Tearing Down Walls (Love Under Construction Series Book 2) (47 page)

Then something strange happened; Laura started to get angry. She was angry at Wagner, at the others, and at Vic. Vic was making her say it, making her embarrass herself, and she didn’t want that. She wanted to run away, and she dropped her eyes to the floor, thinking of just leaving.

“Laura.” Vic waited. “Tell me. Tell me now.”

Her face turned beet red and she looked Vic in the eye, steam rolling out of her ears. “He touched my, my clitoris, and then he kept rubbing it, and I, I, I . . .”

“Say it,” Vic told her again.

“I had an orgasm.” Laura glared at him and her head went down, her face so red that Vic was sure it would spontaneously combust. “So I must’ve liked it. And that makes me the most disgusting person on earth. And I won’t blame you if you never, ever want to lay eyes on me again. I hate me. I’m a disgusting person.” She was shaking so hard that when she reached for the arms of the chair, she missed and almost fell out onto the floor.

What must he think of me?
, she wondered.
Could anyone ever accept that?

Vic’s voice was as gentle as a spring breeze. “Honey, look at me. Please.”

When Laura’s eyes turned upward, she almost gasped aloud. Vic was looking straight at her, and his gaze held so much love and mercy that it made her heart hurt to look at him. Had he not heard her? Was she going to have to say all of that again? She didn’t think she could.

“Come over here. Right now.” He scooted over on the bed and motioned for her to sit down beside him. When she got situated, he put his arm around her and drew her up against him. “How old were you then?”

“Twenty-five. Almost twenty-six.”

“No more than a child. And how many men had you been with before that?”

Laura blushed. “One. My boyfriend, Charles. We started dating in high school.”

“Okay, so let’s admit that you had limited knowledge of sex. That pretty much correct?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“And is it fair to say that after the attack, if it had to do with sex, you didn’t want anything to do with it?” Vic asked, stroking her arm.

“Oh, yeah. No way. I didn’t want to talk about it, think about it. I hated the club, all that sex stuff. Very uncomfortable.”

“I could see how that would be.” Vic turned to look at her and drew her face to his. “Baby, what happened when he did that to you? You couldn’t help that.”

“Yes, I could. I must’ve liked it or . . .”

“No, honey. You couldn’t help it.” Vic kissed her forehead and she started to relax. “A woman’s body is made to respond that way. Evolution designed it that way to make women want to mate, to protect the species. If you’re stimulated that way, you’ll have an orgasm pretty much every time, and then it’s natural to want penetration, so it made it easier for primitive men to get women pregnant. Doms use it in discipline. It’s called orgasm torture, and some women want that. I know that’s hard to believe. I use it, have used it, fairly often. Some Doms and subs are big fans. I know what I’m talking about.”

Laura was quiet, but she was still looking right at Vic’s face, and he wondered what was going on in her head. “Tell me what you’re thinking, baby.”

“I’m thinking that you’re the smartest man I’ve ever met,” she said, almost whispering. Laura was struck by Vic’s gentleness; she could feel love radiating from him, and she felt a lightness about herself that she hadn’t felt in years.

“And I’m sorry that you’ve tortured yourself with this for all these years. I think you’re the bravest woman I’ve ever met.” When he thought about all the years of shame she’d endured, a single tear rolled down his cheek, followed by another.

Laura chuckled. “No, that would be Nikki!” She reached over and wiped off the tears, then surprised him by looking at his tears on her fingers and licking them. He couldn’t help but think what a sweet gesture it was.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right. But it took a lot of courage to come back here and talk to me about this, and I respect you for that. I don’t want you to ever be afraid to tell me anything, anything at all. You should know me well enough to know that I don’t have the right to pass judgment on anybody.”

Laura leaned into Vic, and he let out a yelp. “Oh, god! I’m so sorry! I forgot about your shoulder!” she squealed, and he laughed and kissed her cheek.

“I won’t break, precious. I’m pretty tough!”

“Yeah, let’s see how tough you are tomorrow when you have to get out of this bed!” Then Laura got quiet. Vic could tell she was mulling over something. When she spoke, it was as though she’d made some kind of decision. “Vic, do you want to go home?”

“Yeah. I do. I’m getting out of here tomorrow. I’m going to Tony and Nikki’s because the doctor said I can’t be alone. Plus there are lots of things I just can’t do for myself yet.”

“What if . . .” she started, then stopped. Then she tried again. “What if I went to your house with you and stayed with you?”

Vic smiled at her and pulled her back up against him. “I would love that. But that might be a bit much at first. I’m not a little guy, and I’d be hard for you to handle if I got into trouble. But, tell you what,” he said, “you could come to their house and stay for the first few days, maybe a week, and then we can go to my house. It would give me time to get on my feet with some extra help and give you a better idea what you’d be getting yourself into. I know they wouldn’t mind. Nikki could use the help – I’m a handful! Whaddya think?” he asked, grinning down at her.

Laura smiled up at him. “I think that sounds like a good plan,” she said, and kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll ask them.”

Eleven days after he’d been shot and stabbed, Tony and Nikki helped Vic into the Yukon, and Laura stowed his things in the back. Everyone could tell he was in horrible pain, but he flatly refused painkillers, so that was that. The drive back to Shelbyville was pretty uneventful, and Vic kept saying how glad he was to be out of prison even as he grimaced at every bump and jostle on the road.

Tony had asked Helene to clean up her former quarters so Vic wouldn’t have to go up and down the stairs. He had a fit because it wasn’t “his” room, the one he usually stayed in at their house, but Nikki told him to shut up and take it or leave it. That left him no bargaining room, so he just took it and went on.

But when Nikki asked Laura if she wanted a room upstairs, she looked straight at Vic. He just said, “I wish you’d stay with me,” and that was the end of the discussion. Once they’d gotten him settled in, Nikki took Laura home to Louisville to get things she needed and pick up her car.

When Vic announced later that afternoon that he was going out for a walk, Tony put the kibosh on that pretty quick. “You take it easy. You’ve got to get well fast. We’re leaving on April twenty-fourth on our honeymoon, so this is your eviction notice,” he said and laughed. Vic made a disgusted face, Nikki smiled, Laura giggled, and Tony slapped him on the back of the head.

“Hey! Cut it out! I think it’s illegal to beat up an invalid,” Vic snarled.

“Invalid my ass. You just want a couple of beautiful women waiting on you,” Tony chuckled.

“Huh. Maybe so.” Vic looked at Laura and winked. She just grinned at him.

They fell into an easy daily pattern of dressing changes, physical therapy, and Vic riding along with Tony to the project site. Tony made Vic stay in the truck, which pissed the huge Italian off to no end. Sometimes the guys would sit in the kitchen while Nikki and Laura did what Tony called “experimental cooking” and danced around the kitchen. When Vic tasted things Laura made, it didn’t matter if they were awful; he always told her they were good and ate them anyway. At the end of the first week they’d been at Tony and Nikki’s, Laura wanted to make dinner, and her veal parmesan and roasted potatoes were delicious. Vic told her twenty times how good the meal was, and she smiled every time.

But Nikki mandated a nap for him mid-afternoon; Vic liked that time of day best. He and Laura would curl up on the queen-size bed in their room and doze off. Sometimes Vic didn’t sleep; instead, he’d lie awake with Laura’s head on his shoulder and watch her face. When she was asleep she didn’t have a care in the world, and Vic loved seeing her features so soft and childlike.

On the tenth day after he left the hospital, Laura took Vic to his follow-up appointment with Dr. Ballard, and the news was all good. “So? What now?” he asked as he sat on the table.

“It’s okay for you to go home by yourself. Do you feel up to that?”

“Yes. I could do that. Not a challenge. What about everything else? What can I do or not do?” Vic asked.

“Lifting up to twenty pounds. No gym yet; give that another four weeks,” Dr. Ballard said. “You can drive, but not if you’re taking pain medications. And no sex – not yet,” Dr. Ballard said, winking at Vic, and Vic turned to see Laura flush a dark shade of purple.

When they got to the car, Vic leaned against the door and turned to Laura. “So, I can go home. Alone. If I like.”

“And what would you like?” Laura asked, scooting a rock around on the pavement of the parking lot with the toe of her athletic shoe.

“I wouldn’t like.” He took her hand and she looked up at him. “I’d like for you to come with me. If you want to. No pressure. If you don’t want to, it won’t change a thing.” He waited.

“You know,” she said, her voice quiet and a smile on her lips, “I think I want to.”

“Then it’s settled,” he said. “We go home this afternoon.”

Tony and Nikki helped Laura and Vic load up and they headed for the house in Lexington. When they pulled up in the drive, Vic yelled, “Hey! My car’s here!”

“I got it for you,” Laura told him, “the day that I left you the letter. That’s where I had Molly take me before I came here.” Vic didn’t tell her that Tony had told him how they’d found her, curled up in his bed and wearing his jacket. That was a sweet little secret he kept to himself, and it made his heart sing.

Laura got him inside, then got everything out of the car and took it all down the hall. They spent the first couple of hours trying to find places for her things. Once they’d gotten settled in, the first thing Vic did was call the office.

“Your only job is to get well. John Henry’s staying with me; Clayton sent him to run the office while you’re gone. So you just stay put and get better.” Molly didn’t cut him an inch of wiggle room.

“Guess I’m unnecessary,” he mumbled as he hung up the phone.

“No. Not unnecessary. But they’re doing everything they can to help you get well. Don’t you think John Henry would rather be in his own home instead of staying with Molly or one of the guys during the week?” Laura asked him. He just nodded.

After he’d managed to shower and dress, Laura helped him change his dressings. Everything was healing up nicely, but it hurt Laura to see the suture marks and healing wounds on his gorgeous abs. “I guess you got yourself some battle wounds, huh?” Laura quipped, but her voice was tinged with sadness.

“Yeah, I guess I did.” He looked down at them. “That sure wasn’t what I had in mind. Do they turn you off? They’re pretty bad.”

“Not as bad as mine. Do you mind them?” she asked.

“Not at all. You know that. They’re part of you, and I love that.” He caught her around the waist and pulled her down to sit beside him on the bed. “Will you let me kiss you?” he asked. She felt like a sixteen year old at the door when her first date was dropping her off.

She took his hands. Then she sucked in a deep breath and whispered, “Yes.”

Vic let her hold his hands and leaned into her, pressing his lips against hers. Laura felt herself getting lighter and warmer, and Vic nibbled her lower lip, then tipped his head and pressed his tongue against her lips. For just a moment she pursed them together tight, but something inside her made her open them, and when his tongue found hers, she kissed him back, hungry for more.

She turned loose of his hands and put hers on either side of his face, and he wrapped his arms around her waist and tipped them both over onto the bed on their sides. Before she knew what she was doing, her arms found his neck, and she pressed herself into him, meeting every stroke of his tongue with hers, losing herself in his warmth. When he stopped and pulled back to look at her, she had a strange expression on her face.