He dropped onto one knee as she sat on the edge of her bed, and took her hand, looking sincerely into her eyes. “How can I pity you when I love you? All I see when I look at you is the most beautiful human being I’ve ever met.”
She went still. He knew everything and he still wanted her.
Without another word he turned her hand over and kissed her palm, then her wrist, sending warm ribbons up her arm. He eased up the long sleeve of her robe, and she didn’t fight him. Wouldn’t. She had nothing else to hide. He knew her story, what he was getting into, what he’d find—scars, scars, and more scars.
It didn’t matter anymore.
He feathered kisses up the inside of her arm, stopping at the delicate spot in the bend of her elbow, taking his time, giving her undivided attention there. Contrary to what she’d believed about her scars all these years, she wasn’t numb but felt every touch of his lips as he burned his way north.
Prickles tiptoed on nerve endings, up her body, erupting into tingles on the back of her neck and across her shoulders. Her breasts tightened. The natural-as-breathing response made her dare to believe again. She smiled just as Mitch’s eyes drifted upward. Their gazes held and melded, and, as sure as she’d ever been about anything, she knew he still wanted her. From his smoldering stare, the message was loud and clear that he couldn’t live one more second without making love to her.
She wiped the stale tears from her eyes and basked in these new feelings, her anxiety and doubt seeping out, the leftover resistance vaporizing one touch at a time. He released what was left of her clutch on the spa robe and slid it off, first one shoulder then the other, kissing the base of her neck, the top of her arm, the webbed white scars on her breastbone. And, yes, alive again, she felt all of it.
Grace held her breath, waiting for him to change his mind.
Instead, he cupped her jaw with one hand, fingered a clump of her hair with the other, and stared her down as if she belonged to him. “You’re beautiful.” His mouth bussed hers. “So beautiful.”
He caressed her breast, gently lifting, admiring—kissing her there. And there. Making her almost believe she was beautiful.
She dug her fingers into his thick dark hair, as she’d longed to so many times before, and pulled his head to her chest. Feeling his breath against her skin, she savored the moment. He found her nipple, flicked with his tongue then kissed it, tugging lightly, releasing another wave of chills she wasn’t prepared for.
She liked feeling unprepared, her head swimming with sensation.
She kissed his head, inhaling the rich sent of his hair, getting lost in the feel of his hands as they explored her ribs, her waist. Her belly. He didn’t act like a man horrified by her scars—or a man who pitied her. The lights were on. He could see it all. And he seemed to worship her, like a man in love.
She let go of the last frayed threads of resistance, finally believing and trusting him, loving him back.
Now Grace wanted nothing more than to see Mitch as bare as she was. She bracketed his jaw with her hands and planted a deep kiss on his mouth then pulled his shirt up and over his head. He cooperated fully. Fire flamed in his eyes as he realized she planned to make love to him.
She ran her palms down his chest, loving the feel of his muscles and the light swatch of brown hair along his breastbone, admiring his broad shoulders and strength of him. He was nothing short of gorgeous.
They flew back to kissing like they’d starve if they didn’t. Her breasts pressed firmly against his chest, magnifying the heat between them, igniting a fire much deeper inside.
Midkiss she found the drawstring to his scrubs and loosened it, working the thin fabric over his narrow hips, discovering thick muscled thighs and a large bulge in his briefs. His briefs were black, and she liked that, but right now all they did was get in the way. She couldn’t wait to tug them down, to see him.
Gone. Finally they were gone, and his full erection felt hard and heavy in her hand. His musky scent made her head spin.
As she explored the smooth skin of his shaft, he cupped her mound, soon discovering how alive and damp she’d become under his attention. Hot and antsy, she squirmed against his palm. A finger dipped inside. She moved against him.
Now her scent mingled with his and nothing would turn them back from sex. She wanted him more than breath and life. They held each other tight and stretched out on the bed. His mouth burned its way down to her stomach while his fingers worked her into frenzy. Soon his mouth replaced his hand, bringing a gentler, deeper touch, driving her wild with long, luxurious pressure. He squeezed her hips, dropping the gentleness and going deep, soon overpowering her. So under his spell, she came quickly and hard, rocking with the energy jetting up her spine and out to her toes.
She gasped her pleasure. “Cooper!” He squeezed her hips tighter, not letting up with his mouth until he’d wrung her to the core.
She thought she’d nearly died, and surely this must be what heaven was like, free-floating over the bed in ecstasy for several long, intense moments.
When he was satisfied she’d completed her orgasm he rose, grabbed her and wrapped her legs around his waist. “I like it when you call me Cooper.”
They grinned at each other and crashed onto the mattress with him landing back first, her on top. He smiled proudly, as if he’d just staked a claim, and she belonged to him to do with as he wished. She laughed and shook her head, completely intoxicated by his charm and amazing skills. Take me, Cooper. I’m yours.
She shifted her position, wiggled around his erection and clenched the insides of her thighs, rising up to the tip then back down. He groaned. Looked gorgeous doing it, too. “Please tell me you’ve got condoms.”
She went still, wanting to throttle herself. Never in a million years had she ever thought she’d need them in London.
A sexy, though impish expression popped up on his face. “No problem. Hand me my wallet.”
Though relieved, she lifted a brow. “For emergencies?” She dug out his wallet from his scrub pocket and handed it to him.
“Been carrying these babies around since the night I met you in the pod.” He flashed a victorious grin and handed the first condom to her to do the honors. She laughed again, throaty and natural, marveling at how he always managed to make her lighten up, even now during sex. She couldn’t remember ever feeling this relaxed around a man, even before her injuries.
She loved the feel of him as she slid on the condom, firm and throbbing under her touch. She loved the round sponginess of the rest of his assets, too, and stopped to enjoy the full package. He obviously liked that, growing high and tight from her touch.
The deed done, with condom in place she straddled him, guiding him inside while still raw from her orgasm. Immediately she lit up with heat and amazement at having Mitch inside her.
They joined tightly, slowly, easing into each other. She stretched around him, and though she was on top he soon took over the speed and rhythm, bumping up against her, prodding her passion—at this point she needed only minimal prodding.
He moved slowly and gently, then faster and firmer. She leaned her hands on his chest for balance and met every thrust, heat simmering and spreading up to her hips and fanning across her lower back. Frantic to increase the pleasure, she took back control, forcing him deeper, and working him over her most sensitive spots.
Lost in his body and all it offered, she threw her head back and panted with bliss, wanting the thrills to go on and on. His full, steel-like response took her to the edge, held her there suspended in unbelievable passion for what seemed like forever, until she clutched in another orgasm. Eyes tight, shimmering lights behind her lids, matching the fireworks ripping through her body, she collapsed over him.
Catching her, he rolled her onto her back and drove her further and further. His strength grew and forged on. She wrapped her legs tightly around his waist, urging him closer and closer still, feeling his pistonlike passion power on. A groan accompanied a millisecond falter
in his pace—“Ahhh, Gracie”—just before he gave it all, pulsating and pumping into her.
They couldn’t possibly be any closer than at this moment—she holding him tight, he resting on her chest, breathing like he’d run a sprint.
Scars were the last thing on her mind.
Only one thought had taken up resident there.
Love.
Gracie had fallen hopelessly in love with Cooper.
CHAPTER NINE
THE CELL PHONE blared. Grace rubbed her eyes to help her wake up and checked the clock: 2:00 a.m. A second cell phone buzzed from somewhere nearby, the sound unfamiliar. She reached for her phone. Ethan Hunter’s name flashed on the screen.
“Hello?” she said.
“Hello?” Mitch echoed her response after fumbling in the dark for his cell phone, though he whispered.
Surprise gripped Grace for an instant, thinking maybe everything they’d done last night had been a dream. But, no, Mitch was there … in the flesh.
“Grace, this is Ethan.” She clicked back into the moment and away from the gorgeous man sharing her bed. She’d had very little interaction with Ethan since she’d arrived, other than the one surgery, and needed time to focus on his early-morning call.
“Oh, uh, yes. Hello, Ethan.”
“Sorry for the late call, but I tried to call Mitch and he isn’t home. I wanted to let you know that our first Fair Go patient, Telaye Dereje, just arrived from Ethiopia a few hours ago. He’s at the Lighthouse.”
She heard Mitch talking quietly behind her. “Okay, Roberta. Thanks for letting me know. I’ll call him right back.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful,” she replied to Ethan.
“The thing is his injuries are more extensive than we first thought.”
Her heart wrenched over the poor ten-year-old child who’d had part of his face blown off in an explosion.
“I’ve managed to schedule theater time and I’ll be joining you and Mitchell there. By the way, I can’t reach him. Have you any idea where he might be?”
“Oh.” Well, what should she say now? Mitch might not want anyone to know about them. “I’ll try to call him as soon as I hang up.”
“Thanks. We’ve scheduled Telaye for seven a.m.”
“I’ll be there by five. That should give me time to go over his records. We can discuss our approach then. Are you at the hospital now?”
“Yes. Now that I know Telaye is stable, I’m going to take a quick nap. See you soon, then.”
“Thanks, Ethan, for pushing this surgery along. I look forward to working with you.”
“Same here.” He hung up.
She glanced at Mitch, who looked sheepish for a nanosecond before pulling her into his arms for some kissing. “I hear you have a message for me?”
She kissed him back. “Yes, Mr. Cooper.” She decided to attempt her fledgling British accent. “You’re wanted in Theater at seven.”
His devilish smile excited her. “Great. That gives us some time to play.”
Their bodies crashed together for some quick, hot, early-morning sex before they napped contentedly in each other’s arms for a couple of hours more.
At 4:00 a.m. her alarm went off. She catapulted out of bed and set up the coffeemaker, completely forgetting that she was buck naked. Mitch walked up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed her back and bottom firmly against his sturdy wall of muscle, sinew and taut flesh. God, she loved the feel of him. Her head rested back on his shoulder, and he performed an interesting breast examination while they kissed.
One hand traveled downward, over her belly and beyond, pressing and massaging. She felt him lengthen and firm up behind her, prodding between her cheeks. She encouraged him with slow hip rotations. And he was definitely encouraging her.
Forget the coffee, sex would wake them up.
Heated up, she turned round and he lifted her. She bound her legs tightly around his hips as he did an amazing maneuver and wound up inside her.
They’d had a long talk earlier after he’d used the second condom. Their sexual histories were clear and clean as neither had been with anyone in over a year and they’d both been checked for everything with their annual physicals. She was on birth control for no other reason than to regulate her periods, and Mitch knew that, too. Never in her wildest dreams had she thought the Pill might get used for its original reason in London.
With her legs locked around his waist, and him planted inside, he carried her to the bathroom, where she reached out and turned on the hot water in the shower. He utilized those few moments of waiting for the water to warm up by balancing her against the bathroom wall, kissing and thrusting. She never wanted him to stop or to put her down.
Once in the shower he dunked her under the warm water then against the cold tile, but she didn’t care. She tipped her hips for better access and, as amazing as the sunrise, they gave each other the best morning gift ever created.
Soon realizing time had gotten away from them, they rushed through the rest of the shower, got dressed and headed for the door. She didn’t even bother to dry her hair. Just before Grace could open the door, Mitch stopped her. He looked seriously into her eyes, like a man in love, then kissed her tenderly on the mouth.
“Good morning, Gracie.”
She hummed her answer. “Good morning, Cooper.” Never having felt so wonderful or alive after so little sleep in her life.
Mitch seemed to know all the shortcuts from her house to the Lighthouse Children’s Hospital, just down the road from the Hunter Clinic, and had them in the car park in less than five minutes. Good thing she was staying so close by.
They grabbed some coffee from the doctors’ lounge and soon met up with Ethan for a quick meeting at five a.m., exactly on time.
“So here’s what we’ve got,” Ethan said, getting right down to business after their early-morning greetings. “Our patient’s jawbone, tongue and portions of his face got blown off and it’s up to us to repair them.”
“I understand we don’t have time for harvesting bone and skin from Telaye’s leg, like I’d normally do in a case like this,” Grace said.
“No,” Ethan agreed. “That would require several surgeries and a great deal of healing time in hospital.”
“We don’t have the luxury of time in Telaye’s case,” she said.
Ethan nodded his agreement. “Right.”
Which meant that Grace’s computer-generated models for periodic jaw reconstruction as the boy grew out of one and needed another would go by the wayside.
“What we have is a boy with a severe injury, which requires innovative scientific thinking in order to help.” From the sleepless look of Ethan’s eyes, Grace guessed he’d spent his night doing research and coming up with a plan. “The boy’s deformities also call for us to rebuild what’s left of his tongue,” Ethan said.
“I was planning on doing that,” Grace said, “and to transplant skin from Telaye’s thigh to his mouth and jaw.”
“Skin, including a vein and artery.”
“Absolutely. We have to ensure a solid blood supply for the tissues to encourage regeneration. As soon as we’re done here, I’ll check which of his legs looks most promising for that.”
“Good. You’ve measured the prosthesis on your computer program?”
She nodded. “It will be a perfect fit for now, and under the circumstances plus room to grow, I guarantee.”
“Good.” Ethan scratched the short military-style cropped hair on his head. “I’ve got a wild idea that I think might work due to our time constraints.” He looked at Grace, as if testing her mettle. “Have either of you heard about the technique recently performed by two British surgeons on a woman with jaw cancer?”
“The one involving a bicycle chain?” Mitch asked.
“Exactly.” Ethan’s eyes brightened. “Here’s what I plan to do—”
Grace had read about the amazing procedure in a medical journal in the States, impressed with the idea and how it had
turned out. So far it had proved successful. This was the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that a field surgeon such as Ethan would come up with for survival’s sake, and because he had studied all the latest techniques yet chose this one, she trusted his recommendation.
It could be risky, but Telaye was a growing boy, and a usual jaw replacement would require frequent updates as he grew. It could also be weakened with growth, thus the need for the bicycle chain for added support. Considering where he lived, it simply wasn’t feasible for him to have regular surgical updates. This one surgery might be their only chance to help in his lifetime.
“So we all agree to take the risk?” Ethan asked.
Grace nodded. “For Telaye’s benefit, yes.”
“I’m only the lip man, but count me in, too.” After listening intently to the entire conversation, Mitch chimed in and his overwhelming support meant the world to Grace.
Hours later the surgery was going well, but had so far been grueling. Under hot O.R. lights, with perspiration beading on Grace’s forehead and upper lip, she inserted the titanium mandibular prosthetic measured perfectly to fit Telaye’s jaw, yet still giving him some room to grow.
Next Ethan stepped in and inserted a device that looked like ordinary bicycle chain made out of titanium to fit around the reconstructed mandible to offer support and flexibility to the newly replaced jaw, and to add the benefit of expanding as the boy grew. Then he attached it with screws to the remaining natural bone.
Grace looked on at his expert surgical technique with fascination. It was as though he’d done this particular procedure hundreds of times.
Every once in a while her gaze drifted toward Mitch, they’d latch onto each other for a brief moment, and though covered by masks, O.R. caps, and splash shields, they still managed to communicate with each other. Her thought was, I’m so glad I know you. From the seriously sexy look in his eyes, she suspected he’d quickly done a replay of some of their recent escapades between the sheets, on the kitchen counter and under the shower. The fanciful thought made her grin, and the quick respite from the intense surgery gave her a new wave of energy.
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