Читать книгу Kissed By Christmas - Jamie Pope - Страница 12
ОглавлениеHallie could barely move the next morning. She had really thought about defying Asa and going to work anyway, sure she would be feeling a hundred percent better when she woke up, but that wasn’t the case. She felt like she had been hit by a large truck that had backed up and run over her again. The noise from the television hurt her ears. Looking at a computer screen caused a sharp pain to go right through her head, so she just lay in bed and reached for her cell phone.
Her cousin was on speed dial. She missed her family painfully, but it was her cousin whom she had the hardest time being away from. Derek was the mayor of their small town of Hideaway Island. He had encouraged her to move on after her breakup with Brent. He had given her the courage to step away from everything she had known and live a life that was simply just for her and no one else. But while she was living just for herself, she found herself missing the slow-paced life of her island home and the people that made living there so wonderful.
Her head throbbed steadily as she placed the phone to her ear, and she wanted to curse her cousin. If it weren’t for his unfailing support, she would have never slipped on the ice in the first place.
“My favorite cousin!” his deep voice boomed through the phone.
“Bite me,” she replied.
“Whoa. I’m pretty sure your mother taught you that you aren’t supposed to greet people like that.”
“I have a concussion. Spent all day in the hospital after I slipped on the ice heading to work and hit my head in front of a bunch of teenagers, and it’s all your fault. You big dumb jerk.”
“Did I cause you to fall?” he asked seriously. “I don’t remember flying to New York and giving you a shove. But if I did, I apologize.”
“You made me move to a terribly cold place.”
“I didn’t. I encouraged you to get off the island and be away from that pretentious jackass who you were giving up your dreams for. You took the job in New York because it was a great opportunity. I happen to like New York. It’s a great city. I would live there if my heart wasn’t so connected to this place.”
“I miss home.” She sighed. “I miss you, too.”
“You must have really hurt your head if you are admitting to missing me. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she said, but could hear the weariness in her own voice.
“I’m serious. Are you really okay? I can catch a flight out of Miami this afternoon and be there tonight.”
“No.” He was protective of her. The big brother she needed. “You don’t have to. I was just calling to ask you to look for flights for me. I have a long winter break this year and really need to be home for Christmas. I would look myself but I’m not supposed to be on the computer.”
“Does your mother know that you got hurt?” The worry in his voice was clear.
“Of course not. She would have heart failure if she did.”
“She worried all Thanksgiving about you. She was sure you were going to starve that day because nothing would be open for the holiday.”
“That’s one thing I love about New York. There’s always something open.” She suddenly got extremely tired, almost letting the phone slip out of her hand.
“Hallie? Hallie!”
“I’m here. I just zoned out for a moment,” she said as she heard the knock on her door. She already suspected she knew who was standing on the other side of the door.
“I really think I should come up there. You don’t sound like yourself.”
“I’m fine. My neighbor is here to check on me. He went to med school.”
“But you didn’t say he’s a doctor.”
“He’s not.” She eased herself out of bed, feeling every one of her muscles protest. “He’s a paramedic. I’ve got to go, Derek. He’ll probably break down the door if I don’t open.”
“Who is this guy? I’ve never heard you mention him before.”
“That’s because I didn’t know him before. Please let me know about the flights.”
She disconnected before he had the chance to question her any more. The phone call seemed to zap the tiny bit of energy she did have out of her.
The knocking on her door had turned to full banging by the time she got there. Asa stood there, his beautiful face twisted with concern. It wasn’t fair that he got to walk around looking like that. He wasn’t dressed for work today. She had expected he would be and on the way to a shift but he was in jeans and a T-shirt. Looking just as good in that as he did in his dark blue uniform.
“You look like hell.” He stepped inside, took her face in his hands and looked into her eyes. Normally she would slap any man who touched her face like that after knowing her for twenty-four hours but she didn’t mind Asa’s hands on her skin. Big, warm hands that were a combination of rough and smooth and felt soothing when nothing else did.
“Gee, thanks.”
“You’re in pain.”
She attempted to nod, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. “Yes.”
“Just your head?”
“No. All over.”
“A side effect from slipping on ice. You probably have some minor soft tissue damage.”
He took a penlight out of his pocket and shined it in her eyes, which caused her to wince.
“Pupils look fine, but you have some light sensitivity. Sound, too?”
“Yes.”
“Turn around,” he murmured. He slipped his hand beneath her shirt and ran his fingers along her spine. It was in a medical way, not an ounce of seduction there, but Hallie had to admit that she liked the sensation of his hands on her bare skin. It had been a very long time since a man had touched her at all. Even when she was with Brent, their lovemaking had been very scheduled, very ordinary, pleasant but almost mechanical. Hallie was feeling different with Asa than she did with Brent and all he was doing was checking to see if she was injured. She wanted to chalk it up to being celibate for so long, and figured that she might react this way with any good-looking man but she knew it had more to do with Asa being Asa.
“No sore or tender spots?” he asked as he continued his examination. “Bend over for me just a little like you’re going to touch your feet.”
She did as he asked as his hands traveled across her back. “Does anything hurt when you do that? Any particular pain or twinge?”
“I’m just sore all over. My tailbone hurts the most.”
He pulled the band of her pants just a bit and looked. “You’ve got a bit of a bruise there.” He straightened her to standing and turned her around to face him where his fingers slid to the back of the neck.
“How’s your neck?”
“Stiff,” she answered and as soon as the word came out of her mouth his touch stopped being medical. He rubbed her aching muscles with his thick, long fingers. Too sore and sleepy to think about what she was doing, she pushed herself against him while he did it.
* * *
Asa’s intentions were pure when he’d begun his examination of Hallie. She’d opened the door and her appearance had knocked him in the gut. He could tell that she was in pain, her big beautiful eyes dull, her skin tone ashen. He still found her beautiful, but more than that he had this overwhelming need to take care of her. It was something he had never felt before, like something internal that was pushing him to. And then when he was examining her lower back, his need to take care of her had changed into a different kind of need all caused by the little tattoo of a seahorse on her back.
He had been surprised to see it there and then he realized what he had been doing, running his hands all along this woman’s body. Slightly aroused by her when he knew he shouldn’t be. He turned her around to face him, knowing he should stop, that he should go home, knowing that he had done his duty. But he looked at her tired, sad face again and couldn’t step away from her. She was a stranger, but he felt like he knew her, like he was supposed to be there. It was a crazy thought, but as he went to rub her neck and she pushed her soft body against his he knew that maybe he wasn’t the only one who felt a connection.
“Don’t think I’m crazy,” she said softly as she wrapped her arms around him. “But I think I’m going to cry.”
“It’s okay.” He stroked his hand down her back. “I know you’re in pain.”
“It’s not that. You smell good and your body is so warm and I miss my family. It’s been a long time since I’ve been hugged.”
“It must have been hard to be away from your family on the holiday.”
His parents were a few hours away in New Jersey so it hadn’t been that long since he had been hugged, but he couldn’t think of the last time he’d had a beautiful woman wrapped around him. He dated, frequently. He enjoyed women, but lately it had just been dates. He hadn’t invited anyone back to his place. He hadn’t spent the night at anyone else’s. He could have, but ever since his twin had gotten married he’d felt off. Odd. Like there was something missing in his life. Virginia was so happy. The women that Asa dated didn’t make him happy. They were just someone to pass the time with.
It was strange to be having those kinds of thoughts while he was holding a woman he barely knew, but he couldn’t stop them.
“I’m fine now.” She pulled away from him and he found himself missing her warmth. He should just go back home and forget about her. His mind could be soothed now. She was a little banged up, but he was sure she would be fine.
“You should take a hot bath with Epsom salts. It will make you feel better.”
“That sounds amazing.” She moaned a little and it made him harden just a bit. “But there’s a problem.”
“What?”
“I don’t have either of those things.”
“You don’t have a bathtub?”
“Have you seen the size of this place?”
He looked around him. He really hadn’t paid attention to it before, but it was tiny. Just one long room. He could see the entirety of it from where he stood. But it was cozy. It looked like her. She had a white gauzy curtain around her bed, which was made with a fluffy white-and-black floral-printed comforter. There was a small love seat beside it and a vintage wood desk that had been painted a soft blue. Besides the old fireplace that Asa was sure was no longer functional, there was nothing else to the space. They were standing in her kitchen. He turned around to see that her bathroom only had a shower.
“I have a tub.”
“My place could fit inside of your place three times. How can you afford it? Do paramedics make that much?” She looked pained then. “That’s one of those questions I’m not supposed to ask.”
“I happened to be there when the owner of the building was hit by a livery cab. I stabilized him until the paramedics arrived on scene.”
“You saved his life,” she said softly.
“No. I did what I was supposed to do. But he was grateful and he tracked me down to thank me. When he found out where I was living he told me his son was moving out of this building and offered the apartment to me at the same price his son was paying.”
“Oh. Did you follow him home to check on him, too?”
He grinned at her. “No. But I did visit him in the hospital.”
“Are you sure you’re a real person? No one cares that much.”
“I have a family. If it were my father, I would have wanted somebody who went through medical training to be there with him until help arrived. And you made me think about my sister. I wouldn’t want her hurt and alone in a strange city.”
“I’m not sure that I could ever be that good of a person.”
“I’m sure you’re wrong.” They looked at each other for a long moment, the urge to pull her closer and wrap his arms back around her growing stronger.
“I hate you a little,” she said changing the subject. “You mentioned the word bath and now it’s all I can think of.”
“You can take one at my place. My tub is pretty big.”
Her eyes widened. “With you?”
“Alone. Unless you really want me there. I thought we made it clear that I wasn’t going to try anything. I try to stay away from women with fresh head injuries. You don’t have to take me up on my offer.”
“But I will.” She turned away from him and grabbed a robe out of her closet and some fresh pajamas. He knew that this wasn’t the typical favor that one neighbor did for another but he couldn’t take back the offer. He wasn’t ready to leave her alone just yet and knew his instincts were right when he saw how slowly she moved, like her body was stiff with pain.
A few minutes later they were in his bathroom, which by New York City standards was huge, with a deep tub and a wall with tiles that had been salvaged from old buildings. The shower was separate from the tub and was enclosed in glass.
It was a million times better than his last place and as he sat down on the side of the tub to turn on the water, he knew it would take an act of God to get him to move out of this place.
“I can definitely tell that a man lives here, but this bathroom looks like it has been designed by a woman.”
“It might have been. The guy who lived here before me moved out because his fiancée left him. He moved to LA.”
“Oh, I know that story.”
“Do you?”
“Why do you think I came to New York?” She gave him a small smile. “My fiancé called off our wedding just before I was supposed to walk down the aisle. He wasn’t sure if I was the kind of wife he wanted, or if he loved me enough to spend forever with me.”
“Stupid bastard.” He got up, brushing past her to grab the Epsom salts and lightly scented oil and bubble bath he kept under the sink.
“Why do you think he’s the stupid one? It could be me. You don’t know.”
He looked at her for a long moment. “I know.” Any man who broke up with a woman like that after he asked her to marry him was cruel.
She gave him another soft smile. There was a sweetness about her and he wanted to pull her mouth to his just to see if he could taste it.
“You look like a man who has run a lot of baths for women,” she said as he added everything to the hot water.
“I’ve been known to take a bath from time to time. I was a college football player. I took a lot of hits and last year I did a Spartan Sprint and dislocated my elbow. The hot water usually soothes it when it starts acting up”
“A Spartan Sprint? Is that one of those 5K mud runs?”
He shook his head. “My brother-in-law and I did a long-distance one. Twenty-seven obstacles. There was fire, mud and barbed wire. We would have been the fastest team if I hadn’t slipped.”
“That sounds like my worst nightmare.”
“We’re going to do another one in Miami in March.”
“Crazy. I can barely walk down the street without falling and you sign up for death runs.”
“You sound like my mother.”
They grinned at each other for a moment before he looked back at his tub that seemed inviting. He had never taken a bath with a woman. He liked his private time, but it was something he might like to try with her.
“I’ll leave you alone now. Take as long as you want in here.”
“Thank you, Asa.”
He nodded and left her.
He settled in to read, but he couldn’t concentrate on the words because his thoughts kept returning to the presumably naked woman in his bathroom.
A knock on his door saved him from trying to go back to his book. He found his mother standing there. She was looking fashionably proper, with her hair swept up elegantly and wearing a gray wool coat that would probably never go out of style. Dr. Andersen might have a PhD in advanced mathematics, but she was no absentminded academic. She could intimidate nearly anyone she came across and that was why Asa was uneasy about her unexpected appearance at his door. It had nothing to do with the woman in his bathtub.
“Mom? Hey. What are you doing here?”
She breezed past him with a smile on her face. “Do I need an excuse to see my baby boy?”
“Um. No? You just never drop by unannounced.”
“I was in the city to have lunch with a former colleague at Columbia and I thought I would stop by. I have something to tell you and I figured I should do it in person rather than over the phone.”
He sat down hard on the stool at his breakfast bar. “Are you sick?”
“No! Of course not.”
“Are you divorcing Dad?”
“Asa! Do you think I would look this happy if I were divorcing your father or sick?”
“I don’t know, Mom. You could be coming over here to tell me that you’re running away to Bora Bora with one of your students.”
“I’m not sure where you got such an imagination from. You’re starting to sound like your sister.”
“Did you tell her the news?”
“She knows. It was her idea.”
“It was Gin’s idea and you’re happy about it?” He crossed his arms across his chest. “This I’ve got to hear.”
“Your sister wants to throw a big get-together at her house on Hideaway Island with both families. It’s going to be wonderful—two weeks of holiday festivities, topped off with a huge Christmas party they are inviting the whole island to. I’m so excited. And I’m making the point of telling you that you’re going to use up that vacation time you have accrued and spend the whole time with us down there.”
“Okay,” he agreed.
“No argument? No, ‘I have plans,’ or ‘a date?’ Or something more important than following your mother’s dreams and wishes?”
“I was planning to see Virginia at Christmas anyway. You could have told me this over the phone. What else is going on?”
“Your father and I are retiring to Florida. I put in my paperwork yesterday and we’ve officially put the house on the market. We are going to be looking at homes on Hideaway Island while we’re there.”
“Oh.” He wasn’t expecting her to say that. He had always pictured his parents living in their Cape Cod–style home, but it made sense for them to move. His father had hurt his back shoveling the heavy snow more than once. And he had been retired from the military for years now. None of their children were home. There was no reason for them to stay. They should go but he felt odd about it. “Congratulations, Mom. The school will miss you.”
“Is there something wrong, sweetheart?” She touched his cheek and in that same moment he heard his bathroom door open. Out stepped Hallie in a short blush-colored robe. Her curly hair was damp, but he could see her perfect ringlets forming. Her eyes went wide when she saw his mother there, and he found Hallie to be incredibly beautiful.
“Well, who do we have here?” his mother asked.
“Hallie, this is my mother, Dr. Andersen. Mom, this is Hallie. She lives in 4A.” He could have explained why Hallie was there, but he didn’t want to. He was thirty-two years old and if he wanted to have a woman in his apartment, he would have a woman in his apartment.
“It’s nice to meet you, ma’am.” Hallie started to rush forward, hand extended, but then stopped. He could see the pain on her face.
Asa went to her, his hand impulsively reaching out to touch her cheek. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. I almost forgot that my body is one big, giant sack of soreness.”
“Did the bath help?”
“A lot. Thank you.”
“How’s your head?”
“I’ll take some aspirin when I get home. I’ll be fine.”
“Are you okay, dear?” His mother stepped forward. There was genuine concern on her face.
“I’m fine. I just fell on the ice yesterday and gave myself a little concussion. Your son came to my rescue. I was coming to tell you it was nice to meet you and then get out of your hair. I didn’t mean to interfere with your plans. You have a very nice son, Dr. Andersen.”
“Thank you, Hallie.” His mother looked at him and gave him a smile. “He’s a good man.”
“I’ll see you around, Asa. Thank you again.”
He grabbed her hand, stopping her from fleeing. “You don’t have to leave. You’re not interfering with anything.”
“We didn’t have plans,” his mother added. “I was just stopping by. You shouldn’t be alone when you have a concussion. Sit down on the couch and I’ll make you some tea. Have you eaten anything today?”
“No ma’am, but—”
“No buts. You take yourself over to the couch this moment. Asa, help me find the tea and use that app on your phone to order us something for lunch. Italian, I think. Or maybe deli. What do you think, Hallie?”
“Whatever you want, Dr. Andersen.”
“I think you need pasta and bread. It’s settled. Go sit down now and I’ll bring you your tea.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Hallie did as she was told, leaving Asa and his mother heading to his kitchen.
“That girl is just darling. I like her already. A much different direction than your usual conquest. What’s her story?”
“She’s not one of my conquests. She’s my neighbor. She’s a high school teacher at Wheatly Academy.”
His mother gave an approving nod. “I’ve heard great things about Wheatly. They take brilliant but at-risk youth and prepare them for college. They only hire the most qualified teachers. Your girlfriend must be bright.”
“She is bright. Her dream is to become a college professor, but she’s not my girlfriend.”
“A college professor! Why didn’t you tell me about her sooner?” She rummaged through his cabinet for the tea he kept there just for her.
“There’s nothing to tell. I barely know her.”
She slanted a brow at him. “I saw the way you looked at her. Sweet, pretty, educated. She’s perfect for you. Maybe I’ll finally get some grandchildren. Your sister has been married for nearly two years and stubbornly refuses to give me one. Maybe if she knows she’s in competition with you it will speed her up.”
“She’s enjoying traveling with her husband. Carlos just retired from baseball at the end of the season.”
“You’ve both done enough traveling.” She touched his face. “Don’t ruin this for me, Asa. I might never like another one of your girlfriends again.”
