She let out a muffled squeal when he abruptly yanked her close and kissed her.
Three months since she'd kissed him. Since she'd kissed anyone. She moaned into his mouth and realized she'd forgotten what he'd been like – so aggressive, his fingers digging into her skin while his tongue took over her mouth.
“This is a bad idea,” he breathed as he shoved her up against a wall. She nodded.
“Probably.”
“So why are you doing it? Why did you say it was over, three months ago?”
“Because,” she sighed, tugging at the end of his t-shirt. “I wanted you to get straight on your own. Just for you, no prize waiting at the end or anything.”
“Are you calling yourself a prize?”
“Shut up. I also needed to grow up and do a lot of thinking.”
“Oh, really? And what did you think about?” he asked, pulling back enough so she could yank the shirt over his head.
“I came to the conclusion that you're reckless and dangerous. Selfish and toughtless. You almost got me kidnapped, and you almost got yourself killed. You don't deserve anything good from me.”
“That isn't exactly the kind of speech I was hoping for ...”
“And I also realized that despite all those awful things, I'm still so fucking in love with you. So before Ayumi even gave me those letters, I'd decided that if you could do the work, get through your rehab, and if you came through with positive notes from your counselor, then the least I could do was give you a chance, too. I mean, besides, let's be real – I'm the only woman who can handle your bullshit. Like you said in the very beginning, it would be cruel of me to turn you loose on the women of San Francisco,” she finally finished.
She spoke confidently and cavalierly, but really, she was kind of terrified. This could all go so bad, and judging how bad Thailand had gone, she couldn't imagine the kind of horrors potentially awaiting them.
On top of that, there was no guarantee he returned her feelings. He'd never exactly been a junkie, but he'd regularly used drugs during their time in Bali, and had occasionally used in Thailand. Even when he'd come to visit her in Carmel, after everything, he'd been on pain killers.
Without the filter of drugs, his emotions and feelings might be different. He was a doctor, she worked in a sex club. He'd been valedictorian, she'd shown up late to her own graduation. He was now thirty-three, she was barely twenty-five. Would he really want to be with someone like her?
All those thoughts ran through her head while his gaze wandered over her face. Down her neck and across her chest. His hands were still on her hips, his fingers brushing under the bottom of her shirt. She took a deep breath and braced herself for whatever he had to say.
“You know what I thought, the very first time I ever saw you?” he asked in a soft voice.
“No, what?”
“She has great tits.”
“Nice, Landon.”
“You know what I thought, when I saw you standing by your car this morning?”
“I shudder to ask.”
“She has a great soul,” he breathed, dipping his head down and pressing his lips to her neck. “After you were taken in Thailand, I never thought I'd see you again. I thought I'd ruined everything that had happened between us.”
“You kinda did,” she told him, and felt his frown against her skin. “So now we're something new. Something better. Something we'll have to work very hard not to ruin.”
“What if I slip up?” he whispered, gripping her tightly. “I'm fucking awful at everything. I mean, jesus, I'm in love with you, too, and look at what's already happened between us. I can't even love you right.”
She wrapped her arms around him and held him close.
“Don't be scared,” she promised. “We're in this together now.”
“I'm always gonna be an asshole,” he warned her. “But for you ... for you, I'll try to be a good guy.”
Tori shocked him by bursting out laughing. He stood upright and glared down at her.
“Landon,” she shook her head. “You really are so stupid. Don't you get it? I fell for a bad boy on that vacation from hell – why would I want something different now?”
He chuckled, then he was kissing her again. Pushing her shirt up and over her breasts, then leaning all his weight against her.
“Then for you, sweetheart, I'll be as fucking bad as you can take.”
“Thank god,” she groaned, letting her eyes fall shut. “It's been a long three months.”
“You have no idea. I hope you don't plan on leaving this apartment any time soon.”
“Nope. I plan on staying here for a long, long time.”
“I mean, you could put up a token resistance,” he breathed against her ear. “At least give me a reason to tie you up.” Tori laughed, but it was cut off by a gasp when he bit down on her earlobe.
Life had never gone quite how she'd thought it would – from falling out of gymnastics in high school, to moving to San Francisco, to working in a sex club, to flying off to Bali on a moment's notice, to falling for the bad boy next door.
But if one random decision after another had led her to Landon and a perfect morning in their sunny apartment together, then she would damn well learn not to question them.
Epilogue
“Stop it.”
“You stop it.”
“I'm literally not doing anything.”
“I'm literally not -”
“Liam!” Ayumi Nakada snapped her boyfriend's name out a second before she smacked him in the arm.
“You're so violent for such a tiny person,” he complained, pouting out his bottom lip while rubbing at the spot she'd hit.
“And you don't know how to listen. Do you have any idea how much this shirt cost? And you're wrinkling it,” she growled as she angrily tucked the back of her shirt back into her skirt. “Stop pulling on it.”
“Geez, fine, whatever, Ms. I Only Wear Gucci Prada Silk Shirts.”
“This isn't silk, nor is it Gucci. Behave yourself.”
As she descended the last step into Liam's club, she felt his fingers at the small of her back. She tried to whirl around, but he was too close, and her movement caused the entire back of her shirt to come untucked.
“I'm sorry!” he laughed, holding his hands up defensively as he scooted across the main floor, trying to stay out of her reach. “I'm sorry, it just looks like your clothing is strangling you all the time.”
“Oh, you're about to be sorry,” she threatened through clenched teeth, then she followed after him so she could start hitting him again. He grabbed both of her wrists, then started laughing as he easily held her at bay.
“Hey guys!”
Without letting go of his prisoner, Liam turned his head to glance over his shouder. Katya Tocci was hurrying down the steps and into the club. Her fiance, Wulfric Stone, was a couple steps behind her, a cellphone pressed to his ear while he walked.
“Hey, angel cake,” Liam said, then let out a swear when Ayumi's fancy pointy shoe connected with his shin.
“Is Hoffernanny giving you trouble?” Katya sighed, standing closer to the other woman and clearly taking her side.
“When is he not?” Ayumi grumbled, finally yanking her wrists free of him. “I swear, I'm going to have an ulcer before the year is out.”
“Yeah, yeah, she keeps threatening me with that,” Liam rolled his eyes, then he wrapped an arm around Ayumi's waist and pulled her close. “Until it happens, I get to keep torturing her.”
“Why do I put up with this? Why? I used to be a such a normal person,” Ayumi sighed. He buried his face against her neck and blew a raspberry on her skin.
“Because you love me.”
“I hate it when you remind me.”
“And you couldn't live without me.”
“I couldn't,” she agreed. “But I could certainly live without your dirty laundry covering the floor.”
“You would die without my sparkling company.”
“Who
a, let's not get carried away, now, I -”
She wasn't able to finish as Liam gave her a big kiss, dipping her backwards. Wulf joined them at the same time and let out a loud groan.
“Every time,” he complained. “Is it too much to ask that just once when we all get together, I don't have to see your tongue down my assistant's throat?”
“Yes,” Ayumi and Liam broke apart long enough to speak in unison, then she pulled him back in for another kiss.
“We were never this disgusting,” Wulf said, gesturing between himself and Katya. She laughed loudly.
“Are you serious? You made an entire restaurant close down so we could have sex on top of their bar.”
“That's completely different.”
“How so?”
“You've seen me naked, it could never be considered disgusting.”
“And that pretty much killed any sort of moment we were having,” Liam groaned and pushed himself away from Ayumi.
“What time is it?” Katya asked, glancing at her watch. “We told them two, right?”
“Yeah, and it's two-thirty,” Liam added, looking at his phone.
“They're never on time. You say two, and that means maybe three o'clock to them. We're going in, we're ordering lunch, and we're leaving when I'm done, I don't care,” Wulf barked out as he gestured towards Liam's office.
“Patience is a virtue, my love,” Katya said in a sing song voice as she skipped into the hallway.
“You know what else is a virtue? Not wasting my goddamn time.”
“And we do have that appointment at four,” Ayumi reminded him as she also passed into the hallway. “Also, did you email the Bransons? You should do it now, they're waiting for that counteroffer.” Her voice trailed off as she disappeared around the corner into Liam's office.
“Did we actually have lives before these chicks?” Liam laughed as he scratched at his head. Wulf glared at him for a second, then pulled out his cell again.
“Yes. Glorious lives that involved lots of anonymous sex and virtually no bitching,” he replied in a low voice as he went through his emails.
“So much anonymous sex,” Liam sighed.
“Mmm hmmm. If life weren't so much better now, I'd almost miss it.”
Liam laughed again, then cut himself off when he spied some legs coming down the stair case across the room.
“Hey, I think they're here now. And almost on time!”
Wulf lifted his head and followed Liam's gaze.
Tori Bellows was rolling her eyes, sawing through the air with her arm in an emphatic gesture of no. Landon was shaking his head, a cigarette butt at the corner of his mouth, while he argued with her.
“No smoking,” she kept repeating herself. “I don't understand why that's such a hard concept for you to understand!”
“You work a twelve hour shift in an emergency room,” he suggested. “And then we can talk about me not smoking.”
“I'm not saying don't ever smoke,” she replied. “I don't care if you chain smoke all the way home – just don't do it in our home, got it? And don't do it in here!”
Landon was shocked as she pulled the butt out of his mouth and threw it to the floor, grinding the toe of her boot over it.
“What on earth did I ever do to deserve you?” he groaned, rubbing at the back of his neck.
“I've been asking myself the same question for the last couple months, sugar,” Tori snapped right back.
But all the bite was gone from her voice, and she smiled as she reached out and straightened the hem of his scrubs top.
She never got tired of seeing Landon in his work gear. The aqua green poly-cotton blend shouldn't have been attractive, but he worked it somehow. His legs looked longer, his shoulders broader, and of course, the whole look just screamed “doctor”, which was sexy all in itself. A working doctor. A doctor who'd gotten his license back just two months before, and was now putting in some much needed hours at a busy emergency room in a downtown hospital.
To say Tori was proud of him would be an understatement. He was working, and despite all his bitching, he was enjoying was he was doing. And best of all, through everything, he'd stayed sober. The week before, he'd hit his three month anniversay. He'd long since stopped going to Narcotics Anonymous, preferring a private therapist instead, but Tori had dragged him to that particular NA meeting and made sure he'd gotten his ninety-day-sobriety-coin.
She'd had it put on a chain and she'd been wearing it ever since.
Not that any of it had been easy, of course. Sometimes she felt like her volunteer time in Thailand had been easier in comparison.
They fought like cats and dogs. Neither of them had ever lived with a significant other before, it was a rough adjustment, particularly since one of them was still dealing with an addiction. Suspicions ran rampant and tempers were high during the first month. More than once, Landon wound up sleeping on Liam and Ayumi's couch.
Those nights, though, were the only moments they were apart during that time. Tori became his support, and he became her rock. They held each other up.
While his license was still up in the air, Landon took Liam up on his job offer. He and Tori went in to work together, and while she worked the floor and worked half her shift in the office, Landon did maintenance and generally filled in anywhere he was needed. Then they would go home and relive some of the hotter moments from their vacation together.
Getting his license back had been another rough transition. Suddenly they went from spending almost every moment of every day together, to him being gone for twelve or more hours. Tori worked late nights, and he had the morning shift at the hospital. There was about three weeks where they virtually didn't see each other at all.
While Tori was pretty sure she could've gotten through it, it was shocking to find out Landon couldn't. He put his foot down and said that word he hated more than anything – he needed her. Couldn't stand being away from her so much.
So Liam went ahead and made her general manager of The Garden, freeing him to open up another club in a different area of San Francisco. Tori switched her shifts to match Landon's, and while they still didn't get to spend as much time together as he would've liked, it was better than before. It would be tolerable until he could settle into a nice job at a clinic somewhere.
Meanwhile, the perks weren't so bad. Being a life-saving emergency room doctor was a huge turn on, in Tori's opinion, and she made sure Dr. Edenhoff was well taken care of every night when he came home. He was downright spoiled, really.
Except when it came to smoking.
“What are we doing here, anyway? I get a half day off, I want to be home having crazy sex, like the kind that's still illegal in some countries. I don't want to be here,” Landon grumbled while he awkwardly fumbled with his pack of cigarettes. Tori frowned and took it out of his left hand.
“Have you been going to your physical therapy?” she asked, shoving the pack into her back pocket before grabbing his hand and holding it in her own.
“I skipped the last couple,” he was honest. She opened her mouth to tell him how stupid he was, but he kept going. “My regular PT guy is out of town, I don't like that new age hippy bitch they've got replacing him. He'll be back next week and I'll go back in then.”
Tori kept frowning as she stared down at his hand. She traced her fingers along his, marveling at everything that hand was capable of. Changing lives, saving lives, bringing her to life.
His left hand had been beaten to a pulp in Thailand, yet it had recovered remarkably well. When he held it palm up, like he was now, no one could tell anything was wrong with it. Even the top of his hand looked relatively normal, with only a few surgical scars criss crossing his skin.
Those Edenhoff genes, god bless them.
Still, looks weren't everything. He still couldn't quite make a complete fist with his hand, and had almost no feeling at all in his last three fingers. She stroked her index finger from the tip of his pinky to the top of his wrist, then glanced
up at him. He was watching her, but showed no signs that he'd felt anything.
It broke her heart, but Landon never seemed upset about it. He always said he was just happy he hadn't lost his hand, because it had been a real possibility. That he could even use it at all was a miracle, so he chose to be thankful for it.
“I love this hand,” she sighed, bringing it up to her lips so she could kiss his palm.
“Yeah? Do you love it enough to ditch this place and go back home with me?” he asked, pulling his hand free of hers and putting it on her back.
“C'mon, it's just a quick lunch, it'll be fun.”
“If you think lunch is more fun than sex, then we need to rethink this relationship.”
“Stop it. You'll get to see your brother.”
“I see his face every day when I look in the mirror, I'm good.”
“You have sex every day, so you should be all good in that department, too,” she pointed out.
“Oh, baby doll,” he chuckled in a low, sinister voice as he pulled her close. “I could never have enough sex with you to ever be considered 'all good'.”
“Just think,” Tori sighed again and glanced around the club. “If Katya hadn't dared herself to come to this club with Liam, I never would've met him. Never would've worked here and gotten a crush on him. Never would've mistaken you for him and accidentally slept with you.”
“Accidentally?” Landon snorted. “Sweetheart, I had you begging by the end of it. I'm pretty sure you knew exactly what you were doing.”
“Oh, fuck all the way off,” she snapped, trying to push herself away from him. “I'm trying to have a moment with you, but you're too busy being a fuck head.”
“See? There's that mouth I love.”
“Yeah, well this mouth isn't going to be loving you any time soon,” she threatened.
“That's okay, because it's only one of the things I love about you,” he replied.
“What's that supposed to mean?”
“It means I also love your ass and your legs,” he said, earning an eye roll from her. “And your shitty attitude and your gorgeous smile and every inch of your soul.”
“That's so not fair,” she breathed, giving up the struggle and falling into his chest.
Neighborhood Watch Page 24
