Chapter 49
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Gaines
That question has been a thorn in my side and my heart for more than two years.
She bolted when I wanted to fuck her. I wanted more than that, though. I wanted her real name and her phone number. I wanted to meet her back in that club every night after that, but she left.
Her hand drops to the center of her chest. “I thought I was going to pass out.”
The doctor in me takes over. “That means what? What were you feeling?”
“Amazing.” She smiles. “I came harder on your hand than I ever had with any guy in any way.”
I want to take pride in that, but my concern for her overshadows everything else.
“When you came down my throat, I was in awe.” She rubs the side of her face. “The sensation, the taste, and those sounds you made… I felt lightheaded. My heart was pounding so hard it was drowning out everything. It must have been an adrenaline rush. I hadn’t experienced anything like that before.”
That makes sense.
“I ran because I couldn’t breathe.” She smiles. “I felt overwhelmed by it all, and I think, and please don’t laugh, but I felt like I was falling in love with you.”
I sit stone-faced because hearing that now, even if it’s in the context of a fond recollection from two years ago, hits me hard.
I want her to say that to me again and mean it now.
“I was too young to be there,” she confesses. “I was twenty. Almost twenty-one, but I was too young to know what was in store for me. I’m so grateful that you were the man who took me to that room.”
“I’m grateful, too.”
She cups a hand over my cheek. “That night taught me that sex can be this incredible experience. I learned to demand more from my lovers. I learned to ask for what I really wanted.”
I drop my gaze to the bed. I can’t hear this. I don’t want to know about her other lovers or how they got her off. I sure as fuck don’t want to hear how I played a hand in that. Literally played a hand because I fucked her tight pussy with my fingers until she came.
“Whose turn is it now?” she asks as if I can go on with this “game.”
I feel as though I was pushed into a confessional booth, just as I was the one time my grandmother dragged me to church with her. I was ten, maybe twelve, and my sins at the time amounted to throwing a rock at a squirrel.
My aim was shit. The squirrel was fine.
She shifts in my lap to straddle me, resting her hands on my shoulders.
Her gaze sears into me. I feel so damn exposed. It’s almost as if she’s looking straight into my soul.
If she keeps that up, she’ll realize I’m in love with her.
“His voice was like a wave that met her at dawn,” she whispers, her fingers tangling in my hair on the back of my head.
I finish the last line of the Garin poem she’s quoting, “It soothed her very soul until she took her last breath, and then it stayed with her beyond.”
With more tenderness than I’ve ever experienced, Eloise kisses me in a way that will stay with me forever.
“Are we eating pizza for breakfast?” Eloise laughs as she enters my kitchen. “How did you get pizza delivery at six in the morning?”
I look her over. She’s back in my white button-down shirt, and since only one button between her breasts is holding it in place, I catch a glimpse of her panties underneath.
I’m dressed for my day in a shirt that matches the one she’s wearing, along with navy blue pants and a striped blue tie.
“I saved the owner’s life last year.”
It’s the truth, but that’s not the only reason I was able to get a ham and pineapple pie delivered this early.
The owner of my favorite pizza place starts his day early so anyone who wants a slice of pizza with scrambled eggs and bacon on it and a cup of coffee knows where they can go.
The food is free in exchange for a donation to the food pantry across the street from his business.
When I called him an hour ago to request a special order, he said he couldn’t refuse.
I’ll reward his kindness with a healthy donation to the pantry on my way to work.
She pops open the lid of the box. “Ham and pineapple? This is my favorite.”
I know. Stevie is the source for that tidbit of information.
One night, we were making homemade pizza when she asked if we could race to a market to get ham and pineapple. She mentioned it was Eloise’s favorite, so she wanted to try it out. She wasn’t a fan. I was.
She reaches for a piece but pulls back to lick sauce from her finger. “It’s delicious. Is it your favorite, too?”
I take her hand in mine and trace my tongue over the finger she just licked. “It is now.”
“We’re kind of perfect for each other,” she says before taking a deep breath. “I mean, we have a lot of fun.”
I like her first statement more, but before I can tell her my phone starts ringing.
Her eyes dart to it, but she doesn’t say a word.
I do when I scoop it up and answer it, “Dr. Morgan.”
I listen to Julissa rattle off an update about a patient in the CCU. I turn my back to Eloise as I list the blood tests I want done on the young man before I arrive at the hospital.
I hear movement behind me just in time to see Eloise disappear down the hall.
“I’ll be there shortly,” I tell Julissa before I end the call.
By the time I’m at the doorway to my bedroom, Eloise is getting dressed. “I’ll get ready to go too.”
“You can stay,” I say. “Eat pizza, watch something, have another bath. The door will automatically lock behind you when you leave.”
“I have school in two hours.” She buttons her blouse. “I’ll take a slice to go, though.”
“Good.” I turn to exit the room.
Before I can, she’s behind me with her arms wrapped around my chest. “You’re such a good man.”
I let out a deep-seated chuckle. “I’m not so sure about that. I am a good doctor, though.”
“The best.” She rounds me to grab hold of my tie. She tugs it slightly. “One last quick round of our game.”
The patient Julissa called me about is stable, and I see a playfulness in Eloise’s eyes that I don’t want to rush away from, so I bite. “Who gets to ask the question?”
“Me.” She widens her eyes as if to suggest that was a given.
“Go.”
“Why did you become a doctor?”
I have to look away from the truth that is always in her gaze. She expects that from me now, but it will take us down a path that will create a distance I can’t bear.
“Let me guess.” She taps her finger to her chin. “Was it to impress women? Or maybe it was to…”
“I need to go,” I cut her off mid-sentence. “I’m needed in the CCU, Eloise.”
Her expression shifts instantly. “Oh, of course. I’m sorry.”
I step back and suck in a breath. “Have a good day.”
“I will.” Her voice is soft. Pain taints it, but I can’t do this right now.
With a simple goodbye, I turn and walk out of my bedroom and away from the woman who owns my heart.