Thomas's Vow

by Liliana Hart

  Cat stripped the sweatpants from her body and was hobbling to the bathroom to try and repair the damage when the lights flipped on.

  “I was wondering if you’d be back,” Thomas said. “You don’t seem like a complete idiot at first glance, but then again, what do I know? I’m just a doctor. Most people listen when I tell them to take it easy or they might make things worse. I guess you’re the exception to the rule.”

  “I’m always the exception to the rule.” She threw a smile at him over her shoulder and froze. His shoulder was propped against the door that led to his office. His chest was bare, and she almost swallowed her tongue at the sight of tanned skin and a rippling six pack. His jeans were unbuttoned and sat low on his hips and his feet were bare. She had to force herself to act as if the sight of his didn’t make her lose her wits.

  “Don’t be so uptight, Doc. I just stepped out on the deck for a few minutes for some fresh air. I’m on my way to the bathroom and then back to bed. I promise. Thanks for checking on me, but as you can see, I’m perfectly fine.”

  Cat didn’t look to see if he’d left, but kept going towards her destination. She heard him mutter something that sounded something perilously close to bullshit, and all of a sudden his arm around her waist, supporting her weight.

  “Dammit, I don’t need any help. Why can’t you leave me alone?”

  “Sweetheart, leaving you alone has been the farthest thing from my mind since I saw your unconscious body in the front seat of your car. I think you’d better resign yourself to getting used to me.”

  Cat gave him an aggravated look and wrapped her arm around him. They hobbled together into the spacious bathroom and he picked her up and sat her on the edge of the sink.

  “Stay,” he ordered. “I’ll be right back.”

  She leaned her head back against the mirror and closed her eyes. She was in a whole heap of trouble, and she had no idea had to get out of it. This wasn’t a situation she’d ever found herself in before. She’d been a professional thief for six years, ever since she’d gotten word her father was out of the picture for good, and until now she’d never been hurt or even close to being caught while on a job. And now all that had happened and more, and she was at the mercy of a small town doctor who made her want to molest every delectable inch of him. But worst of all, she needed his help. And she didn’t like being at anyone’s mercy.

  The touch of gentle hands against her skin had her eyes snapping open. His head was even with her thighs and he raised the oversized sweatshirt above the bandage. The feel of his fingers against her bare flesh had her nipples tightening to peaks and her loins quickening with desire. The sting in her leg was overshadowed by the throbbing pulse of desire in her clit.

  “The damage isn’t too bad,” he said. “I just need to clean it off and rebandage it.”

  “I told you it wasn’t a big deal. Do you overreact with all your patients?”

  “Just you, sweetheart.”

  He cleaned the blood away and spread a topical pain killer along the stitches. After it was wrapped in fresh bandages Cat moved to get down off the counter. Having his face between her thighs was driving her crazy. She was soaking wet with desire, and since she wasn’t wearing panties all he’d have to do is look at the inside of her thighs to see the moisture there. It was beyond mortifying.

  “Getting up so soon?” he asked.

  His gaze was exactly where she’d been afraid it would be. His nostrils flared as he breathed her in and he touched his lips with the edge of his tongue. Cat moaned and her head dropped back against the mirror as he moved his fingers further up her thighs.

  “Thomas…”

  “Shh, sweetheart. I’m going to have to taste you. Those red curls, dewy with your need for me, are driving me insane. Just a little taste.”

  He kissed the inside of her thigh, first one, then the other, lapping at the juices that had escaped from her weeping pussy. And then his mouth was there, exactly where she wanted it. His breath feathered along her curls just before he flicked his tongue across the taut bud of her clit.

  “Mmm, so sweet. Just as I thought. Scoot down some.” He opened her thighs wider, careful not to bump the bandage, and pulled her closer to the edge of the vanity. “Perfect.”

  His mouth returned with renewed hunger, and she couldn’t help but thrust her hips against him. She cried out as his fingers joined his mouth, sliding the long length inside with a smooth push. He worked his finger back and forth before adding a second, his tongue keeping up the relentless pressure.

  She couldn’t hold back from the dual assaults. Heat gathered low in her womb and spiraled out through her limbs in a violent burst of pleasure. Spasms wracked her body, and she cried out for mercy, but he didn’t stop. He was ruthless in his pursuit, alternating between slow thrusts of his fingers and long licks with his tongue that touched every pleasure point she had.

  “Thomas, please. I want…”

  “I know, sweetheart. But tonight is for you.”

  He moved away and picked her up in his arms, cradling her against his chest as he carried her to the bed. She nuzzled against him, drawing in the clean scent of soap from his shower and something more. Something male and primal.

  He set her down by the edge of the bed and stripped the sweatshirt over her head. His eyes darkened with pleasure, and his hands came up to cup her breasts.

  “Your injuries are the only thing keeping me from losing control.”

  “What injuries?” Cat asked.

  “Don’t tempt me, sweetheart. We’ll get to everything. Eventually.”

  “I want to see you, too.” She ran her fingers along the edge of his jeans and felt the swell of sexual power take her as he sucked in a breath. The enormous bulge behind his zipper was straining the seams of the denim. She lowered the zipper slowly and gasped as he was freed into her hand.

  “Christ,” he said. His fingers wrapped around her hand and he showed her how he liked to be stroked.

  “Are you sure you can’t be tempted for something a little more? I promise I’m not feeling any pain right now.”

  “Oh, I can be tempted. But fortunately my brain is in working order when it comes to hurting my partners during sex. I’d feel like a bastard if your stitches came loose because of me.”

  “Maybe you can be tempted in other ways then.” Cat licked her lips and moved so she sat on the edge of the bed.

  “Maybe I can.”

  She positioned Thomas so he stood directly in front of her and pushed his jeans around his ankles. Her nails raked over his stomach and down his thighs, and she smiled as his cock bobbed in front of her face. He was thick and long, with veins ridged along his shaft and a plump head that would play hell with her G-spot once she got him inside her.

  Cat licked him from shaft to tip, stopping to nibble at the sensitive spot beneath his cock head. He sucked in a harsh breath and she took him in completely. Swallowing him down until he touched the back of her throat. He wound his fingers through her hair and held tight as she fucked him with her mouth.

  “Yesss…” he hissed. “Your mouth feels so fucking good.”

  She moaned around him and he twitched against her tongue. She cupped his balls with her hand and felt them draw tight against his body. She worked up and down him faster, opening her throat to take his as deep as possible while massaging him with the flat of her tongue.

  “Shit, I’m going to come. Let me taste you too.”

  He didn’t give her any choice in the matter. He pulled out of her and lifted her to her feet, switching their positions so he laid flat on the bed.

  “Watch your leg,” he said, pulling her on top of him so her legs straddled his face.

  Her leg was the last thing she was thinking about. She wasn’t feeling anything but anticipation and pleasure as his tongue found her clit again. She bent forward and took him back in her mouth, her actions frenzied as he brought her close alarmingly quick.

  The moans and sounds of sucking flesh echoed in
the room. Salty moisture seeped from the tip of his cock and she knew he was close. His tongue flicked rapidly against her and she lost control. Her body shook and she moved harder against his face. Sensations rioted through her until she was nothing more than an exposed nerve ending. The cock in her mouth was just an extension of her own body.

  “Fuck,” Thomas yelled.

  She swallowed his seed like a starving woman as he drank in her own essence. She collapsed on top of him, tiny shivers coursing through her body. Thomas MacKenzie could become addictive. And that didn’t bode well for her master plan at all.

  Chapter 3

  Thomas was done for. He was ruined for any other woman.

  He faced the revelation like he did most things in life: with a shrug of the shoulders and good humor. As far as he was concerned, his destiny was already determined. There was no point fighting against it.

  He lifted her in his arms with what little strength he had left and tucked her under the covers. He settled in beside her and pulled her close.

  “I think we need to try something again,” he said.

  “If we try anything else, I don’t think I’ll survive.”

  “No,” he said, laughing. “Get your mind out of the gutter. I think we need to try the introduction portion of the day again, Matilda. What do you say?”

  She stiffened in his arms, but he pressed on. “I want to be able to call out your name when I finally get inside of you. Let me in. Please.”

  She was silent for a long time, and he was afraid she’d dropped off to sleep.

  “Cat,” she finally whispered. “Or Catherine. Catherine Randolph.”

  “Cat suits you.” He pressed a kiss against her temple. “It’s nice to meet you, Cat. I’m Thomas.”

  She erupted in a fit of giggles and buried her face in his neck. Her naked body was pressed flush against him, her breasts ripe and soft. Even after an orgasm like he’d never experienced, he wanted her again.

  Her fingers trailed over him, discovering his body just as he was discovering hers. He was already hard, wanting nothing more than to slip inside her and make their mating complete. Thomas tilted her head up and looked into her eyes. They were shadowed with fatigue, and he could tell by her trembling body that the day was beginning to catch up with her.

  “Sleep, sweetheart. I promise I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Just one kiss,” she said. “I’ve wanted you to kiss me since I first saw you staring down at me. Fallen angel.”

  He smiled and caressed her cheek with his thumb. “You remember that?”

  “I have a perfect memory. A photographic memory.”

  “Is that so?” he asked, curious to know as much about her as possible. “I’ll want to hear more about that later. But for now…”

  He tilted her face up to his and took her lips with a thoroughness that had them both shaking with desire by the time it was finished. Tongues met and tangled and he explored every inch of her mouth. Her moan and cry of discomfort had him pulling back in alarm. She’d tried to lift her thigh over his, searching for completion with his body.

  “Stay still, sweetheart. Let me get you something for the pain, and then we’ll go to sleep. I think you’ve had enough for the day.”

  “No shots,” she called out as he walked naked into his office.

  He chuckled at her demand, and came back with a glass of water and a couple of pills. “You’re going to feel like hell tomorrow, but by the next day the worst of the pain should be gone. How’s your head?”

  “Now that you mention it, it kind of hurts.”

  “Take the pills and sleep. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

  “Thomas?” she said, snuggling into him as he got back into bed.

  “What, sweetheart.”

  “When the pain is bearable in two day’s time, I’m not going to care about tempting your self-control. I just wanted to give you fair warning.”

  His body stiffened and his cock throbbed at her threat. The next two days were going to be pure hell. But it wouldn’t go wasted. He still had a lot to learn about Cat Randolph. And she was going to tell him everything. Because there wasn’t a chance he was ever letting her go.

  He felt her even breathing against his chest and finally gave in to his own need for sleep.

  “Son of a bitch!”

  Thomas shot straight up in bed. Sunlight streamed through the French doors and glared into his eyes. He threw a hand up to shield them and looked at the offending presence of his brother in the doorway. Correction: the offending presence of all three of his brothers.

  Cooper headed the pack, and Thomas assumed it was his booming voice that had woken him out of a sound sleep. He looked down at Cat, but she was still dead to the world. The pain meds he’d given her would make her sleep. She’d probably be out awhile still.

  “Get the hell out of here,” Thomas said. “Aren’t you the one who’s so damned picky about his privacy? Maybe you should think of returning the favor.”

  “I came to question your mystery patient. Not find you fucking her. What the hell is wrong with you, Thomas?”

  “Well, I personally don’t think anything is wrong with Thomas,” Riley said. His grin said he was enjoying his brother’s predicament immensely. “Just look at her, Coop. You can’t ask him to pass something that sexy up just because of some stupid doctor to patient ethics.”

  Thomas got out of bed, making sure that every inch of Cat stayed completely covered, and grabbed his jeans from the floor. He pulled them on and then started for his brother, blood in his eye and his fists clinched.

  “Layoff, Riley,” Dane said. “I swear to God you have no protective instincts at all. Can’t you see he’s all but gone over her? You don’t insult the woman a man loves and not have to pay the consequences.”

  Dane’s own smile grated on Thomas’s nerves. His older brother hadn’t been able to stop smiling ever since he found himself happily married. It was sickening.

  “That’s my fucking point,” Cooper said, pushing Dane aside so he could glare at Thomas. “He’s known her a day. He knows nothing about her. She could be anyone—a murderer, a kidnapper, a drug addict. You never stop to fucking think when your dick is involved, Thomas.”

  “Out. Everybody get the fuck out of this room. I’ll not have you waking her up. And as far as I’m concerned you can stay out of the house until you can butt out of my life. You’re not my father or a priest. My choices don’t concern you.”

  “This house belongs to all of us,” Cooper said. “And I’ll be damned if I just sit by and watch you make stupid choices without trying to warn you of what could happen.”

  Thomas was so angry that tremors shook his body. He wanted to pound something. Mostly Cooper, but at this point he’d take on a fight with any of his brothers. He closed the door of the bedroom behind him and led the way to the kitchen. He started preparing coffee and glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall. A grimace crossed his face when he realized how late it was. He had patients coming in less than an hour, and his receptionist would arrive even sooner. He waited until he had a cup of coffee in his hands and the first sip swallowed before he addressed his brothers.

  “Fine,” he said. “If you can’t respect my wishes or my choices and stop treating me like a child then you can have the damned house. I can live anywhere.”

  His brothers all went completely still, varying emotions crossing their faces. Riley was shocked. Dane looked thoughtful. And Cooper looked like a thunder cloud.

  His oldest brother had taken on the role of parent after their dad had died. Cooper had only been fifteen at the time, but he’d taken the roll seriously. Cooper was a natural caretaker, but what he needed was his own family to ride herd over. Thomas could admit he’d gotten in his share of trouble, and it had usually been worthy of Cooper’s anger. But he wasn’t a child any longer. He knew his own mind and his own heart. It was time his brother did too.

  He watched Cooped physically get control of his temper. Coop clos
ed his eyes and breathed in deeply several times before staring at him out of glacial eyes.

  “Do what you want to, Thomas. But I won’t stop investigating her. And I’m still going to question her. If I find one ounce of information that leads me to think she’s someone who could be a danger to this town, then I will make it my life’s work to make sure she’s gone.”

  Cooper turned on his heel and left out the kitchen door. He shut it softly behind him, which was even more damning than if he’d slammed it.

  “Well, that was interesting?” Dane said. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen Coop’s temper in full force.”

  “I’m just glad it wasn’t directed at me this time,” Riley piped in. “It’s a nice change.”

  “I’ve got patients coming soon,” Thomas said. “I’ve got to get in the shower.”

  Riley put his hand on his arm as if to stop him as he passed by, but he dropped it quickly when he saw the look in Thomas’s eye.

  “Do you love her, Thomas? Is that something you can really know for sure after a day?”

  He gave his brother a level look. “Yes.”

  “Then it doesn’t matter what Cooper thinks. If you love her he’ll come around. But he has a point too. You’ll end up with nothing but a broken heart if she turns out to be something you’re not quite expecting.”

  Thomas nodded and headed to his own bedroom to get dressed. The hell of it was, he knew his brothers were right. Which made it even more important for him to find out about Cat, so he could prove she was a woman he could be proud to call MacKenzie.”

  Chapter 4

  Cat stretched luxuriously against the soft sheets and opened her eyes to a misty morning fogged in shades of grey. Rain fell softly on the deck and splattered against the windows. It took her a minute to orient herself and remember where she was. And who’s bed she was in.

  The pounding in her head had disappeared and her thigh was only a little sore. It looked to be early dawn, but she felt refreshed as if she hadn’t only had a few hours of sleep.