by Ana E Ross
“Here, here,” Michelle said.
“You know, Precious will be going back to school in a few weeks, so you’ll have a lot of time on your hands,” he said placing his glass on the table.
“And you’re wondering how I would spend all that free time, especially when you’re paying me such an enormous salary.” Amusement flickered in her eyes.
“I know where you’ll be spending your free time. The same place you’ve been spending it whenever you get the chance. How’s your book coming?”
“I’m almost done the first draft, but it’s hard to write when I’m not with the kids. I get my inspiration from being around them, seeing them almost every day.”
“Well, like I said, you’ll have a lot more time once Precious returns to school.” He paused. “I know you’ve been leaving Precious with Mrs. Hayes when you go to Manchester. You have my permission to take her with you if you want to. I know she’ll be safe with you.”
“Thanks, Erik. I’ll take good care of her.”
Their meals arrived and as they enjoyed the succulent lobster dishes, Erik lightened the conversation by telling Michelle all about growing up in Granite Falls, but especially about his best friends Bryce, Adam, and Massimo—very wealthy and powerful men in the area. He told her that they used to be known as the Billionaire Bachelors of Granite Falls until he broke the mold and married Cassie, then shortly after Bryce followed. The Italian cousins Massimo and Adam were never married. In fact, they were notorious playboys.
Michelle hadn’t even realized that Erik’s family was so wealthy until he mentioned private jets and mini yachts. Well, she should have known when they drove up to that mansion on the hill. As it turned out, his father’s family owned a chain of Canadian banks. He came from old, old money, and yet he was so humble, so grounded, and balanced. He must have gotten that quality from Felicia, although she had to admit, his father was very down to earth as well.
By the time he was finished telling her about Granite Falls, Michelle felt like she knew everybody in the town. It seemed like a lovely safe place to raise a family, and from the look in his eyes, Michelle could tell Erik missed living here.
They were lingering over coffee and dessert when Erik’s phone began to vibrate.
He pulled it from his pocked and checked the LCD. “It’s Russell, the doctor I told you is covering my patients for the weekend.”
She nodded. “Go ahead.”
“I’ll be back soon,” he said, dropping his napkin on the table. His face twisted into a regretful frown, as he walked toward the foyer so not to disturb the other patrons. Russ would only call if it were urgent. He hoped he could fix the problem by phone. The evening was going well. He wanted to spend more time with Michelle. She made him feel good, alive. He hadn’t had this much fun in years.
While Erik was gone, Derek returned with the busboy to clear the table. Realizing they might need to leave, Michelle asked him to bring the check. She was grateful that at least they had finished their meal before duty called.
She met Erik in the foyer. The worried look on his face confirmed her suspicions.
“I have to go back to Manchester tonight,” he said. “A high-risk patient went into early labor and it looks bad. Russ assured me he could handle it, but I’ll feel better if I’m there. This woman has had two miscarriages already. If she should have another, I wouldn't forgive myself for not being there.” Fatigue settled in the shallow pockets under his eyes.
“I can drive while you sleep,” Michelle offered.
“It’s a three-hour drive. We had a long day and it’s late. I called Dad. His pilot is flying me back in the chopper. You and Precious can stay the night and drive back tomorrow, or you can stay until Sunday, or spend the week if you want.”
Of course, Michelle thought, feeling stupid. The man had choppers and private jets at his disposal. Why drive when you can fly? “Okay, I’ll see what Precious wants to do.”
He looked at his watch. “Wait here while I pay the check.”
“I took care of the bill.”
He tilted his head. “You did?”
“I suspected we might have to leave in a hurry.”
“That’s what I like, a woman who takes care of her man,” he said, guiding her out into the moonlit night and across the parking lot.
“Is that what you are, Erik, my man?” she asked as they reached the Mercedes.
His eyes glimmered in the moonlight. He groaned, and before she could move—not that she wanted to—he grabbed her around the waist, backed her against the side of the car and pressed his body into hers.
His lips were urgent, seeking, wild as they devoured her mouth. He tasted of lobster, raspberry tiramisu, and espresso. He kissed her so ardently, shivers of delight raced through her. His fingers found the buttons of her dress and undid them in a record hurry. The night air whispered briefly across her naked breast before he cupped them in his hands and squeezed them so closely together, her nipples almost touched.
“Michelle.” He dragged his mouth from hers and trailed his lips down her throat and across her chest, leaving a blaze of fire in their wake. He licked at her hard nipples, one at a time, then closed his mouth over each of her firm mounds and sucked the common sense out of her. Excitement leaped through her veins.
With his mouth clamped to a breast, he dropped his hands to her legs and pulled up her dress. When she felt his eager fingers glide magically up her thighs across her taut buttocks then work their way toward her inner thighs, Michelle knew she should stop him, but she didn’t have the strength or the desire to.
She gasped in both shock and pleasure when he caught the waist of her thong and edged it down her thighs. The pit of her stomach churned as he cupped her moistness then ran his fingers over the slick flesh of her womanhood.
Michelle moaned and grabbed his shoulders as her whole body began to quiver out of control. Her thighs involuntarily clamped together.
Pulling his mouth from her breasts, Erik slowly dragged his lips back up her body. “No. Spread your legs. Open up,” he whispered against her mouth. “Yeah, that’s good. You sweet Brazilian baby.”
Erik parted her smooth labia majora, ran a finger from the hood of her clitoris down her labia minora and tried to slip it inside her. Wet as she was, he couldn’t get in. She was so damn tight. Was she a virgin? He pulled back and pushed with a little more force this time. There was no hymen. He pushed deeper. She whimpered as the walls of her vagina gave way and her hot pulsing flesh clamped around him like a blood-sucking leech. Erik smiled and began working his finger back and forth inside her while the pad of his thumb strummed her swollen clitoris. His gaze dropped to her rosy, pebbled nipples, wet from his mouth. He reached up with his other hand and began kneading the swollen mounds of her breasts.
Her head fell back against the roof of the car and she gasped in absolute uninhibited pleasure. His eyes transfixed on her beautiful moonlit face. Her mouth was opened and her eyes were rolled so far back in their sockets only the whites were visible. She started bucking and thrashing about. He leaned in and pressed her against the car with his body, holding her down as he strummed her harder and faster with his finger.
“Erik…Erik… I’m… com…”
“Come, Michelle. Come to me, baby. Come…”
He covered her mouth with his to mute her shrill cry of ecstasy as she shattered in his arms like shooting stars and falling rain. She stiffened for an eternity then went limp. Erik could hear her heart thumping against her chest as if she’d just run a hundred meter race with everything she had. He buried her face in his chest and held her until she was quiet, until her muscles relaxed around his finger.
“You okay?”
“No. Yes. I don’t know.” She shuddered on an aftershock.
He pulled his finger from inside her, placed it under his nose for a second then slid it into his mouth. The smell of her, the taste of her made his hard shaft jump.
The headlight of a vehicle entering the parkin
g lot blinded Erik. He hurried Michelle into the car and walked around to his side. He waited outside to give her time to fix her clothes, and for his arousal to dissolve before he climbed behind the wheel.
He had surely taken leave of his good senses to do what he just did in a public place. He had never been this reckless with Cassie. But then she’d never been this responsive to him either. Michelle, on the other hand, brought out something wild and savage in him, something he didn’t even know he had. And he loved the way it made him feel. Potent. Virile. Unstoppable.
He opened the car door and climbed behind the wheel, knowing they had to talk about what just happened.
She turned to him, her eyes still misty with passion. “Erik, I’ve never done anything like that. I just want you to know. I’m not a—I’m not that kind of girl.”
“I believe you, Michelle. I’ve never done anything like this before, either. But you have to admit, this day had been quite tantalizing. It had been leading to this. It was inevitable.”
“So what do we do now?”
He sighed as he started the engine. “We go home.”
“And pretend that it never happened?”
“I don’t think either of us can pretend it never happened. But I hope it answers your question.”
She frowned. “What question?”
“Whether or not I’m your man.”
A timid smile cracked her swollen lips. “After what we just did, you’d better be.”
He hooked a finger under her chin and drew her face to his. Leaning over, he kissed her lightly, but persuasively. “And you are my woman. No matter how I behave toward you after we get back to Amherst, don’t lose sight of that. Like I told you earlier today, I just need time.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Michelle pulled the Jaguar into the driveway of 204 Jefferson Drive and shut off the engine. No need to put it in the garage since she would have to pick up Precious from her friend’s birthday party in two hours.
She got out of the car and walked around the side of the house toward the kitchen. Life had returned to normal since their return from Granite Falls. She and Precious had stayed a few days with Philippe and she’d really grown to like him. He was the father she wished she had growing up, and he’d treated her like the daughter he never had. And thank goodness, everything had turned out well with Erik’s patient.
Back in Amherst, her days were spent taking care of Precious while Erik spent his at the hospital. They had dinner together as often as he could, and his mother had joined them a few times. While he entertained Precious after dinner, Michelle would write. They’d gone to the movies a few times and picnicked at the local parks twice.
They were becoming very good friends, and she felt much more relaxed around him even though her heart hammered in her chest and her skin tingled every time she was near him or thought of the intimacies they’d shared in Granite Falls. Intimacies neither of them ever spoke about.
Sometimes, after Precious was in bed, they would sit around and talk. They talked about the kids at the center and her progress on raising funds to build the new one. They talked about the slumping economy, about the upcoming elections, and which party should lead the country. Their opposing views didn’t matter. They talked about Cassie, his parents, and Robert and Yasmine. She’d told him about Ryan and how she’d followed him to South Carolina after she lost her job then returned to Manchester when they broke up. He never brought up the subject of her father again, and she was happy for it. That part was over and done with.
She was learning a great deal about Erik as a brilliant doctor, a devoted father, and a charming man who knew how to make a woman feel special by merely smiling at her.
She respected him. She trusted him. She loved him.
As she walked into the kitchen, Michelle eyed her laptop on the table. Before she left to drop Precious off at the party, she’d been in the middle of writing another fund-raising letter for the center. Rose had informed her that the one they’d been circulating wasn’t doing the job. They were still very short of their financial goal.
Some superb news had resulted from that old letter, though. The proprietor of one of the businesses they’d solicited owned a piece of land across the street from the projects where most of the kids who frequented the center lived. According to Rose, Mr. Dawson had himself climbed out of poverty into success and wanted to give something back to his town.
She would love nothing more than to plop down in front of her laptop and finish the letter, but she was driven instead to put away the bags of recently delivered groceries sitting on the island. Erik had made arrangements for the groceries to be delivered so that Mrs. Hayes didn’t have to go to the store. Michelle had learned that before Cassie died, she was the one who did the weekly shopping.
She still couldn’t believe the modest way they lived—well modest compared to the fully staffed mansion he grew up in—when Erik was worth millions, perhaps billions of dollars. He didn’t have to work, didn’t even have to be a doctor, but he’d told her that he loved helping people. She knew for a fact that most of the patients he saw at the free clinic didn’t pay him. It was another outstanding quality that endeared her to him.
Michelle had emptied about half the number of bags when Mrs. Hayes shuffled into the kitchen.
“Michelle dear, you don’t have to do that. That’s my job.” She walked over and tried to shoo Michelle away.
“Yeah, right.” Michelle placed her hand on the older woman’s shoulders and steered her toward the table, happy she could return a favor, however small, to the old lady who had been so kind to her and Robert when they were children. Many times, she had taken them into her little house that always smelled of cooking spices. She would feed them then wrap them in blankets she kept on her couch. She would turn on her TV and she and Robert would watch cartoons until they fell asleep in a warm, quiet room for a change. Then their father would come for them and take them home. Take them to hell was more like it. The same kind of hell children she cared about still lived in.
She helped Mrs. Hayes into a chair. “You sit yourself right down there and let me do this. She pulled out another chair and made the lady put her feet up. “Now there. Would you like something to drink?”
“A glass of water would be nice.”
“Coming right up.”
“Thank you, dear,” Mrs. Hayes said, smiling as Michelle placed a crystal glass in her hand. “You remind me so much of Miss Cassie. It’s the same way she used to fuss over me.”
“Really?”
“She was a sweet woman.” Mrs. Hayes took a long draft from the glass.
“How did you ever end up here… in this house, anyway?” Michelle asked, going back to the grocery bags.
Mrs. Hayes chuckled. “It’s a long story.”
“I have time.” After all the time Mrs. Hayes had devoted to her childhood, she could spend a few moments listening to the old woman’s life story. Besides, even though Mrs. Hayes still refused to admit pulling strings to get her hired, Michelle knew that if she hadn’t run into the old woman that day at the diner, months ago, she never would have met Erik. She wouldn’t be in this kitchen today.
“Well, my younger brother came down sick with leukemia. He didn’t have medical insurance, so I started taking care of him. I sold everything I had and mortgaged my little house, but it wasn’t enough. At the time, I was cleaning office buildings for a living. One of them was the free clinic on Bridge.” She smiled as a far-away look came to her eyes. “Then this young doctor joined the staff.”
“Erik?” Michelle asked.
She nodded. “Dr. Erik Philippe LaCrosse, Jr.—young, handsome, brilliant, and newly married. He’d be at the clinic at all ungodly hours of the night. Miss Cassie used to bring him lunch and sometimes dinner.” She chuckled. “He used to complain that she was the worst cook and how he feared she would poison him one day. So I started bringing him little dishes here and there. You remember I like to dabble in the kitchen.”
>
Michelle swallowed a lump that lodged itself in her throat as she filled the egg tray in the refrigerator door. “Yeah, I do.” If it weren’t for Mrs. Hayes, she and Robert would have died of starvation in their childhood.
Mrs. Hayes sighed and took another sip of water. “Eventually, my brother passed, but by then I’d lost my house to the bank. I didn’t have anywhere to live, so I started sleeping at the clinic. The doctor figured out I was homeless and he and Miss Cassie insisted I come live in their guesthouse. All I had to do in return was cook. After she passed, I took over the housekeeping.”
Michelle was rooted at the island, too choked to speak. Just the thought of this woman who’d been so kind to her and so many other kids in her neighborhood, not having a place to live was too much for her. Life was so damned unfair. Tears welled up in her eyes.
When she felt the comforting arms go about her, Michelle let the tears flow.
“Michelle, darling,” Mrs. Hayes said, guiding her over to the table and seating her, just as Michelle had done to her a short while ago. “The good Lord brought me here for a reason. All these years I didn’t know what it was until I ran into you at Mama Lola’s diner.”
“So you did have the agency call me,” Michelle said, smiling through her tears.
Mrs. Hayes smiled back, sheepishly. “Yes. I know the owners at Ready Nanny Agency. They used to be my clients. The doctor was getting desperate and Precious was growing more miserable with each potential that came through the door. I asked them to cancel the scheduled candidate and call you instead. I told them not to give you time to think about it.”
Michelle smiled. “They didn’t. Thank you. You are truly my guardian angel.”
“The doctor is sweet on you, and I know you like him,” Mrs. Hayes said softly.
She laughed. “Is it that obvious?”
“I may be old, but I’m not blind.” She paused. “You need to tell the doctor the truth about your father. You shouldn’t have lied to him.”