Beloved Healer

by Bonnie Dee

  Everyone toasted, drank and started eating. Between his hours at the nursing home, followed by class, Mason hadn’t had a chance to grab more than a bite all day. He quickly demolished his steak and more glasses of wine than he needed.

  At last the meal was finished. Ava pushed back her chair and rose. “Sorry to cut out early, everybody, but the snow’s coming down thick. Mason and I want to get home.”

  “’Cause of the snow.” Frannie grinned. “Right.”

  Nash and Ralph joined in with some good-natured teasing, and then everyone wished them a merry Christmas before they left.

  Outside, the snow really was coming down fast. A fuzz of white covered everything in the parking lot. It wouldn’t take long for the winding roads between the hills to fill with drifts. But for a desert-dwelling boy like Mason, the snow really was a marvelous sight. In the glow of twinkle lights framing the restaurant windows, he took a moment to grab Ava and hold her. “I love you,” he whispered into her hair.

  “Love you too.” Her teeth were chattering. “But this dress wasn’t made for winter, and my legs are freezing. We need to get to my car.”

  He laughed, took her gloved hand, and they ran across the lot, leaving fresh dark footprints in the pristine white.

  Ava started the car, cranked up the heat, and drove carefully toward home.

  “I’ve got to buy a car soon,” Mason said. “I can’t keep hitching rides with people. The scheduling is too complicated.”

  “Probably one of Nash’s friends can find you a deal, some beater to make it through the winter. Maybe for your Christmas present we can swing it.” Ava glanced at him and smiled.

  He wished the financial part of their lives wasn’t so hard. He wished he could buy her beautiful things for the holiday instead of just chipping in to pay more bills. She deserved so much more than he could give her, but damned if he wouldn’t make what he could provide the best it could possibly be. Tonight he would give her an orgasm that would rock her world.

  “I talked to Gina today,” Mason said. “And to Carolyn.”

  “You finally called Carolyn? What was that like?”

  “Weird. Hard. We were never close to begin with, and I think she still hasn’t completely forgiven me for not helping our mom. But I think she’s trying.” He shrugged. “She was polite, anyway.”

  “Well. It’s good that you talked, and maybe eventually you can both get past it.” Ava paused. “But honestly, I think she was awful to lay that kind of blame at your door. She’s your older sister. You were practically a kid, not a whole lot older than Bryan. She should have been protecting you, not trying to guilt you into doing something that would be harmful to you.” She lifted a hand off the steering wheel. “Not my place to say, I know, but it pisses me off. You carried around a lot of guilt for years because of the way she treated you.”

  Mason smiled at Ava’s protectiveness. It was adorable and heartwarming that she cared about him so much.

  “Anyway, I’m glad you’ve made up with your sisters,” she finished.

  “Me too. But it’s like you and your mom, a process that’s going to take some time.” Enough talk about family issues, he decided. “Did I mention earlier how sexy you look in that dress? I especially like it with your parka and snow boots. Very chic.”

  She grinned. “Thanks to Bryan for the dress. He lent me some money from his resale business. That kid is doing so well buying stuff and selling it to collectors online, he’s going to be a billionaire by the time he’s twenty.”

  “He’ll probably have his financial shit together before either you or I get into our careers,” Mason agreed. “Wish I could mainline the knowledge and start work tomorrow.”

  Or that he could still heal at a touch but minus the drain on his system.

  As if picking up on his unspoken thought, Ava said, “Do you ever miss being able to do your healing thing?”

  “I do and I don’t. It’s weird being without it. Like an amputation. But eventually I’ll still be able to help people in a limited way, and I don’t regret the lack of headaches and passing out.”

  She reached over to grip his hand and squeeze it. “I didn’t much like the passing-out part either. I’ll admit I’m glad you’re normal now. I came so close to losing you.”

  “You saved me,” he told her. “And not just that night with whatever weird voodoo happened between us. You gave me a reason to stop slipping through life like a ghost with no place and no direction.”

  Mason looked at the lights that marked Waller’s miniscule downtown sparkling below them in the dark valley as they descended the hill. “You’ve given me a place to call home and a family. I love you.” It got less scary to say every time he told her.

  “I love you, too,” she assured him.

  *

  The first stirring of lust was like the static making every hair on Mason’s body rise up and crackle. The mere sight of Ava’s naked body, golden in the candlelight, had him nearly shaking with need. He stroked a hand over her beautiful curves from shoulder to hip, then back up her stomach and over the rise of a breast. She shivered beneath his touch, restless, anxious, ready to go.

  He leaned in to suck one nipple, then the other, relishing her quiet sighs of contentment, then he moved lower, nuzzling his way down her belly to explore the cleft between her legs. She moaned and rose beneath him. Every taste and touch of her body was an echo of what he used to feel during a healing—that sense of a deep primal power stirring and rising within him. This was just of a different sort.

  Mason reached into her with his tongue as he cradled her hips between his hands, and then he reached in to her with his mind. He was glad to still be able to feel her interior landscape so he could give Ava exactly what she craved. He felt where to touch, when to back off and tease, how hard to push to drive her crazy and earn more of those whimpering moans. With his mind open, he felt her pleasure as if it were his own.

  When he’d brought Ava nearly to the edge with stroking fingers and tongue, Mason moved up to position his body above hers. He remained poised there as he looked into the eyes of the woman he’d grown to love. The electrically charged energy between them was gone. There’d never been a recurrence of that night when the power of Ava’s emotion had filled Mason with life, but an equally amazing force flowed between them now. Simple human love, pure and shining and everything he wanted or needed.

  He reached down to guide himself to her and pushed.

  *

  Ava felt herself opening like one of those time-stop videos of a flower blooming. So natural and easy to let herself go and open up to Mason, and not just physically. With every day that passed, he became more a part of her life, steadfast and permanent, while her fear of depending on someone evaporated a little more. Sex simply served to illustrate her new outlook. She could ask for what she wanted. Hell, with Mason she didn’t even need to. He seemed to know. And she could trust that he’d be there for her, with her, in her as he was now. Every thrust filled her perfectly. Every withdrawal was only temporary—he would return.

  She lifted her hips, pushing herself onto him, accepting the pleasure and twinge of pain at such deep penetration. Wrapping her arms around him, she felt the flow of muscles in his back and beneath her hands on his ass, his body solid and firm in her embrace.

  Ava closed her eyes now and rode the wave, swelling higher…higher…cresting and breaking in a glorious spray. She gasped against Mason’s straining chest as he pressed low into her, grunting his way to his own climax. How she loved the sound of his desperation just before he reached fulfillment.

  And when it was over, they remained entwined, breathing in unison, listening to the patter of icy snow against the windowpane. Ava wasn’t sure how much time passed before they disentangled with luxurious slowness.

  Lying on his stomach, Mason propped his head on a pillow and reached over to rub his hand lightly up and down her body, taking time to caress each breast and ending with his palm warmly cupping her sex. “I l
ove looking at you.”

  She smiled. “You make me love being looked at. You’ve made me forget what shy is.”

  “Good. Because you should never be anything but proud of this body and this cute cluster of freckles right…here.” He tickled her, making her squeal.

  She grabbed his hand to stop him, then held it pressed to her chest. “Will it always be this amazing?”

  “It always will,” he promised. “I have a new special ability, looking into the future, and I can see it will be exactly what we make it.”

  The End

  A Note from Bonnie: If you want to stay informed about new releases, please SIGN UP FOR MY NEWSLETTER by clicking on the link. You can learn more about my backlist at http://bonniedee.com and find me on FB and Twitter @Bonnie_Dee. And if you want to help spread the word about my books, I’d love to welcome you to my street team at FB. If you enjoyed Beloved Healer, you may also like Beloved Killer, about an emotionally stunted anti-hero brought to life by love.

  When love strikes a killer, can a man of violence truly find redemption?

  The right-hand man of a notorious mobster, J has no identity outside of his work—until the night he meets Nikki Larson. Sent to intimidate the strong-willed bar owner, he falls for her fast and hard.

  Returning home after her father’s death, Nikki is once again forced to clean up his mess. To settle her family debt, a mob boss wants to use her bar in his criminal enterprise and sends an enforcer to back up the proposition. Nikki refuses to show fear to the henchman assigned to monitor her. In fact, she enjoys taunting J, even as she’s strangely attracted to his gloominess.

  When a rival gang invades the bar, J rescues Nikki and they go on the run from both the mob and the law. J’s growing love for Nikki demands he choose between the only life he’s ever known and an uncertain future with a challenging woman who might not love him back. Two wildly different people struggle to find common ground, but escaping the past means overcoming danger from all sides.

  Excerpt:

  Nikki entered the steamy rain forest of the laundry and headed toward the few unbroken machines. It was too early for the place to be very busy, so she didn’t have to bodycheck anyone to win a couple of machines. She rammed her clothes into two washers and set them running.

  From the front window, she could see the sedan parked outside. She headed toward the rear exit, heart fluttering at the idea of escaping her guard. She gripped the knob. Almost free. How long would it take him to realize his quarry had flown the coop?

  Footsteps in the nearly empty room of slushing washers and whirring dryers snapped her head around. Her enemy had entered the building. The dark-coated, rangy man looked as out of place as a Doberman at a poodle party. His gaze met Nikki’s, and he didn’t try to pretend he was there for any other reason than following her. He walked over to a row of plastic seats and sat. The chair was so low, his knees thrust into the air and his legs splayed. He looked uncomfortable. She hoped he was.

  Nikki turned the knob. If she stepped outside, would he come after her? She imagined blocking the door with a Dumpster and running away. But what would be the point? She’d have to come back for her laundry eventually, and she had to return to the bar. It wasn’t as if Jay didn’t know where to find her. If she was truly going to convince Kuypers she was on board with paying him, she shouldn’t run away from her watchdog.

  Nikki let go of the doorknob and walked to a table full of tattered, outdated magazines. She leafed through pages of celeb photos and quotes while she strolled to the row of chairs across from her persecutor. She dropped into a seat and continued to study her magazine.

  Take that, asshole! You can’t intimidate me, even if I know for a fact you can lift me as if I were a toddler and stow me in the back of a car.

  Nikki pretended to read for several moments, but at last she couldn’t resist looking up. She expected to find Jay’s eyes staring back at her, but his gaze was focused on the worn linoleum.

  His rough-hewn features and scars made him look like some character in a crime movie. An image not far off the mark. She wasn’t sure of the exact color of his hooded eyes, but last night she’d thought they were pitch-black—maybe with hellish flames dancing in them. Today there were shadows beneath them. Good! She hoped he was as exhausted as she was from their sleepless night.

  A flare of pure hatred shot through her at the memory of him handling her like a sack of laundry. It was too easy for that venom to pour out of her mouth. She leaned toward him.

  “So you don’t even try to stalk me from a distance? Just march in here and plop yourself down in the middle of my laundry day? I’m not afraid of you, you know. If your boss had wanted my legs broken, you would’ve done it last night. If you’re trying to intimidate me, you’ve failed.”

  He didn’t raise his gaze from the floor.

  “How long are you going to keep this up? Until I agree to let him use my bar? I said I’d make the payments, and I will.”

  His hands rested on his thighs, fingers curled slightly, not tense at all. His entire demeanor was as relaxed as if he were sitting in a comfy armchair rather than an uncomfortable plastic chair. That pissed her off even more.

  “What would you do if I screamed for help right now? Said you were threatening me?” She fished out her phone and brandished it at him like a gun. “I could call the police right now. Report you as a stalker.”

  So much for her plan to keep her cool. Now he was going to be forced to action. Probably snatch her phone away and stomp it under one of his big shoes.

  But Jay kept on sitting quietly, as if she hadn’t said a word. She might have been a pigeon pooping on a stone statue.

  Nikki took a deep breath, settled back in her chair, and put the phone away. “Okay. I know you’re just doing your job or whatever, but I can’t stand having you watch me. Why don’t you tell your boss I’m toeing the line and you don’t think I’m going to be any trouble?”

  At last his gaze moved from the spot on the floor to her face. Immediately Nikki wished he’d look back down. The intensity of his eyes was too much. She swallowed and forced herself not to look away. Damned if she’d let him win a staring match.

  “I shouldn’t be around much longer. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

  His voice was soft yet so deep she felt it reverberate in her very bones. He’d displayed the same politeness last night even as he’d forced her into the car. Wasn’t that the mark of a professional? Sorry, nothing personal, miss, but I have to kill you now. She should find it chilling, yet she was oddly soothed by his words, his tone.

  Curiosity got the better of her fear and anger. “Why did you come in here if you’re supposed to be covert?”

  He paused before answering. “I knew you’d spotted me. There didn’t seem to be any point in hanging back. Besides, I thought you’d probably try to leave through the rear.”

  “Oh.” His unexpected frankness took her by surprise. For a moment, words failed her. But only for a moment. “How did you know? I was careful not to look directly at the car.”

  He shrugged and gave no answer. His gaze drifted to the bank of dryers behind her.

  Nikki exhaled in relief at being off the hook of his gaze. Now what? How could she carry on as if this were a normal laundry day when this man was perched across from her like a gargoyle?

  As if hearing her thought, Jay said, “Ignore me. Do what you normally would.”

  She snorted. “Right. ’Cause that’s easy.” But she resumed leafing blindly through her magazine.

  Silence and caution had never been her forte. Neither was backing off or not poking at things. She still had a few acne scars, proof of her inability to stop picking. She dropped the magazine to her lap again.

  “So, Jay. That’s your name, right? How does someone become a henchman? You just wake up one day and think, Goon is the career for me? Is there like a school you go to or something? Kneecapping 101. Advanced Applied Pressure. Variations on Threatening Postures.”

&n
bsp; A choked sound came from the gargoyle, and the scars on his cheeks shifted as his mouth moved in what was nearly a smile. Nikki felt ridiculously triumphant that she’d been able to prod some sort of reaction from him. But of course, she couldn’t take the win and let it rest.

  “Seriously, why do you do it? Is the money, like, unbelievable? Couldn’t you find anything else you were good at? Or is it a family thing? Maybe you’re ‘connected’ and there’s no way out. I bet that—”

  Her chatter was interrupted by a ringing phone. Not hers, his. He took the phone from the pocket of his coat, checked the ID, then rose and walked toward the front of the building.

  Her moment to run for it? Naw. The wash cycle would be done soon, and she couldn’t abandon her laundry. She watched the dark figure silhouetted against the brightly lit windows. He looked like a cardboard cutout of a man, not quite real.

  After a few seconds, he put the phone away, and without another glance at her, he left the building.

  Nikki popped out of her chair and hurried to the window. She watched Jay stride down the street with that hitching step and get into his car. Then he drove away.

  Shift over? Surprise and relief wrestled inside her. She had the surreal sensation that she’d dreamed the whole thing. What a weird fucking night!

  And what now? Business as usual, except that in addition to paying off liquor distributors, she had a new weekly expense to budget for, a criminal partner who threatened her livelihood in a whole new way.

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