Chapter 15
After almost a week of working at the clinic together, Bethany locked the front door, then walked to Conall and said, “Hey,… I guess that’s it.”
He looked up, smiled, and nodded. “Good enough.” He checked his watch. “We’re right on schedule. The plane leaves for Hawaii in about six hours.”
As she looked around, sadness filled her eyes.
“We can come back to visit, you know?” he muttered.
“I know, but it’s definitely time to be moving on. The town is dying, people are moving away, and I can’t find a qualified receptionist, so we need to go somewhere else.”
“What about your other staff?”
“I just have Liza and Adam, and he’s already looking for a new part-time job,” she noted.
Conall waved around her clinic. “You handled all the current patients, and you mentioned how Liza will handle the rest, so you’re good to go for a holiday, right?” She nodded and walked closer. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her.
“I didn’t expect to find you here,” Bethany whispered.
“I didn’t expect to find you here either,” Conall admitted, tilting her head back and kissing her on the lips. “Now let’s finish packing for our trip.”
With him driving, they headed back to her apartment, quickly double-checked their bags again, then loaded up and drove to the airport. It was a bit of a drive, but they got there in plenty of time.
Arriving in Hawaii many hours later, they made their way to the hotel. She stretched out on the bed and muttered, “You know something? For the first time in what seems like many years, I feel like maybe I can grab some sleep. Like, a lot of sleep.”
“Then sleep,” he said, as he tucked their bags off to the side. “We can unpack later, and we can also go for a swim whenever you want.”
But she was already shifting onto her side. “I just need to crash.”
He smiled. “I won’t say no to napping with you.” He dropped on the bed beside her, pulled her into his arms, and the two of them napped. He woke a little later to see that she had shifted and was staring up at him.
“You know something,” she began, “there’s being a gentleman, then there’s being a gentleman.”
His eyebrows rose. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means, you’re being too much of a gentleman.”
“And more specifically that means?”
She smiled, then kissed him. “It means that we could move this along a little faster. Like a lot faster.”
“Ah, so being a gentleman in that way.”
“Yes,” she muttered.
“Okay then.” He tilted her slowly to her back. “I am totally okay with moving this forward.”
“Good.” She studied him closely. “When I said I wanted a holiday in Hawaii,… I meant a holiday in a whole bigger way.”
“Interesting.” He chuckled. “Exactly what do you have in mind?”
She wrapped her arms around him and opened her thighs wide, settling him right where she wanted him. Now wrapping her legs around his hips, she pulled him close, then whispered, “A whole lot of this.”
He chuckled, as he shifted his hips against her. “If I’d realized…”
“Oh, you realized,” she said. “You were just giving me time.”
He nodded. “I was giving you time, but if you don’t need time…”
“I’ve had time,” she said, with a smile, “and I’m totally good to be here. As a matter of fact, I’m absolutely delighted.”
“Me too.”
“My mom wishes us both the best, and, as usual she’s jumping the gun, wanting to know if we were serious.”
“You mean, as in marriage and all that good stuff?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s what she was hinting at.”
“And this is from the same woman who was secretly living with Joe but maintaining two residences, trying not to let anybody know?”
“Yeah, and that’s why she wants to know if we’re serious,” Bethany explained. “She spent a lot of time trying to hide her relationship and eventually not giving a damn, knowing Joe would never move in with her until she married him.”
“Maybe they’ll get married now.”
“I hope so. They’ve been together a very long time.”
“We know that they love each other,” Conall said, “so let them live their lives fully now.”
“That’s the plan,” she whispered, as she shifted her hips up and down against him. Grabbing his ears, she tugged him closer. “You are wearing way-too-many clothes.”
He laughed. “I’m wearing the same amount as you are, but I’m happy to wear less, if you prefer.”
Hopping off the bed, he quickly stripped down to nothing. He stood in front of her and then hesitated a bit. “You want the leg on or off?”
Her eyes opened wide, as she stared at him. “You know something? That’s damn sexy.” She hopped to her knees, staring at the way the prosthetic met his leg. “Does it hurt?”
“No, not at all, but I also don’t want you to hide from it or to think I’ll hide it.”
“God no.” She ran her fingers up and down the steel. “I really like it.” She grinned at him. “It’s definitely sexy.”
He stared at her in surprise and started to laugh. “Somehow I don’t think very many women in the world would agree with you.”
“Oh, I think you’re misjudging women,” she said, with a grin, as she tore off her clothes just as quickly as he had. “I think you’re completely underestimating women and what we like,” she added, “and what we like is confident and capable men.” With a big smile, she moved closer. “Men who we know will protect us, even though we want to protect ourselves. Don’t get me wrong. I’m all about looking after myself, but definitely something is special about knowing that a man will be there to back me up, if ever I need to fall.”
“And if you ever need to fall,” he added, “if nothing else, I can fall first and make for a softer landing.”
She looked at him, and tears came to her eyes. “I really want to giggle at your words, but that image is so important. I also know that you mean it, and that is so important too. I am so looking forward to this holiday and the time we’ll have together.”
“Me too,” he admitted. “It feels like forever since I had time to myself, time for anyone else,” he muttered, as he took her in his arms, while she still kneeled on the bed. “Now it’s time for the two of us, and we deserve it.”
“We sure do,” she whispered. She kissed him, but that kiss quickly turned to a kiss of power and passion, as both of them became overwhelmed with the joy of the freedom to be themselves, of the freedom they had to be here together, just the two of them with time to explore and to get to know each other.
By the time the kiss had to stop so they could breathe again, they collapsed back down on the bed. She was trembling, a complete wreck. She whispered, “God, if we’d realized…”
“I know,” he whispered back. “I would have taken you to bed a long time ago.”
She chuckled. “You did know already, didn’t you?”
“I was hoping,” he whispered, “but I didn’t want to rush you. I wanted you coming to me, knowing full well who and what I was and what I had to offer.”
She opened her arms, as he settled between her thighs and whispered, “It’s all about who you really are, under that big scary facade, and you are 100 percent heart.”
Quickly passion overwhelmed the two of them, as they raced to a goal of mutual satisfaction and joy. When he withdrew a little later and pulled her into his arms, he held her close and whispered, “The thought of getting dressed and going down to the pool or getting even more dressed and going out for dinner really doesn’t appeal to me at all right now.”
She rolled over, half on his chest, and gave him a lazy smile. “Do you know what does appeal?” When he raised an eyebrow, she nodded and added, “Room service and as much time alone together as we want.” She lowered her head and kissed him. “Personally, I would be okay to spend the next fourteen days right here. Although there will be statements to give and questions to answer somewhere in there.”
He laughed with delight, then flipped her to her back and nodded. “I’m not against that, as long as we come up for air once in a while.”
“Later,” she whispered, as she pulled his head down and kissed him with a deep, searing kiss. “Much later.”