“Yeah, right,” Eli muttered. After a few moments he said, “I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll tell you what you want to know, if you do the same for me.”
She laughed. “I don’t have much to tell, but fine.”
“Okay. So, what do you want to know?”
“How many serious girlfriends have you had?”
“Two.”
“Does this include the woman who came to your Mother’s last Sunday?”
“Three,” he corrected.
Monica chewed on that piece of information for a bit. She pretended to look for dirt underneath her fingernails. With feigned casualness she knew Eli would see right through, she asked, “How many women have you’ve slept with?”
“You don’t want to know. Next question.”
“Give me an estimate.”
“No.”
Monica crossed her arms over her chest. He uncrossed them and brought her hands to his lips, giving each of her fingers a light peck.
“Have you ever heard that sex is different for men and women?” he asked.
She nodded.
“It’s true,” Eli stated. “I will be the first to admit that during those years when I was not in a serious relationship, sex meant nothing more than physical relief. It was like eating and drinking, just a basic, everyday necessity.”
“You’re right; I don’t want to hear this.” Monica tried to pull away, but he held onto her hands.
“I now know the difference between having sex and making love.” His eyes became serious. “Making love to you is a hundred times more meaningful than it has ever been before.”
A rush of warmth washed over her, skating across her skin with sensual awareness. Her legs felt weak, as if they wouldn’t hold her up. It was the most beautiful thing anyone had ever said to her.
“Now, it’s your turn,” Eli said.
Monica had to clear her throat before she could speak again. “I told you, I don’t have anything you would really want to know,” she said, her emotions reeling from his heartfelt proclamation.
“I beg to differ.” He grabbed her hands and kissed them. “I want to know who hurt you.”
Monica frowned in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“I know you’ve been hurt, Monica. The signs are all there.”
And all this time she thought she had done a pretty good job of keeping her feelings shielded. It was scary to think Eli could see through her so easily.
“His name was Patrick,” Monica said, resigned to the fact that he would eventually find out. “I dated him for six years.” She shifted uncomfortably. “We talked about marriage on and off, but Patrick always said he wasn’t ready.”
“He was a coward,” Eli said.
“No. He was right,” Monica asserted. “If Patrick and I had married it would have been the biggest mistake of both our lives. I didn’t love him,” she admitted. “At least I didn’t love him in the way you’re supposed to love the person you’re going to spend the rest of your life with.”
“Why did you stay with him for so long?” Eli asked.
“He was safe,” she said simply.
“I don’t understand.”
“I needed to be with someone who could live up to my parents’ high standards, and make me look good in their eyes, for once.” She tipped her head up. “You see, I’m considered the slacker in my family.”
“You? Miss Top Five Percent in Her Class?”
“That’s four percentage points from the number one spot. And for Catherine and Garrett Gardner, nothing but number one will do.”
“So what does this have to do with you and the jerk you dated?”
She shrugged. “Patrick comes from a prominent family. He was the type of guy my parents expected me to end up with. So, I convinced myself I was happy. Well, happy enough.”
He gave her arm a gentle squeeze and Monica nearly faltered. She expected ridicule. She had never imagined Eli would offer her comfort, nor had she expected the soothing reassurance it would bring.
Spurred by his encouraging embrace, Monica continued. “In a way, I don’t fault Patrick for leaving. Everyone deserves to find true love, and maybe that’s what he’s found. It’s the way he left that I can’t forgive.”
Monica took another deep, reassuring breath.
“About a year ago, I came in from a terrible day at work to find Patrick sitting at the table with another woman. His bags and boxes of his stuff were stacked next to the door. He introduced the woman as Elaina and told me she was pregnant and that he was leaving me. They had been married earlier that morning.”
“Oh, baby.” Eli wrapped his arms around her and held her head against his chest. His compassion was nearly her undoing, but Monica refused to shed a single tear over past mistakes with Patrick, especially in the arms of the man she was beginning to love.
Eli pulled back and dipped down to her eye level. “I knew you were in pain, but I never would have guessed how much he hurt you.”
“Not anymore. Really,” Monica assured him when he gave her a skeptical look. “I’m better off without him,” she said, and for the first time in over a year, she actually believed the words. As of this moment, as she stood surrounded by Eli’s strong arms, she knew for certain she no longer needed Patrick Dangerfield in her life. Eli was all the man she needed.
He captured her by the shoulders and turned her around. He resumed their previous position with her back against his chest. He rested his chin on her head and held her in his arms as they swayed side to side, surrounded by the silent, peaceful night.
Happiness bubbling over within her at the thought of how Eli had freed her heart, Monica smiled contently, relishing his warm embrace. She felt as if a thousand pound boulder had been lifted from her shoulders.
“Now, I have another question for you,” she said.
“I thought I’d already had my turn?” he murmured.
“The counsel has rebuttal rights.”
Eli let out an exaggerated sigh. “Fine. Whatever you say, counselor.” He dragged out the last word. “What else do you want to know?”
“How did your rule on not dating doctors come about?” she asked. It had been a burning issue since the moment Monica had heard the nurses discussing Dr. Holmes’s hard, fast rule. Even before she had any romantic intentions toward him, Monica would admit she had been miffed about his unwillingness to date a woman simply because she was a doctor.
There was a knock at the door.
“Saved by the bell,” Eli said. “Stay here, I’ll get that.” He winked as he left her standing on the balcony while he collected their dinner.
“The pasta looks good,” Eli said, coming up to the sliding door. “You better get back in here before it gets cold.”
“Not so fast,” Monica caught him by the waistband of the pajama bottoms he’d pulled on over his silk boxers when he went to answer the door.
Eli closed his eyes and his head fell forward. He looked as if he was headed to the guillotine.
Monica giggled, but she was not letting him off the hook. “You still have to answer my question. The food can wait.”
“But I’m hungry,” he complained.
“All the more reason for you to start talking.” This time, Monica was the one to pull him into her embrace. She wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head against his warm, naked back. He felt so strong, and oh, so good.
“Okay, what’s the deal with the rule?” she asked.
“You are asking the tough questions tonight, aren’t you?” He took a deep breath and began. “Back when I was young and extremely stupid, I got mixed up in an affair with one of my professors.”
“Not the wisest move,” Monica said.
“I’ve definitely had better moments,” Eli concurred. “Someone caught us in a compromising position in her office. Instead of owning up to our relationship, she started spreading rumors that I tried to seduce her to get ahead because I didn’t have the skills to make it as an ob-gyn. It
wasn’t until later that I found out she was up for the Head of Obstetrics position. She pretty much feed me to the wolves to save her own hide. “
“Oh, Eli, I’m so sorry.” She gave him a light kiss on his back. “I guess I can’t blame you for having that rule.”
He shrugged. “The rule was never written in stone, but I was so leery of being accused of trying to sleep my way to the top that I decided to cross doctors off my list of eligible love interests. There are millions of women around the world who are not doctors, I thought I could surely find my soul mate in one of them.”
“Do you still see it that way?” Monica asked. Eli dislodged himself from her hold, turned around and pulled her into his arms. He kissed her deeply and Monica arched her neck to give him better access to the sensitive spot that craved his kiss.
“No,” he answered after trailing a string of kisses along her proffered neck. “I think I’ve found my soul mate, and she happens to be a brilliant doctor.”
A ripple of excitement fluttered through her. “I think I’ve found my soul mate, too.”
“Is he a brilliant doctor?” Eli asked, an irresistible grin lighting up his face.
“I wouldn’t say brilliant, but he’s okay.”
He bit her shoulder. “Just for that, you’re going to be punished.” He scooped her into his arms. The bed sheet opened at her neck and Eli dipped his head and ran his tongue between the valley of her exposed breasts.
Monica gasped, then moaned as his mouth moved to her nipple. “Mmm...but I like your form of punishment,” she purred. “So is it really punishment at all?”
“Yes, it is.” Eli said. He brought her back into the room and deposited her on the mattress. Standing at the foot of the bed, Eli relieved Monica of the sheet, throwing it over the room’s lone chair. He pushed the pajamas and boxers from his hips and down his legs. “You see,” Eli said in a silky voice, “this time, I’m going to make you scream for hours before I let you sleep.”
A smiled curved up the corners of Monica’s mouth as a shiver of heated excitement ran down her spine. She held out her hands and parted her thighs.
“Let the punishment begin.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Monica tried to concentrate on the caterer’s words, but her brain was having none of that. Instead, it was fixated on the man whose bed she had left in the wee hours of morning.
Monica had never been more tempted to call in sick then when the alarm had gone off at four o’clock this morning. Eli had set it after their long bout of lovemaking when, Monica told him she would need to be back in New Orleans for seven A.M. She had switched to an earlier shift so she could tend to banquet issues this afternoon.
As she tried to keep herself awake long enough to understand the caterer, her heart overflowed with regret. She did not want to be here. She wanted to be in Hattiesburg, waiting in Eli’s bed.
Monica cursed the Mississippi insurance commission. They had no clue of the far-reaching implications of their actions. If not for them, Eli would be only a few minutes from her grasp, not hours.
Monica nodded at the caterer, shook his hand and prepared to leave. She would speak to Dr. Moore about entrusting the catering details to the subcommittee once again. Eli was right, she didn’t have to do it all by herself. Monica had other ways to spend her time, like in bed with her man.
Tragically, she would not be in his bed for another couple of days. Since the strike in Mississippi seemed nowhere near its end, Eli was stuck there for the remainder of the week until one of the other OB docs returned from vacation.
Although Eli was over a hundred miles away, thankfully, Monica would not be alone tonight. She’d accepted a dinner invitation from Alex. Apparently, Eli’s niece had accomplished something outstanding in school today and wanted to celebrate with dinner at her grandmother’s. Alex said it would only be a few people, but Monica already knew what the Holmes family considered a “few”. She was prepared for a houseful.
When she pulled up to the curb in front of the wood-frame house, Monica smiled at her accurate assumption. There were three cars in the driveway and four parked along the street. She could hear the myriad of voices as soon as she stepped out of her car.
Bypassing the front door, Monica walked to the back of the house and, knocking lightly, entered through the kitchen door. Many of the people she had met at Jasmine’s birthday party were gathered in the kitchen, though there were a few unfamiliar faces. Monica did, however, notice the woman Eli considered one of his past serious relationships. She tried to keep her teeth from clenching.
Goodness, when had she become so possessive?
Monica spotted Alex among the fray and motioned for him.
“Hey, I’m glad you could make it.” Alex gave her a light peck on the cheek. Monica knew she would have to get used to these freely given offers of affection. Her family had never been the touchy-feely type; they’d been too wrapped up in their own pursuits to form a true family bond.
“I bought a little something for Jasmine,” she said, holding up the doll with the huge lips and big eyes that seemed to be all the rage with little girls Jasmine’s age.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Alex said, ushering her in and closing the door behind her.
“It’s what Eli would have done,” Monica tried to speak above the noise. “I didn’t want her to be disappointed.”
Alex waved away the notion. “Eli had me to store a closet full of toys for those occasions when he can’t get away from the hospital. My little Jazzy Bean is never without a little something special from her Uncle Elijah.”
That didn’t surprise Monica one bit. She knew how much Eli loved his niece. He doted on her as if she were his own. He would make a wonderful father one day.
A warm sensation formed in the pit of her belly. Monica wanted to close her eyes for just a second to imagine herself and Eli welcoming a baby into the world, but just as she was about to, Margo came up to greet her with a big hug.
Monica’s presence and her position as Eli’s girlfriend were summarily announced to the entire room. She was then introduced on a more intimate level to the people whom she had yet to meet.
Monica got her first real look at Tosha Culpepper, who made sure to mention at least five times in the first five minutes of conversation that she and Eli had dated throughout high school. She was also introduced to Tosha’s younger sister, Sienna, who seemed much more down to earth than her high strung sister, and who was celebrating a new job she had landed with one of the city’s premier marketing agencies.
“You and my best friend, Nia, should talk,” Monica told Sienna after hearing about the multi-million dollar account the young executive had landed her first month on the job. “The two of you could go into business together.”
Sienna laughed. “I’m not sure I’m ready to take my show on the road yet. Maybe after I’ve established a few clients and made a name for myself I’ll consider branching out on my own.”
“She had better kick butt at her day job, because her basketball game is weak,” Toby said, coming over to where they stood just to the right of the stove. His arm was draped across Aria Jordan’s shoulders.
Monica noticed Sienna stiffen at Toby and Aria’s intrusion. Her previously relaxed expression turned to one of discomfort.
Quickly recovering her gaiety, Sienna responded to Toby’s jibe. “Even though I could kick his butt in basketball even before his accident, Toby still thinks he’s the better player.” She hunched her shoulders in helpless surrender. “I begged him to get help for his delusions, but he just won’t listen.”
“Let’s bring it outside,” Toby demanded. “We can handle this right now.”
“Are you sure you want the wrath of St. Mary’s Academy’s all-district and all-state player?” Sienna asked. “You do remember there was only one player—male or female—with that distinction our senior year, right?”
Toby shook his head in agitation. “There you go bringing that up again. You know I
had a bad flu that season.”
“Yeah, yeah. Always an excuse.”
Monica laughed at their sparring and wondered again about the look that had flashed briefly across Sienna’s face when Toby walked over with his arm around Aria Jordan. It was obvious the two had been friends for a long time. Sienna’s reaction caused Monica to wonder if they had ever been more than just friends.
A few minutes later, everyone sat for an informal dinner of hotdogs and potato chips. Because this special dinner was in honor of Jasmine having a perfect report card, she was given the honor of picking tonight’s menu.
Monica could not decide if the Holmeses just loved getting together, or if she’d had a lacking childhood. She had received straight A’s from kindergarten through twelfth grade, but since the same could be said for her older brother, that accomplishment had gone unnoticed by her family. Jasmine Holmes made all A’s and the entire block showed up to celebrate.
Monica felt a twinge of self-disgust. Was she really jealous of a five-year-old? How pathetic!
No. It wasn’t just the five-year-old that struck an envious cord; it was the entire family. Monica had never experienced such closeness. She wondered if the Holmeses realized just how lucky they were. And she couldn’t help but pray she would become a more permanent fixture in their family.
Monica nibbled on a piece of chocolate cake—yes, there was even a “Congratulations Jasmine” cake for the occasion—and perused the scene before her. She tried to ignore Tosha, who had come to stand next to her. Tosha leaned against the wall, mimicking Monica’s stance.
“So, how long have you and Elijah been together?”
Well, she certainly didn’t waste any time, did she?
“For a while,” Monica answered. That was about as specific as she cared to get. She did not owe this woman a play-by-play recap of her and Eli’s relationship.
“We were together throughout high school. We were so in love,” Tosha sang sweetly.
“Yes, you mentioned that already.” Monica could not control her clipped tone. She felt ridiculous, resenting the ex-lover. How cliché.
Deliver Me Page 23
