Rush (15 page)

I studied my hands. “Okay, Max. I’ll
keep that in mind.”

“I heard you spent Thanksgiving with my—with
Trent’s family.”

“Yeah,” I said, wondering who’d told
him.

“Did you have a good time?”

A sidelong glance revealed he was
carefully watching me. “Not especially.”

“No? My stepmom’s a great cook.”

“The food was good.”

He cleared his throat. “But?”

“It felt weird being there, knowing you
weren’t allowed.”

“I told you once, don’t feel sorry for
me. I don’t need it.”

“That’s not what I meant.” I frowned at
him. “You’re putting words in my mouth.”

Max just looked at me. My face burned
and I knew I was blushing yet again.

“You look just like your dad,” I said. “And
I found your old sketchbooks.”

His face and body grew still. “My
sketchbooks?”

“Who broke your ribs, Max?”

He withdrew from me. Not physically. His
body stayed in the same place, the same position, but emotionally he pulled
back. I saw it in his eyes, the set of his mouth as he looked away from me,
staring at the closed-up shop fronts.

“I’d rather not say.”

“Why?”

“Because all that happened a long time
ago. It’s over. I don’t like thinking about it.” There was anger in his voice.

I pulled my arms closer to my sides. “Okay.
I won’t ask again.”

Chapter 12

Max

The urgent care clinic took a lot longer
than I expected. I kept my arm around Caroline’s waist as we hobbled into the
building. She felt so good against my side, smelled so good in spite of the
haze of cigarette smoke and beer than clung to her hair, I felt my groin
beginning to ache. Damn it. This wasn’t a good time for a boner.

I glanced up and saw a row of
wheelchairs next to the reception desk. “Stay here. I’ll get you a wheelchair.”

“I don’t need one of those.”

“Yes, you do. I can see you wincing
every time your foot touches the floor. Just hang on a minute. Lean against the
wall.”

I carefully pulled away from her and
left her with her hand against the wall as I snagged one of the wheelchairs.
She sank into it with a sigh, letting me know without words I’d made the right
choice. She had a lot of pride, but she didn’t want to walk all the way up to
the reception desk and then to a chair in the waiting area.

After getting her checked in, I wheeled
her over and parked her next to a chair for myself. Her face looked kind of
pinched, her mouth tight. She was in pain and needed some distraction.

I nudged her elbow. “Have you decided
what you’re going to do with that French major yet?”

“No. Why does everyone keep asking me
that?”

“You don’t want to be a teacher?”

“God, no. My mom’s a teacher.”

“Hmm.” I rubbed my chin. “How about a
translator?”

“Maybe. You have to go to a special
school for that, though, and I’ve heard it’s really tough.”

“You could be a mime.”

She rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to
speak French for that. Mimes don’t talk.”

“You could be the world’s only talking
mime.”

That got me a smile. “I don’t think so.”

“You think there are other talking
mimes? Maybe you’re right. You should get on the Internet and find out. I’ll
bet the others would like to know they’re not alone.”

Caroline poked me, laughing a little. “There
aren’t any talking mimes. Besides, I don’t want to be a mime.”

“No? Not even when you were a little
girl?”

“No. I wanted to be a ballerina.”

I could see that. It was kind of a
turn-on, imagining her leaping across the stage in point shoes. I grinned at
her. “Sexy.”

“Knock it off, Max.”

No way. I’d gotten her to laugh. Score. “Maybe
you could open a French shop. You could pretend to be French and impress
everyone with how snooty and French you are.”

“I’m not snooty. Plus, what would I
sell?”

“Who cares? You could sell anything and
you could be snooty with a little acting. I bet you’d have a ton of customers.
Everyone would want to buy from the beautiful, snooty Frenchwoman.”

She gave me a disbelieving stare. “Beautiful?
I think you need glasses.”

That stopped me cold. “Don’t you know
how beautiful you are?”

Her face turned pink. “Cut it out.”

Other people in the waiting room were
starting to listen in on our conversation, so I decided to have pity on her.

“Okay, I’ll stop for now. But don’t
think this is over.”

She looked at me out of the corner of
her eye and smiled. Gods, she was stunning. And I’d gotten her to laugh and
smile at me. Maybe all was not lost.

A nurse appeared at the doorway leading
into the exam rooms called Caroline’s name. She smiled at us. “Would your
boyfriend like to come too?”

Caroline blushed even more brightly. “He’s
not—”

“Yes,” I said. I got up to wheel her
into the back area.

It turned out she did have a sprained
ankle, which they wrapped before releasing her. She was supposed to stay off
it, ice it, elevate, all that crap. I had the feeling she wasn’t going to
follow directions.

I called another cab to take us home. We
rode without talking. Caroline leaned her head against my shoulder, thinking
whatever dark thoughts were on her mind. I wanted to wrap my arm around her,
but I stopped myself. That would be too much at this point. Something must have
happened between her and Trent at that party. Did I dare to hope they’d broken
up?

Nah. She would have said something if
that were the case. They’d probably just argued. Or, hell, maybe she hadn’t
liked the drinks they were serving or the music they played. How did I know?

The cab pulled up to her dorm. She
opened the micro-purse she was carrying and pulled out a wad of bills just as I
was getting out my wallet.

“I’ll pay,” I said.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I want to.”

“But you paid for the one to the clinic.”

“So?” I opened my wallet. “How much?”

“Max, I’ll get it this time.”

I shoved a fifty into the cabby’s hand.

Caroline glared at me. “Why did you do that?”

“Because I could.” I resisted the urge
to kiss the tip of her nose. She might have slapped me.

The cabbie gave me my change, I gave him
a tip, and then got out of the car. I held the door open for Caroline and
extended my hand.

She looked up at me with a ferocious
frown. “What are you doing?”

“Helping you upstairs.”

“I don’t need help. Go home, Max.”

No way was I letting her go inside
alone. What if she fell? “I’ll go home when I know you’re safe in your room.”

She heaved an exasperated-sounding sigh.
“Oh, for pity’s sake. You just don’t give up, do you?”

“No. Now get out of the car.”

“Yes, sir, Mr. Bossy Pants.”

The cabby snickered. I guess he felt
safe since I’d already paid him and forked over the tip. I fought back a smile.

Caroline held out her hands and let me
pull her from the car and help her stand. The brace the clinic had given her
seemed to help her stand up without wanting to collapse. The narcotics they’d
given her probably helped too.

Maybe they should have given her a
stronger dose. She might have been easier for me to manage.

I gave her my arm and she took it
without argument. She still wore my leather jacket, too. I liked the way it
looked on her. Made it easy for me to imagine she was mine.

We made it all the way into the lobby of
her dorm without fighting. But as soon as she’d pushed the up button on the
elevator she looked up at me and I knew what was coming.

I narrowed my eyes at her. “Don’t even
say it. I’m taking you up to your room.”

“I don’t need your help. I can lean on
the wall.”

“Don’t care. I’m taking you to your room
and that’s final.”

“Good grief.” She rolled her eyes. “Has
anyone ever told you you’re a pain in the ass?”

“Almost everyone I know. What’s your
point?”

She blew a little gold curl out of her
eyes. “You’ve done enough for me tonight. More than enough.”

I didn’t agree. There was so much more I
wanted to do for her. “It would ease my mind if I knew you were safe in your
room.”

“Max, the dorm is locked. Nobody’s going
to attack me here.”

“It’s a coed dorm. There are men living
here who could hurt you.”

“And you’re a man.”

This argument wasn’t going my way. “Can’t
you just humor me?”

“It’s not a good idea.” She slid out of
my jacket and gave it to me. “Thank you for everything tonight. I really mean
it. You saved me.”

The elevator arrived. The doors opened.
She stood there looking at me. I should leave but I didn’t want to. The doors
closed again.

Did she have any idea how hot she was?
How much I hungered for her? This wasn’t only about payback for Trent and never
had been. I wanted Caroline for my own.

I wanted her so fucking bad my hands
started trembling. I stuck them in my pockets.

“I need to go to my room,” she said
softly.

“I know.”

“I’m going to call the elevator again.”

I leaned forward, slowly, giving her
time to say no or back away. She waited for me. Her face tilted up and her lips
parted and they were so damned sexy, those lips. I caught her lower one between
both of mine, my heart pounding so fast I could almost hear it.

My hand made it out of my pocket and up
to her face before I knew what I was doing. I palmed the side of her face. Her
skin felt smooth and perfect under my hand and her lips moved beneath mine.

She sighed. Her mouth opened enough to
accept my tongue. As I tasted her, she slipped her arms around my waist and my
cock jumped violently behind my jeans. A moan escaped me.

Her body felt perfect against mine. I
put my arm around her back, holding her to me as I explored her mouth. This was
a mistake. It was too early; she didn’t trust me enough yet. I should keep my
hands off her, but I didn’t want to stop just yet.

A little more. I’d take a little more
and then I’d stop.

Her body undulated against mine as her
hands slid under my jacket to stroke my back. I clasped her head, trembling,
wanting, plunging my tongue into her as if I could claim her that way. She
wanted me just as much as I did her, and the cold, watchful part of my mind
rejoiced in that fact because it would help me take her from Trent.

The rest of me only wanted to bury
myself deep inside her and never leave.

The elevator pinged and the doors began
to open. I released her with a start as the doors slid back and some guy I didn’t
know got out. He gave us a cursory glance before walking across the lobby. I
hadn’t even noticed the elevator leaving, I’d been so wrapped up in Caroline.

She stared at me, her breath fast and
uneven, her lips reddened by my kiss. I couldn’t look away. Her eyes looked so
dark they were almost black with arousal. I leaned in for another kiss.

“No.” She held up a hand. “I can’t.”

“Caro—”

“No, Max. It isn’t right.” Her eyes
glistened. She looked like she was about to cry.

Damn. I never meant to make her cry.

“All right. I understand.” I backed
away.

She took a deep breath. “Thank you. I’m
going now.”

“Okay.”

I watched as she got into the elevator.
She didn’t look at me at all, kept her eyes trained on the floor as the doors
closed and shut her away from me. That kiss had been a bad idea, but I hadn’t
really been thinking when I did it. Apparently, neither had she.

Nothing I’d done with Selene had made me
feel the way kissing Caroline did.

If I’d ruined whatever trust we’d built
up between us, I was going to have to start over with her. I needed to keep
better control over myself. The one thing I wouldn’t do, though, was give up. I
had to have her. Now that I’d tasted her, I knew I had to have her.

***

Fred showed up just as I left Caroline’s
dorm and started across the quad, a kind of courtyard on steroids that filled
in the central space created by her dorm and another three which all connected
in a giant square. The quad was pretty dark at this time of night, and I
figured most people weren’t looking out their windows, so when Fred appeared
beside me I didn’t scold him. He wore a denim jacket and jeans, a kind of outfit
I’d rarely seen on him, since he usually wore the clothes of his own era.

“You look like a student,” I said
quietly.

“That’s the idea.”

“Can other people see you right now?”

“Maybe. I’m not sure. I think it depends
on the abilities of the one who’s looking.” He stuck his hands in the pockets
of his jacket and looked at me. “You saved her.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“They didn’t have good intentions, Max.”

I nodded. “I know. Thanks for the
heads-up.”

“I was glad to help. I’d hate to think
of Caroline being harmed.”

“Me, too. I could have killed those
bastards just for scaring her.”

“You care for her.”

I shot him a sidelong glance. “Maybe a
little. But I wouldn’t let any woman be abused.”

I really didn’t want to talk about my
feelings for Caroline. They were private. And also incredibly stupid. If I let
myself become emotionally involved with her, my plan would go sideways in a
hurry. And right now, I wanted to hurt Trent more than I wanted any woman. Even
her.

“I know what you’re doing,” Fred told
me.

“Oh? What’s that?”

“You think if you seduce Caroline, it’ll
hurt Trent.”

“I can’t argue with that.”

“Don’t you think it’ll hurt her, too?”