A Heart Decision (12 page)

“I don’t know.” Cocking her head, she chewed her lip
as she scrutinized his anatomy. “I think I’ll keep you like this
for a little while. I’ve never had the chance to really study such
a magnificent specimen of masculine pulchritude.”

His mouth turned desert dry as she sank onto the
edge of the bed and slid her palm over his chest. He closed his
eyes and surrendered to the pleasure of her caress. As her hand
drifted south, he forced the word, “
No,
” past his lips.

“Yes.”

His breath caught in his chest when her fingers
reached the thick thatch below his navel. “I’ll arrest you for
sexual assault.”

She chuckled. “Right. Do you really think any jury
will convict me after hearing you’re a peeping Tom?”

“You’d be perjuring yourself if you gave that
testimony. I didn’t deliberately—”

“I know. You already told me about your sneaky
canine accomplice.” She waved toward Dusty, now tangled in the
sheet. “You still watched.”

He stared into her glittering eyes, which had turned
the dark green of a champagne bottle. “In my place, no red-blooded
guy could’ve looked away. After one glance at you, even fully
clothed, I’d have every man on the jury on my side. I’m only human,
Brina.”

“So am I. No woman could resist the chance to touch
a man who’s so obviously excited by her. But just to be fair, I’ll
even things up a bit.”

As she released the twist in her towel and let it
fall away, his erection twitched. He’d never wanted to kiss or
touch a woman so much in his life. Her high, firm breasts were made
to fit a man’s hand, and far sexier than those on the more
well-endowed women he’d dated.

How the hell had he been stupid enough to swear he
wouldn’t instigate an affair between them? He’d never felt more
vulnerable—physically or emotionally—than he did right now, stark
naked completely at her mercy. At what point could he rationalize
that she’d made the first move?

“You know what I’d like to do right now?” She smiled
and traced a circle around the tip of his erection with the pad of
her index finger.

“What?” he muttered past his gritted teeth.

“I’d like to straddle Mr. Happy and slide right down
on him.”

Ohhh, yeah. Her riding him could definitely be
classified as a first strike. Sabrina’s verbal foreplay excited him
nearly as much as the sight of her swollen pink nipples and her
soft fingers caressing him. No woman had ever turned him on like
this before.

His heart thumped so hard it felt like it might
seize. What the hell. If he went into cardiac arrest, she knew CPR.
And he couldn’t think of a better way to die.

~*~

Luke stared into her eyes, his gaze pleading with
her. Whether to stop teasing him or to carry out her fantasy,
Sabrina wasn’t sure. The only thing she was absolutely certain of
was he wanted her. She’d never felt so powerful in her life. Making
Luke ache for her aroused her more than any of her dreams. Every
muscle in his beautiful body flexed and strained, deepening the
delineation between them.

Maybe if she made this exciting enough, he’d become
as addicted to her as the junkies he busted were to the drug of
their choice. If he needed her so badly he hurt without her,
perhaps he’d consider a future with her.

“First,” she whispered, “I think I’d like to see Mr.
Happy beg a little.”

As she wrapped her palm around Luke’s hot shaft,
desire flared in his gaze. “Uhhh....I think that’s what he’s been
doing.”

“Then I’d like to hear his owner beg, too.”

The tension in his hard body said it wouldn’t take
much. She dipped her head and licked the drop of dew beaded on the
tip of him.

“Brina....” He panted. “Please, don’t do this.”

“Wrong sort of begging. You’re supposed to moan,
‘
Please saddle up,
’ or ‘
Tally ho,
’ or some other
equestrian cliché. If you say
don’t
again, I’ll have to stop
because I don’t believe in a double standard.”

“Princess, please.”

“Please what?” Sabrina flinched as the phone in her
purse played the song Ben had chosen to signal a call from him.
With how understanding he was being, she couldn’t just let it ring.
“I’m sorry, Luke. I have to answer it. It’s Ben.”

A mixture of relief and regret flickered in his
gaze.

She retrieved her purse from the chair in the corner
and dug out her phone. “Good morning.”

“Hi, sweetheart. I know you’re usually awake by
eight, but I wasn’t sure you would be today.”

“I’ve already showered.”

“Good. I wanted to find out how the patient’s doing
before I head down to the office. Is he up?”

She glanced over at Luke stretched out naked on the
bed, his erection standing at full attention. “Oh, yeah.” She
smiled at him. “He’s been up for quite some time now.”

“I’m surprised. He called me in the middle of the
night. We had a heart-to-heart.”

“Really?” She glanced back at Luke and frowned. That
could explain the sudden shift in his attitude when she’d returned
with their supper. She spun her naked fanny to the bed. “Tell me
all about it.”

“He admitted he’s been crazy about you his whole
life,” Ben said. “There’s something deeper going on with him than
he’s letting on. He won’t talk about it.”

She’d gotten that sense, too.

“Don’t let him shut you out, Sabrina.”

“I won’t.”

“Who knows,”—Ben’s cynical chuckle rumbled in her
ear—“maybe, if you’re lucky, he’ll get you pregnant.”

“I couldn’t do that. I don’t want him that way.”

“Why not?” He snorted. “No one’s ever had a problem
using that tactic to try to get me down the aisle.”

Two scheming bitches had already claimed Ben had
impregnated them. Only his demand for paternity tests had saved him
from their blackmail attempts. “That’s because you have a lot of
what women want, Ben.”

“And so does Luke.”

“Yes.” She smirked and looked back at his rigid
shaft. “So I noticed.”

“I was talking about money. Since Luke graduated
from the police academy, he’s worked every hour of overtime he’s
been offered and given me about a quarter of everything he makes to
invest for him. He’s amassed quite a nice sum over the last
decade.”

No one would ever guess it from Luke’s
lifestyle.

“You wouldn’t by any chance be padding that, would
you?” she murmured.

“Absolutely not. Of course, I won’t deny his money
always seems to end up in my highest yielding ventures. And
naturally, I haven’t invested any of it in the few that haven’t
paid off.”

And knowing Ben, when the market had taken a
nosedive at the end of ’08, all of Luke’s money had miraculously
been moved to secure funds only days before.

“And you wonder why he feels the way he does about
you?” she whispered into the receiver.

Ben promptly changed the subject. “Thomas will be
there by eleven to drive you to your apartment in the limo.”

“Ben, he doesn’t have to—”

“No arguments. You’ll need help with Luke’s
wheelchair. And this way you can bring your car back with you. I’ll
call you tonight. I love you.”

“Me, too.” She disconnected the call and turned to
find Luke struggling to pull up his boxer briefs.

“I wasn’t finished with you, Detective Marino.”

“Yes, you were. If you care enough for Ben to answer
his call in the middle of seduce—”

“I would’ve answered it if it was my brother or
Annie, too.” She snatched the towel off the bed and wrapped it
around herself again.

“Are you gonna take me to the bathroom, or should I
hop in there on my own?”

She shoved the wheelchair over to Luke and held it
still while he flopped into it.

Talk about taking two steps forward and one step
back. At least his wounded ego proved what Ben had just told her.
Luke felt a lot more than just lust for her. “Well, well, well, it
seems the detached cop isn’t so indifferent after all. Admit it.
You’re jealous.”

~*~

After listening to Sabrina laugh with Ben, envy
chewed at Luke’s gut while Thomas chauffeured them, across the
Delaware River to Sabrina’s garden apartment in Ewing, New
Jersey.

He hadn’t realized just how long it had been since
he’d visited her home until Thomas pulled Luke’s wheelchair up the
two steps and in through her front door.

When he’d helped Tyler move her furniture into the
three-room flat a few years ago, it’d been drab and unwelcoming.
Since then, she’d personalized it with curtains and lots of
pictures, turning it into a cozy home. It had a warm atmosphere
that even his big old house lacked.

She tossed him the television’s remote and raised
the footrest on his wheelchair before Thomas insisted on following
her into the bedroom to help her pack. Luke channel surfed between
the talk shows and prime-time reruns for several minutes before he
finally heaved a disgusted sigh and turned off the TV.

A second later, the shrill sound of the doorbell
pealed through the apartment. It took a few tries, but he
eventually managed to maneuver the wheelchair over to the door and
opened it.

A woman who reminded him of Betty White smiled at
him, holding a balding man’s hand like she would a young child’s.
“Oh, excuse me. I was looking for—”

Sabrina poked her head into the living room.
“Harriet, how are you?”

“Oh, Sabrina, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you had
company.”

“I don’t really.” She introduced Luke to Mr. and
Mrs. Klausen and explained her plans to stay with him while he
recuperated. “Would Richard like to visit with us for a while
before we leave?”

The vacant expression in the man’s eyes said his
mind was already visiting another place far, far away.

“If it’s not too much trouble, it would be such a
big help.” Harriet squeezed her hand. “I’m almost out of disposable
briefs for Richard, and I need to pick up a few groceries. I’ll be
as quick as a bunny.”

“Take your time.” Sabrina turned to Thomas standing
in the doorway to her bedroom. “We’re in no hurry, are we?”

“Not at all. Can I help by driving Mrs. Klausen to
the store?”

“That’s a wonderful idea.” Sabrina led Richard to
the sofa and smiled at Luke. “You don’t mind Mr. Klausen keeping
you company while I finish packing do you, Luke?”

What was he supposed to say? That the old guy
freaked him out? “N-no. That’s fine.”

Once Thomas escorted Mrs. Klausen to the limo,
Sabrina wandered into the kitchen and returned a few moments later
carrying two glasses of ginger ale and a bag of Oreos.

“Where’s Harry?” Richard asked.

“She ran to the store. She’ll be back soon. How
about a cold drink?” Sabrina handed one glass to Luke and held the
other to the old man’s lips, wiping the dribbles from his chin.

“You’re a good girl, Janice. I love you.”

“I know. I love you, too.” Sabrina patted his
shoulder and whispered to Luke, “Half the time, he thinks I’m his
daughter. She died three years ago.”

Richard’s vacant eyes drifted closed and a second
later he began snoring softly.

“Since he’s asleep, you can keep me company
instead.” She pushed Luke’s wheel chair down the hall and into her
bedroom.

“Why the hell isn’t he living in a nursing home?”
Luke whispered as he dug three of the cookies out of the bag in his
lap. “Mrs. Klausen can’t be much past her early sixties. She should
be traveling and enjoying her golden years.”

“She wants to take care of her husband herself,”
Sabrina said as she opened her bureau drawer and transferred a
stack of underwear to the open suitcase on the bed.

“More like she feels obligated,” Luke muttered past
the cream-filled cookie.

The thought of Sabrina being tied to him like that,
sacrificing her happiness and freedom put a knot in his
stomach.

“No, she really doesn’t.” She spoke of the couple
with a tenderness that made the cookie stick in Luke’s throat. “I
won’t say Harriet doesn’t have days when she feels like quitting or
that Richard’s Alzheimer’s isn’t terribly hard for her, but most of
the time she puts her whole heart into caring for her husband.”

“Why, for crying out loud? The man she married isn’t
even there anymore.”

“Yes, he is. Maybe not in mind or spirit, but the
body of the man she’s loved for forty years is very much there,
needing to be fed and washed and protected from wandering into the
street.” Tears welled in Sabrina’s eyes. “How could Harriet let
some stranger do that for him? Especially knowing, at some point
during the day, he could have a lucid spell. She wants to be there
for those few precious moments.”

“It’s not fair to her. I guarantee, when Richard
still had his faculties, he didn’t want this for his wife.”

“You’re right.” She opened the closet and removed
several tops from their hangers. “When he was first diagnosed, he
pleaded with her to put him in a nursing home. Harriet just kept
telling him, when he got bad enough, she would.”

“And now, years later, she’s still taking care of
him, wiping his butt and drool from his chin. She’s missing out on
life.”

“Luke, you’re only looking at this from the casual
bystander’s prospective.” She folded two pairs of jeans and stacked
them in the suitcase. “Try seeing it from the viewpoint of someone
who loves him. When a couple gets married, they become one. Richard
didn’t get Alzheimer’s by himself. They got it together.”

“And you wonder why I’m avoiding matrimony.” He
snorted. “I’d put a bullet in my head before I’d ever inflict
myself on someone I love and have them grow to resent me.”

“Harriet doesn’t resent Richard,” Sabrina said,
sinking onto the mattress next to his wheelchair. “He’s no
different than one of her children were. She changed their diapers,
wiped their drool, and loved them unconditionally. She might hate
his disease, but she still loves her husband as much as the day he
put his ring on her finger.”