Only One for Me (17 page)

She tried to step out of his embrace,
but he held her firm next to him. He could hear her heart beating
faster and louder. “Tell me you don’t remember that
night.”

“
I remember,” she said
with a smirk. “You had to use the pillow as well in the
end.”

“
We had some great times,
Yasmine.”

She exhaled. “Yes, we did …
but—”

“
But what? I know you
still feel something for me.”

“
I—”

“
It’s in your voice. It’s
in your eyes. It’s in your heart.”

“
Cannon—”

“
I miss you saying my
name.” He kissed her softly on the side of her neck, releasing a
sensual moan. “Miss you moaning in my ear.” He lifted the bottom of
her sweater up, running his hands up her back and then down to her
butt, pulling her into him. “Miss your skin next to mine.” He
continued trailing kisses down her neck. “Miss your
scent.”

He claimed her lips in an erotic kiss,
sinking his tongue deep inside of her mouth, sending sizzling
currents through his body that he was pretty sure she felt as she
trembled in his arms.

“
Why did you leave me last
night?” He kissed her quivering lips hard, needing to claim her
again. He wanted to kiss away the memory of the men that came after
him.

“
I was scared.” Her words
were a breathless whisper.

“
I wanted you. Needed you
so bad. I was up half the night trying to force myself to not hop
in my car and come over here. Tell me what I have to do to make you
mine again.”

Pushing away from him, she walked to
the other side of the island.

She shook her head and answered him in
a soft tone, “I don’t know. You hurt me.” Her voice escalated to an
irritated pitch. “You left me.”

“
I didn’t intentionally
leave you. I was coming back, and may I remind you, you called off
our engagement not me. I never said I didn’t want to marry
you.”

“
No,” she lashed out. “You
said we could get married anytime and then told me you weren’t
ready to get married.” She sighed and all the pain he’d caused was
plain as day on her face. “How do you think that made me
feel?”

“
I’m so sorry for hurting
you. I had a lot on my plate, and I wasn’t thinking
about—”

“
Me.” Her voice was barely
above a whisper. “You weren’t thinking about me.”

“
You didn’t deserve to be
treated that way.”

“
No I didn’t, considering
I put you first in my life.”

“
And you did. I took for
granted that you’d always be by my side no matter what.”

She looked away from him for a second
before settling her eyes on his face with a heartbreaking stare.
“Maybe we simply weren’t meant to be.” Her voice cracked and she
looked away, blinking back tears that he didn’t want to fall. He
hated seeing her cry knowing he was the cause of her
pain.

“
Is that what you think?”
he questioned, as he stepped around the island to stand directly in
front of her. “That we weren’t meant to be?”

“
No, but if you keep
telling yourself something over and over you start to believe it as
the truth. I loved you very much, Cannon, and I wanted nothing more
than to spend the rest of my life with you, but you had other plans
that didn’t include me. It hurt like hell when you walked out that
door.”

“
Didn’t you get my last
voicemail? I waited and waited for you to call back. Even at the
airport I looked around thinking you’d come.”

“
I thought about it, but I
couldn’t be selfish. So I didn’t run after you. I wasn’t going to
beg you not to go. You had this wonderful opportunity to go to
Brazil and help open the clinic in that impoverished village that
needed medical care. You worked so hard to make it
happen.”

“
Yasmine, I was coming
back. I wasn’t going to be in Brazil forever. I had my residency to
come back to and you.”

“
I know, but you would’ve
just found something else to get involved with. I’ve kept up with
you over years. I’ve read all of your articles and seen the
documentaries that were done on the other clinics you’ve helped set
up in other countries. You’ve contributed a lot to the medical
field by starting Doctors Unlimited.”

“
Well, you did tell me to
go save the world.”

She laughed, but suddenly tears
started to run down her face. “I did, but in the end, I just didn’t
see where I would fit in with your life.”

He pulled her to him and kissed her
forehead. “But you did. You were the one thing in my life that was
stable. You kept me focused and motivated. After we broke up, I was
a wreck, woman.”

“
That may be true, but you
blatantly told me you weren’t ready to get married, and we could
get married
anytime
as if marrying me was the last thing on your list to
do.”

“
I never meant to hurt
you, Yasmine.”

“
I know,” she said softly
and laid her head on his chest.

“
I messed up.” He shook
his head and raised her chin so she could see he meant every word.
“No, I didn’t mess up. I fucked up. I lost the only woman I’ve ever
loved, and I don’t want to lose you again.”

“
Cannon, it’s not that
easy.” She tried to pull away from his embrace, but he held her
firm in his arms, refusing to let her get away from him
again.

“
Tell me you don’t love me
anymore, and I’ll leave you alone. However, I still love you very
much, Angel face, and will until the day I die.”

Tears cascaded down her face and a
heavenly smile crossed her lips. “I still love you very much, too.
I’ve hated being apart from you, but after seeing all the wonderful
things you’ve done with Doctors Unlimited. I’d do it again. I don’t
regret it.”

“
I promise to never give
you a reason again, Angel face.”

“
Oh how I’ve missed you
calling me that.”

She jumped up into his arms, latching
her lips onto his in the process and releasing a passionate
avalanche of kisses on him. He placed her on the island as she
wrapped her legs around his middle. He could feel her quiver in his
arms as he penetrated her mouth deeply with his tongue, sending
waves of sensual fire through his loins. He kissed her in a
commanding manner as he molded his mouth into hers. He was going to
do his damndest this time to kiss her senseless. No running away
from him like last night. She was his, and with every stroke of his
tongue, he was going to make sure she realized that. She whispered
his name, and he closed his mouth over hers as she surrendered a
moan.

“
You’re all mine again,
you hear me?” he said, nibbling on her bottom lip.

“
Yes and no.” She gave him
a lazy smile even though he didn’t find it quite funny.
Didn’t we just express that we’re still in love
with each other?

“
Are you trying to give me
a heart attack?” He placed his hands over his heart and stumbled
back a little, laughing at the same time. “Elizabeth, I’m coming to
join you honey.”

She laughed for a few moments at his
Fred Sanford impersonation before speaking in a serious yet sincere
tone. “No, just listen. I don’t want to rush into anything with you
because even though we still love each other, we may be in love
with the younger versions of us when we first started
dating.”

Resting his palms on either side of
her on top of the island, he pressed his forehead against hers.
“Please explain.”

“
We’ve both changed and
matured over the past twelve years. Instead of rushing, perhaps we
should take it one day at a time and get to know each other
again.”

He nodded reluctantly. “I suppose I
understand where you’re coming from. I mean, you may have picked up
some annoying bad habit that I can’t stand,” he said with a
wink.

She playfully punched him on the arm.
“Very funny, but the same can go for you as well. Oh, and I have a
three month rule now,” she said. The timer, which had been beeping
off and on for the past ten minutes, beeped again. Sliding off of
the island, she walked toward the oven, and pulled out the salmon
that was definitely done. She placed the pan next to the baked
potatoes on the counter.

“
Three month rule for
what? Going to get your teeth cleaned? Your oil changed? Tires
rotated?”

She smirked and placed a piece of
salmon on his plate. “No, silly. Sex. I’ve been celibate for a
while now, but when I do date seriously, I just don’t jump into bed
with every Tom, Dick, and Harry right away.”

“
Well, I hope not but um …
you didn’t wait three months with me.” He encircled his arms around
her waist and placed his chin on her shoulder while she cut the
baked potatoes in half. It felt good to hold her that way
again.

“
I know.” Yasmine turned
to look back at him with a grin on her face. “You’re the reason why
I have the rule.”

“
Ouch. I see your
sarcastic sense of humor hasn’t changed.”

“
I’m not
teasing.”

Chapter Eight

Over the next few weeks, Cannon spent
all of his free time after work with Yasmine either running errands
for the wedding, just chilling at home, or going out. He was still
somewhat in shock over her three month rule, but he was going to
honor it—or at least try. Even though he knew there were some times
he sensed she wanted to break it.

Tonight, Yasmine was on her way over
to make the wedding favors. He’d printed the labels for the
miniature bubble bottles that she was bringing along with the pink
ribbon to tie around the top of it. He chuckled to himself as he
thought about every time he said pink she would correct him by
saying its fuchsia. Pink. Fuchsia. Hot pink. To him it was all just
pink.

She arrived on time; that was one
thing about her that definitely had not changed. She was always
punctual and hated being late to anything. Unfortunately, once
home, time restraints were nonexistent to him until his alarm clock
sounded in the morning.

Cannon heard the doorbell ring just as
he walked back into the kitchen from doing a few laps in his indoor
heated pool. He thought he’d have time to change because all he had
on were his swim trunks. He glanced on the monitor in the keeping
room on the way to the front door. She looked frustrated, holding
bags and a box she had readjusted to ring the doorbell
again.

“
Hey there,” he said,
opening the door and grabbing the box from her.

She ran her eyes over his semi-naked
body. Her gaze settled on his chest and he moved his pecs, which
released a pretty smile from her. He saw her glance at the scar on
the left side of his chest, and she sucked in her breath before
turning to shut the door. He found it cute she was the only woman
ever to be fascinated with the scar left from a few
stitches.

“
About time. I was getting
ready to leave.”

“
I can always give you a
key,” he said as he led the way to the kitchen table where he had
everything set up for them to make the wedding favors.

“
Is this an ice breaker
game for the evening?” She ran her fingers down his back, which was
sure to provoke another lap—or ten—in the pool. “Why are you
answering the door half naked trying to be smooth and sexy in your
swim trunks?”

“
So you think I’m smooth
and sexy?” He winked at her and took the bag she had on her
wrist.

“
I said trying to be.” She
smiled before kissing his cheek.

“
Well, you keep touching
me like that and you’ll see how smooth I can be in the bedroom. I’m
sure you remember.”

She shook her head, laughing
nervously. “Go get dressed.”

“
All right. I’ll be back
in a few minutes, unless you want to join me in the shower.” He
lowered his head and gave her a slow, sensual kiss.

“
As tempting as that is,”
she ran her finger over his scar and then patted him on his butt,
“no.” She winked and stepped out of his embrace.

“
You know you want all of
this,” he teased as he headed toward the staircase. “There’s some
pita bread and hummus in the refrigerator for you and some sliced
cantaloupes.”

“
Thanks. I’ll set it on
the island so we won’t get food on the favors.”

Twenty minutes later they had an
assembly line going at the kitchen table. He placed the labels on
the bubble bottles, and she tied the ribbon around the top before
placing them in a huge white basket. Around the handle was an
artificial vine of white roses intertwined with ivy leaves topped
with a huge fuchsia bow.

“
How many?” he asked in a
tired tone after the twentieth one.

“
You already know we have
two hundred and fifty to do. After that, it’s on to the bird seed
and tulle baggies.” She pointed to the bag on the floor.

“
We must
really
love our best
friends,” he said with a chuckle as he passed her another
bottle.