Heal Me (Coopers Creek Book 2)

by Bronwen Evans

  The next moment, the bed gave way and they crashed to the floor.

  “Son of a bitch!” Ric shouted as Kate landed hard on top of him.

  “Oh, shit! Ric!” Kate scrambled off him and stood up.

  “Where the fuck are you going?” he demanded.

  Kate was flabbergasted. “We should go. I was going to help you to the truck.”

  From somewhere underneath him, Ric produced a condom and ripped it open with his teeth. “Like hell you are. Get naked and get the fuck back over here.”

  His grin as he shoved his sweatpants down made her giggle. The headboard of the bed lay perilously close to his leg. While he gave it a mighty yank and flung it across the room, Kate took the opportunity to appreciate the fact that Ric was very well endowed. His cock proudly stood erect and she quickly shimmied out of her jeans and lacy black underwear.

  Ric whipped his sweatshirt over his head and tossed it away before shifting so he could roll the condom down over his length. “Come on, baby. Get over here. We’re not done yet.”

  “Are you sure, Ric? That must’ve hurt your ankle—”

  “Get that sweet ass over here, Kate. I don’t give a Goddamn about my ankle right now,” Ric said.

  Taking him at his word, Kate climbed back onto his lap and straddled him. His gaze never left hers as he guided her slowly down, gradually filling her. Her head fell back on a long sigh as heavenly sensations surged through her.

  Ric’s large hands skimmed over her hips and up her sides until he cupped her breasts. He teased her nipples with his thumbs and heat pooled where they were joined. Looking down at him, she covered his hands and urged him to squeeze her breasts. She’d missed a man’s hands on her body and the way Ric kneaded her firm flesh made her crave more.

  *****

  Ric loved that Kate was showing him what she liked. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d wanted someone so intensely and he was a sucker for a confident, forward woman. Her beautiful breasts and rosy, pink nipples drew his hands and mouth. Playing with them and teasing her with his tongue made him throb.

  The more he sucked on her nipples, the more restlessly she moved her hips until she braced her hands on his shoulders and started to rise and fall. Kate had a body built for sex and he wasn’t going to let a little thing like a collapsing bed or a broken ankle interfere with enjoying everything she had to offer.

  Her smooth, lightly tanned skin was a little flushed and her toned arms and thighs proved that she was a strong, athletic woman. The desire in her deep brown eyes mesmerized him, heightening his own passion.

  Ric concentrated on her needs so he could make it last as long as possible for her. “You’re so fucking beautiful, Kate. I want you to come for me again. I love how responsive you are.”

  She smiled at him as her breath quickened. “I couldn’t wait. You’re so sexy. Too sexy, and you know it.”

  Ric smiled in acknowledgment before capturing her mouth in a searing kiss. Her lips were so soft and lush and he could imagine how they’d feel on other places of his body. Grasping her hips, he urged her into a faster tempo while using his good leg to thrust upwards.

  She clutched his shoulders as she moaned and Ric felt her tight heat clench around his rigid shaft. Sliding his hand down over her stomach to her mound, he stroked her, providing double titillation. His reward was hearing her scream as she threw her arms around his neck and trembled in his arms.

  Her pulsing muscles pushed him over the edge and Ric couldn’t hold back anymore. He pumped his hips twice before a powerful release rocked through him. Freezing, he pressed his face against her breasts as he groaned in pure ecstasy. It held him for long moments before starting to fade away.

  “Oh, shit, Kate,” he said, flopping back against the wall.

  She slid down on top of him. “Oh, shit, is right.”

  Ric stroked the satiny skin of her back. “Well, that was some very stimulating after dinner conversation.”

  *****

  His chest rumbled with laughter and Kate laughed with him as she thought of the absurdity of the situation.

  She leaned back and looked at him. “We broke the bed.”

  His eyebrows rose. “No, you broke the bed with all that rocking you were doing.”

  Kate put a hand over her mouth. “I couldn’t help it. It felt so good and it’s been so long.”

  The enormity of what had just transpired hit Kate with the force of a hammer against glass and her afterglow shattered. She’d just had sex for the first time since Phil had died and she barely knew the guy. And it was her fault. She’d come on to Ric, not the other way around.

  Kate’s cheeks flamed with embarrassment and regret over her actions, but she didn’t want Ric to see her discomfort. She forced a smile as she disentangled herself from him and stood up.

  “We better get you home,” she said. “Your ankle has to be screaming by now.”

  Ric sat up as she started gathering her clothing, but Kate studiously avoided his eyes as she stepped into her underwear and pulled on her jeans.

  “Kate, what’s wrong?”

  She sent him a smile that she hoped didn’t look as brittle as she felt. “Wrong? Nothing’s wrong. It’s just getting late and I have a really hectic day tomorrow.”

  He stood up and Kate couldn’t keep her eyes off him any longer. He’d pulled up his sweatpants, but he was still bare from the waist up. In the heat of the moment, she hadn’t taken the time to appreciate his male beauty. His sculpted chest and shoulder muscles bunched and flexed as he hopped over to the table and sat down.

  His fine, short golden chest hair caught the lamplight here and there and she thought that he looked more manly than a lot of the guys who waxed their chests these days. He leaned against the chair back and folded his arms over his chest, which drew attention to his huge biceps. Did the man live at the gym? She tried so hard not to compare him to Phil.

  “Bullshit, Kate. There’s something going on in that beautiful head of yours. If you don’t want to talk about it, fine, but don’t lie and say that there’s nothing wrong.”

  His directness was refreshing yet annoying. “Okay. I don’t care to discuss it.”

  “Okay.”

  He calmly shrugged into his sweatshirt and started putting the dirty dishes from supper into the basket as though nothing unusual had just happened. Kate was grateful to him for not pushing because she had so much to process before she talked about what had just happened between them. She should not feel guilty because she’d been with another man. Phil would want her to move on and enjoy her life. But she still missed him and she’d never been one to indulge in meaningless sex. She was scared of what this night meant. She couldn’t fall for the playboy.

  She helped clean up the cabin and assisted Ric out to the truck before going back in to put out the fire and douse the kerosene lamps. The ride home was largely silent, but Kate had no idea what to say to alleviate the awkwardness.

  When they pulled up to the Jeffries house, Kate put the truck in park.

  “Ric—”

  He put his hand on her forearm. “Don’t, Kate.” He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “For what it’s worth, up until the end, tonight was incredible. I’d like to see you again, but it’s your call. I’m also a good listener. Goodnight, Kate.”

  “Goodnight, Ric.”

  Tears stood out in her eyes as she waited for him to get safely to the door and go inside. As she turned around and headed back down the driveway, they spilled onto her cheeks and kept falling all the way home.

  Chapter Six

  “Well, you look like shit.”

  Kate looked up from her computer to spear Robert with a glare. “Leave me alone.”

  Robert closed her office door and sat in a chair. “I take it that your date didn’t go well.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “But you need to. Get whatever it is off your chest. Not now. We’ll go to the Wagon Shed tonight and you can cry into your beer a
bout whatever’s bothering you,” Robert said.

  Kate rubbed her right temple in a poor attempt to alleviate her stress induced headache. She hadn’t drunk enough wine the night before to give her a hangover. “I don’t know, Robert. After last night, I think I just need a quiet night at home to rest.”

  Robert made an annoying game show buzzer sound. “Wrong! I’m sorry Dr. Donoghue, but that’s not the correct answer! That’s the last thing you need. You’ll just get stuck up in your head and wallow. No, the right thing to do is to go out, get drunk, and talk it out before it festers. So, I’ll pick you up at eight and we’ll go do a little commiserating.”

  Kate eyed him. “What are you commiserating about?”

  He sighed. “Shaina finally admitted that she’s been seeing someone else. We’re done.”

  Kate’s heart went out to him. His girlfriend, who had taken a job offer in Denver, had been growing increasingly distant and Robert had suspected that she’d met someone.

  “Damn, Robbie. I’m so sorry.”

  He shrugged. “I won’t say that it doesn’t hurt like hell, but it is what it is. So, I’ve decided that we both need to go out, get drunk, and fuck our brains out. What do you say?”

  Kate burst into laughter because there was absolutely zero attraction between her and Robert. They’d met years ago on a date and had hit it off spectacularly until their goodnight kiss. No, spark, no zing, no nothing. That’s when they knew that they’d been destined to be friends.

  “That sounds great,” she said. “Everything but the sex, that is. Sex with you would be too close to incest.”

  Robert’s adorable grin flashed as he gave a shudder. “You speak the truth. Okay, so eight it is. I better get to work before the boss fires me.” He winked as he left, making her smile.

  Kate thanked God every day for Robert. He’d saved her life after Phil’s death, had kept her sane. There were times when she’d acted like a maniac, ranting and screaming, but Robert had just sat calmly with her and let her rail and give voice to her pain and anger. He’d also spent his share of nights in her bed, just holding her so she could sleep.

  He’d seen her at her worst and still wanted to be her friend, which, in her eyes, was a miracle. And now he was going to come to her rescue again.

  She shied away from thoughts about Ric right then, but it was hard. He’d made her feel appreciated and alive and she’d wrecked it by getting emotional. Ric had been charming, considerate, and nothing that had gone wrong had been his fault.

  As she pulled open her desk drawer to look for some aspirin, she saw the fiery desire in his blue eyes in her mind and shivered as she remembered the way his hands had felt on her skin. He’d said that he wanted to see her again, but her reaction to their lovemaking showed her that she wasn’t ready for a relationship of any kind. Especially one that was supposed to be just fun.

  Kate felt badly that she’d most likely hurt Ric’s feelings, but she didn’t know how to apologize to him or if that would even be a good idea. She’d never had one night stands even back in college, a couple of semi-serious relationships and then she’d met Phil. They had been together for three years until a blown tire ended their planned out future. That’s when she'd taken the job in Coopers Creek, she had to get out of Denver.

  Picking up her phone, Kate saw the time and knew that she didn’t have time to sit and mope about her failed night out with Ric. Except that it hadn’t been a total failure. Ric had been right about that. It had been romantic and hot until she’d weirded out over the fact that it he’d been her first since Phil. Other than that, it had been perfect and so much fun, but she couldn’t think about that right now. She needed to focus on work. Blowing out a breath, Kate put on her professional persona and went to meet her first patient of the day.

  *****

  Ric groaned as he sat on the side of the tub taping a garbage bag around his left knee two mornings later. His back still ached from the bed-crashing incident at the cabin and he’d almost gone back to his ortho doc to have his ankle rechecked because it had hurt so much. However, he’d worked his way through the agony, taking his pain meds and keeping it elevated. The pain had finally started to subside last night, but he was still feeling the effects of it.

  Ric made sure that water wouldn’t get down inside the garbage bag and soak his cast. Satisfied with his handiwork, he stood up and shoved his sweat shorts down just as the bathroom door opened. He yanked them back up as Tyler entered the room.

  “Dude, do you mind knocking?” Ric groused. “What if that had been Hayley?”

  Tyler smirked at him. “Maybe you should lock the door.”

  “I can’t when I’m taking a shower,” Ric said. “If I fall or need help, you’ll be locked out. That’s why we came up with the sock on the door handle, remember?”

  “Oh, yeah. Forgot. Sorry.” Tyler motioned towards the bathtub as Ric took off his shorts. “Do you need help getting in?”

  “No. I just plant my ass on the shower chair and swing right on in,” Ric said, demonstrating. “I feel like an old geezer using that thing. What did you need?”

  “I’m going to shave and Emily and Hayley are getting ready in my bathroom. I have to get on the road.” Tyler commuted almost every day to Horizon’s Denver office and he hated to be late. “You going to come to the meeting a little later?”

  Through the miracle of modern technology, Ric and Chase attended daily board meetings via Skype, which Ric had continued doing from the Jeffries residence.

  “Yeah. I’ll wait until your done shaving to start the water. I don’t need to scald my cajones when you turn on the cold water in the sink.”

  Tyler grinned, his gray eyes shining. “Damn. I was hoping to hear you scream like a little girl.”

  “Shut the hell up and give me a towel so I can at least sit here without freezing my ass off while you make yourself beautiful,” Ric said.

  Tyler arched a black eyebrow at him. “Would you prefer I dress like Chase?”

  Ric laughed as Tyler handed him a towel. “You couldn’t pull off Bermuda shorts, shades, and muscle shirts like he does.”

  Tyler lathered shaving cream on his face. “Yeah, and that’s dressing up for him. At least we broke him of wearing that damn speedo. I swear he’d walk around naked if it wasn’t illegal.”

  “You’re right about that,” Ric agreed.

  Thoughts of Kate filled his head as he waited for Tyler to finish shaving. What had gone wrong? He hadn’t wanted to pressure her about it, but now he was wondering if that hadn’t been a mistake. Even though he’d hoped that she would, Kate hadn’t called.

  It shouldn’t bother him, but it did. Ric was used to one-night stands, but it was obvious that Kate wasn’t. After all, she’d been engaged, so she’d been in a committed relationship; something he’d never experienced. Had she just been feeling embarrassed because she wasn’t used to how those sorts of encounters ended?

  He was yanked back to the present when Tyler snapped his fingers in front of him.

  “Wake up. I’m talking to you.”

  “Sorry. What?”

  Tyler frowned. “What’s wrong with you? You’ve been off for a couple of days now. Distracted.”

  Ric opened his mouth, but he didn’t know how to frame his question. Meeting his brother-in-law’s eyes, he also wondered if this would lead to an awkward conversation.

  “What’s the matter?” Tyler prompted.

  “Can I ask you something without you getting weird about it?”

  Wiping shaving cream off his jaw with a towel, Tyler nodded. “Shoot.”

  “Outside of Emily, have you ever had feelings for a woman? And, no, this isn’t me being protective of her. You’ve proven how sorry you are for what you did in the past,” Ric said.

  Tyler smiled as he played with his wedding band. “Marrying your sister is the smartest thing I’ve ever done. I should’ve done it years ago, but I was too big of a dickhead. Anyway, the answer to your question is no. Sure, there’
ve been some women I cared about a little bit, but I know that Emily is the only woman I’ll ever love. Why do you ask?”

  “How did you know?”

  Tyler’s smile was a trifle sad. “Because no matter how many miles were between us, I couldn’t get her out of my thoughts. She was in my heart too deep. God knows I tried everything I knew to stop loving her, but I couldn’t. It didn’t matter how many women I slept with, they weren’t the women I wanted to wake up to every morning or share my life with. Emily and I are meant to be; it’s as simple as that.”

  Ric smiled. “I’m glad you wised up. Of course, the whipping I gave you probably knocked some sense into you.”

  “I deserved it, which is why I didn’t fight back. So, you can’t really classify it as a beat-down. What’s this all about? Can it wait until tonight?”

  “Yeah. Get going,” Ric said. “I better get my ass in gear, too. I’ll call Chase and make sure he’s up.”

  “I’ll be surprised if he’s even been to bed,” Tyler remarked.

  “Yeah. He certainly has a habit of enjoying life to the full,” Ric said.

  “Yeah. Okay. I’ll see you at the meeting,” Tyler said.

  When he’d gone, Ric turned on the water and began his shower.

  *****

  “I need your advice,” Ric said.

  He sat in Tyler and Emily’s home office later that afternoon, talking to Chase over Skype. Emily had taken Hayley to the grocery store with her, so he had the house to himself. He couldn’t stop thinking about Kate and he wasn’t sure what to do about it.

  Normally, he was in control of his emotions, but he’d felt out of sorts ever since he’d been forced to stay in Cooper’s Creek. He’d moved first to Denver and then to New York so that he didn’t have to be constantly reminded of Lizzie. It was especially hard staying in Tyler and Lizzie’s childhood home, a place where Ric and Emily had practically grown up, too.

  Memories of Lizzie were everywhere, painful memories of a woman he’d loved more than life itself. Ric would’ve done anything for Lizzie, but she’d fallen in love with Simon, leaving him out in the cold.