by Jamie Pope
“I sincerely hope not.”
“You can hope all you want, but when you’re with the right person, you can’t help it.” She looked over to the house next door. “Since Derek opened up a new studio space, we can actually use our house as a house. This place is bigger and we aren’t going to be using the one next door. We were planning to rent it out, but I would much rather have you there. You can come and go as you please, and you won’t be subjected to my husband and me making out all over the furniture.”
“It might be nice to go forty-five minutes without having to be subjected to that, but I don’t want you to lose any rental income for me.”
“Lose money? Ha! I was planning to charge you double market value.”
“I might head back to Miami soon. I was thinking about taking a trip somewhere. Maybe I’ll visit Mom.”
“You’ll last three days there. There are five women in that house. They’ll smother you to death.”
“They will,” he said grimly. His mother and aunts were likely to kiss the skin off his face. But he had to go somewhere, because if he didn’t, he would find himself going back to see the woman whom he hadn’t been able to get off his mind all day.
* * *
Cricket sat at the desk in her office and stared at her blank computer screen. She was supposed to be writing. She had left her job to concentrate on writing her next book. She had doctorates in anthropology and biology, and she had just spent the last ten months in India and sub-Saharan Africa studying small pockets of isolated populations and the illnesses that affected them. She had notebooks full of notes, but today she couldn’t make her fingers work with her brain. And it was probably because her head was still filled with Elias. Two days later and it all still felt like a dream to her, so incredibly magical that it had to be unreal.
She had been with Phillip for a long time. He had been incredibly sweet and gentle. He would hold her for hours and kiss her softly. But there was no hope of sex for them. She had been to doctors with him. They had seen the best in the world—no one could help them. She had assured him that it was fine. That the intimacy they shared was enough. And sometimes it was. He would touch her between her legs, using his fingers and his mouth to bring her pleasure. It had been satisfying for her, even though she felt something was missing. After a while they stopped being intimate altogether. He was more like a brother or a good friend, and still she’d been willing to marry him. He’d been the one to break it off. He’d said that she deserved passion and babies and a life he could never give her. She was deeply hurt by it, because she had never wanted kids and passion faded. She had never asked for a different kind of life.
But then she had been with Elias, who was gentle and sweet with her, too, but he was also strong and powerful, and she needed that. He had made love to her that night and once again in the morning. She had stayed in bed that entire day, in her used sheets, not wanting to get up and change them because she didn’t want to lose the scent of him.
She kept thinking of how he felt inside her, that slow, hard slide that made her incoherent. Just thinking about him now was making her aroused. There was a persistent throb between her legs that wouldn’t go away.
She knew he wasn’t looking for a fling or a relationship, but she wanted to see him again, just to spend a few more hours in his strong presence. She simply liked him. She couldn’t say that about any other man she had been in contact with for a long time.
Her cell phone rang, and she looked at the caller ID to see that her mother was calling.
Her mother, the brilliant Dr. Frances Lundy. Born into abject poverty in the projects of New York City, she’d gone on to earn a perfect score on her SATs and been accepted to all eight Ivy League schools. Frances had paid her way through medical school to become one of the top cardiothoracic surgeons in the world and the chief of surgery at one of the best hospitals in the country. And to top it all off, she had snagged herself a billionaire. Her mother was the most brilliant person she knew, and Cricket was still slightly afraid of her.
“Hello, Mom.”
“How are you, honey? Your father is here. Say hello, Jerome”
“Hello, precious! I miss you. Come write your book here. We’ll have so much fun.”
They would. Her father was a giant goofball and the most creative person she knew. He’d invented a smartphone that could hold a charge for three days. It was the bestselling phone in history, and that was only in the last ten years. He had over 150 successful inventions to his name. Cricket often wondered how her parents got together when her mother was so by the book and her father was so off the rails. “I purposely didn’t come home because I knew it would be too much fun with you. I wouldn’t get any work done.”
“And here I thought,” her mother stated, “that you were avoiding the long interrogation I was going to give you about spending nearly a year in the most poverty-stricken, disease-ridden parts of the world. I worked incredibly hard to make sure you would never have to witness those conditions, and at every opportunity you go back into them.”
“My research could help millions of people, Mom.”
“I know,” she said softly. “If you weren’t so brilliant and kind, you would be a sore disappointment to me.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“We do want to see you. I’ll be away at a conference for the next two weeks and then your father will be away, so we are calling to block off a date now.”
This was common with her parents, having to schedule dinner a month in advance so they could all spend time together.
It would be a full six weeks before all their schedules aligned, and so they made a date to meet in Miami at her mother’s favorite Creole restaurant. She was looking forward to seeing her parents in person. It had been a long time. She had video chatted with them three times a week while she was away, but it had been months since she had seen them last.
She heard the doorbell ring. She glanced at the clock. It wasn’t yet 11:00 a.m., and she hadn’t been expecting anyone. No one came to visit her on the island. Most of her friends were in academia and lived all around the world.
She opened the door, and her heart jumped. Flipped. Went right from her chest and into her throat. Elias was there, looking absolutely gorgeous and a little unsure of himself.
“Hi.” She was breathless. She couldn’t help it. She couldn’t hide it from him. She’d never thought she would see him again, but he was at her doorstep.
“Hi. I know it’s early, but I was hoping I could take you out for lunch today.”
She grabbed his arm and tugged him inside without saying anything.
“I should have called. I was going to call, but I didn’t have your number.”
She smiled. He definitely seemed uncertain in the moment, and it amused her. He was such a beautiful man, with a smile that must have made hundreds of women jump out of their underwear. Yet he acted as if she might turn him down.
It was wildly satisfying to her. She stepped forward, looped her arms around his neck and kissed him lightly on the lips. “You want to take me out, huh?”
“Yes.” He smoothed his hands down her back, which she found arousing and comforting. “Very much so.”
“Why do you want to take me out? Is it because you want to go to bed with me again? I slept with you before. You have to know how much I enjoyed it.” She kissed his jaw.
He shut his eyes. “I like you, Cricket... I just want you to know that I’m not just using you for sex. I took your virginity. That means something to me. It’s a gift you can only give once, and I want you to look back on that night and not have any regrets about it.”
Her stomach did a weird flippy thing, and she knew in that moment that she had tumbled a little bit in love with him. She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him with everything she had. “My room. Right now.” She slipped her hands
up his shirt, feeling his warm muscled back.
“Lunch first.” He made no move but kissed her again, his tongue sweeping into her mouth. “I specifically came here to take you out, not to sleep with you.”
“It’s too early for lunch...”
“We can have brunch instead,” he said as he slid his hands down to her behind and cupped it.
“I look a mess right now.” She kissed his neck. “I can’t possibly leave the house looking like this.”
“You look delicious to me.”
“I’ll need to take a bath. A very soapy, very warm bath. You want to join me?”
“I can’t say no to you.”
She led him into her bathroom and turned to face him, staring at him for a moment. She couldn’t believe he was here. She had been thinking about him, craving his touch, and now he was here before her and that beautiful experience they’d had wouldn’t just be a onetime thing that she would only relive in her dreams. But she was going to feel his hands all over her body again, and she almost couldn’t stand it.
“What are you thinking about?”
“What are you thinking about?” she countered, unwilling to give up her thoughts.
“You.”
“Good answer, sir.”
“Take off your clothes. I’ve been thinking about seeing you naked for two days.”
She stripped off her tank top and the soft cotton T-shirt bra that she wore beneath it. She didn’t know how to be sexy. She had never felt sexy before, but being around Elias had changed her a little bit. She didn’t feel like her normal academic self. She felt womanly and sexual and happy. “Your turn.”
He peeled off his shirt, revealing his six-pack, and her mouth went dry. It should be illegal for one man to be so damn fine.
“Your turn again,” he said to her in his husky voice.
She grinned at him and turned around to wiggle out of her shorts. She heard him groan in appreciation and took it a step further, bending over the side of the tub to turn on the water.
“What the hell are you doing to me?”
She heard his pants unzip and his shoes hit the floor with a thud.
“Don’t move.” She felt him behind her, and then his hands were on her hips, his erection brushing her backside. She instinctively pushed her behind toward him, and he slipped inside her. She was incredibly aroused. His slow slide inside her felt so incredibly good that she almost blacked out. He shifted their bodies so that her hands were braced on the side of the tub and she was bent over before him.
He pumped into her with fast short strokes that were different from the other two times they’d had sex. She was finding that she liked it, the frenzy of it. The sound of his heavy breathing, the sound of their skin slapping together and her name on his lips. Every hard push inside was bringing her closer to orgasm.
He chanted her name. Over and over again. He was enjoying her, enjoying being inside her body. She’d never thought she would have this feeling, but this man was an unexpected gift. Had he chosen to walk away this afternoon and never look back, she would still be happy. Because he had already given her so much in such a short amount of time.
“Please, Cricket. Please come for me. You feel too good. I can’t hold on much longer.”
He didn’t have to ask, because she felt herself clenching around him, waves and waves of exquisite pleasure carrying her away. Elias let out a guttural moan and spilled himself inside her. After a few moments of recovery, he stood her up straight, pulled her into him and kissed her deeply. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “You provoked the hell out of me, but you’re new to sex and I should have waited to make love to you in bed.”
“Don’t be sorry. I might be new to intercourse, but not to sexuality.”
“That was the nerdiest thing I’ve ever heard a naked woman say,” he said with a devastatingly delicious grin.
“I’m a nerd. I can’t help it.”
“You’re the most beautiful nerd in the world.”
“You’re very good at making a woman feel appreciated.” She gave him a quick kiss before she turned away to check the temperature of the bathwater and add bubbles. “I’d bet you end up going home with a lot of women you meet in bars.”
“I don’t.” He shut off the water and stepped inside the large tub. He groaned in pleasure and then held out his hand for her to join him. She leaned against him and shut her eyes.
This was what heaven must feel like. The hot water. The scented bubbles. And Elias’s large hard chest and arms surrounding her. “Why don’t you take a lot of ladies home?”
“I don’t date a lot because of my work.”
“What do you do for a living? I don’t think we discussed that.”
“We did. I’m a trauma surgeon at Miami Mercy.”
She stiffened. Miami Mercy? An uncomfortable feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. Her mother was chief of surgery there. She was his boss.
“What’s the matter?” He trailed his fingers down her arm. “You don’t like surgeons?”
“No, I love surgeons. I just thought you were lying to impress Giselle.”
“I wasn’t. I broke my wrist and am not allowed to work. My boss banned me from the hospital.”
“Banned you?” The question came out more like a squeak. Her mother had mentioned him. She had been exasperated. Young, brilliant surgeon who was stupid enough to break his hand while participating in some foolish activity. Cricket knew it had to be a big deal, because her mother rarely spoke of her work. Elias must have infuriated her.
“Yes. I tried to go back and work in the ER two weeks post-op. I punched a guy I saw trying to drag his girlfriend from the hospital and hurt my hand again. My boss was so incredibly angry with me, I thought she was going to fire me.”
Dr. Frances Lundy normally would have, but Elias must be that good. Cricket knew her mother wouldn’t give him another chance if he screwed up again. She would fire him if she thought he was a major liability. And she was fairly sure her mother wouldn’t like the idea of one of her doctors picking up her daughter in a bar. She wouldn’t like it all.
* * *
Cricket absently picked up Elias’s injured hand and kissed it. “You love your job, don’t you?”
“I feel a little lost without it,” he admitted to her and bent his head to kiss her shoulder. He loved the feel of her, the way their wet nude bodies fit together. He had been restless this morning after not being able to sleep at all last night. He had been thinking about her, in a way that he never thought about anyone.
Part of him knew it was because for the past fifteen years, he had been working with single-minded focus toward becoming a surgeon. Even before that, in high school, he had been studying, working extra hard to make sure his grades were good enough. And now he didn’t have any of that. Not the smells of the hospital, not the thrill of saving someone’s life. His days as a surgeon had always been unpredictable, but now his life was unpredictable with nothingness ahead of him. He had spent most of his days trying to figure out what to do with himself. But not now, not when he was with a sweet, beautiful woman who made him wonder why he had gone so long without one.
He hadn’t planned on being there today. He’d told his brother and sister that he was planning to head back to Miami. But he had found himself at Cricket’s front door instead.
“What compels one to become a surgeon? And don’t tell me it’s because you want to help people.”
“My mother gets a kick out of telling people that I’m a surgeon. I like hearing people call me ‘Doctor,’ and I love cutting up stuff.”
She looked back at him with a slight grin. “All very noble reasons.”
“My father is the real reason I became a doctor. He once told me it was his dream to become a doctor. He was ready to go to college when his own father d
ied and he had to take over supporting his family.”
“He must have been so proud of you.”
“He never got to see me graduate from medical school. He passed away when I was in college. A massive heart attack took him from us unexpectedly.”
He didn’t know why he felt compelled to tell her this. He never talked about his father’s death. His brother and sisters had each handled their father’s passing differently. Elias chose never to talk about it. He had been the one with his father that day. The memory of his father’s face twisted in agony would never leave him.
Cricket turned completely, looping her arms around his neck and pressing her chest to his. “I’m not going to say sorry again.” She kissed him. “Those words never seem adequate enough.”
“You’re sweet,” he told her. He felt like he had known her forever, but in reality she was a stranger he’d met three days ago. But he knew for sure that he liked her. Probably a little more than was healthy. “Turn back around.”
“Why? You don’t like looking me in the eye?”
“I do, but you’ve floated to the top and I can see your behind peeking out of the soapy water. It’s incredibly distracting.”
She smiled and pressed her lips to his. “I like being distracting. It’s new for me.”
“I have a hard time believing that. You are very sexy. Men must hit on you.”
She turned around again, her back settling against his chest. “I spend a lot of time with brainy types like me, and I study how infectious diseases affect different populations for a living. I don’t hang out at bars or nightclubs but once I tell a regular guy that I’ve seen a virus literally eat away at someone’s brain, it usually turns them off.”
“I would love to do brain surgery. I haven’t gotten the opportunity yet. It’s on my bucket list.”
She let out a soft, almost musical laugh. “You are a very special man, Elias James.”
“Thank you.” She had a voluptuous figure and large firm breasts that he couldn’t believe she managed to hide so well under her clothing. He touched them, running his fingers over them, enjoying the way her nipples went hard as he did.