But that didn’t stop him from thinking about spending time with her. Doing…anything. He smiled. She could probably make a root canal enjoyable. Pleasurable. He pictured her sitting beside the exam chair, her hand on his bare leg—because he’d chosen to wear shorts that day—caressing him, moving up the sensitive skin of his inner thigh, sliding higher, the feel of her sensual touch obliterating the oral surgeon and the drill.
His body reacted the way it always did when images of him and Scarlet alone together popped into his head.
All the confirmation he needed that calling her to cancel their shopping/decorating date had to be done, and out of fairness to her and her weekend plans, soon.
Lewis turned off the shower, grabbed his towel from the hook and dried himself.
No more putting it off. He set his towel on the counter. He’d call Scarlet now. After the weekend he’d hire a professional decorator. Or he and Jessie could work on the room together, their first father-daughter project.
He opened the door leading to his bedroom, and along with a rush of cool air came a voice that sounded alarmingly similar to Scarlet’s. “Please tell me you’re alone.”
Great. He’d progressed from conjuring up images to actually hearing her. Lunatic.
“And that you’re appropriately covered up,” she added.
What? He grabbed his towel, wrapped it around his waist and stepped out of the bathroom. Sure enough, Scarlet Miller, star of his nighttime/daytime/all the time fantasies, sat perched on the corner of his bed, fully dressed with her hand covering her eyes.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“Are you decent?” she responded.
He stared at her enticing lips as she spoke, noting a hint of shine. Residual lip gloss? Or had she run her plump tongue over those luscious lips while visualizing him in the shower?
“Why are you so quiet?” she asked.
He smiled, crossed his arms over his bare chest, and leaning his shoulder against the doorframe, stared at her. The ponytail she always wore, in the basic hairband she used for work, expensively distressed skintight jeans, open-toed trendy, strappy sandals, enticingly manicured peach-colored toenails, and a sleeveless, silky, peach-colored button-down blouse.
She created a tiny V-opening between her fingers and looked at him. Then she let out an annoyed breath, moved her hand to point toward the bathroom and whispered, “Is there someone else in there?”
Lately she was the only one he wanted in there. “What are you doing here?” he asked again. “In my bedroom? On my bed?” His body liked seeing her there for real and the part of him already hardened with interest from the mere thought of her, got even harder and started to rise up to check things out.
Scarlet eyed his crotch and jumped up like she’d seen a cobra. “Sorry.” She backed toward the door to the hallway.
Lewis demonstrated a level of restraint he didn’t know he possessed when he stood his ground rather than give in to the powerful urge to stop her.
“Jessie’s been trying to call you,” she said.
“Dammit.” Lewis strode over to his nightstand and flicked on his cellphone. “I turned it off so no one from the hospital would bother me.” He scrolled through his messages counting thirteen from Jessie and five from Scarlet. “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
“Newsflash, papa bear,” Scarlet said, her calm confidence returned. “Fathers of scared little girls are not allowed the luxury of turning off their cell phones.”
He dialed Jessie. She answered on the first ring, like she’d been sitting there waiting for his call, and immediately started to cry.
“Don’t cry, honey,” he said, feeling like the worst parent ever. “I’m sorry. My phone was off. I thought you’d be so busy having fun you’d forget all about me.” And he’d completely failed to consider that maybe she’d want to talk to him about her day or her progress with swimming. Or that maybe she’d need reassurance or praise or an encouraging word from her father, him, the worst parent ever.
“If something…happens to…you,” she said between hiccupping breaths, “where do I go next?”
Next? “Jessie, nothing is going to happen to me.”
“That’s what my mom thought, too,” she cried.
His chest burned in response to her sobs.
“I want to have a say where I go,” Jessie said.
Because she was so unhappy with where she’d wound up, so unhappy with him?
“I want to go to Scarlet.”
At her mention, he remembered the current topic of their conversation was standing in his bedroom doorway, listening.
Only when he turned to see if Scarlet had overheard Jessie’s demand, he saw no sign of her. Relieved, he walked over to close the door. “As much as you like Scarlet,” he said quietly. “She’s not family.” And according to his revised will, on the off chance something did happen to him, Jessie would go to live with his sister.
“She feels like family to me,” Jessie insisted. “Please ask her, Dad. Promise me you’ll ask her.”
Lewis sat down on the bed. “Okay,” he agreed. What else could he say to his hysterical daughter who was hours away? “I promise.”
After a few moments of silence, in a voice barely louder than a whisper, Jessie shared, “I went out on the boat.”
“I’m so proud of you,’ Lewis said. Slowly Jessie calmed down and they had a nice conversation. At the end he had to promise to keep his cell phone charged, turned on, and with him at all times, before she’d hang up.
With Jessie taken care of Lewis pulled on a pair of briefs and jeans and left the room to find Scarlet.
“Stop with the guilt trip,” she said into her cell phone, her back and shapely butt to him. “I had to do a favor for a friend uptown. It’ll take me forever to get down to the South Street Seaport now. You all eat without me. I’ll see you next time.”
She’d changed her Friday night plans for him and Jessie.
“Right,” she said sarcastically. “You have me all figured out. I’m ditching you for a night of wild sex with a hot guy, because it is so like me to do something like that. As a matter of fact he’s naked and waiting for me in his bedroom as we speak.”
He wasn’t, but he could be in two seconds.
She listened to the person on the other end of the call then said, “It hasn’t been that long.”
How long?
“Well,” she said. “I’ll finally have something to talk about the next time we get together for girls night out, then. That is if he hasn’t fallen asleep while I’m wasting quality sex time talking to you.”
Quality sex time. Lewis wanted some quality sex time. He needed quality sex time. And this conversation was seriously weakening his resolve to stay away from Scarlet.
She paused then laughed. “In a closet.”
A closet? Okay with him.
“Only if he asks real nice,” she said.
Lewis could do real nice.
“I’m always good,” she said.
Of that Lewis had no doubt.
She laughed again. The sound filled him with joy.
“Okay.” He heard the smile in her voice. “Tonight I’ll be bad.”
Oh yeah. He liked the sound of that.
She stiffened.
Idiot. Had he actually said the ‘oh yeah’ out loud?
Scarlet turned her head slowly. Their eyes met. “Gotta go,” she said into the phone and ended the call. “So much for giving me a little privacy like I gave you when you were on the phone,” she said to him.
Without conscious thought his feet walked toward her, taking the rest of him with them.
“Whoa.” She held up both hands. “Apparently you are under the mistaken impression I am here for more than a wellness check.”
“I did hear mention of wild sex with a hot guy,” he pointed out. “Thank you for the compliment, by the way.”
She stepped back. “Well you obviously didn’t listen close enough to the inflection in my tone to detect
my sarcasm.”
“Let’s not waste anymore quality sex time with talking,” he half-teased, reaching for her.
“Touch me and lose a finger,” she threatened.
He stopped with his hands mid-air, mere inches from her shoulders, and waited.
She looked up at him with those beautiful eyes. “I’m serious.”
He smiled. “I know. But I think I need a stronger deterrent because even though you are the absolute last woman I should be lusting after, I want to put my hands on you so bad right now I’m willing to sacrifice my phalanges to do it.” Actually, he was prepared to sacrifice a lot more.
Scarlet, obviously the smarter of the two of them, turned and walked away. And he let her. “The absolute last woman you should be lusting after?” She moved a used glass from the counter to the sink. “As in you’d rather lust after Hilda from the endoscopy department before you’d lust after me?”
Lewis shivered, and not in a good way. Hilda was big and mean and she had kinky gray hairs sprouting on her chin.
“Or Morgan in Administration?” she went on.
That woman was the skinniest, coldest, stiffest female he had ever met.
“Or Gretchen from Food Service?”
Renowned for her hairnet and tan stretch pants that clung to every single pouch of cellulite as much as for her shiny gold tooth.
Scarlet looked at him from the corners of her eyes. “I’m not sure if I’m relieved or insulted.”
Lewis pulled out a stool, sat down and set his elbows on the island counter in the center of his kitchen. “The absolute last woman as in your friendship with my daughter makes things…complicated.”
“Yeah,” Scarlet agreed. “That it does.” She walked to the side of the island directly opposite him and asked, “What if I wasn’t friends with Jess? If you saw me in a bar, would you try to get me to go home with you?”
In a heartbeat. To clarify, “I wouldn’t try to get you to go home with me. I would get you to go home with me.”
“Oh you think so?” She laughed. “Rather confident, aren’t you?”
When it came to women that would be a capital Y*E*S. To both.
“How would you go about it?” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Give me your best line.”
He stood. She looked up at him warily. “It’s not so much what I say as how I say it,” he explained as he walked toward her. “It’d be loud and crowded in the bar, so I’d have to lean in close like this.” He turned her to face him, stepped forward, and leaned in, putting his mouth inches from her ear. She smelled so good. “I’d start off quiet, knowing you can’t hear me.” He whispered some gibberish.
“What?”
“Exactly.” He uncrossed her arms. “So I’d move in closer.” He did, brushing the front of his thigh against the front of hers, setting his lips close enough to touch the inner rim of her ear and, making sure to expel a hot rush of breath, as he said, “I forgot my phone number, could I borrow yours?”
She didn’t laugh or criticize his corny line. Instead she closed her eyes and tilted her head to the side, ever so slightly, giving him better access.
Success.
He slid his hand up the nape of her neck and, keeping his voice soft and deep, said, “Or maybe I’d say something like, ‘I love that blouse.’” He ran a gentle finger down the inside of an arm hole, caressing her delicate skin as he did. “‘It’d look perfect draped over the back of the chair in my bedroom.’” Just to introduce the idea of her getting naked in his condo. He made sure his lower lip grazed along her earlobe as he moved away.
“Wow,” she said on an exhaled breath. “You’re good.” She opened her eyes and blinked as if trying to get them back into focus. “On that admission I think I’d better be going.” Without further hesitation she turned and moved away.
“No,” he said, taking her hand, desperate to keep her close. “Please. Don’t go.” Because he didn’t want to be alone, because he liked spending time with her, because, Lord help him, he craved her with a ferocity capable of significant damage to his manly assets if he didn’t do something about it.
“I don’t know,” she said in that teasing tone of hers. “You promised to be a perfect gentleman around me.” She looked down at his hand squeezing hers. “Yet the vibe I’m getting is anything but gentlemanly.”
Perceptive.
“I promised not to kiss you again,” he clarified, pulling her back to him. “And I won’t.” He nuzzled in close to her ear and whispered, “Unless you ask me real nice.” He’d get her to make the first move, to beg him to touch her for real. Then she’d have no basis to be angry with him afterwards.
“Suppose I stay,” she asked. “What did you have in mind for us to do that doesn’t involve kissing?”
Caressing. Licking. Exploring. “Anything you want.”
CHAPTER SIX
ANYTHING YOU WANT.
Yikes! An open invitation like that could get a girl into trouble. Or it could satisfy the increasingly distracting yearning responsible for loss of sleep, poorly-timed bouts of daydreaming, and an on-edge/wound-too-tight feeling that Scarlet felt certain a night of stellar sex would remedy.
“Anything I want?”
His lips formed a sexy half-smile. “In the closet or outside of it.”
So he’d heard that comment. “We do girls night out once a month,” she explained, trying to ignore the effects his close proximity had on her body. “My friends like to share their sexual exploits over pricey cocktails. And let me tell you, I have some adventurous friends.”
“Dare I hope birds of a feather flock together?” he asked.
In her case, they did. But she wouldn’t tell him that. “Anyway,” she emphasized, moving along. “Out of all the places they’ve had sex, and there have been some interesting places, no one in the group has ever done it in a closet.”
“I think you should be the first,” he said in earnest.
Oh did he?
“I have three that can accommodate us,” he added.
She looked up at him. “Us? As in you and me?” She gestured back and forth between them. “As in you and the absolute last woman you should lust after because of my friendship with your daughter?”
“So you have something to talk about the next time you go out with your girlfriends.” He stared into her eyes. “It sounded like it’s been a while since you had anything…adventurous to contribute.”
Eighteen months to be exact. In her defense, they’d been very busy months involving long hours spent at the hospital, with her all female staff. And the majority of men she came in contact with were either married, in the midst of family crisis, or doctors. None of them viable boyfriend material, especially doctors, her professional colleagues, who were as preoccupied by their patients and worked the same insane amount of hours she did. A relationship would never work.
And yet she’d been entertaining some relationship-worthy thoughts about Dr. Lewis Jackson—in a closet.
“You’re a standup guy, Dr. Jackson.” She used his professional credential to remind her who she was dealing with. “Ready to stuff yourself in a closet for me and all.”
“The perfect gentleman in me is willing, able, and ready to assist you in one-upping your friends. And when we’re alone, please call me Lewis.”
“Will you respond to Lou?”
“Only if it’s preceded by ‘kiss me.’”
Not gonna happen. After experiencing the good sense eradicating power of his kiss firsthand, and dreaming of it night after night since then, if Scarlet had any hope of keeping things between them platonic, she could not invite, encourage, or in any way appear to welcome another kiss, because if his lips made contact with hers, she would not be able to resist him. And resist him she must.
Scarlet liked Lewis, as a friend. A friend she happened to be crazy attracted to. Would a night of sex squelch that attraction or make it even more difficult to ignore? Would it lead to awkward interactions or ongoing secret hookups behind
Jessie’s back? Would it remain private or would someone find out?
Would it hurt Jessie or negatively impact Scarlet’s chances of adopting Joey?
She refused to risk either.
Time to take back control.
She sidled up to Lewis, pressing her breasts to his chest, reaching up to cup the back of his neck and pull his head down so she could whisper in his ear. “I hope you were serious when you said anything,” she whispered. “What I have in mind will involve strength.” She caressed his biceps. “And patience. I don’t like to be rushed.”
“You set the pace,” he said, wrapping his arms around her. Two large hands gripped her butt and pulled her bottom half flush with his. “You’re in charge.”
“That’s what I like to hear,” she said quietly, keeping her mouth close to his ear. Then she puckered up and made the loudest kissing noise she could.
When Lewis jumped back she said, “Now put on a shirt. We’re going shopping.”
“Shopping?” he asked, holding his ear.
“You did say anything I wanted.” Scarlet walked to the bags she’d dropped at the front door when she’d arrived and bent to retrieve her backpack.
“But shopping wasn’t at all what I’d had in mind,” he mumbled.
Scarlet looked down so he wouldn’t see her smile as she unzipped the front pouch and took out the advertisements she’d printed. “I found the perfect comforter set and accessories for Jessie’s room.” She carried the pictures back to the kitchen and spread the top few out on the island counter. “I ordered them and they’re waiting for us to pick them up at Macy’s.” She looked over to him. “Of course if you hate them or they’re too expensive I can cancel the order. Or I’ll pay half. Or all if I have to. I want her room to be amazing.” The kind of room a girl would love to spend time in. A room she’d want to invite her friends over to see.
“I can afford to pay for my daughter’s bedding, thank you,” he groused, reviewing the results of the hours she’d spent on the Internet.
“I thought we could paint one wall this color.” She held up the color swatch she’d gotten from the paint store and pointed to the shade with red X. A dark, grape jelly purple. “Jessie told me you have hardwood floors throughout but this throw rug will offset the deep coloring of the wall perfectly.” She pointed to a picture of a colorfully designed rug. “I couldn’t find it in stock anywhere local, so we’ll have to order it.”
NYC Angels: Tempting Nurse Scarlet Page 8
