by Lexi Blake
He stepped into the shower. “You know you did good today.”
Her eyes came open and she glanced his way. “I hope so. I don’t know. The truth is she could be right back in his home in a couple of weeks. I’ve seen it before. I’ve seen it all, the same women coming through time and time again and having the very men who put them in the ER pick them up. It was different in the ER. I didn’t get to know anyone. I wasn’t completely responsible, if you know what I mean.”
He stepped in behind her and picked up the soap, building up a rich lather in his hands. “I know exactly what you mean. I used to be responsible for any number of cases. But it was easy to distance in the city. I know every one of these people. Maybe not as well as I should, as today proved, but I know them. They’re not names on a file I can’t quite recall. They’re the people I grew up around. Carrie’s mom was friends with mine. They used to bring by a tray of Christmas cookies every year. She was younger than I was, but I can remember her standing next to her momma and delivering treats. How did I not see she was hurting?”
He put his hands on her shoulders and started to wash her skin. She sighed and let her head drop forward. “That’s not your job. It’s mine. You can’t do a thing if she won’t talk to you. You can’t force her to tell you the truth. From what I can tell they purposefully isolated her.”
“Well, I’m going to check on the people who live on those islands more often,” he promised. “I’ll try to make it so it’s a friendly thing, but I need to make sure nothing’s going on out there.”
“When you do, can you tell them Doc retired? I’m so tired of explaining I’m not his new nurse.” Her muscles started to relax. “I kind of hate that man. He was lazy. That feels so good.”
He pulled her back against him and loved the way she relaxed as though she trusted him not to let her fall. He moved his hands up to her breasts, cupping them and feeling the way her nipples pebbled against his hand. “I have you right where I want you now, chérie. Away from all the stress of work. I think every time you get too caught up in all the drama that town can make, we’ll come up here and eat and drink and I’ll take you back to some elegant hotel room and I’ll do this. I’ll get my hands on you and I won’t take them off until you’ve screamed my name three or four times.”
“I would never,” she said with a husky chuckle. “I’m a lady, Sheriff.”
“You’re my lady.” Desire thrummed through his system and he realized what he’d forgotten. Damn it. “Lila, baby, I’m going to need to run back downstairs.”
Or he could call downstairs and have someone bring up condoms. Surely they had condoms.
She turned and her head tilted up. Her hands went to his pecs and she ran them up to his shoulders. “Armie, I was joking about the STI tests. I know you had a full physical three months ago. It included a blood panel and testing for just about everything. By the way, we’re going to talk about your cholesterol soon. Have you had any unprotected sex since then?”
“The only person I’ve been with in years is you. My player days were over long ago.” Was she saying what he thought she was saying?
“Like I told you, I’m on the pill and I haven’t had sex with anyone but you for over a year. So don’t make some poor bellman run out and get you condoms. Make love to me, Armie.”
He didn’t need to be asked twice. He covered her mouth with his and let himself go.
* * *
• • •
Lila knew she should have gone back to the clinic, but when he offered to take her to dinner, she’d wanted her time with him. She’d wanted to be alone with him.
How was she in so deep with this man in so little time? He wasn’t at all the partner she’d envisioned for herself. She’d thought she needed someone successful, highly educated, motivated.
Turned out, kind and sexy and focused on her trumped all the other stuff. Armie LaVigne was a man who knew how to love, and whoever he ended up with would be one lucky woman.
Why shouldn’t that woman be her?
He kissed her like he needed her. His hands slid down her spine to cup her backside.
He was having an effect on her she hadn’t expected. She’d thought maybe she could enjoy a physical relationship with him, but it was going deeper. So much deeper. She liked him, liked his daughter, loved feeling in some small way like they were starting to become a family. It was dangerous, but she couldn’t stop herself. She couldn’t make smart decisions about this man.
He was addictive. She softened and let his tongue invade her mouth, sliding against hers and causing a fresh rush of arousal to make her head spin. She ran her hands over the strong muscles of his back and enjoyed the sensation of being caught between his warm male form and the heat of the shower. Sometimes the world seemed so cold, but she was safe here.
Maybe that’s what she was truly getting addicted to—feeling safe. Oh, she knew the world wasn’t safe. That damn accident and what had happened with Carrie reinforced what she already knew, but there was a place that was safe. This place she’d found with Armie.
“Tu me rends fou, mon ange.” The words were whispered over her skin as he kissed his way down her throat.
“I want you to teach me. I want to learn how to speak French.” It might help with some of her patients. Some of them spoke a combination of French and English and pure Cajun that she couldn’t completely understand.
His head came up and his lips split in the sexiest grin. “I can teach you. Repeat after me. Armie est le meilleur amant du monde.”
She knew a trap when she heard one. “Am I saying something about you being the sexiest man?”
He shook his head. “The best lover.”
She could learn those words because they were true. She went on her toes and lightly kissed his lips. “Armie est le mellar amour da mande.”
He grinned. “I have no idea what you said, but I love the way you say it.” One hand came back up to find the nape of her neck. “Let’s go slow. Repeat this. Armand est mon homme.”
“Armand est mon homme.”
“I’m your man, chérie. It’s all I want to be.”
“You’re my man.” They weren’t words she’d thought she would ever say. They were words meant for romance novels, not ones she would claim for her own. Now she realized it was because she’d viewed them in the wrong way. Armie wasn’t saying he owned her or she owned him. Those words were a declaration of intent, the intent to try, to be together, to support each other. He was telling her she could count on him. “I’m your woman.”
“Tu es ma femme,” he agreed and took her mouth again.
Then there was no more talking. There were his hands and his mouth and his body against hers. There was communication, communion through kisses and caresses and the way his big body shuddered when she touched him.
She explored him. Somehow it always felt like discovery when she touched Armie. He let her explore. Her hands skimmed over his torso and down to his strong legs. He’d been so giving with her in bed, but they’d forgotten a few things. She’d been so wrapped up in his dominance in bed that she’d forgotten how much fun it could be to give back.
She dropped to her knees, the warmth of the shower at her back.
“Tu vas me tuer, mon amour,” he said, his eyes hotter than the shower.
She didn’t need any translation for that one. She’d rarely done this. Sex hadn’t been an indulgence. It had been a bodily function, a thing to enjoy and forget and get back to work or sleep after. Now she wanted to revel in it. She wanted to try all the things that had seemed unimportant before. She reached out and stroked him, loving the feel of him in her hand. The skin was soft but he was hard, wanting.
“That’s what I need, chérie. I need you to touch me everywhere.” His head was down, watching her as she played with him. His hands came down to toy with her hair and she knew it wouldn’t be long before he’d fisted them there
and he took control.
She was all right with that. He’d never led her the wrong way, but she was going to enjoy these few moments where she was in charge. She leaned over and licked the head of his cock. It tried to leap in her hand, but she held him firmly. She stroked him again and gave him another teasing kiss.
“You’re going to pay me back, aren’t you?”
She simply smiled up at him. The man could spend hours playing with her. She’d never had any lover lavish his affection on her the way Armie did. She needed to give the same back to him, to let him know exactly how much she enjoyed him.
And she did. Every moan and hiss that came from his mouth let her know how much she was affecting him. Those hands in her hair tightened, the way she knew they would, and she chuckled.
“I love the way you laugh. I love it even more when I can feel it on my cock,” Armie said, his voice deepening along with his accent. When he was deeply aroused, his Cajun came out more strongly than it did in his everyday life, as though when he was with her in the most primal, intimate sense, he became more of himself. Like she got a part of Armie no one else did.
He was the only man who regularly made her laugh. If she was getting some secret part of Armie, he was getting a piece of her she hadn’t known existed. With him, she was discovering that she wasn’t so afraid anymore. She could relax. The man and this place were definitely having an effect on her.
“Take more,” he demanded gruffly, his hands gently clutching her hair.
She even liked the slight sting of him tugging against her scalp. It sent mini shock waves through her.
She softened her jaw and sucked him, whirling her tongue around and around. Humming around him, she stroked him with one hand as she moved up and down.
He tugged on her hair, pulling her off. “I can’t. I need to get inside you. I missed you all day.”
His hand came out and she took it, allowing him to help her to her feet. Her whole body pulsed with desire, as though she could feel her blood pounding through her system. He pulled her in close and suddenly her back was against the stone of the shower wall.
“J’ai besoin de toi,” he said, lifting her up. “Put your legs around me. I need to be with you.”
She needed it, too. She needed to feel that connection to him. It was visceral and real and undeniable when he was making love to her. She locked her legs around his waist as he stroked into her. The orgasm struck and she called out his name. She clung to him, giving up all control and riding the magnificent wave.
His body stiffened as he came, bucking into her.
She held on to him, sweet languor invading her veins, and wished the moment never had to end.
* * *
• • •
Hours later, Armie laid back and took a contented breath. Lila shifted and put her head on his chest. The second go around had been every bit as good as the first. His body was sated, his soul content. This was how he’d ended the last few nights, and he wasn’t sure he could go back to sleeping alone. Still, he didn’t want to push her.
“Did you talk to Roxie?” The question was asked in a quiet voice, but it managed to shake his peace.
He didn’t want to talk about this, but he knew she would worry. “Bobby’s in jail. He won’t have a chance to get out until tomorrow when the judge is in court again. But you have to know he’s going to post bail.”
“I know. I’ve seen it happen before. I know how a man like that can work the system.”
“Are you all right?” He looked down at her, taking in the curve of her cheek and soft fall of her hair. “It had to be hard for you to do that today. You had to be thinking about your friend.”
She was thoughtful for a moment. “I’m in a position I can’t get out of. As long as I work in the medical field, I’m always going to be here. I’m always going to have to make the call whether I involve you in a patient’s life, and the minute I involve you one of two things is going to happen. I guess three, really.”
He knew exactly what those things were. “She gets away. He gets her. Or she goes back to him and he still gets her. He might not kill her, but her life won’t be what it could have been. She won’t have the opportunities she should have. She’ll live in fear. You will always have to make that decision, but I want you to know that I will always back you up. I have to follow the law, but I’ll do everything I can to help you.”
Her arm wound around his waist. “Thank you. That makes it easier. Cops in the city, they care, but they don’t have the time to follow up more than once. There are too many people they have to deal with. You and I could make a difference if we tried. If I can get people to trust me.”
He smoothed a hand down her back. “They will. It takes time, but you can make a huge difference here. I know that things change fast in the outside world, but we’re isolated, and it’s worse in the outlying areas of the parish. Seeing a woman running that clinic might teach our girls there’s something more out there than marriage.”
She sat up, not bothering with pulling the sheet with her. Her breasts were bare, her hair around her shoulders. She looked like a woman who’d been well loved. She also looked like a woman who wasn’t sure what to say next. Lila bit her bottom lip and stared down at him.
“Whatever you’re going to say, say it.” Was this when she told him she’d figured out she needed the city?
“Did you know Noelle scored crazy high on her PSATs?”
He relaxed back. “Hell, yeah. She had great scores. I have no idea where she got her smarts. Let me tell you, her mother and I weren’t that great in school. Noelle was definitely the best thing we ever did.”
It didn’t hurt so much to think about Monica now. She was a fond memory tempered by wistful regret that she wasn’t still here. The accident hadn’t been her fault. She’d been a good mom to Noelle. She simply hadn’t enjoyed being a cop’s wife, and she definitely hadn’t wanted to live in Papillon.
“You know how incredible that is? She’s got a lot of options, Armie.”
But she didn’t, and already the conversation was making him uncomfortable. He hated the fact that his daughter wouldn’t have the same opportunities other kids would have, but he’d dealt with it a long time ago. He made the best of things. “Yes, online schools can do amazing things these days. Did she talk to you about her tests?”
“Not exactly.” She took a deep breath before proceeding. “She threw away a letter from her counselor. I found an envelope half in and half out of my trash can. I didn’t remember putting it there. I opened it to make sure it wasn’t something I needed to keep. The counselor is encouraging her to apply to several well-known and respected colleges. Not online schools. UT Austin sent her information on how to apply.”
His daughter in Austin? No way. Still, he was surprised Noelle hadn’t mentioned the counselor’s letter. Or maybe he wasn’t. How must it feel to know she would be accepted and not be able to go? “Noelle knows what she’s doing.”
“See, I don’t think she does. She’s sixteen. And I’ll be honest, I don’t think the PT the doctor prescribed for her is enough. He’s basically got her going in so her muscles don’t atrophy. I think he should have done everything he could to see how mobile she can be. He didn’t do a lot of testing.”
“He knew how mobile she could be.” Which was not much at all. He’d been sick when he’d realized there was nothing he could do to help his daughter.
“I don’t think so.”
He sat up because it looked like their sweet time together was over. “Why don’t you think so?”
“Because of where her injury is,” Lila explained. “It’s very low on her spine and it’s incomplete. She has some feeling. I’ve even seen her move her hips a bit. I think with time and patience, she could potentially walk with braces.”
“That’s not what the doctor said.”
“It is what the speci
alist said.”
He’d been over this a thousand times. “The specialist we saw said it was very unlikely.”
“He said without proper PT she wouldn’t be able to do it,” she argued.
He shook his head. “He told us it would be difficult and painful and likely wouldn’t help.”
“And what did your second opinion doctor say? Armie, I know this makes you uncomfortable, but it’s important. I looked into the specialist Dr. Hamet sent you to. He was an old friend. Old being the operative word, and he worked in a small hospital.”
“Are you saying we don’t have good doctors?” He should have known she would come up with that argument.
“I’m saying there’s a reason for the old phrase ‘Hire an old lawyer and a young doctor.’ Younger doctors keep up with new research. I’m not saying older doctors can’t be great, but if this specialist was anything like Dr. Hamet, he thought the old ways were best. I’m shocked at some of the meds Hamet still has people on. There are better medications out there now with less side effects. He has no protocols for talking about nutrition and how it can affect diabetics. He simply gave them meds and told them to deal with it. I think that’s what happened with Noelle. He took the lazy way out.”
The old guilt was rising inside him, and he definitely didn’t like the word lazy. “I did everything they told me to do. Noelle didn’t like physical therapy. It hurt and it wasn’t going to work anyway. Do you know what it’s like to watch your child in pain? It’s not like she’s skipping therapy. She works out. She has good upper-body strength.”
“And that’s great, but I think I’m going to prescribe some new therapies for her. There’s a lot more we can do to help her now.”
He sighed, wanting to end this conversation. She was the expert here. If she thought she could help, he wasn’t going to stop her. “All right. I think we’re willing to try, but I don’t want to give her false hope.”
“If you were in her place, wouldn’t you rather try and fail than not try at all?”