Bound for Christmas (7 page)

Her brown eyes held a spark as she moved away from the sink, passed him with a light brush to his shoulder and exited the kitchen.

He waited a couple of beats, giving her time to get across the living room, otherwise he knew he would have been standing at the archway of the kitchen watching her plump round ass sway like a lion admires a deer--a succulent delicious treat.

*           *           *

“Are you ready to get started Mr. Douglas?” Lily was standing at the foot of the bed staring down at the patient.

“No,” James growled at the physical therapist giving her and evil eyed look. He shifted his gaze to Zoey as he did every day. “Tell her to go away.”

“Not going to happen, sir.” Zoey patted his shoulder. “I will be out back if you need me Lily.”

“What about me?” Mr. Douglas whined.

“As long as it is not salvation from Lily I’ll be here.” Smiling, she turned and headed out of the room, seeing Evan standing there halted her feet and made her heart flutter. His hair still wet from the shower he must have taken, appeared dark as it was combed back slick against his head. He wore a Carolina blue t-shirt that was pulled tight over powerful, shoulders and his broad chest, even though it was loose around his abs. Long dark blue, jersey style, basketball pants covered his legs and on his feet he just sported white socks.  He looked comfortable and incredible, like her dream come to life. That’s where he’d been appearing nightly in the last few days since she’d seen him.

Her heart began to race and sweat was beginning to bead up on the back of her neck. She really needed to get herself under control around him. Being in his house was her job and she needed to remain professional.

“I decided to stick my head in and see how the patient is doing.”He casually leaned against the door frame.

She glanced over her shoulder at Mr. Douglas as he attempted to squirm away from Lily. “Ready and excited for his therapy.”

“Liar,” Mr. Douglas barked.

Lily laughed.

“Evan, this is Lily, your dad’s physical therapist. She comes five days a week to work with him.”

She noticed Evan taking in Lily’s appearance, not in a sexual way, just observant. Most people did the same when they met her. Lily was an Asian woman about five eight in height and built like a sumo wrestler. If it weren’t for her breasts and lipstick someone could easily mistake her for a man. However, the therapist was happily married with three boys. 

“Nice to meet you, Lily.” Evan nodded at the other woman.

“Same here.” She said as she assisted Mr. Douglas from the bed to a thick mat she had placed on the floor.

“Well, we will leave you two to your fun.” Zoey led Evan away.

“Wow, she is something else,” he said as they moved through the living room.

“She’s a force to be reckoned with. However, very sweet. Your father has had other therapists, but he’s sent all of them, but Lily ranting and crying out the door within twenty minutes. He’s had Lily for two months now. If it wasn’t for her, atrophy would have settled into his joints and muscles worst than it has. He refuses to do anything with his right side when she is not around. He should have been walking on his own by now.”

“But, he’s not.” The heavy weight of worry was evident in Evan’s voice and countenance.

“No, he isn’t.” Pausing, she stared at the man before her and wondered about the weight and strain he carried. His body was tense for more reasons than just sitting behind the wheel of a plane for repeated hours for days. “How about you go ahead on the back porch and I will meet you outside in a minute with something to drink?”

“Deal.” He did a little jog in the direction of the back door.

She continued her path to the kitchen for the drinks. This morning she’d made cider, because both she and the elder Mr. Douglas liked it so she kept some ready to be heated. Now, all she needed to do was warm two cups of it up. While the cider and cinnamon boiled, she opened up the tin of cookie’s she’d made two days ago of raspberry shortbread cookies and placed four of them on a small plate and set it on the tray she normally used to take food to Mr. Douglas. The cookies were one of her favorite holiday treats. Since she’d moved to North Carolina she’d had to learn to make them herself.  Multiple failed batches had gone into the trash. Learning to make a small batch had been the trick. Otherwise she would be bigger than St. Nick on Christmas day from consuming them all. She could have just had her mother ship a tin of them, but it was a part of her independence.

She went into her room, quickly to put on a light sweater. When she returned, she noticed the cider was simmering. She turned off the small pot and poured the liquid into coffee mugs, keeping the stick in the pot. After setting them on the tray she gathered her things and went outside, hearing James’ grunts and complaints along the way.

“I hope you like cider and cookies,” she asked pushing the screen with her foot and stepping out onto the porch.

Evan saw her and rose from his seat and took the tray from her. Setting it down on the small, knee-high resin wicker table that sat between two dark brown matching chairs, Evan waited for her to take a seat. The classic furniture complimented the blue color of Evan’s family home with its light brown trim. The air outside was crisp for early December but not too cold to enjoy a moment outside.

The back porch had a high fence and only gave a view of other houses around them in the neighborhood, but she still enjoyed the sight. They sat in silence for some time while Evan nibbled on a cookie, she sipped her cider.

“These are good, what brand are they? I’ll have to pick some up before my next flight.” He stared down at his half eaten treat as if he were looking for some trademark symbol or name.

“Zoey Carliegh brand.”

He glanced over at her with a raised eyebrow. “You made these?”

“Yes,” she laughed. “What nurses aren’t supposed to be able to know how to cook?”

“Not that, just with you having to serve my father all day, I just didn’t think you’d have the time.”

“Ahh, well your father dozes a lot and when he’s up he likes to enjoy his shows in peace which gives me some time on my hands. They were my favorite childhood treat for Christmas and now I make them once a month for myself.”

“Why wait for Santa?”

“That’s right. Besides, they would never make it sitting out with a glass of milk waiting for him to come.”

His bark of laughter was nice. “A girl after my own heart.”

Those words made her heart flutter. Taking a deep breath she shifted her gaze back to the other houses to keep her thoughts under control. There was an attraction between her and Evan but that didn’t mean that anything would come from it.

“Hey, aren’t I supposed to be getting a massage?” His finger brushed the back of her hand, gaining her attention.

“That’s right.” She set her mug down and rose.

“You were probably just being kind. You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to, I’ll live.” He pouted his bottom lip out, appearing the sullen boy.

Smiling, she said, “I want to. Besides, a promise is a promise.”

Moving behind his chair, she stood just staring at his wide shoulders and trying to control the slight tremble in her hands. Not wanting to waste too much time and have him turn around wondering what was taking her so long, she laid her hands on the side of his neck and began to knead the muscles softly. His skin was hot, warming her hands and taking away the chill that had begun to set in her fingers from the outside air.

“Are you cold? Should I have brought you a blanket?”

“No, this is perfect.” His words were low, husky almost a moan as he lowered his head to give her more access.  

She couldn’t agree more with his assessment of the situation. Her hands worked down along the muscles below his neck and she pressed her thumbs deep into the thick, hard tissue. She was no professional masseuse but even she could feel the knots that were balled under her fingers.

He groaned, “God, that feels good.”

Time passed as she worked the area of his upper back, shoulders and neck. When she ran her hands up into his short, silken hair to rub lightly, not wanting to hurt him, he rotated his neck, rolling his head around working in concert with her touch. Soon, she found her hands lost in the illustrious, now dry strands; her fingers were doing more stroking than massaging. She lightly grazed her nails along his scalp loving the small shiver that rocked his body letting her know she was doing something he found pleasurable.

A sound came from him that she would have described as more of a moan, deep satisfaction emitted through his vocal cords. She bit down on her bottom lip, keeping her own self from moaning. Never would she have thought that just touching someone’s shoulders or burying her hands deep into someone’s hair would turn her on, but she had begun to imagine. Imagine she was straddling his lap, riding his hard length while her hands where in the exact same place, fisted as he kissed her with that marvelous mouth of his.

Evan tilted his head back as he reached up and took one of her hands, stilling her movements. He stared up at her, his hazel gaze, dark green now and filled with heat. The same heat that radiating through her body.

There was a slight tug of her hand that removed it from his hair, but held it firm in his grip. Still they stared at each other.

“Are you going to kiss me, Evan?” She wanted him to with everything in her, she would have said to hell with everything and let him. This time knowing what was to come, mindless pleasure.

“Oh, how I want to. But, it is best that I don’t. Not now anyway.” He looked down at her hand, held in his, planted a kiss in her palm then let her go.

Curling that hand in a fist, she stepped away from him. “It is probably best for us to keep our distance while I’m on duty.”

“True.” He lifted his cider as he continued to observe her, his hair a wild spike array around his face from being molested by her hands.

Claiming her seat again, she tried not to feel uncomfortable at his direct gaze. Picking up a cookie, she broke tiny pieces of it and nibbled them one at a time.

“How is it that a beautiful, confident woman like you is still single?” He slouched deeper in the chair and drank.

Good gracious, the last thing she wanted to discuss was her disastrous past relationship and how it had caused her to escape Texas and bury herself in her work. “I haven’t always been single.” That was the simple answer. “However, as you can see, my job doesn’t leave much room for dating. I can’t exactly invite men here.”

He frowned and lowered his mug. “There are a million and one occupations a nurse could undertake, why seal yourself in a house with a sick old man for days at a time?”

Evan was getting to close and it was making her uncomfortable. “Look, I like it. I’ve always had a thing for older people and children. I was already doing hospital outreach and home visits for our immobile patients. This came along, nothing else was keeping me from taking it, so I did. Simple.”

His hazel gaze appeared browner now, but he didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t push any further.

“So, what about you?” She asked.

“I’ve been--”

“Zoey, sorry to interrupt. I need your assistance in getting Mr. Douglas back in bed.” Lily pushed through the screen.

“Duty calls.” Zoey was anxious to hear about Evan and his love life. Was there a broken hearted woman head left in San Antonio?

“I’ll take care of it.” Evan was up faster. “That way you can finish your break and cookies.” He winked at her as his combed his hair back quickly with his hands and left the porch.

She bit her tongue to keep from smiling like a silly school girl from the gesture, especially before a colleague. The last thing she needed was rumors getting around the hospital that she had a thing for the younger Mr. Douglas. Especially since there was a huge possibility his interest in her was fleeting, just his responding to their physical attraction to each other.

Lily followed behind him into the house.

Not to mention Evan Douglas may not even be her type.

Yeah, right!
Her body shouted.

It was true that she was in a bit of a dry spell and years of putting her job first made her vulnerable to jump the first bone she got her hands on, but thinking that this guy would be someone she could invest her heart in was just crazy wishes.

She was too sane to be crazy.

Maybe.

*           *           *

The next couple of days that Evan was home, they fell into a nice routine of back porch breaks filled with cider, light lunch and talks of their childhood memories.

It was those moments that she saw Evan fully relaxed and his eyes light up with happiness. It didn’t take her a lot to figure out that he had a close relationship with his mother. Very different from what she’d been seeing between him and his dad. Something she thought a shame since it was only the two of them left.

At night, after the older Mr. Douglas went to sleep, they would pick a movie to watch on television however they kept a distance, her on the couch Evan in a recliner. It was as if they mutually decided that keeping as little contact between them was best especially since their attraction was growing stronger.

There were many times she’d glance over her shoulder or across the room and find him staring at her, heat in his eyes. When he finally let out for his next days of flight, she breathed a sigh of relief as she counted the nights until their date.

The days he was away, he’d call twice, once in the afternoon to talk to his dad, which always ended quicker than she thought it should. The men barely completed more than three sentences with each other. However, late at night after his last flight, Evan would call her cell phone. She’d lay on her bed in the guest room and continue their conversation about life experiences. They had mutually decided to steer clear of past relationship talk and she was glad.

Chapter seven

Applause erupted through the plane on Sunday night, just before midnight as he taxied into the Charlotte airport. They’d caught the tail end of a storm as it left the city headed northeast causing a bumpy ride, but he’d still been able to keep the Boeing under control for a smooth landing.