Cain (25 page)

Covering her mouth with his, Cain
reached into the side table drawer and pulled out a condom. He was
glad it was that easy. Had he needed to get up and find his pants
he would have taken her without protection. Then the uninhibited
thought of her belly swollen with his child filled his
mind.

He looked down into her eyes as he sat
up and rolled the condom onto his hard shaft. Her body was ready,
hot and wet; her curls were glistening with her cream. He was sure
that he’d never seen a more beautiful sight in all of his
life.

“
I love you, Alyssa. With
every cell in my body, I love you. There has never been anyone
before you, I realize now, and there will never be anyone again.
You are my life, my heart, and my soul. I love you.” He entered her
slowly, stretching her, filling her with not only himself, but his
love. When he was fully seated within her, he looked at her again
and marveled that she could be his. Before he could say anything
more to her, she spoke.

“
I love you too. I…oh,
Cain… I love you more than I thought could be possible. I want to
spend the rest of my life with you, be happy with you, make a home
with you.”

Cain began to move in her, slowly
pulling out and then moving just as slowly in. He wanted this to
last, this miracle of finding her, knowing her. Kissing her,
tasting her mouth, the wonderful taste that was wholly her, he
moved deeper still, took more and gave more. As his peak grew
closer, he could feel her body building with him, pulling and
milking him. Just as she tumbled over the edge, a gentle fall this
time, he went with her, savoring the feel of completion and love.
Knowing that for the rest of his days, this one night would be
burned in his memory for all time.

Rolling to his back, Cain took Alyssa
with him, her body spread over his in a limp blanket of sated
woman. Reaching for and finding the blankets, he pulled them up and
over them. Cain reached for his phone, and saw that it was much
later than he’d thought. At just after midnight, Cain set his
alarm, snuggled down deeper into the bed and closed his eyes with a
happy smile on his face.

At ten after three, his phone rang. For
several seconds, he didn’t have a clue where he was. When he pulled
his phone to his ear, Alyssa pressed her bare bottom up to his
groin and it was all he could do not to groan in the
phone.

“
Dr. Waite, we have a
patient in the emergency room of yours. Miss Danielson said that
you’ve only seen her twice. Would you like us to call the on-call
physician or would you like the ER doctor to treat?”

After getting some of the details as he
stood up, he told the nurse that he’d be in. He didn’t want to
start out on the wrong foot with his care to those he saw, and he
grabbed his pants. He was reaching for his shoes when Alyssa woke
up.

“
Everything all right?
It’s not your sisters, is it?” She looked so good laying there he
wanted to join her.

“
No, a patient from the
office. She’s complaining of chest pains and has a history of
chronic angina. I’ll be back when I can. Will you be here?” He had
spoken to Drew at length this afternoon about Alyssa. He knew that
tomorrow…today she had a meeting with her mother. Drew told him
that it wasn’t going to go well and that she would probably take
whatever happened between them very hard. Cain also knew a little
more about Alyssa’s background with her mother too.

“
No…I’m going to go to a
meeting at the Howard Building sometime in the morning. I don’t
know when I’ll be back from it. Then I have to see to several…can I
call you later? I won’t if you have to stay focused on your
patient.”

“
You call. If I can’t
answer then leave me a message and I’ll call you back. If it’s an
emergency, call the hospital. I’ll leave word that if you call me
to put it through. I have the same thing with the girls.” Cain
leaned down and kissed her. “I love you. Call me, okay?”

She nodded. He wasn’t sure, but he
thought there were tears in her eyes, but she turned over onto her
belly and he was no longer sure. Slipping out of the house, Cain
quietly went to the front door and left. Thomas had given him the
code yesterday and he didn’t have to worry about waking the
house.

Cain was waiting on the blood work to
come back when he went into Miss Danielson’s room. She was an
elderly lady and he liked her a great deal. She’d told him in the
office that she’d never been married and regretted that some. He
was surprised to learn that she was in her late nineties. Sitting
in the room’s only chair, he held her hand when she reached for
it.

“
I’m old, not stupid. Now
tell me what you know about this old heart.” He grinned. She was
also very straightforward and told him she liked her news that way
too.

“
Yes, you’re old, but not
quite ready to bite the big one yet. I think you’ve got a little
lung infection and it’s causing you some discomfort.” Her snort
made him raise a brow.

“
Discomfort? Sounds like I
bumped my big toe and you want to put a band aid on it. Tell me,
damn it. Am I needing to go into the nursing home or not? Got my
daughter in one of them things, can’t stand it. She poops herself,
if you can believe it. Seventy-five years old and she can’t even
make it to the pot. I don’t want that to happen to me.”

“
You don’t need that route
if you keep taking care of yourself the way you are. You have a
healthy heart for your age and you are still of sound mind. I would
like to suggest that you find someone to come in and see to your
needs once or twice a week, more if you enjoy it.”

She smacked his arm. “You married yet?”
He shook his head no. “You should be. Nice young man like you.
There a woman or a man in your life then?”

“
There is a woman, but
she’s a little…we aren’t exactly on the same side of the railroad
tracks. She’s more of an uptown rich girl that drinks mimosas for
lunch. Me? I’m more of a beer-watching football sort of
man.”

“
Huh. Maybe she likes a
beer on the couch with a man screaming at others in tight pants.
Stupid reason not to get with her, don’t you think?”

Cain supposed when one put it like
that, it was sort of a stupid reason. He still didn’t know what to
do about Alyssa. He did love her. Very much as a matter of
fact.

“
I’m ninety-seven years
old, Doc. Never been married. Had the chance too, but thought he
was too good for me. Turned out he was perfect. But I was too slow
and he died when I was in my thirties raising a little girl he
never did see. Now I mourn a man who I have a child by ‘cause I was
too stupid to see reason. You going to be in that same boat?
Mourning a girl that you don’t have? Or you planning to marry one
you think more suited to you?”

Cain didn’t say anything. She was
right. He had been planning to walk away when this…whatever it was
ran its course. He didn’t want it to end, but he knew…he thought he
knew how it would end. “I don’t have any plans that far in ad…we
are talking about your health, Miss Danielson, not my personal
life. You really should have a—”

“
Hush up and listen to me.
My name is Sadie Sue. Now I don’t expect you to name your first
born after me, but it’d be nice. I want you to stop fussing with
me. Hell boy, I’m old enough to be your great, great, great
grandmother. Now, you leave me here to stew a bit and then
tomorrow, I’ll go home and get me one of them live-in nurses. I
want you to go and get that girl a ring and you go straight to her
and you get down on your knee and propose to her. What she going to
say? No? So what then? You know. But if she’s smart and I know she
is if you love her as much as I can see you do, she’ll say yes.
Then you bring her here to me so I can get a proper hug for putting
you two together.”

Cain couldn’t help it he started to
laugh. He didn’t realized how much he needed it until he'd started.
He squeezed her hand once again and stood up. He really did like
this old woman a great deal and knew that Alyssa would as well.
“And if I do and she says yes, you going to dance with me at our
wedding? It’ll be a big affair. My sisters want it to be in the
gardens. You okay with that?”

“
You get her to say yes
and I’ll do a jig at your wedding. Now get out of here and I don’t
want to see you for at least a day or two. I mean it, boy. You do
right by her and she’ll make you the happiest man in this
earth.”

Cain leaned down and kissed Sadie Sue
on the weathered cheek. “She already has. Thank you. I’ll hold you
to your promise.”

He left the hospital an hour later. It
was nearly nine o’clock in the morning and he was tired. But more
than that, he had a plan. Getting in his car, he called Damon and
got some names of jewelers. He was in the showroom of a friend of
his twenty minutes later.

~~~

The meeting was just being called to
order when Shannon stood to address the room. No one seemed to know
why the meeting had been called, or they weren’t telling her. But
Shannon was going to make it known that as acting president, she
would not tolerate someone doing this again. She had only planned
to spend half a day here today and this was cutting into her time
with Carlos, her newest lover.

The thought of what that man could do
with his tongue and fingers had her shiver with anticipation. He
had brought her to peak four times this morning and she didn’t want
her relaxed aftermath fucked up by some upstart who thought she
shouldn’t be in charge. Well, she’d show them, by God.

“
I would like to know
which one of you idiots called this meeting. I’ve told you before
if you want to be in charge, you can try and take this company from
me.” She looked at each person at the table straight in the eye.
They wouldn’t look at her long before turning away. She knew how to
intimidate people better than anyone she knew. It was all in the
breeding, she thought. Just her being better than them financially
made her more superior to them.

“
Good then. I’m leaving.
And the next time—”

The doors to the conference room behind
her opened and she turned, ready to blast whoever dared to
interrupt her. She was in charge and the sooner they got that
through their fucking heads, the less she’d have to fire them.
Cows, stupid cows, it was all they were.

When Thomas walked in as if he owned
the place, Shannon was ready to snarl at him, put him in his place
once and for all. Why he was even allowed in the building anymore
was beyond her and was something she was going to take care of as
soon as she put him in his place.

“
Forgive me gentlemen,
ladies. Mrs. Howard. But we were running a little behind. Just one
more…ah, here we are.”

Before Shannon could say a word, Thomas
stepped out then back in again followed this time by a woman, a
very beautiful woman. Shannon could only stare.

“
Hello,
Mother.”

“
Oh my…Christ! It’s you.
You’re…you’re…Alyssa?”

“
Yes. So nice of you to
remember. Everyone, please be seated. I shall be with you
momentarily.”

Shannon only just realized that
everyone had stood when her daughter walked in the door. Shannon
looked around the room suspiciously. She thought they knew. None of
them seemed the least bit surprised to see Alyssa there. Shannon
wasn’t sure what to do. Then she noticed the man standing directly
behind Alyssa.

Alyssa moved to where she was standing
and Shannon thought her daughter was going to hit her. Alyssa
looked so…so grown up that Shannon was sure she would never have
recognized her if not for that dark hair, so much like her
father’s. But there was something else about her too, something
hard and unforgiving, cold even. Shannon thought she should try and
hug her daughter to show the board and Alyssa that she was a good
mother. When she reached out to touch Alyssa, she stepped back so
quickly that she backed into the man behind her.

“
Don’t touch me,” Alyssa
snarled at her. “Don’t you ever touch me again.”

Shannon was mortified. Rebuked by her
own child, her own flesh and blood, and in front of everyone too.
Before she could admonish her for her rude treatment, Alyssa
spoke.

“
I believe you’re in the
wrong room, Mother. This meeting was to between the president of
Howard Enterprise and the members of the board. As you are neither,
I want you to leave. Now.”

The voice, it was like hearing Nathan
all over. The cold and calculating way he said things. The way his
voice became hard and unbending. Shannon nearly looked for him in
the room.

“
But Alyssa, I’ve
been…you’ve been…I’ve been running this company for ten years and I
won’t be—”

“
Oh but you will, Mrs.
Howard. You will leave now or security will help you out. Your
things are already with them. Would you please come with
me?”

Shannon looked at the young man beside
Alyssa now. “Just who the hell do you think you are talking to me
like that? I’m Shannon Howard and I will be treated with more
respect or I’ll…”

“
You’ll what?” Alyssa
asked with a bit of a hard laugh. “There is nothing you can do.
Perhaps you’d like to meet my attorney, Andrew Miller. Andrew has
been very…well, I guess so have you. Been very busy, I mean.”
Alyssa sat in the chair one the board member, Shannon didn’t have a
clue which one, had pulled out for her. “I wouldn’t fuck with me
today, Mother. I’m not a child any longer and I’m not going to
forgive and forget. Drew,” Alyssa said as she turned to him, “if
you would be so kind and to take out…take out the trash, I would
very much appreciate it.”