And Never Say Goodbye: A Town of Destiny Novel Page 15

  He rubbed her head. “Shh, go to sleep. I’ll do the case for you if you’re too tired.”

  “Oh, you’re definitely whipped,” she said in a sleepy voice, and then soft snoring.

  Lawson cradled her head against his chest. “Yeah, I am.” He stared at the window, the sun filtering through the blinds, and wondered about her words. What was this made-in-stone promise that kept her from living a life she wanted? Or did she want to keep this promise and please a dead man?

  He winced at his own thoughts. He didn’t mean that. Scott McShane sounded like a man to be honored. After all, he had won the heart of Mallory at one time, so he must have been a good guy. He’d have to ask more questions about him, get to know him more so he could understand her decision. Whatever it was, it was not getting between them.

  ***

  “Wake up, sleeping beauty.” He entered the room already dressed in shorts and a T-shirt. He let her sleep while he had taken a quick shower, smiling and whistling like a love-struck kid the whole time. After getting dressed, he rushed downstairs to make her an omelet breakfast and coffee.

  When he entered the room with a tray, he paused to appreciate her. She yawned and stretched, the sheet spilling off, giving him a nice view and a bigger smile. The sun splashed a golden hue over her pale skin, begging to be kissed. He wanted to throw the tray down and throw himself on top of her. Instead, he cleared his throat. “Hungry?”

  She sat up with a shy smile that crippled him. “Oh, you didn’t have to do that, but thank you.” Her hair almost covered her breasts. Almost.

  Sitting on the edge of the bed, he slipped a strawberry into her mouth, watching her suck on it before chewing, his eyes transfixed. Again, that shy smile.

  “I feel weird sitting here naked.” She took a drink of orange juice and then cut into the cheesy egg mess.

  He bent to retrieve her strewn clothes and placed them next to her on the bed. “Believe me, you don’t look weird. You look gorgeous.”

  “Why did you get dressed? Aren’t you still tired from last night’s case? I know I am.”

  He sat back on the edge and fed her another strawberry. “You did all the work. You should be tired. There’s nothing on the board, not even any referrals, so does tonight work for you to meet everyone?”

  She leaned over the tray and shared the fruit with him still in her mouth, bringing their lips together. Her kiss sent shivers through him. “I’d love to go.” She sat back, losing her shyness and smiling at his eyes sweeping down her body.

  His heart began its crescendo of fast beats, his breath hitching. “I’d really like to just keep you frozen like that and stay in bed all day.” He throbbed for her, an aching, painful throb that she could only relieve. Sorry, Scott, but she’s not yours anymore.

  She swiped her tongue over her juicy lips as her chest heaved in and out. “Get a condom.”

  He jumped up and grabbed one from his drawer, throwing the wrapper off and returning to her.

  After she moved the tray to the other side of the bed, she cupped his face and thrust her tongue into his mouth. His heart pounded as his body responded to her demand. She helped him remove his shirt and shorts, watching him roll on the sheath of protection. She pulled him down and crossed her ankles around his back to pull him in deep.

  His eyes closed at the shards that stabbed him, a mixture of pain and pleasure, every nerve alive and electrifying. He moved against her, his soul dancing with hers. He licked her parted lips, her tongue darting out to touch his, sending flames to his loins.

  Their synchronized movements heightened their sharp breaths and moans. He hated wearing a condom with her. He loved feeling her skin around him like last night. Hated the paper enemy, yet Mallory’s best friend for some reason.

  He picked up pace as her head sank into the pillow. Inside of her, he could feel a clenching of muscles absorbing him, detonating his control button and following her lead. He lifted himself up more so he could look at her in this breathless form of beauty, the sweat glistening off her skin, her hips bucking against his.

  “Lawson,” she whispered, looking into his eyes.

  He was gone. Completely gone. Never wanting to return. He fell to her and tucked his face into her throat, feeling her hands on his back, squeezing him, her knees bouncing against his sides to his hard and fast climax. “I wish I could feel you again,” he said in a husky voice against her throat.

  “So do I.”

  He arched his head back and let it go. He once read that this was what it felt like the moment you died. This blissed-out, no going back, world crashing down on you feeling. If that were true, then he just died. This was what it felt to make love. To have sex with someone you loved with every ounce. This was it.

  So many wasted years on meaningless sex. So many. He now knew he’d die next to her, be buried next to Mallory McShane, have children and grandchildren, watch her get gray hair and wrinkles. There was nothing she could say that’d change that. No promise to another man. Nothing.

  She cradled him closer with her strong legs, kissing him, making him want her all over again. But it wouldn’t be happening. That was his last condom. Used on women he’d wished he’d never been with. The only thing they did was teach him what love wasn’t.

  Mallory rolled over on top of him and smiled, still connected to each other. She caressed his cheeks and jawline with gentleness, the same she gave her patients. “I like your stubble—very manly.”

  “I thought you didn’t like it,” he said, returning her grin.

  “I didn’t like to think of it tickling another female.” She ran her tongue over the coarse hairs.

  “I love that you were jealous.” He grabbed her face and swiped at her tongue with his, feeling himself grow inside her.

  “I don’t get jealous.” She sucked on his tongue. Then she wiggled herself against him, giving one hard push before falling off to her side.

  “Hey, where’d you go?”

  “That’s sort of useless now. I need a shower.” Throwing her legs off the bed, she sat up and grinned down at him over her velvety shoulder.

  Her back was so sexy, wanting to see the muscles in action from behind. He reached out and rubbed it, feeling himself get more excited. “Can I join you?” His voice sounded thick and hoarse.

  “I thought you were out of condoms.” She stood, her rounded behind sauntering away, driving him insane. Her hair long and messy—a vision he’d keep tucked away for lonely nights without her. But he had no plans of being without her…ever.

  “I am. I won’t need them for what I intend to do to you.” He jumped out of bed and chased her into the bathroom, making her laugh.

  ***

  When he drove up the lane to her house, she leaned over the console and grabbed his face. “You have no idea what you’re doing to me, Lawson Gallagher. You’re making things very hard for me.”

  “It can be easy if you let it. You can let go of your past and give me your future. Open your heart a crack for me.” He kissed her and waited for an answer. An answer that would probably not satisfy him. It wasn’t fair. She owned his heart, but hers wasn’t even for sale, and he wasn’t borrowing it. He wanted it whole or not at all.

  She smirked. “Maybe a crack. I can’t give more than that.”

  “It’s been ten years, Mallory. Ten. I’m an open book for you, but you…I have no idea how he died, what this promise is you made him. You don’t talk about your parents’ death. Do I mean that little to you?”

  She shook her head, her eyes misting over. “No, no. You just don’t understand.”

  “Then help me understand.”

  “I didn’t plan on falling in love with anyone much less you. I’m supposed to be on a path that has no room for another man.” She blotted her eyes and looked through the windshield, at her empty house.

  He turned her face toward him. “Are you in love with me, Mallory?”

  Shrugging, she gave a small smile. “Don’t make me admit to things I’m not re
ady for. If you care for me, then you won’t.”

  He slapped the steering wheel. “Dammit, McShane! I more than care for you…”

  “Don’t say it—not again. I can’t handle that right now. I’ll go in and get prettied up for your family and call when I’m ready.”

  “You don’t have to do much. You already took a shower.” He touched her damp hair. “Just change and leave the underwear at home.” He grinned, knowing that’d get her to smile.

  “Plan on showing me your old room?”

  “Nah. You’re too special for that.”

  “Why, have notches on your bed post?”

  “Invisible ones, yes.” He kissed her forehead and rubbed her cheek.

  She glanced to the back. “You hear that, Sadie? Your master here was a naughty boy.”

  Sadie barked and stuck her nose back out of the window.

  He laughed, shaking his head.

  Mallory raised her hands. “See, she even agrees.”

  “Reminds me. I’m stopping at the drugstore on the way back here.”

  She chuckled. “Smart man.” She jumped out of the truck.

  He watched her strut in that cocky way only Mallory McShane could pull off. All the male coordinators couldn’t deny she had a sexy, confident, eat-your-heart-out way about her. The women wished they could have it.

  The way her hips sashayed, her head held high, and it all told a truth of who she was. It showed in the way she made love. She owned everything she did, every action, every word. She owned every imperfection in her little body, every scar and bruise that carried a story behind it.

  And he had planned to find out every single thing about her. He was now in it to win it, and she’d be telling him she loved him before she knew it. He’d fight for her love.

  As he drove off her property, he laughed to himself. She was right. He was whipped. His body stiffened at the memory of their shower. And never knew a woman to taste so sweet. It took the right one to make him a believer. She tasted of honeysuckle and blueberries, a lotion she said she used all the time and everywhere.

  His mouth watered at the thought, like Pavlov’s Dog, except there was no bell, only his dirty mind. And her scent still lingered in his skin. He shifted in his seat, adjusting himself and clearing his throat. He’d just left her, but he wanted to turn around and see her again. Couldn’t get enough. Even just to hear her laughter, feel her hands in his hair, see that shy smile that crippled him every time.

  After speaking to his father, who seemed surprised and happy for his son, he talked to his sister, Julia. She had her own problems, but she was happy for him and couldn’t wait to meet Mallory.

  It was days like these that he wished his mother were here, but she wasn’t. He was good with that. What choice did he have? It was his destiny not to have a mother. Becky tried to be one to him growing up, but she’d never replace her. Nothing compared to the love of a real mother, not to him, anyway. Even at his age, he’d like to have her around.

  Before he forgot, he pulled into a Walgreens parking lot and ran inside with plans to buy a whole shelf’s worth of condoms. The poor girl would be exhausted by the time he was through, which would be never.

  To hell with rules and promises. She belonged to him.

  Chapter Twelve

  As they drove through the gated community, cornstalks surrounded them, lining the edge of the ditches on both sides of the roads, leading to the affluent homes. A grand golf club curved to the right, something she never took up. Her father always said it was a rich man’s sport. Some of the newer mansions were built with floor-to-ceiling windows, unheard of back when the town was devastated by an F5 in August all those years ago.

  A shiver ran through Mallory as she remembered it on the news and driving through the streets with her parents, trying to help anyone who needed it. She was only nine at the time, but she had given another little girl her doll because she couldn’t find hers. That was her favorite doll, and her father bought her another one and told her how proud he was of her.

  She also remembered an American flag laid out over a destroyed home.

  His deep voice cut her thoughts. “What’s going on in that beautiful head of yours?”

  “Just remembering the tornado back in 1990.”

  He shook his head. “That was some storm. Our house barely made it.”

  “You had to be what…fourteen?” She held his rough hand in hers, dried up from the excessive soap they used to scrub down with.

  “Yep. Was at my girlfriend’s house trying to get lucky when the sky turned green.”

  “Always trying to get lucky.” She didn’t think it was possible to be jealous of a fourteen-year-old girl, but she was. The girl would be his age now, hopefully married. To think of anyone with Lawson ticked her off. Her skin singed with heat. And to think she almost gave him to Cora.

  He squeezed her hand. “Just practicing for the right one…you.”

  She smiled and looked at the homes in awe. “Crazy that these homes are built like that…covered in windows.”

  “Yeah, but not my dad’s house. We have an older brick home that only lost some of the roof, some shutters, and part of the chimney. Got lucky.”

  “Was everyone okay?”

  He turned down a side street, guided by the sporadic lamp posts on the frontage roads. A red fox jumped out and then continued to cross. “Yep. My father was at his practice, my step-mother was at a neighbor’s, and my sister was still at ballet class.”

  “Did you have to protect your girlfriend? Was she in your arms, asking her to save you?” She grinned, but she really needed to know.

  “Uh, I don’t remember.”

  “Yeah, right. Playing it safe.”

  “She was scared, but so was I. I was a kid, too. Her parents gathered us in the basement, but I remember just wanting to go home and be with my family. Happy now?”

  “Yes, actually.” She kissed his hand.

  “Good. Okay, here we are.”

  “So, your father is a doctor?” She unbuckled her belt.

  “Yeah. Cardiologist. Kind of full of himself, but he’s all right.”

  “Well, that makes sense then.”

  “What does?”

  “You.”

  “Oh, I’m not like that at all.”

  “What? Are you serious? Everyone calls you a cocky bastard.”

  “Everyone or you?” He turned off the ignition.

  “Anyway, you’re a pretty confident guy.”

  He grinned. “Says Miss Cocky Pants herself.”

  She laughed. “I guess we’re perfect for each other.”

  He leaned in and pressed his lips against hers, causing the butterflies in her stomach to flap around like bats. His vanilla scent shot through her senses, his minty breath cooling her mouth, turning her insides into Niagara Falls.

  “I’ve been trying to tell you that, McShane.”

  She tilted her head with a smirk. “Let’s just go.”

  As they strolled up the walkway sprinkled with lights, he grabbed her hand and swung it, twirling her around and making her laugh. This was not the man she thought she knew. Not the serious, cocky…well, maybe still a little cocky, but she liked that. She also liked the way he stared into her eyes at times with such an intensity, but it also scared her. It sent a message to her she wasn’t ready to accept.

  “Ready?” he asked, before opening the glass door toppled by more windows.

  She lowered her eyes to his after taking in the beauty of the home. “Yep.”

  The airy foyer laid out in oak floors and a sweeping staircase trimmed in white woodwork welcomed them. Friendly voices could be heard echoing from another room. They held hands as they entered a posh Great Room all in white, where his family had gathered around a brick fireplace.

  A man with silver hair and electric blue eyes matching his son’s stood. “There he is. And with a beautiful woman. You must be Mallory.” He extended his well-manicured hand.

  Lawson gave a wry gr
in. “Don’t maul her, Dad.” He winked, shaking his father’s hand. “Mallory this is my father, Rob, and his wife, Becky, the best step-mother anyone could ask for.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek as she brought her hand up to his face and smiled before turning to Mallory.

  She shook both their hands. “So nice to meet you.”

  Becky, an elegant blonde woman, gave her a smile that reminded her of afterschool baked cookies, and grabbed her hands with both of hers. “And it’s so very nice to meet you, Mallory. I’d have to say this is not Lawson’s usual thing.” She leaned in and kissed her cheek, smelling like Lilacs. “Welcome to our crazy home.”

  A woman’s voice echoed behind her. “Who’re you calling crazy?”

  Lawson turned and lifted the woman off the floor. The same woman in the picture. “And this is my baby sister, Julia.”

  A blush coursed through Mallory’s skin as she realized what an idiot she was. “Pleased to meet you, Julia.” She took her offered hand into hers, feeling a bond with this woman with the azure eyes and warm smile.

  As she finished shaking Julia’s hand, a tall, thin man with kind brown eyes the color of acorns, stepped closer. “I’m Craig, Julia’s husband. You must be something special for Lawson to bring around.” He fist-pumped Lawson, making Julia roll her eyes and laugh.

  Mallory gave a nervous laugh, glancing at Lawson who winked. She wasn’t used to being in a social spotlight, only in the OR where she could hide behind a mask. Here, she was naked for all to see.

  Becky clapped her hands once. “Let’s eat.”

  When Mallory began to follow, Julia whispered in her ear,” Craig’s right. You must be pretty special if you knew my brother’s MO.” She grinned, rubbing Mallory’s arm.

  Lawson pulled out her chair and she sat, placing her napkin onto her lap. “Thank you.” She smiled and felt hot, noticing everyone watching them. Pushing her hair to the back to cool her neck off, she was glad she wore it down. She knew how much he liked it that way, and he was staring at her again…the stare that melted her insides, made her feel like a woman in all the right places.