Wild Boys - Heath (11 page)

More importantly, when had he become clingy?

What the hell was that all about?

The sun was just coming up as he circled back and ran toward home. He spotted his friend Josh Braden, a world-renowned clothing designer, running on the path ahead of him. He and Josh had run together a number of times
over the last few years. Heath’s father had grown up in Trusty, Colorado, while his mother had grown up in Weston, Colorado, where Josh’s family lived. Heath’s parents had been good friends with Hal and Adriana Braden, Josh’s parents. Adriana had passed away when the Braden children were young, leaving Hal to raise his six children alone. When Heath was growing up, his parents had sent him and
his brothers to work on Hal’s ranch for a few weeks each summer. Their father had insisted that hard manual labor instilled morals and a strong sense of self. The weeks they’d spent together had also built a sense of loyalty between the two families.

“Braden!” Heath called as he caught up to Josh.

Josh turned with a ready smile. “Heath, how’s it going? I haven’t seen you running lately.”
He was the same height as Heath, with thick dark hair, which was perfectly coiffed even as he ran, dark brown eyes, and a lean, muscular frame.

“I was out of town for a conference, and I’ve been tied up recently.”
Literally
. The thought made him smile. “How’s Riley?”

“Great. Getting anxious to have our wedding.” Josh and Riley had been engaged, and business partners, for more than a year.
They’d both grown up in Weston, but they hadn’t started dating until she’d moved to the city to work for Josh.

Heath remembered that Josh and Riley had fallen for each other pretty quickly, too. “Josh, do you mind if I ask you a personal question?”

“Sure. Go ahead.”

“How did you know Riley was the right woman for you?”

Josh turned his dark eyes on Heath, and without missing a step
he said, “There was never any question. We kissed. I knew.” He shifted his eyes to the path ahead of them. “When it’s right, you know.”

“That simple?”

“How many years have you been running?”

Heath shrugged. “Since high school.”

“How did you know you were a runner?” Josh slowed as they came to the entrance of the park.

“One day a buddy asked if I wanted to go for a run. I went,
and everything about it felt right. It fed my need to compete, helped clear my head, and gave me more energy than I’d ever had in my life. There was no question
if
I’d run again. It was a matter of how soon I could make it happen.”

“And how hard was that?”

“I rearranged my schedule and made time the next day.”

Josh cocked his head and smiled. “Exactly. When something’s right, nothing
can stand in your way. Love’s the same.”

***

HEATH SPENT THE afternoon seeing patients and mulling over what Josh had said. There was no doubt in his mind Ally was the only woman he wanted, and hearing Josh say that he’d known in a heartbeat that what he and Riley had was true love, made Heath feel less like his feelings had come
too
fast. They were just fast, and that was okay by him.

He and Ally had exchanged a few sexy texts, and when his phone vibrated in the late afternoon, he was smiling before he even withdrew it from his pocket.

The text was from Logan. He read the message as he walked into his private office, trying to ignore his disappointment.

How’s life?

Heath smirked, knowing his brother was fishing for information on Ally. Logan didn’t like unanswered
questions, and it was probably driving him nuts not being able to uncover everything he could about Ally for Heath.

Damn good. You?

He set his phone on the desk and picked up a patient file to review. Logan’s text came in seconds later.

Bringing your new friend to Mom’s Sunday?

Heath had been pondering the same thing all day. He hadn’t introduced a woman to his family since he
was in college. Introducing his family was about the biggest step he could make, second only to spending the night. That was another thing he hadn’t done since college, and he wanted to cross that line with Ally. But after their conversation last night, he felt like she’d sent him conflicting messages. She seemed to want to move forward, regardless of how quickly their relationship was progressing,
but she’d been honest about it scaring her. Asking her to meet his family might scare her even more—or drive home the realization that he was serious about her.

He reread her text from earlier that morning before returning Logan’s text.

Fifi and I were just wondering the same thing. Can’t wait to see you tonight. Xo

He smiled as he returned Logan’s text.

Maybe.

Heath confirmed
that Logan and his brothers still planned to meet tomorrow night at NightCaps. His thoughts drifted back to Ally—not that they ever veered very far from her. He looked around his office, wishing she were there. She’d probably like flipping through his medical journals, which he kept on the bookshelves on the wall by the window. He checked the time and realized he was already late to see his next
patient. He picked up the phone and called the front desk.

“Yes, Dr. Wild?”

“Hi, Judy. Would you mind having Katrina put together my archived medical journals and leave them on my desk in a box?” Katrina was a floater, which meant that she helped out in the office wherever she was needed.

He texted Ally on his way to see his next patient.
I have a surprise for you.

***

BY WEDNESDAY
EVENING Ally could hardly wait to see Heath. She’d texted him a few times after he’d texted to tell her he had a surprise for her, but he hadn’t responded. She knew how busy the doctors at the hospital were, and she assumed that Heath’s schedule was no different.

After showering and spending way too long picking out an outfit to wear, she loved up Fifi and gave her fresh food and water. Her
phone vibrated with a call from Amanda, and she answered it as she crossed the floor to the full-length mirror to check out her outfit one last time.

“Hey, Mandy. What’s up?”

“Don’t kill me, but I have to break our date for tomorrow night.”

She heard a smile in her sister’s voice. “No problem. What’s so important that you’re willing to blow me off?”

“A date!” Amanda squealed into
the phone.

Ally pulled the phone away from her ear. “You’re going on a date? That’s great. With who?”

“He’s an attorney. He works in my building.”

“Gray suit guy?” Amanda had told her about a hot guy she’d flirted with a number of times in the elevator. She’d referred to him as
gray suit guy
.

“Yes. Are you mad? I know I gave you a hard time about not canceling on me.”

“No,
of course not. Go, have fun. Cut loose a little and enjoy yourself.”

Amanda laughed. “Cut loose? Yeah, okay. I’ll inspect his briefs.”

Ally laughed at her sister’s attempt at legal humor. “My money’s on you not inspecting his briefs, but my hope is that you do. It might loosen you up a little.”

There was a knock at her door as she ended the call. Ally took one last look in the mirror.
Pleased with the midthigh-length navy blue dress she’d chosen, she slipped on her heels and answered the door.

Heath held a giant cardboard box in front of him. He smiled and raked his eyes down her body. “Ally, you look incredible.”

“Thank you.” She moved to the side so he could come in, and he leaned in for a kiss as he passed.

“You keep dressing like that and we’ll really never
make it out of here.” Heath set the box on the coffee table and reached for her.

She placed her hands on his chest and felt his heartbeat quicken. “I have a feeling that what I wear has very little to do with whether we leave the apartment or not.”

He sealed his lips over hers, and she was no longer shocked by how quickly her body responded to the feel of his tongue sliding over hers.
She felt her nipples harden and her skin flush hot. When their lips parted, she wanted to tug him in for another kiss, but she forced herself to behave.

“I brought you something.” He took her hand and led her to the table, then reached into the box and pulled out a cat toy. “I brought this for Fifi. It’s a crinkle ball, so it makes noise. I thought it might be easy for her to track, and I
got her a mouse that has bells on it, too.” He reached into the box and pulled out another cat toy.

Ally’s heart melted as he handed her the toys. “You thought of Fifi.”

He wrinkled his brow. “She’s your pet. Of course I think of her.”

Ally sank down to the couch. It wouldn’t matter what else they did tonight. This was already up there as one of the best dates ever. “This is so thoughtful,
and you knew just what to get her. Thank you.”

Fifi brushed against his leg, and he reached for her, nuzzling the kitty against his chin. He kissed the white spot on her head, then looked into her unseeing eyes.

“How about it, Fifi? Are you ready to have a little fun?” He sat beside Ally and set Fifi on the floor so he could help Ally open Fifi’s gifts.

“She’s going to love these.
You should see what she can do with the plastic top to a two-liter bottle of soda. It keeps her entertained for hours.” Ally smiled up at him. “I love that you knew to get her noisy toys.”

“I have to admit, I stood in the pet store for a while trying to figure out what was best, and I thought about my mom. When she first lost her sight, she said the most difficult thing was realizing that
when she turned her head, she wouldn’t see the source of the noises she heard. After being sighted for so long, I could only imagine what that must have been like. It didn’t take her long to hone her other senses, but the thing that struck me those first few weeks was how much sound meant to her.”

“For Fifi, too,” Ally said. It was a strange coincidence that Heath’s mother
and
her cat were
blind.
Coincidence or fate?
Now she was just getting ahead of herself.

“That’s what I thought. My mother losing her sight gave me a whole new understanding of what it’s like to be blind. I never realized that when people who are blind take public transportation or even walk down the street, the sounds of other people provide guidance and helpful clues as to their surroundings. One of my mother’s
friends who is blind said that when she takes a train, she follows the sounds of the other passengers to gauge the edge of the track, how close the train is, when to board. Of course she uses other indicators, and her cane, but it really opened my eyes. That’s what led me to think of the crinkle ball and the mouse with the bells. Fifi can track the sounds as she pushes them across the floor.”

Ally shook the mouse, and Fifi lifted her head, as if she could see the toy. Heath lowered himself to the hardwood and batted the ball with Fifi for a few minutes before she took off across the floor with her new toy.

“I brought you something, too.” Heath stood and reached into the box, withdrawing two medical journals. “There’s a few months’ worth in here. They’re mostly ortho related,
but there are a few other topics. I thought you might want to look through them.”

“Really? Don’t you need these?” She dug through the box with her heart beating so fast she felt like it was Christmas morning.

“I’ve read them, and I’m happy to share.”

She wrapped her arms around him, went up on tiptoes, and kissed him again. “This is so nice of you. Thank you! I never would have figured
this surprise out in a million years, and it’s just about the best surprise ever. I’m tempted to sit here and read instead of going out.”

Heath hugged her close. “We can do that if you’d rather. There’s a movie in there, too. It’s one of my favorites.
Patch Adams
, with Robin Williams.”

“Really?” She found the movie under a few of the journals. “I haven’t seen this in years. I
love
this
movie.” She glanced over the couch at Fifi pawing at her new toy. “Would you be terribly disappointed if we just hung out here and watched this?”

“Sweetheart.” He sank down to the couch and pulled her onto his lap. “Nothing you do could ever disappoint me. I just want to spend time with you and to see you happy.”

Ally felt her heart opening a little more. She touched his five-o’clock shadow,
which was too sexy not to press her lips to. Twice.

“Where did you come from, Heath Wild?”

He narrowed his eyes and said, “The better question is, what took us so long to find each other?”

HEATH SLID A tray of biscuits into the oven while Ally stirred a pot of spaghetti sauce. He slid his hand around her waist and kissed her cheek, then moved to the cutting board and began chopping mushrooms. After they’d decided to stay in to watch the movie, they’d walked to the market down the street and picked up a few fresh vegetables and other ingredients to make homemade
spaghetti sauce for their pasta dinner. Since they were short on time, they went with what Heath called his old fallback sauce, which involved crushed tomatoes, mushrooms, olive oil, garlic, basil, and other seasonings.

“Do you cook often?” Ally asked as he tossed a handful of chopped mushrooms into a pan with some olive oil.

He shrugged, stirring the mushrooms. “Not often and not well.
We cook for my mom when we visit, but I’m usually running late, so sometimes I pick up takeout to keep everyone from having to wait too long to eat. After work I usually grab something quick for dinner, but I cook a few times a week. What about you?”

“I’m not a great cook, but I’m not picky, so I usually whip something up after work. Not that what I make is edible by other people’s standards.
You should remember that if you ever expect me to cook for you.” She watched for his reaction. She really wasn’t a great cook, and she figured it was better that he found that out now.

“Then between you and me, we’ll be eating a lot of substandard, quick meals.” He folded her into his arms. “Good thing food isn’t the most important part of a relationship.”

“What is the most important part?”
She wrapped her arms around his waist and slid them up the back of his untucked dress shirt.