by Katie Dowe
“Goodbye, Gavin,” she said and hung up the phone. Taking a deep breath, she went to get herself some tea.
*****
“Do you think she will come around?” Carissa asked as she rubbed the cream into her skin and looked up at the man behind her. She had fallen in love with Simon Myles in spite of who he was. She had been married before when she was very young and had regretted, spending the years paying for it. Jesse had beaten her physically and emotionally and it had taken years for her to recover from it. When she had met Simon she had looked at the powerful and handsome doctor and had known she was lost. She knew of his reputation of dating women much younger and had tried to stay away without success. Now it was too late because she had fallen in love with him.
“I hope so.” He brought his hands down onto her shoulders and rubbed them gently. She was the first woman since his wife died that he had thought of settling down with. “I was pretty hard on her growing up and I made a lot of mistakes. Ones that she has not forgiven me for.”
“You are different now and she needs to see that.” She placed her hands over his and looked up at him. “You are all she’s got, Simon, and I want both of you to have a relationship. Family is important.”
“I love you,” he said gently. “You came into my life and made it better.”
“I love you too, darling, and I do believe in second chances.”
“How about a glass of wine before bed?” he asked her with a twinkle in his dark brown eyes.
“And something else,” she said with a smile.
“Of course.”
*****
“Dad?” Savannah pushed the doors open and frowned a little bit. There had been no security at the front desk and she figured that because it was so early that they had not come in yet. She had seen her father’s vehicle parked outside so she knew he was here but his was the only vehicle aside from hers there. The building was impressive with the large blue and white letters of Parker’s Pharmaceuticals on the front. Her father’s medical practice was on the second floor. She punched the button and stepped into the car, getting off when it reached the second floor. Her feet sank into plush moss green carpeting and she realized that it was quite big. The name Myles Medical and Associates was stenciled on the glass door. She stood there staring at the gold lettering for a moment before pushing the door open. “Dad?” The place was eerily quiet. The reception area had been empty as well as the nurses’ station. She pushed a door which she believed was his office and felt her heart jolt as she saw her father’s body crumpled on the floor.
“Dad!” she cried out as she ran the rest of the way, dropping down to check his pulse. She sighed in trembling relief when she felt the faint beat. She quickly pulled out her cell phone and dialed 911. “Yes, I am in the office of Dr. Simon Myles at the Parker’s Pharmaceuticals building uptown and I need an ambulance ASAP. My name is Savannah Myles and I am a doctor at Hope General. Please send someone now. I think my father has been attacked!”
*****
She rode in the ambulance with him, holding his hand as the EMTs administered first aid. “His pulse is thready, Doctor Myles, and his blood pressure is spiking,” the woman said to her.
“He is concussed,” Savannah said, looking at the monitor. He had a deep gash on the side of his head and he was very still. “We have to try and get the pressure down.”
She continued to work on him until the ambulance pulled up outside the hospital. She jumped out and nodded to the doctors gathered there with the gurney. “We have a sixty-year-old male with a gash to his temple and possible concussion,” she said, her heart beating fast.
“We got it from here, Savannah,” the trauma surgeon Doctor Perkins told her with a nod.
“Thank you,” she said numbly.
“Hey, he is going to be okay.” Calvin gave her a brief hug as he ran inside.
Savannah wrapped her jacket around her to ward off the cold and walked slowly inside.
Pamela came to meet her. “He is going to be fine, honey. Your father has a tough head,” she said as she wrapped her arms around Savannah. “The police are here but I can send them away if you like.”
“No.” Savannah shook her head slowly. “I will talk to them.”
*****
“There was a break in at the Parker’s Pharmaceuticals and Dr. Simon Myles was attacked,” Sandra, his svelte blonde secretary, told him the minute he came in.
“Give me the details,” he told her as he took off his coat. “And get me the hospital where they took him and the guards assigned to the building.”
“Right away, Gavin. Should I cancel your nine o’clock?”
“Yes, reschedule my appointments.”
*****
“What happened?” Carissa asked in an agitated voice as she came into the room where Savannah was sitting. She had just finished with the detectives who had told her that it had clearly been a break in to steal drugs.
“There have been a slew of that going on at medical centers for the past two months, Doctor Myles, but I never figured that they would target somewhere uptown,” the detective had told her.
“Carissa.” She got to her feet and greeted the woman coolly. “He is in surgery right now. I am waiting to hear. He has a concussion which I am hoping it is nothing serious like a brain bleed.”
“You found him,” she said slowly as she sat down.
Savannah nodded.
“He was so excited that you had finally agreed to come and see the place,” she said with a trembling sigh as she clasped her hands together in front of her. “He was hoping that you were going to say yes to working with him there when you saw the place. I could not get him to sit and drink his coffee because he did not want to be late meeting you.”
“I am sorry,” Savannah muttered, feeling acutely uncomfortable with the information the woman had just given her. “You can stay in here and I will get you details as soon as I hear.” She turned to leave.
“He wants to make amends,” she spoke up as the girl made her way out.
“What?”
“Your father wants to make up for the way he treated you. It’s all he talks about and he wants your forgiveness.”
“I am sorry but that is not your place-”
“I love him,” she interrupted with a small smile. “I knew of his past and the women, but I don’t care. He is different now and he wants to make a better life for himself and for you. He wants a relationship and I think you should give him that chance.”
“I am not discussing my relationship with my father with the woman he is sleeping with.” Savannah felt a twinge of regret at the look on the woman’s face.
“I am sorry to hear that,” Carissa told her stiffly. “Please send someone to let me know how his surgery went. Thanks.”
Savannah stood there looking at her bent head for a moment and then turned and left.
She went swiftly to front desk and reached for her charts. “You are going to work now?”
“I have to get my mind off things.” She looked up at Pamela. Paula Laughlin had come by to check on her and had gone back to her office. “Would you have someone give Carissa an update as soon as my father is out of surgery?”
“What about you?” Pamela asked her curiously.
“I am afraid she is not very pleased with me right now.” She sighed heavily. “I was pretty harsh.”
“She is not the enemy, honey,” Pamela reminded her.
“No, she is not. I should not have said what I did.” She looked at the chart. “I have to go.”
“Honey, you are going to have to let it go eventually.”
“I am trying,” she said as she walked away.
She forced a smile to her lips as she went into room six where her ten year old patient was waiting. “Hi, my name is Savannah Myles. What’s yours?”
“Bobby Mitchell,” the tow headed boy said with a smile.
“What seems to be the problem, Bobby?”
“I fell off my bike and hit
my head pretty hard. I have a bump right here, see?” He touched the spot gingerly.
“Let’s see how you are doing.”
Chapter 6
“Savannah?” her father’s groggy voice caused her to lift her head. She had finished her rounds an hour ago and had come to sit inside his room to wait for him to wake up. Fortunately, he had not suffered any brain trauma. Carissa had gone home to come back.
“Hey, Dad.” She got to her feet and came towards his bed. “How are you? Any pain?”
“A true doctor,” he said with a slight smile. He held a hand out and with a slight hesitation she took it.
“Do you remember what happened?” she asked as she pulled up a chair next to the bed.
“I was attacked.” He grimaced slightly as he tried to move his head. “It was two of them and they had masks on.”
“The police were here and they will want to question you.” She paused and then continued. “Carissa went home to come back. I am afraid I was not very nice to her.”
He closed his eyes briefly. “Because of me.” He sighed. “She is a very lovely woman, Savannah, and the only one I have been able to fall in love with after your mother died. I am sorry.” His eyes pleaded with her to understand.
“I will get the doctor.” She started to get to her feet.
“Please stay a little.”
“You need to rest, Dad,” she murmured.
“I just want to talk for a minute.”
She sat back down reluctantly.
“I was horribly wrong,” he said with a grimace. “I wanted a son.” He squeezed her hand a little as he saw her expression. “I was a damned fool and did not see how smart and wonderful you are. I wanted a son and my wanting a son clouded all of that. I saw who you were from you were little and I felt grudging admiration. I used to watch you applying bandages to your dolls and how careful and methodical you were. I listened to you talking them through the pretend operations you performed and I knew then that someday you were going to make a damned fine doctor! But my wanting a son got between us and I was too busy with my career to try and fix it. I know it is going to take some time for you to forgive me but I am asking you to give me a chance. Will you do that for me?”
She stared at him and willed the tears to go away. It had been too many years of abuse for her to just let it go like that. She needed time. She got to her feet and said briskly, “We will take it one step at a time.”
“At least you are giving me hope,” he said with a gentle smile.
“I will see you in the morning.” She hurried out before he could respond and almost bumped into Carissa.
“Is he awake?” she asked Savannah softly.
“Yes.” She started to go on her way and then stopped. “I am sorry about earlier.”
“That’s okay. Emotions run pretty high in times like these.”
Savannah nodded and walked away.
*****
He was outside leaning on her car when she came out. Her steps faltered and then picked up the pace. “I don’t have time for whatever it is,” she told him as she fished her keys out of her pocketbook.
“How is your dad?” he asked her mildly. He had been waiting on her for the past ten minutes.
“Recovering. Would you kindly move out of the way?”
“You are upset. Why?” He still had not moved and she almost ground her teeth in frustration.
“None of your business.”
“I want to make it better.”
She stared at him for a moment and then burst out laughing. “You want to put a band aid on it?”
“Something like that. How about coming to my place this time?”
“No. I am going home to get some sleep.”
“Are you sure?” His voice was hypnotic and she was caught in the spell. He leaned off the vehicle and came towards her. She stood where she was determined not to let him see how rattled she was. It was late and the parking lot was scanty. He pushed back tendrils of her hair from her face and cupped her cheek, his thumbs moving over her face. “I thought we could maybe lose ourselves in each other and forget about the cares of the world.”
“I don’t have any care,” she said huskily, her lips parting as his thumb went over the bottom lip and entered her mouth.
“I do, and I want to sink myself into you from behind maybe and forget them. Would you like to help me out?”
“Stop,” she said raggedly, feeling her knees buckling as his thumb caressed her tongue. He turned her around and backed her against the car, his body pressing against hers.
“I will drive.”
“No,” she moaned. She could feel his erection pressing against her. He ducked his head and his breath stirred against her mouth making her shiver. His teeth nipped her lip gently before wandering down her chin and to her neck. “Stop,” she said raggedly.
“My place?” he asked, lifting his head to look down at her, his slate grey eyes darkened.
“Yes,” she breathed through her nose and felt as if her body was crumpling.
“Good. Let’s go.”
*****
“You old fool! You almost gave me the scare of my life,” Carissa said as she bent to kiss his lips tenderly.
“I am sorry, darling.” Simon gripped her hand in his and held on as she sat in the chair his daughter had vacated. “How are you?”
“Okay, now that you are awake. I saw Savannah on my way in.”
Simon sighed. “She is still mad at me. Who can blame her? I pretty much gave her life hell.”
“She apologized sort of for being rude to me.” Carissa rubbed his hand gently. “In time she will come around.”
“I hope so. I told her why I behaved the way I did, but I have a feeling that she was still not in a forgiving mood.”
“I want you to concentrate on getting better. The police will be coming around in the morning to ask some questions.”
“So I heard.”
*****
His apartment was on the penthouse suite and was breathtakingly beautiful! The security had rushed to greet them as soon as the automatic doors opened. It had started snowing a little bit and the flakes settled on their clothes and melted away as soon as they were inside. “Mr. Parker, sir, ma’am.” He had doffed his cap respectfully and went ahead to press the button of the private elevator that took them up.
He keyed in a code and the door swung open to let them into a sunken living room with steps leading down. An electronic fire was already blazing and Savannah relished the warmth. She caught a glimpse of a spiraling staircase as they descended the stairs. He took her coat and hung it up along with his. “Wine?” he asked going towards an elaborate cabinet.
“Thanks.” She looked around the sparsely furnished room and sat on one of the plush sofas. There was a beautiful Renoir hanging above the mantel and farther to the right was a life size portrait of a striking looking woman and a tall handsome man that was a dead ringer for Gavin.
“My parents,” he told her as he handed her the glass. “My father died when I was sixteen and my mother is on her third marriage.” He lifted his glass in a mock toast. “We have not spoken in months because she wanted her latest husband to be a part of the company and I told her a strong no.”
“I am not much of an expert on families myself,” Savannah said with a shrug.
“Two peas in a pod,” he said softly as he sat next to her.
“I doubt that.”
“What are you afraid of?” he asked her softly as he turned towards her.
“I am fearless actually,” she told him carelessly, sipping the wine and eyeing him.
“Are you now?” He put his wine glass aside and reached over to take hers putting it next to his. He then pulled her into his arms. “Doctor Savannah Myles.” His fingers toyed with her hair that had escaped the ponytail. “I think I need a full body check. Are you up for that?” His hand had drifted down to cup her breast.
“I don’t come cheap.” Her breath was hitching as she arch
ed her body. He was massaging her nipple through the layer of clothing.
“I can afford it.” He ducked his head and lifting her shirt and her thin sweater he sucked her nipple through her lace bra. His teeth nibbled at the hardened bud sending shards of liquid flame hurtling through her body! Savanna’s head fell forward against his and her breathing became erratic. He used his tongue to soothe the sting slowly and carefully causing her to shiver against him. He peeled the material away, his thumb going over the wet skin, his blunt nail passing over it and sending fiery darts through her.
“Please,” she whispered achingly, her body flaming up.
“We will get there,” he said hoarsely. He took off her top and then her bra, passing his hands over her body before cupping her small breasts and weighing them in his palms. He put her away suddenly and getting to his feet he shed his clothes hurriedly before sitting back down. He eased her backwards and finished undressing her, his fingers touching every inch of her skin lightly. He opened her legs, his fingers going for her core, spreading the lips of her vagina and passing his fingers between the folds slowly. Savannah arched her trembling body forward restlessly. He inserted a finger inside her going in with aching slowness, his eyes holding hers as he watched her reaction. Suddenly, he took his finger out and before she could protest he gripped her hips and lifted her onto his lap impaling her forcefully causing a gasp to escape her lips. He pushed up into her as she wrapped her hands around his neck. He bent his head and took her lips with his roughly as he thrust into her with a force that almost knock them both to the carpeted floor! Savannah gripped his shoulders, her body heaving as she gave in to the madness that surrounded them!
*****
She crept out first thing in the morning. She had meant to leave right after but he had made love to her over and over again and when he had finished he had taken her to one of the elegantly furnished bathroom and had done it in the shower as well. His bedroom was breathtakingly beautiful with a huge bed set on a dais and steps leading up to it. An enormous walk through closet took up one entire section of the room and the opened doors showed shelves and rows upon rows of shoes stacked high. She had drifted off into an exhausted sleep and now she was sneaking out of his apartment like a woman of the night who had given her pleasure and was being kicked out.