Healing Hearts (13 page)

Sarah warmed again under his attention, daring to believe this time would be different. She wanted to get used to the closeness she felt with him. She wanted to share her burden and lean on his strength. She just had to find the strength to cross the invisible line she’d drawn through the years.

That afternoon proved to be a slow one, which didn’t surprise Grant. Homecoming Weekend was a big deal in Greer and most of the people had already started their celebrations yesterday. Since his aunt had left to help the Booster Club, Sarah finished with work in back, sat behind the front counter ready to answer the phone or greet a non-existent customer.

At 3:30 he emerged from his office, his lab coat slung over his arm, a small medical supply box in his hand containing the kitten Sarah rescued that morning. Since the feline would be the only animal at the clinic that weekend, Grant decided to take her home with him. It would make the frequent feedings a lot easier. “I doubt we’ll see anyone else today, and if someone comes by, my emergency number is posted on the door. Ready to leave?”

Sarah nodded. “You bet. It’s beautiful outside. Since its quit raining, I thought Rocky could use a little exercise in the park with his new toy.” At the mention of his name, Rocky’s tail thudded on the floor beside her.

“Great. I’ll drive you there.” But at the park, Grant didn’t drop Sarah off like he’d intended. Somewhere along the tree-lined streets, he decided there would never be a better time to talk to Sarah about what he hoped would be their future.

He parked and accompanied her to a secluded area within a group of oak trees, near a man-made lake. No one lingered in the peaceful surroundings, and he suspected they were all getting ready for the game that evening. He settled on the bench and gazed around. “Nice spot. Imagine living in Greer your entire life and not really taking full advantage of what it had to offer. It didn’t help though that we lived out of town. As you saw, our backyard was like a park itself. Please, come join me.”

Sarah retrieved a tennis ball from her backpack, unleashed Rocky, and threw it for him to fetch before she sat down beside him. “I can’t imagine living anywhere more than a few years, much less a lifetime.” Her sigh spoke volumes.

Gently, he placed his arm around her shoulders and drew her close. Her lack of resistance encouraged him as he pulled her closer still and cradled his chin on top of her head, inhaling the sweet scent of her. Sarah. The tough, street-wise kid who, deep down, was just a scared and lonely woman, had wormed her way into his heart and his life.

Rocky returned with the ball, dropped to his haunches and gnawed away at the felt. Grant knew she should stop the dog but he needed to talk to Sarah while he had the chance. “Sarah, about your job at the clinic—”

She gasped and tried to pull away as she peered up at him, her eyes widening in alarm. “It’s over? I’m done?”

“No. It’s not that. You’ve done a great job. You’re a natural. I think, no, I know you’d make a great technician. Have you thought about…” The words jumbled in his brain as he tried to put them in a cohesive sentence. He’d never had trouble talking to women before, but then again, none of them had been Sarah.

His heart, his struggling practice, and his entire life would be committed. He loved her. He thought he’d fallen in love before, but he’d been wrong. He’d fallen in love with the idea of love, but those feelings were nothing compared to the deep, earth-shattering response he felt toward Sarah and it rocked him.

He hadn’t felt this tongue-tied since he asked Marla Stevens to the Homecoming Dance in ninth grade. Taking a deep breath, he started again. “What I’m trying to say is would you consider going to tech school? There’s a good one in Denton that has an opening next semester. We can work out the tuition in trade and when you’re done, we can talk about a permanent fulltime position.”

He hoped she would accept his suggestion—accept him.

Stunned, Sarah gripped the wood bench for support. A technician? A chance to work with animals as a career? Grant had just offered her the opportunity of a lifetime. Not only in the physical sense of providing a way for her to go to tech school, but in an emotional one as well. He was like Mickey, Rocky’s manager, in her favorite movie. He really believed in her and was giving her the chance to succeed in life.

The walls around Sarah’s heart tumbled down. She had no doubt her feeling for him now. She loved him even though she’d sworn never to allow anyone near her again. Yet in the time she’d worked for him, he’d shown her another side of family life and the meaning of unconditional love.

All she had to do was accept his offering. But in order to do that, she had to come clean with her past and tell him the truth. The whole truth. He believed in her, now she had to believe in him. And believe he wouldn’t judge her for what she’d done to survive on the streets. “Grant, I—I’m—I don’t know what to say.”

“Say yes.” He gave her another searching look that sent shockwaves through her. A new Sarah emerged. One ready to release the past and fight for the future.

“Yes, but there’s some things you need to know—”

“I know everything I need to.”

He lifted her chin and drew her face within mere centimeters of his own. Sarah felt herself drowning in his deep blue eyes as a slight breeze rustled through the leaves overhead. Using the pad of his thumb, he caressed her cheek and then slanted his mouth over hers.

Her heart skipped a beat as she closed her eyes, anticipating his kiss.

Chapter Ten

Warm and inviting, Grant’s caress turned her blood into molten liquid as it sped through her veins. Timidly, she reached out and wrapped her arms around his neck like she’d seen countless others do. The idea didn’t seem so foreign now. She inhaled, unused to such tender caresses, unused to being touched at all, but enjoying it just the same.

With Grant she felt safe, protected, wanted.

She returned his kiss, which invited him to deepen the embrace. The sensations made her lightheaded and dizzy but she didn’t want him to stop. Ever. She’d never known how it really felt to be cherished an even though he’d never said a word, she felt loved.

For too long she’d felt nothing and now she felt everything. Grant chased away the emptiness, the loneliness in her life, and Sarah thought she would die from sheer pleasure. Her heart sang in rapid staccato with his as the final walls around her heart crumbled to the ground.

Setting foot in Greer had been the best thing she’d ever done. Not only to make her life better, but because she’d found the one man who seemed to understand her, and accept her.

“I love you.”

The words tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop them. Not that she wanted to because they were true, even if he didn’t feel the same.

Grant ended the kiss as Sarah’s words hit him like a ton of bricks. For one, he thought he’d never hear them, for another, they were in the park where any Tom, Dick or Harry could see them kiss. What had he been thinking? Or had he been thinking at all? His sanity had taken flight the minute their lips touched.

He could have hit himself for making such a public display of affection. That had not been his intention. She deserved better from him. “I’m sorry. That shouldn’t have happened.

As she dropped her arms to her sides, Grant sat back on the bench and looked at her. Her skin was flushed, her breathing shallow, but it was the expression on her face; wounded, haunted. What looked like a sheen of moisture crept under her eyelids, making him feel like the worst kind of cad. His mother would have his hide if she found out.

“You’re right, that shouldn’t have happened,” she whispered in a resigned tone.

He sensed her withdrawal immediately and could have hit himself again at the insensitivity of his words. She’d declared her love for him, which had taken him completely by surprise, but like an idiot he said the first thing that sprang to his mind and all he did was hurt her again. He knew those words had not been easy for her to say.

“Sarah, look at me. It’s not what you think.” Gently, he cupped her chin and forced her to look into his eyes. While he spoke, his thumb caressed the soft skin along her jawline. “I love you, too, sweetheart. Don’t think we’re finished. We’re not. Let me rephrase my statement. I’m not saying it shouldn’t have happened, just not here. We need a more private place.”

Grant watched as her lips softened into a smile and beckoned him again. He leaned down and took possession of them for a mere second, tasting her. He wasn’t worthy of her. As he rose to his feet, he reached out his hand to help Sarah off the bench.

“Come, on. We can continue this at my place after the game.”

“What game?”

Grant released her, bent over, picked up the ball, and threw it past a waiting Rocky, who gamely ran after it, his tail flying out behind him.

“It’s Homecoming Weekend at Greer high School. The football game is tonight. Lindsay is on the cheerleading squad and Jeremy plays the trumpet in the band. If I don’t show up, Aunt Mildred will have my head for breakfast.”

“We certainly don’t want to disappoint Aunt Mildred,” Sarah agreed. “She’s way too kind.”

“Okay then, let’s grab a quick bite to eat, and then go see the game. Then afterwards…” He pulled her to him again and gave her a kiss filled with promise of things to come. Heck, it was all he could do not to finish what he’d started, even if they were in the park. “If we don’t leave now, we’ll never make it.”

“Bummer.”

He swatted her on her bottom playfully. “Come on, it’ll be fun. My family will be there; you’ve already met most of them, and maybe a few of my old high school buddies.”

“Fine.” She gave him another smile. “At least this time, I know what to expect. I think. C’mon boy.” As she put the soggy, half-chewed ball back into her backpack, Grant leashed Rocky and then they headed for the van.

“I’d grab a jacket,” Grant suggested as he pulled up outside of apartment. “The game usually lasts for a couple of hours, and the nights can get pretty chilly when you’re standing outside.”

“Okay, stay here. Give a few minutes to change clothes and feed Rocky.”

Out of necessity, Sarah had made him remain in the car as she and Rocky bounded up the three flights of stairs. With her body still charged and her emotions still raw from the kisses, she didn’t want to take any chances they’d be late to the game. Although if she’d had her way, they wouldn’t be going at all, but she didn’t want to upset Grant’s Aunt Mildred either. She liked the matriarch of the Morrison family.

It took only five minutes for Sarah to exchange her blouse for a sexy pale yellow, form-fitting sweater, and give Rocky on last kiss on his wet nose before putting him in the kennel with a few treats. Then she joined Grant, her oversized jacket slung over her arm as she exited the building.

“Red?”

“Is something wrong with it?” She looked at him perplexed. Grant wore a look of horror as she jumped into the passenger seat and closed the door.

“Yeah.”

Sarah froze. What had she done now? Had she chosen a color he hated? Even though she loved him, she realized there was so much she didn’t know about him. “What’s the matter? I don’t have another jacket.”

A twinkle suddenly appeared in his eyes. “Relax, Sarah, it’s only the opposing team’s color. Greer takes these things seriously. I’d get shot if I let you wear that tonight, no matter how much it compliments your hair. I have something at home that will work. You don’t mind, do you?”

Sarah relaxed immediately, glad it was something trivial. “No, not at all. We wouldn’t want to upset the whole town now, would we?” She winked, knowing they both remembered the kiss in the park. What would the good citizens of Greer think if they found their favorite vet in a lip lock with a girl with a shady past? That thought sobered Sarah. How would Grant or his family react if they ever found out the truth?

Sarah tried to tell Grant, but he said he knew everything he needed to know. Maybe he did. Maybe it really didn’t matter after all. Maybe all these years she’d been harboring false expectations of how people would react.

They drove in silence for a few minutes as they entered a part of town where Sarah had never been before. Not that she’d ever really had time to explore Greer. Still, she liked the quiet, tranquil atmosphere. Or maybe it was the man beside her.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she studied him. The way the dark hair on his arms added depth to the muscles underneath his tan skin sent her pulses swimming. And the way the fading light of day softened his chiseled features disrupted her breathing. It was all she could do not to reach out and touch him. Touch his generosity, caress his patience, stroke his humanity. And know that for just this space of time he was hers.

A wave of contentment washed over her as the endless possibilities drifted through her consciousness—a career, a home, maybe even a family like the one in the poster on the wall of the clinic. It might have taken a while, but the dreams she dreamed of when she was a child seemed about to come true. She didn’t ever want to leave Greer or Grant or Rocky. She loved them all.

Sarah woke from her thoughts as Grant pulled off the main street onto a side street and into a maze of houses on the left, townhomes on the right. “Come on in a second. I’ll introduce you to the rest of my family.”

On the front porch, he handed her the box with the tiny kitten she’d rescued earlier. “Here, hold kitty for a second while I contain the brood.” The sound of excited barking reached her ears as he opened the door. Two dogs, both brown and black with specks of white fur, ran to meet them. The jumped up on Sarah, sniffing her intently.

She laughed, petting their heads one at a time. “They must smell Rocky.”

“This is Max and Matilda.” He roughed up the fur behind their ears, and then ushered them to the back door so they could run outside and do their business. “The yard is fenced,” he assured her as three auspicious-looking cats came around the corner and took their turn curling around Grant’s legs. “And these are Florry, Jasper, and Boots. Hello kids, you’ve got a new roommate for the weekend.”