Surviving Doctor Vincent: The Good Doctor Trilogy Book 2 (7 page)

He spread his fingers and combed his hands through his hair. “I’m glad you’re here, Elaine. I don’t want you near those people. They can’t know you’re important to X.”

“I think he plans on pretending I’m his subject, so they can’t touch me. He believes they’ll abide by their own rules.”

He sat up straight and faced directly ahead. He enunciated the word. “What?”

“He said the Society has rules. They aren’t allowed to interfere between a keeper and a subject.”

He turned to face me, his brow furrowed. “No! No, I don’t like the plan. That’s too close. You can’t trust anything they say.”

The door opened. Xavier slipped inside, his hair plastered to his head. “It’s raining out.”

Sebastian rose and moved to the doorway. “You can’t make her your subject.” Sebastian’s harsh words reverberated off the glass.

“Why? She won’t be content being locked away, so this plan is the only way to protect her.”

“No. You can’t. They can’t be trusted. Just leave her here.” He stood rigid with his jaw set.

Xavier shook the water from his hair and pushed the bags aside. “That’s the plan for now, but that can’t last long. She needs her freedom.”

Sebastian clenched his fists.

I stood and placed a hand on each of their arms. “Look, we’re all tired. We can talk about this tomorrow. Let’s get some rest and then we can come up with a plan.”

I gave Sebastian a quick hug and stood on my tiptoes to place a kiss on his whisker-covered cheek. “Get some rest. Please.”

He nodded.

“Good night.” Xavier picked up a bag in each hand and headed for the upstairs bedroom. I turned to follow him.

“Elaine...” Sebastian’s voice was little more than a whisper.

I stopped, turned, and faced him. “Yes.”

“Thank you.”

I smiled to hide how much my heart hurt for him, then turned and followed Xavier to our room.

He hoisted the bags onto the bed that sat centered under a vaulted wooden ceiling. The a-frame window led to a quaint balcony. The lake rippled from the raindrops, causing the surface to shimmer with moonlight.

“This is a beautiful location. Do you come here often?”

“No. Sebastian comes for long weekends on occasion, but he rarely uses the cabin.” Xavier unzipped the suitcase and pulled out a stack of neatly folded shirts.

I clasped my hands in front of me. Those moments of normalcy with Xavier remained awkward. “Sebastian doesn’t look good. Has he seen a counselor?”

He placed his pants, socks and other garments on the wooden shelves of the wardrobe. “No. He’s stubborn. Says he’s fine, but the grief is taking a toll on him. I guess since Lydia and I never really had a conventional relationship, and she passed years ago, the process was easier for me when I learned the truth. I wish Miriam had told him. Had she at least confided in him, or if she had just waited for the disease to kill her, he might have had a better chance at getting through his grief faster. Her suicide is the hardest part. He sees her death as a betrayal.”

“Perhaps she saw him suffering as her illness progressed and ended her life as a gift of sorts. I mean, she obviously loved him. That was evident in the few interactions I had with her.”

With his clothes neatly unpacked, he grabbed my suitcase and pulled it to him. He paused with his hand on the zipper. “You could be right. Maybe leaving was her way of protecting and freeing him. He’s not going to be able to realize that for some time though.” He set my clothes beside his and then turned to face me.

Cohabitating with the doctor was going to take some getting used to. Overcome by the emotional confusion he spurred in me so often, I moved to the window, so I wouldn’t need to look at him as I spoke. “I’m worried for him.”

His footsteps sounded just before he hugged me from behind. “I know. Me too. But if anyone can get him to heal faster, it’s you.”

“I don’t think I can. I’m not an expert.”

“Good, because he doesn’t want an expert. He doesn’t want someone to fix him, but rather someone who will accept him and demand nothing else. Someone who won’t rush his grief, but will push him when he needs that extra boost of confidence.” He kissed my neck. “For that, I can’t think of anyone better.”

I wasn’t prepared for what he was asking. I was a PR rep. trained to deliver the message convincingly, prepare presentations for the public eye. Sebastian needed Xavier, a trained psychiatrist, not me. “He needs you. You’re the doctor.”

“Yes, and you’re exactly what...” He spun me in his arms. “...I ordered.” He smiled, satisfied with his play on words. His gaze darted to the window. “The weather isn’t going to cooperate with my plans. I wanted to take you on the balcony and hear my name echo off the mountains when I forced the scream from your lips.”

“Rain check?”

He laughed, grabbed the hem of my shirt, and pulled the woven fabric over my head. “I think the bath will be a good compromise.” Wrapping his arms around me, he unhooked my bra, allowing the confining garment to slide from my arms onto the floor. He pulled me close to him and kissed my neck as his fingers worked the buttons on my jeans. “Do you know how wonderful it is to be able to touch you, and have you touch me?”

“Xavier, can I confess something?”

He finished sliding my pants and panties over my hips, bunching them at my ankles. “Of course.”

I stepped out of the first leg and then the next. I stood bare before him. “You scare me.”

He gripped my shoulders. “I’d never hurt you. I swear.” He searched my eyes, concern lacing his features. “Why on Earth would you say that?”

“I’m afraid you’re going to wake up one day and realize I’m not the only one you can touch, or who can touch you. I will have fallen more in love with you. I fall harder with every word, and I’m terrified that I will sacrifice every part of my identity and have nothing in the end to show for my effort.”

Without another word, he wove his fingers between mine and led me into the bathroom. The rustic wooden beams and claw foot tub were inviting. When we reached the tub, he stopped and grasped my other hand. “I’m going to respond to what you said, but first, I want you to relax.” He bent and turned the spoked knobs on the faucet, placed his hand under the water, and adjusted each dial, until achieving the perfect temperature.

Only a few feet away, he stood and undressed. His shirt was easily discarded and his socks, shoes, and jeans were fast work. The roaring of the water filled the tub, drowning out the raindrops that splattered on the window behind the oversize bath.

“Get in.” His muscles flexed as he stepped toward me, extending me his hand. When I accepted his invitation, he maneuvered me over the high side of the tub and into the steaming bath.

The water warmed my skin from the chill of the damp mountain air, causing goose bumps to pepper my skin. Xavier slid in, facing me, and arranged my legs on either side of him so we sat embraced, sex against sex. He twisted and shut off the water.

The tapping of rain, soothing slosh of water, and his low, breathy groan when I shifted, rubbing his cock against my thigh, relaxed my anxiety-ridden muscles.

His hands gripped my hips and urged me to rise. “Take me inside you. Please...” His hungry gaze pleaded with me.

I did as he asked. Bracing my arms on the sides of the tub, I lifted. He grasped his cock and placed the head at my entrance. Easing down his length, I rested my hands on his shoulders and smiled. When he was fully seated within me, he let out a small gasp.

We sat joined, savoring each other. Our connection.

“Do you feel that?”

I tried not to giggle, but only partially succeeded. “How could I not?”

“Not my cock, you silly woman. The peace. The perfection. The love is amplified when I’m inside you, beside you, anytime I think of you. Right now, in this moment, I’ve never been more myself. Loved. Accepted. Sex with a stranger will never give me that. The love in your eyes that knows all my weaknesses, yet fills me with nothing but strength. That’s what I’m addicted to.” He brushed his full lips over mine. His breathy words were warm against my mouth. “What I feel for you, Elaine, is not lust, but unmistakable love. And if there’s one thing I’ve proven in my life, it’s that I am foolishly loyal.” His mouth closed over mine and with tender nudges of his tongue he coaxed my participation. “What happened? What has drained your confidence? The Elaine I remember, quite literally, brought me to my knees.” His kiss was a more than gentle reminder.

I sniffled, trying not to cry at his words. “I think it was the not knowing. Until I needed you, I didn’t realize how alone I had been. After learning about my father, I went numb, but you taught me to feel. Unfortunately, when I started to feel again, the rediscovered emotions overwhelmed me.”

“That’s good. Feeling strong emotions means you’re healing. Just like with a wound. Many think pain is the result of trauma. But the second the knife strikes there is an instant of nothingness and then healing begins. Pain is productive. The agony spurs one to take action. Nothingness is deadly.” He tugged on my hips, urging me to slide up and down his shaft. “I want you to feel deeply.” He sheathed himself inside me and smiled. “I don’t mean physically, even though this...is wonderful.” Pressing his hips snug against me, he bit his lip, a growl escaping. “Oh, Elaine, you make it hard to concentrate. You feel so good.” His lips sucked on the base of my throat. He kissed up my neck until he stopped at the sensitive spot behind my ear. His arms tightened around me, and he whispered, “Don’t fight it. You don’t have to hide from me. If you want to cry, to scream, let the pain out. Share your frustration with me. God knows you’ve felt my pain. You’re not alone.”

He held me tight against him as he flexed his hips, lifting me slightly to give just enough room to set a rhythm.

“Elaine, you’ve loved me. Let me love you.”

Tears of joy, sorrow, fear, and hope spilled from my eyes as I clutched him tighter. The way I felt frightened me. I needed him too much. The soul-crushing ache wasn’t want, but something much deeper. Love was such a fickle thing; the desire could be absent one moment and all consuming the next.

Water splashed over the sides of the tub with each thrust of his hips.

I clutched his shoulders tighter. “I’m not sure if I know how, Xavier.”

“Just stop resisting your emotions. Like now...feel how much I want you. Need you.” His hand rested on my breast, cupping the mound. “You’re not the only one who’s afraid. You make me feel things I never thought possible. I thought I knew what love was, but I was a fool. With everything that has happened in my life, you’re the only thing with the power to destroy me.” His stare was intense. Our gazes locked, our bodies entwined.

“Never,” was all I could say before he crushed his mouth against mine, and grasped the back of my head, forcing me against him. He increased his pace and more water crashed onto the floor. His other hand squeezed my breast, while teasing the taut peak with his thumb.

He fisted my hair and drove up into me harder. He yanked my head back, releasing my lips, and moved to my throat, kissing, licking, and nipping the sensitive skin as his frenzy crescendoed.

His name left my lips on a pant, “Oh, Xavier...”

“Yes... That’s it. Come for me.” He hissed through gritted teeth as my body responded to him. His movements quickened.

My back arched, and the sensation built; I was close.

“Tell me...”

The words, he needed to hear them. “I love you.”

He moved his hand to my hips and gripped, pushing down, as he buried himself as deep as possible. “Oh, Elaine... I’m coming. I love you. Oh, God...” His back muscles spasmed under my touch, and he exposed his throat to me.

In the end, the words were all I needed too. I tightened around him, my body shuddering with pleasure. He leaned forward and sucked my nipple into his mouth, teasing the tip with his tongue. I quaked in his arms. The warmth inside me from his release radiated through me.

He withdrew, eased me onto the surface of the tub, and rose to his knees. “Stand up.”

I did as he asked.

He placed his hands on my leg and widened my stance.

I smiled a bewildered smile at him. “What are you doing?”

“Let me see.” With one finger he found my clit, his eyes focused between my legs.

“Xavier?”

“I want to see me drip out of you. I want you to show me the evidence, that I’m part of you, that I possessed you.”

He circled the already tender spot, applying friction.

My body shivered in the cool air. My nipples stood out painfully hard. I welcomed his inspection. I moaned when he slid his fingers between my folds, slickened with the first drops of his orgasm, as he sped up. He groaned. “Oh, Elaine...touch your breasts. Let me see you touch yourself.”

His scrutiny was exhilarating. Every cell in my body glowed, alive.

His fingers teased my entrance, but he didn’t enter me, instead tempting the swollen flesh that longed for his invasion.

“Oh...look.” My body tightened under his intensity. “Your pussy is still hungry for me. Give me what I want to see, and I’ll fuck you with my fingers. I’ll make you come again.” He flicked my clit with his thumb and increased the pressure between my legs. “But first, you have something I want.” He kissed the inside of my thigh and his hair tickled the soft skin.

Even though we were alone, he was still the director.

He circled my entrance with the tip of his finger, a promise of things to come. My body clenched, and the warmth spilled forth, dripping down my thigh.

“Yes,” he hissed. “Such a good girl.”

He entered me with one finger. Sliding in and out slowly.

With the other hand, he smoothed his release over the inside of my thigh.

“I can never get enough of you.” He thrust harder and deeper, keeping the pulse on my clit with his thumb. “Suck your fingers into your mouth. Wet your nipples. Show me.”

Xavier loved to take the lead, assuming command during sex. His impromptu script required my surrender of decision, question, and control. I was powerless to deny him in those moments.

Seductively slow, I sucked one digit into my mouth, staring at him on his knees with his hand buried between my legs.