Hotblooded (21 page)

Yes, a fountain.

It wasn’t huge, but it filled the corner of the room near the windows. The base was a stone pool and a pump circulated the water from the cistern to the top of the four-tiered groupings of blue and turquoise polished stones. As the water tumbled over the rocks, Brooke found herself breathing deeply.

The entire effect was soothing, in spite of her whirling thoughts and confusion.

She felt strangely refreshed in here. In fact, she might never leave. She could easily hide herself away in this little haven.

Except that it was from Jack.

That was completely inappropriate…and completely tempting. Just like Jack himself.

She reluctantly left the office she knew she would have to un-decorate as soon as possible. The pale bare walls, gray carpet and thirty-year-old office furniture would have to do.

But she really did like that fountain.

When she got to the front desk, Carla looked up with happy expectation. Brooke’s heart sank. How could Carla not see how ridiculous this all was?

Brooke sighed. This was so over the top she wasn’t sure where to even begin.

“I need to see him,” she told Carla simply.

Brooke had her elbows propped on the edge of her desk and was rubbing her forehead with the pads of her fingers when Jack’s voice in her doorway made her jerk her head upright.

“The only way you’re getting this office back to the way it was is if you’re going to ruin your manicure and redo it yourself.”

He strolled into her office, as if he had every right and reason to be there.

“And you really should wear your hair down,” he added.

Before she could stop it, her hand flew up to touch the gold clip that was holding the large twist of hair on top of her head.

“And you really need to knock.”

Jack didn’t seem to take her irritation too seriously.

“This turned out nicely,” he said casually, turning a full three-hundred-and-sixty-degree circle. He stopped when he faced her again. “What do you think of it?”

“It’s beautiful,” she admitted. “But, of course, I can’t accept it.”

“It’s an investment in the clinic that I’m now a part of.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You’d better explain that.”

“Giving you an office where you can relax a little, get some real quality work done, feel a little inspired, makes the clinic as a whole better. It will benefit you and your patients.”

“Are you implying that I’m not usually in a good mood?”

“Let’s just say that I don’t think it hurts to take every precaution against bad moods,” he said tactfully.

She raised one eyebrow at him but didn’t comment on him skirting the issue of her personal moods. Not that he would know about her moods anyway—she’d been avoiding him rather effectively for the past two days.

She knew he wasn’t happy about it. He had been trying to corner her but she made sure someone was always with her so he couldn’t catch her alone. She never went into her office—which made redecorating it rather easy, she supposed. And she didn’t go home until late at night. In fact, she’d been spending some time at her mom’s house. It was still fully furnished. Dixie had just packed a bag and left town. She hadn’t wanted anything around her that would remind her of Walter—which was pretty much everything she owned at that point. So Brooke was hanging out in her old bedroom until it was dark and she was sure that Jack had given up trying to find her.

It was a chicken way to handle how she felt about him, but, well, she could live with that more easily than she could live with begging him to stay, or watching him leave.

“Anyway, it’s not exactly something you can just give back,” he said. “It’s done. It’s yours. You’re welcome.”

Her eyes widened at that. “Which actually brings up a very good point. Perhaps you should have asked me before you had my office redone. You basically defaced my property.”

He laughed. “I don’t think there is a single judge in this entire country who would agree that taking drab white walls and gray carpet and turning it into this—” he swept his arms wide, “—would qualify as defacing.”

She sighed. It was hard to ignore the fact that she’d had sex with him—amazing sex that she wanted again—just three days ago when he laughed. Or smiled. Or breathed.

“I’m just saying that it would have been appropriate to ask.”

He shrugged. “You usually say no when I ask you things.”

“I do not.” But she did. Except… “I didn’t say no when you asked me to take my clothes off the other night.”

She
really
wasn’t very good at ignoring the fact that she’d had sex with him.

“Oh, you
do
remember the other night,” he said dryly, coming around to sit in the chair in front of her desk.

“Yes, I do.” In vivid, Technicolor detail.

“You haven’t mentioned it, so I wasn’t sure.”

She narrowed her eyes. Was his ego bruised because she hadn’t been begging on his doorstep again? Well, she wasn’t going to tell him that the thought occurred to her pretty much hourly. “When did you think I would mention it? When you were swabbing Jerry Lader’s throat for strep or when I was checking on Molly Hanney’s rash? Or maybe I should have mentioned it when Amy was bringing you the brownies from Sharon Pearson or when Amy ran out to get you more ball point pens or when Amy—”

“Okay,” he cut in. “Amy’s got a little crush on me.”

“And is very sensitive to what’s going on with you. I can’t let on that anything happened between us or it will be all over town.”

“So?” he asked, scowling.

“I already explained this to you,” she said. “If you can’t respect that then it will never happen again.” It really shouldn’t happen again anyway.

“It’s already not happening again.”

She rolled her eyes but was pleased that he wanted more as much as she did. “You can’t go three days?”

“Without you? After the other night? No,” he said firmly. “It’s making me crazy.”

“Obviously,” she said, gesturing to her new office.

He sat forward in his chair. “Go out with me.”

“Out with you where?” They could have sex in her mom’s house. No one would see them there…

“Anywhere. On a date.”

She frowned even as her heart thudded in her chest. “A date?”

“Yes. Dinner, movies, a show, a walk, whatever.”

She wanted to so much. “I can’t.”

“But then we’ll be dating, that’s different than just sleeping together, right? More respectable and all that.”

She shook her head. She wanted to date him, but she was already half in love with him. And he was leaving.

It was all a really bad idea.

“I can’t. I know I started it and you feel like I’m not finishing it but—”

“Dammit.” He pushed himself up out of the chair. “It’s not about getting laid. I want to spend time with you outside of this clinic. I want you to feel good. I want you to—”

“Be happy,” she filled in. “Yeah, I’ve heard this a time or two.”

He leaned onto his hands on her desk and looked into her eyes. “Tell me I don’t make you happy, Brooke. Tell me and I’ll drop it and not ask you again.”

She stared up at him, knowing she’d never be able to lie about this.

“You do make me happy, Jack.”

His eyes never left her face as he said, “Ever since I did CPR on my mother to keep her alive when she purposely overdosed on pain medication after my dad died, I’ve been into saving people.”

She blinked at him. Where had that come from?

“I think you should know that about me,” he said. “You should also know that I have a tendency to overreact, I’m incredibly stubborn—”

Like she didn’t already know those two things. A certain ridiculous check came to mind. Not to mention the fountain currently gurgling away in the corner.

“—and I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anyone,” he finished. “All in all that means you’re going to have a hell of time getting rid of me. Consider that fair warning.”

She wet her lips and nodded. Nothing about any of this was really fair, but what the hell? She was happy.

Then she took a guess that was based solely on a gut instinct. “You don’t limit yourself to giving medical care in the ER, do you?”

“I’ve been known to help people find housing, work, given them clothes, money…”

“I’m not surprised,” she said softly.

“You’re not?” He looked calm on the outside, but she could see the emotions swirling in his eyes.

She felt the corner of her mouth tip up and she looked over at the fountain he’d given her. “You certainly strike me as the type to go above and beyond.”

He followed her eyes and she was relieved to see a small smile touch his lips as well. “You don’t think it’s nuts?”

The other corner of her mouth turned up. “Yes,” she admitted. “But hey, join the club. I turned down two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to stay in a town I hate.”

He pushed away from her desk with a smile. “You don’t hate it here.”

Well, hate was pretty strong…

“I’d rather be here than…at the North Pole without a coat in January,” she conceded.

“Ah, see, you’re coming around to Honey Creek.” Then, “Are you coming around to going out with me?”

She shook her head. He was leaving Honey Creek. Of course, she could be back in San Antonio in a few months and they could…

“But you’re keeping the fountain.” It wasn’t really a question.

It was important to him, and damn but making him happy seemed to be kind of important to her too. She sighed and nodded. “Yes.”

And why not? Falling in love with Jack was far more ridiculous than having a fountain in her office, and she’d done that.

Saturday was beautiful. As was the Hilton Hotel.

This was going to do her a world of good, Brooke was sure. Carla’s idea of getting away from Honey Creek on a shopping spree was going to save Brooke’s sanity. Not just getting out of town and away from the clinic, but also getting away from Jack and the nagging feeling that she’d always regret saying no to dating him. She’d been preoccupied for two days wondering what that date would have been like.

And he hadn’t asked again. She’d kind of hoped to have him try to convince her.

Yeah, she needed to get away.

She didn’t see Carla as she walked into the hotel lobby where they were meeting for lunch and wondered if she should go into the restaurant or wait at the front.

A glass of iced tea sounded really good, though.

She turned a full three hundred and sixty degrees. If she could find the restaurant. She approached the front desk.

“Excuse me? Can you tell me where the restaurant is?”

The tall man behind the desk smiled. “I’m sorry, we don’t have a restaurant, ma’am.”

“Oh, I—”

“Are you Brooke Donovan?” the man asked.

Startled, her eyes widened slightly. “Yes, I am.”

“I was asked to give this to you,” the man said.

She took the red envelope hesitantly.

“Who is it from?”

“The party you are meeting here.”

“What is it?”

The man gave her a smile. “I think it opens at the top.”

Feeling silly for being so reluctant, she gave him a half smile and tore the envelope open. She wasn’t good with surprises. But she was a grown-up. Carla was probably just telling her where they were meeting since the hotel didn’t have a restaurant after all.

She recognized the handwriting immediately—and the little flip of her heart.

Go to room 526. Trust me.

A room key card was included in the envelope.

Brooke recovered from her surprise fairly quickly, but she couldn’t decide. A hotel room with Jack? A weekend rendezvous? Was this a good idea? He thought it would be this easy to get her alone in a bedroom? Of course, it was a bedroom far from Honey Creek.

It took her two seconds to decide.

“Which way is the elevator?”

The man pointed behind her to the left.

Her heart was pounding as she stepped off on the fifth floor a few minutes later.

She couldn’t have described the other people who rode up on the elevator with her if the survival of the world depended on it. She was going to see Jack today. Away from Honey Creek and the clinic, away from the pressures, and the busybodies and the expectations and the past.

He hadn’t given up. He wanted her and he’d found a way.

She felt…giddy. It was a strange word for her, but it fit.

Smiling wider than she had in a long time, she inserted the key card and pushed the door open.

The room was empty.

No Jack. No champagne. No path of rose petals leading to the bed.

Just a huge piece of paper in the middle of the bedspread.

Big black letters read,
Go to the closet.

Clutching the note tightly in her fist, she twirled toward the closet and pulled open the door.

A sexy little black dress hung in the center of the rod with black high heels on the floor under it. There was a note attached to the hanger.

Get dressed. I’ll pick you up in an hour.

Her hand was trembling as she reached out and touched the silky fabric of the dress. It would feel amazing on her body. She pulled the hanger from the closet bar, wanting to see it closer. Then she noticed another note pinned to the back straps of the dress.

Quit worrying. This is amazing.

A big smiley face with its tongue sticking out took the place of a signature, but she knew the note was from Carla. She’d helped Jack plan this whole thing.

Brooke held the dress up in front of her in the mirror on the inside of the closet. Her eyes filled a bit at the thought of her friend’s part in it all. And the thought calmed her. Carla thought this was a good idea. It was romantic and sweet…and fun. She thought again of the word “giddy”. It felt strange…but good. Or at least like she could get used to it.

She wanted to laugh and yell and cry all at once. She wanted to run straight to Jack, while at the same time, running fast and far from him. She was completely overwhelmed and she loved and hated the feeling at the same time.

She replaced the dress and stepped back from the closet with her hand over her heart.