Rattling the Heat in Deadwood

by Ann Charles

  The lock clicked and the door opened.

  Doc’s hair was wet and finger-combed, his T-shirt damp in spots, his jeans crisp. He smelled fresh out of the shower, soapy clean with a hint of cologne. “Violet? What are you doing here?” He looked over my shoulder at my parents, his smile polite. “I was about to head over to your aunt’s.”

  I nudged him aside and stepped inside, waving at my parents to follow. Doc shut the door behind us and leaned against it, his gaze guarded.

  “Doc.” I licked my cold lips, diving in headfirst. “These are my parents, Blake and Hope Parker.” I latched onto Doc’s arm, pulling him closer, and slid my arm around his waist. “Dad and Mom, this is Dane Nyce. You can call him ‘Doc.’ “ I smiled up at him, resting my hand on his chest. The feel of his steady heartbeat under my palm spurred me to take an even bigger step. “He’s the guy you’ve been hearing about from the kids, the one I’m in love with.”

  Doc’s eyes widened in surprise as he stared at me. Then he recovered and held out his hand to my dad. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Mr. Parker.”

  “It’s Blake.” My dad shook his hand. “Addy and Layne have been talking you up.”

  “Your grandkids are a lot of fun.” Doc sent me a sly smile. “I think your daughter is really swell, too.”

  I laughed at his echo of my own words of love from the other night and pinched his side, making him grin wider.

  My dad sent me a raised brow before focusing on Doc again. “How was jail?”

  Doc groaned. “It smelled like humiliation with a spritz of urine.” He focused on my mother, holding out his hand. “Mrs. Parker, you are as lovely as your daughter.”

  Mom’s smile filled her whole face. “You’re so young and normal.” She took his hand, leaning over to me. “He’s very tall and handsome,” she whispered to me but all could hear.

  “Mom, you said that out loud.”

  “Did I?” she giggled.

  I pulled Doc’s hand from hers, placing hers back down to her side. “Yes.”

  “Am I still talking out loud?”

  I grimaced at Doc. “She self-medicated with tequila today.”

  “Like mother, like daughter,” he said, catching my hand. The heat in his gaze when he raised my knuckles to his lips practically singed my split ends. Then he lowered my hand and focused on my parents again. “Would either of you like anything to drink?”

  “Yes, but we’ll have to take a rain check,” my father said. “The snow is really coming down and we need to hit the road.”

  Doc nodded. “I’m sorry I missed dinner.”

  Mom was still gawking at Doc. “He has a nice, strong jaw and very broad shoulders.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You’re still talking out loud, Mother.”

  “Violet explained the circumstances at the police station to us,” my dad said to Doc. “Had we known it would take so long to spring you, we would’ve come down and kept you company.” His gaze narrowed. “Out of curiosity, Doc, how many times have you been in jail now?”

  “Today was a first for me.”

  Dad smirked at me. “You’ve got him beat by far, Goldilocks.”

  “Funny, Dad. Ha ha.”

  Mom reached up and took Doc by the chin, turning his face to one side and then the other. “I bet he would make adorable babies,” she whispered nice and loud.

  “Mom!” My cheeks warmed. I knocked her hand away from Doc’s chin. “Your volume knob is broken.”

  “I don’t know, Hope.” Dad rubbed his jaw, sizing up Doc. “Do you think he’s the marrying type?” A grin teased the corners of his mouth.

  I nailed my dad with a knock-it-off squint.

  Dad snickered. “Layne says you have a nice car.”

  “It’s a ’69 Camaro SS,” I told Dad. “He rebuilt it himself.”

  “I had some help,” Doc said.

  “That’s not a nice car,” Dad said, “It’s sexy as hell.”

  “I had sex in a Camaro once,” my mother said and then hiccupped.

  “Mom! Please stop talking.”

  “Yes, you did, baby.” Dad chuckled, looking at her with that hubba-hubba glint in his eyes again. “Where do you think your brother was conceived, Goldilocks?”

  I recoiled. “Come on! Please stop talking about having S-E-X before I go blind.”

  “I like this one best, Violet.” Mom patted Doc’s chest as if we were picking out a new couch. “Wait.” She made a fist and knocked on Doc, listening for a couple of beats. “Yeah,” she turned to my dad. “He’s the real deal.”

  “This one?” Doc looked at me with raised eyebrows.

  “Mom got confused during my musical boyfriend game today, but I cleared it up after Dad punched Rex.”

  “I heard Zoe’s porch was ringside seating.”

  Dad squeezed his right hand slowly, grimacing. “I’ve been waiting to lay out that son of a bitch for over a decade.”

  Mom hiccupped again, bumping me to get my attention. “He has a sensual aura around him,” she said, circling her palm in front of Doc’s chest. “It reminds me of your father’s aura when the moon is full and he gets frisky.”

  “Oh, sweet Lord!”

  Doc chuckled, squeezing my hand. “Your parents are great.”

  Great at embarrassing me! My parents needed to say good-bye now and drive home before they said something even more mortifying. I walked over and opened the front door. “Oh, darn. The snow is coming down harder. You two had better go.”

  “I think that’s our cue to leave, baby,” Dad said, reaching for my mother’s arm.

  Before he caught her, Mom stumbled forward and wrapped her arms around Doc’s waist. She looked up at him, her smile bordering on goofy. “You promise to join us for Christmas, Doc?”

  Doc loosely hugged her, patting her back twice while staring at me. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

  I unwrapped my mother from Doc, leading her over to the door where my father waited. “Good-bye, Mom.” I kissed her cheek. “I’m sorry I drove you to drink today.”

  She blew a tequila-scented raspberry in my face, waving me off. “I’m so glad you’re not marrying Mr. Harvey. He’s a nice man, but just a teeny tiny bit too old for you.” She gave me a hug and kissed my nose like I was a dog. “Your doctor is a keeper. Don’t screw this up like you usually do, Violet.”

  “Thanks, Mom. Your words of wisdom are legendary as always.” I leaned her against the doorframe, turning to my dad.

  Before I could get a word out, he pulled me into a surprise hug. “You’re a good egg, Goldilocks.” He pushed me back, holding onto my shoulders as he stared down at me. “We need to talk about the occupational hazards that come with your latest career change.” His hazel gaze held a warning. “You’ve always been one hell of a scrapper, but this is tougher than anything you’ve tackled before.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say. He had to be referring to my executioner gig, but since my mom was leaning nearby, I couldn’t clarify. “Okay,” I said, frowning up at him.

  “Walk us out,” he added.

  I nodded.

  Doc shook my father’s hand again and closed the door behind us, leaving me to walk my parents out to the Blazer alone.

  “Be careful,” Dad said after settling Mom in the passenger side and shutting the door.

  I followed him around to his side. “You mean with Doc?”

  He shook his head. “With the others. Your aunt told me you’ve been enlightened about our family history.”

  “More like enlisted,” I muttered. “Better yet, drafted.”

  He hugged me tight, kissing the top of my head. “I don’t want to lose you.”

  “I don’t want to be lost.”

  “I’m here if you need me, Goldilocks. For anything. Anytime.”

  The husky emotion in his words made my eyes water, taking me back to childhood for a second or two. “Thanks, Daddy.”

  After planting a kiss on my forehead, he let me go and handed me the plate of le
ftovers my mom had made up for Doc. “I like him,” he said, thumbing toward Doc’s house.

  “Me, too.”

  “He sort of reminds me of your brother.”

  “Yeah.” I glanced over at the empty porch, deciding tonight was as good of a time as any to show my dad all of the cards I’d been holding close to my vest. “Except I don’t think Quint can interact with ghosts.”

  My dad stilled. “Really?” At my nod, his brows raised. “A medium?”

  “Good guess.”

  “Your aunt isn’t the only one who’s boned up on our family history.” Dad shoved his hands in his coat pockets. “Mental or physical?”

  I blinked, surprised at that question coming from my father. “Uh, a mental medium.”

  “Interesting. Does he know what you are?”

  “Yep.”

  “And he didn’t run?”

  “He’s sticking around. He’s determined to protect me and the kids.”

  “You don’t say?” Dad looked at Doc’s house. “Your mom is right. He’s a keeper. Don’t blow it this time,” he teased, tousling my hair. “Now get inside before you catch a cold.”

  Smiling, I returned to Doc’s porch, waving good-bye as my parents rolled off down the road. Doc held the door for me.

  “My mom made up a plate for you.” I handed it to him. “There’s plenty more at Aunt Zoe’s, but I brought it for you in case you were hungry.”

  “I am.” He set it on the side table where he kept his keys and wallet.

  I unzipped the red vest. “So what did Haw—”

  “For you.” He grabbed me by the vest lapels and hauled me against him, surprising a gasp out of me. His mouth took mine, seeking, needing, demanding. He backed me against the door, pressing his full length against me. His lips were soft, his body hard. When he rubbed against me, a rush of heat blasted clear to my boots.

  “Holy hell,” I whispered to the ceiling as he moved to my ear, licking, sucking, making me feel lightheaded. My body tightened south of my stomach, pleasure tempting just out of reach.

  “I want you, Violet,” he said, kissing the shell of my ear.

  I clung to his shoulders as the blood raced through my veins. “I noticed.”

  “I need you naked.”

  “Okay.” He’d get no fight from me.

  He pulled back, frowning down at me. “We’re not doing this against the front door. I don’t want any interruptions this time.”

  “Wherever. However.” I touched the front of his jeans. “I don’t care so long as you’re inside of me.”

  He palmed my hips, lifting me. “Wrap your legs around me.”

  I did, my arms, too. I clung to him as he carried me up the stairs, kissing his mouth, his jaw, his neck the whole way. He set me down in his bedroom, closing and locking the door behind us.

  I started to take off my vest.

  “Wait.” He held out his hand.

  “Why?’

  “Before you distract me, I need to tell you that I’m sorry.”

  I kept the vest on. “For what?”

  “Not being at your family dinner.”

  “It wasn’t your fault.”

  “It was.” He jammed his hands in his pockets. “I knew better, but I lost my temper. Coop had warned me that Hawke wouldn’t hesitate to use me to get back at you, and I fell into Hawke’s trap anyway.”

  “What happened?”

  “He insinuated you were screwing Coop, only he used much more derogatory terms for you, the screwing part, and Coop.”

  “You know Cooper and I are not …” I wrinkled my nose, not even able to voice it.

  “Yes.” He crossed his arms. “But Hawke came at me on two fronts simultaneously—you and my friend. It had double the impact and for some reason I snapped.”

  A protector through and through. Did Cooper realize what he had in Doc? Did I? I took a step toward him, wanting to touch him and show him that I did. “You’re only human, Doc.”

  He smirked as I drew near. “Coming from an executioner, I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or an insult.”

  I peeled off my vest, tossing it aside. “A compliment, trust me.” I paused to look at him, taking in his broad shoulders under his T-shirt, his strong arms crossed over his chest, his low-slung jeans riding on his hips, his long legs. “And one hell of a human, at that.”

  “You’re distracting me, Violet.”

  “I’m not touching you … yet.”

  “You don’t need to. Your eyes alone can flummox me.”

  “Is there something else you need to say, Doc, because I’m running out of patience.”

  “Yes. Thank you.”

  “For what?” I rubbed my hands together, planning my attack. “I haven’t even started.”

  “Bringing your parents to meet me. I know how much you wanted to keep me hidden.”

  Hidden? I looked up into his dark gaze. “Not hidden, Doc. That makes it sound like I’m ashamed of you, and that couldn’t be farther from the truth.”

  “Then besides your sister and her tendency to steal your boyfriends, why the hesitation? Your parents seem perfectly normal.”

  “Well, ‘normal’ is a word I like to use loosely when it comes to them, especially my mother.”

  He chuckled. “She’s funny.”

  “She was tipsy.”

  “Even better to make the first meeting less awkward.”

  I hesitated, not wanting to bare everything about my insecurities over Doc meeting my parents. But it was probably better to cough up the real reason I worried about his meeting them, since Christmas was around the corner. I’d have to go through it all over again when he showed up with me for what would probably be another family dinner catastrophe.

  “Here’s the thing, Doc.” I met his inquisitive gaze head on. “I didn’t want you to meet my parents because my mom has a broken filter and will let my past screwups when it comes to men slip out. She doesn’t have a lot of faith in my ability to find someone for the long term.” I licked my dry lips. “Or at least someone for longer than a month or two. But to give her some credit, she has good reason for her lack of faith. I have a history of loving and leaving guys before things get too serious.”

  “What is too serious?”

  “Me, standing here in your bedroom, being honest.”

  He nodded. “So your mom shares your past mistakes. That’s the past, not the present. I can handle that.”

  “Maybe you can, but I struggle with my dirty laundry being aired in front of anyone, especially the guy I’m trying like hell not to scare away.”

  “I have dirty laundry from the past, too, Violet. We all do.”

  “Yes, but you don’t have someone shouting through a megaphone about it from rooftops.”

  He chuckled. “True. Is that the only reason you didn’t want me to meet them?”

  I shook my head, swallowing a lump of cowardice and pushing on to the next wall I needed to break through on this truth journey.

  “I was worried about my dad.”

  “That he wouldn’t like me?”

  “No, that he would like you.”

  “And that’s bad because?”

  Shit, this was hard. I clung to Aunt Zoe’s words about my being different from Tiffany in Doc’s eyes. “My parents are old-fashioned. Don’t get me wrong. They have no problem with premarital sex or anything like that, but I haven’t introduced them to a man in my life besides Rex. I usually only tell them I am dating Mr. X or that I am no longer dating Mr. X, sometimes sharing the follies that come with my dating experiments.”

  “I’m the first guy they’ve met since Rex?”

  “Officially, yes.” I wrung my hands together, building up the courage to push through this last part.

  Don’t screw this up, a voice in my head said.

  You’re not helping, another said, shutting the other voice in a closet.

  “Doc, my dad is going to expect something of this.” I pointed back and forth between him and me.
>
  One of Doc’s eyebrows rose, but he said nothing, waiting.

  “He was good tonight.” I thought about Dad asking Mom if she thought Doc was marriage material. “Well, mostly good, because I told him to watch what he said to you. But when you go to Christmas, I can’t guarantee he’ll hold back. He’s sort of ornery that way.”

  He smiled. “That explains where you get it.”

  I gave him a pretend squint, and then went back to wringing my hands. “He’s going to expect a long-term commitment, even though you and I have only been dating for a little over four months.”

  “We aren’t dating, Violet.”

  I stilled. “We aren’t?”

  He shook his head. “The word dating implies that we are periodically going to movies, dinner, or other events. I’ve dated in the past. That is nothing like what we are doing here.”

  “What are we doing then?” To lighten the mood, I added, “Mating?”

  He chuckled. “I do enjoy the mating part, but that’s not what’s going on here.” He sobered, capturing my hands and tugging me closer. “You just introduced me to your parents as the guy you are in love with.”

  I winced, hiding my face in his chest. “I felt bad that you were stuck in jail all day because of me. I wanted them to understand that you were more to me than some guy I’m sleeping with every chance I get.”

  “Violet.” He cupped my cheeks, tipping my face up. “Why were you worried about me meeting your dad?”

  I bit my lip, lowering my lids for the plunge. “He’s going to …” I started in a whisper, and then paused to swallow. My heart hammered in my chest so hard it made my head pound. I forced myself to look into his eyes. “He’s going to talk about marriage.”

  Doc stared down at me, his face a blank slate. “And that’s a problem for you because … ?”

  “He’ll scare you off.”

  One dark eyebrow lifted. “So his talking about marriage isn’t a problem for you?”

  “Me?”

  “Yes, you’re the one who just told me you are a love ’em and leave ’em type of girl.”

  Oh, right. “No. That’s different.”

  “Why?”

  “Those other guys were … well, because you are … you.”

  His hands slid down to my shoulders. “So the problem is supposedly mine?”

  Supposedly? “Yes.”