Indulgence (30 page)

Her hand went to her lips at the sight of the black and
purplish mark, her mouth opened into a gasp, tears filling her eyes like a
water balloon that had been overfilled. “Oh. My. God. Aspen, you were hurt.”
The tears fell down her face and she pulled me into a tight hug. I soothed my
hands up and down her back letting her connect with me, giving her time to
realize I was here and just fine. Her history with accidents didn’t have a
happy ending like mine.

“I’m fine. A man jumped in front of me. He saved my life,
but not without paying a price. He’s in the hospital now and I need to get to
him.”

“Oh my, yes of course. Is he okay?” She still held my biceps
and smoothed her hands up and down my arms.

“He received the brunt of the damage. A pipe pierced through
is shoulder when he tackled me. He saved my life.” The enormity of the
situation, hearing my voice tell her what happened shot more anxiety through
me. I needed to get to Hank. Confirm once more that he was okay.

“What’s his prognosis?” she asked, genuinely concerned.

“He’s going to be fine. A lot of therapy, weeks of heal
time. I’m moving him into the penthouse so he can receive round the clock care.
Least I could do considering.” I tried to pull away but she embraced me once
more.

“Pen, if I’d lost you too, I don’t know what … I couldn’t
bear it. I just … ”

I hugged her tight, enjoying her warmth and love. “I’m here,
I’m not going anywhere. But, I really do need to get to the hospital. He’s
waiting for me.”

She nodded against my shoulder, then stopped abruptly and
pulled back. Her pointed gaze searched mine. She tilted her head, her eyes
widened and her mouth split into a huge smile.

“Holy shit, Pen. You’re falling for this guy!”

The comment threw me back as if someone had just socked me.
“What the hell are you talking about? I’m not falling in love. Your cuckoo
radar is off. You need to adjust the setting again.”

God I was so tired of this thing she had with empathy. This
unearthly ability to feel what others were feeling. It really was freaky and
generally dead on target. Ability or not, I wasn’t falling for Hank. I’d barely
just met the man. What she was feeling was not love it was fear. Fear that he
wouldn’t get better. Guilt that it was my fault he was hurt in the first place.

She shook her head. Her once teary eyes alight with pure
joy. “I can feel it. The desire in you. It’s thrumming around your body like a
soft halo of light. Who is he?”

No, no, no. When London got an idea in her head, she
committed to it one hundred percent. She claimed to have this empathic ability and
lived her life by it. I’ll concede that she was more often right than wrong but
really besides the fear and guilt what I felt for Hank was not complicated. She
was alluding to the idea that my desire for Hank was something more, something
likened to love, perhaps. It wasn’t. Unless one mistakes pure unadulterated
lust for the hearts and flowers thing of love. If I was being honest with
myself I felt things for Hank, deep things, but all of them revolved around us
being tangled together naked on the nearest bed.

“London, I’m not in love. Don’t even go there. Please,
please don’t worry about this. I’m fine. Hank’s going to be fine … ”

“Hank? Is that his name?” She smiled brightly. She was
incredibly beautiful and had a way of getting what she wanted. People just
spilled their guts to her. It was part of what made her so good at what she did
with her clients, moving in with them for weeks, then deciding exactly what
they needed to make their houses into a home. It was more than just interior
design or decorating. She had a way of filling a void in her clients lives with
whatever it is they needed to be happy and she’d made a very profitable career
out of it.

“Okay, okay.” She waited patiently for me to answer. “I have
a little bit of hero-worship. He’s incredibly attractive and we’ve shared a few
kisses. Alright? End of story. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go.”

She nodded. “Yes, you have to get back to Hank. Oh, this is
so romantic.” She clasped her hands together and looked off into the distance
dreamily. “He saves you from death, sweeps you off your feet and … ”

“Stop it right there. This is not a romance,” I sighed. The
woman would piss off a priest in confessional.

“But you want to fuck him; I can feel the lust running
through every inch of you. It’s coming at me in waves. I might have to go get
laid tonight just to get over the vibe you’re putting out into the universe.”

“Must you be so vulgar?”

“Yes. I must. Admit it and I’ll leave.” She crossed her arms
over her tiny form.

I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath. “Okay, I want to
have sex with him! It’s been months since Grant and I broke up. Happy now?”

She jumped up and down in her sandals, her flowery dress
waving in the air with her. It was times like this that I remembered she was my
baby sister. Top of her game in the interior design world with a waiting list a
mile long for her skills, but she still bounced around like a little girl. Some
things never changed.

“Very happy. So, this man, is he hot?”

“You’re killing me. Yes, he’s good-looking. He’s a cowboy
from Texas. But it’s not going anywhere. We are from two totally different
worlds. He’s used to barbeques and baseball, not mergers and acquisitions.”

Her mouth pulled together into a pout. “When you find your
soul mate, it won’t matter what he does for a living, or what he wears, or
whether his portfolio is as sound as yours. It only matters that he’s meant for
you.”

A sadness blanketed the moment. London had lost the man that
she thought was her soul mate to a terrible accident. I pulled her into a hug
and she squeezed me tightly.

“I love you so much. I’m so relieved you’re okay,” she
whispered.

“I love you, too.”

“I’m looking forward to thanking this real life hero in
person.” She wiped at her wet eyes. Still as pretty as ever. “Oliver told me
how Hank jumped in front of you and now that I see where you were hurt, I’m
more confident in his place in your world.

“Oh yeah, and what’s that?” I asked pulling my bag over my
shoulder headed for the door.

“Isn’t it obvious?” She smiled wide and her entire face lit
up. “He’s meant to protect your heart!”

I rolled my eyes for her benefit only. The thing was, she
wasn’t entirely wrong. There was something about Hank that I couldn’t define.
It was just a feeling when I was near him. It had to be that I was overly
sensitive to him after he saved my life. Superhero syndrome of sorts. There
really wasn’t another reason. Love wasn’t on the table or in the cards no
matter what London’s empathic ability suggested.

All I could think about all damned day was my sweet angel’s
fingers wrapped around my cock. I could die a happy man with that memory to
sustain me through eternity. The woman was talented.

Fantasies of me standing, her sitting on the bed, me
slipping my cock past her moist lips pressing deep, my dick ready to burst at
the seams, rolled through my thoughts all day. Her sucking me like a fucking
Hoover, my hands twining through her golden locks as I pumped my seed into her.
Christ!
It was the stuff right out of my most erotic dreams.

I closed my eyes and tried to will away the images, my heart
rate slowly coming back down from my thoughts. The meds were finally giving me
some relief without making me feel like I was drugged. A pretty angel in white
fluttered across my thoughts relaxing me further …

A clacking noise woke me. I craned my neck and looked over
toward the sound realizing I must have drifted off. Aspen sat in the chair next
to my bed, blazer removed, eyes glued to her laptop. Her blond hair was piled
on top of her head in a bun-like contraption resembling a donut. She had thin
black reading glasses perched on her small nose. Her legs were crossed; her
skirt had ridden high on her thigh, giving me a healthy view of her long legs
encased in sheer black stalking’s. My angel looked like a sexy secretary.

Every so often she nibbled on a sandwich. Watching her work
and eat, her mind laser-focused on the task in front of her, was a lovely site.
Everything about her pulled at my being, from the wisps of hair falling along
her exposed neck to the ticking of her heel as she typed.

Made me wish my shoulder wasn’t in such a state, or I’d have
already claimed that woman physically, and hopefully emotionally. I didn’t want
her the way I’d used my recent flings. She wasn’t the type of woman I could
just use to get off. I wanted to know things about her, connect with her on a
different plane. See where it led.

“You know what they say about all work and no play, right,
Darlin’?”

She grinned, but finished typing whatever she was working
on. “I didn’t hear you complaining about my playtime this morning.”

The morning’s activities flooded my mind. She continued to
pound at the keyboard, and bit her lip. I waited until she clicked a few more
buttons and closed the screen. Her almond shaped eyes met mine, glasses still
in place.

“Darlin’, you could bring a man to his knees wearing those
things.” I gestured to her specs.

She smiled and crossed her legs, reclining in the chair. She
made no move to approach me. “How was your day, Stud?”

Stud?
Hmm. I liked her pet name. Hadn’t had a woman
give me one in a while. It felt good. Hell, it felt great.

“Can’t complain. You?”

She blew a breath over her forehead. “It was fine.” Her lips
thinned as if she were making a decision. Then her expression changed,
softened. “Not as good as my morning though,” she added with a saucy little
pout.

“Yeah well, anytime you want a repeat, Angel, I’m all
yours.” My eyebrow cocked and she answered with her own pointed brow.

“How’s the shoulder?”

“On the mend. How were the suits regarding the build?”

“I handled it. They’re back to believing everything is right
on point. So when you check in with your foreman, let him know I plan to pay a
visit to the crew, express our gratitude over their willingness to continue the
project to completion and on deadline.”

“Good plan. Now, are we done talking about work?”

She smiled. “Yes. We should talk about the plans for your
release tomorrow.”

I shook my head. “Come here.”

“Hank,” she said in warning.

My finger pointed at her then down to the space on the bed
next to me. “Come. Here. Now.” Her eyebrows rose but I held firm.

She stood and I reached for her hand. Gripping her wrist I
pulled her close enough that I could grab the back of her nape and crush her
lips to mine. She moaned and I ate up every sound. Our tongues mingled slow and
unhurried. Kissing her was like coming home. The feelings were hard to explain.

Being with her was comfortable, safe, the only place you
ever wanted to be, with the added benefit of all encompassing lust and need. I
didn’t want to think about how it could be like this. So easy, so fast. It just
felt right.

After minutes of kissing her into oblivion, her body slack
against mine, I leaned my forehead against hers and tried to catch my breath.
She was just as winded.

“Now Angel, how was your day? Really? I think you skipped
over some parts earlier.”

She groaned. “Awful. It took hours to convince the
stakeholders that we were going to be fine and one in particular was ruthless.”

“Just a bunch of pricks with dicks.” I kissed the side of
her face along the hairline. “Now tell me why one of them was worse than the
others?”

“Because he’s my ex and I’m stuck working with him. He put a
large sum of money into the magazine startup when we were together. Bad idea to
mix business with pleasure, I guess.” Her eyes met mine. She tried to push off
me, her face twisting into a grimace. I held tight, my grip relentless.

“Nut uh. You ain’t runnin’ from me, Angel. We have a deal.
Two dates.”

The tension in her body visibly relaxed, her shoulders
sagged. Her body melted against mine once more as she nodded into my neck. Her
smell was all around me. Vanilla and honey. I inhaled deeply, contentment
filling my pores. “I love the way you smell.”

She pulled up and sat her heart-shaped ass on the edge of my
bed. In my half-reclined position I moved over as far as I could to the
opposite edge of the bed making sure not to jostle my shoulder too much. She
sat and tentatively leaned against my chest and the good shoulder. “Is this
okay?”

“Better than anything,” I whispered. This small woman fit so
perfectly in the crook of my arm, like she was made for me.

“Tell me about you, Hank. I hardly know anything.”

Her face snuggled into my chest, her cheek planted against
the bare skin. My good arm cradled her. I yanked on the rubber band holding up
her hair letting the waves of silk fall over her shoulder. It eased my pain to
have her so near. Running my fingers through the strands of her hair calmed and
soothed me. I had a sneaky suspicion it did the same for her. She took a deep
breath and relaxed deeper into my chest. Her small fingers rested over my
heart. Once more I thanked God I was able to reach her in time.

“How about we start with the basics?” She nodded. “Okay.
Family first. Mom is Julia, Dad is Henry. They are retired cattle ranchers. My
brother Heath now runs the family business with his wife Jess. They have twin
boys, Holt and Hunter. They’re four and putting my brother through the ringer.
I love every minute of it.” Thinking of Heath and the boys made me chuckle.

She joined in laughing lightly. “So all of the men in your
family are named with an ’H’ I see?”

I smiled and rubbed my chin against the top of her head.
“Yes, ma’am. Old Man Henry likes it that way. And what Dad wants, Dad gets.”
She smirked. “What about you, Darlin’?”