The Cure (A Michigan Sweet Romance #1)

by Parker J Cole

  Yet, for whatever reason, Savannah chose him to be the one on her arm. He hadn’t taken the selection lightly. Nothing about their relationship had he taken lightly. There was no hidden looks at other women, no wishing for anyone else but her. Maybe Nascha recognized the depth of his devotion that day. And she didn’t like it.

  “I can see that,” Fiona’s voice cut through his thoughts. “There was an articleafew months back saying something to the effect that Nascha was being passed over for younger models. Maybe this has something to do with that.”

  “We could speculate till the end of time why Nascha is doing what she is doing. But it doesn’t matter.”

  “For Savannah, it’s harder to believe you had nothing to do with it when Nascha’s mouth is deformed.”

  “I didn’t botch her injection. I’ve done that procedure hundreds of times. Do you really think I’d lose my ability on my future wife’s best friend?”

  While the media hounds had crucified him on the cross of public scrutiny, he had longed to defend himself against the accusations. What surgeon would deliberately do such a thing? It made no sense.

  “I don’t care what evidence—”

  “Micah?”

  Savannah’s voice jerked him out of his memories. She stood before him, a pensive expression dominated her features.

  He stood quickly. “What is it? Has something else happened to Liliana?”

  “You asked me why I let you get close to me.”

  She stopped and bit her lip. High color spotted her cheeks. Those inky black lashes veiled her eyes. “I let you get close because I wanted you to kiss me.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  It was the last thing he expected her to say but the one thing he longed to hear. The waiting room around them once more disappeared from his mind. Cocooned in the lightning sparks of awareness between them, Micah’s whole being was focused on her words.

  A pink tongue swiped her lips and he felt his stomach muscles tighten in response. Yeah, it had been a very good thing she had stopped the kiss she admitted to wanting from him.

  “I thought after all this time, I’d be over you.” Her head dropped lower. “It’s been years since we were together and shouldn’t some things change?”

  The way she phrased the question gave him the impression she was talking more to herself than him.

  “But I guess you can’t have the kind of relationship we had and believe everything you shared could be completely severed.”

  Micah put his hands in pockets. “What kind of relationship did we have?”

  Savannah grew quiet again. Had she understood their relationship in the way he had? Did she understand that with her in his life, she had been his world? The cure to everything empty inside of him?

  “Remember when we used to play hide and seek when we went on our nature trails?”

  He hadn’t thought about those walks for some time, but now his brain flooded with images of them. The crisp, earthy scent of the woods mixed with the pitter-patter of rodents and the early morning sun. Soft, moist ground cushioned their feet as they hiked through the woods. Though it had been three years since the last time, he remembered those walks like they’d happened yesterday.

  They preferredto take a stroll early in the morning, around five-thirty or six o’clock.Hewould drive over to her apartment and they’d share a quick bite to eat before heading out on the trail. Sometimes he’d discuss his work or she would share her schedule. Other times, they lapsed into a comfortable silence. He always came back from their walks thinking how perfect the day was with her.

  He hadn’t hiked through the woods anywhere in a long time. Ever since they broke up. It held too many memories of perfect days.

  “Why are you staring at me?”

  He pursed his lips. “How am I looking at you?” What did she see in his eyes?

  “You look… far away.”

  Micah rolled his neck and heard it crack. “I was far away.”

  I was back in paradise, he couldn’t help but think. When they were together in the woods, he’d always imagine himself as Adam, and Savannah, his Eve. Just them and God amidst the sweet, cool, refreshing air.

  But every paradise had a snake in it. Once again, the lovely image of Nascha reared its head.

  She had apparently said something else because an expectant look was planted on her features. He must really be out of it. Adam and Eve indeed.

  “What were you saying, Savannah?”

  She rubbed the sleeves of her sweater. His eye caught the sight of the mole on her ring finger and he lingered his gaze there.

  “You used to wonder how I found you no matter how far you went. Remember?”

  He rocked back on his heels and drew his attention away from her hand. Sometimes, as part of the game, he’d hide as far as a mile away from their location. More times than not, she’d find him. Sometimes he’d chase her and throw her over his shoulder, imitating his best caveman growl. Or, depending on her mood, she’d ‘punish’ him. She’d make him stand still without touching her. Drawing closer and closer, she’d tease him with making him wait for a kiss. Those gemstone eyes would hone in on his while she took her time until he shook from the agony of waiting.

  They didn’t do that too often, though. He was a man after all, not a monk.

  “Okay.” The phrase barely scratched the surface of the emotions her words caused to roil up inside him.

  “I always knew where you were, Micah. The few times I didn’t catch you, it was because I let you win.”

  “I don’t follow you.” His heart thundered in his chest in spite of his confusion. Because he was sure, so sure, that he knew exactly what she was saying.

  Micah inhaled a gulp of air and let it out slowly. Don’t assume anything, he told himself. He’d done that before. Like any man with his sweetheart, he expected she’d stand beside him in times of turmoil. Yet, instead of support and unwavering trust, he received a broken engagement and the proverbial crummy ash tray as mementos.

  “We were very close, Micah, back then. We shared a connection few people ever have. My heart is connected to you. I’d feel your presence anywhere. If we were in a pitch-black room with a thousand people, I’d be able to find you. I can find you with my eyes closed.”

  Little did she know it had been the same for him, but in a vastly different way.

  She continued. “It’s not mystical or weird like in books. I’m attuned to you like a violin bow is to a violin. You hear how some couples when they’ve been together for a long time, over fifty or sixty years, their hearts beat at the same time when they sleep. Often, when one dies, the other soon follows. They can complete each other’s sentences, or know what the other is thinking from a single look. That sort of thing. I’ve never had it with other men who I’ve known in the past. Just you.”

  Despite the fact he didn’t want to react to her statements, he did anyway. A rush of excitement went through his body. It wasn’t completely one-sided then. She’d been aware of the uniqueness of them together. The euphoria died as quickly as it had come. Then why did she let Nascha interfere?

  “When we broke up—”

  “When you left,” he corrected. “Let’s not forget that.” Bitterness soured the words.

  Savannah grimaced. “Fine. When I left, I thought the bond had broken. You had moved so there was no way for me tell. I guess I had assumed that since you were away, this connection I had with you would go away.”

  “Has it gone away?”

  She finally looked him in the eyes. “No, it hasn’t. The moment the elevator door opened four days ago, this thing inside my heart beat like a drum. Micah, we’re still connected. You and I.”

  Micah folded his arms. Didn’t he know it? Hadn’t he dropped everything to come to her? He’d wrapped it up in animosity but in the center of it all was the overpowering need to be back at her side. Could he even admit that the hollow feeling which had plagued him for the past three years dissipated the moment he set eyes on her again?
No, he couldn’t give that much of himself away.

  “Is that why you wanted me to kiss you?”

  Savannah smoothed her forehead and then let her hand drop to her side. “I think so. I can’t really understand it myself. But it’s not because I wanted to kiss. It wasn’t a desire I had. I reacted to that bond. With Liliana being sick and you holding me like you did, I fell back into it. But thing is I don’t want to be…enslaved by this connection anymore. After what you did to Nascha, I can’t believe I can respond to you.”

  A giant fist caved in his chest. How could she say something like that? Enslaved by their connection? Their bond, their relationship had made up a massive part of who he was as a person. Yes, he’d obtained financial security through his practice. Yes, he’d had prestige, too. But nothing on earth had meant as much to him as being Savannah Woods’ man.

  And why did she have to put the elements of their attachment with each other in the same sentence as Nascha? Was she spoiling for a fight? He’d be more than willing to oblige.

  ***

  Savannah kept her eyes focused on Micah, although the unnatural stillness that came over his body forewarned he wasn’t taking this declaration well. When she had gone to the bathroom a few minutes ago, she needed to put some space between them and evaluate something. She’d stared at her reflection in the mirror, seeing how the toll of the past few days ravaged her face.

  When he’d almost kissed her, her heart craved it so bad. But looking at it in hindsight, she had to be responding to him like any organism that reacted to stimuli. Just an instinctive grasp. It had to be the right answer to his question that he so boldly asked. Plus, she could never forget Nascha. This man she once cared for had destroyed her friend’s life. How could she desire to melt into his arms and forget it?

  “What I did to Nascha?” Micah’s eyes had narrowed. “What I did to Nascha,” he repeated again. It wasn’t a question the second time he said it.

  The same bristling hostility she felt from him the first day radiated again. He’d stiffened like a statue but a minute tremor had taken hold of his frame. Savannah braced herself, but a part of her quivered slightly. Not out of fear of his being violent, since he would never do such a thing, but some unnamed emotion.

  “What I did to Nascha was nothing compared to what she did to me.” The words clipped out of his mouth in a deliberate, slow way. “I chose you and she didn’t like it.”

  “Chose me? What in the world are you talking about?”

  His hand clenched and unclenched as if he were using them to stave off the more aggressive side of his emotions. “Nascha was jealous of you, Savannah. She couldn’t have me and she was jealous of you.”

  “That’s the mountain you’re going to stand on?” Savannah couldn’t keep the bark of humorless mirth out of her voice. “Nascha had no need to be jealous of me. None at all. You can quit lying about that.”

  “When have I ever lied to you, Savannah?” He took a step closer and leaned over her. “Tell me right now, when have I ever lied to you?”

  Savannah turned her head away from the molten gaze. “The moment you refused to admit your incompetence when you performed that procedure on Nascha. You ruined her.”

  “I did not!” Micah yelled.

  The sudden cessation of noise in the waiting room showed they had a captive audience. With a swallowed curse, Micah grabbed Savannah’s arm and pulled her further down the hall. She went with him in order to not stage a scene, but she wanted to tear herself away from him. The quiver in her stomach intensified. Again, it wasn’t fear. But what was it that made her react like this? When theycame to a deserted waiting room in another wing of the hospital, Micah let her go and picked up where he’d left off.

  “Naschalied to destroy my career. She knew there was nothing else she could do to get back at me but through my work. She couldn’t seduce me; she couldn’t lie to you and tell you I was sleeping around. There was nothing else she coulddobut go after my integrity.”

  Savannah tugged her the bottom of her sweater down in an upset huff. Did he really think she was stupid? No one could have that much damage to their face just to make someone else look bad. “You saw the pictures. She’d gone to you that day and two days later, she looked like a wreck.”

  The memory of her grotesque lips had chilled Savannah. Nascha had been so beautiful. One of major assets many of her clients had played up had been her lips. She had an upside-down mouth like Julia Roberts which had added to her appeal. There was no way on earth Nascha would have deliberately damaged her face out of jealousy.

  “What reason would I have to botch up Nascha’s procedure then, Savannah?” He took another step, eyes blazing down into her. “Tell me, what reason would I have to purposely do something like that?”

  Savannah couldn’t say. That had been the piece of the puzzle she could not explain. Micah was a very well-known cosmetic surgeon. Some patients had even called him “Hand of God” because of his ability. Micah was always quick to downplay his skill and accolades but they were there all the same.

  “I’m not saying you set out to deliberately hurt Nascha. But if you would have just admitted you made a mistake and then did what you could to make restitution for her, the fallout would not have been so bad.”

  “Do you have any idea of what you’re saying?” His voiced ended on a high-pitched sound, somewhere between an incredulous laugh and a hiss. “The only one who got burnt in the fallout of the whole fiasco was me.” He stabbed a finger at his chest.

  “You are out of your mind! Naschalooked like a clown. Her lips were all blown out ofproportion like bananas. Then she got an infection from the wounds you gave her. How can you stand here and claim you’re in the innocent party?”

  An angry hand scraped through his long blond hair. “Savannah, I was the one who almost lost my license. My practice nearly collapsed. The media murdered my reputation. You know what Nascha got? Airtime and sympathy. Everyone sent condolences and hearts to her while I got hate mail and rude people throwing stuff at my office.”

  Savannah started. “Hate mail?”

  “Yes,” he said with a downward nod of his head. “What did you think happened? Most of the men in the world wanted her. What did you think I dealt with?”

  Savannah stared up into Micah’s flushed face. His lips had thinned to a line, hard and curled with anger. A sick, sinking sensation fell over her. In all that time,shedidn’t think about the negativity Micah must have been dealing with. Allshehad been able to focus and concentrate on was Micah’s callous attitude toward Nascha.

  The dime-sized doubt she had acknowledged the night before expanded. Its presence tickled her conscious. Was Micah telling the truth? But he couldn’t be. Nascha’s photo gave testament to the fact she had had the procedure. Two days later, inflammation set in and the lips swelled to twice their size. A weird infection had also plagued her, too.

  Savannah pushed the doubt away with a tug on her sleeves. No, Micah was simply saying these things to keep his integrity.

  “When have I ever lied to you?” His earlier question taunted her. He’d never lied to her in the past. She so much as acknowledged that. But this was a whole different thing. He had to be saying it in order to maintain a façade. No, she refused to believe him.

  But could she ignore his involvement in the scandal and how it affected him?

  Savannah’s brow pleated. It must have been a kind of hell. She recalled bits and pieces of news items and TV shows from that time. The hosts and commentators had belittled Micah in derogatory terms.

  “Micah Reddington is a two-faced son of a—”

  “Someone needs to do the same thing to him and—”

  On and on they went. In order not to hear the things these people said, she avoided watching the news. She would never humiliate and verbally castrate him like others had, but she wasn’t going to make excuses.

  With that resolve in her mind, she said, “At the end of the day, Micah, you allowed your negligence to end
a career. Not your career but Nascha’s, and I can’t forgive you for that.”

  “Why can’t you hear what I’m saying?” He grabbed her forearms and dragged her close to his body. The heat from him exuded in powerful pulses. The quiver in her stomach increased.

  “I hear every word you’re saying.” Her fingers splayed on his chest of their own volition… and stayed

  “No, you don’t.” His eyes were like golden fire. “Why are you so determined to not believe me?”

  His head drew closer to her like a magnet and she was helpless to stop it. The first time it happened, she could blame the need for his kiss on responding to the bond they had never escaped. But they were in the middle of an argument for goodness’ sake! Ranting and raging over one of the most painful episodes in her life. And all she could think was, please kiss me!

  Micah’s eyes focused on her mouth. “What’s the excuse this time, Savannah?” His voice dropped several octaves. His chest rumbled too.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She attempted to gain some sort of order over her thoughts but she couldn’t draw up enough demand to pull away from him.

  “I’m about to kiss you, even while I want to shake some sense into you. What’s the excuse this time?” His hands moved and wrapped around her waist. Without conscious thought, her hands trailed up his hard chest and clasped themselves behind his neck. She stood up on her toes.

  “Please let me kiss you,” he whispered huskily. “Hate me later, but let me kiss you now. I’ve missed you so much.”

  That was Micah Reddington. A man who was never afraid to throw his pride away. The gentle plea and desire in his eyes made the moisture in her mouth dry up.

  What could she say? The quiver in her stomach had forewarned of this. It was excitement and anticipation, plain and simple. A yearning for something they used to share because she loved the feeling of power she seemed to have over Micah when it came to their shared kisses.