Chapter 5
“Meredith, stop. I’m fine,” Landry said, smoothing my hair back from my face.
I stood next to him, leaning against the exam table as the doctor finished sewing Landry’s hand. I stared over the doctor’s shoulder, inhaling his fresh scent. “Damn, Izak, when did you start to smell so good?”
He laughed, his sandy blond hair hitting his shoulders. “What? When I was hanging at your house growing up, did I smell that bad?”
“No, but I don’t seem to remember you smelling like this.”
He grinned, glancing at me. “We all grow up, Mer. I seem to remember you as this stick who was all legs and lips.”
I shot him a nasty look. “I believe the term you used was gangly.”
He tied the last stitch on Landry’s hand and patted his shoulder. “I have to hand it to you because you’ve got a rocky road ahead of you dating this one here.”
“Dating?” I asked. “Uh, we’re not a couple, Izak.”
He arched a brow as a slow smile slid over his face. “From the way you’ve both behaved since you walked into my office, I assumed you were not only a couple but have been for a while.”
I rolled my eyes. “You know damn well Landry hasn’t been dating me.”
“Yep, but I also know how to tick you off, and old habits are hard to break.”
“Don’t think because you’re buddies with my brother that I won’t wring your neck.”
He laughed. “But I smell so good. How could you harm me? Anyway, it’s Landry I’d feel bad for if the two of you really were dating.”
“Why is that?” Landry asked, his gaze sliding to me. He winked. “I get the feeling I’d make out in the deal. Know something I don’t?”
Izak chuckled. “Yes. She’s insane in the best way possible.”
“I noticed.”
Izak finished the wrapping and smiled at his handiwork. “He’ll be as good as new in a couple of weeks.”
Landry ignored him, coming for me. “I buckled, letting you force me to go first. Now, let him look at you.”
I opened my mouth to protest only to find myself being turned and forced onto the table. Landry had himself wedged against me, his groin to mine. He leaned, putting his lips to my ear. “Remind me how I’ve sworn off women.”
His thick, long erection rubbed against my mound and I slid my hands up his torso to his shoulders. “Yes.”
I had no clue if I was saying yes to him swearing off women or accepting his cock in me. Thinking clearly was not high on my list. He had a way of confusing me but in a good way. I pulled back from him and met his gaze. “You’ve sworn off women.”
Izak cleared his throat, and Landry moved. Izak lifted my sleeve first and bit his lower lip. “You’ve got pavement in this, hon. It’s going to sting when I clean it out.”
I nodded. “I know. Remember the go-cart incident? Same damn bend. I think that curve wants me dead.”
Izak laughed. “I remember that we talked you into taking a turn on a go-cart. You didn’t really want to, but Phillip kept telling you it would be fun. Jeremiah wasn’t there that day or I’m fairly sure he’d have pitched a fit. Phillip and I helped you into the thing and we thought you’d freak, steer left and go into the grass. We should have known you’d have nerves of steel.”
I flashed a wide smile. “Still, it would have been nice if one of you would have bothered to tell me how to steer it before you let go of me.”
Izak glanced at Landry. “You’re aware of the Macy house, right?”
Aware? Who could miss it? It was a mansion on the bluff, at the top of the very road the bend ended in.
Landry nodded.
“Yeah, Phil and I started her at the top of that. Our only defense is that we were young and stupid and since Meredith followed wherever Samson went… well…”
I snorted. “Say it. Tell him how I annoyed you all by simply being. I was happily sitting by a tree, watching you all, but no, you got sick of me and you and Phil decided to try to kill me.”
He gasped. “We didn’t want you dead, Mer. We just wanted a day without a girl around.”
I snickered.
His eyes widened. “You got going faster than any of us ever had. I remember seeing you, then seeing you hit the end of the bend. You went airborne. The go-cart went one way, and you were this mass of black hair flying in the other direction. Christ, Phil and I couldn’t get to you fast enough. It wasn’t bad enough you weren’t moving, you were in the middle of a blind curve on the road. Anyone could have hit you.”
Landry’s eyes widened.
I touched his hand. “Clearly I lived.”
Izak grunted. “We got to you and all Phil wanted to do was pick you up. I kept telling him not to touch you.”
“See, a doctor in the making,” I prompted.
He grinned. “What were you then? Eleven maybe? Phil and I were fourteen.”
I nodded. “Eleven.”
“Tim Macy, Phil’s uncle, came around that bend, slammed on his breaks and was out in a heartbeat. He drove us to the hospital, following the ambulance, and we sat there, thinking you were dead. He knew you weren’t, but he wanted us to sweat it,” Izak said. “That was the first day I ever saw Phil cry. I remember hearing you scream as they set your arm. Phil got sick to his stomach when he heard that, and Tim had to restrain him from trying to get to you. He thought he could ease the pain somehow.”
“I got a hot pink cast. It was the coolest thing ever,” I said, wanting off the topic of Phillip.
“I can’t be sure, but I think that might have been the day Phillip stopped seeing you as Samson’s little sister and started seeing you as you.”
The last thing I wanted to do was to be reminded about my history with Phillip. Izak put his back to me while he gathered some supplies to start the cleaning process. “I talked to Phil this morning. Your name came up. He told me you’d left your position at that auction house in the city and were opening an antique store here in town.”
My jaw dropped. “Who told him?”
Izak stilled. “My guess, Jeremiah. I know Samson doesn’t offer information to Phil whenever he comes in to visit his parents. In fact, I go out of my way to keep them separated because I know Samson is itching for an excuse to beat the living shit out of Phil.”
“Why is that?” Landry asked, taking a keen interest in our conversation.
Izak snorted. “What? He doesn’t know?”
“Why would he?” I asked.
“I don’t know. You two seem close especially since you’ve only been home a week. Took you years to warm up to Phil.”
My jaw set. “Izak, I get you have some bizarre best friend loyalty thing going with Phillip, but this isn’t high school. Stop.”
“Stop what?”
“Stop going out of your way to bring up Phillip because Landry is here. Like you’re trying to make Landry jealous. It’s not going to work. He’s not into me.”
“Just seems sudden. Whatever is happening with you and Landry, that is.”
I glanced at Landry and rolled my eyes. “Hello, Izak, too sudden to be friends?”
“Phil’s coming in this weekend. Might be nice if we tried to get together, like old times. You two haven’t been in town at the same time since… well… since…”
I yanked my t-shirt over my head. “Clean this so I can go.”
Landry and Izak gasped.
Lifting a brow, I glanced at my side. “It’s just some road rash. What?”
“Mer,” Izak said. “You’re in a barely there bra.”
“You’re a doctor. You see naked chicks all the time.”
He didn’t have a response to that.
I glanced at Landry. “And you swore off women. Plus, I already held a private wet t-shirt contest for you. See. It’s settled. Now, do me, Doc.”
* * *
Landry glanced around my father’s house and looked uncomfortable. I couldn’t quit looking at his hand and the bandage. I felt horrible he’d been hurt on my account. He looked out the window again. I smiled. “Are you worried my dad will come home and bust me for having a guy in the house?”
Blushing, Landry cleared his throat. “Maybe.”
“Rest assured that you’re in the clear. I’m an adult and he’s gone for a couple of days on business.”
Finally Landry seemed to relax. I nearly laughed at the absurdity of him being concerned about my father coming home. Instead, I smiled. “So, now that you know we have the place to ourselves, wanna do it?”
He spun, his eyes wide and locked on me. “W-what?”
I snorted and pointed at him. “Your face right now!”
He licked his lower lip and suddenly the humor of the moment began to wear off, replaced instead by lust. I seemed to suffer from serious bouts of it around the man. I squared my shoulders. “Come on. I promised to make you something to eat.”
“Samson has mentioned your kitchen skills in the past,” he said, easing up alongside me. “Should I be concerned.”
“Absolutely,” I responded with a wink. I led him through the hallway, to the kitchen and then motioned for him to have a seat. “I’m taking care of you. Sit.”
“Wonder if Florence Nightingale had this sunny disposition too?” he inquired with a sly smile.
Showing off my immature side, I stuck my tongue out at him. He laughed. I went to the refrigerator and pulled out things that might make a meal. The more I set on the counter, the more strange noises Landry made. Finally, I gave in and held the mayo jar to my chest as I stared at him. “What?”
“What are you planning to do with all that?” he asked, motioning to the now overstuffed counters.
I pursed my lips. “Cook?”
He offered a sympathetic look. “Samson wasn’t joking about your lack of cooking talents, was he?”
“No. Probably not.” I continued to hold the jar to my chest as I surveyed the mound of items on the counter. “Something has to pull together to make a meal, right?”
“How did you survive living on your own?”
I smiled wide. “In the city there are tons of takeout places and when I wasn’t getting takeout, I was dining out. I don’t think my kitchen in my apartment was ever actually used.”
Landry stood and moved closer to me. “That is the saddest thing I’ve ever heard. Let’s put most of this back. I can use a couple things here to prepare something good for us.”
I frowned. “Landry, your hand.”
“Is fine.”
I gave him a droll look. “Hardly. Let me do this. Please.”
“Okay, but only if I get to strictly supervise everything you’re doing.”
I nudged him lightly with my shoulder. “Deal.”
He draped his arm around my shoulders and caught me by surprise. “Mer, what are you going to do when you move into your own place here in town?”
“You mean how am I going to eat?” I asked.
He turned me to face him. “Yes.”
“Rumor has it there is a great new diner in town. I’ll probably eat there, a lot.”
Chuckling, he drew me closer to him, and I found myself putting my head against his chest. I was careful not to move too much. I didn’t want to hurt his bandaged hand, and it felt good being held.
“I’m sure the owner will be pleased to hear he’ll get to see a lot of you,” he whispered, his lips near my ear.
My body tightened with desire. I stayed in place and caressed his chest lightly with my fingers. “Good to know. Wouldn’t want to wear out my welcome or anything.”
“Not possible,” said Landry before he stepped back quickly. He focused on the food. “Let’s see what we can do with this mess.”