneath the neck. “Oh, you like that. You don’t mess with Captain!” He pounded his chest.

  “I think that’s Tarzan.”

  “Tarzan?” He tickled her harder.

  She tried to tickle him back, but he was too strong, and pretty soon she said, “I give! I give.”

  He stopped tickling. “You give?”

  She nodded, still giggling.

  With a huge grin, he reached out and grabbed her. He put his head on her lap. “Good, because I need a nap.” He started fake snoring, turning into dead weight.

  She reeled with laughter and tried to push him off. “Stop!” All of the adrenaline was catching up to her. She sucked in a breath. “Whew.”

  He didn’t move, but he stopped snoring. “Hold still. I’m getting my coaching, and you’re interrupting me.”

  Eventually, she gave up on pushing him away. She took a pillow from the couch, placed it behind her head, and leaned back.

  He scooted up next to her. “Lu.”

  “Yeah?” she said.

  “I’m glad you came to be the woman in the tower or whatever. It’s nice having you here.” He propped his head on a pillow.

  Unable to stop herself, she reached out and touched his face. “Forest Hightower, you’re definitely not the Beast.”

  He reached up, taking her hand in his. “Well, you definitely are the Beauty.”

  “‘No, you’re prettier’; ‘no, you’re prettier.’” She used to play this game with a friend when she was little.

  He scrunched his nose. “Just what a guy wants to hear—he’s pretty.”

  “And fine, maybe you’re more than a pretty face, too.”

  He kissed the back of her hand, sending warmth flowing up her arm. “Tell me about your sister. You mentioned she was pregnant last year.”

  “Oh, did I say that?” She’d forgotten how much she’d been rambling on last night. Thinking of her made her feel guilty. “Lorin is five years older. A different marriage. She always treated me how Cinderella’s sisters treated her.”

  He smiled and played with her hand, running his fingers through hers. “The mean older stepsister. I had a couple of those in foster care, too. So did Tricia and Marcus.” He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “You don’t want to get them started.”

  “I’m so sorry about what happened to all of you.” With her other hand, she traced the lines of his face, brushing across his sexy facial hair.

  “We had crap happen to us.” He kissed her hand again, sending chills through her. “We got over it.” He turned to face her, lightly running his fingers on the inside of her wrist.

  So many emotions warred within her, and all she could do was look at his lips. He had nice lips. She caught him looking at her lips, too. “Forest,” she said, sounding more official than she wanted to.

  The side of his lip turned up. “Yeah, Lu?” He leaned up to her, closing in on her lips.

  She swallowed and inched forward. The truth hovered on her tongue. “I need to tell you something.”

  His mouth was within millimeters of hers. “Should we kiss first?” he breathed.

  She pressed her lips to his, and—just like that—she melted.

  “Where’s my brush?” Tricia yelled out down the hallway.

  Lu pulled back, and Forest sat up.

  Tricia bustled into the room. “Where’s my brush?” Her eyes scanned the floor. “There!” She dived on it and clutched it to her chest. “Phew, I cannot lose this brush. You have no idea how many I’ve lost, and my instructors get ticked.”

  Forest stood. “Nice, sis,” he muttered as he helped Lu up. “We could just continue kissing.” He held her by the waist.

  Lu giggled against him, but she kissed him back.

  “Forest! Let’s hit it!” Marcus interrupted, walking into the room.

  Forest stopped, his hands still on her waist. “Come skiing today.”

  Lu’s resolve was weakening. “I can’t. I’m terrible.”

  “Just come.” Marcus pointed to the window. “But we gotta go. Look at all that powder!”

  Forest squeezed her hand, then raced off. “I’ll be right there.”

  Chapter 15

  Lu stood in line at the ski lift, wondering why she’d even decided to ski. It’d been too long. Would she remember how? But after Forest had busted out to the slopes with Marcus and Tricia, she’d felt lonely. Which was odd, because she never felt that way. Then again, during the past few months since everything with Jeffrey had blown up, she’d had no clients, spent no time with friends or family. She’d been lost until coming here, without purpose.

  Her turn came to ride up, and she shuffled forward. It was all coming back to her. She got to the line and turned back, waiting for the chair to reach her.

  Someone raced up beside her. “It’s the doc!”

  They both fell into the lift seat. Only then did she recognize that it was Marcus. “Hi there,” she said, smiling at him and getting comfortable.

  Marcus exuded happiness. “You decided to come out after all.”

  “My first run.” She grimaced and looked down at the people flying by beneath them. “It’s been a couple of years.”

  “That’s okay. It’s like riding a bike.” He grunted. “I actually only started skiing when Forest scored it big and got his Storm contract. So I probably shouldn’t compare it to riding a bike.”

  L
u nodded. “Forest is a good brother.”

  Marcus grinned. “Yeah, he is.” He paused like he wanted to say something to her.

  She waited. It was what a good therapist would do.

  “Listen, I know he likes you and you like him, but just make sure you …”

  In her mental eye, different facets of Forest came in and out of focus. She hadn’t thought about the abuse the kids had probably endured far before their mother died and their father left. “Marcus, I don’t know what’s happening.”

  Marcus sucked in a breath. “The dude’s been skiing so carefully today. I mean, he has to anyway, because of his job, but he’s happy. What Dad did was terrible, but it brought you to us.”

  A chill rushed through her. She hadn’t considered that meeting the Hightowers was somehow meant to be. She just looked out over the mountains. They were nearing the summit. “I don’t want to hurt him, Marcus. I can tell you that.”

  Once they arrived at the top, both of them planted their skis and flew off the lift.

  Marcus waved for her to stay back. “Don’t go this way! Turn back! It’s a black diamond!” Then he disappeared from view.

  She’d followed him without realizing where they were headed, and now she felt a spike of fear. “No!” she shouted, as she found herself facing huge moguls.

  The slope steepened. As she accelerated, she remembered all the things she’d once known about skiing. You had to maintain control of your core. She bent her knees and followed in Marcus’s wake. Her heart thumped, and she tried to push away the panic. She was not ready for a run like this out of the gate. She hit a mogul hard and lost her left pole. She tried to see Marcus, but her speed had picked up.

  Her body screamed at her. She wasn’t out of shape—she walked on her treadmill and did some yoga and light weights—but she was nowhere near prepared for this. One of her skis twisted to the side, and her whole body followed. Well, she forced it to follow.

  She found herself speeding straight into a tree.

  “Fall to the side!” someone shouted at her from behind.

  She tried to turn back to see who was shouting at her, but she lost her other pole. The tree loomed in her vision. Terror smothered all rational thought, but she managed to follow the advice. She dived to her right side.

  The impact of falling, skidding, and hitting a mogul jammed her shoulder and knocked the wind out of her. Luckily, she’d worn a helmet. She lay there, catching her breath and taking inventory of everywhere she hurt.

  The sound of swooping and stopping scraped through the air. “Lu!”

  She rolled onto her side. The burning cold snow felt like it’d scraped off half of her face.

  “Lu, are you okay?”

  She heard the sound of boots unclipping from skis, and she tried to turn. Right then, she tasted the iron taste of blood.

  Forest’s face appeared above her, blocking the brightness of the sun. “Are you okay?” He bent and gently touched her face.

  “I don’t know,” she mumbled through the snow. The pain raged in her head, her shoulder, and her back.

  He knelt and tugged off a glove, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “Don’t worry. I’m calling for help.” When the call was picked up, Forest rattled off their location and told them he didn’t know what was hurt. “There’s blood from a gash on her head.” He continued talking, giving them all kinds of details.

  She realized he was talking to the ski patrol. She tried to roll on her back, but her feet were stuck. Her head throbbed. “Will you take the helmet off and help me roll over?” she asked him when he hung up.

  “I don’t know if we should move you. I don’t want to hurt your neck.”

  She flopped onto her back. “Ouch.”

  He grunted. “Well, fine, if you’re going to move anyway …”

  Forest unclipped her skis, and she was able to twist more fully to her back. Luckily, she wasn’t paralyzed.

  “Be careful.” He put his hands on her shoulders and then inspected her face. His frown deepened. “That gash looks nasty.”

  She sat up and pulled a glove off, reaching to the pain on her head, and gingerly removed the helmet.

  “Careful.”

  Her fingers touched blood. The gooeyness made her queasy. “I’ve never been good with blood.” The light-headed feeling intensified. Dizziness hit her, and she put a hand back to stay up.

  Forest put his hands on her shoulders. “Hang with me.”

  “I’m okay,” she mumbled. Then everything went black.

  Chapter 16

  Forest sat in the hospital next to her bed, his head buzzing with terror. He was a professional football player and had been around lots of injuries, but when this woman had passed out, it’d scared him. He tried sucking in a breath and refocusing again, but he couldn’t.

  “Forest!” Tricia rushed into the room, followed by Marcus.

  Forest held them. “It’s okay.”

  Tricia put her hands to her mouth, tears already in her eyes. “Is she okay?”

  Forest had called them after the ski patrol had gotten them in the ambulance and they were riding to the hospital. He’d been too freaked out trying to check her vitals before that. “The doctor thinks she’ll wake up soon. She took some trauma to her head.” She’d better wake up soon, he quietly thought.

  Marcus spoke quietly. “I’m the one she followed down that black diamond. Did she tell you that?”

  “No.” Forest glared at him. “Why’d you do that?”

  “I didn’t mean to; she just followed me off the lift. I told her to go back.”

  “Why were you skiing with her?” Tricia asked. “She said she wasn’t a great skier.”

  “She was on the lift before me!” Marcus threw his hands up.

  Tricia turned to Forest. “I think we should pray.”

  Forest hesitated.

  Marcus nodded. “I agree. Let’s pray.”

  Forest thought of the day they’d lost their mother. It had been thirteen years, and emotion that surged inside of him was still fresh.

  “You’re the oldest. You pray,” Tricia said with tears in her eyes.

  He wanted to argue, but he thought of what Lu would want. He bowed his head. “Dear God, we ask you on behalf of our friend, Lu …” He broke off, the words sticking in his throat. He remembered being mad at God for so many things. “We ask that you send your grace on her and heal her. We ask … we ask that you send your grace on all of us. Please forgive us. In the name of Jesus, Amen.”

  “Amen,” his brother and sister said at the same time.

  Tricia put her hand on Forest’s. “Mama would be proud of you.”

  For the first time in years, Forest let tears spill down his face.

  He didn’t know how long they stood there, but suddenly Lu’s eyes flashed open.

  “Lu?” Tricia asked, putting her hands to her mouth.

  “Hey,” Lu said. “Water.”

  Forest’s heart thrummed and he let out a relieved sigh, hardly daring to believe that she’d woken up.

  Marcus grabbed the cup with a straw that was next to the bed. Lu cringed when she tried to sit up for it.

  “Here.” Forest grabbed the remote and put her bed up.

  Marcus gave her the straw, and she drank.

  When she was done, she smiled at them. “I told you I’m a terrible skier.”

  They all laughed. Forest was so grateful that she’d woken up.

  She reached her hand out to him, and he took it. Something passed between them, something more real and different from what he’d experienced with a woman before. “Thank you for saving me.” A tear rolled down her cheek.

  “Thank you for saving me.”

  “Oh, brother.” Marcus pushed Forest. “Don’t start with the romance-y stuff right now.”

  Forest grinned, still looking at Lu.

  With a weak chuckle, she said, “So I’m thinking that all this time and before counts as, like … the rest of your sessions.”

&nbs
p; He laughed and pulled her hand to his chest. “But what will be my excuse to spend time with you?”

  Tricia stuck her finger down her throat. “Oh man, what’s happening?”

  Lu and Forest laughed. Forest didn’t know what was happening, but he knew that he liked this woman—a lot.

  Chapter 17

  Lu lay on the living room couch, propped up on pillows with a water bottle and a straw next to her. After the doctor had checked her out last night, Forest had insisted she sleep in the living room. He’d slept on the other side of the couch, holding her hand—just to keep an eye on her.

  Now Tricia, Marcus, and Forest were in the kitchen, trying to whisper. “I don’t think we should leave her alone today. I think you guys should go out,” Forest said.

  “True,” Tricia said. “But I think I should stay with her. I’ll braid her hair; that relaxes her.”

  “I’m staying,” Forest said, his voice rising a bit. “This is nonnegotiable.”

  Even though Lu had a dull headache, she couldn’t help but smile. How had she become so close to all of them so quickly?

  “Whatever we do, we gotta go,” said Marcus. “It’s the last day for skiing.”

  Lu closed her eyes, grateful that she hadn’t gotten hurt any worse than she had.

  After a bit, she felt a soft hand on hers. “Hey.” When she opened her eyes, Tricia was smiling at her, all bundled up in her coat and hat. “Marcus and I are going to ski, but Forest is going to take good care of you. Are you really okay?”

  Lu tried to crack a grin. “Yes. Thank you for everything.”

  “Are you kidding? I’m just grateful you’re okay, and—” Tricia leaned in and said, “—I think Forest is the happiest out of all of us that you’re okay.”

  Slight embarrassment crawled over Lu; she wasn’t used to having so many people in her relationship. “He’s a good guy.”

  Tricia’s smile widened. “And you’re a good woman, too.” She pumped her eyebrows. “If we don’t take you out skiing again, I think it will be too soon.”

  Lu nodded emphatically.

  Forest walked into the room, making her heart rate kick up a notch. “Hey.” He winked at her and sat at her side, casually putting his arm around the mass of pillows surrounding her.