“That’s not true,” she chided, tucking up a stray hair into her bundled doo.
“Love you both, and appreciate what you’re trying to tell me in your not so discreet way, but I have a business that’s still growing and I—” He could come up with a million excuses and had in the past, but he didn’t have one now. His gaze jumped to his dad. “I don’t mope.”
His father rolled his eyes, and he brushed the few hairs left on the top of his head. “Okay,” he said.
“I don’t.” Did he? He knew the days went incredibly slow even though he worked with his dad puttering around the trailer until Twila’s appointments were done.
“Drake,” Twila stuck her head out the door. “Mrs. Duncan is not doing so well.”
His mother spun around. “What’s the matter?”
“She’s taken her pill, but her heart is racing. Her angina is giving her trouble. Drake, I’m going to take her to see Dr. Aikens, would you mind giving me a hand?”
“Sure, sweetheart. Gotta go, folks.”
* * * *
The population in the area swayed the scales with mostly over sixty. Like the accident lawyers that boasted “I’ll help you get what you deserve” on the billboards lining US Number One, just as many doctors were willing to empty the healthcare piggybank treating the elderly.
“I love this car, dear,” Mrs. Duncan said as they drove down the highway in Lindy. She’d refused to let them put the top up, saying there weren’t many years left to feel the wind in her hair.
Twila let Drake drive while she sat in the back seat with Mrs. Duncan. “How is your heart? Does it feel like it’s getting worse?”
“No dear, just that horrible racing, then stopping then racing again. I hate it.”
“You’re sure you took your medication today?”
“Quite. I put it out every night, so I remember to take it first thing in the morning.”
“Okay, we’ll be there shortly. Just try to keep calm.”
“You tell me this driving in a hot car and that hunk of a man in the front?” Her old eyes glistened even under the circumstances. She leaned into her shoulder. “He really does adore you, dear.”
Twila smiled at her. “For now.” That earned her a look in the rear-view mirror.
Drake came to a stop at the lights, and turned in his seat. “He does,” and reached around and squeezed her hand. “Not far to go, Mrs. Duncan, you hanging in there?”
“Yes, son. I’m not going to die in this lovely car.” She patted his hand with reassurance.
The light changed and within a couple minutes they arrived at the clinic. Twila called on the way and said it was a bit of an emergency.
They helped Mrs. Duncan into a room held open for their arrival.
Dr. Aikens popped from a back office and spotted them. “Hi, Twila.”
Dr. Aikens was in his mid-thirties. With a head of blond hair and an award winning smile, he wreaked of confidence. When Twila rose from the chair, he gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“Hi, Doc. I brought Mrs. Duncan in. She’s experiencing angina again. I didn’t think it was serious enough to take her to the hospital.”
Dr. Aikens blue eyes met hers and he nodded. “Michael, remember. I save Dr. Aikens for the patients.”
She grinned back at him. Michael was a healthy specimen of male standing six-foot-two, fit and not half-bad looking. He always wore a pair of jeans under his white coat as if showing he was a regular guy underneath the stethoscope. His attention veered to Drake, and then swerved back to her. “This is Drake Addison.”
Drake stood up and Michael shook his hand.
“Drake’s parents live in the park.”
“Just visiting?” Michael asked, his smile disappearing.
“My business is in the Keys.” Drake said, tersely.
“Nice down there. I thought about moving my practice, but there’s not a lot of beautiful young women who need my help. And there’s some patients I don’t want to lose.” Michael turned his attention back to her. “After I see Mrs. Duncan maybe we could have a talk.”
“About the senior’s assistance?”
Michael shot Drake another look. “Maybe it would be better at another time. I’ll call you, and we can meet.”
She nodded, surprised when Drake wrapped a possessive arm around her shoulder.
Twila held onto the prescription Michael had given her for Mrs. Duncan as Drake pulled into a shady parking spot at the pharmacy. There was one of those on every block if not two, vying for competition.
“Here.” Mrs. Duncan dug into her purse, a hand with a thin layer of skin, age spots and slight tremor, pulled out her medical card and some money. “It’s very expensive,” she said, handing her a twenty dollar bill.
“Mrs. Duncan, do you want me to put the top up?” Drake asked
“That would be nice, son,” she said, her voice much weaker than before.
“I’ll be right back.” She leaned over Drake and pointed. “The button for the roof is over there.” Normally, when she got within grabbing distance he didn’t waste a second in touching her, but he just nodded.
* * * *
“How long have you known—Michael?” Doc Aikens’ name spit from his mouth with a bitter taste.
Twila stared at him across the umbrella covered table as they waited for a seat in the restaurant. He’d stayed in the car while Twila settled Mrs. Duncan at home, and then he suggested a quick lunch. She refused him once, and he considered letting her get away with it, but he had questions, and he wasn’t the type of guy to wait for the answers.
“A year. He was Mom’s doctor.”
“When’s your date?” Drake held firmly onto the sleeve of his beer. The couple next to them took notice of his raised voice.
Twila put her attention on the tiled tabletop. “I don’t think it’s a date, he—”
“It’s a date,” he interrupted, getting more agitated by the second. “I was standing right there. The guys got balls, I’ll give him that.” He shook his head. “I mean I was right there, and he was coming on to you.”
“Drake, he wants to discuss my going into business with him.”
Great ploy on Doc Aikens’ behalf to get her close. As soon as the office closed for the day, the doc would be chasing his girl around an examination table. Fucking asshole. “You’d become his partner?” He took a quick swallow of beer, but it didn’t do a thing to squelch the fire in his gut.
“We discussed it before. He’d be willing to give me the extra space in his office to have a service care business. He thinks it would do well being part of his practice.”
If he gripped the glass any tighter it would shatter in his palm. “I’m sure he does.”
“You’re the one who told me I should start my business again.”
“Not with him,” he shot back. Twila didn’t do what a normal woman would and begin a lengthy debate. Instead she waited and watched him, making him shift in his seat. “It’s obvious he wants more than a business arrangement.” She still sat silently. Shit. “Don’t you think so?”
“Two for Addison,” the waitress said, sticking her head out the door.
“That’s right, two for Addison,” he said. No fucking doctor was going to be taking Twila on a date while he tried to disguise it with business.
Twila offered him an uncomfortable smile and rose.
Why the hell wasn’t she getting mad at him for being a jealous jerk? He could hear it. Feel it, but damned if he could stop it. The waitress picked up his glass and left them staring at each other. “Yell at me.”
“What?” Her forehead curled tight and she sat down again, staring up at him.
“Damn it, tell me I’m a fucking idiot.”
She propped her chin on her knuckles and eyed him. “Why would I do that?”
“Because I want to kick your doctor’s ass.” A bomb of a thought went off in his head. “Wait a minute.”
She stiffened, her eyes blinking.
“He’s no
t your doctor? I mean. You know what I mean.”
She cleared her throat and looked away nervously.
She jumped when his fist slammed the table. “No. No way. Are you kidding me?”
“Drake, please.” She looked around nervously and leaned in. “Everyone needs a doctor, especially women.”
“Fuck.” He hissed it out, but it was out. “Change…doctors.” All sorts of crazy shit went flying through his head, and he saw red, absolutely raging, raw red. “I don’t give a shit how many women he sees every day, but he’s not seeing mine anymore.”
Twila’s lips pressed together, squelching a burst of laughter.
“It’s not funny. No wonder the fucking guy wants you as a partner.”
She lost it and laughed, her head bobbing forward. “What are you talking about?”
His arm snaked across the table, and his thumb traced her cheek bone. “You probably have no idea, but you have the most beautiful, enticing sex I have ever seen on a woman. He wants it, because he’s seen it.”
She sputtered. “You’re crazy.”
He threaded his hand through her curls. “You’re right, I am. When it comes to you, I’ve turned into a caveman. I admit it. Please move your file to someone else. He’s not touching my girl anymore.”
Her eyes cloaked themselves in a sympathetic gaze. “I’m only your girl for another week.”
That stopped his rant. Her gaze fell to her hands, which he covered with his. “Look at me.” When she did, he saw her doubt clearly. “No, Twila. It’s not the same.” She actually thought she was his fuck buddy and nothing more, and it couldn’t be farther from the truth. She didn’t believe he loved her.
“We better get to our table or they’ll think we don’t want it.”
He darted out of his chair to cut her off. “Twila, our relationship does not hinge on sex. It never did.”
She didn’t argue. “I suspect not, considering your last girlfriend,” she said with her gaze glued to the ground.
“That’s not what I mean.” An uncomfortable pang soured his chest when she drew away from him.
“I know what you mean.”
“I don’t think you do.” He cast a look around to make sure other customers couldn’t hear him. “I desire you because I love you.”
“In a week you’ll be gone.”
The pain in his chest wrenched tighter. She clasped his hand, pulling him behind her.
He couldn’t argue with the truth.
Chapter Eighteen
He and Twila hovered over a table strewn with charts in the empty auditorium. “This,” he pointed, “is a compass rose and you’ll find one on every chart. It shows both true and magnetic north. North, East, South, and West are cardinal points. Northeast, Southeast, Northwest and Southwest are all intercardinal directions.”
“Why do I have to learn this?” she asked, staring down at the chart.
“Although what you see here is still represented on all the electronic equipment like the GPS and electronic charts, it could fail. Knowing how to read a chart is a smart backup.” He paused, seeing Twila drifting in thought vs listening to him. “I have to head home in a few days,” he said, watching for a response. Needing a response.
Twila’s chin rested on a curled fist. Her maple syrup gaze turned up to him. “I know.”
His forehead wrinkled with concern because she didn’t seem to have any. Twila was too accepting, and if he walked away without a promise, she wouldn’t argue or rant. Over the last four weeks he’d witnessed her patience with the retirees and not all were kind. Some were downright nasty, but she took it in stride and never took it personally. Twila was exactly what she showed the world, patient, caring and beautiful. At twenty-nine, she had a promising future, both of them in the prime of their lives, but Twila was giving her life away instead of living it.
“Sweetheart, I’m going to be incredibly busy for the next few months. The boats take a hundred and fifty percent of my time.” He sat in the chair next to her and tugged on her hand. She straddled his lap and immediately rested her chin on his shoulder. “Come visit me.”
“If you’re busy, I won’t be seeing much of you now will I, and I can’t leave the park.”
“Yes, you can. It would do some of the residents good to figure out how much they depend on you, and maybe Mr. Dexter would clue in and be a little nicer to you instead of barking orders from his patio.”
“He’s ex-army. He can’t help it,” she said, offering him a smile and turning his insides to liquid.
He’d gone from a guy who never thought twice about leaving a warm woman in her bed sheets to a love sick pup. Twila leaned in and nibbled on his lips, and he closed his eyes with her soft touch. “I can’t go five months without seeing you,” he said before realizing he’d voiced his thoughts. He might as well still be a Marine, but this time his business created the deployment, separating him from the woman he loved.
She pulled away with a strange little look on her face. “Drake, the next time you come for a visit, I’ll still be here.”
Dr. Aikens romped into his mind. The guy obviously had a thing for Twila and as soon as he was gone, the doc would make his move. The way he looked at Twila pissed him off. Drake wasn’t in any better position now than he was a few years ago. He kept his hand deep in the business, but maybe he should consider bringing someone else onboard. Finding someone wasn’t going to be easy. “You want a family don’t you?”
Twila surprised him when she said, “No.”
A sweet acceptance he’d never seen filled her eyes. “No?” he repeated like an idiot. “Wait a minute. You…you’re telling me we…we’re…You’re okay with me just walking way?” Call him dumbstruck, but seriously was she? He thought she loved him. His gaze wandered around the auditorium with its polished floors and raised stage. One light shone down on them, the rest extinguished, cloaking the corners in darkness.
“Yes, I’m okay with it.”
He didn’t move, trying to figure this out. He felt as if someone had promised him something amazing and then snatched it away. Sliding from his lap, she planted her bum on the other chair. A beautiful head of tangled hair fell across the charts. Closing her eyes, she reminded him of “Sleeping Beauty,” radiant, honest. Fuck, if a flock of little birds landed on the table and started to sing a song, he wouldn’t be surprised.
“I’m a little tired, Drake, maybe we should do this another night.”
They didn’t have many more nights. He knew it and so did she. He watched as she pushed herself up with the effort an old person uses to stand. “Good night.”
* * * *
Drake had been unusually quiet tonight, especially after asking her if she wanted a family. She’d told him the truth, but not why, and he didn’t ask, so she didn’t offer. Sitting in her Florida room, she pinned her gaze on the stars and sat listening to the night animals awaken in the park. The sounds of wild pigs snorting to each other and the call of a crow that sounded more like an “uh-huh” from the mangrove across the river from her home filled the night air.
Falling into deep thought she nearly jumped out of her skin when a “Why?” came from the screen door. Drake opened it and stood looming in all his masculine energy. “Why don’t you want a family?”
“Beer?” she asked, not really wanting to move her feet from their comfy perch on the table.
Drake knelt beside her, his face a plate filled with questions. “No, an answer.”
She shrugged.
Drake’s hand caressed her cheek. “I thought you loved me?”
The blood drained from her veins. She did. Too much, but she also understood about owning a business. He met her lips in a sweet kiss. His kisses never stayed sweet for long and within a second they were tearing each other’s clothes off and backing into her bedroom.
He hovered over her, his enormous hard torso gleaming with a sheen of sweat. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“I told you, I do.”
“Love m
eans there’s no one else that’ll measure up or mean as much. I’m not a Marine anymore, but I’m about to be pulled away from you, and I can’t do a thing to change it. At least not right now.”
He brushed his full lips across hers and trailed kisses down her warm skin till he reached her breast. Twirling his tongue around her nipple, it rose, wanting more of him, but did her heart?
“Twila.” He lay down beside her and rolled her on top of him. Her silk flowed with the first kiss, and he sunk himself deep inside her, then stilled. “What are you afraid of, sweetheart?” His gaze heated. Clenching his jaw to resist, air escaped him when she rocked her hips, sliding his thick shaft in and out of her.
She didn’t want this man to walk away from her, but she knew he had to leave, and she had to stay. “Shh,” she said leaning over and kissing him.
He moaned as she rolled her hips, filling her channel with his hardness. “Don’t try to distract me.”
Sliding down his body, kissing his skin taut with muscle and hovering over his well-endowed shaft, she peered up at him. “Honest intentions.” And she slid her mouth over his length, making him shudder and groan at the same time. It didn’t take much of his strength when he turned them into the sixty-nine position and made her cry out, her body arching for more as his tongue swept across her sex. They teased each other and backed off knowing when the other was about to come.
Making love to Drake shattered her mind, and they adored each other’s bodies. Taking his ball into her mouth, she moaned and his body bucked. She wrapped her hand around his thick shaft and pumped it while flicking her tongue against his crown. The salty taste of him spilt onto her taste buds, and she savored it like she savored this man.
“Sweetheart,” he hissed. “I’m going to come.”
He flipped her over and slid between her legs lapping his tongue across her clit, twirling it and dipping into her channel. Green eyes watched her as she exploded in ecstasy, and then he was inside her, stroking her with long thrusts until his body seized and he filled her, holding himself deep inside her.
“Answer the damn question,” he said, opening his eyes and leaning over her until they were nose to nose.
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