Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
I jumped when I heard a knock at the front door of the clinic at eight o’clock.
It took more than a minute for my heart to stop racing.
Logic told me that everything was fine. It wasn’t the first time that someone had come late with a sick or injured pet.
But still, being here by myself at night wasn’t always my favorite thing, despite all my babies.
I went over to the CCTV panel, where I could see who was out front.
Graham!
What was he doing out there?
I didn’t remember him having a pet. And he wasn’t holding a pet carrier; it looked like a bag. I looked closer. It was a brown bag with a receipt stapled to the front. That crazy man had brought food.
Giggling, I headed to the front.
“Hello? Can I help you?” I asked through the glass door.
“Yes,” he answered politely. “You could let me in before our dinner gets cold.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s eighty degrees outside; I don’t think it’ll get cold. Do you have a pet emergency? This is a veterinary clinic.”
Graham pursed his lips. “It’s going to be like that, is it?”
“Be like what?” I answered innocently.
“You blew me off for lunch this week, so I figured I would find a way for us to have dinner instead.”
My hands hit my hips. “I’ve explained this already. I did not blow you off. I had already promised to babysit. I couldn’t back out for a date. It wouldn’t be right.”
I watched as Graham’s finger tapped against the bag. It was the only sign of irritation he showed.
“You’re right. When you make a commitment, you shouldn’t back out.”
I smiled reluctantly. “Even if I would have preferred going out with you?”
His eyes brightened. “You would have?”
“Absolutely, I would have.”
His smile was slow and had me tingling in all my girly parts, making me want to wiggle, but that would have given the game away. Instead, I tossed back my braid and smiled back. “Did you bring me something?”
“I brought something for us, Doll. You going to let me in?”
“Depends on what you brought. I might not like it.”
Graham threw back his head and laughed.
I pretended to frown. “What’s all the laughter for?”
“I have yet to see Miss Laverne put one thing on your plate that you haven’t devoured.”
“She’s a great cook,” I defended myself.
“And the burned pork chops with the apple glaze where you only tasted nutmeg? Are you telling me that was good?”
I giggled. “Okay, so she had an off day.”
“But you ate everything she put in front of you. I was waiting for you to ask for seconds.”
“Even I couldn’t do that.” I shuddered.
“Anyway, I’m thinking it’s a sure bet you’ll like what I brought.”
Now I was excited. I got up on my tiptoes to see if I could look in the bag, but he was holding it close to his chest, and he was just too damn tall for me to peer in.
“Tut. Tut. Tut. You’re going to have to let me in to see the food.”
I went to the wall and disengaged the alarm, then opened the door. As soon as Graham walked in, I smelled the rich aroma of Chinese food.
Score!
Not just with the food, but with Graham showing up. I’d been really bummed not seeing him this week. Now here he was, in my domain. The thought made me rejoice.
I went back to the wall and reengaged the alarm. As we started down the hall together, I turned back and checked the alarm once more.
Good, I’d set it right.
As I walked back to Graham, his eyebrow was raised. “Everything good, Joy?”
I smiled sheepishly. “Everything’s great.”
He put his arm around my shoulders, then we continued down the long hall. “Are we going to eat with the animals?” he asked. We could both hear the sound of the puppies and dogs barking as we got closer to the end of the hall.
“No, I learned my lesson after the first night. They all made sad starving-puppy and kitty faces like they’d never been fed before, which was a total lie because I’d just fed all of them.
But they sat there and whined and meowed until I gave away my entire sandwich.
When I told Roxie what happened the next day, she told me that human food wasn’t always good for some dogs and cats.
Man, did I feel horrible. From there on out, I’ve eaten in the break room and browsed through my phone or FaceTimed with my family or Emmie or Piper. ”
“In that case, lead the way.” Graham smiled. “I even brought drinks.”
We turned the corner and walked down the short hall to the break room door. There were two little tables, not that we ever used both, since we all tended to gather around just the one.
Graham started pulling paper plates and plastic utensils out of the bag, followed by cans of soda, then came the good stuff.
“What did you get?” I asked as I started to open up the white boxes.
“Two egg rolls, four crab wontons, four steamed dumplings with pork, beef with scallops and vegetables, crispy honey chicken, sesame shrimp, Mongolian beef, and finally, vegetable lo mein.”
“Oh, no!” I cried out.
His head whipped around. “What, Joy? What’s wrong?”
“You didn’t get any fried rice! How can we have Chinese food without fried rice?” I wailed.
He looked like I had shot him. Panic-stricken, he looked around the table, then back in the bag. “Wait, they gave us some steamed white rice. That’s good, right?”
My giggle soon turned into full-fledged laughter.
He looked at me, his eyes wide. “My God, woman, you mean you were joking?” He sounded appalled.
He shook his head and eyed me up and down, his gaze changing to an assessing look.
A look that made me shiver. Graham reached out, then grabbed my hips, his big hands sinking into my soft flesh.
My shiver turned into a shudder as he pulled me in close.
“You really are a smartass, aren’t you?”
I couldn’t respond. I was still laughing. The look on his face had been priceless. Yeah, there had been panic, but there also had been that part where he couldn’t believe I was such a picky little princess and wondered what in the hell he had gotten himself into.
Yep, priceless.
Then I looked into his eyes. His beautiful hazel eyes had turned mostly dark green with desire, and my laughter faded away as my breath caught in my throat and my mouth went dry.
Graham pulled me closer until I found myself pressed up against his hard body.
One strong arm looped around my waist while his other warm, calloused hand cupped the base of my skull.
“You know, it’s been a long, long time since I’ve panicked,” he drawled.
I gulped.
“There’s a price to pay for freaking me out.” His low voice sent shivers down my spine. He lowered his head even more. I could smell the mint of his toothpaste. I wanted a longer… deeper… taste.
“What’s the price, Graham?” My voice was barely a whisper.
“This.” His lips gently covered mine, and I jolted. It was just a whisper of a touch, but the electric charge I felt was like nothing I’d ever felt before. I pushed upward, trying to get a deeper caress.
Graham pulled back. “I’ve been wanting to do this since the first day I met you.”
“What?” He bent back down and slowly licked my bottom lip. I moaned at the decadent touch. It felt like he was teasing and teaching and tempting me all at the same time.
“More,” I breathed out.
“This is our first kiss. We have to savor it.” He smiled.
Savor it? I might be melting at his touch, but his words? They turned me to mush.
His fingers speared up into my hair, caressing my scalp. No, he was massaging all the tension of the day from me, and I pressed back against his magic fingers.
“Ahh, so good,” I moaned.
Graham took that moment to kiss my jaw, sucking lightly, his beard abrading my skin in such a good way.
Sparks raced along my skin, causing my nipples to spike.
I was sure he must be able to feel them through my T-shirt and his shirt, but with him, I wasn’t embarrassed.
I was almost proud of the way my body responded to his.
He trailed kisses up my jaw, to the corner of my lips, then he coaxed them open. He slid his tongue inside my mouth. He was a marauder who took me over into a beautiful storm that I never wanted to leave.
I felt safe.
Secure.
Cared for.
How in the hell had this happened so quickly? But then again, hadn’t I watched the gentle care he’d shown Miss Laverne? The respect he’d always displayed toward me?
No wonder I felt so cherished.
Our tongues danced, and I nipped his, savoring the deep groan that rumbled from his chest. Encouraged, I did it again, earning another groan.
Soon I felt like I was flying, which only made sense because Graham’s kisses were taking me to the stars.
I couldn’t get enough of him. We both had the same idea at the same time, our hands creeping up one another’s T-shirts, touching each other’s skin.
I scraped my nails lightly over his back and got another wonderful murmur from this man.
Meanwhile, he was pushing his hand up the front of my shirt, circling my belly button. Who knew that was an erogenous zone? Soon he was moving higher until he was cupping my right breast. I wiggled in pleasure, grinding myself down on his erection.
My eyes flew open.
“I’m on your lap.”
How the hell had that happened?
Graham’s eyes opened slowly. They were almost all green, all dark and dreamy.
“Yeah, I put you here. I like you here. You snuggle up nice.”
I melted into him even more as his thumb flicked back and forth over my lace-covered nipple.
“Love how you respond, Doll,” he muttered. “A man could get addicted.”
He kissed me behind my ear, then bit gently on my lobe. Graham had moves. Actual moves. And I enjoyed every one of them.
I pushed up at his shirt so I could get to his shoulders, but it wasn’t working, not with where his hands were. I let out a huff of aggravation.
“Take off your shirt,” I demanded.
“No, darlin’,” was his gentle answer, and it pissed me off.
“What do you mean, no?”
“Joy, the first time we get to second base is not going to be on a plastic chair, under fluorescent lights, in your company break room.”
So considerate. So damn caring.
I blinked a couple of times and looked around, the HR posters on the bulletin board catching my eye. Yep, this was definitely not appropriate.
“Oh God! Oh God! Oh God! Let me up!”
“What’s wrong, Joy? Are you messing with me again?”
I nearly face-planted as I scrambled off Graham’s lap, but he caught me just in time. I frantically scanned the ceiling, my heart racing.
“Thank God.”
“Joy, you’re freaking me out again. What in the hell is wrong?”
“I thought there was a CCTV camera in here.”
He frowned down at me from where I was hanging from his arms.
“Baby, there is no way I would be kissing you in here if there had been a CCTV camera. Trust me, I checked.”
“You checked? Why would you have thought about checking? I know we have those cameras for our security, and I didn’t think to check. Why would you?”
“Old habits die hard,” he muttered.
“Huh?” Oh yeah, military.
“Long story, Doll,” he sighed. “Let’s eat.” He pulled me up and gave me one last short, hard kiss.
The way he said that made me want to push for information, only because I sensed pain.
But I knew this wasn’t the right time. One day soon, that would change.
I intended to show him that he could trust me with his pain because I really began to think Graham just might be a man I could trust with my heart.