Only You (18 page)

When Max hadn’t called by the next morning, however, her spirits were dampened. Nevertheless, she called Martha and told her to go ahead and open up, that she’d be in later. She hopped in her car after seeing Jordan off to school and drove to the nearest shopping mall.

The first thing she did was go to the lingerie shop and look for something sexy. She’d settled on a black lace teddy, when a gold satin nightgown caught her eye. It was rather demure, but it had a mutlticolored dragon embroidered on the front. With a pang she remembered Max and his declaration about fighting her dragons the night they’d first made love. Without another thought she hung the black lace teddy back on the rack.

The second stop Caitlin made was at a men’s casual wear store. She found a pair of stone-washed denims in Max’s size—or maybe in the next smaller size.

By the time she arrived at work, it was nearly eleven. She’d expected Max to have returned her call by then, but he hadn’t. She didn’t know whether to be hurt, angry, or worried. It depended on whether he hadn’t called because he didn’t want to talk to her, or because he was tied up with
someone more interesting, or because he’d had an accident and was lying in a hospital somewhere.

Hesitantly, Caitlin placed another call to his office, not sure if she wanted to know the truth or not. Patsy recognized Caitlin’s voice right away. “Oh, hi, Caitlin. I’m sorry, but Max didn’t come in today.”

“His appointment,” Caitlin began. “Did he get held up out of town or something?”

“No, nothing like that. He’s home sick today.”

“Sick?”

Patsy hesitated a moment. “Oh, yes. Really sick. Why, I even took him to the doctor this morning, and he never goes to the doctor, you know. So I knew he was feeling pretty horrible.”

“Oh, dear!” Caitlin exclaimed, her heart sinking. “Is it serious?”

“You
do
care.”

“Of course I care!”

“Well, Max wasn’t sure.” Patsy paused, then lowered her voice dramatically. “As for your question, I think he’d better be the one to discuss his condition with you.”

“His condition?” Caitlin’s voice squeaked.

“Mmm. Yes. Well, the other line’s ringing. Gotta go. Bye,” Patsy said, then hung up.

Caitlin’s heart pounded and her hands shook as she placed a call to Donna. If she’d ever had any doubts about her feelings for Max, this had dispelled them. “Donna? Can you pick Jordan up from school today and keep him tonight? I just found out Max is terribly ill and—Oh, thank you so much. I’ll call you later.”

She picked up her purse and dashed out of the office to the front door of the greenhouse, calling
to Martha over her shoulder. “Martha, I’ve got to go. It’s an emergency. Can you close up?”

“Of course. It’s not Jordan, is it?”

“No, no, it’s not Jordan, but I’m not sure I’ll be in tomorrow either.”

She didn’t get a speeding ticket on the way to Max’s house, but she did get a warning. The rest of the way she barely managed to keep from driving over the limit.

Max’s house looked deserted. The morning paper still lay in the middle of the sidewalk and the shades were all drawn. Caitlin sat in her car for a long while trying to gather her courage. All this talk about being strong and independent and she couldn’t rustle up enough courage to go up and knock on his door.

The thought that Max simply might not want to see her made her stomach hurt. However, when she thought about Max alone and dealing with the effects of some devastating illness, her courage returned. With a decisive nod she grabbed her purse, marched up the sidewalk, and tapped smartly on the door. It opened almost immediately.

“Patsy, I don’t—” Max stopped short. “Caitlin.”

“What’re you doing out of bed? Should you be up? Did the doctor say you could get up?” Caitlin’s eyes roamed hungrily over Max’s dear, familiar features. Funny, he didn’t look sick.

“The doctor didn’t say I had to stay in bed. Although I would have had to get up to answer the door anyway.”

“Oh. You don’t have to stay in bed? Do you have a fever? Did he put you on medication?” As she fired the questions at him, she took Max by
the arm and walked into the living room with him. She frowned. “Maybe you’d better sit down.”

“Why?”

“Max, I talked with Patsy.”

“Yeah. So?”

“She told me how sick you were.”

Well, bless her heart, Max thought. Maybe he wouldn’t fire his meddling sister after all. When he saw the frantic, tender concern written all over Caitlin’s face, the ice around his heart began to thaw. Now to make her realize that what she felt for him was every bit as real as the love he felt for her.

“I suddenly feel like I need to lie down,” he said weakly.

“Can you make it upstairs?”

“If you help me.” Max draped an arm over her shoulder, leaning heavily on her as she walked with him upstairs. Guilt stabbed him at the worried look on her face. But he wasn’t lying about the weakness. His legs
were
shaky at the feel of her body next to his. Besides, he was fighting for his life here. For whatever reason, Caitlin had come to him, and if it was sneaky to fool her this way, then so be it.

As they went into his bedroom, images besieged him—Caitlin in his room, in his bed. Even though he’d lived there for over a year, it seemed as if all his memories of this room came from just the past couple of weeks. When he closed his eyes, he saw Caitlin, her face flushed with shyness, her warm brown eyes glowing with passion, her lips curved in a siren’s smile.

God help me, he thought as hot tendrils of desire coiled in his body. It would take all his self-control to keep from laying her down on the
bed and making new memories. He managed not to grab her, but his heart raced and his hands shook with the effort.

“Heavens,” Caitlin exclaimed softly, “you’re trembling!” She pulled down the bedspread and blanket. “Here. You’d better lie down.”

Max sat on the edge of the bed and willed himself not to pull her down on top of him. To keep his hands occupied, he began to unfasten his shirt, though his fingers fumbled clumsily with the buttons.

“Let me,” Caitlin urged, her hands moving to the front of his shirt.

Max stifled a groan, feeling his self-control slipping out of his grasp. “I’ll finish it,” he said, his voice a strained croak. He unfastened the last two buttons and pulled off the shirt.

Caitlin’s eyes flew to his bare chest. She longed to throw herself on it and cling to him for all she was worth. Her gaze lingered, touching on the cords of muscle, the golden tan, the pink rash. “What?” One hand reached out to brush over it. She knew that rash.

Her eyes threw accusations at Max. “Chicken pox?” At least he had the decency to blush, she thought as red color suffused his skin.

“Caitlin, I can explain—”

“Here I am, worried sick, and all you have is chicken pox? And you even dragged your sister in on this.”

“I didn’t. I didn’t know she would tell you I was deathly ill or anything. But when you came over, looking so worried, it felt so good, I played along with it.” His voice trailed off. “I’m sorry.”

“You should be, you skunk.” Caitlin turned and walked out of the room.

“Caitlin, wait!” He leapt to his feet and raced down the stairs after her. He saw her head to the front door. “God, Catie, please don’t go. I’m sorry. I—”

She spun around and pursed her lips. “Maximillian Tobias Shore, sit down and shut up.” She pointed a finger at the sofa. Max obeyed, completely taken by surprise. Then his heart sank when she turned back to the door and left.

He heard her car door open and shut. Boy, he’d really blown it this time. She’d never forgive him. He braced himself, waiting for the hum of the engine that would take her away. He closed his eyes and dropped his head in his hands.

The front door opened and Max looked up with a jerk. A blur of heavy blue fabric hit him in the face. “Wha—” Max brushed the material aside. “Caitlin? I thought you’d gone.”

“You’re not getting rid of me that easily, you rat.”

“I’m not?” He could feel a silly grin spread over his face.

“And wipe that silly grin off your face!” He tried to pull the corners of his mouth down, but couldn’t. She could stand there and yell at him all day if she wanted, even all week. Hell, she could yell at him the rest of her life.

“You owe me for this, Max Shore.”

“Anything, sweetheart. Anything at all.”

“Good. Since you offered, put on those jeans.”

“What jeans?” He couldn’t look away from the sparkle in her eyes.

“The ones in your lap, you sneak.”

“Oh, those.” His eyes narrowed as he looked down at them. “I don’t usually wear jeans.”

“No time like the present to start, is there? After
all,” Caitlin added smugly, “you said you owe me.”

“Will this make you happy?”

“Ecstatic.”

“Okay, then.” Max stood and moved his hands to his belt buckle, his eyes watching Caitlin for her reaction. To his delight, she sat down in the chair, leaning back and crossing her legs, a smile curving her lips. If she was going to watch, he’d give her a show worth watching. His movements became slow and seductive as he slipped his belt free of the loops.

He walked over to her and dropped the belt in her lap, then picked up her hands and moved them to the button at the waistband of his trousers. “Unfasten it,” he commanded huskily, and she did. He stepped away and slowly slid the zipper down, an inch at a time as Caitlin’s tongue slipped out to moisten her lips.

Turning his back to her, he deliberately lowered his trousers just a little, then a little more, finally pulling them down completely and stepping out of them. He turned back, his eyes going straight to her. She had leaned forward in the chair, her chin propped on her hands and a dreamy smile on her face.

Clad in nothing but his white briefs, he picked up the denims. He then went to Caitlin’s chair, perched on the arm, and pulled the jeans up over his legs. Standing, he turned back to her. “Fasten these,” he said, his eyes liquid with desire.

“Later,” she murmured back, standing up next to him, her eyes soft and warm. She reached out a hand and ran it over his chest, tangling in the soft brown curls. Her fingers brushed lightly over the rash. “Does it itch?”

“Oh, yes,” he breathed. “And aches unbearably.” He wasn’t talking about chicken pox.

“Well, you mustn’t scratch.” Her voice was a husky whisper and a fingertip lightly stroked over his taut nipple.

He drew in his breath. “Oh, Caitie, I can’t think of anything else but.”

“Gee.” Her fingers plucked at the other nipple. “I’ll just have to think of some way to distract you.” She dropped a hand then, brushing it over the bulge outlined so clearly by the unzipped jeans.

“Oh, yes,” he groaned. “Distract me, Caitie. For heaven’s sake, distract me.”

“Maybe this will help.” With one lithe movement she grasped the bottom of her green T-shirt, pulled it over her head, and rubbed the soft cotton over his chest. “Did that distract you?”

His eyes sparked fire as he looked at her. “It helps,” he said huskily. “Distract me some more.”

She reached around and unhooked her lacy bra, drawing it down her arms and baring her breasts to his avid, hungry gaze. “Is this distracting enough?”

“Almost.” His hands lovingly encircled her breasts, his thumbs moving to stroke the rosy tips to diamond hardness.

“Well, then,” she said, a catch in her breath. She took his hands from her breasts and moved them to the front of her cutoff jeans. “Unfasten these.”

When he did, she slid them off. “How about now? Are you distracted now?”

“Oh, God, I’m so distracted, it’s killing me. And I want you so much, I’m on fire with it.”

“Then take me by the hand, sweet Max, and lead me to bed.”

They never made it to bed, only as far as the sofa.

Sometime later Caitlin raised her head up from Max’s chest and smiled at him, a smile so sunny, he felt as if he couldn’t breathe. He had to keep that smile for the rest of his life. “So, sweetheart, are you going to make an honest man out of me, or what?”

“Guess I’ll have to,” she said. “I certainly couldn’t let a sneaky little devil like you loose on an unsuspecting public.”

His arms tightened around her and his heart filled with so much love, he didn’t know if he could hold it all. “Say it, Caitie. Please, say it.”

“I love you, Max. Will you many me?”

“You bet. Hey, where’re you going?” he said as Caitlin scrambled off the sofa.

“Just hold your horses a minute,” she said, presenting an enticing view as she bent to rummage in the shopping bag she’d set by the door. She pulled out the satin gown and put it on. “What do you think?”

Max’s gaze roamed over the slinky satin, seeing the embroidered dragon curling around her breasts. “I can see I need to fight a few dragons. Now, come here, woman.” He held out his hand, his eyes glowing.

Why hadn’t she seen it before? Caitlin asked herself as she slipped her hand in his. A clear summer sky. His eyes were the blue of a clear summer sky.

May marks the halfway point between the first day of spring and the summer solstice—I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely ready for the warmth of spring and the heat of Loveswept romances! And you can always count on Loveswept to have the perfect gift for you and your mom this Mother’s Day.

Let’s see what’s on sale this month:

Small-town romance is first on the list with
Laugh
—Mary Ann Rivers continues her Burnside family series as two people try to share their hearts without losing their cool. Outlaws and daredevils are up next when the Justiss Alliance returns in Tina Wainscott’s
Wild Ways
, and the search for a missing woman forces two brave souls to tap into their wild sides. And in her Loveswept debut
Against the Cage
, Sidney Halston turns up the heat as a sexy cage fighter shows a former bookworm how delicious a few rounds between the sheets can be.