by Timms, Lexy
“Work and now more work.” Julie giggled. “I don’t mind though.”
“We need to plan a girls’ night out.”
“Ohhh, like we did last time? Except the boys met us. Not that it seemed like you minded. Have you and Elijah…” Julie’s phone whooshed and banged.
“Hello?”
“Sorry about that. I dropped my phone and it hit the ground. Hope I didn’t break your ear drum.” She sounded slightly distracted but continued her digging. “So… have you?”
“I don’t kiss and tell,” Charity teased.
“Whatever. Next time you’re up here, I’ll ask you face to face. I’ll know right away. Actually, I won’t even have to ask you. I’ll just take one look and I’ll know.” She giggled. “Or I’ll just ask Elijah.”
“You ask him and I’m telling Simon what professor you slept with in university.”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
Charity laughed. “Try me.”
“Fine. I won’t then. I’d better get back to work. Call me Sunday and let me know how everything goes.”
“Will do.” She hit end on her phone and got out of the tub. Wrapping a big fluffy towel around her, she headed into her bedroom to set her phone on the nightstand. She realized she had forgotten to plan something for next weekend.
Chapter 5
Charity raced home. Tired from the long day, she knew the evening’s gala would be just as busy. She couldn’t believe how fast the day had flown with the children’s part of the Extravaganza. Pleased with the success of the past eight hours, tonight would be the icing on the cake. She parked her car and ran inside her place. She tossed her phone and keys on the counter and grabbed a mini bottle of coke from the fridge. At least there would be no screaming kids hyped up on candy canes and Santa tonight. She checked her watch. She had about an hour and a half before it would be time to head back.
The decorators were already changing the hall and setting the tables for dinner. The stage was set with donated gifts for the silent auction. Her hard work had paid off: floor tickets for a basketball game with the Hawks; a former Falcon player had gone over and beyond and donated two plane tickets to Winnipeg to catch an NHL game with the moved franchise; Braves signed ball and glove; season tickets for the baseball team and loads of other signed sports memorabilia from all the professional teams. Malcolm and a number of the doctors had kept in contact with former patients who were more than willing to donate. Because of the great gifts, she was able to set up some of the items to go online for outside buyers to bid. The pre-bids had already surpassed the goal of profit for the evening. A victory beyond her expectations. Shame she had to go on her own tonight but it would be fine. She knew she’d be crazy-busy.
Plus it didn’t feel right asking Elijah to take the weekend off to fly down to see her. They hadn’t talked about dating and she had no clue where their relationship stood or if they even were in a relationship.
She took another long sip from her coke and started stripping out of her clothes. She heard her phone vibrate in the kitchen and ignored it. Most likely someone from the decorating company or something regarding the menu. Whoever it was could wait until after her shower.
The hot water massaged her shoulders. She washed her hair and decided to leave it curly instead of straightening it. Ten minutes later she turned off the tap off and quickly towel dried her hair. After wrapping a towel around her, she began brushing her teeth and walked back to the kitchen to check her phone.
One message from the online company helping run the silent auction to say a larger bid had been placed on one of the items. She barely read the message because the second was a text from Elijah.
Hi Gorgeous. How did the Santa-thing go today?
She rinsed her mouth and put her toothbrush away before replying.
Big success. Getting ready for the dinner now. Want to play hooky from work and come? She added a smiley face.
Sure. Be there in 10min.
She laughed at his reply. OK Superman. If u make it in 5, I’ll still be in my towel. Just showered.
He replied with :o – which meant surprise or something like that.
She smiled and set the phone down on the counter and flipped her hair down to blow dry it. It didn’t take long. She’d bought a red dress that flared at the bottom and fitted on top. It had gold accents and she’d found these awesome pair of gold heels up in New York.
Charity added some gel to control the natural curls she spent most her adult life hiding and then walked back towards the kitchen. Her dress and shoes hung in the hallway. She nearly dropped her towel as she passed the front door and someone knocked on it.
Eye on the peephole, her breath caught and she gasped. What the heck?
Elijah!
Duffle bag on one shoulder and a dress-cover bag over his arm. He had this awesome goofy grin on his face, like a little boy. Except for the sexy five o’clock shadow; no boy could pull that off.
She threw open the door.
“Surprise!” His eyes roamed down and then back up her body. “You weren’t joking about the towel.”
She grabbed his arm and pulled him inside. She was deliriously happy. No one had ever done this before. He liked her, he really liked her. She hugged him and pulled back. “How’d… Did you… Who told you where I lived?” She tucked the corner of her towel in tighter before it slipped down.
“Julie. When I mentioned it to her, she offered to cover my shift tonight. I have to fly back tomorrow afternoon for a scheduled surgery I promised a patient I wouldn’t miss. Nice curls by the way.”
His black shirt moulded to every muscle in his broad chest, and his dark hair hung over his gorgeous blue eyes. He was so damn sexy and irresistible in that moment she could hardly contain herself. She stared hungrily at his strong cheekbones and sharp, angled jaw.
Their gazes locked. The air around them seemed to spark with electricity.
“I can’t believe you’re here!” She sounded giddy and didn’t care. He knew what kind of effect he had on her. There was no point hiding it.
“You don’t mind?” He shrugged. “I wasn’t sure if you needed a plus one, or if you already had a date.”
She went up on the tips of her toes and leaned into him. She pressed her lips hard against his. He dropped his bags to wrap his arms around her. His full luscious lips pressed into hers. Her pulse skyrocketed. Between soft gentle kisses, he asked, “How… much… time before… we have to… go?” His tongue invaded her mouth and their kisses deepened.
Desire stirred and her body responded with tingles of pleasure and warmth flooding through her with each touch. How the towel managed to stay on was some sort of miracle.
When Elijah’s lips left her mouth and started a blazing trail down her neck, Charity tried to focus so she could answer his question. “A-About fifty minutes.” She swallowed and let her eyes close as he kissed her collar bone.
He pulled away slightly. “I need to shower, shave, and hopefully not iron my tux.”
She glanced at his bags on the floor and then hungrily back at him. “I can be ready in less than half an hour.”
A single eyebrow rose and a slow sexy smile spread across his face.
The look was her undoing. She picked up the bag that carried his tuxedo with one hand and pulled him toward the bedroom with the other. He didn’t resist.
She nodded to her left. “That’s the kitchen.” With her elbow she pointed to her right. “That’s the living room.”
“Kinda empty.”
“I like it like that. It gives me room to dance.”
“Hmmm… sounds good to me.” He let go of her hand and unzipped his coat, dropping it to the floor. He kicked his shoes off at the same time. By the time they reached her bedroom only his T-shirt and pants still remained. She hung his tux over the only chair in the room.
Elijah’s hands spread over her hip. She straightened and he began kissing the back of her neck and shoulders. Her eyes closed as she enjoyed the pleas
ure of his warm lips. His hot breath was exquisite against her skin. Goosebumps shivered down her arms. She let him turn her around and she reached for his belt as he kissed her collar bone and up her neck. She could feel his erection brush against her fingers. She grew warm with excitement. They pulled apart slightly and she tore his shirt off, exposing his perfectly sculpted chest. Her fingers traced the ripples of his washboard abs and hard muscles of his chest. She tugged gently at his pants to get them over his hips. He shifted and they fell to the floor. He stepped out of them, his eyes never leaving her face.
She had other plans. She smiled and stepped back so she could give him a once over. The sexual tension she held in her hands empowered her. He raised an eyebrow but didn’t move. She let her eyes travel down his handsome face, his perfectly squared shoulders, over his bare chest and six-pack abs. His black boxer briefs fit better than any supermodel ad she’d ever seen. He was the whole package. She licked her lips and swallowed hard.
Elijah lifted his arm and with a finger and thumb gave a little jerk on her towel. It fell to the floor and he closed the space between them before it even hit the floor. He never looked away from her face and for that she was thankful. The possible moment of naked shyness in daylight never got the chance to embarrass her. His lips crushed against hers with the same need she felt burning inside of her.
She tucked a finger into the elastic of his boxer briefs and tugged him toward the bed. She wanted to spend the entire night mesmerizing his body. It deserved her full attention. They had maybe twenty minutes. Possibly only fifteen now. She groaned in frustration. They were going to be late and she couldn’t afford it.
Elijah pulled his head back. “That didn’t sound like a moan of pleasure. Everything okay?” His hands caressed her shoulders, back, and lightly over her buttocks.
She tried to focus on his words and not the pleasure his hands were creating. What did she really want? For their first time to be a romantic, fairy-book memory or should she just follow her body’s response and settle for a hurried moment? They had later tonight, too.
Right now she wanted confusion and rush.
She spun around and pushed him onto the bed.
“Hey!” His eyes grew wide with surprise but closed with guilty pleasure when she crawled on the bed and straddled him. Her curly hair fell over her shoulders and cocooned his face as she leaned over to kiss him. She bit his lower lip lightly. His hands roamed up and down her curves, creating a trail of fire against her skin and her hips pressed tight against him. She couldn’t get close enough.
In one fluid motion he rolled her over and lay on top of her. He pulled his underwear down and kicked them away with his foot. She giggled when he had to kick a few times to get them off his ankle.
“So much for smooth and sexy.” He leaned on an elbow and grinned at her.
Her tongue ran over her lips, wetting them. “I don’t think you know how to do something that isn’t sexy.”
His grin turned into a smile. “Then I’d better not disappoint.” He brought his head down and kissed her nipples. He sucked hard on one before moving to the other one. They perked in excitement and desire. She loved the sensation that ran deep into the pit of her being.
The shocking length of his erection pressed against her thigh. She moaned. She wanted that hot long length inside of her now. To own it for the moment and bring him to climax. This brazen woman inside of her had never surfaced before. She squeezed her eyes and shifted her hips so the tip of his erection nudged against her wetness.
Elijah tensed.
Then in one fluid motion he was inside her. He slowly pulled out.
“Do that again,” she demanded with a whisper.
He moved his hips, pushing in and pulling out again and again. His hips rocked slowly and seductively. She moaned in pure delight as the pulsing pressure of his shaft plunged faster and deeper. His deep stroking fanned blazing flames that burned into a crescendoing inferno. His breath quickened. She ran her tongue across his neck and let her head drop against the pillow. She looked up at his face. His eyes were shut tight and his mouth was open as he panted. Incredibly sexy.
She clung to him, their hips moving like a rising wave. Her hands were on his buttocks, nails digging into the smoothness of the muscles She’d never felt such guilty pleasure. He plunged hard into her wetness and nothing had ever felt so good.
“Charity, I’m going to—” Elijah sucked in a breath. “I want… you…”
She rocked her hips more quickly against his.
A deep groan rumbled in the back of his throat. His strokes became more rapid. “Please… don’t… Fuck!” He stopped fighting and, with a primal need, pushed deeper inside her. He trembled and shook as his orgasm climaxed. He continued to move, slowly sliding in and out of her, until he dropped, spent, beside her. “Wow,” he said, the word muffled against the pillow and her neck. “Wow to the umpteenth power.” He nuzzled her neck.
“I believe we’re about even now?” She giggled, thinking back to the night at the hotel in New York. Her hips rotated with the memory.
He lifted his head. “You may look all sweet, but there is a she-devil inside of you.” His hands came across her hips and he started tickling her.
She curled out and rolled back and forth trying to break free, unable to stop laughing.
“Mercy? I’m not stopping till I hear the word. Mercy.”
She wiggled just out of his grasp and landed with her feet on the floor. “Never!” She laughed and jumped just out of his reach. “Damn it!” she swore when she saw her clock radio. “We gotta go! I can’t be late!”
Chapter 6
Elijah didn’t argue. He was out of the shower and ready in less than fifteen minutes. He stood beside her in the bathroom and examined his reflection in the mirror. He rubbed his jaw. “Hope the scruff is forgivable.”
She stared at his reflection. She’d never seen anyone wear a tuxedo this perfectly. It made him look beyond handsome. She forced herself to concentrate on finishing the last touches of her makeup. She pressed her lipstick against her lips. “I like the scruff. It suits you.” She winked at him. “And it feels good against my mouth.”
His hand paused midway in the air and a sly grin appeared on his face. “I’m all for trying to make you feel good.”
She groaned. “Please, don’t tease me. We need to go, and if you keep looking at me like that, I’m going to lose my job.”
“Really? I do that to you?” He seemed genuinely surprised. “Okay. I’ll try to stop, but you’re incredibly gorgeous in that red dress and I can’t seem to stop the images of what just happened from replaying in my head.”
The way he leaned against the counter so casually and perfectly made her heart race. She stepped closer to him, her mouth an inch away from his. Her eyes stared at his mouth, travelled to meet his gaze, and then back to his mouth again. “I am so going to get you back,” she whispered.
He swallowed hard, and just as his fingers made a tantalizing trail up her forearm to her elbow, she pressed her lips to his. She pulled back instantly. “Shall we go?” She spun around to grab her coat, but not before noticing the redness on her cheeks that she’d neglected to apply blush to.
Elijah drove to the Extravaganza under Charity’s direction. They weren’t far from her place and thankfully no one noticed their tardiness. He played the perfect date: schmoozing with the people wanting to spend money; being the doctor to the staff at Saving Forever; letting her do her thing without making her feel like he wouldn’t know what to do on his own. She planned to thank him properly later when they returned to her bedroom.
Charity made sure the silent-auction table had flashes of the bidding entries on the large screen she’d set behind it. The bidders were not revealed, just the amount going to the fundraiser. Everything ran smoothly without a hitch.
She stood chatting with a small group of older doctors when Elijah brought her a glass of wine. “Thanks.”
“You’re most welcome.” He
grinned and winked at her.
“Dr. Bennet?” A grey-haired man from the group cleared his throat as his wife swatted him on the shoulder.
“Don’t yell, Allan,” she hissed.
“It’s Dr. Bennet! He’s the chief over at Scott Thompson Hospital in New York. He did Jack’s valve replacement.” He shook an irritated head at his wife, and then turned his attention back to Elijah. “What brings you here?”
“Scott Thompson’s daughter, Charity.” Elijah smiled pleasantly at the man.
“Well, I’ll be.” He smiled at Charity and nudged his wife. “That can’t be Dr. Scott Thompson’s daughter. You’re much too pretty.”
“She’s the host, Allan.” His wife rolled her eyes at the ceiling. “You’re only allowed decaf from now on.” She patted Charity’s arm. “Ignore the schmuck of a husband I have. I love him dearly, but the man can’t handle his caffeine after nine o’clock.”
“Excuse me a moment.” Elijah pulled his phone from the pocket on the inside of his jacket. He checked the caller ID and put the phone to his ear. “Hello?” He moved toward a semi-vacant spot by the wall.
Charity watched him, instantly concerned with the lines that showed up on his forehead and the anxious way he rubbed his temple. Maybe the patient he had scheduled for surgery? She continued chatting with the circle of people around her, but her eyes kept wondering back to Elijah. Through the dim lights he suddenly grew pale. She touched the elbow of Allan’s wife still chatting away beside her. “Please excuse me,” she murmured.
She walked toward Elijah but waited just out of earshot so as not to eavesdrop on his call. When he took the phone away from his ear, he let his arm drop to the side and stood frozen with a stunned look on his face.
“Everything alright?” Charity slipped quietly beside him.
His eyebrows furrowed together and he pressed his lips into a thin line as his Adam’s apple went down and up several times. He turned slightly and stared at her in stunning silence.
She did not know what to say or do. She went with her gut and just waited for him to speak.