He reread her text from earlier that morning before returning Logan’s text.
Fifi and I were just wondering the same thing. Can’t wait to see you tonight. Xo
He smiled as he returned Logan’s text.
Maybe.
Heath confirmed that Logan and his brothers still planned to meet tomorrow night at NightCaps. His thoughts drifted back to Ally—not that they ever veered very far from her. He looked around his office, wishing she were there. She’d probably like flipping through his medical journals, which he kept on the bookshelves on the wall by the window. He checked the time and realized he was already late to see his next patient. He picked up the phone and called the front desk.
“Yes, Dr. Wild?”
“Hi, Judy. Would you mind having Katrina put together my archived medical journals and leave them on my desk in a box?” Katrina was a floater, which meant that she helped out in the office wherever she was needed.
He texted Ally on his way to see his next patient. I have a surprise for you.
***
BY WEDNESDAY EVENING Ally could hardly wait to see Heath. She’d texted him a few times after he’d texted to tell her he had a surprise for her, but he hadn’t responded. She knew how busy the doctors at the hospital were, and she assumed that Heath’s schedule was no different.
After showering and spending way too long picking out an outfit to wear, she loved up Fifi and gave her fresh food and water. Her phone vibrated with a call from Amanda, and she answered it as she crossed the floor to the full-length mirror to check out her outfit one last time.
“Hey, Mandy. What’s up?”
“Don’t kill me, but I have to break our date for tomorrow night.”
She heard a smile in her sister’s voice. “No problem. What’s so important that you’re willing to blow me off?”
“A date!” Amanda squealed into the phone.
Ally pulled the phone away from her ear. “You’re going on a date? That’s great. With who?”
“He’s an attorney. He works in my building.”
“Gray suit guy?” Amanda had told her about a hot guy she’d flirted with a number of times in the elevator. She’d referred to him as gray suit guy.
“Yes. Are you mad? I know I gave you a hard time about not canceling on me.”
“No, of course not. Go, have fun. Cut loose a little and enjoy yourself.”
Amanda laughed. “Cut loose? Yeah, okay. I’ll inspect his briefs.”
Ally laughed at her sister’s attempt at legal humor. “My money’s on you not inspecting his briefs, but my hope is that you do. It might loosen you up a little.”
There was a knock at her door as she ended the call. Ally took one last look in the mirror. Pleased with the midthigh-length navy blue dress she’d chosen, she slipped on her heels and answered the door.
Heath held a giant cardboard box in front of him. He smiled and raked his eyes down her body. “Ally, you look incredible.”
“Thank you.” She moved to the side so he could come in, and he leaned in for a kiss as he passed.
“You keep dressing like that and we’ll really never make it out of here.” Heath set the box on the coffee table and reached for her.
She placed her hands on his chest and felt his heartbeat quicken. “I have a feeling that what I wear has very little to do with whether we leave the apartment or not.”
He sealed his lips over hers, and she was no longer shocked by how quickly her body responded to the feel of his tongue sliding over hers. She felt her nipples harden and her skin flush hot. When their lips parted, she wanted to tug him in for another kiss, but she forced herself to behave.
“I brought you something.” He took her hand and led her to the table, then reached into the box and pulled out a cat toy. “I brought this for Fifi. It’s a crinkle ball, so it makes noise. I thought it might be easy for her to track, and I got her a mouse that has bells on it, too.” He reached into the box and pulled out another cat toy.
Ally’s heart melted as he handed her the toys. “You thought of Fifi.”
He wrinkled his brow. “She’s your pet. Of course I think of her.”
Ally sank down to the couch. It wouldn’t matter what else they did tonight. This was already up there as one of the best dates ever. “This is so thoughtful, and you knew just what to get her. Thank you.”
Fifi brushed against his leg, and he reached for her, nuzzling the kitty against his chin. He kissed the white spot on her head, then looked into her unseeing eyes.
“How about it, Fifi? Are you ready to have a little fun?” He sat beside Ally and set Fifi on the floor so he could help Ally open Fifi’s gifts.
“She’s going to love these. You should see what she can do with the plastic top to a two-liter bottle of soda. It keeps her entertained for hours.” Ally smiled up at him. “I love that you knew to get her noisy toys.”
“I have to admit, I stood in the pet store for a while trying to figure out what was best, and I thought about my mom. When she first lost her sight, she said the most difficult thing was realizing that when she turned her head, she wouldn’t see the source of the noises she heard. After being sighted for so long, I could only imagine what that must have been like. It didn’t take her long to hone her other senses, but the thing that struck me those first few weeks was how much sound meant to her.”
“For Fifi, too,” Ally said. It was a strange coincidence that Heath’s mother and her cat were blind. Coincidence or fate? Now she was just getting ahead of herself.
“That’s what I thought. My mother losing her sight gave me a whole new understanding of what it’s like to be blind. I never realized that when people who are blind take public transportation or even walk down the street, the sounds of other people provide guidance and helpful clues as to their surroundings. One of my mother’s friends who is blind said that when she takes a train, she follows the sounds of the other passengers to gauge the edge of the track, how close the train is, when to board. Of course she uses other indicators, and her cane, but it really opened my eyes. That’s what led me to think of the crinkle ball and the mouse with the bells. Fifi can track the sounds as she pushes them across the floor.”
Ally shook the mouse, and Fifi lifted her head, as if she could see the toy. Heath lowered himself to the hardwood and batted the ball with Fifi for a few minutes before she took off across the floor with her new toy.
“I brought you something, too.” Heath stood and reached into the box, withdrawing two medical journals. “There’s a few months’ worth in here. They’re mostly ortho related, but there are a few other topics. I thought you might want to look through them.”
“Really? Don’t you need these?” She dug through the box with her heart beating so fast she felt like it was Christmas morning.
“I’ve read them, and I’m happy to share.”
She wrapped her arms around him, went up on tiptoes, and kissed him again. “This is so nice of you. Thank you! I never would have figured this surprise out in a million years, and it’s just about the best surprise ever. I’m tempted to sit here and read instead of going out.”
Heath hugged her close. “We can do that if you’d rather. There’s a movie in there, too. It’s one of my favorites. Patch Adams, with Robin Williams.”
“Really?” She found the movie under a few of the journals. “I haven’t seen this in years. I love this movie.” She glanced over the couch at Fifi pawing at her new toy. “Would you be terribly disappointed if we just hung out here and watched this?”
“Sweetheart.” He sank down to the couch and pulled her onto his lap. “Nothing you do could ever disappoint me. I just want to spend time with you and to see you happy.”
Ally felt her heart opening a little more. She touched his five-o’clock shadow, which was too sexy not to press her lips to. Twice.
“Where did you come from, Heath Wild?”
He narrowed his eyes and said, “The better question is, what took us so long to find ea
ch other?”
Chapter Eleven
HEATH SLID A tray of biscuits into the oven while Ally stirred a pot of spaghetti sauce. He slid his hand around her waist and kissed her cheek, then moved to the cutting board and began chopping mushrooms. After they’d decided to stay in to watch the movie, they’d walked to the market down the street and picked up a few fresh vegetables and other ingredients to make homemade spaghetti sauce for their pasta dinner. Since they were short on time, they went with what Heath called his old fallback sauce, which involved crushed tomatoes, mushrooms, olive oil, garlic, basil, and other seasonings.
“Do you cook often?” Ally asked as he tossed a handful of chopped mushrooms into a pan with some olive oil.
He shrugged, stirring the mushrooms. “Not often and not well. We cook for my mom when we visit, but I’m usually running late, so sometimes I pick up takeout to keep everyone from having to wait too long to eat. After work I usually grab something quick for dinner, but I cook a few times a week. What about you?”
“I’m not a great cook, but I’m not picky, so I usually whip something up after work. Not that what I make is edible by other people’s standards. You should remember that if you ever expect me to cook for you.” She watched for his reaction. She really wasn’t a great cook, and she figured it was better that he found that out now.
“Then between you and me, we’ll be eating a lot of substandard, quick meals.” He folded her into his arms. “Good thing food isn’t the most important part of a relationship.”
“What is the most important part?” She wrapped her arms around his waist and slid them up the back of his untucked dress shirt.
His lips curved in a devilish grin. “You mean there are more important things than good sex?”
She swatted his chest.
“I’m kidding. Communication, compromise, having things in common in and out of the bedroom.” He turned his attention to the sauce, and his tone became serious. “Then there are the key elements, the things that build the foundation of trust. Like honesty and compassion. The ability to put someone else’s needs ahead of your own.”
She leaned against the counter and listened to him reel off all of the things she’d been thinking about lately. “For a guy who’s so up on what it takes to build a good relationship, you’ve gone a long time without one.”
He lifted his brows, still looking at the sauce.
“I have, too,” she added. “I think the things you mentioned are all keys to a successful relationship, but it’s interesting that we both reacted to being hurt in the same way.” She took plates from the cabinet and worked with Heath to drain the pasta and serve dinner.
Heath poured them each a glass of wine, and when they finally settled onto the barstools at the counter to eat, he took her hand and kissed the back of it.
“I think there are two ways to react to being burned. People either protect themselves, which usually means putting up some sort of barriers against being hurt again—some thick and rigid, some more flexible—or they chalk it up as part of life and try to be more careful next time. I’m a wall builder. Obviously, you’re a wall builder, too.”
She picked up her wineglass. “Here’s to tearing down those walls.”
Hers seemed to be crashing down lately.
After they ate, Heath got up to do the dishes.
“I’ll get those,” she said, coming around the counter to help.
“I’ve got it. You can look through the journals, or play with Fifi. I actually like doing dishes. It’s relaxing for me.” Fifi rubbed up against his leg, and he smiled as he glanced down at her.
“Relaxing? Want to come over every evening about this time? I can arrange for a little relaxation time.”
He dried his hands on a towel and set the plate he was washing aside, then picked up Fifi and stroked her fur. “Yes, actually. That’s exactly what I want to do.”
Their eyes locked, and for a moment Ally forgot how to breathe. His voice was dead serious, and the look in his eyes was equally earnest. Seeing him with Fifi did funny things to her, and Ally realized that she was falling for her not-so-one-night stand.
He kissed Fifi and set her down at his feet again. “Don’t freak out on me. I’m not turning into a possessive guy who is always around.”
She hooked her finger in the waist of his pants. “But you want to be around more.”
He closed his eyes for a second and sighed. When he met her gaze again, he smiled and shrugged. “Is that so bad?”
“No. I like spending time with you. But I’m not an exciting person. You might get bored of me.”
He gathered her in his arms again—she loved the way he kept her close. “No chance, sweetheart. You’re not a plaything. You’re someone I admire.” He kissed her softly. “You’re someone I enjoy talking to and spending time with.” He kissed her again, then patted her butt. “Go do something else or we’ll end up in your bed again, and I need to prove to you that our relationship is deeper than oral and orgasms.”
She laughed. “But you have to admit, the sex is amazing.”
“More than amazing,” he agreed.
Ally put the movie in the DVD player, chuckling about oral and orgasms, then sat down with a medical journal and thumbed through it while Heath finished washing the dishes. Then they snuggled on the couch to watch the movie. They laughed a lot, though Ally cried when one of the characters was killed. Heath was quiet, sitting with his feet up on the coffee table, with Ally tucked beneath his arm. She felt so comfortable with him she wasn’t embarrassed by her tears. It was as if they’d been cooking dinners and watching movies together forever. Fifi crashed in her bed beside the couch, and as Ally wiped her tears, she noticed Heath’s eyes were suspiciously damp, too. When the movie ended, Heath was uncharacteristically quiet.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Yes. I was just thinking of my father. I forgot about the part of the movie where his friend was killed.” He shifted uncomfortably. “I’m not sure if I mentioned it, but my father was killed a few years ago during a home invasion, while trying to protect my mother.”
Ally’s heart squeezed. “I didn’t know. I’m so sorry.” She pulled her legs up beneath her on the couch and moved closer to him. “Did they catch the person who did it?”
“The police didn’t, but my younger brother Logan did. He’s a private investigator. He’d been tracking the guy when the guy broke into another house, where a woman and her young child were sleeping.” He paused and seemed to be weighing what he was going to say next. When he spoke, his tone was grave, his eyes sad. “The police didn’t act fast enough, but Logan did. He saved them.”
This was what nightmares were made of. She imagined his brother following some crazy man into a house, knowing he had killed his father and blinded his mother, and the rage he must have felt. She could tell that Heath was holding something back, and she couldn’t stop herself from asking, “And the guy?”
“Logan took care of him. Logan’s not a cold-blooded killer, but the guy had a knife to the woman’s throat. He didn’t have a choice but to kill him or the guy might have killed that woman and her child.” He drew in a deep breath, and his brows knitted together. “I haven’t shared that with anyone. I didn’t mean to lay it on you like that.” He scrubbed his hand down his solemn face and pulled her into his arms.
“Heath, that’s awful. And poor Logan, but at least he saved that woman and her child, and now your family knows that guy isn’t lurking around somewhere.”
He pressed her closer to him and nodded against her cheek. “My job is to help people, but if I had been Logan, I would have probably done the same thing.”
She gazed into his eyes and saw a well of sadness. “Your father would be proud of him, and I’m sure he would have been proud of each of you, too, for taking such good care of your mother.”
“Some people go their whole lives trying to gain their parents’ approval. We had it since the day we were born.”
The longi
ng in his voice nearly did her in.
“You all must miss him terribly.”
“We do. Enough time has passed that losing my father has become part of who I am, rather than all-consuming. The first few weeks after he was killed were rough. I was so angry and so worried about my mother. Not only about her safety, but for her emotional state as well. She’s a strong woman, and she tried to put up a good front, refusing to move from our childhood home after our father was killed and assuring us she was okay. How can anyone be okay after losing the person they love most?”
Ally swallowed against the thickening in her throat.
“As time passed, things got easier. My mother really is a remarkable woman. I don’t know how she’s gone through losing the only man she ever loved to a random act of violence and losing her vision, and still she gives more than she’ll ever ask for.” His lips curved in a tentative smile. “She still sees the good all around her, even without sight.” His brows knitted together. “I don’t mean to be so maudlin.”
“Heath, please. I’ve learned more about you in the last ten minutes than in the last two days. Well, not really, but almost.” She pressed her lips to his. “I like that you’re sharing this part of yourself with me. Your dad sounds like he was a wonderful man, and I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to meet him.”
“He would have liked you a lot.” Heath moved to the edge of the couch. “I should get going and let you get some rest.”
Ally felt closer to Heath than ever, and she wanted him to stay with her, even if just to sleep, though she’d like to do more. But she knew she was falling for him much harder than she thought possible after only a few days, and she didn’t trust herself not to tip over the edge and drown in a pool of emotions she wasn’t sure she was ready for.
They kissed good night, and after he closed the door, she leaned her back against it, wishing he hadn’t left. She peered out the peephole and saw him standing, arms crossed, eyes serious. He took a step back toward the door, then ran his hand through his hair and turned to leave.
Wild Boys - Heath Page 9