by Janice Lynn
If a man saved your life, did you allow him privileges you swore you’d never grant another? Was that why she was questioning herself so much?
“You want to go with me to Connor’s fundraiser tonight?” Karen asked from beside her. “You’ll have fun, plus it’s a great cause and I could really use your help. He’s making me work one of the game booths.”
Connor was Karen’s boyfriend. Her roommate had started dating the high-school principal a couple of months prior to Madison’s move to Angel Creek.
“Sure, I’ll go.” She stood, toyed with the earpieces of her stethoscope, feeling more and more claustrophobic under her friends’ watchful gazes. “I need to go and check on Mr. Watson in 220.”
“Weren’t you just in there?”
“I promised I’d return when I finished with my other patients.”
Karen shook her head. “See, that’s why you’re such a great nurse. You go above and beyond.”
Above and beyond. Was that what escaping more discussions about Levi was called these days?
Levi finished his patient rounds, but rather than go home he lingered, waiting to bump into Madison. It was Friday night and he wanted to see her.
Outside the hospital.
Hell, he’d wanted to see her all week, but his father had made his life impossible. Was anything in regard to Jonathan Fielding not impossible?
Levi sighed. How had he let his father talk him into this? How did Jonathan ever talk him into anything? You’d think after the hell the man made his childhood, he’d hate the scumbag. At times, he’d swear he did. At others he just didn’t know.
How could you love someone who’d taken you away from the mother who’d been your whole world? Especially since his father had only wanted him to send him off to private boarding school. He’d spent more time with his mother during the six weeks he’d gone to the lake house with her and his grandfather than he’d spent with his father all year.
But that was in the past and at his mother’s pleading he’d tried to forgive his father. He still hadn’t come to terms with how his father had hit his mother. Likely never would.
Which made his father’s latest project hit too close to home. Way too close to home. He’d somehow—probably through a generous donation—convinced the hospital to sponsor a family abuse center. One that would bear his mother’s name.
To see his father talk so freely with the committee about how he’d once been a victim of abuse and how that had led him to abuse had sickened Levi. He’d known, but had blocked much of that from his mind. It was the only way he could deal with the man who’d fathered him.
But this week had been hellish. Normally Jonathan preferred big city lights to Angel Creek’s small-town atmosphere. Levi preferred it that way. Jonathan’s presence here had thrown a major wrench in Levi’s plans to woo Madison into a real relationship.
First when he’d shown up unannounced and demanded Levi’s presence on Monday evening to meet with the hospital assembly he’d put together and then every night since as he’d put Levi in charge of a grand opening fundraiser event.
How was he supposed to have a real relationship with Madison when his father had gobbled up his free time?
Then there was Madison’s text message. What had that been about? Texting had just been a quick easy way to let her know his plans had changed. Should he have called? Maybe, but he’d been disgusted at his father’s unannounced visit and she’d been at work. He hadn’t thought she’d appreciate getting a personal call. Text messages were easy in that the person could take a look and respond whenever convenient. Madison had responded all right.
She wanted him for sex and nothing more, so what did it matter how he canceled their plans? Only, he wanted more.
Which left him in unknown territory.
He should just go home, figure out what he was going to do about dear old dad, and forget all about Madison and how good she’d felt in his arms last Saturday. Should forget about how easy she’d been to talk to. Should forget about how much he wanted her crying out his name in passion.
He should definitely forget that. Despite her snippy text, Madison wanted him. Eventually she’d have him and then what? Would she call it quits? Would he?
When he saw her come out of a patient room, a big smile on her face, he had his answer. When they did come together it was going to be explosive and all-consuming and something he’d want to repeat again and again.
He intercepted her path. Reaching her, he turned his back to the nurses’ station to somewhat shield them from any potential prying eyes. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything he could do about anyone who came up the hallway from the opposite direction short of dragging Madison into a patient room, and none of the nearby ones were empty.
“Dr. Fielding?” she said in a raspy, breathless voice.
“Have plans for tonight?” he asked nonchalantly, although the way her big green eyes shot to his and were now searching his made him feel anything but. What did she hope to see? “I’d like to cash in that rain-check and promise not to cancel via text, call, or in person.”
Madison’s lower lip half disappeared between her teeth as she gnawed it nervously. “Yes, I do.”
Levi didn’t bother trying to define the strong and vividly green emotion that gurgled through his gut. He didn’t have to. Jealousy. Just because he couldn’t recall the last time he’d felt the emotion, it didn’t mean he didn’t know exactly what it was.
Madison had plans. Who was he kidding? She probably always had plans with one man or another.
“Something you can break?” he kept his tone casual, cool, not as if her having other plans was any big deal.
“I can’t. Not tonight.” Lowering her gaze, she shook her head. “It’s not that I wouldn’t like to spend time with you, but I…” She hesitated, shifted her weight, looked more nervous than like a take-charge playgirl. “Well, I really do have other plans.” Her chest puffed out a little defensively, her brow arching with defiance. “You should have asked sooner.”
She was right. He should have. And maybe he would have if she hadn’t been avoiding him and his father hadn’t been driving him crazy. Who did she have plans with?
“Are you working tomorrow?” His dentist would have a fit at how his teeth gnashed against each other, but his old drama teacher would have been pleased at how he kept his expression unconcerned, kept a smile on his lips. Mr. Miller could have had a seat and let him teach the class if he’d been this proficient back in the day.
“I’m not on schedule for tomorrow.” Madison’s gaze dropped and her weight shifted, letting him know she wasn’t quite as in control as she wanted him to think. “Why?”
“Want to go fishing?” He wasn’t sure where that had come from. He’d thought he was going to invite her to dinner the following evening, not ask her to go fishing. Fishing was his way of staying sane, his few stolen hours of just relaxing, being at one with nature and enjoying life. No fuss, no muss, no stress. He didn’t take dates. That was his time and after the week he’d had he definitely needed “his time”.
“Fishing?” She blinked, clearly shocked by the invitation. Good, that made two of them. She stared up at him with eyes as wide as saucers and her lush pink lips parted in surprise.
“Yep,” he said, able to tell that she was trying to determine if he was serious. Although he shouldn’t like the idea of someone invading his R & R time, the thought of spending the morning with Madison wasn’t a bad one. If he was ever going to take a woman with him, he couldn’t think of anyone he’d rather it be. And wasn’t he trying to prove to her that a committed relationship between them could be good? “Fishing.”
“I don’t know how to fish.” She didn’t sound thrilled at the prospect of learning, either.
“Not a problem,” he assured her, chuckling at her wary expression and enjoying himself more than he would have thought possible just minutes ago. “I’ll teach you.”
“Well, if you’re sure…” her lips curved
upwards, power-kicking him in the solar plexus “…I’d like to go with you.”
Yeah, he would like that, too.
CHAPTER SIX
WAY too early the following morning, something tugged hard against Madison’s fishing pole and the line went tight, pulling in the opposite direction from her. Her pole snapped forward, bending from the pressure.
“Look!” She jumped up and down while firmly hanging onto her rod. “I’ve got something. Look!” Realizing that the pull was more than she’d anticipated, she took a few steps toward the bank. “Levi! Help me!”
“Hang on tight,” he said, laughing as he stood. Setting his slack pole down on the side of the bank overlooking the lake, Levi wrapped his arms around her, placed his hands over hers and guided her to the reel handle.
“You’ve got him hooked, babe, now reel him in,” he encouraged, demonstrating the correct motion.
Did he have any idea what his hand over hers was doing to her concentration? She’d completely lost interest in the fish and wanted to hook Levi and reel him in instead.
“Nice and easy, but not giving him any slack.” His hands went to her waist, steadying her, pressing against her belly, letting her test her newly acquired fishing skills.
How was she supposed to concentrate with him wrapped around her like Christmas paper? With his spicy aftershave wiping out every brain cell she had with the power of its potency?
“Stand your ground,” he ordered when she took a step forward. Away from him or toward the fish? She wasn’t sure but, leaning back against him again, she dug her feet in.
“Good girl.”
Despite the heat already bathing the morning, she shivered. Wow, but his mouth was close to her ear.
“Reel him in, babe.” Babe? Levi had just called her babe again. Did that mean anything or was she just totally pathetic?
“You get too much slack in the line and he’s going to get loose.”
Yeah, she was supposed to be catching a fish, not having the breath leaning against him stolen from her. Biting her lower lip, she cranked the handle, surprised at how much resistance she met.
“That’s perfect,” he praised, still standing so close she could feel the sinewy hardness of his abs, his chest, so close she could now smell the fresh scent of soap mingled with his aftershave.
Soap made her think of sponge baths.
Right back to no functioning brain cells, she groaned.
“You’re doing fine,” he reassured her, obviously misreading her groan. “With this much fight, he must be a doozy.”
Judging by the pull against her rod, she’d guess she’d snagged a whale. Well, whatever the largest freshwater fish was, that was what she’d hooked.
A prize fish. A monster fish. A—
“That’s not a fish,” she unnecessarily pointed out when her line cleared the water and she almost dropped her pole.
“Nope,” Levi agreed, laughing, his body shaking against hers in a way that sent tingles through her. “That’s a turtle who stole your bait.”
The turtle, which was about the size of a small plate, eyed her, its ugly head stretched upwards. “What do I do with him?”
She hadn’t wanted to catch a turtle. Seeing the creature dangling haphazardly from the line, she wasn’t so sure she wanted to catch a fish either. Poor thing.
“We’ll cut him free.” Levi took the bowed over pole from her, reeled in most of the line, and freed the turtle.
Moving at a much faster pace than Madison would have thought a turtle capable of, the animal made a bee-line for the lake. Weren’t turtles notoriously slow?
“What about the hook?” What about wrapping your arms back around me because I really liked that? I also liked how your body felt pressed against mine. Could we do that again too, please?
Levi shook his head. “That’s a snapping turtle, Madison. Meaning he snaps anything that gets close to his mouth. My fingers weren’t going near his mouth and neither were yours.”
“Will the hook kill him?” She hated the thought of having harmed some defenseless turtle. Well, almost defenseless. After all, he did have his snaps.
“Not likely.” Catching her distraught look, he added, “He’ll be fine.”
She winced, positive the turtle would prefer not to have bling in its jaw.
“I’m not sure I’m cut out for fishing,” she admitted, her stomach feeling a little queasy.
“No fish, no dinner. That’s the rule.” He handed her pole back to her. “Hold this while I tie another hook to your line. If you play your cards right…” he waggled his brows “…I’ll even bait it for you again.”
If she had been playing her cards right, he’d be more concerned about catching her than some hungry, unsuspecting fish. Was that why she’d agreed to come today? To try her hand at catching him one more time? Canceling her plans with Karen had been on the tip of her tongue the night before. Only seeing the flare in Levi’s eyes had kept her silent.
“As if I’d eat some poor fish I dragged from the lake anyway,” she muttered, taking the rod and reel and glaring at the device. “I may never eat fish again.”
He threw his head back in laughter. She held the pole, not sure she would cast the line but watching Levi meticulously thread the hook and tie the neatest knot she’d ever seen.
“Were you a Boy Scout?”
Grinning, he glanced up, his eyes sparkling with mischief. “Do I look like a Boy Scout?”
There wasn’t a thing boyish about Levi. He was all man.
“Maybe,” she answered anyway, not looking away from the temptation of his face, the seduction of his eyes.
“Honey, they would have kicked me out of the Boy Scouts for bad behavior.”
Honey. How pathetic that her heart hiccupped at his use of the endearment?
“Seriously?” She quirked her brow at him. “They kick kids out of the Boy Scouts?”
“I’ve no idea.” He shrugged, hooked another fat, wiggly earthworm that she refused to touch, and let go of the line. Reaching out, he rinsed his hands off in the lake water, then dried them on his faded jeans. “I was never a Scout, but I did spend my summers fishing with my granddad. Do you want to cast the line or for me to toss her out for you?”
Let’s see, the last time she’d cast the line for herself, Levi had wrapped his arms around her and helped her go through the body mechanics step by step. Decisions. Decisions.
“I’d like to try casting the line again.”
“Want me to walk you through it?”
Um, yeah, she would. Would he think the heat emanating off her face was from the midmorning sun or would he see right through her?
“Please.”
Standing from where he’d knelt, he wrapped his arms around her, helped reel up the line until just the right amount dangled free. He positioned her hands just so, helped her press against a button and turned her on. Definitely, he turned her on.
“When you move forward to cast the line, let go. That releases the line,” he reminded, still standing right behind her but moving his hands to her waist.
No distraction there. No, siree.
Knowing she couldn’t just melt into a puddle at his feet without raising a few questions, she mentally walked through the steps he’d shown her earlier, then reared back, sprang the pole forward and moved her thumb off the release button at the same time.
The baited hook plopped down on the ground in front of them.
“That’s not where I meant for that to go.” Although it wouldn’t have been a bad plan since failure meant his arms back around hers, positioning the pole at the right angle.
“I figured that,” he teased, his solid body shifting behind hers. “Now, reel up the slack in your line and try again.”
She did. The worm landed about ten feet from the bank, the bobber bouncing around at the water surface. She turned to smile up at Levi and her breath caught.
He’d been breathing in the scent of her hair. His eyes had been closed.
; And, holy smoke, he’d gone hard against her.
Maybe she would melt into a puddle at his feet whether she wanted to or not.
When his double-chocolate eyes opened, she wanted to overdose on the sweetness of the moment, on the way he was looking at her. She wanted his lips on hers, wanted to know if he tasted as wonderful as he looked. She wanted to wrap her arms around his neck and tangle her fingers into his dark locks, hold him to her forever.
Seconds passed. Longer.
“Levi?”
He blinked, put his hands on her upper arms, hesitated a mere second, then set her away to pick up his pole off the ground.
What the…? Disappointment washed through her, wave after frustrated wave. Were all the rumors about him wrong? Did all those women just make up tales about his sexual prowess because they’d grown frustrated by his lack of initiative? Maybe he hadn’t slept with any of them.
“Are you gay?”
He jerked his head toward her. “What? Hell, no!” He straightened to his full height, his shoulders more square than normal. “What kind of question is that?” He snorted, clearly upset at her question. “I like women, Madison.”
“Because I’d swear you wanted to kiss me, that you were going to kiss me. Obviously, you didn’t. Maybe you just want to be my friend. Is that it?”
“I do want to be your friend.”
Friends. What every crazy-about-a-man woman wanted to hear. Friends. The kiss of death. She felt like the poor turtle, capable of snapping but scurrying away hooked. Could she really have been so wrong about the way he’d looked at her?
“That’s all you want from me?” She pinned him with her gaze, daring him to look away. “Friendship?”
He didn’t look away, but he didn’t look happy either. He raked his fingers through his hair, sighed. “No.”
Finally. They were getting somewhere.
“No, friendship isn’t all you want from me or, no, you don’t want more from me than friendship?” Where was her nerve coming from? She’d never confronted Simon like this. Not until the very end. Not until she’d been made the laughing stock of the hospital for months on end by his cheating heart.