Doctor's Delight (13 page)

“My mother
would slap me silly if I didn’t offer a lady a drink.” Rick handed
her the glass, amused when she grabbed it and glared up at him.
Clinking his glass against hers, he said, “Bottoms up.”

He’d love to
see her bent over a kitchen table with her bottom up.
Oh
yeah
.

Taking a sip,
he watched her closely.

Cherry took a
deep breath and there went that frilly lace across her breasts,
rising up enticingly. Looking around to put the glass down, she
began again, “Reed, we need to talk—”

“Glad you think
so.” Catching her arm, Rick nudged the door shut with his foot and
steered her over to the little table. “Let’s get comfortable.”

“Will you let
me finish?”

“Of course.”
Sitting across from her, Rick laid his ankle across his knee and
rested one arm on the table, his fingers slowly running up and down
the cold exterior of his glass. “You were saying?”

Cherry pushed
the glass of iced chocolate away. “We need to talk.” She paused,
obviously expecting him to again interrupt.

Encouragingly,
he nodded, fascinated by the faint blush that rose in her cheeks.
She was so damned cute it made his heart swell. The lace on her
shirt that rested right across her ample bosom rising and falling a
little agitatedly made his dick swell, too, but that would have to
wait for another time. Hopefully not too far in the near future.
Like ten minutes time.

Dragging his
thoughts from that delightful contemplation, he focused on her
face.

“Reed,” she
began, only to scowl when he grinned at her. “Reed, I don’t
appreciate you ringing me or knocking on my door. I want you to
stay away from me.”

“But you came
to me,” he couldn’t help pointing out.

“I thought I
better come and straighten you out in person.”

“Always
delightful. You can come and straighten me out any time.” She made
to stand up and he realized he may have pushed her a little too
far. Mentally telling himself off for teasing her, he leaned
forward and grabbed her hand. “Wait. Let’s start this again.”

“Let’s not.”
She looked pointedly down at his hand on hers.

Knowing this
was his one chance to make her listen, he said quietly, “Cherry, I
promise to stop teasing, all right? I just want to talk.” For now.
Later…

She looked
dubiously at him.

“Just sit and
talk, Cherry, that’s all.” Releasing her hand, Rick sat back, his
gaze holding hers. “Please.”

She chewed that
lush bottom lip, making desire shoot straight through him, but he
manfully pushed the desire away, tamping it down where his lust
simmered, and maintained a friendly façade. Picking up his glass,
he took a sip of the iced coffee. “A cold drink after a hard days
work. Just spare me a few minutes and tell me what’s on your mind.
I promise not to interrupt.”

Slowly she sat
down and he breathed a silent sigh of relief. Picking up the glass,
she took a sip of the iced chocolate and a brief flash of pleasure
crossed her face. He vowed then and there to always keep a carton
of iced chocolate in his ‘fridge for her.

“Nice.” She
took another sip before placing the glass back on the table.

“I think so.”
He waited, silently amused when she suddenly didn’t seem to know
what to say or how to proceed.

Then she chewed
that lush bottom lip again and he thought his dick might explode
from behind the jeans zipper. Okay, that was an exaggeration, but
it wasn’t far off the truth. Manfully dragging his thoughts from
that titillating thought, he took a much bigger mouthful of iced
coffee and continued to politely wait for Cherry to start speaking.
Personally, he now felt like dragging her off to bed, but he’d made
a promise and he prided himself on keeping promises. Afterwards,
however…

Cherry cleared
her throat and he waited, mentally tamping down yet another surge
of desire. Cripes, he should get a medal for all this tamping of
his passion.

“I don’t think
it’s a good idea for us to see each other,” she finally said.

This he
expected. “Why?”

“Because I
don’t like being made a fool of.”

“Okay, this he
didn’t expect. “I don’t understand. What have I done to make you
think that?”

Those blue eyes
narrowed a little. “I saw you with Annabelle Forbes.”

“Annabelle? She
means nothing to me.”

“Oh, really? I
saw you together, her hand on your face, you holding her hand. It
didn’t look like nothing to me.” Her chin lifted, which he
immediately thought was adorable.

“I can explain
that.”

“That’s the
corniest line I’ve ever heard.”

Rick actually
blanked out for a second. “What?”

“I’m sure that
particular line has been in just about every romance book I’ve ever
read.”

“You read
romance books?” Spicy? Erotic? He was dying to know.

“None of your
business.”

“You sure?”

Her lips
tightened.

Remembering how
flighty his little Cherry was, Rick quickly returned to the
original topic. “I met Annabelle in the street and told her that
our dinner date was not going to happen. She tried to change my
mind, I tried to let her down gently.” He frowned a little at the
memory, then shrugged. “She didn’t take it too well, but you
obviously didn’t wait around to see that part.”

“What did she
do?” Cherry immediately bit her lip. “Forget it, I don’t want to
know.”

“She wanted to
know why, I told her I had met someone, and she, well, let’s not go
into it. Suffice it to say that any hope she had of us getting
together is over.”

Her gaze
dropping to the glass on the table, Cherry was silent for several
long seconds before murmuring, “That someone else you met, that
someone you broke up with her over…”

“Is you.” When
she remained silent, Rick reached over the table to lay one hand
over hers. “We were never an item, love. She wanted it, I didn’t.
It was a dinner date she forced on me, so breaking it wasn’t a
problem. You, however…” She didn’t look up but when she went to
withdraw her hand he tightened his hold, preventing her from
sliding away. “You, I’m deadly serious about. I want us to be an
item. I want to have dinner with you, I want you to get to know
me.” When she didn’t respond, he squeezed her hand gently. “Cherry,
look at me. Tell me what’s wrong.”

Her sigh was
accompanied by a slumping of her shoulders, and when she lifted
those thick, black lashes so her gaze could meet his, he was struck
by the sadness in them. “Don’t play me for a fool, Rick.”

“I’m not
playing you for a fool.”

“Men like you
don’t go out with girls like me.” Tugging her hand from his, she
stood up. “I’m not that desperate that I’d fall for this. Goodbye.”
Turning on her heel, she strode for the door.

He was out of
his chair and leaping after her in seconds. Catching her arm, he
swung her around. Transferring his grasp to her shoulders, he
pulled her against him and looked fiercely down at her. “What,
exactly, do you mean by that?”

“I’m
leaving.”

“No. That crack
about men like me don’t go out with girls like you. What’s that
about?”

“Come on, Rick,
stop with the innocent routine.” Her eyes flashed fire, colour
mounting in her cheeks. “All right, let’s be blunt about this—”

“Oh, please
do.”

“Fine. You have
women panting after you, I’m just a friend to men.”

“That last part
doesn’t even make sense. What are you on about?”

“I’m fat.
There, you got me to say it. Happy?”

A small spark
of anger flared. “Now who’s acting like she’s five years old?”

“It’s
true.”

“And on what
grounds do you make such a stupid statement?”

“Experience.”

“You mean those
idiot teenagers in the park calling you names? I thought you had
better sense than that.” He added as an after-thought, “Though I’d
have kicked their arses for them right then and there if I’d been
present.”

“Experience in
that I’ve stood by and watched men take out the slim, pretty girls
on dates. I got the laugh, the shoulder slap, the ‘See you later,
Cherry. You’re such a pal.’ Not one man was interested in me when I
stood next to a more, shall we say, yummier version of the female
variety.”

Rick couldn’t
help it. He burst out laughing.

That only made
her angrier. Humiliated, she shoved him hard. “Laugh it up, you
dick! You men are all alike!”

“Wrong.” He
chortled. “We’re not all alike. Hell, Cherry, you can’t just say
what you did and think I’d not find it funny.”

“You think it’s
funny no man was interested in me?” She tried to pull from his
grasp but he refused to release her.

“No, I think
your ‘yummier version of the female variety’ is funny.” Seeing the
humiliation still making her cheeks red, he sobered. “You’re not
kidding. You really believe that shit?”

“What, you
don’t?”

“No.”

“Come on, Rick.
When faced with two women, one fat and the other slim, you’d take
the slim woman.”

“To argue this,
I could say something that’ll get my face slapped.”

“Don’t stop
now. You’ve got a whole lot of slaps coming your way.”

“That’s not
very encouraging.”

“But
truthful.”

“Then let’s go
for it. I’d choose you.”

“The fat one?”
Her tone was filled with derision.

“The one who
caught my attention.” He gave her a little shake. “You stubborn
little chit. I’m not interested in other women, regardless of their
shape. I’m interested in you, regardless of your shape.”

“Pfft.”

He sighed.
“What’ll it take to convince you?”

“Nothing you
can say.”

Gazing down at
her, he arched one brow. “Really?”

She lifted her
chin.

A slow smile
curved his mouth.

Her eyes
narrowed.

She was so warm
against him. Every breath she took he felt, that magnificent bosom
pressing against his chest, and her faint, sweet scent stole
through him. Heat flickered inside him, starting low in his loins
and spreading out in rapid warmth.

Rick lowered
his head towards her. “So nothing I say will convince you?”

Her eyes
widened.

Sliding one
hand from her shoulder to lie across her lower back, he cupped his
other hand around her nape. “Maybe you trust actions more than
words, my sweet little Cherry.”

“Oh no.” She
started to back away, only to stop when his muscles locked and she
found herself unable to move without struggling. “Rick, don’t you
do this. Don’t you—”

He caught her
mouth, muffling her words, and proceeded to kiss her. Deeply.
Hotly.

Christ, she was
so soft. So soft and warm and sweet. Her lips were soft, her skin
soft, her hair tickling his hand soft. Her curves were soft. She
was just so damned soft he wanted to sink into her and never again
come up for air.

Her struggle
was brief, her surrender fast. Her lips opened to his marauding
mouth, and she moaned when he swept inside to taste her. The
flavour of hot honey, decadent and sweet all at once, she burst
upon his tongue and he wanted so much more.

His shaft
thickened, hardened, pressing demandingly against the soft swell of
her stomach, and he couldn’t stop his hand from sliding down from
her waist to cup one generous buttock, his fingers spreading to
flex and squeeze the globe.

Heat flared
through him and he swore her curvaceous body was forever imprinted
on his harder flesh. Her scent, her flavour, her softness, it
seeped into him and fed his desire until it was so hot he could
barely think, and he grabbed the hem of her blouse and started to
tug it up.

When her hands
gripped his wrists and her protests finally penetrated his haze of
heat, he stopped, his hands unwilling to still but his mind taking
control. Sluggishly, true, but taking control nevertheless.

Cherry’s eyes
were dark with desire, but wariness warred there as well. “No.”

“No?”

“No.” Her hands
on his trembled as she fought the desire that burned between
them.

“Why?” Taking a
deep breath, he lowered his forehead to rest against hers and gazed
directly into her eyes. “You feel this passion between us, Cherry,
why do you deny it?”

“I…” She licked
her lips, so swollen from his kisses, so red from his mouth, and it
made him want to taste her again. “I don’t believe…”

Shit. He closed
his eyes. “You don’t believe I want you.”

“No. Yes. I
mean, no, I don’t believe you want me.”

“Even with this
boner I have?”

“That’s
crude.”

“But true.”

He could feel
her trembling against him and he cursed every twisted idea of
beauty that taunted larger women every day, from every media
article both in magazines and the television.

“Let me go.”
Her voice shook.

Taking another
deep breath – any more deep breaths and he was certainly going to
start hyperventilating – Rick opened his eyes and lifted his head.
Sliding his hand slowly up her back, he felt her tremble under his
touch and it made him even more determined.

Placing his
palms each side of her throat, he rubbed his thumbs against her
cheeks. “You want the truth, Cherry?”

Silently she
looked up and the pain in her eyes clawed at him. The stubborn chit
was waiting for a nasty remark. She was in for a surprise.

Always one to
believe in blunt honesty, Rick wasted no time. He spoke quietly,
authority in his voice as he looked her directly in the eyes. “Do
you remember that night when I said Tim knew just what I
needed?”

She
stiffened.

“Don’t.” He
allowed the thread of steel to seep into his tone. “I said that
because I love voluptuous women. Tim knows that. He knows I love a
woman with curves, with softness. I love the rubenesque figure.
It’s womanly. Sweet. Seductive. I thought he’d sent you to my room
because he knows my preference. However, Cherry, you are more than
that, more than a preference. I love your full body, your curves,
your figure. But it’s you I find intriguing. Your fire, your
stubbornness, your sweetness, your shyness, your nature. You. Does
that say it all?”