Catalyst (15 page)

             
When she looked up and caught him watching her she smiled
,
but didn’t look away. She was different with Ryan. He smiled too and sat in
t
he chair next to hers, turning it to face her.
They immediately started talking in low voices. He rubbed a hand down her back and asked her if the soup was good and if she felt better. She said she did
,
and
I decided I was no longer needed
t
here. So I left with a silent giggle at the
new
possibilities.

Love Implied

Chapter 8 – Merrick

             
I rolled over and inhaled the familiar vanilla that told me exactly where I was. I inhaled again deeper and longer, pulling the sweet smelling girl closer to me. I heard her giggle and it make me chuckle. It sounded low and on the verge of predatory even to my ears.

             
“You better watch it
, mister,” Sherry
warned in a
croon.
“I remember someone saying that he was going to ignore me
from here to eternity.”

             
“I said until you heal, wife,” I corrected and then groaned as she reached back and tugged at my hair. “Besides, we need to get up. The meeting is this morning and I want some coffee before that.”

             
“Alright,”
she sang and rolled over while wrapping her bare leg around the covers. “I’m going to st
ay here for a bit longer and dream of the day when my husband wants me again.”

             
“I want you, hone
y, I just…” I realized what she was doing as she rubbed her leg against mine. She warned me didn’t she? “Sherry,” I warned
,
but I still
found myself running my hand down
her leg.

             
“It’s been days, Merrick. I think I can decide what’s best for me,” she said sternly and sat up
giving me a strange look.
She pulled me closer and I was just about to protest when someone knocked on the door.

             
“
Guys, the meeting is about to start. Miguel wants to get going,” Jeff said sounding somber.

             
“Ok,” I answered back gruffly and turned to look at Sherry. “You got lucky.”

             
“No, you did. Saved by the knock,” she said softly and then wrapped her arms around my neck to kiss me. I could no sooner stop her than I could hurt her. She climbed onto my lap and kissed me with a forcefulness that belied her small frame. She tugged and pulled on me with urgency
. W
hen I finally gave into her
and
her small
,
sweet tongue swept into my mouth, she pulled back.

             
She bit her lip and
gave me a small smile before pushing on m
y shoulders to stand and reaching
for her discarded jeans. I grabbed her hand and gave her a look.

             
“What are you doing?”

             
“We have a meeting,” she said a
s she pulled her hand easily fro
m mine and tried to tame her locks.

             
“But you knew that before you kissed me,” I countered in complete confusion.

             
“Yep,” she quipped with a crooked smile that made me want
t
o kiss her again. “Let’s go, Finch.”

             
“Wait, wait, wait.” I stood too and guarded the door. She wasn’t escaping from me. “So this is you pushing my buttons? You’re just going to t
orture me until I give into you, i
s that it?”

             
“Yes,” she whispered and moved forward to kiss my chin, “exactly.”

             
“So you’re a temptress n
ow,” I growled in frustration at
the whole situation. She knew what she was doing to me, there was a meeting to go to and she was still recovering
,
but
she
looked pretty dang healthy and…able to me.

             
“You tell me. Is it working
?
” she
replied in a sultry voice against the skin of neck. I heard my breath fight its way into my lungs before she
bounced
around me and swung the door open.

             
“Where are you going?”

             
“The meeting,” she replied chipperly. “Come on.”

             
“I think you
're playing with fire, Sherry
,” I said as I tossed on a shirt and followed her out the door.

             
“Ooooh,” she feigned fright as she walked backwards down  the hall. “It’s not so fun when someone else is in control of your body is it.”

             
“What do you mean?” I asked in confusion.

             
“You.” She stopped and stood looking up at me. “You’re always so focused on my safety and healing and whatever else but you control everything for me. I can’t even have a say in if I want to kiss my own husband.”

             
“I’m not trying to control you,” I said looking down at the sweet woman I loved more than my existence. “I just think sometimes you only do things because you think other people want you to.”

             
“That doesn’t make any sense. Especially with what we’re talking about,” she sulked.

             
“You don’t want to kiss me and do
other
things
just
because you think I want
you
to?” I challenged.

             
“What? Do you think I don’t enjoy it?” she said and laughed softly.

             
“I think when you’re needing your rest, you just want to keep me happy and think you have to do these things
to keep me satisfied
.” I pushed her gently to the wall and took her face in between my hands. “But you don’t get it.
I’m satisfied by just being with you. If we never did that again, I would still love you more than any other creature on the planet and I wouldn’t feel unfulfilled.”

             
“But what about me? The fact that you think I only want you to please
you
shows you don’t know as much about me as you think
you do
.”

             
“What?”
I asked, baffled.
"You're driving me crazy, baby."

             
“You drive me crazy, Merrick, in a good way. It’s not just you. I want you too, for my own reasons that frankly, at the risk of sounded selfish and shallow, don’t have anything to do with you.” I gave her a look that I hoped conveyed my utter confusion. “So this whole time you t
hought I only wanted to be
with you to keep you happy? Really?”

             
“I don’t know what I thought,” I answered honestly.

             
“I wanted to make love to my husband this morning because I wanted you.”

             
“It wasn’t because you thought you were depriving me
because you've been gone and recovering
? Not even a little?”

             
She laughed softly again and I felt my brow bunch in slight annoyance before she looked up at me, and then it all went away at the look on her face.

             
“You
're
so
clueless," she whispered to herself.
"You
have no idea what you do to me.
And the fact that you can still look at me as some kind of saint after all this time and everything that has happened to us makes me love you even more.
”

             
“You are a saint,” I whispered
back
but it was lost on her. Her face was bright and happy. She looked phenomenal
, bruise and all
. She was gorgeous and g
lowing and obviously fine. I
worried too much, she was right. I needed to let the Keeper slide a little bit and let the husband take over. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be an ogre. It’s just so hard to turn the protective mode off.”

             
“I understand that. I’ll never be mad at y
ou for protecting me, but there are
different things I need from you other than just protection som
etimes,
”
she breathed and bit her lip.

             
I nodded as I
slowly
descended on her, her mouth my destination. She smiled right before I touched her and it was the sweet, loving smile I’ve always known. She wasn’t boasting that she won, she was just genuinely happy that I wanted to kiss her.

             
Her lips
were just as inviting and eager as always. She wanted me…she just wanted
me
. It was an insane notion and I felt seriously slow on the jump to have misunderstood so much.
I released her lips
,
but not her. She was so trusting and ready as she leaned against the wall where I pressed her, anxiously
awaiting
what I might
have to
say.

             
“I’m sorry that I’m just now understanding. I always just thought your love for me was a product of our circumstances or my protectiveness for you. I n
ever really understand that it was just
me
.”

             
Her face took on the look that I knew all too well
as
she
recoiled and looked up at me devastated.

             
“You’re just now figuring that out?” she said, her voice squeaked.
"That part wasn't just implied, Merrick. I've told you a thousand times-"

             
“No, wait,” I replied and once more took her face in between my hands. “I know you love me, ok, I just didn’t understand
the
why. You love me for me. Just me, not for anything I do for you or have done.”

             
“Of course.” She
let loose
an exasperated sigh. “I can’t be
lieve you still think that
-“

             
I cut her off with what she wanted. I lifted her and
took advantage of
the wall to hold her up to me as I
used her want for my kisses to tell her everything my non-human mouth couldn’t come up with. I heard her soft noise of surprise and contentment.
She was light in my hands but heavy in my heart. I finally got it. I pulled back just a little to speak.

             
“I get it now,” I told her, my voice ragged with my revelation. “You love me just because I’m me.
Not this body, not the fact that I'm a Keeper or the fact that I'm not.
”

             
“Duh,” she said softly and smiled at me, refuting any sting that word may have induced.

             
“And I’m handsome and
extremely
charming and debonair.”

             
She laughed out loud and shook her head at m
e
. She continued to look at me and it made me hurt to feel the full force of the love that I
’d
never completely understood
until then
. I was someone’s everything. And that scared me as much as it thrilled my human heart.

             
“You are all those things,” she agreed, “but that is still not why I love you.”

             
“I know,” I answered
truthfully
and kissed her again because her lips seemed to be magnetic. I’d barely put a dent in the need I had for her when I heard a noise behind us.

             
We both turned to see Calvin, watching us with equal parts fascination and annoyance. I looked back to us and sa
w me, my hands on Sherry’s leg
s
and thighs
as I pressed against the hall wall, her arms around my neck and both our faces flushed.
I immediately
put her
feet to the floor
and cleared my throat.

             
“What’s up, Calvin? This isn’t your hall,” I s
aid hoping we hadn’t scarred his
impressionable mind.