Heal Me

by Grady, D. R.

  Time to back off and regroup. Because otherwise he could land into some serious trouble.

  Not that serious trouble with Jenna Fields was necessarily a bad thing, but he needed to take this relationship slower. Ten days ago he was certain he didn’t have a chance with her, and now he was in her kitchen, her tongue exploring his mouth as rampantly as his explored hers. Her arms were curled tightly around his neck, her fingers in his hair.

  So much for backing off. He definitely wanted to try out the hot tub, but he also wanted to kiss her. He wanted a lot of things, but right now, he needed to gain some semblance of control, or his head wouldn’t be the only thing in danger of exploding as his control was steadily slipping.

  Easing back he examined her kiss swollen lips and the passion in her eyes and was very happy he was the man to cause them. Feeling smug, he offered her a cocky grin.

  “I’ll race you to the tub,” he challenged and Jenna smiled a mysterious female smile.

  “Are you planning to change into a suit, or just go as you are?” she flirted, running a hand down his chest. He caught her hand before she discovered things he didn’t want her to know. Maybe tugging on a pair of swimming trunks wasn’t such a good idea. Then Jenna gave a lusty sigh and burrowed into him and he decided he really didn’t care what she learned, just so long as she stayed right where she was.

  “Meet you in the tub,” he said and she nodded, stealing one last kiss before they parted ways.

  They met at the door to the back deck. Owen was grateful to see the two thick towels slung over her arm. He wasn’t as happy to see the belted full length robe she wore. She slid open the glass door from the small sunroom and beckoned him to follow her. Like he’d do anything else.

  She led him to a tub concealed in the shadows of her back patio and out of habit he scanned the area. Her property edged up to a wooded area and the houses on either side didn’t sit back as far as Jenna’s. She had privacy.

  While he was casing the area, she removed the tub cover and turned on the jets. He nearly sighed. Then choked on his sigh when she removed the robe. She wore a simple one piece suit the same color as her eyes. The suit grazed her curves lovingly, showcasing her body in a way that made him begin to salivate.

  Swallowing, he watched as she stepped delicately into the tub, sat down, closed her eyes, and emitted a soft sigh of contentment. She opened them long enough to send him a sultry, come hither smile and he needed no further encouragement. As he entered the pool, Owen was reminded of his dream of not so long ago that included a black haired, blue-eyed witch who tempted him similarly. If he remembered correctly, he also thought she had done so amid a bubbling cauldron.

  He sat and reached out a lazy hand to swipe her against him. She came with an inviting smile, lips parted, her eyes sultry pools of desire. Owen lowered his head and dove in.

  “Hello, I thought this was a public pool?” Fred’s voice interrupted their one hundred and eleventh kiss.

  Glaring at his friend, he lifted a brow. “Go away, this is a private party.”

  “That’s not what I heard. Actually, I was summoned from my nice warm chair to chaperone. I heard you two set fire to this tub and I needed to come out here immediately and break things up,” Fred exclaimed. He held out his arms and said, “So, here I am.”

  Jenna caught sight of brightly colored swimming trunks with large parrots before he dropped his towel and slid into the tub with them. Owen’s face began to resemble McCully’s whenever Fred was around. Jenna floated a few inches away from Owen on a jet, and he tugged her close again. Before she could comment, the door slid open again and Mark and Colleen stepped onto the deck.

  “I’m glad to see you got here in time,” Mark said to Fred as he and Colleen shed their towels and soon joined them in the tub.

  Grateful now that it was a six person tub, Jenna turned to Fred. “Is TJ asleep?”

  He nodded. “She was when I left about five minutes ago.”

  “I can’t believe she didn’t finish all her dinner,” Owen muttered behind her.

  Fred laughed. “Yeah, after yesterday, I figured she wouldn’t be up to her usual standards.”

  “She didn’t even come close tonight,” Owen said.

  “Really?” Fred’s left eyebrow winged into his hairline.

  “She’s quite capable of keeping up with me,” Owen replied.

  “McCully can eat as much as him?” Mark looked at his fiancée for confirmation.

  “She can out eat all of you put together. She’s awesome,” Colleen said, a grin splitting her face and deeming her even more attractive.

  “I had no idea,” Fred said weakly. He looked at Jenna. “So when you complained about their eating habits to O’s mom, you were serious.”

  “Yes, I was.”

  Before he could answer, the door slid open again and shut with a bang. “You know, some of us are trying to sleep around here,” McCully said, with acid interlacing her words.

  “Yes, you should be,” Fred replied just as tartly. “Why aren’t you?”

  “Because you all decided to have a pool party right below my window,” she replied. She shoved his arm away from the top where he’d placed it to brace himself and dropped her robe and towel. Jenna watched with not a little interest as Fred lost all train of thought.

  The only bathing suit Jenna had left was the yellow two-piece TJ now wore and while it was perfectly modest on any beach, it certainly didn’t appear quite so modest next to her and Colleen’s one pieces. McCully dropped lightly down beside Fred, wearing a disgruntled face. She started coughing and Fred instinctively moved a hand to brace her.

  Jenna thought it just as well the cop totally missed his expression. Even Mark seemed amazed by the perfection of TJ McCully’s figure. She didn’t dress to showcase her spectacular abs or her muscular bottom. Her breasts weren’t small, but her waist was. And even though she lacked height, she didn’t lack leg. Her legs proved to be long and lean. Even her feet were cute.

  “We hadn’t planned on having a hot tub party,” Jenna said, clearing her throat when TJ stopped hacking.

  TJ looked at her dubiously but Fred commented. “I got sent in here to chaperone.”

  Mark snorted. “Yeah, a hot tub party has to be better to wake up to than your window being set on fire.”

  “It wasn’t that bad,” Owen said mildly and Jenna grinned.

  TJ’s eyes went wide as she stared at her cousin. “You were making out with Jenna in the hot tub right under my window?”

  “Yes, and anyone wearing a bikini like the one you’ve got on shouldn’t be such a prude.”

  TJ looked down at herself in the water. “It’s Jenna’s, but I really like it.”

  “You look very nice in it,” Colleen told her seriously.

  “If you want to look like a...” Fred muttered but Owen jutted an elbow in his ribs and he stopped.

  TJ ignored him. Jenna felt herself floating away again and twined a hand around Owen’s biceps. A very nice upper arm it was, too. She gave a little squeeze and he sent her a secret smile and wiggled a brow at her. She sent him one in return.

  His eyes went hot again just as Fred surged from the tub. “You know,” he commented, as he swept TJ up with him, “if she’d just have stayed in bed, she wouldn’t always need carrying back there.”

  Jenna saw TJ’s bright red hair sweep across Fred’s bare chest. Her sunny yellow bikini and his loud trunks blended perfectly. The contrast between his deeper brown skin and her paleness was beautiful. Owen stood and held out his arms for his cousin.

  “You stay and enjoy the water. I’ll take her back up to bed,” he stated.

  Fred passed her over and bent for a towel. The men wrapped her up and Jenna saw TJ’s eyes were closed, her breathing even. That quickly she’d fallen asleep. Jenna rose and left the tub. “I’ll help.”

  “Who’s going to chaperone them?” Owen asked suspiciously, with a nod toward Mark and Colleen.

  “Who cares?” Jenna hoped he
r eyes promised him things he’d need to explore.

  “Right, who cares?” he echoed.

  Fred sighed and took the still sleeping TJ from his friend. “Any day now, folks.”

  “Hello, I’m not a football,” TJ muttered against Fred’s shoulder.

  “Pipe down, shorty. We’ll have you back to bed as soon as the lovebirds here stop gazing all mooney-eyed at each other.”

  They settled TJ, with Jenna helping her wriggle out of the wet suit and back into her shorts and T-shirt. TJ slid into bed and fell asleep before Fred returned. Jenna removed an air mattress from a closet and blew it up for him. So he wouldn’t have to sleep in the chair.

  “You don’t have to give me a bed, I’m perfectly fine in the chair,” he said just above a whisper after he arrived.

  “This is far better. You’ll get sick next if you don’t sleep,” she replied just as quietly.

  “Fred never gets sick,” Owen said quietly from the doorway.

  “He will if he doesn’t sleep.”

  “I’m fine,” he said. But she shook her head at him. She didn’t care if he rarely got sick, she still wanted him semi-comfortable so he’d have a chance at sleep.

  Owen padded across the room to stare down at his partner and Jenna felt a lump rise in her throat when he reached out a hand and shifted a curl tenderly from her cheek. His expression, naked in the lamplight, showed clearly that he loved the woman on the bed and Jenna felt relief. If he could love her, his partner and cousin, then he could love her, Jenna Fields. And she wanted and needed his love. She couldn’t bear not having him love her like she suspected she loved him.

  He looked up and caught her eyes with his. They stared at each other for a moment before smiling gently. “She’s going to be fine,” Jenna told him softly, placing a hand on his forearm.

  “I know, but I can’t imagine life without her, now. She’s family, but she’s also my partner, the best one I’ve ever had.”

  “You love her,” Jenna said.

  “Yes. I hadn’t thought myself capable, but now I realize I’d move mountains for her, Fred, his mom, my mom and you.”

  “I’m glad,” she whispered and tilted her head so he had better access to her lips. The kiss was soft, gentle, sweet.

  “Ugh, can’t you guys get a room?” Fred asked right behind Owen’s shoulder and they broke apart, a giggle on Jenna’s well kissed lips.

  Owen cuffed him and Fred laughed.

  She even liked the obvious affection and respect between the two men.

  “I’ll hold the fort here, so would you two please leave?”

  “We’re going now,” Jenna said and took Owen’s hand to lead him from the room. If only she could lead him into the future. With her.

  When they left the room, Fred swung around to stare at the woman sleeping peacefully on the bed. He pushed a red curl off her cheek and watched the light play with the shadows surrounding her face. And wondered when she’d wriggled under his skin.

  Chapter 14

  Jenna’s first patient of the day was a retired Army Colonel by the name of Lyndan H. Malone. She didn’t dwell much on his Army career until she noticed a nasty scar on his elbow and asked him about it.

  “From the war,” he stated quietly.

  It was the same one Owen’s father fought and died in. She instantly recognized an opportunity. “This may sound absurd, but did you know of a man named Orrin O’Maley?”

  “Orrin O’Malley? I certainly did.” The formerly taciturn man exploded into life so suddenly Jenna reared back. “Orrin took the bullet that had my name on it. He died in my arms. Asked me to find his wife and baby.” The older man shook his head sadly. “I’ve looked for years and haven’t been able to locate them. Why do you ask?”

  “I’m dating his son,” Jenna admitted.

  “You know Orrin O’Malley’s son?”

  “I do. He’s only just discovered his mother, a week or so ago. A great aunt took him when they received the news of Orrin’s death. You may not have been able to locate Owen’s mother because his parents weren’t actually married, yet.”

  “Orrin hadn’t married the woman?” Colonel Malone’s visage went dark.

  “No, they planned to the day before he got called up, but then new orders came through and he was called up that day, instead. They didn’t have time to marry. I believe both felt married, though.”

  “I haven’t been able to locate Rachel O’Malley because she wouldn’t have been able to change her name.”

  “Right. Her name is actually Rachel Finnigan. She and Owen have reunited, because, incidentally, her twin sister’s daughter is Owen’s partner on the police force.”

  “Orrin’s son is a police officer?”

  “Yes, he’s a detective with some experience for the Derry Township Police Department.”

  Jenna was surprised to see what looked suspiciously like tears in the older man’s eyes.

  “I can see the son of Orrin O’Malley doing something like that. Orrin was a good man. The best. He had a strength of character I could only admire. He probably should have been commanding the mission we were on, but I had officer’s status and he’d been drafted. He was a police officer, at the time of his draft.”

  “Colonel, would you...would you do me a favor?”

  “Certainly. How can I help?”

  “Like I said, Owen’s only just learned who his father was. His aunt destroyed his original birth certificate and told him his mother had died. So he never even heard his father’s name until recently. He knows so little, but I think he’d like to hear as much as he can about the man who fathered him. A man who apparently loved him.”

  “Oh, he certainly did. He was so excited when his little one was born. You’d have thought he birthed him himself. Orrin died soon after he learned he had a son, but he did know.”

  “Would you, would you be willing to write Owen a letter to tell him a little bit about his father? I think it would mean a lot to him,” Jenna said, hoping she wasn’t crossing lines.

  Her patient’s face lit with an expression of anticipation. “I can do that, I can certainly do that. I made a promise over thirty years ago I haven’t been able to keep. Now, thanks to you, Dr. Fields, I can finally do so. I’d very much like to meet the young man someday. I’ve thought of him often enough through the years.”

  “He might like that.” Jenna smiled. “I know he’d love to hear from you.”

  “Do you have his address?”

  “You can send it to his work, which is the Derry Township Police Department.” She tugged her phone from a pocket and jotted the information down for him.

  “I will gladly do this, like I said, it’s over thirty years too late, but a boy should know his father. Even if that boy is a grown man now, himself.”

  “I know he’d appreciate any memories you can share.”

  “You’re a good woman, Dr. Fields.”

  “Thank you, Colonel, but he’s special, you know,” she said with a blush.

  “I’m sure he is, being Orrin O’Maley’s son. And it would take a special woman to see that,” he said enigmatically before accepting the slip of paper with Owen’s work address and promised to pick up a new heart medication she sent to his pharmacy before he left.

  By the time she arrived home that night, it’d been a long day. Not only did she work late, then waited on Fred to pick her up only to be held up in traffic caused by an accident, but her period also arrived. Feeling uncomfortable, a bit cranky, and tired, Jenna was grateful to see home when they pulled into the driveway.

  Mark’s vehicle was already there, which meant he and Colleen were home. Owen’s SUV pulled in behind them and she was grateful to see him crawl out of the driver’s seat. TJ looked a bit pale though, and going to her, Jenna looked her over. The detective shook her head, and Jenna understood when she noticed Fred’s shadow loom behind them. She changed her course and slid into Owen’s welcome embrace. His warmth and scent dissipated some of her discomfort.

&
nbsp; He dropped a kiss onto her lips before they entered the house. Fred hefted a computer bag from his car and locked the door, trailing after them. Jenna wasn’t fooled. She realized he scanned the area, watching for trouble.

  When they cleared the front door, delectable scents drew them in. Mark and Colleen had the table set and dinner on the stove. The six of them gathered around the table and ate. Jenna barely tasted what she forked into her mouth. She was in extreme discomfort and thought longingly of her heating pad upstairs in her bedside drawer.

  Colleen looked a little peaked, too, and Jenna saw her rub a hand over her tummy, as though she was also experiencing discomfort. Realization dawned and she tried to catch TJ’s eye. When the cop finally looked at her, she mouthed, “period?” and TJ swallowed and nodded. Jenna could read pain on her face and noticed she was progressively turning a green shade of sick.

  Before Jenna could comment, TJ bounced to her feet and exited the kitchen at a sprint. Fred and Owen stared at each other and then at her. Fred made a motion follow her, but Jenna shook her head. “No need, Fred.” He couldn’t help TJ, but she could.

  She went to a cabinet and removed a bottle of pills specifically for female complaints and dropped two by Colleen’s plate. She discreetly showed her the bottle before emptying two more onto her hand which she downed with some water. She shook out two more for TJ and then left the room in search of the detective.

  Sounds of someone being sick echoed down the hallway and she saw Fred had followed her.

  “What’s wrong with her?” he asked, looking like he wanted to tear down the door.

  “She’ll be okay, Fred. Trust me, please?” she said, and saw Owen trail him. Concern lit his face.

  “What’s going on with you three? Coulihan looks like she’s about to pass out, McCully looked green and you’re too pale,” he asked, his eyes searching her face.