With Hearts Aflame: Valentine's Day Box Set

by Maren Smith

  She would still be late. It was probably expected of her, she supposed. Never late a day in her life for work, but wasn't it her luck that no matter how hard she tried she could not show up on time for anything with her family? It didn't matter; after avoiding another traffic ticket, she felt like she'd been given a fresh start on life. The remnants of the achy-bottom syndrome had finally left her and she was in a good place—unless you counted all that lovey-dovey nonsense about Valentine's Day. Gosh, she was sick of it. It had been on every freaking radio station. She pushed the scan button on her stereo as she turned into her brother's subdivision. Not everybody was in love this year….

  She still couldn't find a station without the nonsense by the time she'd pulled into their drive a couple minutes later. Ridiculous.

  "I'm here," she called out as soon as she opened the front door; she never knocked. She kept talking as she slipped off her shoes and coat. Alex and Jenna's home had an open floor plan and you could see the living room, kitchen and dining room from the door. "I'm sorry I'm late. We had a patient come in at twenty minutes to the end of my shift. Then traffic was heavy."

  Jenna was at the stove, pulling something out of the oven, and whatever it was smelled like heaven. "It's okay, the guys are outside or something."

  "The guys? Wait, what is that? It smells delicious." Charlie watched as Jenna pulled the lid off and started to assemble stuffed peppers into a serving bowl.

  "Yes, my cousin Vin is here. Remember, I keep telling you I want you to meet him? He was transferred here from Chicago a couple months ago. Why don't you call out the door and let Alex know you are here so we can eat."

  "I don't want to meet a man, Jenna. I'm perfectly content being single. Besides, I've seen some of your cousins. Was he one of the drunks at the wedding?" Charlie clutched her throat like she was choking and stuck her tongue out as she stumbled to the back door. The garage was not attached and the door was open, the lights were on; the men's low voices trailed out into the evening.

  "Alex! We're almost ready to eat."

  "'Kay. We'll be there in a second."

  Charlie turned around again to her sister-in-law. "You're going to owe me big for this."

  "Come here, I want to tell you something before they come in." Jenna motioned for Charlie to hurry. "I have the best Valentine's present for Alex ever!" As she came closer, Jenna pulled her ear to her mouth and cupped it before gushing in a loud and excited whisper, "I'm pregnant. I'm going to tell him when we go away this weekend."

  Charlie hugged her sister-in-law and the women giggled joyfully. They were just pulling apart and trying not to look suspicious when Alex came in with the cousin following. "What's all this giggling I hear?" Alex asked, in a gruff teasing way.

  "Just girl stuff," they twittered and started carrying food to the table.

  A couple more teasing remarks went by before Charlie turned and faced Jenna's cousin, when Alex made a point to introduce them. "Vin, this is Charlie, undoubtedly the brattiest—" He had been teasing the girls and snapping a towel at her and Jenna's butts.

  Charlie was preoccupied with trying to grab the towel from Alex. Then when she finally turned to look at the Chicagoan cousin she almost passed dead away. "Hi—oh shit…" She shook her head and brought her hand up to massage her temple. It was him, all six-foot-something of gorgeous, tall, dark—cop.

  "Charlie, jeez." Alex's voice cut through her thoughts.

  "It's nice to meet you, again, Charlie," Trooper "Vin" Loveanu announced in a casual and yet somewhat stern voice.

  "It's my luck. It's just my luck. Hello, officer. Nice to meet you. Let's eat, I haven't eaten all day," she announced not looking at anyone, trying to change the subject, and then groaned at her own self-betrayal. It had to be because she'd gotten all happy-crappy thinking life was going to be fine. That was why it had happened.

  "Yes, let's do that," Alex announced, and pulled a chair out for Jenna.

  Jenna at least had the grace to look somewhat confused about the whole situation, and maybe sympathetic. "You guys know each other? How did you meet?"

  Charlie glanced at Alex briefly and then at the cousin—Vin, that was his name. He was looking down, avoiding her glance maybe? "He gave me a ticket." She looked back to Alex before finishing, "But you already knew that, didn't you? That I knew him?" She glanced back to Vin. He must have known she would be here, or else he covered his shock really well. Then she asked Alex, "How did you know?"

  "He came over the other day and was randomly telling me about his worst day ever—a routine traffic stop, young lady speeding—"

  "Never mind, I don't want to hear it." Charlie groaned and stared at the ceiling.

  Alex kept talking, "The poor girl seemed so distraught… well, yes. You do already know the story. Anyway, it was easy for me to figure out whom he was talking about."

  "I don't want to talk about this right now." Charlie looked at Jenna. "Are those your homemade crescent rolls?"

  Thankfully the subject was dropped and Alex prayed so they could eat. Unfortunately, the subject that began made both Vin and Charlie groan at the same time.

  "I can't wait for this weekend and Valentine's Day!" Jenna's voice nearly screeched, she was so happy.

  "Oh, God."

  "Uggg."

  "What?"

  "What?"

  Alex and Jenna stared at Charlie and Vin while the two tried not to look at each other. All at once it was pretty obvious to Charlie why they were the two who hated Valentine's Day and Alex and Jenna were looking forward to it. They were both single.

  Charlie tried to explain it. "I'm so tired of hearing it everywhere. At work it is all everyone is talking about! Then the radio, the stores…"

  "Try being a big macho guy with tons of cousins and dominant co-workers, and being stuck with a Romanian name like Loveanu. Everyone just assumes it's spelled like 'Love a New' because that's how it sounds. They rag on me and call me lovey, lover boy and even Cupid. Have for years."

  Charlie was fascinated with his voice. It was deep and manly and yet—oh-so smooth. And his lips. Did men normally have such tempting lips? Had she ever noticed a man's lips before? What was it with this guy? She couldn't even stand the prick.

  "I remember Ronnie and Peter doing that. I had forgotten about it," Jenna chuckled. When Charlie looked from her to Vin once more she remembered that they were cousins. How could she forget? And wasn't she just freaking stupid! Loveanu was Jenna's maiden name and it hadn't stood out to her when she'd been pulled over or when Vin had come to her door and given her the ticket. She was so oblivious.

  Jenna was still chattering; she'd gone back to the topic of Valentine's Day, talking about her and Alex's plans. They were going to a cabin they'd rented up north for the weekend. Charlie remembered the "gift" Jenna was going to give Alex and almost teared up. She was going to be an aunt. Alex would be overjoyed and Jenna would be a great mother. She had a large family, too. The baby would be very loved, that was for sure.

  "Charlie?"

  "Hmm? Oh, I'm sorry."

  "I asked if you had plans for Valentine's Day," Jenna said as she poured more water into her glass.

  "Oh, yes. Miranda and I are going to eat chocolate-covered strawberries, watch some sappy old chick flicks, and polish off a bottle of wine." Guilt tickled at the edges of her conscience, but Alex was really unfair and wouldn't understand anyway.

  "That sounds so fun," Alex cooed in as high of a voice as he could before he went right back to sounding serious. "You're staying the night I assume?"

  "Yes." No, she wasn't; she'd lied—again. Her best friend had a hot date and it wasn't for wine and movies. Miranda had a sexy new architect lover. Everyone had plans for Valentine's. That was why Charlie agreed to work in the ER so Kelsey could spend the night on the town with her husband. Alex and Jenna would be away for the weekend, so Alex would never know. And Charlie wouldn't have to sit at home moping and being depressed because she would be twenty-seven soon and the only man in h
er life was her seriously over-protective older brother.

  After the supper dishes were washed and put away, Charlie headed to the door, saying she was headed home.

  "Wait. You can't leave yet. I wanted to play Pictionary or something while there are four of us." Jenna grabbed her arm and looked to Alex to stop her.

  "We were hoping you would be up for a game. I hoped for cards, though." There was a distinctive, mischievous twinkle in Alex's eye.

  "You know that no one will ever play poker with you again. I still owe you— let me think: the use of my garage, my yet-to-be-acquired villa in Italy and my VIP pass to see Tinkerbelle any time I want. I think Jenna owes you a lifetime supply of homemade cookies, something she had to whisper in your ear, which also caused her to blush and—what else Jen?"

  "I think that was it." She giggled and blushed again at the mention of the previous blush.

  "I don't know if my vote matters," Vin said, saving Jenna for the moment. "But poker sounds like fun with you ladies; I'm not really interested in Pictionary. The only thing I can draw is another card or my gun." There was a very cocky tilt to the side of his mouth.

  "No, I'm sorry guys, but this is the last day of my work week and I'm tired. I just want to go home, take a warm bath and go to bed early." She looked down before adding, "I should have listened and not worked that extra shift… maybe… I just… I like working."

  "It's good that you like working, but you don't take care of yourself and over-do." Alex hugged her. "Anyway, that is neither here nor there. You go home, take your bath and get some rest. And don't take any calls from them for the next three days, okay?" Alex drew her close and hugged her again.

  Charlie pulled loose, slipped her boots on and reached for her coat. "I'm not going to do anything for the next couple days but snuggle with Brinks and read. I've got a pile of sinful romances to keep me busy."

  "And eat," Alex added.

  "Yes, I do eat, Alex. Way more than you think I do," she snapped. It was getting way too warm in there with her coat on and all the private stuff being aired in front of strangers. She needed to go—now. "Okay, thanks for dinner, Jen. Love you." Charlie hugged her and turned to where Vin was leaning against the counter. "Nice to re-meet you." She tried to give him a smile, but it was half-hearted at best.

  "You, too. I wouldn't mind re-meeting you again. Especially if the situations keep getting better each time." She could tell by the warmth in his eyes that his smile was genuine. But he had an almost parental tone to his voice, like maybe he was suggesting she keep her nose clean. Or was she just being sensitive?

  "Okay, good night." She dashed out the door.

  She'd been acutely aware of his presence and couldn't stop watching the man all evening. She couldn't get him out of her head. When she got home, she finally gave him the credit of deeper pondering. She'd reheated the water in the claw-foot tub once already and sat up to turn it on again.

  "Arf!" Brinks sat up on the thick bath rug and peered at her with his inquisitive little black eyes. He'd been lying there, just waiting for her to get out and go to bed.

  "In a minute, Brinks." She lay back again and closed her eyes. Her thoughts drifted right back to the big man. Why had he told Alex about the whole stinking thing anyway? Seriously, he had taken the time to search her out and then he was still talking about it later that day… and then he knew she was going to be there—knew she was that girl, the one who told the worst lie ever—and came anyway. And he said he'd like to "re-meet" her again…

  Was he, like, interested? Was she, like, interested? He was totally hot. There was no denying that. He must have come from work, too. He'd been wearing the standard navy uniform pants of the State Police, tucked into black boots. He'd taken off the button-up shirt, leaving just a plain black tee shirt that clearly showed his well-defined abs, pecs and upper arms. She had been trying so hard not to stare at him, but she'd noticed his hands while they were eating. Perhaps it wasn't a normal thing to look at, but she loved to look at hands. The doctors always covered their hands up with gloves, but when they weren't covered, she watched them feeling glands in a child's neck or writing notes at the nurses' station. Doctors' hands were rather feminine by her standards.

  Vin's hands were large and clean, but they didn't look soft and pale like he washed them and wore gloves a hundred times a day. No, his nails were clipped and neat, but his hands were rather tan or it was his natural skin tone and his hands looked a little rough, maybe. Charlie longed to touch them. She had always been a very hands-on person. She had to touch things. She had very sensitive fingertips, which was one of the things that made her a great nurse. She could find a vein and get an IV started in the hardest patients before another nurse could even find the patient's arm.

  There was something about running her hands over things, the silky hair of Brinks' coat, the cool marble counter tops in Jenna's kitchen, or her daddy's chin in the evening when he had a day's worth of growth. She missed that. Vin had a telltale dark shadow on his chin. She longed to touch it, to reach out and run her fingers over his rugged jaw line, or trace her fingertip over his lips, and the feelings it stirred within her were not daughterly. It was as if gravity were pulling at her, tugging her tummy down toward the center of her being, a feeling she couldn't quite understand. She lifted her leg out of the water, stretched her toes to the hot water handle and turned it off.

  "Grrrr… Arf! Arf!" Brinks jumped up to get her attention.

  "Okay, okay… You are a pain in my butt," she told the little dog as she stood and reached for a towel. He started dancing in a circle and she laughed. "I guess it's only natural that all the men in my life be a pain in the butt."

  Chapter Four

  "And he has to be loaded because he bought the Lake Shore Drive home; two million dollars like it was a milkshake." Miranda pinched off another bite of her muffin and stuffed it between her berry-stained lips. "Did I already tell you about that?" she mumbled around the scrumptious fare.

  "Yes, that's how you met him," Charlie murmured as she sipped slowly from the froth at the top of her steaming breve-mocha. She tried not to crank her neck all the way around, but she wanted to see the police car in the drive-thru line of their favorite Starbucks. Was that him? Was it Vin?

  "So he took me out to The Mad Hatter, the club on Vine, and introduced me to his…" Miranda chattered on and it was most likely an earth-shattering story, but Charlie could not stay focused. She couldn't see into the cop car. It was an SUV like the one that he had pulled her over with the other day, but she couldn't tell who was inside. The man wore the standard trooper's hat so she couldn't see well. "Charlie, you're not listening to me at all. What in the world are you staring at?"

  She jerked and a surge of hot latte scalded her tongue. "I don't know… That cop. Did I tell you about the ticket I got?" Charlie turned her attention back to her childhood friend.

  "No, uh—wait, you mean when you got pulled over for speeding? I thought you didn't get a ticket?" Miranda lifted a meticulously waxed and plucked brow at Charlie. Her blue eyes were perfectly curious and framed in dark, long lashes.

  "I didn't that day. He came back to my house with a ticket a couple days later. He said he looked me up to send flowers to the hospital. And when he found out I lied, he came to my house..." Charlie felt a little warm under her gray long-sleeved knit and charcoal-colored vest. Why, she didn't know. She and Miranda had been in trouble together many times since the third grade.

  A wide grin split Miranda's face. "He wanted to send you flowers when he thought your Mom was really dying? So he likes you. He wants you."

  "Maybe, until he realized I'm the world's biggest and worst liar. A big fat ticket is not as lovely as a bouquet of flowers, Miranda. But, that isn't the worst of it… It turns out he is Jenna's cousin. He was at their house the other night." The cop car pulled away, but she couldn't tell if it was him or not. Dang it.

  "That means you will see him again!" Miranda held up her hand to give Charlie a high
-five. "We should double-date for Valentine's Day."

  Charlie glared at her and didn't raise her hand. "I'm not sure I want to see the guy again. And I will be working all day. Besides, he probably doesn't want to see me either."

  "Lame, Charlie. Lame. You need to loosen up. Track this guy down, like he did you. I'm sure Jenna would help you. You'd find out really quick if he were interested. Besides, I bet he's hot, most cops are." She licked her lips. "He is, isn't he?" Miranda giggled.

  "There is no way I'd do that. If he's interested he'll have to find me, but I'm not sure I like him anyway. He was rather—oh, I don't know. I'm afraid he could be rather, well, like Alex."

  "Dominant, spanking?" Her perfect eyebrows rose again, her eyes sparkled and she paid absolutely no attention to what had to be an obvious embarrassment at the mention of the word 'spanking.' Miranda said, "Spanking can be fun, when it's not your brother… sexy spankings…"

  Why had she ever told her friend about her brother? Well, the obvious reason was that he was so dang over-protective. "I will not be involved with anyone, ever, who does any kind of spanking." Even saying the words made her pulse race erratically. A vision of herself draped over Vin's thick muscular legs flashed through her mind. She closed her eyes and shook her head briefly trying to clear her thoughts, but the image just wouldn't quit and triggered a damp warmth in her panties.

  * * * * *

  Grosse Pointe was a suburb of Detroit with a population of twelve thousand, and in the large metropolitan area, Charlie didn't really expect to run into Vin again. She comfortably went about her job; it was a typical workday, steady but no crisis situations overwhelming the ER staff at St. John's. Charlie was, however, ready to puke if she heard the phrase "a rotten way to spend Valentine's Day" again. She was most likely going to kill the next person who said it; then they wouldn't have to worry about whatever was ailing them. It was bad enough she had to deal with the staff, most of which were pitying her for being alone and working on the "Day of Love." Then there was the prick, divorced doctor, who believed himself to be a walking, talking love-machine and kept calling their working together a date no matter the place or details involved.