“I’m glad,” Brett said, feeling her breath feathering along his chest when she answered him. Felt, too, his immediate response to her. His stomach was tightening into a hard knot even as desire was galvanizing the rest of him at an astounding rate. He wanted her again.
Another first, he thought, stroking her hair. That, too, was a first, he realized. He was actually content just to lie here with her head resting on his chest—somehow their positions had gotten reversed in the past few minutes—and her hair spread out all along his pectorals.
Definitely a picture that Rockwell would have painted had the era the artist lived in been a bit more flexible, Brett mused as he continued to lightly run his fingertips along her hair.
Alisha raised her head to look at him, curious. “Why would you think you hurt me?” To her recollection, she hadn’t done anything to indicate any sort of discomfort in any way. The exact opposite was true.
“I was afraid that I might have been a little too rough in my eagerness to make love with you,” he told her honestly. He waited a fraction of a moment, then continued, thinking that if there was anyone he could be completely honest with, it was her—although why he felt that way, he really couldn’t say. “I never wanted anyone with the intensity that I found myself wanting you,” he admitted.
Now, there was a line if she’d ever heard one, Alisha couldn’t help thinking.
But even as she raised herself up on her elbow to say as much to him—as well as let him know it wasn’t necessary, that she really didn’t expect this to lead to anything more meaningful than just perhaps another go-round of lovemaking somewhere down the line—the expression that she saw on his face caused her words to just fade from her tongue. The look in his eyes was so sincere, it stole her breath away.
Still, she forced herself to tell him, “You don’t have to say that.”
“I know,” he told her, softly gliding his fingertips along her face. “I don’t have to say anything.” He lightly brushed his lips against hers. “But I want to. I want you to understand that I didn’t have this in mind when I invited you to come see the ranch.”
“You didn’t?” she said, just the tiniest bit of mocking in her tone.
“Nope. If anything, I think I wanted to show off a little for you, maybe. Impress you with the cowboy side of me.” The admission surprised even him, now that he said it. But he also realized that it was true. When was the last time he had wanted to impress anyone? He couldn’t remember.
“The cowboy side of you?” she echoed.
Granted, she was aware that she was definitely in Texas, and there were cowboys around in this town, but she had never really applied that description to him. He was just Brett—and that was more than enough.
“Sure,” he told her, slipping one arm around her and holding her closer to him. “No woman can resist a cowboy.”
Turning toward him, she saw humor in his eyes. He was putting her on. Alisha played along. “Oh? And where’s that written?”
He pretended to think for a moment. “I’m pretty sure it’s in some rule book somewhere.”
“I’m not impressed by cowboys,” she told him matter-of-factly.
“Oh? Well, I’m fairly sure you’re not impressed by the bartender in me.”
Her mouth curved just a hint. “You’re right. I’m not.”
Brett sighed for effect. “You’re a hard woman to impress.”
“No, not really,” she countered, growing serious for a moment. “I’m impressed by decency, by a man who cares for his friends, who cares for his brothers and doesn’t put himself first all the time.”
She put her hand on his chest and leaned her head there for a moment as she studied him. If she didn’t know any better, she would have said that she was falling in love with him, but she hadn’t given herself permission to do that—not ever again.
But if she was to fall in love, it would be with him.
“You didn’t tell me that you stayed in Forever to raise your orphaned brothers, even though you had a chance to leave town and follow your dreams.”
He didn’t like to talk about himself and deftly turned the topic sideways. “You’re right. I didn’t tell you. How did you find out?” he asked.
The smile she offered was damn near dazzling. He could feel its effects all through his body—a very potent reaction right now.
“You do realize that this is a small town, right?” Alisha asked.
He kept on looking at her, finding it hard to hold himself in check. He could feel himself wanting her as much, if not more, than he had just before they’d made love. Brett forced his mind back on the conversation they were having.
“Miss Joan.” It wasn’t a guess.
She moved her body into his, giving herself permission to savor this interlude a little longer. “That woman is better than a newspaper or a blog. I have never met anyone so full of information before.”
“She’s the town treasure, all right,” he agreed. “Did you actually ask her about me?”
It wasn’t a smile on her lips so much as a grin. “I didn’t have to. Miss Joan was more than happy to volunteer all that information about you without a single question coming from me. She thought I should know who I was up against.” Amusement highlighted all of her features as she continued. “Who I was renting a room from. I guess she really believes in that old Girl Scout adage, Be Prepared.”
She was making him absolutely crazy again. Every breath she took, every word she uttered, had her body moving against his. Setting his on fire.
“I think that’s actually a Boy Scout rule,” he told her with effort.
“Whatever,” Alisha replied with a careless shrug, a movement that managed to arouse him even more, if that was humanly possible.
Brett framed her face with his hands, lightly testing the waters before surrendering himself to the need that had risen up within him all over again with a fierceness and a fire that refused to be subdued.
“Remind me to send Miss Joan flowers,” he murmured against her lips just before he deepened the kiss that swept them back into a world that only the two of them were allowed to inhabit.
* * *
“I TAKE IT you had a good day off,” Holly said to her cheerfully when she walked into the clinic the next morning.
Alisha realized that she was humming and promptly stopped. Although she had a feeling it was a little late for that. Especially when she saw the expression on the nurse’s face. As if Holly knew exactly what she was experiencing at this very moment—and what had caused this feeling.
“It was—interesting,” Alisha admitted, deliberately choosing a word that seemed neutral to her.
“I think it was more than that,” Holly told her with a knowing smile, then, for good measure, added, “You’re glowing.”
She was? Alisha couldn’t remember being accused of that even when she had first become engaged to Pierce. Looking back, she realized that she hadn’t felt this level of happiness, of contentment at that time.
Don’t get carried away, ’Lish. This is just temporary, a wonderful, delicious interlude, not forever, remember?
“Must be the lighting,” she said out loud with a shrug.
Holly laughed. “I don’t think so. The lighting in the clinic isn’t that good.” They were alone in the clinic right now since the doors had just been opened and for once, there was no one waiting to get in. Even so, Holly still lowered her voice when she asked, “So, what did you think of Brett’s ranch?”
Stunned, Alisha’s mouth dropped open. Denial was the first thing that occurred to her. The second thing that occurred to her was that denial was undoubtedly probably futile.
So instead, she asked, “How did you know I went to see his ranch?”
“One of my brothers-in-law saw you and Brett driving to the old Robertson p
lace. Rafe,” she added for good measure, in case Alisha wondered who had spotted them.
Alisha sighed, shaking her head. “There is no privacy in this town, is there?” That still took some getting used to.
“Not so you’d notice,” Holly replied matter-of-factly. “But on the plus side, there’s always someone to turn to if there’s a problem because we take care of our own and are there for each other the way people in the big city aren’t.”
Holly paused, as if debating whether or not to say something. As a rule, she was rather quiet and tried not to interfere, but she’d blossomed a bit in the past year, after marrying Ray Rodriguez. “For what it’s worth, I think that Brett is way overdue for some happiness of his own.”
That was an odd thing to say, Alisha thought. If anyone in the town seemed to be carefree, it was Brett. Was she wrong?
“Oh? Brett Murphy didn’t strike me as exactly being a solemn, unhappy man. His female customers seem to all flock to him.” Even as she pointed that out, she realized that she was somewhat jealous of those women. Now, there was a new sensation for her.
Holly waved her hand at that. “That’s just Brett’s surface charm, but that’s not who he is. He stepped up when first his parents died in a car accident and then when his uncle Patrick died suddenly. Took over running Murphy’s and seeing to it that his brothers stayed in school, had the right work ethic, things like that. That takes a rare kind of man.”
“Yes,” Alisha quietly murmured. “I know.”
Telling herself that she had to be careful and not fall into a trap that would ultimately spell disappointment was getting to be more and more difficult for her.
The door to the clinic opened just then, and she was relieved to see that their first patient of the day had arrived. It was time to get to work.
Chapter Sixteen
If she’d hoped that, despite Holly’s inquiry, she could somehow keep the fact that she and Brett were seeing one another apart from the usual public encounters, that idea died a very quick death the first time she walked into the diner after being with Brett.
Miss Joan took one look at her, sidled up to her table with a fresh cup of coffee and happily observed, “Looks like someone had her candle lit.”
She had made one vain attempt to discourage Miss Joan’s assumption, feigning ignorance. “What does that even mean, Miss Joan?”
“Don’t play dumb with me, Doc. You know exactly what that means. Neither one of us was born yesterday,” Miss Joan had asserted with a decisive nod of her head before sauntering off with her coffeepot.
After that, Alisha saw no point in making any denials. She and Brett were together for however long together would last. Atypically, she made no plans for tomorrow, wanting only to enjoy today.
Her todays knit themselves together, and before she knew it, a couple of months had gone by. And then part of another.
It was all good.
* * *
EVER SO SLOWLY, Alisha eased the covers off her body and sat up, careful to do it very quietly. She took in a long breath and slowly exhaled it, focusing on nothing more than the moment.
It was hard to believe that over five months had gone by since she had arrived in Forever. The first few days she’d spent in the small town had felt as if they had moved with the speed of a three-footed, injured tortoise. The past month or so had raced by like the tortoise’s nemesis, the hare.
That was because she was happy.
Right after she’d performed the appendectomy on Nathan McLane, everything changed. People’s somewhat skeptical attitude toward her changed. They accepted her, and she’d found a place for herself, not only in the clinic, but in the general scheme of things in Forever.
Nobody brought up the subject of her possibly moving on anymore, not even Miss Joan. That part she knew was due to the fact that when she wasn’t at the clinic, she was with Brett—or he was with her. The bottom line on that was that they were together.
Together. She liked the sound of that, she mused.
She was supposed to be getting dressed, but she lingered just a minute longer, focusing on her contentment. Alisha looked over her shoulder at the object of that contentment—the sleeping man in her bed.
Before she’d arrived in Forever, she would have bet everything she owned that she was never, ever going to even look at another handsome man, much less place herself in a compromising situation with one. And she certainly would never believe a single word out of that good-looking man’s mouth. After all, she considered herself reasonably intelligent. At the very least, she wasn’t a village idiot, doomed to be drawn to good-looking men, condemned to making the same mistakes over and over again in a vain hope that this time, the results would be different.
But then, it hadn’t been Brett’s extremely good looks that had won her over; it’d been his heart. He was a good, decent, kind man who just happened to have a face that could send a woman’s heart racing at a hundred miles an hour.
At times, she had to stop, take a breath and allow herself to just be happy because there was still something inside her that was waiting for things to blow up, to go wrong. Waiting for paradise to fold up its tent and disappear into the night, leaving weeds and desolation in its wake.
But that had been her life before, with Pierce, not now. And she planned to enjoy the hell out of it until such time that it all ended on her.
Enough with this ruminating—she had hands to hold and medical wisdom to dispense.
Squaring her shoulders, she started to get up from the edge of the bed when she suddenly felt a strong, muscular arm snake itself around her waist, effectively immobilizing her.
“Don’t go,” Brett mumbled, part of his voice being absorbed by his pillow. “Not time to get up yet,” he protested.
Not quite awake, he’d been watching her, or rather her back, and thinking to himself that he’d finally, finally lucked out, finally found a woman who he wanted to wake up next to for the rest of his days.
He’d given it time, patiently waiting for that feeling to fade. It only grew stronger with each day that went by.
The feeling was real. And so was she.
“Oh, more than time to get up, sleepyhead,” she laughed, shifting on the bed to look at him more directly. “At least for me. You don’t open that bar of yours for another few hours, so you can go on getting your beauty sleep. Me, I’ve got patients probably lining up even as we speak.”
Brett didn’t loosen his hold on her waist. “They’ll wait,” he assured her, his voice now devoid of its sleepy state. “It’s not like there’s another clinic they can take their business to. And Dan’s there.”
Alisha began to protest only to find herself being pulled back down on the bed. She thought of struggling, but that idea was without appeal.
“Dan’s not there,” she contradicted him. When Brett flashed her a look of confusion, she explained, “Now that his shoulder is better, he’s finally getting ready to go on that vacation.” That was one of the main reasons Dan had wanted an associate, someone to occasionally take over for him. “I’m supposed to be covering for him. That was the whole point of his getting a second doctor, remember?” Alisha pretended to peer into his face to see if any of this was ringing a bell. “Is any of this coming back to you?” she asked.
Brett shook his head, then said, “Maybe after I have my early-morning pick-me-up.”
The gleam in his eyes caused her stomach to flutter. “Which is?” she asked in a hushed voice.
Raising his head for a second, he brushed his lips across hers before allowing his head to fall back against the pillow again. “Guess.”
She really, really should start getting ready. Otherwise, she ran the risk of being late, and she prided herself on never being late. “Brett—”
The grin on his lips turned wicked. “You fight m
e on this, and it’s just going to take you that much longer to get to the clinic. If you want my opinion,” he said sagely, “you might as well surrender, Lady Doc.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” she said, still pretending to resist.
“You have no idea.” He caught her earlobe between his teeth and sent a hot shiver down her spine before releasing it.
She could feel a thrill zigzagging all through her, taking her prisoner. Alisha laughed and surrendered. “Might as well,” she agreed wholeheartedly, opening up her arms to him.
* * *
ALTHOUGH SHE HURRIEDLY threw on her clothes when it was over, Alisha was still late. She didn’t get to the clinic until an hour later. The doors had been opened only ten minutes earlier, so she silently lectured herself that she hadn’t committed a cardinal sin being ten minutes late. Cardinal sins clocked in at twenty minutes, a voice in her head that sounded oddly like Miss Joan said.
She supposed if she took that sort of a blasé approach, then she didn’t feel too bad over having given in to herself—and to Brett. After all, it had been one exquisite, albeit far too short, detour to a haven that was exclusively theirs.
Without realizing it, she was humming as she crossed the threshold. Holly was already in the office, seated at her desk. Alisha was aware that there were several others in the waiting room when she breezed in, but if she stopped to see who, that would only make her that much more late. She could catch up with whoever was out there once she had him or her in her exam room. There was a great deal of merit in Dan’s principle of getting to know the whole patient, not just a body part.
“Beautiful day, isn’t it, Holly,” she stated rather than asked the young woman. “I’ll be ready in a couple of minutes,” she promised as she crossed to the inner office door. “What’s the schedule look like today?” she asked by way of conversation. “Filled to the brim?”
Holly raised her eyes to hers. Alisha caught herself thinking that she had never seen the nurse looking that withdrawn before.
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