Blushing Violet (11 page)

“What the hell!” a familiar man’s voice said in loud disgust and Violet’s heart sank.

Of all the people she had to run into, it had to be Dr. Kenny.

Chapter Ten

“Hello, Kenny,” she said, barely able to keep the sneer out of her voice. He looked different than she remembered. She used to find his perfectly combed brown hair attractive, and thought his smile was dazzling. Now she noticed that he had a receding hairline hidden behind that expensive cut and that his teeth were bleached an almost unnatural white. It was almost as white as his doctor’s coat with his perfectly pressed pants and gleaming gold cufflinks.

For a moment she focused on those cufflinks, thinking how utterly absurd it was that he was wearing gold cufflinks with his name on them. No, not just his name. Each cufflink said Dr. Kenny. What an ass.

“Violet,” he said and didn’t bother to try to keep the scorn out of his tone. “I’m surprised you’re still here.”

She took a step back as he checked his clothes for any stray spots of coffee. There were little white circles around his eyes and it took her a moment to comprehend that his perfect natural tan wasn’t so natural as she realized they were tan marks left behind from the little glasses that people wore in tanning beds. “I still volunteer for the healing touch study.”

He snorted and gave her an up-and-down look that made her feel as if she were covered in dog shit. “Trying to pick up another doctor since I dumped you?”

Her pulse pounded so hard in her ears with rage and embarrassment that she was surprised she could even hear Carlos’ voice when he said, “I sure hope not.” His hand reached around her waist and he pulled her close for a kiss.

Before their lips met he whispered, “I’ve missed you so much.” At the first brush of his mouth against hers, Violet’s body floated on air. He parted her lips with his tongue and she eagerly opened for him, delighting in the taste of him, the smell of him as he kissed her with a skill and intensity that left her shaken.

Kenny’s voice splashed over her like a bucket of ice cold, stinking water. “Nice, Violet. Why don’t you just fuck him in front of the entire hospital?”

Carlos fastened his hands around her waist as she tried to turn to Kenny and said in a mild voice, “Jealous? You should be. Violet is a beautiful, smart and utterly sensual woman. Everything a man could ever want and more.”

Kenny’s cheeks flushed red and he crossed his arms over his chest. “Are you kidding me? I’ve had more fun masturbating than fucking her. “

Carlos turned her in his arms so she was facing Kenny. His lips were pressed into a thin line and the white circles around his eyes stood out even more as his cheeks flushed with anger. Against her back, Carlos shifted his hips against hers and she could feel the hard press of his erection. The memory of having all that cock inside her made her thighs clench. Carlos stroked his thumb down her cheek and a spark of electricity seemed to flow over her skin. “Funny,” he murmured against her cheek, “she never fails to make me come so hard I feel like I’m going to pass out—over and over again.”

Kenny made an inarticulate sound of rage and took a step toward them before he lifted his chin into the air and said in a scathing whisper, “Who the fuck do you think you are? Some big-nosed Guido with a taste for fat white girls?”

Before Carlos could say anything, the anger that had been bubbling inside her finally overflowed the carefully constructed boundaries of her self-control. “Kenny, why don’t you go upstairs and tape your dick to a popsicle stick. That’s about the closest you’ll come to an erection without Viagra.”

Kenny’s jaw dropped as blood flushed his face until he was tomato red. His hands trembled as he straightened his cuffs. “You cunt.”

An older doctor with salt-and-pepper hair in green scrubs approached them with a smile, “Carlos, there you are, is this…” He paused and took in the mood between them. “Did I interrupt something?”

Kenny’s lips almost disappeared as he swallowed hard enough that his Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat like a yo-yo. Without another word he turned on his heel and stalked across the foyer, barely avoiding an elderly woman in a wheelchair who yelled at him in a shrill voice.

It took all of her willpower not to chase after him and kick his ass for calling her that. As it was, her heart slammed in her chest as adrenaline coursed through her veins. Carlos whispered into her ear, “I’d like you to meet someone.”

Her curiosity helped push the anger back, but she could still feel it like a sour, heavy ball in her stomach. Carlos moved away from her back to her side and held her hand in his. Her thoughts were scrambled as she gave his hand a small squeeze. Giving her a squeeze back, he smiled at the older doctor and said, “Dad, I’d like you to meet my girlfriend, Violet. Violet, this is my dad, Dr. Paolo.”

She could feel the blush burning her cheeks all the way to her ears as she shook hands with Dr. Paolo. He placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles before releasing her hand with a dazzling smile. “Ahh, you are the beautiful woman who has stolen my son’s heart.”

“Dad,” Carlos muttered and pulled her closer to his side.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Violet said and hoped that he hadn’t caught any of the conversation they’d been having with Kenny. As usual, all of her good retorts to Kenny’s crude accusations were coming to her now, after the confrontation. She was glad that Carlos has defended her honor, because the best idea that she could come up with at the time would have been kicking Kenny in the nuts as hard as she could. Satisfying, but she probably would have ended up in jail.

“I don’t have much time, I’m due in surgery in half an hour, but I’m glad you called me. I wanted to extend an invitation to dinner from your mother to you and Violet. She wants to meet the young woman who makes you starry-eyed.”

Violet giggled at the thought of Carlos being starry-eyed for anyone and he gave her a mock glare. “Don’t encourage my father.”

“Do you work here, Violet?” Dr. Paolo asked as he looked down at her large black bag.

She fiddled with the strap across her shoulder. “No, I work at a spa.”

Carlos claimed her hand and held it firmly with his own, stroking his thumb over her palm. “But she volunteers here once a week working with the healing touch research program up in the PICU.”

Dr. Paolo beamed at her. “That’s fantastic! You know, I’ve been thinking about seeing if they would consider extending the program into my section of the hospital.”

Carlos continued to circle her palm with his thumb, as if he couldn’t get enough of touching her. “Dad’s head of the Geriatric Unit over at Harper University Hospital.”

“Wow,” she said in a soft voice. Knowing that Carlos came from a successful family was one thing, but finding out his father ran one of the best geriatric centers in Michigan was a whole other ballgame. It made her feel at once intimidated and inadequate.

Dr. Paolo glanced at his gold wristwatch. “I’ve got to go. Violet, it was nice meeting you and I really hope you would do me the honor of telling me about your experience with healing touch. I am quite serious about integrating that therapy into our program and I could use your firsthand experience to give me some idea of how to start.”

“Of course,” she said as Carlos and his father exchanged a back-thumping hug.

“She’s a beauty,” Dr. Paolo said, giving her a wink. “I can see why you’re so smitten.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Carlos said.

They both returned his wave as he hustled across the foyer and headed out the door toward his hospital across the street.

Her body tensed as the silence between them stretched out. She looked down at their joined hands and watched his thumb stroke against her skin. His hand looked so large holding hers and she remembered what it felt like to have those hands dominating her body. The burn of her anger changed to another type of burn, one that she was desperate to soothe. Desire coursed through her veins and gave her the courage to look at him as she said, “I’m sorry I ran away.”

His nostrils flared as he took in a deep breath. “And I’m sorry I reacted the way I did. It just…startled me to hear his name. Were you thinking about him?”

Guilt lodged in her heart like a lead weight and threatened to strangle her into silence. But there was no resentment in his face, only questioning so she cleared her throat and said in a rush, “It was hard for me to have a stranger touch me. I didn’t like not knowing who he was and it frightened me. I was about to chicken out and yell my safe word when I thought about…you know.”

“Violet, you can say his name. I bear no animosity toward him for dating you. Well, maybe a little, but that’s only because when he’s with you I’m not.”

She glanced up and could only read compassion in his expression. “I thought about Morgan being with us and it went from being scary to being exciting. I guess I’m just not a random-guy kinda girl.”

Carlos led her back to his table and pulled out the chair for her next to his. The afternoon sunlight bathed them in a patch of golden light that brought out the amber flecks in his brown eyes. As they sat, he handed her a full cup of warm coffee. “It’s more my fault than yours. I should have talked it over with you first rather than assuming you would be okay with it. I misjudged your desires and I feel like an asshole for putting you into a situation that made you scared.”

She sipped her coffee and reached across the table for his hand. As their fingers laced together, something inside her eased. “In the future I’d like to discuss big things like that before we try them.”

“So you’re not breaking up with me?” he teased in a light tone, but his dark eyes were serious.

“No.” She took a deep breath. “So you’re not breaking up with me?”

“Absolutely not. I’d be a fool to lose someone like you over something as insignificant as that.”

“Good, because it would be really weird to have dinner with your family if we weren’t dating.”

He smiled at her and lifted her hand to his mouth. The tip of his tongue licked the delicate flesh between her fingers and her body flooded with heat as if she were a gasoline-soaked rag that someone had just thrown a match on. “I need you,” he said in a low voice.

What she wanted to do was scream, “Take me now!” but she settled for, “Okay” as he dragged her out of the hospital in an almost run.

* * * * *

They made it as far as inside the front door of her house before Carlos picked her up and carried her to her bedroom. Their lips met in a kiss that made her toes tingle as he bit and sucked at her lower lip with a small growl. A dog chew toy squeaked as Carlos stepped on it and Violet broke their kiss with a giggle.

Carlos set her to her feet and shooed Adam out of the bedroom. He gave a token whine of protest before leaving.

“Remind me to bring Adam a steak next time I’m over,” Carlos said as he tugged her shirt off. Her answer turned into a moan as he cupped her breasts and sucked at her erect nipples through the black lace of her bra. Switching from one to the other, he gently bit and tormented each tip until they ached almost as much as her swollen pussy.

She tried to reach for him, as eager to touch his body as he was hers, but he grabbed her wrists and lifted her hands so they were behind her head. “Don’t move.”

Heat blasted through her veins. “Yes, Master.”

He bit a hole in each side of her bra, tearing at the lace with his teeth until her nipples stood out, stiff and pink with her arousal from the ruined black lace. All of the blood in her body seemed to rush to her clit as he made a hungry sound and traced small circles around each tip with his tongue, never quite touching her where she wanted. He continued to torment her and she had to brace herself as he finally took one throbbing peak into his mouth and sucked hard.

She gripped her hair with her fingers, the sharp sting mingling with the pain from his bites until her whole body buzzed with arousal. Without releasing her breast, he unbuttoned her pants and slid them down her hips enough so that she could step out of them. The entire time he held her nipple captive between his teeth, and each movement made him bite a little harder until she stood still, trembling.

When he released her nipple, the surge of blood returning to the tip of her breast made her wince and moan. He backed her up until the edge of the bed hit her thighs. “Open your legs for me,” he said in a low growl.

The cool air against her wet thighs made her realize that she was so aroused she had soaked through her panties. He discovered this for himself when his hand cupped her mound and he chuckled. “That is a very hot, very wet pussy.”

“Thank you, Master.”

He ran his nails over the wet satin of her panties, tracing circles around her engorged clit as she moaned. He would come so close, the edge of his finger barely brushing her, then trace away again. Over and over he circled her clit until her thighs were trembling with the effort to hold still. Her pussy felt so swollen and sensitive as his teasing touch continued to make her desire spiral higher and higher.

He grabbed the back of her head and kissed her, owning her mouth and taking everything she had to offer. She returned his kiss with desperation, hoping to please him, trying to do anything she could to make him touch her. His finger hovered directly over her clit, close enough so he barely grazed the surface. She pushed her hips forward and had one brief moment of bliss that tensed her body to the edge of orgasm before he pulled back with a frown.

“I told you not to move.”