His hands tightened on her hips before he walked toward the stairs.
“Too far.” Those two words were a snarl of feral need.
He set her on a step and came over her, kissing her again while delving under her sleepshirt and giving her panties an urgent tug. Seconds later they were wrapped around her ankles. Rex let go long enough to pull a package from his pocket and pull his pants down. He rolled on his protection, braced his hands on the step her shoulders lay against. He looked at her, studied her a second as if asking permission. She nodded, and without hesitation he pushed into her.
She accepted all of him. Something horrible must have happened, because the caring man who had been so tender a few days earlier was gone. In his place was this frantic, wild man who had come to her for solace. The wonder of his transformation amazed and gratified her with a profoundness that made her steady herself against his forearms and accept his strong thrusts readily. She would be sore in the morning but that didn’t matter. Rex needed her, and she wanted him.
With one final plunge, he shook and grunted his release. He came down on top of her, his head resting on her breast and sighed. “Tiff.”
She wrapped her arms around him and held him tight. “I’m right here. It’ll be all right.”
Tiffani was slowly rubbing circles on his back when he shifted off her. Rex now seemed embarrassed or ashamed, or perhaps both. She felt honored he’d chosen her to smooth away his pain. The self-assured surgeon had been vulnerable, and had come to her for acceptance.
He searched her face. She let her concern for him, for his wellbeing, shine through her eyes as she met his. Standing, he pulled up his pants. She wanted to say something but nothing appropriate came to mind. Rex offered her his hand and she took it. He helped her to her feet. Tiffani wobbled for a second and he put a hand on her elbow. Her panties remained hooked on one foot.
He went down on his knees and stretched the tiny piece of hot pink material. “Step in.” She did as he asked. With careful, gentle movements, he pulled them up and into place. That was almost as erotic as what had just happened.
“Please, forgive me. There is no excuse for that kind of behavior.” He put his back to her as he stood. “I... I should go. I was wrong to come here. To take my bad day out on you.”
“Don’t.”
He looked at her. “I’m surprised you’re not screaming at me. I barge in here, wouldn’t tell you why, and took you on the stairs? A few minutes ago I was only thinking of myself. That’s not how it should be between us.”
“I could tell you were hurting. You would never hurt me, remember? I believe that. I was glad I was here for you. I understand.” She paused and smiled. “And I liked it too.”
Her words were like a balm to Rex’s wounded heart.
This time she was the one who reached out a hand. He took it and she led him up the stairs.
He hadn’t planned to come to Tiffani’s. Somehow, he’d found himself speeding through the streets and had ended up here. If he hadn’t remembered the detail about the flower pot she kept beside her front door he might still be wandering the city. No, he would have called her. He’d needed Tiffani. She had made the devastated faces of the family of the boy he’d lost go away for a few minutes.
“The bathroom is in there.” She pointed to a door off her room. “Go have a hot shower. Have you eaten anything?”
“Not since noon.” He sounded tired even to himself.
“Then while you’re getting a shower, I’ll fix you something to eat.” She headed for the door.
Some of the shame Rex felt eased. She should have put him out on his tail for the way he had behaved, but instead she had shown him concern.
* * *
Half an hour later, Rex went down her stairs wearing only his scrub pants. A soft humming told him in what direction to go to find Tiffani. She had her back to him as he stood in the doorway of the kitchen, watching the gentle movements of her hips as she worked at the counter.
This was a sight he could get used to. A sight he could look forward to coming home to.
“Hey.”
She smiled over her shoulder.
“Thanks for the shower. I didn’t leave any hot water.”
“You weren’t supposed to.” She picked up a plate and put it on the table in front of the chair closest to him. On it was a ham sandwich, some apple slices and chips.
“Not a gourmet meal like you can fix but the best I can do this late at night. Tea will be ready in a minute.” She stepped to the stove. “Have a seat. Don’t wait for me.”
Rex pulled the chair out from the small white table and sat. “This looks good.”
The teapot whistled and Tiffani picked it up and poured water into the two mugs waiting on the counter. Each had a tea bag string hanging over the side. “My mother always said hot tea makes everything feel a little bit better.”
She sat a mug in front of him then gingerly took a chair at the end of the table. Placing her mug on the table as well, she sat and cradled it with both hands, as if warming them.
Guilt swamped him. He picked up half of the sandwich. Tiffani had actually cut it in half. He’d not had that done for him since he was a child. She had a way of making him feel cared for. She’d demonstrated that more than once while working at the clinic and had certainly shown him in the aftermath of his self-induced shame a short while ago. It had been a long time since he’d felt special to anyone. Her generosity tonight was more than he deserved. He took a bite of the sandwich. “This is good. Thank you.”
“Despite your gourmet cook status, I don’t think you take good enough care of yourself. You miss too many meals.”
“Now you sound like a doctor or a nagging wife.”
She sat straighter, looking indignant. “I’m neither, thank you.”
He liked the fire in her eyes. Finishing his sandwich and chips, Rex started on his apple slices, pausing for a sip of tea. The warmth did calm him somewhat.
Tiffani twisted the handle of her mug one way then the other before she said, “Will you tell me what happened to upset you?”
Rex stopped crunching his apple. After the way he had acted he owed her some explanation. His gaze met hers. Everything about hers said she wouldn’t accept silence. “I’m sorry about tonight. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“I’m glad I was here for you,” she answered in a soft voice. “Please, tell me why I needed to be.”
It took all that was in him to show his weakness but she deserved to know what had driven him to come to her. “I lost a teenager tonight. I hate telling parents their child is gone. There was nothing I could do.”
She didn’t touch him, just said softly, “You and I know better than most that not everyone can be fixed. You even said that during the interview the other day.”
She was right.
“Yeah, but that doesn’t make it better, or any easier.”
“No, it doesn’t.” Reaching across the table, she gave his hand a squeeze. “Knowing how you feel, the malpractice case must have been especially tough on you.”
It had been. More than he’d let on to himself, and nothing he would show the world. It had caused doubt to creep in. Made him second-guess, analyze every decision he made in a case. He went over and over them in his head, looking for something he could have done differently.
Tiffani continued, “I didn’t read much about the case on purpose. I didn’t want to judge you any more than I already had. You were the center point of the campaign and I wanted to think forward, but I did hear some of the media reports.”
“They were neither flattering or accurate. Especially with the Royster family doing all the talking.” He pulled his hand from hers.
It might kill him to tell the story but he was going to anyway. After how he’d acted with Tiffani she deserved to know the monsters that chased him. “I don’
t know if it was the fates, the universe getting back at me or just the luck of the draw that my patient turned out to be Mr. Royster.”
Without saying anything, Tiffani’s look asked him to explain. He had her complete attention. She even stopped fiddling with her mug.
“Vic Royster used to be my father’s best friend when I was growing up. He was also the father of my girlfriend in high school.”
Tiffani pursed her lips and nodded. “I thought doctors avoided doing surgery on people they were friends with?”
“I had no idea it was him. I was called in. An emergency. I didn’t know the patient’s name until after I was out of surgery. He was already too far gone by the time I got to him. I couldn’t have done anything more than I did. But I did try.” Talking about that night started the sick feeling he remembered so well churning his guts once again. Would it ever go away?
“So why the lawsuit?”
He looked at her. “The problem was, my past came back to haunt me.”
Tiffani regarded him with expectation.
He was going to have to tell her about his dirty laundry as well. She shouldn’t have to hear it but it was part of his story. “When I was a kid I lived in a world of affluence. My family lived in the nicest neighborhood, had the best cars. Even traded each year for the newest model. I wore the best brands from the best stores in town. We were members of the most renowned country club. I attended the most prestigious private school. We were in the ‘in crowd.’”
“So that’s where the great manners came from,” Tiffani commented.
“That had a lot to do with it. I attend cotillion classes and there were dances all the time. At home, the social graces were required. It was important to always look and act correctly. My mother was very particular. To her, manners were a reflection of breeding. Appearance was everything.”
He took a sip of his now-cold tea. “I was a senior in high school when I found out that all my family lived on was nothing but a house of cards. I discovered that only when it collapsed. Big time. My father and mother had had us living a lie. They were living far beyond their means. We had been part of a lifestyle they couldn’t afford and it finally caught up with them. My dad had to file for bankruptcy. Gone were the house, the cars, the clothes and the friends. Do you have any idea how fast so-called friends can disappear when you embarrass them?”
Tiffani didn’t answer. Just looked at him with steady, almost unreadable eyes. Thankfully her gaze didn’t hold pity. If it had, he might have left.
Shaking his head and focusing on his tea mug, he forced himself to continue. “The country-club life was over. We moved across town to a three-bedroom apartment in an area our old friends wouldn’t even drive through. Mr. Royster wouldn’t take my father’s calls. My girlfriend, the one I foolishly hoped to marry, told me she couldn’t associate with a penniless person. She had to think about the repercussions of even being seen with me.”
Tiffani hissed in a manner that reminded him of the sound a mother might make when her child was in danger. Her knuckles were white from where she now gripped her mug.
“What we didn’t do was change schools. The year was already paid for. It would have been better if we had. Those last few months for me and my brother were horrible.
“I came out of the experience promising myself that I’d never put on the pretense of being more important than anyone else. I swore to myself I’d never use my job, my house, clothes or what I drive to create a façade of self-importance. I was going to be me and no one else.”
“So the long hair, jeans and calling you by your first name comes from that.” Tiffani was speaking more to herself as if she at last had found answers to her questions.
“Yep, what you see is what you get. Like it or not.”
“So how did you afford to go to medical school?”
He shrugged. “I had good grades. I was always good at math and got great experience working in the nursing home. I received some scholarships, took out some loans and worked like hell. I was determined not to give up my dreams because my parents had selfishly pretended to be different people without considering the consequences if the truth came out. I like knowing I earned what I had.” He sighed. “Anyway, Mr. Royster just showed up in my OR. When I had to go out and tell Mrs. Royster and her daughter, my old girlfriend, that he had passed away, I hadn’t seen them in over fifteen years. Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t a happy reunion.”
“I can only imagine.”
“They couldn’t accept his death was natural. Couldn’t accept he’d not been taking good care of himself or that he should have seen a doctor sooner. They blamed me for his death. They had the money and status to bring the lawsuit. At one point, they even accused me of letting Mr. Royster die on purpose because I wanted revenge for how he’d turned his back on my family when I was a kid. I think that will hurt more than anything for a very long time. These were people who had known me for a significant portion of my life and yet they actually thought I was low enough to let him die out of revenge.”
Rex shook his head. He was almost done. “With the lawsuit involving both me and the hospital, I wasn’t able to say anything. I was told to keep my mouth shut. But the Roysters could say anything they wanted, and took every opportunity to do so. Even airing my own mother and father’s bankruptcy and fall from high social grace all those years ago.”
“Oh, no,” Tiffani said.
“I didn’t agree with what my parents did but I certainly didn’t want to see them dragged through the mud because of me.”
“I’m sorry all of that happened to you.” He hated the sad look that now filled her eyes.
“Yeah, but it’s over and done now. I’ve moved on.”
She gave him a dubious look but didn’t question him further, for which he was grateful.
* * *
Tiffani’s heart hurt for him. He’d suffered. In her opinion, he still was, but he couldn’t see that about himself. She stood and went behind him. Putting her arm around his neck, she put her hands over his heart. It beat strong and hard, just like he was. He was a survivor who could still give to others. She pushed back his hair and kissed his temple. “You know, you’re the biggest-hearted person I know. I love you because you care.” She realized what she’d said too late. “Uh, you know what I mean.”
Rex clasped her hands just as she started to withdraw. “I know what you mean,” he said, sounding profoundly grateful. “Thank you for being here for me. Listening.” He turned in his chair and pulled her down to sit in his lap.
Her arm went around his shoulders and she kissed him.
Sometime later he whispered against her ear, “I know I probably don’t deserve it, but I’d like to stay tonight if you’ll let me.”
Tiffani stood. Taking his hand, she led him toward the stairs. “Come on. You need your rest.”
* * *
The sun was high in the sky when she awoke. Rex’s head rested on her shoulder. When they had come to bed he’d just held her. It had been as if he’d needed to feel someone was there for him. She was glad he had picked her.
Although she needed to call work, she wasn’t willing to take the chance she might wake Rex to do so. Running her hand over his hair, she marveled that he lay in her arms. Rex was fast becoming important to her. Too much so. Forever with him was easy to imagine. If it was only that simple. Their lives were here and now, only for the moment. They had no real tomorrows, were on two different paths.
She’d had such a negative view of doctors all her life. Rex had learned to mistrust people. Her job was to make people look better. He despised any pretense. She was buttoned up and he was let your hair down. She was leaving and he was staying. It was impossible. All she could do was enjoy this all-too-brief interlude.
The fingertips of his hand skimmed across the skin of her waist. Her pulse quickened. Rex was waking up. He rolled over and kissed
the top of one breast before looking up at her to murmur, “Softest pillow I’ve ever had.”
“I need to call work. I’m late.” Tiffani moved to untangle herself from him.
“Don’t go in today. Let’s do something fun. Laugh.” He gave her an imploring look as his fingers brushed over her skin.
“I can’t, I have to work.” Tiffani hated telling him no.
“You can call it a day of work. I’ll let you take pictures. I’ll even help an old lady across the street so you’ll have something for social media.” He grinned, the one that could get her to do almost anything.
She returned it. “You’re a funny man so early in the morning.”
“Come on, Tiff, live on the wild side a little bit.” He was serious.
This was another area where they were so different. He didn’t take his life too seriously. Knew how to laugh at himself. Enjoy living. “Okay, funny man. What do you think we ought to do?”
He sat up and looked at her with a twinkle in his eye. “How about a visit to Elvis’s house? Ever been there?”
“Yes, but it’s been a long time.” This was the last suggestion she would have expected from him.
“Then Graceland here we come.” He popped out of bed. “Shower, my place for a change of clothes and breakfast, then we’re on our way.”
Tiffani couldn’t help but laugh. He was a completely different person from the one who had shown up on her doorstep the night before. She liked both sides of Rex. The tough, hardened one and the one who reminded her of a kid looking in a toy store window.
Pulling on her hand, he gave her a wolfish grin and raised his brows up and down. “Let’s share the shower. Save time.”
Twenty minutes later Tiffani stepped out on shaky knees from the most satisfying shower she had ever taken. Rex had sent her to the summit of ecstasy before he’d carefully bathed her then wrapped her in a towel. She was still floating on pleasure when she followed him in her car to his place.
“Let me get on something besides these day-old scrubs and I’ll fix us something to eat.” Rex was gone before she could answer.
Redeeming the Rebel Doc Page 13