Relentless (3 page)

Mellie leaned close, breasts brushing his chest.
“Stay away from my father.” She pulled open the door and slipped
away.

Fuck.

Later that afternoon, he sat at the picnic table in
the yard. Across from him, with lunch between them, sat Vicki,
whose highly amused expression made him regret telling her.

“Now, let me get this straight,” Vicki said around
the bite of salami sandwich in her mouth. “You’ve fucked Melinda
Glazer. Dr. Melinda Glazer?”

“Why are you so shocked by that?”

She sipped her drink, lips curling around the straw,
still holding a ghost of a smile. “Tryin’ to figure out how it
happened.”

He smirked. “Surely, it hasn’t been so long you’ve
forgotten?”

“Cobwebs, Toby. Fucking cobwebs. Around here,
there’s just no one I’d like to have wipe them out. Then, there’s
the badge. I don’t need to do anything to disrespect it.” She
chuckled, elbows off the table. “Before you told me about you the
doc, I had contemplated asking you to help shake them out.
Especially, since I don’t have to go through the wondering period
with you. I know how you are. Not now, I recognize that look.”

He swigged some beer. “What look would that be? And,
I’m grateful you don’t think fucking me would be
disrespectful.”

She rolled her eyes. “Infatuation. Whatever happened
between you two, it’s serious. And, with you…” A shake of her head,
and the humid air stirred the escapee strands of her hair from the
severe bun. “It is not my business. I’m staying out of it.”

“We’re friends, Vicki. Say your piece.”

Wadding up her trash, she stood. “I know you’re a
businessman now, Toby. Just…we like this town how it is. Please
consider that. If we wanted bigger, more congestion, pollution, and
crime—you know what comes with growing by leaps and bounds—we would
move to one. Or Cottonwood Falls would already be there. We like
the clean air and small-town life. I like not being busy with
shootings or worse.” Her eyes overflowed with compassion and a bit
of sympathy. “I’m sorry you have lost your love of our town.” A
brilliant smile completely changed her visage. “I see the rest of
The A-Team are arriving. I’m getting out of the way of what is sure
to be a good number of law violations. Catch ya later.”

She sauntered back to her squad car, exchanging
raunchy comments with the guys.

“What’s up?” Bobby set a case of beer on the table.
“You hooking up with Vicki again?”

Toby drank the rest of his open beer and reached
into the box for another. “Nope,” he commented over the
pfft
the can made as he opened it.

There was another woman who had his attention in
Cottonwood Falls. When he wanted something, he had the reputation
of being relentless. And, he craved Mellie.

***

“You are supposed to be taking it easy, Papa,”
Melinda said as she flipped through the chart of her next
patient.

“What is me sitting here in my office going to do?
Tax me further?”

“Yes,” she said, leveling a glare at him. “You know,
as do I, that the only reason you’re here is because Mama is out of
the house. She wouldn’t have let you leave and drive here on your
own. You’re not supposed to be around germs.”

“This is my practice,” he reminded her.

“Yes, sir. I’m well aware of that. Just like I’m
well aware you are supposed to be
home,
resting. I came back
to this town to work here in order to help you, so you didn’t have
to travel in and do it. So, get up, go home, and let me do
that.”

“You know you’re bossy.”

She nodded even as she bent to press a kiss to his
cheek. “I know, just like Mama. Go home, Papa.”

“Will you tell her?”

“I won’t have to, if you don’t hurry; she’ll beat
you there.” She made her way to the door. “Love you.” A brief wave,
and she left him there. “Janelle,” she called out as she headed for
the exam room holding her next patient.

“Yes, Dr. Glazer?”

“If my father isn’t out of here in the next ten
minutes, come get me, please.”

“Will do, Doctor.”

She knocked on the door. “Thanks, Janelle.” Opening
it, she stepped in. “Good afternoon, Mrs. Laps. How are you and
Trixie doing this lovely day?”

Mrs. Laps held the leash of her Jack Russell and
smiled. “It’s so good to have you home, Melinda. Oops, I’m sorry, I
mean Dr. Glazer.”

She crouched to pet the aging pup on the head. “You
taught me in second grade, Mrs. Laps; feel free to call me Melinda,
if you so desire. Now, Marcus said you had some concerns about
Trixie here. What’s going on?”

The rest of her day went pretty much the same.
Check-ups, a few minor stitchings, a litter for tail docking. Much
more laid back than most of the days she’d experienced at the
emergency clinic she’d been at before returning to Cottonwood
Falls.

“Would you like to join us for a drink tonight?”
Janelle asked as they were closing up.

Melinda smiled. “Maybe some other night. I have to
finish unpacking my things; well, start, actually. It was delivered
today. But, thank you, and I will definitely take a rain
check.”

“See you tomorrow,” Janelle called as she waved over
her shoulder.

“Night.”

Melinda locked the door behind her and retreated to
the office where she sat at her father’s desk. She smoothed a hand
over the top of it. “I remember wanting to sit behind here so much
as a child.” How things have changed. Now, she wanted her father to
be back there and not fighting the biggest battle of his life.

She finished up her paperwork and walked out, taking
a moment to cast a lingering glance behind her. Shutting off the
lights, she exited the building, set the alarm, and locked the
doors again.

As she went to her vehicle, she wondered how it
would be living in the small one-bedroom place. Her parents had
offered her the room she’d grown up in, but she didn’t want to be
an imposition and figured, if she were close, she could still help
out but not be in their hair. And, sometimes, she could send her
mama to her place for a break.

“All of which is predicated on me emptying out those
damn boxes I know are stacked in the house.”

She drove away, only to stop a few miles down the
road and turn around. “Gods, I can’t even remember how to get to my
new place.” Shaking her head at her craziness, she laughed aloud
when she passed the cop car for the second time in a matter of
minutes and Tim who leaned against the door beneath the lights of
the parking lot. He waved and gave her a wink.

Pulling into her new drive, she parked by the house.
The outside light shone through the approaching darkness. She dug
in her purse for her new key she’d picked up on her way to work.
You mean after you were fucked so delightfully by Toby?
That
was one way to put it. She didn’t need to think about him or his
long, thick cock. The pleasure he had given her. She whimpered. Nor
did she need to relive the abrading of his scruff along her tender
inner thighs right before he blew her mind with how thoroughly he
ate her pussy.

“Oh, damn,” she uttered, unlocking the door and
stepping inside her new digs.

The movers had done a great job. She had a path to
walk through in order to get to each room. She bumped the door
closed with her hip and waded through the maze to the room she’d
chosen for her bedroom. They’d put her bed together, which she
loved seeing. She’d showered and changed at the clinic so there was
no need now. But, she did want to have on something cooler to begin
unpacking. So, she exchanged jeans for shorts, popped in her ear
buds and attached her iPod to her arm then got to work.

At eleven-thirty, she stopped to get a drink. Her
bed had sheets and blankets on it, clothing had been put away, and
the boxes were all broken down. Now, she was in the kitchen, trying
to make some semblance of order. She loved cooking and wanted her
kitchen to rights. Jamming to Talking Heads, she frowned when a
knock came to the door. Turning down the music a little, she danced
to the door and opened it.

“You.”

Her heart tripled in speed as she stared at the man
outside her place.

His grin covered her skin in flames and had her
contemplating dirty, nasty things. With him. “Hot and sweaty, just
how I like you. Although, it would be better if I’d been the reason
you were this way.”

“What do you want, Latner?”

His gaze raked her body, and she looked down at the
torn shirt that hung off one shoulder and shorts that barely
covered her ass. She flicked her stare to his crotch, not shocked
but hungry for the rigid length resting blatantly there.

“You naked in my arms and my cock buried balls deep
inside you.”

She turned off her music. “At what point did you
think this was going to be a common thing? Us fucking?”

“Since you showed up at my house.” He stepped
forward, and she retreated the same amount. He was inside before
she knew it and had closed the door behind him.

“Why would you think that?”

“Because we lit it up,” he said, reaching out and
hooking his finger in the cutout collar of her shirt.

She crossed her arms. “It doesn’t matter how good we
were together; I’m not selling my father’s business to you.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Is that what you think this
is about?”

“What else would it be?” He jerked her closer, and
she gulped at the heat of his body along hers. “You want his
practice for your big expensive eyesore.”

“I am not here because of work. I’m here because I
want you. End of story.”

His blunt response had her pausing. She searched his
face, unable to find hint of any deceit or chicanery. “Why?”

“Are you going to question everything?” He nibbled
along her jaw, shooting sparks from live wires through her
system.

“Yes.” Her response, all breathy and needy.

“Any way I can stop that?”

“Making me too tired to talk would be a way.” Her
hands burned with desperation to slide along his skin.

“You have a bed in this mess or should we just go
for boxes?”

She gave into to the demand pulsing through her
blood and sank her hand into the thick hair at the back of his
head. “Start here; go to the bed later.”

“I’m staying for the night,” he vowed.

“I don’t need people talking,” she said, despite
cupping him through his jeans.

“Then, try not to scream too loud.” He shoved a hand
down the front of her cotton shorts and buried two thick fingers
into her wet pussy.

She whimpered, and his grin was pure evil.

“Oh, I think, I
know
, we can do louder than
that.” He added a third, and her welcoming cry of pleasure echoed
off the walls. “Better. Much better.” Toby maneuvered them to the
couch, which he bent her over the back of as he yanked her shorts
down. Spreading her legs, she gasped at the first lap of his tongue
along her clit.

“Mine,” he growled before he began eating her
pussy.

Chapter Three

Toby snagged Mellie around the wrist as she attempted to
sneak out of bed.

“Now, where are you going? It’s three in the
morning, and we’ve been asleep for, maybe, thirty minutes.”

She clicked on a light, and he squinted against the
brilliance. “I didn’t mean to wake you, sorry. I have to run to the
clinic.”

He propped himself on one arm. “Is there an
emergency?”

Her soft smile touched him. “I have a patient I need
to check on. Make sure he’s recovering fine and change out his IV
bag.”

“Why isn’t one of the techs doing it?”

“Why would I interrupt their nights? I’m capable of
doing it.”

“And me?”

She climbed into a pair of Daisy Dukes then reached
for a green tank top. “Thought you’d seen I was capable of doing
you, too. Go back to sleep. I’ll be back within the hour, unless
something has happened.”

He arched an eyebrow. “You’re not telling me to
leave?”

“You said,” she replied, rooting in her closet, “you
weren’t leaving. There you are.” She tossed out a pair of shoes.
One landed on the bed beside him, the other on the floor.

He lifted the canvas shoe. Purple. She tried to take
it from him, but he tugged it and, subsequently, her forward. Their
lips met, and he slid his tongue into her mouth. Her hand gripped
him through the sheets, and he hardened at her touch.

“I’ll be back,” she muttered against his lips. She
hopped on one foot then the other as she shoed her feet. There was
no glance back; she just left.

He stayed there a few moments then left the bed.
Pants on but unbuttoned, he went to her kitchen. Dodging boxes, he
found and started some coffee.
This situation is becoming
extremely complicated. My feelings for this woman are derailing my
plans, and I’m not sure how I feel about that.

He’d taken care of some emails on his phone by the
time she returned. He observed her over the divider. Her slightly
wavy hair brushed forward over her left shoulder. She yawned.

It’s pathetic when something such as yawning turns
me on.

“How’s the patient?”

Her smile was fleeting. “Good.” She toed off her
slip-ons and waved as she headed back down the hall. “Night.”

He stared briefly at his empty cup to the pot, which
held enough for another cup, and rose. Flicking the switch, he
turned off the machine, followed by the lights as he made his way
back to her room.

Entering, he paused and took in the sight of her
wearing nothing as she bent over and pulled back the coverlet on
the bed.

“You’re hell on my libido, Mellie.”

“You say that likes it is a bad thing.” She patted
the mattress beside her.

He pushed free of his pants and joined her. “Not
bad. No, never that.”

She clicked off the light, and he drew her into his
arms. Contentment settled over him, and he scowled. This was
supposed to be about sex. That was it. Right?