Free Spirits

by Linda Wisdom

  “He is a good-looking guy,” he admitted.

  Alex chuckled. “And he knows it. I think what I hate more is that he’s the male equivalent of a slut and he doesn’t look one bit debauched!” she exclaimed. “The least he could do is have gray skin and a paunch. Instead, he always looks as if he just stepped out of a health club.”

  “It will all catch up with him someday.”

  Alex looked down as the waitress slid a plate in front of her with the murmured warning the plate was hot. “I don’t love him anymore, if l ever truly did, but it wouldn’t hurt to see his sins show up in his face.”

  Michael leaned across the table. “Maybe he has a painting of himself hidden in the attic,” he whispered.

  Her eyes lit up. “I can see it now. Deep crevices along the cheekbones.” She fumbled in her purse and pulled out a pen. She grabbed a napkin from an empty place setting and made quick strokes with the pen on the paper. “Maybe a few scars, real ugly ones—the kind Frankenstein had.”

  Michael watched her, amazed at what so easily appeared under her pen. “Warts?”

  She chewed on her lower lip as she drew. “Of course. Voila!” She handed him the napkin which was now covered with a face that was only barely recognizable as Craig Sommers. The features were there, with the addition of scars, several warts, a drooping eye, a mouth that turned up hideously on one end and a throat covered with ugly growths.

  “You’d be a natural drawing for horror comics. This is even better than Dorian Gray.” He handed her back the napkin. “You most definitely have a talent for sketching the ugly and unusual.”

  She wrinkled her nose, warming under his praise. “If Beth saw this, she’d put it on the hospital bulletin board for all to see. And how tempting that would be.”

  Michael loaded a flour tortilla with cooked pork and vegetables and salsa, and wrapped it around the spicy concoction. He bit into it and uttered a low groan of pleasure that ran along Alex’s nerve endings. Without thinking of where her thoughts might be taking her, she wondered if that was the way he sounded when he made love. To mask her wandering thoughts, she took a quick bite of her meat and almost choked as the spices exploded in her mouth. It took all of her willpower to leisurely reach for her water glass instead of grabbing it with feverish haste and inhaling the icy liquid.

  “Too hot?” Michael inquired.

  “No,” her voice came out as a high-pitched squeak. “No, it’s fine. A piece was caught in my throat and I figured I could wash it down with water.” To prove her words, she took another bite, adding some rice with the chicken in hopes of tempering it. The rice was just as spicy. She was surprised her eyes weren’t watering and her face wasn’t a bright red.

  Michael looked concerned. “Are you sure the food isn’t too spicy?”

  “I eat Thai food all the time, and my stomach hasn’t complained once,” she said brightly. No, it’s only burritos, tacos and all sorts of Latin cooking that sends you running for the Maalox, her brain reminded her. She picked up her fork, determined to eat every damned bite.

  By the time they left the restaurant, Alex’s stomach was already sending out warnings.

  Michael made no move to turn the ignition key once they were settled in the car.

  “I want to see you again,” he said quietly, staring out through the windshield, afraid he might see rejection in her eyes. “I understand that doctors aren’t at the top of your list. And I have no idea what Jason Palmer is to you, but if there’s a chance…” He felt her touch before he heard her words.

  “I’d like for us to go out again where it’s not one of us feeling we owe the other something, but just because we enjoy each other’s company.” Alex’s tone matched his. “As long as you remember that you aren’t bland and boring.”

  “Someone used to tell me that until I believed it.”

  “A woman?”

  “We lived together, and I thought we might even have a future together, but she was going out in the evening and making new business contacts while I enjoyed spending my few free evenings at home. I’m not one for parties or small talk. She felt I could set up a private practice and make more money. Therefore, I was boring.” He still hadn’t found the nerve to look at her.

  Alex’s hackles rose at the unknown woman’s callousness. “Perhaps we should introduce her to Jason. They could go out together and make all the business contacts they want. Maybe they could even have a contest to see who gets the most at the end of the evening,” she said lightly.

  “Rumor has it Jason was going to be husband number two.” Michael wanted it all out in the open.

  Alex knew she had to be honest with him. “I thought he was going to be, yes. But my doubts have been surfacing more and more lately. And after last night’s episode, well, I don’t feel I can trust him any longer. My parents will love to hear this,” she muttered to herself.

  He frowned. “Your parents?”

  “I just like to talk out loud. I guess it’s as if I’m still talking to them.” Alex exhaled a silent breath. What if she told Michael the truth? Would he believe her, or would he merely send her to the nearest padded cell? She decided not to take a chance just yet.

  Michael started to turn the key, then stopped. “My schedule isn’t necessarily my own,” he warned. “If there’s a major emergency, I’m called in, and I carry a beeper at all times. To be honest, I’m surprised it was so quiet this weekend.”

  “And there’s times when I’m against a deadline with blank sheets of paper in front of me and I’ll work twenty-four hours a day until I get my work finished,” she pointed out. “I guess that makes us even. There may be times I’ll be disappointed. I wouldn’t be human if I wasn’t, but I will understand—just as I hope you’ll understand when the position is reversed.” She didn’t stop to think she was well on her way to making a commitment here.

  Michael released a shuddering breath. “Lady, you’re too good to be triie.” He leaned over and brushed his lips across hers. But he wasn’t willing to stop at something light, after all the anticipation that had built up between them. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his embrace, deepening his kiss as his tongue slipped between her lips and stroked the interior, tasting the tart spices from their dinner. She moaned low in her throat and edged herself closer to him as her hands braced themselves against his shirt front. It was so easy, one light touch deepened into a stronger caress. Mouths nibbling and trailing across bare skin. Except it left them hungrier for more.

  “Hey, Duffy,” Alex murmured, placing love nips along his throat. “We’re under a streetlight here. Wnyone who leaves the restaurant can see us. Why don’t we make this a private show?”

  “Good idea.” He quickly switched on the engine and left the parking lot with a squeal of tires.

  “One piece, Duffy, let’s get there in one piece,” she laughed, enjoying his usual lack of decorum. “And one more thing, we need lights.” She leaned over and bit his earlobe.

  “Then I suggest you leave the driver alone until we’re locked inside your apartment,” he growled.

  They reached Alex’s apartment complex in record time and, snaking her fingers between his shirt buttons, she backed her way through the doorway and led him into the apartment.

  “Time for us to leave,” Patrick announced, standing up from the couch where he had been lounging, but Alex was beyond hearing. Or was she?

  “Good thinking,” she replied. Whether she was saying that to her parents or to Michael, who was rubbing his hands across the back of her neck was anyone’s guess. She closed her eyes and literally purred under his attention. “Why, Doctor, what nice hands you have.”

  “Surgeon’s hands.” Said hands were now working on her blouse buttons, easily releasing them from the buttonholes until they had room to slide between the folds of fabric and encounter silk-covered skin.

  Their mouths rarely left each other as clothing was loosened and his hands discovered silky skin soft from applications of a scented crea
m and she found hair-roughened skin that she kissed and explored with her lips as they lay entwined on the couch.

  “Oh, Michael,” Alex sighed, as his mouth trailed across her bare collarbone. Her closed eyes opened to slits as she lay in his arms. They widened with horror as she found her parents standing just beyond him. And they were smiling broadly! She gasped, feeling the air leave her lungs. What were they trying to do?

  “No talking,” he muttered, returning to kiss her deeply.

  Once his mouth covered hers again she could have cared less if the Vienna Boys’ Choir watched them. She twined her arms around him, pulling him over her fully, shifting her body as she felt his hand cover her breast under her camisole, two fingers circling her nipple until it hardened to a tight bud.

  “I hear bells,” she gasped, as he grabbed her earlobe between his teeth.

  “Hmm?” He paused a moment, then leaned back, swearing profusely as he recognized the metallic sound exploding through the charged silence. “It’s my beeper,” he groaned.

  Alex didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She chose the former. “The phone’s over there.” She stepped back and gestured to the breakfast bar.

  Michael swore under his breath and grabbed the cordless unit, quickly punching out the number. His mumbled words could be barely heard and their meaning was lost on layman Alex.

  “Ten-car pileup on the freeway,” he told her once he was off the phone. “They need every pair of hands they can get.”

  “And yours equals two pair. All I ask is that you get some rest as soon as you can.” She could see that his mind was already racing ahead to the hospital. “And if you get a chance, call me to let me know you’re okay.”

  He pressed a hard kiss on her lips. “It could be late.”

  “I don’t care.”

  Michael looked pensive, as if afraid to believe what was happening. “This is the beginning of our tests.”

  “Then let’s pass them with flying colors.” She linked her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss that sizzled right down to his toes. “Drive safely, Doctor.”

  “After that, I’ll be lucky to make it there in one piece.” With one last look at her flushed features, he reluctantly left.

  “It appears you’ve changed your mind about doctors.”

  Alex shrieked and jumped at the unexpected voice behind her. “Don’t do that,” she panted, spinning around, holding her hand against her chest to still her rapidly thumping heart.

  Marian held up her hands. “All right, next time I’ll reappear in front of you. I’m just glad that you’ve found someone presentable. Chloe said he’s a regular darling,” she added.

  “What’s-‘is-name called and didn’t sound too happy you weren’t home,” Patrick announced, appearing next to Marian.

  “How was your dinner?” Marian asked. “Did you have a nice time? Were you able to find something that wouldn’t bother your stomach? Or did you finally confess to him that you can’t handle Mexican food.”

  Alex clenched her teeth. “I don’t need this.” The earlier light warnings in her stomach had already begun escalating to a major explosion. She made a beeline for the bathroom, grateful to find the bottle of Maalox strategically placed on the counter. She popped four tablets into her mouth and chewed energetically.

  “You’re going to drop that idiot banker, aren’t you?” Patrick called out. “He didn’t sound very calm and collected on the phone tonight.”

  Alex didn’t like the idea of Jason pushing her after she already told him no. The more she thought about events in the past, the more she wondered how she could have gone so long without seeing his true nature. She couldn’t believe she had been so blind and she began to doubt her own judgment. She knew she would have to begin some serious thinking where he was concerned. With Michael coming into her life she had a pretty good idea where Jason stood, and she doubted the banker would appreciate his newly lowered position.

  “I’ll listen to his message tomorrow.” She read the instructions, wondering if she could take four more tablets within the next five minutes. Between her firestorm of a stomach and her parents eager to find out about her dinner with Michael, she knew she was in for a very long night.

  Chapter Ten

  “You ate Mexican food? You actually ate something filled with chili peppers?” Beth hooted, drawing one leg up onto her chair, the foot resting flat on the cushioned seat with her elbow resting on her raised knee. “Alex, Mexican food gives you third-degree heartburn. While you can eat Thai and enough curry to melt steel, you can’t handle Mexican food at all.”

  “Thank you for that public-service announcement.” Alex was bent over as she rummaged through the contents of her refrigerator. “For that you can just crawl off to your own apartment and make your own coffee.”

  Beth had appeared on Alex’s doorstep fifteen minutes before, begging a cup of coffee. She had come off the late shift and arrived home only to discover there was none in her house, and contrary to most caffeine drinkers, Beth always drank hers before bed to relax and sleep. After spending most of the night with her mother hovering over her moaning figure, Alex was grateful for company that wouldn’t disappear in a puff of smoke.

  Beth looked up from the morning paper. “What are you doing?”

  “Getting this out.” Alex held up a milk carton. “I intend to coat my stomach with this stuff.”

  “You hate drinking milk. Besides, it won’t work.” Her words stopped Alex from pouring it into a glass.

  “What do you mean, it won’t work? That’s what they tell ulcer patients to do. Well, actually they tell them to drink cream, don’t they? But I don’t have any, so I’ll have to make do with this until I can get some.”

  “Not anymore. Not for quite a few years, in fact. You said you’ve been taking Maalox—that should have worked.”

  “The tablets didn’t help very much and I ran out of the liquid hours ago.” Alex picked up the pot and poured the steaming coffee into a mug. After handing it to Beth, she popped two slices of bread into the toaster.

  “There’s one thing that puzzles me. Who fascinated you so much you were willing to eat Mexican food?”

  Alex buried her head in the depths of the refrigerator again, pretending to hunt for her favorite jam. “What makes you think I was with anyone?”

  “Easy. You wouldn’t be stupid enough to do it on your own, so it had to be some guy you wanted to make a good impression on.” Beth’s cup halted just as it touched her lips. “Michael Duffy.”

  “Ow! Damn!” Alex’s head hit the top of the refrigerator when her body jerked in reaction.

  “I was right!” Beth crowed, setting her cup down, her need for caffeine forgotten as something more important caught her attention. “It was Michael Duffy! I thought there was the beginning of something hot between you two.” She bounced in her seat like a three-year-old at the circus. “And you two make such a cute couple, too. You so vibrant and him so serious.” She braced her chin on her palm, dramatically batting her eyelashes.

  “He’s not boring,” Alex pointed out with a sharp edge to her words.

  Beth didn’t even blink at the attack. “I never said he was, although obviously someone did, and I just bet it wasn’t you.” Her brilliant eyes softened. “Is that why he’s so standoffish? Because someone convinced him he’s boring?”

  She needed to talk to someone, and Beth was the best person to air out her crazy feelings. “Last night he proved to me that men can be just as vulnerable as women when it comes to personal issues. Some woman really did a number on him, Beth. And for her to inflict that kind of mental damage, he must have cared for her a great deal. I went over to his apartment yesterday to take him a plant as sort of a housewarming gift. After all, he is new to the city.” She defended her action.

  “A plant? You with the black thumb that can kill a healthy leaf in ten seconds?”

  Alex leveled her with a telling look which, to her chagrin, did absolutely nothing. “A silk plant, but tha
t’s beside the point. Beth, his apartment had no color. None whatsoever. No one should go without color in their lives. I couldn’t let him live that way, so I dragged him to the mall and found him a few extras that would give him that color. Doing the kind of job he does, he can’t go home to a place that’s so dead-looking. He needed me to help him find that color, Beth.” She was perfectly serious, without an ounce of conceit.

  Beth knew Alex had nothing but color in her life, from the bright lavenders, turquoises and pinks adorning every corner of her apartment to the lively colors she wore. This was a new side of her friend, and Beth gloried in seeing it. For a woman who vowed never to have anything to do with a doctor, she was going to an awful lot of trouble to make one doctor’s life more comfortable. Beth refrained from saying so out loud, because she knew her friend would only deny it. She bit down hard on her lower lip to keep her smile of triumph from blossoming forth. Now if Jason Palmer could just get out of the picture!

  “What about Jason? Does this new turn of events mean he’s gone for good?” This she did feel safe in asking out loud.

  Alex hesitated. How could she truthfully answer a question she had been wrestling with lately? Jason had changed so much that she wasn’t sure he was the same man she had considered marrying. And the more she saw of him, the more she knew she didn’t want to be with him any more than she had to be. She opened her mouth to give the best answer she could when she was interrupted.

  Beep! “Alexis, I thought you would have called me with your answer by now. It’s urgent that I speak with you as soon as possible.” Jason’s agitated voice sounded tinny over the answering-machine speaker. “I hope you’ve given a lot of thought to my suggestion of the other night. I’m sure you’ll do the right thing. Please return my call, so the paperwork can be put into motion. We can’t afford to waste any more time.”