Damon (9 page)

“It’s all right, sweetheart
. Y
ou and I will talk tonight.
Can you call me and let me kno
w when your cry party is over?
Connor called me to rescue him, tha
t’s really why I’m taking him.
I think he was a tad overwhelmed.”

“Yes, he hates it when I cry.
All right then. I’ll let him come out to you whe
n you call to say you’re here.
But not a moment before.”

Damon wanted
to tell her to come with them.
To come with them and forget crying, but he knew enough about women to know that there were times that they needed
to sob and cry and throw a fit.
He just didn’t want t
o be around one when they did.
Twenty minutes later, he was hel
ping Connor buckle in the car.

Jamie and Byron decided to meet at the
pizza place.
Nicky and Morgan
were out and they came by too.
When Spencer called to ask why the women were headed to Damon’s house, he just told him not
to ask and met them for pizza.
Morgan left with the twi
ns to go to Damon’s house too.
They called Devin and invited him to have an
all-boys
night of it.
He showed up just as the pizzas were being served.

“Hey, you getti
ng your house back after this?
I understand that th
ey’re all there, including Pi.
Can’t bode we
ll for your decorating skills.
Ala bachelor is going to be no more, I bet,” Jamie said as he tore out two slices of cheese pizza.

“They were crying
. Y
ou should have seen it.
I ain’t never…I’ve never seen so
many tissue boxes in my life.
I had to empty the trash can in the living room twice
before Damon came to get me.”
They al
l laughed at Connor’s comment.

“Ah Damon,
you never leave a man behind!
Damn, man, that
kid could be scarred for life.
Think how much it’s gonna cost you in therapy when
you and Charlie get together.
Good thing y
ou have a good job.”

No one said a
nything at Nicky’s prediction.
Damon
wanted to beat him to a pulp.
Connor looked confused and
Byron couldn’t stop laughing.
Jamie was snickering, Devin was trying to cough his way out of it, and Spencer was stuffing a
napkin in his mouth.

“Damon, you gonna get with my momma? She might not like that too much. She said men are pigs. I don’t know what she means by that, but she says it like she means it. If you want to have her to like you, you should send her some flowers. She likes them.”

“Really? What kind of flowers does your mom like, Connor? My wife loves roses and I know that Byron’s wife likes daisies. I bet your mom is a violets type of woman.” Nicky had been buying Morgan roses every week for the past four months.

“Nah, my momma said that she wanted a house someday so she can plant her some wild flowers. I picked her some one time when we was running, but they died. She liked them though.”

“Connor, my man.” Damon patte
d him on the back as he rose.
“T
hat’s an excellent idea.
I’ll get your mother some wild flowers.
Last man in pays, Devin.
Sorry about your luck!”

They gathered up their coats and left s
oon after Devin paid the bill.
Damon had a lot to think about,
but he did stop at the store.
He bought three bunches of flowers and a box of chocolates tha
t Connor said his momma liked.
He al
so picked up a box of condoms.
He was a little embarrassed that he had no idea there
were so many different kinds.
So while Connor was looking for the perfect card for h
is mom, Damon read the labels.
He ende
d up with two different kinds.
They were pulling in the drive just as Pi and Dane were leaving.

“She okay?
You guys scared poor Connor
out of his manhood, you know?
Couldn’t you have waited until he was da
ting or something?”

Dane kissed him on
the cheek and got in the car.
Pi hugged him and told him tha
t pizza was going to kill him.
He n
eeded to eat more Chinese food. He kissed her too.
Connor had fallen asleep on the ride back and he lifted him to car
ry him in the house.
Charlie was there waiting when he got to the door.

“I’ll just take him up if you want to get him ready,” Damon said as he shifted
the boy to his other shoulder.
“I got a call from the hospital on the way here. It won’t take a minute. He had dinner by the way.”

Damon went to his offic
e and took the call from Tansy.
Her sister had been admitted to the hospital and she wouldn’t be in next week. Tansy’s sister had been fighting cancer for several years now and she thought this was the e
nd.
He told her not to wo
rry, but to keep him informed.
He was just coming out of the office when Charlie came down the stairs.

~CHAPTER 7 ~

Charlie tucked Connor under the blankets and picked up his dirty clothes. She dropped them into the hamper when she notic
ed the bag lying next to them.
There was a box of her f
avorite chocolates and a card.
Connor had sign
ed his name and put it on top.
Inside the bag was another bag, well, two if y
ou counted the double bagging.
She was curious what else he’d bought and suddenly understood the reason
it was bagged the way it was.
There were two boxes of condoms, one ribbed the other
“lubricated for her pleasure.”
Charlie carried it down stairs with her.

Damon was just coming out of his office when she
got to the bottom stair.
He looked upset an
d she slid the bag behind her.
She didn’t want to tease him if he’d get mad.

“Everything all right?
You ha
ve to go back to the hospital? I hope it’s not the twins.
Margaret said you delivered a set tonight.”

He didn’t say anything
, but walked to where she was.
He was just a few inches from her when he reached up and smoot
hed the hair from her shoulder.
She had not pulled it back up when she’d cha
nged out of her dress clothes.
When she started to pull it back up, he stopped her.

“Don’t. I like it down.
It’s beautiful like thi
s
. Y
ou’re beautiful like this.
No, nothing is wr
ong with the twins or the mom. Tansy called.
Her sister is in the hospital. She has cancer and Tansy is going to…Charlie, I’d really l
ike to kiss you.
Would it be all right if I did?”

She didn’t answer.
She pulled the b
ags out and handed them to him.
She nearly burst
out laughing when he blushed.
Docto
r Damon Grant was embarrassed.
She decided to try and have fun with him.

“Were you buying these because you planned to get lucky or where you pla
nning for my son to get lucky. They were in his bag.
And if you were planning to get lucky, who’s the girl?”

His grin was charming.
It made him look so innocent that she wondered how long he’d been using that same look on unsuspectin
g women to get what he wanted.
But the look in his eyes was not so much
charming as it was rapacious.

“Charlie, if you don’t want me to take you right here on
the stairs, you’d better run. Now.
And if you want me as badly as I do you, my bedroom is at the top
of the stairs and to the left. The only door at that end.
But know this, you aren’t leaving that room until morning or we run out of
protection if you go in there.
I hope you go in there, but if you don’t, then that’s okay too.”

“You’d be okay with me going
down to my room, wouldn’t you?
You’d let me go and
not say another word about it.
Not make me feel guilty or hurt me, would you?”

“No.
I’m not that sort of man.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be disapp
ointed.
I
want you.
I
want you in the worst way.
But I don’t want you so badly that I’ll take you.”

She stared up at him for several seconds and then turned on he
r heel and went up the stairs. He stood where he was.
When she made a right, he didn’t sa
y a word but watched her. She turned back to him.

“I have
to get my robe from this room. Why don’t you lock up, Damon?
That way you won’t h
ave to leave the room either.”

She went down to her room and was just stepping though the doorway when she hea
rd him “whoop.” She was in his room first.
More nervous than she’d ever been, she walked around.

It was a huge room.
Bigger than any of the other bedrooms in the house, this one was twice the size as the one she slept in and nearly three times the size of Connor’s, an
d they were all big rooms too.
She looked around in wonder.

There was one wall
that had nothing but shelves.
In addition to books, there were large
pottery pieces and small ones.
She had heard from one of the women tonight that Byron was a
potter and a famous artist.
She wondered
if any of the pieces were his.
The
framed photos fascinated her.
She could see Damo
n as a child in a few of them.
There were quite a few of
all the men, now and as boys.
There was a little girl in a few. She knew her to belong to Spencer and she could see her progressio
n of growing up in the photos.
The picture of the entire family in formal wear at Dane’s and Jamie’s wedding was nice and it
showed a happy, loving family.
Moving over,
she looked at the book titles.

There were first editions of some great names, also paperbacks
alongside
of them.
Damon seemed to have a m
uch diversified reading habit. She liked that about him.
She loved to read and didn’t really have one author or genre when she read either.

The ne
xt wall was a bank of windows.
The view from this side of the house must look out over the tre
es along the back of his yard.
She couldn’t see anything right now, but she would bet in
the spring it was spectacular.
The window seat in the little area was deep and the pillows and cushio
ns looked used and well loved.
There were two books on the little table next to it.

The fireplace was just there.
She could see that it too was used and she thought what did the other women he brought here think of it? She felt herself get a little angry ab
out that and then pulled back.
What Damon did in this room was his business. She turned to leave when she noticed him standing in the doorway.

“I’ve never brought
a woman to this house before.
I’m not sure what you were thinking ju
st now, but you looked pissed.
I just wanted you to know that you’re the only one w
ho’s ever been in this house.
Aside from family.”

“It’s none of my business what yo
u do or don’t do in this room. And I wasn’t pissed.
I was…I was wondering if that pottery i
s your brother’s, that’s all.”

She fussed with the pillow on the window seat
as he came toward her.
It was everyth
ing she could do not to cower.
When his fingers ran down her, arm she felt the goose bumps rise on her skin and her nipples pucker.

“I would like for
you to make it your business.
I would like that very much, Charlie
. Y
our skin is so soft and warm.”