The Vixen's Kiss

by Jackie Black

Puzzled by Lissa’s abrupt change of subject, Sonny nevertheless answered her question in the affirmative and then, warming to the subject, went on with more details about the article he and Ferris were writing.

  By the time he finished, they had arrived at Elizabeth’s darkened home, and she was congratulating herself on having made it through the evening without making any major slips.

  As Sonny brought the car to a stop in the driveway, she quickly put her hand on the door release, and half turned to Sonny at the same time.

  “Thank you for a lovely evening, Sonny,” she said more rapidly than was strictly polite. “I enjoyed it.” Which was the biggest lie she’d told all evening. “You needn’t walk me to the door. I . . .”

  “Of course I’ll walk you to your door, Lissa,” Sonny interrupted in a firm tone as he switched off the car engine. “Your house is dark. I’ll come in with you to make sure it’s safe.”

  “But . . . ,” Elizabeth started to protest, but Sonny was already climbing out his door, and by the time he reached her side of the car, she was resigned to allowing him to play the gentleman.

  He took her arm as they walked up the sidewalk to the front door, which didn’t help to steady her overwrought nerves, then took her key from her, opened the door, reached a hand inside to turn on the light, then handed the key back to her before they entered the house.

  “I’m sure everything is fine,” Elizabeth said in a strained tone when they were just inside the door. “I don’t hear anything, and anyway, we’ve never had trouble with burglars in this house.”

  “There’s always a first time.” Sonny refused to be dissuaded and after closing the door behind Elizabeth, he started off to make an inspection tour.

  Elizabeth followed him, trying to remember if there was anything lying around that might provoke awkward questions should Sonny see it. As far as she knew, downstairs, there was only the grand piano in the music room that had belonged to her mother and was now Danny’s. Upstairs was a different story, however, and Elizabeth blanched as she remembered the poster of the Freaky Foursome on the wall in Jay’s room, as well as the sheets of music paper scattered all over Danny’s.

  When Sonny eventually arrived at the base of the staircase, Elizabeth was in a state of near panic, and she hastily slid between him and the stairs.

  “Really, Sonny, this isn’t necessary,” she said, and now there was a definite quaver in her voice. “Please . . . just go home, all right?”

  She blushed at the rudeness of her suggestion, as well as the edge that had been in her voice when she’d made it. Sonny’s brows were up again, which she was beginning to realize meant that he was very curious . . . and perhaps suspicious?

  “I’m sorry, Sonny,” she said, projecting more weariness in her tone than she actually felt. “I’m just very tired. It’s been quite a while since I graduated from college, and I’ve been putting myself through a refresher course on all the things I’ll need to know for medical school, so if you don’t mind . . .”

  But Sonny was staring at her mouth in a way that made prickles of alarm run down Elizabeth’s spine, and she wondered if he’d heard a word she’d said.

  “You don’t look tired, Lissa,” he said softly, moving closer to rest his hands on her waist. Elizabeth couldn’t back away because her heels were up against the bottom step of the staircase. “You look absolutely lovely,” he added, and now his mouth was coming closer to hers.

  Elizabeth stood there, wracked by a combination of panic and enthrallment. Sonny’s eyes held hers now, and somehow she’d gotten trapped in that clear blue gaze to the point where she was frozen to the spot. And as his mouth came closer, the male scent of him washed over her and added to her state of enthrallment.

  “Lissa . . ,” he whispered a breath away from her lips. “I’ve never wanted to kiss a woman so much in my life as I want to kiss you right now.”

  At that, memory assaulted Elizabeth and her eyes widened into an expression of indignant shock, but it was too late. The instant the last word left Sonny’s mouth, he closed the distance between them and joined them in a kiss that fairly seared Elizabeth’s lips. It seared her memory, as well, cauterizing the wound Sonny had inflicted by reminding Elizabeth of the other kiss they’d shared. And this kiss had every bit as electric an effect on her.

  Sonny’s arms enfolded her, and since he’d opened his tuxedo jacket at some point, there was only his shirt and the thin material of Elizabeth’s blouse between them ... an ineffective barrier to the warmth of their upper bodies. Elizabeth suddenly felt as though she were being wrapped into a protective yet sense-riveting haven that was both safe and scorching.

  As Sonny’s mouth moved over hers, gently parting her lips to receive his tongue, she stayed frozen in an inner battle with her willpower. Her body was all too eager to participate in Sonny’s lovemak- ing. Her mind was trying with ever-decreasing effectiveness to talk her into behaving sensibly.

  Then Sonny’s right hand moved lower to Elizabeth’s left hip, pressing her with gentle firmness against the rising heat in his loins, and her mind abruptly lost the battle as her body caught fire from the contact. With complete spontaneity, she circled Sonny’s neck with her arms and leaned into him as she opened her mouth wider under his and met the thrust of his tongue with the welcome of her own.

  In answer to the spontaneous signal she’d given him, Elizabeth felt a brief shudder move through Sonny’s body and heard him make a stifled sound in his throat before he pulled her even tighter against him and his kiss became a great deal more demanding.

  The rhythm of Elizabeth’s heart increased and her body felt weightless and melting against the heat and muted strength of Sonny’s, while her senses came glowingly to life as though ignited into birth by the power of Sonny’s reaction to her.

  “Lissa . . . Lissa,” her name was a thickened caress coming from Sonny’s throat as he moved his lips back and forth against hers, moistening her mouth with his tongue before beginning another deep kiss that completed Elizabeth’s absorption in the wonder of what was happening.

  She was a willing partner in the lovemaking now. Her mouth didn’t just follow Sonny’s lead, but provoked action . . . her hands were thrust into the thickness of his hair on the back of his neck, guiding him as much as Sonny led . . . her body thrust tantalizingly of its own will against the pressure of his, yet allowed the molding of his hands as though helpless to resist.

  “Lissa, let me love you,” Sonny grated huskily during the infinitesimal interval between one kiss and another. “God, you don’t know how much I want this . . .”

  During the kiss that followed his last words, Elizabeth groggily fought for the clarity of mind to answer his plea. As involved as she was in the power of the physical reaction Sonny had provoked in her, a thin line of common sense remained to caution her not to be guided by the lusts of her body. Sonny unknowingly strengthened the thread by ceasing his unrelenting assault on her mouth.

  “Lissa, please, darling . . . ,” he murmured thickly as he kissed the corners of her mouth, then her cheeks, her eyes, her throat. “Don’t send me away. I’m past thought . . . past sense. I want you so badly—”

  When he would have seized her mouth again, Elizabeth barely had the strength to turn her head away lest she get caught again in the trap of unthinking response.

  “I want you, Sonny . . . ,” she admitted on a weak gasp as Sonny’s lips seared the tender underside of her jaw. “. . . but . .

  Sonny’s fevered kisses stilled, and he raised a hand to turn Elizabeth’s cheek so that she was forced to look into his eyes.

  “You can’t mean it . . . ,” he whispered through a groan of disbelief. “You have to feel as strongly about this as I do.”

  Elizabeth blinked at him hazily through the fog of her arousal. His words and tone had touched her heart, and the look of almost tortured desire in his eyes was almost impossibly hard to disappoint.

  Opening her eyes wider in an unconscious plea, she murmured, “Sonny
, it’s too soon?” She was somehow unsurprised when the protest came out as a question rather than a statement.

  And then she went still as she saw that Sonny was staring into her eyes with an expression of puzzlement, as though he were trying to place something in his mind.

  It couldn’t have been more clear to Elizabeth what he was trying to sort out if he’d thundered the words into her ear.

  Acting on complete instinct, Elizabeth immediately lowered her eyelids and turned her head away at the same moment as she moved her hands to press against Sonny’s shoulders. She would have stepped back if there had been room.

  “Sonny, you must go,” she said shakenly and attempted to move sideways out of his arms.

  “Lissa, wait!” In an automatic desire to persuade Lissa to let him love her, Sonny’s mind immediately switched from the attempt to place where he’d seen eyes like Lissa’s before, to the more immediate problem he faced. “We can’t let this end like this.”

  Elizabeth moved her hands down to Sonny’s, which were holding her waist. “Let me go, Sonny,” she said with quiet firmness, still with her head down. “I’m not ready for this.”

  Instead of letting her go, Sonny enfolded her in his arms again with gentle firmness, but he didn’t attempt to kiss her. He merely rested his cheek against her hair.

  “I don’t understand, Lissa,” he said softly. “I know what you were feeling . . . you wanted me as much as I want you. You admitted it.”

  Elizabeth felt wracked by the decision Sonny was forcing her to make. Why did he have to come into her life again right now, she wondered bitterly. And why was she so certain that if he knew the truth about the role she’d once played, he was the one who would be attempting to end this episode between them?

  “But I can’t allow myself to be sidetracked right now, Sonny. I explained that to you!” she said a little desperately as she gently pushed at his shoulders to make him let her go. “I just can’t, Sonny. Please understand.”

  But Sonny didn’t understand. After all, he and Caroline had been married while he was going through medical school. It wasn’t easy, but it certainly wasn’t impossible to combine love and the preparation for a medical career!

  He attempted to make her look at him again, but Lissa wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Lissa, this doesn’t make sense,” he said firmly. “I’ve been there, remember?”

  “But you’re a man,” she said quickly. “It’s easier for a man.” Sonny frowned impatiently. “Perhaps at one time, but not now, Lissa,” he objected. “The old prejudices aren’t as strong as they used to be. And you have advantages that other women may not have, don’t you? You don’t keep this place up by yourself, do you?”

  He moved away from her enough to gesture at the house, and Elizabeth immediately freed herself from his grasp altogether, turned her back and started walking toward the living room.

  Sonny watched her without attempting to follow for a moment, his expression baffled and increasingly stormy. He was stumped for the time being. How was a man supposed to react to a woman who kissed him with all the fervor he could want, then backed off?

  The only thing Sonny was absolutely positive about was that he had no intention of backing off himself. He couldn’t. Lissa was the woman he’d been waiting for since he’d lost Caroline, even if he hadn’t known consciously what he was doing, and now that he’d found her, he wasn’t about to lose her.

  He followed her to the living room, firming his jaw when he saw that she was waiting by the front door, obviously intending that he leave right away. He approached her and stood in front of her with his hands on his hips.

  “Lissa,” he said with quiet firmness, “I don’t pretend to know what ro make of the contradictions in your behavior tonight, but I’ll tell you something, and I mean it like I’ve never meant anything before ...”

  Elizabeth lifted her head to give him one brief, wary glance before she turned her eyes away again.

  “There’s something pulling us together, Lissa,” Sonny said with quiet fervor. “Something special. Something that’s rare enough, no one but a fool would ignore it. And I don’t think you’re a fool, Lissa,” Sonny added less fervently. “I think you feel what I feel . . . want what I want. And for that reason, I can’t walk away from you the way you’re pretending you want me to . . .”

  “I’m not pretending!” Elizabeth quickly raised her head and spoke up.

  But the anxious look in her eyes, the lack of total conviction in her voice, the fact that she was twisting her hands together in an outward expression of the conflicting emotions that rode her, convinced Sonny that he was right.

  “Lissa . . .” He shook his head with frustration. Then his expression firmed, and his eyes were steady as he said, “It isn’t going to work, Lissa. I can’t let you do this. There’s too much potential for the two of us to have . . . everything we want.”

  Elizabeth wanted to rage at him for his arrogant dismissal of her wishes. Except that she knew she was giving him conflicting signals. She wanted to plead with him to accept her decision not to see him again without having to explain the reasons behind that decision. Except that every time she looked at him, her resolve wavered. And as he reached out a hand to her, she knew that if he touched her again, her resolve would collapse altogether.

  “Don’t, Sonny!” she said on a half-groan of protest as she stepped back away from his uplifted hand.

  She knew an instant later that her behavior had been too revealing once again. Sonny’s warm, understanding smile told her so. And then he closed the distance between them, and he caught her face between his hands and searched her eyes for an affirmation of the truth he already knew.

  The only defense Elizabeth had was to close her eyes. But when she did, Sonny gently kissed the lids. Then he closed his mouth over hers and slowly, expertly coaxed the reaction he wanted from her.

  When the kiss was over, Elizabeth was unable to keep from opening her eyes to stare helplessly at him, knowing as she did so that he was seeing exactly what he wanted to see in her clouded gaze.

  “You can’t pretend anymore, darling,” he murmured with gentle amusement in his deep voice. “And take my advice. Don’t ever try to play poker with eyes like that. You’ll lose everything in no time.”

  He kissed her cheek, then let her go and moved to put his hand on the doorknob. “I’ll call you tomorrow, Lissa,” he said with quiet confidence, “and let you know what time I’m picking you up for dinner.”

  And before Elizabeth could utter another halfhearted protest, he was through the door and gone, leaving her to stare after him with resentful bewilderment.

  Chapter Nine

  The next morning, Elizabeth woke feeling irritable with herself for letting things go as far with Sonny as they had.

  Why is it that men thinks they have a right to run my life to their satisfaction instead of my own? she asked herself half angrily as she dressed for church. First Danny sidetrack? me and now Sonny wants to do the same!

  After her first cup of coffee, however, she calmed down a little and admitted to herself that it wasn’t Sonny’s intention to steer her away from medical school ... he simply wanted her to let him into her life. And she could hardly blame him for dismissing her words about not wanting to get involved with him when her actions had told him exactly the opposite.

  She frowned as she recalled how vivid her physical reaction tc Sonny had been both times he’d kissed her. Even thinking about il sent a flush of heat through her body. But that was nothing to base a relationship on! Especially when she was positive that Sonny wasn’t the sort of person who would regard her brief career as the Vixen with equanimity. He was, in fact, exactly the type of physician she’d had in mind when she’d decided it would be wise to keep her role as the Vixen a secret from the medical community.

  As she drove to church a while later, Elizabeth found herself becoming more and more indignant over the necessity for such subterfuge. She knew the Foursome’s musical talents—especi
ally Danny’s— to be on a par with any symphony orchestra. Yet because they preferred to perform ballads and soft rock rather than classical music, their musical credentials weren’t considered legitimate.

  And it wasn't just the act I put on in my dressing room that night that made Sonny think. of the Vixen as little better than a tramp, she thought grimly. He disapproves of the Vixen on principle because she doesn’t sing opera and dresses outlandishly. And since he feels that way, I can’t imagine why he came backstage to see me in the first place!

  The church service soothed her temper, but on the drive back home, Elizabeth faced the fact that no matter what Sonny Strotherton made her feel when he kissed her, they had nothing more going for them than physical attraction to make it worthwhile to see more of him.

  “I’ll go to dinner with him tonight, all right,” she muttered to herself irritably, “but when the evening’s over, I’ll make things clearer to him than I obviously managed to do last night and end this thing once and for all!”

  Sonny took Mrs. Mullins aside before he and Maggie left for church and informed her that Lissa was coming to dinner and that he wanted it to be special.

  Mrs. Mullins gave him a wryly amused look. “I’ll do my best for you, Doctor,” she said, “but if you really want the evening to be special, perhaps you ought to send Maggie over to a friend’s house for dinner.”

  Sonny’s smile said he was ruefully aware of the problem. “She does have a way of putting a damper on things, doesn’t she,” he acknowledged, “and I’m aware she thinks it’s worked for her before. But this time, she’s going to have to learn to adjust, Mrs. Mullins,” he said confidently. “Lissa Farrell is different.”

  Mrs. Mullins gave him a skeptical look, then shrugged. “I hope you’re right, Doctor,” she said doubtfully, then went to the freezer to see what there was to cook for a special dinner.

  On the drive to church, Sonny matter-of-factly informed Maggie that Lissa was coming to dinner that night.