With Hearts Aflame: Valentine's Day Box Set

by Maren Smith

  Charlie had known something was the matter with mom, but she'd forgotten all about it. How old had she been? Maybe nine or ten?

  "You always come out here when you're upset, when you're mad at me, usually."

  She squinted up into the sunlight; his face was dark against the glare behind him. She sniffed and wiped her eyes on her coat sleeve. "I thought I was alone."

  "You want me to leave, huh?" Contrary to his statement, Alex came forward and sat down next to her.

  "You're going to get wet," she mumbled, but she didn't want him to leave.

  "So are you. This weather is rotten, but I'm sure we could find better things to chat about."

  "The sun is shining. Most people don't consider that miserable." Charlie couldn't help but lean a little into him. The huge stone had provided a windbreak, but it offered no warmth at all. She could feel the heat radiating off her brother and she fought off the desire to lean into him.

  "Yeah, well, it's this white stuff. No, it's not white; it's mud and slush and dreary and damn cold, too." He turned and looked down at her. "How long have you been out here?"

  "I just got here before you did. I suppose Jenna told you all about our conversation today."

  "We spoke, yes. I'm not sure she told me everything." His eyes were the palest of greens; it was the natural light, perhaps, that made it so, but she couldn't make out his mood.

  "I didn't know about Mom and Dad—that they… that he…"

  "Spanked Mom."

  "Yes. I mean, it makes sense. I can remember all these little things now. And I'm glad they never told me. That would have been just weird—but it is weird isn't it? I mean, how did you know, Alex?"

  "I walked in on them. Came home early one night or something. I think you were at Miranda's or whatever. I was pissed that he was hurting Mom. But then they both talked to me, Mom especially. Charlie, some women want to know their husbands love them that much." He sighed and put his arm around her shoulders, hugging her close to his side. "I don't know what I've done wrong, Charlie Brown. I always thought when we talked things over after I spanked you that you understood why, accepted it and we were good. And the times you fought me and stayed angry, we still worked it out eventually."

  Charlie could hear the pain in his voice and she couldn't stop the tears that steadily tracked down her cheeks. "You did that fine. It's just that—you never let me grow up, Alex. I don't know. I… feel like you smother me and I wanted to prove myself. And I thought you wanted me to like Vin because he would spank me, too. I'm so confused." She broke down and cried in the safety of his arms.

  "Listen to me for a minute. Do you remember when Dad started to decline… the first time?"

  "The first time you spanked me."

  "Yes. For some reason you had it in your head that you knew hospitals best because you—"

  "Because I spent more time in a hospital than any of you. I was in and out of the hospital for months my sophomore year."

  "And even if you are a nurse like you are now, you can't live in a hospital trying to care for people from dawn 'til dawn and dusk to dusk unending. You were worse than Mom. And we were watching you start to look almost as bad as Dad. But the point is that Dad told me I had to spank you. I couldn't believe he would suggest it. I didn't want to do it, but he wasn't strong enough to. We had a long talk, and it went back to him and Mom. He made me promise to take care of you, just like he would have. I told him you wouldn't let me and he smirked. He told me to figure it out and keep at it until you did. It was the hardest thing ever, but all I had to do was think of you at fifteen in that hospital bed with all those tubes in you."

  It wasn't the first time she'd heard that—that he always worried about her and the way she had been at fifteen. He always remembered her like that. He couldn't seem to believe that she had really gotten better, that she could really take care of herself. But it was the first time she'd heard that her Dad had given Alex the job as her overseer. It wasn't some self-appointed duty he had taken too seriously. Well, he did obviously take it too seriously, but at least now she could somewhat understand.

  "I'm sorry, Alex. I know you always try to take care of me."

  "I love you, Charlie Brown, but my a— my butt is freezing. Can we go to our house, your house, Starbucks… I don't care where, but I do still want to talk to you."

  She cocked her head to the side as she leaned away from him to gauge the look in his eyes. "What kind of talking?"

  "Just talking."

  "Okay, I'll come over," she agreed and then they both stood, their bottoms wet and icy from the snow. Charlie's knees and lower pant legs were wet all the way down. She shivered. Her teeth were chattering as she opened the door of her little car and prayed it would heat up fast.

  "I'll follow you," Alex called as he headed to his truck.

  Charlie was happy with the reunion. She missed him, but only a few blocks had passed when she realized she didn't want to talk to Alex any more just then. She wanted to absorb what he'd said and just accept the small victory. If she went over there, she'd most likely settle right in like nothing had changed and she was sure that Alex wanted to talk about more important things. She quickly made a right at the next intersection, reached for her cell phone and pressed his number.

  "What are you doing?" He answered before she heard the first ring.

  "I'm cold and bone-tired. I just want to take a hot bath. I'm glad we got to talk and we'll get together again soon, but I just want to go home tonight. I have to work early tomorrow morning, too."

  He was silent for a moment and Charlie wasn't sure if he was still there, but finally he answered, "Fine, but please don't shut me out. Call me in a couple days, okay?"

  "Yup, love you." She hung up fast, tossed the phone on the passenger seat and made the next turn. Shew. She brought her hand back to the steering wheel and relaxed the grip she had on it with the other one. She'd survived her first visit with Alex and gotten away okay. She hadn't even had to worry about it ahead of time or—What the heck? She let off the gas.

  "Oh crap!" Flashing lights in her mirror. No… what had she done? She wasn't speeding? Was it him? Son of a biscuit! It was an SUV. She looked around for a place to pull over. Her condo was only half a block away; otherwise it would be someone else's driveway. She might as well go home.

  The lower half of her body was still frozen and yet now she was sweating. Un-freaking-believable. She hit her blinker and then the climate control, reducing the heat to low.

  Charlie pulled into her parking space before finally looking behind her again, trying without being obvious to see who it was, but the windows had a glare on them from the sun.

  Tap. Tap. Tap

  "Crap." He was at her window already. When had he gotten out of the truck? She groaned and reached for the button. "Yes?"

  "Is there a reason you don't think you need to obey the traffic laws, Miss Davis?" Those eyes were hard and held not a glint of friendliness for her.

  "Is there a reason you are stalking me, officer? In a city as big as Detroit is it common for a trooper to pull over the same woman twice? Was there a reason for this stop?" She glared at him, giving her best imitation of someone who was not even slightly worried about his position or paddle-like palms. Vin blinked very slowly and Charlie could only guess he was counting to ten to himself. She swallowed, wondering if she could possibly climb over the console in between her seats and out the other door, run to her condo and lock the door before he caught her. No, most likely not.

  "You ran that stop sign without even slowing, much less using a turn signal. This is a residential area, Charlene. If a child had been crossing the street or even an adult for that matter, you would have killed them!"

  "Oh, whatever. I was only doing twenty-five. I would have seen them and I didn't hit anyone. So, if you're going to give me a ticket, then just get your ego fix and do it." Charlie pressed the button to roll the window up.

  "Stop right there."

  She put her hand up
to cover her eyes and looked away from him. Warm tears were trickling and she didn't want him to see. How come she had such terrible luck?

  "I need your license and registration, Charlene." His voice was thick and unyielding. She knew without looking at him that he would know she was crying by the way her shoulders were starting to shake. No matter how she tried to hide it and keep her face turned as she dug through her purse and handed the required documents through the window, she could not mute her sniffled cries.

  As soon as he had the items, he went back to his vehicle. Charlie found a Kleenex and blew her nose. She tried to dab at her red-rimmed eyes, but it was no use. It was Alex's fault... the phone call… she hadn't even been paying attention as she turned to come home. It was silly; this neighborhood was new and there really wasn't any traffic… you could see both ways and didn't even need to stop. That stop sign was useless. Vin was just being a jerk. Crap. She blinked again and swiped at the tears.

  "Here's your ticket, Miss Davis, another for your collection. If you'd like to appeal it, the instructions are printed on the back as is the information on paying it." There still wasn't any emotion on his stony face. Charlie tried to look at him while appearing to look at the ticket. "Do you have any questions?" She shook her head silently, side to side. "Okay, you have a nice day." He stalked back to his vehicle behind her, climbed in and started to pull away.

  Charlie looked down at the ticket for only a moment before she shoved it into her purse and grabbed her phone. When she climbed out of her car, her heart seized up. He had parked his unit three spots over and was walking toward her. What was he doing?

  "This is where you live now? Nice place." Small talk now? His face was still hard. Oh gosh. What was he doing?

  "What do you want, Vin?" She stopped right in the middle of the parking lot, tossed her purse over her shoulder and stood up tall.

  "I would like to talk. I don't like the way you ended things." He was a mountain. Broad shoulders, thick and muscular, like a football player. But she would not fall for him again.

  "Well, I don't want to talk to you tonight! Things aren't looking very pretty for you after that!" She jerked her thumb over her shoulder, not actually gesturing to anything in particular, so hopefully he got the point.

  His cheek twitched before the right side rose in a smirk that lacked humor. "You are a spoiled little girl, who wants nothing and no one to get in the way of her doing anything she wants. But, what you want and what you need are on the farthest ends of the spectrum." He stepped toward her and unless she backed up like a coward, she was so close his belt buckle rubbed against her tummy.

  "What you won't admit is that as much as you talk about being able to make your own decisions, I know that you wanted me that night. As much if not more than I wanted you."

  She looked up from his chest to his chin and then his face. His lips had been warm against her ears and now they were so close to her own. "I—I don't know what you mean…"

  "Invite me in. We need to work this out."

  "No." She ripped herself away from his hypnotic pull. "I… Miranda's on her way here…"

  Vin shook his head. "Liar." He took a step backward. "I won't make the same mistake as last time, Charlie. I want to talk this out, work this out. And the next time you are over my lap—Oh yes, there will be another time—you will ask for it and put yourself there. Good night, my lovely little liar."

  She leaned against the door and caught her breath. Brinks jumped up and down at her feet trying hard to get her attention, but she had to focus on staying alive. She was sure her heart had never beaten so fast: tachycardia. She turned and looked out her eyehole to make sure he had pulled away. Then, as if he would come in without her permission, she did something she hardly ever did on a normal basis. She locked the door.

  Charlie finally let out a big sigh, picked up her tiny friend and hugged him. "We're safe, Brinks." She lifted her hand to her neck to find her carotid artery and pressed her sensitive fingertips gently to the soft groove. The terrier licked her neck approvingly. "Normal sinus rhythm of ninety-eight; we're going to live." It was a little fast, but that was understandable considering the image he'd planted in her mind—her flailing over his warm thighs. She shook her head, trying to clear the visual, and moved through the silent and unwelcoming apartment, for the first time feeling as though it was her house. Not home, but hers just the same. Today it had been a refuge to come to, a place she could get away from them.

  She dropped her purse on a table near the door and pulled the ticket out, then crumpled it and tossed it back toward the table. Freaking Jerk. It had to be him too. Any other cop wouldn't have given her a ticket there. It was a dead corner, nothing there…

  Her stomach growled. Charlie hadn't eaten since she'd nibbled on the biscotti with Jenna that morning. Had it been this morning? It seemed like weeks ago. She was torn between getting the cold, wet pants off and taking her bath or eating. She finally grabbed a yogurt and took it with her.

  Her butt and legs were cold and achy and the hot bath water stung when she slid down into it, but it was well worth it. A bath was the only thing that she ever really indulged in. She missed the old, deep, claw-foot tub and the bathroom with the peeling paint and chipped white trim. She remembered when her mom had painted it that sunny yellow.

  She needed a glass of wine. Miranda would bring over a bottle if she called and whined. "Liar! He called me a liar!" Charlie stomped her foot indignantly, splashed hot water and suds up into her face, and forgot all about Miranda again when the image of the sexy cop wouldn't leave her thoughts. The move was silly; it was nearly impossible to stomp her foot reclined in a tub full of suds and water. Brinks sat up and barked in response. "I know! He is so rude. I hate him."

  But she didn't really. As many times as she'd tried not to think about him in the last couple weeks, she couldn't stop. She'd been so angry—not so much that he'd spanked her, but that she thought it had all been arranged and she had played right into Alex's plan.

  She had really liked Vin—really liked him—up until that point. He was funny, smart and caring. He liked dogs and liked Brinks. He'd taken her to look at a dog that the police had wanted for an officer, but he couldn't quite meet the requirements. And Charlie had liked the dog as well, but the dog had not gotten along well with Brinks and she just hadn't felt comfortable.

  When Vin had spanked her, when he'd been upset with her—she really had understood. She should have known better. Charlie shouldn't have asked him not to tell Alex about the hospital. She should have known Vin would think of it as a lie; he was an honest person, a good cop. But she just couldn't let all that continue. It wasn't normal, and it wasn't something she wanted even if she wanted Vin Loveanu in a way she'd never wanted anyone before. There had been one doctor she'd worked with who had been rather good looking and Charlie thought that there might be something between them, some possibility. She'd liked him and he seemed to like her. He'd flirted with her but she quickly realized he did that with all of the nurses, to a point of being ridiculous.

  No, Vin was different. Everything about him affected everything about her. His voice, husky and deep, tickled her senses with a foggy haze. When that voice was used close to her ear or her neck and she could feel it next to her skin in a damp and seductive heat, it sent electric impulses straight to her feminine parts. And the smell of him, so manly and sensual all together, rendering her dizzy and needy for something from him she couldn't understand. She remembered that one night…

  His fingertips along her neck, tracing down her arm, his lips on her neck—on her collarbone. More. She dug her fingers into his arms and pulled him to her. She kissed the rough stubble of his dark, shadowy jaw line. "More. Please, Vin," she panted, scooting lower on the sofa so she could wrap her legs tightly around his waist, and grind her aching need against the bulge hiding behind the zipper of his jeans. "More."

  "Arf!" Brinks barked and jumped on the side of the tub, snapping her out of her steamy memory. She b
rought her hand up from the juncture between her thighs, embarrassed, and ignored her little male dog, who stared at her inquisitively. She closed her eyes again, hoping he would just lie back down.

  It had been at about that point in the night when Vin had withdrawn himself from her arms, leaving her just as hungry and needy for him as she was now. He'd said they couldn't go any farther; he was not about to take her like a random and meaningless romp. She was much more valuable to him and he meant to show her that. But now Charlie would probably never find out what he'd meant. Well, no, tonight he said there was going to be a next time. She was going to have to decide what to do about him… eventually.

  Chapter Nine

  She couldn't see any reason or way to get out of it. Other than making up lies, that was. It wasn't that she was above lying either. It was more of a resolve to have it done and over with. She was tired of being lonely… tired of being alone… She'd been sitting at home for the last couple days anyway.

  Her boss, Nancy, had politely recommended she not take any extra shifts for a while. She said that Charlie looked tired and worn, and maybe she was coming down with something. She'd recommended Charlie even be seen by one of the staff doctors and take a few sick days. What was that all about? Charlie had stood in the staff bathroom for quite a while. She'd washed her face with cold water and stared in the mirror. She looked a little pale and tired, she supposed, but she hadn't been sleeping well.

  It wasn't because she had been working a lot; it was because she couldn't sleep. She had cramps in her legs that kept her awake at night. That and her mind wouldn't shut up. Anyway, she'd taken her normal days off and taken some vitamins, hoping to appease Nancy. And she was going to see Alex and Jenna, she couldn't keep dragging it out.

  * * * * *

  "What the hell, Charlie? You are nothing but bones. Have you been eating at all? You look like hell," Alex exploded as soon as Charlie made it fully into the living room. He jumped up from the couch and came toward her.