Making the Rules (The Rules #1) (11 page)

"Because,
Dana
, Dr. Lewis told Kendal to prepare for end of life. Doctors don't say that shit months in advance. It's usually weeks." She dropped back down in her chair and went back to typing.

I turned to find Jackie watching me with something like horror on her face.

"I wouldn't do it. You know you can't
not
tell him, Dana."

I glanced down at the file. Kendal deserved to know.

"I can't hold the truth in my hands and not have the balls to tell him about it, Jackie." I opened the file and glanced down as I scanned the pages and pages of notes. The last few lines on the front page were almost unreadable, but the date grabbed me by the heart and squeezed tightly. "What's today's date?"

Tinsley glanced up with sadness in her eyes. She knew what the fucking file said.

"It's the date on the file, Dana. She's supposed to die today.”

Chapter 17

Kendal

Golf with my friends was exactly what the doctor ordered. Between listening to Matt whine about Erica being too much woman for him, and watching Damon mope around the fucking golf course all day, I was reassured that dating Dana was a great idea. I didn't wanna search for someone else who might be a little older, or look less like Ana. Neither of those things mattered seeing that the level of physical attraction I felt for her was off the charts. That combined with the fact that I loved her sweet spirit, her honesty and innocent persona, and I was sold. The thought crossed my mind to call the apartment and tell them to
not
fix the locks until Monday, but that would have been a dick move and knowing my luck, I would have been caught in the center of it all. I rarely got away with anything and usually got blamed for things that I had nothing to do with.

I walked into the house and called out to her, hoping that she was still there. "Dana?"

Nothing. I realized after searching the house for her that I'd left her with no way to get to work. I growled at myself and walked back into the kitchen as the sound of a car driving up in my driveway stopped me in my tracks.

Dana.

I walked to the front door and opened it in time to see her get out of her car and move toward the trunk.

"Hey there." I walked out of the house and let the smile that tugged at my lips force me into what had to be a goofy-ass grin. "I'm sorry about not thinking about you needing a ride this morning. How did you get to the hospital?"

She popped the trunk and leaned around the side of the car. "It's okay. I called an Uber and got there just fine. Jackie gave me a lift back to my house to get my car. Looks like the apartment complex is going to have the locks changed by tomorrow, so I should be good to stay in my own place tomorrow night."

"Leaving me already?" I moved up behind her and gripped her shoulders, rubbing softly as I leaned down and kissed the side of her neck. I was far too familiar with her, but I didn't care. I was going to enjoy the feeling of being close to someone so right for me until she pushed me away.

"Gotta keep the chase up for a while, right?" She lifted a bag from the trunk and handed it to me. "I got some stuff for dinner. I figured we would make some pasta unless you have other plans."

"Nope. I'm all yours for the night. Lucky you." I grabbed the other bag in her arms and walked back toward the house. Cooking with her almost sounded too intimate. I loved it. Damon would call me a puss for even thinking such a thought, but I found myself not caring much about what anyone thought of my upcoming love affair. It was damn time to make myself happy and something told me that the beautiful girl unpacking her car in front of my house was part of the equation for making that happen.

"I'd call that lucky." She closed the trunk and moved up behind me as I walked into the house.

"Did you say you went to the hospital today?" I walked into the kitchen and set the bags down before turning back to her and grabbing for the last one she had in her arms.

Her expression dropped, and something about the look in her eyes caused a mild flare of panic to rise up inside of me. Amanda.

"Yeah, I was there for my shift today." She moved past me, but I wasn't letting go of her wordless expression that spoke volumes.

"What's the matter? What happened, Dana?" I forced her to turn and face me before sliding my hands along the smooth skin of her neck and cupping her face in my palms. "Talk to me."

"I just lost a patient that meant a lot to me today. Mr. Jackson. He called me fruit fly because-" Her eyes filled with tears and she pulled away from me.

"I'm so sorry." I wrapped my arms around her, not thinking anything of my wanting to offer her comfort. It had been so damn long since I offered myself to a woman, that the foreign feeling should have lingered far longer than it did, but I tried not to overanalyze it.

"It's stupid, I know. I'm a nurse and I shouldn't get close to people that are going to die."

I chuckled and brushed my hand over her silky hair. "Everyone is going to die. Does that mean you don't get close to anyone?"

She gave me a go-to-hell look and moved back over to pull random items from the grocery sack closest to her. "You know what I mean."

"I do, but my little sister is going to die sooner than I want her to, and I love the fact that you care about her. Caring about someone in the hospital that you're watching over isn't a weakness. Those people deserve attention and love probably more than the rest of us do. Can you imagine those people who sit in those beds day after day and no one gives them attention or shows them love?" I kissed the side of her neck and stiffened as she turned to face me and gripped my sides tightly.

She froze in place as her eyes moved around my face. Concern took over her features as she blinked a few times, sighed and turned back around.

"Dana. What's going on? What aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing. I just feel like shit over not seeing Mr. Jackson one more time before he died." She sniffled and picked up a handful of stuff before walking toward the stove. "Help me cook this spaghetti and let’s talk about something else. Tell me about your golf game."

"I won, which isn't too rare, but still rare enough that it felt good." I opened the bottle of red wine she got and lifted it to my nose, breathing in deeply. "Both Matt and Damon are going through some shitty life experiences, so beating them wasn't nearly as joyous as it usually is."

"Matt and Damon are friends or brothers?"

"They're brothers. Matt is a few years younger than us and looked just like Damon's mother, who cheated on his father, but his father still doesn't know about it."

"But Damon knows?" She grunted as she worked to open a jar of tomato sauce that appeared to be giving her hell.

I reached for it and opened it for her with ease. "Damon walked in on her during high school. It almost consumed him our junior year. He skipped school a million times trying to make sure she wouldn't cheat again."

She lifted the jar and smiled. "I loosened this for you."

"I know you did." I opened the ground beef and dropped it into the skillet she'd pulled out while I ogled at her rear in her scrubs. I was grateful for the opportunity to eat her out the night before, but I'd have much preferred her on her knees during the event so I could worship her ass at the same time.

"What?" I glanced over at her as my heart started to race in my chest. Dinner and then a long conversation and then sex. Sex could come later, although I wanted to say to hell with dinner and get to dessert - her. For some reason, Bethany's complaint over Damon wanting sex to heal everything continued to bounce around inside my skull. Was I as much like him as I thought? And would it be a bad thing if I was?

"I asked if his parents were still married." She moved over to the counter beside me and started to work on chopping tomatoes and cucumbers for a salad.

"No. His mom died awhile back from cancer. About the time Damon decided he was going to tell his dad everything, his mom got sick and that ended his bravado." I shrugged and let out a soft sigh. "The poor guy just can't seem to catch a break either. He's never been in love before, but finally found the right woman."

She turned and lifted her eyebrow. "Uh oh. Why does this feel like the good part isn't coming?"

"Because it's not." I pushed the meat around the pan as my stomach contracted tightly. "He's fallen in love with his father's new wife's daughter."

"Wait..." her eyes moved around my face slowly, "... his stepsister?"

"Exactly, and things were fine between their family because they're not blood, but who knows what the hell went wrong. Beth is a young woman with too much fear over losing everything and Damon is a hothead who doesn't think he should have to explain himself. Their communication sucks and it's going to be the end of them."

"How serious were they? Sounds like something that just started recently." She lifted a cucumber toward my lips and licked hers as I gripped her wrist and pulled her hand closer. I sucked at her fingers and ran my tongue over each of them, cleaning them before I let her go and chewed on the cucumber.

"Just a few months ago they met." I licked at my lips and gave her a naughty smile. "Stop being sexy, or dinner will grow cold while I take my time getting to know every crevice of your body."

"You're so different than what I expected." She pushed the bowl of cucumbers toward me and laughed. "Get your own damn snack of you're going to threaten to take away my dinner."

"Take away your dinner?" I laughed and dropped the spatula in the pan before moving up behind her and wrapping my arms around her. I cupped one of her breasts and leaned over and press my lips to her ear. "That was all you heard?"

"Yep." She turned her face and I pressed a kiss to her cheek. "That and something about a wild night of me hearing you scream my name."

I squeezed her again and released her. "You think you have the power to make me scream? This I gotta see."

"Just because you're an old school slut does not mean you’ve still got your moves, Kendal." She picked up the various bowls of salad toppings and walked to the table, impressing me once again with the small things she was capable of.

"Oh, I still got my moves." I walked in behind her and waited until she put everything down to reach out and grip her hips tightly. "You wanna see them?"

"Where is the strict professor with a tight smile and unassuming personality that I met a week ago?"

"He's lost somewhere under this newfound comfort I have around you. Do you not like it?"

"I love it." She turned and slid her hands up my chest, clasping her hands behind my neck as I leaned down to devour her sweet mouth. We shared a long, sensual kiss before she pulled back breathless and shook her head. "Behave. I'm still not ready to sleep with you."

"Lies. All lies." I released her and walked to the kitchen to finish working on the pasta. I quickly assembled it and turned to find her extending a glass of red wine toward me.

"Here. To me and to you. May we both find everything we're looking for in life." She lifted her glass.

"And hopefully a good handful of those things we'll find without having to look much farther than right here." I tapped my glass against hers and reached for her, wanting another kiss.

"Give me this." She took my wine from my hand and set the glasses on the table in the other room before walking toward me with a gleam in her eye.

"I must say that I love that look you’ve got on your face. Looks like you’re starving for something that only I can provide." I brushed my fingers by her soft lips as my mind exploded with possibilities.

"Good, then my momma was right. I do wear my feelings on my shoulders and can't hide my desires to save my life."

"Smart woman." I gripped the counter as she moved a step closer and worked to loosen the belt on my pants. They dropped to the floor and she pressed herself to the front of me, slipping her hand in between us and stroking my cock a few times as I closed my eyes and groaned. "What about dinner?"

"Fuck dinner." She kissed me again before moving down to her knees and pulling my briefs over my hips. I tugged my shirt off to keep anything from getting in her way or making it impossible for me to watch her suck me off.

"My kind of girl." I grabbed a handful of her hair and forced her to look back up at me. "I'm a different man in the bedroom, Dana. I wish I wasn't but hear me clearly before we go any farther. I like you a lot and I think this thing between us could turn into something neither of us could survive without but-"

"Hush." She leaned forward and ran her tongue over the sticky wet head of my cock before sliding her lips down my shaft and sucking far more of my dick inside of her than I thought possible.

I groaned loudly and gripped her head, holding her in place as I bent my knees a little and rolled my hips, working myself into her over and over as she took every inch and forced herself to reach for more. By the time I was dangling over the edge of orgasm, she had both hands wrapped around my cock and her pretty mouth was swollen from far more of a fucking than she expected to get.

"Just your mouth. I'm on the edge of coming." I didn't ask if she was interested in drinking me down. If she was going to be my woman, there was no question about her willingness to take all of me, just as I'd licked every drop of her pleasure from her taut pink lips the night before.

She glanced up at me, her pretty hazel eyes wide with the type of excitement I'd yet to see in my long life. She was more than what I wanted, and exactly what I needed.