Created In Fire (Art of Love Series)

by McDonald, Donna

  Carrie laughed then, mostly because she knew Michael meant it. “Oh, I think I would seriously enjoy watching you beat up Kevin. I’ve always wanted to myself. He’s—he’s worse than Dad in some ways because he’s willing to physically fight anyone, not just members of our family. I still can’t believe he hit you. Now you know why I made sure my sisters moved hours and hours away from all that craziness.”

  “Yeah. They held your brother down pretty good to help me. I’d say you’ve had a lot of influence on them,” Michael said, laughing. “I’ve seen you get between battling men at work.”

  “That’s different. At work I just—,” Carrie began, but lost her train of thought when his dark gaze fixed itself to hers.

  Michael had such a way of focusing on just the thing he was interested in at the moment. It was a very, very appealing trait when all that attention was focused just on her, she admitted.

  “Still waiting for you to finish your thought, babe,” Michael said, laughing as Carrie’s eyes drifted closed. “That medicine kicks your butt every time.”

  “Yes—it does. Michael, I just want you to know you’re the closest thing to a knight in shining armor I’ve ever had,” Carrie said.

  “You don’t have to flatter me out of gratitude,” Michael told her, running a hand over her hair. “I’m happy to slay a few family dragons for you. Not because you’re weak—I know the woman you really are. Who knows? Maybe one day you’ll return the favor and slay a few for me. You can start with Shane.”

  Laughing, Carrie pushed off the pillows with the last energy she had and reached behind Michael to grab his ponytail. She stroked it as she used her other arm around him to pull herself forward.

  “Give up that dream. Your brother is twice as big as me. Come here. You’ve been trying to kiss me for days. I think I would like that kiss now. I think I even need it,” she said, holding herself up and leaning into him, relieved to feel his heat and strength around her. They made her feel stronger.

  Carrie moved her lips cautiously across Michael’s, her heartbeat accelerating until she felt like she’d been running in a race. It felt good to have her mouth on his. It felt good to feel connected to the man who had defended her today. Michael was the only man she’d ever known who hadn’t backed down or away from dealing with her father and Kevin.

  So even though Michael didn’t want her gratitude, she was grateful all the same.

  Michael used one arm to scoop Carrie closer, and the other he ran up her back until he cupped the back of her head.

  “You have the most reverent kiss I’ve ever known,” Michael said, his heart taking over. “I feel your soul calling to mine when you kiss me, Carrie Addison.”

  “Reverent? I was going for hot and devastating,” Carrie said against his mouth. “I guess I’m too tired to do it right.”

  Michael laughed. “Honey, you always do it right,” he said.

  But Michael took over anyway, kissing Carrie back, kissing her until she was twining herself around him like a vine. He felt her slipping the band off that held his hair, gathering handfuls and wrapping them both up in it.

  Michael was shaking when he reluctantly moved his mouth away from Carrie’s.

  “I want you, lady. I always, always want you. But I feel like if we did this now, I’d be taking unfair advantage. As easy as it would be to sink into you, gratitude is not going to be enough. The next time you’re in my arms, at the very least I need you to want me back as much as I want you. I’d rather wait than mess this up.”

  Carrie leaned back against his hand that was still behind her head to look at him in disbelief.

  “Michael, why are you doing this? I’m finally willing again. Why are you suddenly locked in a moral dilemma about us?” she asked, almost hating him when he laughed at her consternation.

  Michael couldn’t help it. His instincts were clear, though he could understand Carrie’s confusion.

  “As you keep pointing out to me, I don’t have much of a moral compass about women, but all my morals seem to point to a need to be completely straight with you,” Michael told Carrie, sighing at her unhappy expression. “Can I just say I’m following my instincts and they’re telling me not to do this right now?”

  “Fine. If you’re not interested in having hot gratitude sex with me, go away so I can fall asleep,” Carrie told him, her tone scathing as Michael laid her carefully back on the pillows.

  “Well, I will still be here when you wake up. Maybe later?” Michael asked, his mouth quirking when Carrie made a disgusted sound.

  “My grateful mood will have definitely passed by then,” Carrie said firmly, listening to him laugh.

  She was too tired to be offended that Michael had turned her down. The medicine all but knocked her out every time. It was the trade-off for not throwing up.

  “I’ll take my chances on coaxing the mood back when the time is right,” Michael told her, knowing he’d enjoy every second of the coaxing.

  He went to a chest and pulled out a chenille throw, bringing it back and draping it over her.

  “Sure you don’t want to take a nap with me?” she asked, pulling the cover up under her chin.

  “Tempting—but not this time. I’m going to go call everyone in my family and tell them how wonderful they are,” Michael told her. “Even my brother.”

  Carrie laughed at the teasing in his voice. “Yeah, you have a nice brother. Shane’s just a big teddy bear. You can tell.”

  “More like grisly bear, you mean,” Michael said, brushing her hair back as she drifted off. “The man only shaves when he has a date, sometimes not even then.”

  *** *** ***

  Michael still wasn’t sure what he’d said on the phone that constituted an invitation, but at four in the afternoon his entire family was assembled in the house for dinner just as they had been Friday night.

  All four parents were in the living room, and Shane was sitting in the kitchen with him.

  “How in the hell did you keep from hitting him back?” Shane asked, still having trouble believing his hot-tempered brother had passed up retaliating for a sucker punch.

  “Carrie was all but fainting. I had to catch her instead,” Michael said sardonically, counting out bills for the pizza that was going to show up any minute. As if on cue, the door bell rang. “See—they made the thirty minute time limit again, even though I ordered four pizzas. This is why I use them and not your pizza company.”

  Michael was the most loyal man in the world to people who returned his loyalty, Shane thought, rolling his eyes as his brother merely laughed and jogged to retrieve their food.

  Michael opened the door, totally shocked to see Carrie’s mother, father, and sullen looking brother standing there.

  “Michael? Ethan and Kevin have come to apologize to you. Can I see Carrie for a few minutes?” Maggie asked, twisting her purse in her hands as she waited for permission.

  Michael pulled himself up straighter, wondering if he should let any of them across his threshold. He’d watched enough vampire movies to know they couldn’t hurt you in your own home unless you invited them inside.

  He looked at each of them in turn, his gaze lingering as he considered his options. The mother was probably okay, he decided at last. Carrie wasn’t afraid of her, and she seemed to like Michael.

  “The soda worked, Maggie. Thanks for the idea. Carrie’s in the last bedroom on the left down the hall. Don’t wake her if she’s still sleeping, and watch her if she tries to sit up too fast. The medicine she takes knocks her out pretty hard,” he said, as Maggie bobbed her head and slid past him.

  Once she was gone around the corner of the foyer, Michael turned his attention back to the men still standing outside.

  “If I invite you in, are you going to behave?” Michael asked. “I’m not going to let you talk badly to me or Carrie in this house. No insulting questions. No condescending tones. This is a safe zone for her, and she doesn’t need the stress you two cause. She’s too sick to defend herself
.”

  “Is this the guy that hit you?” Shane asked calmly, walking up and standing behind his brother, looking over his head at the two men.

  If they had been intimidated by Michael’s hair, Shane thought, he probably multiplied the effect by ten with his appearance. He could well imagine what they were thinking when they saw his unshaven face, uncut hair, glinting eyebrow ring, and a body big enough to back up any action he chose to take. Lucky for them he had stopped at one big tattoo.

  He smiled evilly, enjoying that it made both men swallow nervously.

  “Ethan. Kevin. This is my brother, Shane Larson. Shane, this is Carrie’s father and brother,” Michael said, fighting to keep his mouth from twitching. For once, Shane’s appearance was an asset to him. Go figure. The two men looked terrified and ready to run.

  “Michael, did I just see a strange woman go into Carrie’s bedroom?” Will asked, coming to the door. “Well, hello—Kevin. And Ethan, too. It’s been a long time. Good to see you both again.”

  “Mr. Larson—oh. I should have guessed,” Kevin said nervously, shaking his head and looking skyward. William Larson knew way too much about him. He couldn’t believe the name hadn’t clued him in when he’d met Michael earlier. “Michael—Michael Larson is your son?”

  Michael turned to look at his father. “You know Carrie’s family, Dad?”

  “Well—I know Kevin. He was in a special program I assisted with when he was in high school. Ethan brought him to meetings, which is how we met. So Kevin is Carrie’s brother?” Will asked.

  Michael nodded, grinning at the flash of wicked in his father’s gaze.

  “The brother that sucker punched you?” Will asked to confirm, narrowing his eyes and turning his best teacher gaze on Kevin, who looked away and flushed. To men who were used to clean cut appearances, the shaved head and earring he sported now made him almost as intimidating to them as Shane.

  Michael nodded. “Yes. Carrie was about to faint. It was catch her or hit him back. There wasn’t much choice at the time.”

  The power of guilt, Michael thought, looking at Ethan’s and Kevin’s flushed faces, was so much more intimidating than physical strength. He thanked his mother and father both for that lesson.

  “Interesting family you’re marrying into son. We’ll need to order two more pizzas if you get this worked out,” Will said, looking at Ethan, who looked ready to let the ground swallow him, and then back to Kevin who was now flushing with embarrassment.

  “Kevin, don’t hit Michael again. I taught my son how to throw a punch as well as take one. He won’t be nice next time, no matter how much he cares about your sister.”

  “Yes, sir,” Kevin said, shoving hands in his pockets. “I don’t intend to hit him again. I regret the first time.”

  “Can we just get the apology part of this over with and move on?” Ethan asked, his impatience winning out over his promise to himself to say as little as possible.

  “Sure. I’ll accept your apology, if you walk Carrie down the aisle and give her away at our wedding. I want you to prove to her that you think she’s a good woman making a good decision,” Michael said. “That’s all the apology I want from you, Ethan. Fake it if you have to for now. We’ll work at making it real later when you see I’m the right man.”

  Ethan thought about that for a minute while Michael Larson stared and waited. Finally he nodded. There wasn’t really anything else to do. He’d promised Maggie to make amends, and he did love his daughter, even though he was still disappointed in her.

  “Okay. Deal I guess,” he said, sticking out a hand, which Michael stared at untrustingly for few seconds, but finally took.

  Then Michael turned to meet Kevin’s reluctant gaze. “I owe you an ass-kicking for the sucker punch. It will happen one day no matter how sorry you are now,” Michael said firmly. “And as scary as Shane is, he doesn’t fight my fights. He just hands out bandages after. Of all the men in my family, I have the least amount of self-control. Your sister saved your ass from the beating from hell today.”

  Kevin sighed at the threat. “I’m not a bad guy,” he said wearily. “You can ask your father.”

  “I hear you. I’m not either—but I can be as bad as I need to be when it comes to taking care of your sister,” Michael told him. “Don’t hit me again and expect to get by with it. And stop being so mean to Carrie. She hates you enough already.”

  “I intend to fix that too,” Kevin said, sighing and running a hand through his hair. “I know I need to square things with Carlene—I mean Carrie.”

  Kevin saw Michael’s grin and wanted to grin in return. He had to give Larson points for having both guts and a sense of humor.

  “I know. I know. You can stop with the evil eye. Carrie hates her real name. Mom and Dad are the only ones allowed to call her that,” Kevin said.

  Michael swung the door open and motioned the men inside.

  “Truthfully, I didn’t even know Carlene was her real name until today. She signs everything, even legal papers, Carrie Addison,” Michael said, leading them down the hall.

  “Carlene was my mother’s name. It’s a good name,” Ethan defended lightly, stepping inside. “Is this your house?”

  “Yes. It’s small, but completely paid for, which is nice in my line of work. I can financially take care of your daughter, but she doesn’t really need me to. She’s a good business woman,” Michael told him.

  Jessica strode down the hall, surprising the two strange men when she walked up to Michael, as tall as the men in her boots. “Carrie is sick again and asking for you.”

  “That means the soda was a bad idea. It probably didn’t agree with her. Now we have to find something else to help her blood sugar,” Michael said briskly, walking off and leaving a group of very uncomfortable people in his wake.

  “I guess I should introduce myself. I’m Michael’s future step-mother, Jessica Daniels. Why don’t I show you the living room? Shane, will you take care of the pizza when it comes?”

  Shane grinned at her. “Sure, Mom.”

  Jessica gave him a look promising a serious discussion later.

  “If you want to live to write that book of yours, Shane Larson, you will behave today. Don’t make me tell your real mother on you. Ellen is just in the living room, and we’re getting friendlier all the time. I know how much you’ve been hoping for that.”

  Shane turned his head and bit his lip before answering. If he laughed, Jessica would probably hurt him. “Sorry. I’ll be good and pay for the pizza. You have my word.”

  What the future Dr. Larson was thinking though was that he kept getting more material for his research from his own family than he could have solicited over a decade in any research center.

  Chapter 6

  Carrie’s mother was sitting on the bed when Michael came walking into the bedroom. “She’s sick but won’t let me in the bathroom to help her. She said to get you.”

  “That’s fine. I know what to do. Ethan and Kevin are in the living room, Maggie. Why don’t you go and meet the rest of my family? They’re all here. You’re welcome to stay and eat with us. I’ve ordered pizza,” Michael said.

  He watched Maggie blink in disbelief, and then scurry out of the room without another word.

  Michael knocked on the bathroom door and called out to Carrie. The door opened immediately. Carrie was sitting on the toilet with the lid closed. Her face was in her hands. The sight of her brooding on the toilet made Michael laugh. It was so unlike her.

  “Get in here,” she said urgently when she saw it was him, but had to stand up to let Michael into the small space, which was even smaller with the two of them in it. “Why is my mother here?”

  “I have no idea,” Michael said honestly. “She may have come along to try and keep me from killing your father and brother.”

  “Oh God—are they here too?” she demanded, her voice rising until it was a disbelieving squeak. “Why is my crazy family in your house?”

  Michael went to perch
on the side of the tub, but the ledge was too small for him to sit comfortably. He gave up and leaned against the wall by the towel bar and crossed his arms.

  “Well, your father came to say he was sorry about upsetting you earlier, and to give us his blessing. I accepted for both of us—hope that’s okay. Kevin and I have decided to call a truce, but I reserve the right to beat the crap out of your brother in the future. I think your mother just wanted to know you were okay,” Michael said, grinning as Carrie sank back down to sitting on the toilet again.

  “Right now everyone is in the living room. Oh—and my whole family is here as well, though I’m still not sure how it happened. But I guess it’s a good thing, all in all.”

  Carrie stared at him and blinked. It was surreal. It was impossible. No one in her family had ever come to check on her before when they knew she was upset. She blinked a few more times and shook her head trying to get her brain to absorb reality.

  “So what’s going on now?” she asked.

  “We’re waiting on pizza,” Michael said, laughing at her shock.

  It wasn’t long before Carrie was hiding her face in her hands again. The sight of her sitting forlorn on his toilet made Michael too amused to feel sorry for her.

  “This is insane behavior, even for them. How did we all go from fighting at my parent’s house to eating pizza as one big group in the space of a few hours this afternoon? All I did was take a nap,” Carrie said, whining. “I don’t understand. Why are they here again?”

  Michael shrugged, his sense of humor kicking in at last.

  “Maybe I was just so charming that they had to come by and make up with us. What does it matter why they came? Whatever their reasons—they’re here,” he said. “I know because I let them into the house. They’re all in the living room.”

  “Well, I don’t want them here,” Carrie said irritably, rubbing her face.

  Michael snickered. At least she sounded like her old bossy self for once. “Okay. Since this is my house, I guess I could run them all off. If I do though, it’s going to cost you.”