Cherry smiled. “We went to a movie two nights ago. I cooked tea for you on Thursday and Sugar spent the whole time afterwards sitting in your lap until you got that call-out.”
“I’m lucky to get a good meal into me on a on-call night. My guardian angel was watching out for me. I got time to spend with you and those two miscreants you call cats.” It had been a relaxing time while they’d chatted and the cats snoozed contentedly, Sugar snuggled on his lap.
“Last weekend was a picnic with my friends.”
“And what an experience that was.” Rick grinned. “I like your friends. At least Susie lets me sneak a peak at the hospital roster now.”
“She’s a little overprotective.”
Rick had to agree, but he couldn’t blame Susie. In fact, that very protective streak in her towards Cherry made him admire her. Anyone who was on Cherry’s side got his automatic vote of friendship.
The picnic had been fun. Robbo and Ben got on well with Rick, and Maxie and Susie were friendly with him outside of the hospital walls, especially when he proved to be easy-going and cheerful, happily falling in with their plans for the day. There was no distinguishing in their varied professions.
“Susie is a free spirit, it’ll take a special man to hold her down.” Cherry smiled. “Robbo’s trying to be that man.”
Reaching out, Rick took her hand. She looked up at him questioningly, and his heart just bloomed with warmth as it always did when she looked at him. “Free spirits are wonderful, but there’s only one spirit I’m interested in capturing.”
That expected flush spread across her cheeks and she glanced away.
Before he could say anything, Donna ran past the door. “I’m off! Bye Rick! Nice to meet you, Cherry!” The door banged shut behind her.
Rick shook his head. “Typical Donna. I’ll see her off.”
She was already jumping in a taxi when he got to the gate. She waved to him, yelled her thanks again, and the taxi pulled away. The visit was typical Donna-style. A whirlwind of temper, humour, and rapid mood swings.
Amused, Rick returned to the house. Shutting the door behind him, he entered the kitchen again to find Cherry gazing out the window into the backyard.
“Nice yard,” she said. “It’s going to need some work, though.”
Walking up behind her, he wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on the top of her head. She relaxed back into him, and he savoured the feel of her softness. “True. But I don’t intend to do too much to it.”
“Oh?”
“It’s a rental. It’s not a real home.”
“True again. But you need it to look nice, to feel like a home.”
“Maybe, but it’ll still be missing someone.” He nuzzled the silky strands of hair tickling his chin.
Cherry didn’t answer, but neither did she pull away. They stood there in companionable silence and he let the peace of their togetherness seep into him. The house was quiet, it was just the two of them. The two of them with nothing to take their attention from each other.
“Do you know it’s been a week since we made love?’ Rick murmured. Immediately he felt her suck in a breath. “I say we remedy that right now.”
“Now?” She looked up at him over her shoulder.
“Sure. Why not? We have the house to ourselves, you’re not on shift work, and I’m not on-call. No one is here.” Leaning down, he nibbled the corner of her mouth. “Yes, now.”
Cherry started to jerk away but he tightened his arms.
“No,” she said. “Let go.”
“No, you don’t want to make love?”
“No. Yes. I mean, yes, I want to make love.” She stumbled a little over the words, which he thought was cute. “But not right now.”
Ah-ha. “When, then?”
“Tonight.”
Rick knew exactly what she was aiming for, and hell no, it wasn’t happening. “With the lights off, eh?”
“No rules,” she reminded him.
“That works both ways. You like it off, I like it on. During the day there’s no quibbling.”
“No.”
“Why?” He turned her around and transferred his hands to her shoulders. “You don’t want to see me when we make love?”
“No, yes…well of course I do, but…” It took a lot for her to admit that without looking away.
Wait for it, he thought. When she stammered to a mortified halt, he waited. And waited. But he was determined that she’d be the one to say it, not him. It was her problem, not his. Well, not in the same way.
Finally, she took refuge in annoyance and glared at him. “I don’t want you to see me naked.”
“Scared of what your body will do to me?” he drawled.
She actually flinched. “Yes.”
He had to give her points for honesty, but he decided the way to do this wasn’t slow and easy. Slow and easy hadn’t won him any ground so far with her weight issues. It was time to strike.
I’ll tell you what your body will do to me, sugar.”
“I know, I know. You want the lights on. You don’t care about my weight. You—” Her speech was cut off by his finger lying against her lips.
“Stop right there, Cherry. This time you’ll listen to me.” Her eyes widened a little, a light of battle flaring to life. If she only knew what that did to his libido. A good tussle leading to love-making, mmm-mmm. Manfully, he switched back to the topic at hand. “And listen good.” Okay, he didn’t really have to add that last bit, but he figured getting her fired up wasn’t such a bad idea. Anger and lust could be a good combination if handled correctly. Of course, if not handled correctly, it could also come back to bite him on the arse, but that wasn’t an option in this situation.
He was playing to win.
“You better have a good argument, Reed,” she warned.
“I don’t argue. I’m stating facts, so listen up, sugar.” Oh yeah, that ‘sugar’ bit had her hackles rising. Cute. “The thought of you naked has me so hot my cock’s hard enough to crack ice.”
Yeah, that took the wind right out of her sails. Her mouth fell open.
“The thought of you naked has my balls absolutely knotted.”
Her cheeks flamed.
“The sight of you is going to make me come into you like a jackhammer, baby, so you better be ready to hang on for dear life, because I intend to see you naked any minute, and I intend to be in you hard and fast. But first I’m going to have a good look at you. I’m going to explore that luscious body good and properly.”
“I don’t bloody think so!”
“Do you remember what I said to you the last time we made love in my hotel room?” She shook her head a little wildly. “I told you that you had won, but next time it was on my terms. This is my time, baby.”
“Rick, no.”
“My terms.”
“You don’t know what you’re asking of me.” Her magnificent breasts were rising and falling agitatedly. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”
He didn’t bother trying to hide the hedonism in his slow smile. “I’m not asking you, love, I’m telling you.”
There was a flash of panic in her eyes, and then she started to struggle in earnest.
“Cherry.” Not expecting the panic, Rick tried to hold her. “Cherry, stop.”
“Let go!” She twisted away, and he caught the sheen of tears in her eyes.
Truly alarmed, he caught her to him. Instinctively he knew if he allowed her to flee, he’d lose any ground he’d gained - if he hadn’t already. But part of him wasn’t yet ready to give up, not by a long shot.
He cradled her to him, gentle but firm, and when he didn’t let her go she suddenly sagged into him, burying her face in his shoulder and twisting her hands into his shirt. Breathing ragged, she pressed into him.
“Jesus.” Closing his eyes, he rocked her gently. “Someone really did a number on you, didn’t they, love?”
She didn’t answer, just pressed closer. Part of Rick cursed
himself for pushing the issue, but another part of him felt as though he’d crested something so very important, that he was finally pushing open some hidden door.
Did this happen to all larger women? He wondered. Did they all lack such confidence? He didn’t remember his sister being so uptight about her weight, nor his mother. Oh, they’d been through their share of dieting and exercising, but ultimately they’d shrugged and continued on their merry way.
Not all women were that confident.
Cherry wasn’t that confident, but he wanted to bring that confidence up in her, bring it out, make her proud of herself.
Make her talk.
Resting his cheek on her head, he said softly, “Tell me what’s wrong, Cherry. Not the weight, but why you don’t want me to see. Who hurt you, baby? Tell me. Please tell me.”
She was silent for so long that he didn’t think she was going to answer, but then she whispered, “I went out with a man who dumped me on our date and left with another woman. She was gorgeous, slim, everything I’m not. I was the laughing stock of the party, and it was Susie who brought me home. I heard the teenagers when I was at school laughing at the bigger girls. I heard them laughing at me when I was in school regulation shorts, unable to run fully around the oval. I heard them call me a beached whale when I was in bathers at swimming classes.”
“Teenagers can be so thoughtlessly cruel.” Soothingly, Rick ran his hand up and down her back.
“A year ago Maxie finally talked me into going to the local pool in bathers. She’d been trying for months. There were three men there, handsome, muscular. The kind that turn a girl’s head.”
Yeah, Rick knew the kind of men of whom she spoke. Muscle-heads, the lot of them. As thick in the head as the muscles they sported with pride.
“I heard them laughing at me, heard the old ‘beached whale’ joke. One said that they better send out for the lifeguards when I hit the water, because there was going to be a tsunami for sure.”
Rick wanted to pound the thoughtless, cruel bastards’ heads in for them. As adults, they should have been more considerate.
“They commented about the dimples in my legs, saying they looked like the surface of the moon, all craters and lumps. My thighs wobbled like jelly. Someone like me should cover up, not make people sick by parading around my big arse and legs in bathers. I should be heard but not seen, one of them laughed, and another took it up and said they would be able to hear me coming a mile away by the rubbing of my thighs and the thudding of my footsteps. They had no idea that I was sitting behind them on the other side of the benches. That was the last time I ever let anyone see me in anything but my clothes. I can’t let you see me, Rick.”
“I’m not like them, Cherry.” How could he convince her that to him it didn’t matter? What could he possibly say that he hadn’t already?
Even as the thought filtered through his brain, he was already strategizing his next move. His mother had always said he was a fast thinker. His father said he was cunning. His sister said he was a jerk.
He believed himself to be determined. He knew what was of value in his life, and he would go after it. Cherry was what he valued most in his life now.
“Cherry, look at me.”
When she refused, he placed his hands on her wet cheeks and titled her head back. Tears glistened on her cheeks, and shaking his head, he took her hand and led her over to the kitchen bench. Plucking a couple of tissues from the box, he dried her cheeks then bent down and kissed her on her shiny nose.
Embarrassed, she glanced away. “I better go.”
It’d be a cold day in hell before he let her go now. “We’re not done talking yet.”
Miserable, she looked down at her feet. “I’m such an idiot.”
“No,” he said gently. “You’re human.” When the seconds kept ticking past and silence continued, Rick put a finger under her chin and titled her face back up so he could lock their gazes together.
They looked at each other steadily, he with quiet determination, she with a bravado that was trying to hide the hurt that dwelt in her soul.
Finally, he asked, “What do you want out of this relationship, Cherry?”
“You want to call it off—” she immediately began.
“No. Listen to me. What do you want out of this relationship, love? Think before you answer, think long and hard, and then be truthful.” He watched her silently, all the while his heart pounding just a little.
Here was the moment of truth. Right here and now could be the make or break of everything, he could be back to square one with her. Square one was definitely where he didn’t want to be, he wanted this last wall between them breached.
When he felt her tremble, he removed his finger from her chin, but he stayed close, allowing her to feel his body heat. Okay, yes, it was a cunning way to fight back, but sometimes his father was correct. Not that he’d ever admit it to him.
Cherry looked away, her fingers twisting nervously in her blouse. A slight breeze came in through the kitchen window and stirred the tendrils of hair at her temple. Her breathing was still a little ragged, but she seemed calmer.
Patiently, Rick waited. For the first time in his life he was anxious about a woman’s decision on their relationship, but no way was he going to show that to her. One of them had to be strong, and regardless if it was a caveman attitude or not, Rick saw himself as being the one that had to be strong enough for both of them, especially in that moment. Their very future was riding on it and he wasn’t one to gamble, but right now he knew he was dangerously gambling on her emotions. On her feelings. On her attraction to him.
On his love for her.
Cherry swallowed and glanced up at him almost shyly. “I want to give this relationship a go.”
“Do you?” He asked quietly, steadily.
“Yes.”
“How are you going to do that when you don’t trust me?”
“I do.” She looked miserable.
“You don’t trust me.” He kept his tone quiet, letting her feel his patience and understanding. Sure as hell he wasn’t going to give her a glimpse of his frustration.
“Rick…”
“My turn.” When she looked startled, he smiled inwardly. “I want this relationship to work. I trust you, Cherry. I want to share every aspect of my life with you. I’m prepared to go wherever it leads. But I can’t be the only one rowing this boat. This is a two-man boat, and I’m the only one pulling on the oars.” She looked like she was ready to cry again, but he pushed on ruthlessly. “A relationship works only when both people trust each other. I trust you fully, Cherry. I ask that you trust me.”
“You don’t know how hard this is for me.”
“Relationships aren’t easy. It takes work from both people. I’ve made love to you several times, love.” Reaching out, he gently pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “I want to share more than that. I want to look into your eyes when we make love, I want to see what you’re feeling, and I want to share the laughter, the amazement, and the joys. I can’t do that in the dark. It has to be everything. Everything. There are to be no secrets between us, no awkwardness. Trust, Cherry.”
She took a wavering breath, her eyes searching his.
“Trust in every aspect of our relationship,” he said.
She looked down to where her fingers were wringing her blouse.
“Give me that trust.” His words hung between them.
Rick waited. Outside he could hear birds whistling, a car went past, and in the distance children laughed and shrieked. A dog barked. But everything he was interested in was right in his kitchen, standing before him, wringing the hell out of her blouse and his heart all at the same time.
Then she looked up at him and whispered, “Okay.”
His heart jumped. He felt like leaping around the kitchen and pumping his fists in the air. Instead, he met her gaze steadily and smiled slowly. “You won’t regret this, Cherry.”
“I hope not.”
Without s
aying another word, Rick took her hand and led her from the kitchen, down the hallway and into his bedroom. At the side of the bed he turned to face her.
Cherry was shaking with nerves. Her hand trembled in his and her eyes were filled with fear.
Not exactly what he wanted to see in them, but at least she wasn’t running from him screaming. His job now was to prove how much she turned him on, voluptuous curves and all.
Framing her cheeks in his palms, he leaned down and gently kissed her, keeping it light. He trailed his kisses across her lips, nibbled at the corners, then moved down to the side of her throat.
He felt her response in the way she sighed and angled her head for him.
Moving to her ear, he breathed warmly, “You’re safe in my hands, love.”
And then he swept the world out from under her feet.
He stormed her defences with his kisses and caresses, teasing her, drawing her into responding. He played with her senses, trailing his fingertips down her arms and up her sides, first over the blouse, then slipping his fingers beneath to simply trail up her sides, invoking shivers from her.
And he continued to kiss her, glorying in it when she swayed and leaned against him, her mouth seeking his, her hands creeping under his shirt to splay out over the muscles in his back.
Keeping her thoughts off what was happening, he undid the buttons of her blouse while kissing her neck, pushing it off her shoulders in a move that had his fingertips trailing once more down her arms.
Quickly shrugging out of his own shirt, he returned to kissing her, his hands now cupping the fullness of her breasts through the lace bra. Slipping his hands behind her, he kneaded down her spine, loving the way she arched into him, and slowly he slid his hands down further until they pushed beneath the waistband of her pants. When he started to push them down, she froze.
He stopped, his breathing heavier as he waited for her. His mouth was near her ear, his every breath stirring the loose strands of her hair, the scent of her strawberry shampoo assaulting his senses. In that moment he knew he loomed over her, her forehead level with his shoulders, and he deliberately leaned over her a little more, letting her feel his greater height, wanting her to feel smaller.
Doctor's Delight Page 17
