Sacred Surrender (14 page)

“Are you ready for some coffee?  I wasn’t sure how you liked it, so I guessed.”  He handed her the oversized coffee cup as she slowly sat up. 

“Thank you,” she said trying to keep the pain from her voice, but unable to keep it from her face. 

“I’m sorry about last night,” he caressed her back as she sat sipping her coffee. 

“Sorry?  Why are you apologizing?  Last night was remarkable and I wouldn’t have changed a thing.” 

“From how you are moving, I’m thinking we should have stopped making love after the first couple hours,” he said with a smile on his face. 

Madison’s cheeks flushed at the thought of all she’d done not just with Rowan but to Rowan.  She didn’t realize until last night how wonton she could be and she loved this side of herself.  The smile on his face indicated to her that he loved it also.  Her body tingled at the memory of him buried deep inside her, of his mouth in places no one’s mouth had ever been.  She wanted more and if she hadn’t passed out, she would still be getting what she could.  Right now, however, she needed to get going and a hot shower was in order. 

“Rowan, trust me you do not need to apologize for last night.  Knowing how I feel right now, I would do it again a hundred times over.” 

“Just a hundred?”  He winked. 

“Thank you for the coffee.  I do need to get in the shower, so I can get to work,” she said as she took another sip of java.  Perfection.  The coffee was even better than she made it.  “Mmmm, this is delicious.  Did you make this with my coffee?”  She asked, sounding astonished.  

“Yes, I did,” he said as he pulled her from the bed. 

Rowan couldn’t catch his breath, Madison standing naked before him was a quick reminder of all they’d done the night before and for a brief moment he had to close his eyes.  The bulge in his pants grew at a remarkably accelerated pace and he wanted nothing more than to throw her on the bed and spend hours ravishing her delectable body, again.  That incredible body he’d spent all night enjoying.  Controlling his animalistic urges, he grabbed her hand pulling her to the bathroom.

“Shower,” he quickly said.  “I’ll be back in fifteen minutes.”

“You could join me,” she said as she wiggled her ass at him. 

“I could, but then you’d never make it to work on time,” he gave her bottom a swat and closed the door. 

Madison stumbled to the shower, turning the knobs until the spray was hard and hot.  She giggled at that thought, because that’s how she liked her men, apparently.  Or at least one man in particular.  She stepped into the shower and let the heat from the water relax her muscles.  She really did get a workout last night and, God, was she ever looking forward to their next session.  She wasn’t sure if it could be any better than it had been last night, but she certainly wasn’t opposed to finding out.  She snatched up the bottle of
Herbal Essences Citrus Lift,
lathering up the shampoo into her dark tresses.  The fragrance filled the small shower, bringing her tired mind and body to life.  She loved the shampoo for this very reason; it always perked her up.  She massaged her scalp then rinsed the shampoo from her hair.  Grabbing her purple loofa from the shower shelf, she filled it with her favorite watermelon body wash.  As she washed her tired body, she felt a tingling on her skin as she imagined Rowan’s hands replacing the loofa.  She shook herself from her dirty thoughts.  She needed to get to work and she wasn’t helping matters by allowing her mind to go there.  After a quick shower, she reached for the maroon towel that normally found its home on the hook next to the shower door.  She knew she’d put a fresh one up last night before she’d made her way to Rowan’s.  Peeking out the frosted glass door she saw Rowan standing there with a smile plastered on his face, her towel draped over his shoulder. 

“Just thought you could use some help drying off,” he said with a deep, low growl. 

“Well, now that you mention it, I could use the help as sore as I am from our workout last night.” 

Rowan wrapped the towel around Madison’s shoulders, rubbing the droplets of water from her skin.  She let out a sigh, as his hands massaged down her back. He leaned in gently kissing her mouth before he grabbed a droplet of water sliding down her throat with his tongue.  She smelled of citrus and watermelon and he wanted to fall to his knees and eat her up.  Before he could go any farther, Madison pulled away from him slightly. 

“Rowan, I should probably dry myself off, otherwise, I don’t think I’ll be making it to work today.” 

Giving up control of the towel, he leaned his forehead to hers, “I’m sorry, I can’t control myself when it comes to you.” 

“Oh, don’t take that wrong, I’m not complaining about your lack of control.  It just wouldn’t be a good idea for me to call in or be late my first week of work.”  Dear God, Madison wanted the man to throw her on the floor of the tiny bathroom and make her scream until the cows came home, which in Long Beach would be never. 

“Get dressed, I brought breakfast,” he said sliding a finger down her spine. 

“Rowan you didn’t need...”  He gave her a warning look.  “Never mind, I’ll be ready in ten minutes.” 

Madison pulled on a pair of tan slacks and a blue pinstriped button up as soon as she dried herself off, then quickly pulled her hair into a ponytail.  Making her way down the hall of her small cottage home, she smelled the aroma whiff towards her from the cozy kitchen.  Rowan’s face lit up when she walked into the room and she marveled at the realization that she caused that look.  At the table in front of him sat a plate filled with what seemed to be the largest bagels she’d ever seen. 

“Are you ready to eat?  The bagel shop around the corner has the most amazing bagels, so I got a few different flavors.  My favorite is the sun dried tomato but the cranberry is great too.” 

“Thank you,” she said grabbing a cranberry bagel as she sat in the chair he’d pulled out for her.  Taking a bite, she let out a groan,  “Oh my, this is wonderful.  I don’t remember seeing a bagel shop.” 

“It’s tucked away in the strip mall, so you have to have the inside track.” 

“And now I do,” she said laughing.  “I have a feeling I will be frequenting this place often.”  

Finishing up quickly, Madison cleaned off the table as Rowan took care of the trash.  She grabbed her purse and jacket as they headed toward the door. 

“Can I see you again tonight?” he asked as Madison locked the front door. 

“I would love to see you tonight, but a few girls from the office invited me out for drinks.  You know a welcome outing for the new girl.  What about tomorrow night?” 

Shaking his head, “Tonight’s the last night of my vacation.  I’m back to work tomorrow night.  Don’t worry, we’ll figure something out.” 

Rowan opened her car door when they reached the Altima sitting in the driveway.  Leaning in for one more kiss, he cupped her cheek taking his time.  If he wouldn’t be seeing her for a few days, he at least wanted to make this kiss last as long as possible. 

Chapter 13

Working the E.R. was very rarely uneventful.  Rowan’s first week back at work proved that fact.  It seemed like one patient after another made their way through the double sliding doors.  Every time he heard the whoosh of wind indicating another patient, he felt his skin tighten on his knuckles.  Normally, he was very relaxed, even in the midst of turmoil.  His patience is what made him so great at his job.  Tonight, however, he felt uptight and uneasy.  It had been a week already since he’d last seen Madison.  Oh, they’d been texting back and forth and even talked on the phone a couple times, but he had not physically seen or touched her.  Not being able to have that time with her was causing a hollowness he’d never experienced before.  These twelve hour night shifts had never bothered him before, even when he was with Erin, but suddenly he was questioning his need or desire to work them.  While he  finished up his shift, Madison would be driving to her job. They didn’t even cross paths in the mornings. 

This week was especially difficult for Rowan.  On top of it being his first week back, he volunteered to work an extra day because one of the other doctor’s had called in sick.  He’d only have Thursday night off and one day with Madison was not enough for him.  He definitely had some decisions to make.  Did he want to continue to work the night shift, seeing Madison only when they could squeeze time in or did he want to make a career change?  Cade had been trying to get him to go into practice with him for years.  Rowan just wasn’t sure he could give up the excitement and adrenaline rush of working the E.R.  He didn’t want to make the same mistake of jumping into a relationship again, but Madison affected him the way no one ever had. 

She was an incredible woman; more beautiful on the inside than the outside and that was saying a lot because physically the woman turned him on like no other had and that was fully clothed.  Seeing her nude sent him over the edge and he gladly jumped.  She made him want to be a better person, to be a better man.  She talked about her father often and on more than one occasion had said she wanted to marry a man that had the same traits as the man that brought her into this world.  Rowan knew that marriage wasn’t something either of them had been thinking about, but he wanted to be that type of man for her.  A man Madison could look at and would see the same traits as the man she thought the world of.  He wanted to be the man that held the world in the palm of his hands as far as she was concerned. 

Rowan caught himself laughing out loud as nurses and patients stared in his direction.  He moved down the corridor, past gurneys into the physician’s break room.  He definitely had a lot to sort out in regards to Madison. 

Tick, tick, tick was all Madison heard as she stared at the second hand on the antique alarm clock sitting on her bedside table.  When she retrieved her mail from her box at the post office earlier in the week, the small clock had been wrapped in one of her father’s old flannel shirts, packaged tightly in the shoe box her mother had shipped to her.  Madison, since she was a small child, had always loved anything antique and her mother always loved taking her to garage sales.  Growing up, they had spent many Saturday’s hopping from one garage sale to another, finding the most wonderful treasures in other people’s trash.  When she opened the box to find the small white clock with gold trim peeking out at her, she’d felt sad for the first time since she’d left Kansas to come out to California.  So much had changed in her life.  She finally had a job she loved, the people she worked with were all wonderful, and now she was in a relationship with a man who turned her world upside down.  Yet, in the midst of it all, her heart ached because her daddy wasn’t here to share it with her. 

Madison knew beyond a shadow of a doubt her father would approve of Rowan.  He’s definitely a man her father could be confident knowing that he would treat her like a real man should treat a woman.  Rowan always wanted to talk about her, soaking up all the information he could about her life.  Most of the men she’d ever come in contact with always wanted to talk about how wonderful they were.  Not Rowan, she had to pry information from him because the conversation always came back to focus on her.  Madison didn’t like talking about herself, but her heart tightened knowing that his desire to know her on a deeper level than just the physical was first and foremost in his mind.  Although, he had made her blushed on more than one occasion when he verbally detailed to the tee everything he wanted to do to her sexually and not just in her big four poster bed.