Doctor's Delight (22 page)

Cherry’s
fingers flexed in his hand and he gave them a gentle, reassuring
squeeze.

Donna’s gasp
caught his attention. “He’s hurt? David’s hurt? Is he all right? Is
he—?” She bit her lip, her eyes wide. “He did what? Oh no!”

Concerned, Rick
straightened.

“I’m coming
home right now. You tell David to stay right there. Of course I
know he can’t move, I just – I’m coming home now.” Snapping the
phone shut, Donna sprang to her feet.

“What’s wrong?”
Rick stood quickly. “What happened?”

“David sprained
his ankle while painting the trimming on the verandah.” Donna’s
eyes filled with tears and she sniffed. “I nagged him about
painting it, that’s what we fought about, he said he didn’t have
time and I said ‘What? For the last six weekends?’ So when I left,
Mum said he felt bad and decided to paint it as a surprise. He fell
off the ladder and sprained his ankle.”

Tim
guffawed.

She rounded on
him furiously. “You ignoramus! David’s hurt!”

“Only his
ankle. He’ll be fine.”

“Says you. I’m
going home to look after the poor dear.” She hurried from the room.
“I feel so bad.”

“How many times
have I heard that?” He stood up and stretched. “Think I’ll head for
home myself, Rick. Thanks for the iced chocolate, Cherry.”

“Uh – you’re
welcome.” Cherry was standing uncertainly by the chair.

“Don’t see me
out, I can do it myself.” Tim winked at Rick. “Have a good, or
should that be great – day.”

Rick grinned.
Oh hell yeah, he intended to take full advantage of this
windfall.

No sooner had
Tim left than Cherry started to move around the table. “I better
go, too.”

“What? No.”
Rick stepped in front of her. “You don’t need to go.”

“But your
sister—”

“Donna is fine.
Trust me, love, my sister and her husband have these falling-outs
often, and she always turns up at either my place or my parent’s
until David comes looking for her, which isn’t usually very long.
They kiss and make-up, though he’s really outdone himself this
time.” He couldn’t stop his lips twitching in amusement. “You’ll
get used to it.”

“But—”

“No buts. Donna
won’t take long to go, and this is the first time in nearly a week
that we’ve had time together.”

Cherry smiled.
“We went to a movie two nights ago. I cooked tea for you on
Thursday and Sugar spent the whole time afterwards sitting in your
lap until you got that call-out.”

“I’m lucky to
get a good meal into me on a on-call night. My guardian angel was
watching out for me. I got time to spend with you and those two
miscreants you call cats.” It had been a relaxing time while they’d
chatted and the cats snoozed contentedly, Sugar snuggled on his
lap.

“Last weekend
was a picnic with my friends.”

“And what an
experience that was.” Rick grinned. “I like your friends. At least
Susie lets me sneak a peak at the hospital roster now.”

“She’s a little
overprotective.”

Rick had to
agree, but he couldn’t blame Susie. In fact, that very protective
streak in her towards Cherry made him admire her. Anyone who was on
Cherry’s side got his automatic vote of friendship.

The picnic had
been fun. Robbo and Ben got on well with Rick, and Maxie and Susie
were friendly with him outside of the hospital walls, especially
when he proved to be easy-going and cheerful, happily falling in
with their plans for the day. There was no distinguishing in their
varied professions.

“Susie is a
free spirit, it’ll take a special man to hold her down.” Cherry
smiled. “Robbo’s trying to be that man.”

Reaching out,
Rick took her hand. She looked up at him questioningly, and his
heart just bloomed with warmth as it always did when she looked at
him. “Free spirits are wonderful, but there’s only one spirit I’m
interested in capturing.”

That expected
flush spread across her cheeks and she glanced away.

Before he could
say anything, Donna ran past the door. “I’m off! Bye Rick! Nice to
meet you, Cherry!” The door banged shut behind her.

Rick shook his
head. “Typical Donna. I’ll see her off.”

She was already
jumping in a taxi when he got to the gate. She waved to him, yelled
her thanks again, and the taxi pulled away. The visit was typical
Donna-style. A whirlwind of temper, humour, and rapid mood
swings.

Amused, Rick
returned to the house. Shutting the door behind him, he entered the
kitchen again to find Cherry gazing out the window into the
backyard.

“Nice yard,”
she said. “It’s going to need some work, though.”

Walking up
behind her, he wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his
chin on the top of her head. She relaxed back into him, and he
savoured the feel of her softness. “True. But I don’t intend to do
too much to it.”

“Oh?”

“It’s a rental.
It’s not a real home.”

“True again.
But you need it to look nice, to feel like a home.”

“Maybe, but
it’ll still be missing someone.” He nuzzled the silky strands of
hair tickling his chin.

Cherry didn’t
answer, but neither did she pull away. They stood there in
companionable silence and he let the peace of their togetherness
seep into him. The house was quiet, it was just the two of them.
The two of them with nothing to take their attention from each
other.

“Do you know
it’s been a week since we made love?’ Rick murmured. Immediately he
felt her suck in a breath. “I say we remedy that right now.”

“Now?” She
looked up at him over her shoulder.

“Sure. Why not?
We have the house to ourselves, you’re not on shift work, and I’m
not on-call. No one is here.” Leaning down, he nibbled the corner
of her mouth. “Yes, now.”

Cherry started
to jerk away but he tightened his arms.

“No,” she said.
“Let go.”

“No, you don’t
want to make love?”

“No. Yes. I
mean, yes, I want to make love.” She stumbled a little over the
words, which he thought was cute. “But not right now.”

Ah-ha. “When,
then?”

“Tonight.”

Rick knew
exactly what she was aiming for, and hell no, it wasn’t happening.
“With the lights off, eh?”

“No rules,” she
reminded him.

“That works
both ways. You like it off, I like it on. During the day there’s no
quibbling.”

“No.”

“Why?” He
turned her around and transferred his hands to her shoulders. “You
don’t want to see me when we make love?”

“No, yes…well
of course I do, but…” It took a lot for her to admit that without
looking away.

Wait for it, he
thought. When she stammered to a mortified halt, he waited. And
waited. But he was determined that she’d be the one to say it, not
him. It was her problem, not his. Well, not in the same way.

Finally, she
took refuge in annoyance and glared at him. “I don’t want you to
see me naked.”

“Scared of what
your body will do to me?” he drawled.

She actually
flinched. “Yes.”

He had to give
her points for honesty, but he decided the way to do this wasn’t
slow and easy. Slow and easy hadn’t won him any ground so far with
her weight issues. It was time to strike.

I’ll tell you
what your body will do to me, sugar.”

“I know, I
know. You want the lights on. You don’t care about my weight. You—”
Her speech was cut off by his finger lying against her lips.

“Stop right
there, Cherry. This time you’ll listen to me.” Her eyes widened a
little, a light of battle flaring to life. If she only knew what
that did to his libido.
A good tussle leading to love-making,
mmm-mmm
. Manfully, he switched back to the topic at hand. “And
listen good.” Okay, he didn’t really have to add that last bit, but
he figured getting her fired up wasn’t such a bad idea. Anger and
lust could be a good combination if handled correctly. Of course,
if not handled correctly, it could also come back to bite him on
the arse, but that wasn’t an option in this situation.

He was playing
to win.

“You better
have a good argument, Reed,” she warned.

“I don’t argue.
I’m stating facts, so listen up, sugar.” Oh yeah, that ‘sugar’ bit
had her hackles rising. Cute. “The thought of you naked has me so
hot my cock’s hard enough to crack ice.”

Yeah, that took
the wind right out of her sails. Her mouth fell open.

“The thought of
you naked has my balls absolutely knotted.”

Her cheeks
flamed.

“The sight of
you is going to make me come into you like a jackhammer, baby, so
you better be ready to hang on for dear life, because I intend to
see you naked any minute, and I intend to be in you hard and fast.
But first I’m going to have a good look at you. I’m going to
explore that luscious body good and properly.”

“I don’t bloody
think so!”

“Do you
remember what I said to you the last time we made love in my hotel
room?” She shook her head a little wildly. “I told you that you had
won, but next time it was on my terms. This is my time, baby.”

“Rick, no.”

“My terms.”

“You don’t know
what you’re asking of me.” Her magnificent breasts were rising and
falling agitatedly. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”

He didn’t
bother trying to hide the hedonism in his slow smile. “I’m not
asking you, love, I’m telling you.”

There was a
flash of panic in her eyes, and then she started to struggle in
earnest.

“Cherry.” Not
expecting the panic, Rick tried to hold her. “Cherry, stop.”

“Let go!” She
twisted away, and he caught the sheen of tears in her eyes.

Truly alarmed,
he caught her to him. Instinctively he knew if he allowed her to
flee, he’d lose any ground he’d gained - if he hadn’t already. But
part of him wasn’t yet ready to give up, not by a long shot.

He cradled her
to him, gentle but firm, and when he didn’t let her go she suddenly
sagged into him, burying her face in his shoulder and twisting her
hands into his shirt. Breathing ragged, she pressed into him.

“Jesus.”
Closing his eyes, he rocked her gently. “Someone really did a
number on you, didn’t they, love?”

She didn’t
answer, just pressed closer. Part of Rick cursed himself for
pushing the issue, but another part of him felt as though he’d
crested something so very important, that he was finally pushing
open some hidden door.

Did this happen
to all larger women? He wondered. Did they all lack such
confidence? He didn’t remember his sister being so uptight about
her weight, nor his mother. Oh, they’d been through their share of
dieting and exercising, but ultimately they’d shrugged and
continued on their merry way.

Not all women
were that confident.

Cherry wasn’t
that confident, but he wanted to bring that confidence up in her,
bring it out, make her proud of herself.

Make her
talk.

Resting his
cheek on her head, he said softly, “Tell me what’s wrong, Cherry.
Not the weight, but why you don’t want me to see. Who hurt you,
baby? Tell me. Please tell me.”

She was silent
for so long that he didn’t think she was going to answer, but then
she whispered, “I went out with a man who dumped me on our date and
left with another woman. She was gorgeous, slim, everything I’m
not. I was the laughing stock of the party, and it was Susie who
brought me home. I heard the teenagers when I was at school
laughing at the bigger girls. I heard them laughing at me when I
was in school regulation shorts, unable to run fully around the
oval. I heard them call me a beached whale when I was in bathers at
swimming classes.”

“Teenagers can
be so thoughtlessly cruel.” Soothingly, Rick ran his hand up and
down her back.

“A year ago
Maxie finally talked me into going to the local pool in bathers.
She’d been trying for months. There were three men there, handsome,
muscular. The kind that turn a girl’s head.”

Yeah, Rick knew
the kind of men of whom she spoke. Muscle-heads, the lot of them.
As thick in the head as the muscles they sported with pride.

“I heard them
laughing at me, heard the old ‘beached whale’ joke. One said that
they better send out for the lifeguards when I hit the water,
because there was going to be a tsunami for sure.”

Rick wanted to
pound the thoughtless, cruel bastards’ heads in for them. As
adults, they should have been more considerate.

“They commented
about the dimples in my legs, saying they looked like the surface
of the moon, all craters and lumps. My thighs wobbled like jelly.
Someone like me should cover up, not make people sick by parading
around my big arse and legs in bathers. I should be heard but not
seen, one of them laughed, and another took it up and said they
would be able to hear me coming a mile away by the rubbing of my
thighs and the thudding of my footsteps. They had no idea that I
was sitting behind them on the other side of the benches. That was
the last time I ever let anyone see me in anything but my clothes.
I can’t let you see me, Rick.”

“I’m not like
them, Cherry.” How could he convince her that to him it didn’t
matter? What could he possibly say that he hadn’t already?

Even as the
thought filtered through his brain, he was already strategizing his
next move. His mother had always said he was a fast thinker. His
father said he was cunning. His sister said he was a jerk.

He believed
himself to be determined. He knew what was of value in his life,
and he would go after it. Cherry was what he valued most in his
life now.

“Cherry, look
at me.”

When she
refused, he placed his hands on her wet cheeks and titled her head
back. Tears glistened on her cheeks, and shaking his head, he took
her hand and led her over to the kitchen bench. Plucking a couple
of tissues from the box, he dried her cheeks then bent down and
kissed her on her shiny nose.