Now and Always (14 page)

Chapter 16

Victor rocked back on his heels and took a deep breath. Connie had finally arrived. Carmen had just announced her and advised she was leaving for the night and passing the switchboard over to his service. She had instructed the service that he was to be interrupted only for the most urgent emergency.

Connie opened the door a second later, making him wonder if she had been hesitating by the door as well. Making him smile as he thought she might be as anxious, and as eager as he, for this time together.

“Glad you could make it,” he said, turning and dropping a quick kiss on her cheek as she walked past him, leaving behind her scent. He breathed in deeply and held it in to savor that small piece of her.

“I am, too. How are you?” she replied, nervously fidgeting with her purse.

He released his breath and grinned. “Fine. Just fine, except for one thing.” He reached out, gently took hold of her hand, and drew her close.

Connie stood before him nervously and watched as his gaze trailed down her body and then back up to her face.

“Is something wrong?” she asked, worried as his face grew solemn. She glanced down at herself and wondered whether the dress Carmen had helped her choose was way too much. The cherry red dress left her shoulders bare, with only two smallish straps at the tops of her arms to keep up the bodice. The material clung to her body, displaying her curves in a way she had never thought possible.

Victor raised a hand and ran it along the exposed line of her collarbone. At his touch, she jerked her head up, met his intense gaze, and she knew then, there was nothing wrong with the dress.

“You look lovely,” he said, bent his head, and kissed her.

The breath left her body in a rush as his lips opened against hers. He rested his hand at her waist and drew her near until she just touched him. Barely touched him. The warmth of his body came off in waves. The smell of him, of the citrusy after shave he wore, wafted around, enticing.

She opened her mouth beneath his, tasted his passion, and bit back a moan. Shakily, she placed her hand on his chest, leaned closer, and he wrapped his arms around her waist, drew her the last few inches until their bodies were pressed together.

Connie relished the hard feel of his muscles, their strength as he cradled her to him. She raised her hands, passed her fingers through his hair, then skipped down to caress his cheeks and the firm line of his jaw.

He pulled away from her then, his gaze dark and dangerous. Glittering with desire. “I’m glad you were able to come. I’ve missed you.”

His words were a heady intoxicant. She had missed him also. “I wish it wasn’t so hard to find time to be together.”

He tenderly ran a hand along her cheek. “Let’s be thankful for this time and not waste it. I made some plans,” he said, motioning to his desk, which had been cleared of its usual files and reports and now boasted a crisp, white linen tablecloth, place settings for two, as well as some covered dishes. “Are you game for dinner?”

She smiled. “As ready as I’ll ever be,” she said and blushed as she thought of the foil packets tucked into her purse right next to her gun and cell phone.
The three essentials for any modern woman
, she jokingly thought.

“I thought we might deal with the cast first, though.” She wanted herself free of any encumbrances for later.

“Fine. Come with me. It’ll only take a few minutes.”

Victor wrapped an arm around her waist and smiled at her as they walked down the hall and into another room. He helped her up onto an examining table and brought over another smaller table on which he placed a small handheld saw. “Ready?”

When Connie nodded, Victor wheeled over a stool, sat before her, and turned on the saw. It had a high whining sound more like a dentist’s drill which always annoyed him. As he worked, using the circular rotating blade on the cast, he asked about her day and how it had been, glancing at her often. Admiring the way the red fabric lovingly clung to her body. Admiring the lean, lightly muscled shoulders and arms exposed by the dress. He was so busy with his physical perusal and the removal of the cast, he missed the question she asked him.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized and Connie repeated her question.

“How was your day?” She glanced at him innocently and he wondered how it was possible that she had no idea of the effect she had on him. Of what potent stuff she was. He realized in a moment of enlightenment that was one of the things he treasured most about her. Her total guilelessness. With Connie there would never be any pretentious games between them. She was just what she was. Open and honest.

“My day was boring, except for the thought of being with you,” he admitted, stopped the saw, and met her gaze. He wanted to be just as honest. “I had about two dozen patients to see after morning rounds. I went through them in record time, probably because all I could think of was you.”

She smiled at him and ran her hand along his jaw. “It was the same with me. I went through the memos at the office and nearly hung up on Jeff while we were deciding what to do next. At one point he must have repeated his question about three or four times before I realized he’d been talking to me. It was scary.”

“Why?” Victor asked.

Connie’s face grew serious and she looked away from him. “Because I can’t afford this kind of distraction. I need to concentrate, and this ….” she said, motioning with her hand to the two of them. “I can’t let this interfere with what I’m working on.”

He cradled the side of her face and gently stroked it. “I understand, but I can’t forget about this,” he said, repeating her gesture with his free hand. “I can’t forget about what I feel for you and what I think you feel for me. It’s something we’ll have to learn to deal with.”

She nodded, reached up, and took his hand in hers, gave it a squeeze. “It’s something we’ll have to figure out.”

Victor took a deep breath of relief and smiled at her, returning to work with the saw, cutting through the last bit of the cast. When he pulled it off, she grimaced and flexed her fingers.

Connie glanced at her hand and wondered what had possessed her to ask him to take it off before dinner and whatever would follow. She shook her head and rotated her wrist. It moved, confirming that the pale, slightly wrinkled, alien-looking appendage was in fact
her
arm and hand.

“It looks funny,” she said, almost unconsciously.

He moved his hands gently over her fingers and then up her wrist, checking her out. The familiar warmth began again with his examination, as clinical as it was, but Connie was put off by her response and the condition of her arm. She pulled away from him. “Anything I need to do for now?”

Victor nodded. “I’ll give you a sheet of simple exercises and a lightweight brace to use if you plan on working out or doing anything strenuous that might strain your wrist.”

Connie met his gaze, finding it hard to believe that was all which would be required for her wrist and arm to look normal again.

“I know it looks a little shrunken and not quite right, but a few days of sunlight and a week or two of the exercises and you’ll never know,” he continued, taking hold of her other hand.

“I hope so. Right now it looks a little weird.”

He grinned, playfully shook her good hand, and said, “Time for dinner.” He gestured to the hallway to his office.

“I’m glad you planned something that would give us a little privacy,” Connie said. When she turned to look at him, she hoped he wouldn’t notice the deep blush across her cheeks, but he smiled broadly, letting her know otherwise.

“I’m glad you approve,” he replied, placed his hand at the small of her back, and urged her down the hall to his office. He opened the door and with slight pressure at her back, urged her to step in. She walked into the room, and looked around again, noting things she hadn’t before.

Next to the small couch against the one wall there was an end table. A trio of candles and a vase of red and white roses had been placed there instead of the usual medical magazines. Behind his desk were a series of bookcases and a larger area that held an entertainment system, complete with DVD player, TV, and a docking station for an Ipod.

“Would you care for a soda?” He motioned her in the direction of the sofa.

“Yes, please.” She sank into the plush cushions of the couch as he went over to the entertainment unit and opened a door that revealed a refrigerator. He took out a liter bottle of soda, but before opening it, stopped to slip in his Ipod and get some music going.

Victor opened the bottle and poured some of the soda into wine glasses, hurried to the sofa, and sat beside her. He handed her the glass and raised his in a toast, “To a perfect time together.”

Connie smiled, clinked her glass against his, and drank. “This is tasty. Must have been a good year,” she teased. “And the music’s my favorite.”

There was a quick grin on his face. “She’s on my top ten also.” He hesitated for a second, then asked, “How’s the case going?”

“It’s too soon to say,” she said with a shrug.

“I imagine it can be frustrating,” he said, leaned back into the cushions of the couch, and placed his arm around her shoulders.

Connie nodded and tucked herself into his side, her head pillowed into the gap between his arm and shoulder. “It could be. Of course, it’s too soon to be frustrated. Ask me again in another week or two.”

“Well, for both of our sakes, I hope that you solve the case sooner rather than later. Otherwise, we might be battling a different kind of frustration.”

Connie nearly choked on her soda and barely had time to recover before he asked, “Hungry yet?”

“Famished,” she replied.
But not necessarily for food
.

Victor stood and helped her from the couch. He laced his fingers with hers, led her to his desk, and held a chair out for her to sit. Before he walked away, he dropped a kiss on the nape of her neck and ran his hand along the exposed, creamy line of her shoulders.

She looked up at him, her eyes growing heavy and dark with desire.

He couldn’t resist. He swooped down and captured her lips hungrily, wanting to eat off all that dangerous red lipstick she had on. Needing to taste the honeyed warmth of that full mouth.

Connie responded to the heat of his kiss with a hunger that he suspected had been building in her. She opened her mouth and slipped her tongue into his, and he savored the smoothness of her tongue and the soda-chilled brush of her lips.

Fearing he was losing control too quickly, he groaned and broke away from her, his breathing heavy. “Damn, Connie. Keep this up and I don’t know if we’ll be able to make it through dinner.”

A very feminine, very sexual thrill raced through Connie at his words. “I’ll try to contain myself, Victor.”

He groaned again as he straightened, walked away from her to pull up another chair, and uncovered the dishes with their meal. He scooped some chicken and rice onto her plate, adding a few ripe fried plantains and avocado salad. Every few scoops, he glanced at her, almost as if to make sure she was still there and not a figment of his imagination, the desire evident in his very wide, very sapphire gaze.

Despite her earlier bravado, his attention unnerved her. She looked away from him, glancing around his office again, noticing his diplomas and licenses to practice. The diplomas were all from Ivy League schools which she should have expected considering his upbringing.

Victor served himself and placed his plate along the edge of the desk. “Some more soda?”

“No, thanks. I wouldn’t want it to go straight to my head,” she replied, hoping to alleviate some of the growing tension between them.

He leaned over and whispered in her ear, “I wouldn’t want that either. When it happens, I’d like to think you knew exactly what was happening. That you wanted it to happen.”

She turned and her face was so close to his that his breath was hot on her cheek. “You are too sure of yourself, aren’t you?”

“I am most certainly that sure of
us
,” he urged and rubbed his cheek against hers before shifting his mouth to nibble on her earlobe.

Connie blushed and he rushed on. “Now, let’s eat before it gets cold.”

She nodded, began to eat and so did he, but as delicious as the food might have been, all Victor could taste was her from the earlier kiss. All he could smell was her fragrance, some new perfume she had put on that was flowery, light, and totally sexy.

He managed to eat his meal and was even surprised that he finished everything on his plate. He couldn’t remember eating it and didn’t feel full. In fact, he still hungered, but not for food.

Victor looked across his desk at Connie and as her lips bit into a last piece of chicken, his need nearly overwhelmed him. After she placed her fork down, she looked up at him, and blushed at his avid perusal.

“Something wrong?” she asked.

Tightly he replied, “Nothing.” Just then the Ipod shuffled to the next song. The first notes of the song embraced them, sensuously rhythmic and inviting as the artist sang in a sultry voice about the passion between two lovers.

Standing, Victor held out his hand. “Care to dance?”

He was offering more than a dance, Connie was sure, but it was what she wanted more than anything. All throughout her meal, which had tasted like cardboard from her case of nerves, she had waited for him to make a move, give her a hint that “it” was going to happen between them. There was no better time than now, she thought, the deep alto throb of the singer’s voice vibrating through her, strumming the chords within her which were already sensitized from the man holding his hand out in invitation.

She accepted, took his hand in hers, and rose. He moved her away from the desk and into the center of his office, urging her into his arms, and Connie shifted closer until their bodies brushed against one another.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and he placed his large hands on either side of her waist. They swayed together to the slow insistent beat of the song. Her heart beat against his and the hard planes of his chest rubbing against her breasts sent a surge of warmth through her, causing heat to pool between her thighs. She shifted her hips closer, opened her legs slightly and he moved one leg just a fraction until it rested between hers, moving against her in time to the music, applying just enough pressure until Connie’s insides were throbbing, wanting more.