Lovers and Other Strangers Box Set: The Boston Stories (5 page)

She really had been sleeping. It must have been as he suspected she had convinced herself that she had feelings for him to get through the ordeal of the surgery and being in the hospital. Maybe if he talked about it with her she would realize that it was happening and she would go back to acting like any of his other patients.

"No, you are not scary at all. You are beautiful in fact. Since you are much more relaxed than last night I thought we could talk for a while. I, um, won't be able to stay as long as I did last night, I'm afraid. Are you comfortable enough off of the morphine pump?"

"Yes, I'm alright. I understand you can't stay as long." She couldn't help looking disappointed. "What did you want to talk about?"

"You."

"Oh, I'm not very interesting I'm afraid. I'm 29. I live with my brother in our parents house. They died when I was 12 and Allyn was my guardian till I came of age. I always felt bad for him being so young -he was 22 when they died, and being saddled with me. Did all the usual stuff, college and what not and now I am here."

"That was a very practiced evasion that told me nothing about you."

Violet started to laugh. "I should have known you wouldn't accept that, sorry. Yes, I've gotten too good at not talking about me. I'll let you ask five questions and I will answer them as truthfully as possible."

"Okay, Though I suspect only five will just scratch the surface. What do you for a living?"

"Oh, we are going to get the boring stuff out of the way first? Fine. I work for a non-profit that deals with healthcare advocacy in third world countries. I'm here in the Boston office. That is one. Do I get to ask you questions?"

"I suppose it would only be fair. Within reason, mind you."

"Hmm, Where are you most ticklish?"

"Violet! I... Why do you want to know?"

"It may be important information later."

"You are the most confounding..."

"Just answer the question Doctor."

"Fine. I suppose under my arms. To be honest, I can't remember the last time someone tickled me."

"That will need to be rectified."

"You wouldn't dare..." The smile she leveled at him told him not only would she but might be planning her attack as he sat there. He stared back at her with his mouth agape. Oh if a woman like this could indeed love him, but no he was convinced this was merely a case of her need to distance herself from the hospital environment.

"Your next question, Doctor?"

"I...I can't remember what I was going to ask now." Michael shook his head to clear it. She befuddled him and that was not a feeling he was used to. "Okay, I know you like opera, have you ever been to see it live?"

"When I was a child, my parents had season tickets to the Met. I used to love going with them. It was like they were the king and queen and I was their princess. Everything sparkled and was so beautiful. The building, the costumes, the music everything was magical. Back then everyone got dressed up, the last time I was at a show in New York there were so many people in jeans. I am glad they were supporting and enjoying opera but it made me miss when it was a bigger event." She seemed lost in thought, possibly remembering her parents. Michael had to take this opportunity to get her to talk about them.

"Violet, how did your parents die?" She stared at him blankly, though the pain in her eyes was unmistakeable.

"Oh, Michael, I... They died in a plane crash."

"Violet, I know you were with them, your brother told me, I think..."

"Michael, I really don't want to talk about this. I... There is no going back and changing things. You can only deal with the pain and move forward. I learned that early on. Please don't make me talk about this."

"But if it affects you still, then it is a part of your present and your future for as long as you hold on to it. I think talking about it will help you move past it enough that your fear of hospitals and storms might be less."

"Michael, I have spent more time with doctors than you could possibly imagine, including shrinks that wanted to help me work through the pain. Nothing changes."

"But you don't seem terrified now."

She laughed, "No, I'm not. You are here."

"Why would that make a difference?"

She took a deep breath, "You relax me."

"Why?" She looked at him through her lashes and blushed. It was killing him to destroy how she felt about him but it was the right thing to do.

"Because of how I feel about you. That was your third question. My turn. Do you have a girlfriend?"

Michael blushed "No! I'm not letting you change the subject Violet."

"No, you don't have a girlfriend or no, you won't let me change the subject?"

"No, no girlfriend, and I'm not letting you change the subject." She grinned back at him.

"Wait, That would include boyfriend too, right?"

"Violet, I am not attracted to men but I think I am stating the obvious when I mention that I am in a wheelchair. I haven't dated since... well ever really. I think this is getting in to personal areas that I don't want to discuss."

"Oh, too touchy, Doctor. You seemed more than determined to open my darkest secrets."

She narrowed her eyes and stared him down. There it was again. The glint of steel under her elegant feminine exterior intrigued him more than he wanted to admit. This was the kind of woman who would keep a man challenged for a lifetime. His head ached from trying to keep himself from taking her in his arms and kissing her senseless.

"I've decided I am bored with your game. Frankly, you ask very dull questions." She said doing her best impression of a spoiled society girl. As she did, she reached out and poked her finger gently to his long nose.

He almost laughed. This woman didn't treat him like anyone else ever did. Even his mother had been a very cool personality. She loved him but was never physically affectionate even before his illness and the chair. After, everyone treated him as if some invisible force field buzzed around him. Not Violet, she was touchy and impertinent and made him feel alive, confused as hell but alive. She was holding him pinned with her finger on his nose. He felt slightly ridiculous, all he had to do was back up to break the contact but he couldn't seem to make himself do it. She took the top off the box of chocolates and squealed like a child.

"I love dark chocolate cherry cordials!" She plucked one from the box and took a big bite. The liquor from the candy dripped from the corner of her mouth as she happily devoured the rest. As she ate the treat, her eyes never left his. Her hand moved to caress his cheek with the back of her fingers. Eventually, she grasped his beard, gently but firmly pulling him toward her. Michael was staring at the red drip at the corner of her mouth and couldn't help licking his lips at the thought of tasting it. She seemed to want that too.

The kiss started sweetly enough. Her lips felt so warm under his. She murmured something in appreciation but then it became a flash flood of sensation. The kiss at the corner of her mouth with the sticky sweet syrup led to him exploring the taste of the dark chocolate on her tongue, the mix of the candy and her unique taste sent him over the edge. She matched him as their tongues swept the breath from the other. Her hands were fisted in his hair, pulling at him, driving him on. His mind lost to reason, everything male in him responding to everything female in her. He kissed across her jaw and down her throat. She traced her tongue along the edge of his ear and sucked the lobe into her mouth. He moaned, unconscious of what he was doing.

His hands which had held her shoulders moved down her arms and then spanned her rib cage. So delicate, the only thought in his head. As he moved his hands over the soft cotton of the johnny coat to the fullness of her breasts even that thought was blotted out by single minded desire. The civilized man was disappearing, replaced by a primal hunger that had been too long denied.

He broke the kiss and stared into her eyes as he slowly unsnapped the the shoulder of her gown one snap at a time. With each pop, her breath caught in her throat, but she never moved her hands from his head. When he let the front fall his hands cupped her rosy tipped breasts. His large strong hands seemed made to match them, they filled them so perfectly. He bent his face to bury himself in them, inhaling the scent of her. She gasped when his beard grazed the tops of them.

He reveled in how sensitive she was to his touch so he rubbed his beard across her nipples and was rewarded with shivers shaking her whole body. He was consumed with her reactions to him, to his touch. Nothing could keep him from enjoying this woman. Even doing surgery had never felt as powerful as making Violet gasp and sigh almost at will. He wanted to discover every intonation of her delight. He lowered the bed so it was flat and she was laid out before him like a buffet to a starving man.

He moved back to the hollow at her throat and almost laughed at her groan of displeasure. He feasted on that hollow and turned the groan into a sigh. She still had one hand cupping the back of his head, the other had reached over her head to clutch at the sheets above her. She looked ready to have her picture painted by one of the Impressionists, a lover at rest. As beautiful as she looked in the half light, he didn't want her at rest. He wanted to see her as crazed as he felt right now.

He leaned forward and his hand landed in the box of candy. He held one in his hand as he unsnapped the side of her gown. He groaned when he revealed her body. Yes, he had seen her naked when he operated but then he had stared at her with clinical detachment. There was nothing detached about his gaze now. His chest ached at her beauty. Everything was soft, made for a man's pleasure and touch. He wanted to drink her in, get drunk on the feel and taste of her. He smiled and brought the cordial over her. He used his teeth and nipped a small hole in it. All the while making sure she had her eyes on him. He dripped the sticky syrup down her body from the valley of her breasts to her pubic mound, leaving no question of what he intended.

Violet moaned, she couldn't help it. Every touch of his set her on fire. The minute the kiss changed she knew she would be writhing under the spell he was weaving. She needed more of him. "Take off your shirt." She managed in a hoarse whisper. He looked at her like he barely registered her voice but reached up and pulled his scrub top off. As he bent towards her body she stopped him. He could have what he desired in a moment, first she wanted to touch him.

His shoulders were magnificent, each turn of muscle perfectly proportioned for his frame. His chest was neatly divided and she couldn't resist running her fingers down the cut of his pecs and watching him quake. Her hands spread across the wide expanse and caressed his flat nipples with her thumbs. She smiled as his desire darkened eyes drooped. Oh how she would have loved to use her mouth on him. It would take a week to kiss all of him. As much as she could get laying flat on her back was one finger under his chin to guide him to her lips. His kiss left her breathless and covered in goosebumps. She hadn't expected him to be so playful, earnest, heartfelt yes, but this, being covered in candy syrup, the way he teased her with his beard was beyond anything she could have asked for. She had hoped he would be a thoughtful lover. She hadn't guessed that he would be inventive.

He hovered over her, staring into her eyes. What she saw there was all male and not at all tame, such a contrast to the courtly doctor he had been at other times. The thought of him like this made her mouth water. She had wanted to see him like this from the moment she laid eyes on him. He held out the cherry still in the chocolate and fed it to her as she stared back at him. Without a word he started licking at the sticky trail he'd left on her body. She was trembling with need, every touch of his tongue turned the knots in her gut tighter. At her breasts, he detoured from the path. He used his mouth to make her moan, his soft wet tongue followed by the rasp of his beard. When she didn't think she could stand anymore he sucked her nipples to even harder points. The soft bite of pain rocketing to her sex and making her ache even more.

She saw the smile on his face as she struggled to catch her breath. Not tonight, but soon it would be her turn to play the seducer and then she would take her sweet time with him. When he got to her stomach, he smeared the sticky liquid instead of lapping it up. Then he sucked at the soft skin with wet open mouthed kisses. Violet had to clench her teeth to keep from crying out. He continued his assault till he was between the points of her hip bones. She was desperate for him to get to her more sensitive spots but she didn't want this to end either. She groaned "I'm going to be all wet and sticky."

He looked up at her from near her pelvis and smiled. When he looked back down he rubbed his mouth against her mound. "I can smell how wet and sticky you are."

Violet sucked in her breath. Part of her was shocked at his words, this was not the genteel man she thought she knew, this was something earthy with rougher edges. Something that promised abandon and she wanted all of it. "Oh- please- Michael- touch me, dammit!" His laugh against her mound made her breath catch in her throat.

He loved the smell of her arousal. He wanted to crow with satisfaction, he had made this beautiful woman quiver for release from him. He’d sensed her startle at his blunt words and seen the moisture drip from her labia. She might not say it but she liked not being treated like a porcelain doll. Slowly he brought his lips to her pussy and kissed her deeply there. He parted her with his fingers. She was so warm and wet. He eased two of his fingers deep inside her. He heard her gasp and kissed the inside of her thigh to let her get used to the sensation. His fingers were long, reaching deep inside her. He curled them to massage the spot just behind her pelvic bone. He buried his face in her thigh to hide his smile when she started panting softly. He gave her thigh a little nip and she moaned his name. He thought he'd roar his conquest of this desirable woman.

Now he wanted a taste. He gave her clit a hard lick with the flat of his tongue and she almost jumped off the bed. With precise movements, using just the tip of his tongue he traced her folds. He explored every where but her sensitive nub till she was panting and clutching at the sheets. Suddenly she began to keen, if she was having an orgasm he would know- this was not a climax. Her legs shook. Oh, God! What had he done.