The Damaged Heroes Collection [Box Set #1: The Damaged Heroes Collection] (BookStrand Publishing Mainstream)

by James, Sandy

  Compared to this beautiful place, his sterile condo didn’t look like a home. Laurie’s house screamed the word.

  Ross pulled up in the driveway leading to the detached garage and turned off his engine. “I should go in first.”

  “Why?”

  “In case it’s not safe.”

  “That’s sweet. But I’ll be right behind you.” She dutifully handed him the keys as he grabbed her sack from the trunk. “It’s probably not locked.”

  He threw her an incredulous frown. “Not locked? Are you nuts?”

  “I don’t need a chauvinistic lecture. Deepika and I just forget sometimes.”

  They entered into the small foyer that led to an enormous living area. Ross put the sack on the floor before he began to thoroughly explore his new environment. Holding his hand, Laurie followed him through the first floor rooms as he opened closets and checked behind doors.

  The interior was a unique mixture of Americana, Anglican, and Indian. The wall above the big red-brick fireplace boasted an enormous framed poster from the movie Bend It Like Beckham and another from The Phantom of the Opera. A bright pink sari was draped over a multi-colored afghan lying on the back of the sofa. Warmth vibrated from every knick-knack along the mantel. They had obviously been chosen with love. The women who lived here had easily merged their very different lives in their enormous old house.

  Ross silently took in the clutter he saw in almost every room. The house wasn’t dirty, just well-lived-in. And it radiated the tenderness of friendship. On the kitchen table, a stethoscope rested on a stack of periodicals lying next to a worn copy of The Secret. Laurie set her flowers down on the pile of magazines.

  He’d never seen so many shoes in his life. High heels, flats, running shoes, clogs. An enormous pile stood next to the kitchen door and the open hall closet was loaded with them.

  By the time they reached the second floor, he knew they were alone in the house. Ross still made Laurie follow him through the bedrooms.

  One appeared to be nothing more than a shoe and clothing storage area with a double bed and a nightstand. A second contained two desks equipped with computers and several filing cabinets. An office. He figured the room with the Union Jack hanging on the wall over the bed’s brass headboard belonged to Deepika.

  Process of elimination made the last bedroom they checked Laurie’s. Ross took in what he could learn about her from the decor. A queen-sized bed had been hurriedly made, judging by the wrinkled and lumpy quilt. Several articles of clothing lay draped across a pink chair. The room was painted a pale blue with stenciled flowers and vines scattered from floor to ceiling. Dozens of picture frames in a wide assortment of shapes and sizes covered the walls.

  Ross finally dropped her hand and moved around the big room, looking at the photos of Laurie with people she obviously loved. The woman was an athlete. Most of pictures were of her skiing, playing soccer, and riding horses. The woman truly was a puzzle with hundreds of tiny complicated pieces. He wasn’t sure he would ever learn everything there was to know about her, but he looked forward to the task.

  Ross stopped and laughed at one photo. Laurie, an Indian woman who he guessed was Deepika, and several other young women stood on a soccer field in the rain with their uniforms and faces covered in mud. “What happened there?”

  “Conference championship game our junior year. We always liked playing in the mud best. And we won,” she added with a note of pride.

  “Well,” he said as he walked back to where Laurie stood in the center of her room, “looks like the coast is clear.”

  “Thanks, Ross. You didn’t need to come in.”

  “Sure, I did.”

  “My brave prince,” she teased, favoring him with an enormous smile.

  Ross bowed at the waist. “M’lady, the house is now free of dragons.”

  She clapped her hands. “Thank you, kind sir. And what payment do you demand for your services?”

  He flashed her a naughty grin. “A kiss, fair lady.” Ross reached for her hand and gave her a rough tug that made her collide with his chest. Wrapping his arms around her, he kissed her before she would have the chance to even think about his demand.

  Laurie’s body caught fire as Ross embraced her and kissed her so deeply she was amazed she could even form a coherent thought. Lord, how she loved kissing him. Her blood turned to liquid heat and burned a blazing path through her veins. The pulsing of her heart’s cadence echoed in her ears. This was how it was supposed to be, this was how it was meant to be. She slipped her arms around his neck and flattened her breasts to his hard chest.

  Damn, how she intoxicated him, drugged him with a simple kiss. Ross’s tongue swept into her mouth, and he gave a throaty growl of approval when her tongue played across his in return. Her passionate response always made him burn even hotter for her. Scalding, sweltering, scorching hot.

  All he could see in his mind’s eye was Laurie beneath him. Spread before him like a feast for a sultan, her eyes filled with passion and longing, he would ease himself deep inside her. God, he could almost feel her heat squeezing him tight. The aching need was consuming, almost unbearable. Primeval and commanding.

  Wanting to take a more active role, Laurie ached to feel his steely muscles beneath her fingertips. Touch. Oh, how she wanted to touch. She pushed her hands inside his overcoat and helped him shrug out of it before the heavy garment landed in a heap on the floor. She repeated the action with his suit jacket and then let her hands roam across his broad chest. Touch and touch and...

  Lowering his mouth to her throat, Ross helped Laurie shed her coat before settling his hands around her waist. He nuzzled her neck and was rewarded with a soft moan that told him he’d found a sensitive spot behind her ear. He decided to explore the tender skin more fully. So warm, so soft, so receptive. He couldn’t remember a time when he’d desired a woman more, and it crossed his mind for the briefest of seconds that his appraisal included Katie Remington. All Ross could think of was how wonderful it would be to just pick up this tall, voluptuous creature and carry her those last few feet to her big bed.

  Laurie thought she’d faint from the sensations ripping through her like lashes from a whip. Deep, burning slashes that tore the flesh from her. She savored each and every stroke. Ross’s lips caressed her skin. Warmth crashed through her like ocean waves hitting a sandy beach. When he traced a path from her neck to her ear and ran his tongue in and around it, her heart almost stopped. The instant his hand shifted from her waist to capture one of her breasts in his palm, Laurie thought her legs would give out.

  Ross wanted more. “God, Kitten, you’re so soft.” Her curves felt so perfect, made just for him, meant just for him. She was filled out in all the right places in all the right measures. Tailor made. He knew when he was inside her, she would fit like a damn proverbial glove.

  Ross slowly unfastened the little pearl buttons on her sweater as he kissed his way down her neck to her collarbone. She laced her fingers through his hair, pulling him closer and closer. Yes, Laurie. Oh, yes. I’ll find every magic spot, every plane, every valley.

  The logical part of Laurie figured she should probably call a halt to their activities before things got entirely out of hand. But then the part of Laurie that had been denied the comfort and obvious excitement of human contact for her entire life told the logical part to take a very long hike. It was simply too easy to give in to all of the new sensations Ross created as he seductively kissed each patch of skin that opened up to him. He freed her from her sweater.

  If this was going to happen, Laurie quickly decided she wasn’t going to stop it. No. Oh, no. Her long repressed passion had been unleashed by this man, and her intuition told her this was exactly the way it should be. She knew it might be way too soon in their still immature relationship, but Laurie was more than ready to become his lover.

  And then his cell phone rang. Ross cursed.

  Laurie hesitated, fearing the mood was broken. “Maybe you should answer that. It mig
ht be a client or something.”

  “Yeah, but...” He groaned as the phone kept ringing. Popping his phone from its clip, he checked the caller ID. He flipped the phone open and turned away from Laurie.

  His body language was easy enough to understand, but she tried not to take too much offense. Perhaps the caller was an important client who had gotten into trouble. She felt bad about eavesdropping on the conversation and whirled around to leave the bedroom, buttoning her sweater as she went. Then she caught one important word he used.

  Katie.

  Ross had stopped his kisses and caresses to talk to someone about Katie Remington. He’d turned his back on her for another woman—one he was having an incredibly difficult time leaving behind.

  How could she possibly fight a foe who lived only in his fantasies? Laurie’s anger and nearly crippling jealousy forced her to hold her ground as she stood with her back facing his, listening to his side of the exchange.

  “She’s doing okay? No complications? A boy, huh? You must be happy. Yeah. Well, tell her I send my best. I’ve got to go. Thanks for calling, Seth.” Ross snapped the phone shut.

  Laurie felt his hand touch her shoulder, but she shrugged it away. She took a deep breath and then another before she whipped back around to face him. “So, that was Seth Remington, huh?”

  He nodded as he stared uncomfortably at the floorboards.

  Damn right, he’d better be contrite! She tried to cage her emotions and approach the situation as a dispassionate counselor. She wasn’t succeeding.

  “Katie had her baby. They’re both fine,” he finally replied.

  “And her husband called you?” She tried to keep the hard edge off her voice as the therapist part of her personality attempted to take control.

  Ross nodded again and sighed hard enough to part her hair. At least it was consoling to realize that this wasn’t easy on him. “I asked him to. Seth and I are friends, and Katie... Well, Katie and I were...kind of... We were engaged.”

  “You told me.” She almost screamed the words and tried to get better restraint on her emotions. “And how long were you two engaged?”

  Ross’s expression grew dark. “About three days.”

  “You were engaged three days, and then she married Seth Remington instead. Why do you think she did that, Ross?”

  He scowled. “Because.”

  “That’s not an answer. Why him, not you?”

  “Because... I don’t know. Maybe because he had more money.”

  “Oh, I see.” Laurie tried to keep herself under tight rein, but she knew the tone of her voice was probably more shrew than counselor. “You think Katie is a fortune hunter and that she took the guy with the largest wallet as a husband.” She didn’t want to remind him that Seth Remington had originally given up his fortune to be with the woman he loved. Ross didn’t need the hurtful memory of how close the Remingtons were.

  “No!” He clenched his hands into fists, holding them tight against his sides. “Don’t twist my words. She’s not like that. Do we have to talk about this?”

  “Yes. Yes, we do.” Laurie wanted to yell at him, but she knew he’d never see his situation clearly unless someone helped him sort through a few important details. She struggled to maintain a calm tenor. “If she didn’t marry him for his money, then why do you think she chose him?”

  Ross looked like a volcano about to blow. “I don’t know. Why are you badgering me? If you ask me how I feel about this, so help me...”

  “I’m not badgering you, Ross. Just asking a very simple question. Why do you think Katie chose Seth Remington and not you?” The counselor in her understood exactly what was going on in his head, but he would have to figure out for himself that he was in love with an idea not a real woman. Laurie had experience with helping people who let their lives become frozen in time over regrets of losing someone who they never really had to begin with. Regrets over possibilities of what “could have been” were difficult to fight because they were like ghosts. They offered nothing tangible to hold onto. Some people were never able to put their lives back on track and would turn themselves into modern day Miss Havishams straight out of the pages of Great Expectations.

  Ross needed to live in the present if she stood any chance at winning his affection. Laurie nudged him in that direction. “I know you think you love her, but—”

  He immediately and loudly reacted. “I don’t think I love her, I...” But he didn’t finish the thought. It was obvious enough he was finally looking at the situation with something other than a bruised ego.

  Laurie pressed a little harder to get him to use more of his intelligence and less sentimentality. “She’s safe.”

  Ross glared at her as he furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”

  “She’s safe. You can have your Type A life and still put Katie on a pedestal and worship her from afar while you pretend you love her. You don’t have to deal with a real relationship that way. How long since your thirtieth birthday?” His hardening face told Laurie she might be pushing a bit too hard, but she was desperate for him to see the truth.

  Crossing his arms over his chest, Ross looked angry enough to punch something. “How’d you know I’m thirty?”

  “Men go through one of their first real life crises around thirty. If they’re single, they’re ready to settle down. Not only was Katie safe, she appeared at a convenient time.” Laurie hated just standing in her bedroom and glaring at the man, but she didn’t dare suggest they move to a comfortable spot like the downstairs sofa. He looked irate enough to bolt if she allowed him to move an inch.

  “You’re telling me Katie was just in the right place at the—.”

  She interrupted to immediately correct the wrong assumption. “No, that’s not what I’m telling you. I just want you to think about the whys of your...infatuation with her.” Laurie knew she’d already given him quite a bit to think about, but there was one more thing she wanted him to consider. “I’ll bet you hate to lose. I wonder whether it bothers you more that she chose Seth or more that you feel like you lost the race to see who got to her first.”

  “This is so not how I saw this evening going,” he sneered. “I hate psychobabble.”

  The dispassionate counselor in Laurie finally lost the battle to the emotional and lovesick woman. “And I hate trying to fight a friggin’ fantasy.” She walked over to his discarded clothes and picked them up. Shoving them at Ross, she said, “Give me a call when you decide if you want a real woman.”

  “C’mon, Laurie, I don’t want to go.” He took a step toward her. “Can’t we just go back to—?”

  “No, we can’t.” God, she wanted him to stay. The pain in his eyes made her want to forget everything and run back into his arms. She didn’t want to hurt him. Logic and love were tearing her in two. But what kind of future could they have if he didn’t leave his ridiculous obsession with Katie Remington behind? Laurie straightened her spine. Tough love was the only thing that could help him. She knew what she had to do, and she promised herself she wouldn’t cry until after he left. “Good night, Ross.”

  She listened to him stomp down the staircase. His footfalls echoed from downstairs, and then came the slamming of the front door.

  “What have I done?” Laurie whispered before she burst into tears.

  Chapter 9

  Duchess, Crystal, and I got dolled up and hit the town. They hoped it might cheer me up since Fortune seems to have forgotten me. I thought things were going well until he just stopped coming to the club. Maybe he didn’t want to see me again because I asked him to go slow. All the guys think the girls who work at the club are easy. I’m not. I let Fortune kiss me, but that’s all. Duchess is always there for me to cry on her shoulder. I know she has a crush on one of the bootleggers, but she won’t tell me which one. We both needed a night away from our worries.

  The girls and I went dancing. It was fun and exhausting, but it didn’t really help. I think I’ve got it bad for the bum. A bootlegger! I might be
in love with a bootlegger! Little me from Hicksville loves a man who has one foot in a jail cell and the other in a grave. Life can be so unfair sometimes.

  “Laurie? You home?” Deepika called from downstairs.

  Laurie didn’t immediately answer as she sat in the dark bedroom and continued to stare at the computer screen with the results of her Internet search for Katie Remington.

  Right after Ross left, she’d cried. Long and hard. Then she dried her tears and played around with the thought of simply giving up on him. But that notion lasted less than ten seconds. The man called to her on so many different levels, Laurie couldn’t dismiss him that casually.

  The physical attraction was overpowering. That in and of itself maintained her interest. Yet she knew she felt something more for Ross Kennedy. Every instinct, every piece of her intuition told her so. She would have to swallow her pride and keep pushing him to see the truth. He didn’t really love Katie. He belongs with me.

  But her heart still felt battered and bruised.

  “I’m upstairs. In the office,” she finally hollered to Deepika. “Sitting here in the dark, looking at someone Ross thinks he loves who makes me feel like a big ole heifer,” she quietly added as she brushed a lingering tear away.

  Laurie had to use her hand to shade her eyes and squint against the bright light her roommate flipped on as she walked into room. “Geesh. Warn me next time.”

  “Sorry,” Deepika offered as she quickly turned off the light. “What are you doing in the dark?”