Meant to Be: Southern Heat Series (15 page)

“He said you’d say so.”

“So he called?”

“Yes. Just before I went to the hospital. He was angry I hadn’t told him about yesterday, but, of course, my mind was in a whirl.”

“And clouded by moonshine.”

“Yes, well, I didn’t mention that part. Julia called me today and I told her, so, of course, she had to contact him.”

“She wants him to drive down and protect you.” Mitch bit his lip, hoping she wouldn’t say she wanted Patrick.

“Yes, but I told him I’m fine.”

Mitch was dying to ask what Patrick had said about him, whether he’d shared all of their conversation or his “insights” into Mitch’s psyche.

“He was in Washington. Certainly there’s enough time accounted for to clear him. It’s several hours drive.”

“No. He skipped out after lunch and wasn’t seen until dinner. He says he was driving around.”

“Oh.”

He paused for her reply, but when she didn’t offer up any more information he sighed. “I’m stuck in traffic and don’t know when I’ll be back. Call me when you finish work and if I’m not available, call George.”

“Yes. I remember.”

The line was silent. Mitch knew what he wanted to ask, but by doing so, he’d be venturing into territory he’d vowed not to enter.

“Syd, that thing you said about being friends. Did you mean it?” Apparently his libido had other ideas.

“Yes.”

He took a deep breath. “Including the ‘with benefits’ part?”

The silence was long enough that he cursed himself for mishearing what she’d said.

“Yes.”

For the second time that day, he did a double take. His heart jerked, along with other parts of his body. His mouth went dry, making it impossible for him to speak.

“I’ll see you later then.”

Her voice didn’t sound seductive, but her words had the same effect on him as if she’d cooed them. The line went dead before he could respond, which was just as well, since nothing came to mind.

S
ydney looked
through the side window as Mitch’s truck pulled into the drive. She’d been watching for him ever since he’d called to let her know he’d made it back to town and was turning in the police vehicle and picking up his truck.

Nerves skidded through her body at what might happen. She wanted to believe he was going to take her up on her offer, but she couldn’t be sure. When they’d been in college, he’d been so easy to read. Now she had no idea what he was thinking.

She’d been able to tell she’d surprised him by suggesting they could have an affair. Honestly, it surprised her as well. She’d never engaged in sex as something just for fun. The idea sent a titillating shiver through her body. She’d changed a great deal since she’d last seen Mitch. Having a torrid sexual affair seemed like it should be par for her new course.

The only problem would be to keep those sneaking emotions out of it. Those feeling were for the old Mitch. This new Mitch still heated her blood, but he wasn’t the same person. If they’d only just met, would she be interested in him? He was aloof and sometimes rude. But, if she looked hard enough in his emerald eyes, the old Mitch was there. Under the layers of hurt and guilt, the kind, generous, funny man was there. Maybe she could bring him out again.

“No, Sydney.” She shouldn’t get into this relationship, especially one based only on sex, with the hope of changing him. No, she needed to accept Mitch where he was. Be okay with the sex-only rules.

She heard voices out front and a quick look showed Mitch talking with George, who’d followed her home, checked Mitch’s house in and out for anyone lurking about, and told her he’d wait outside until Mitch returned. She offered to let him wait inside, but he’d declined.

George drove off and Mitch trotted up the steps to the door. Sydney scurried about, trying to decide what she should be doing. She didn’t want him to know she’d been sitting like a schoolgirl waiting for him to show.

She rushed to the kitchen, opening cupboards to give the appearance she was planning on making dinner.

The door opened. “Syd?”

“I’m in the kitchen.” She stood with her back to the kitchen doorway and took a deep breath.

He didn’t say anything, but the sparks of electricity snapping in the air clued her in that he was there. Slowly, she turned, her gaze meeting his. For a second, he stood still. She could see the war with himself in his eyes: a mixture of desire and uncertainty.

A second later, Mitch pushed her against the counter, pinning her with his body. He was everywhere. His lips scorched hers, consuming them so fiercely she couldn’t breathe. Fingers threaded through her hair, tugging her head back so he could take the kiss deeper, hotter. His other hand slid under her shirt, sending delicious waves of pleasure straight to her center. He shifted and ground his hips against hers, the long, steel length of him proving how much he desired her. Her hand reached for him, wanting to feel his power. Her fingers slid over him. He wrenched his lips away with a groan.

“We shouldn’t do this.” His lips found new purchase on her neck as he ground his hardness against her hand. But it couldn’t push away his words.

She turned her head and pushed him away. “Stop.”

It took him a moment to register, but he stepped back, his hands lifted in surrender. “What’s wrong?”

She cocked her head to the side. “You just said we shouldn’t do this. If that’s the case, we need to stop.”

“Syd.” He let out a ragged breath. “You know I want to.”

“I want to too, but you said we shouldn’t.”

He shook his head. When he stepped to her, she lifted her hands to block him.

“If we both want it, why is it wrong?”

He swore and ran his fingers through his bronze waves. “I’m not the same man you knew in college.”

“And I’m not the same woman.” Her eyes narrowed as she studied him.

He looked down and then back up at her. “I can’t give you what you want. Not anymore.”

“And what do I want?” She asked, although she knew what he was saying.

He put his hands on his hips. “I don’t know. But I know you deserve more than I can give you. What we had, Syd. It’s long gone. And while I care for you and am attracted to you, I can’t commit to you.”

Her heart broke again. Even though she’d known his feelings all along, hearing him say the words nearly shattered her. But she wouldn’t let him know.

“I’m not a naive schoolgirl. I wasn’t a virgin when I met you, and I certainly haven’t been living like a nun since you left.” She liked seeing the flash of jealousy heat his eyes.

“No, but how many of those men were one-night stands or simple affairs? Sydney, you were never a woman to have sex with someone you don’t care about. Maybe you don’t think you’ll end up married, but you want to be in a relationship that could potentially lead to more, not just a casual bit on the side.”

He was right, but that didn’t mean she was incapable of or morally against sex for the sake of sex.

“With me, it’s an affair. It will never lead to more.”

In that moment, she felt more pity for him than anger.

“I’m sorry, Syd.”

Before she could reply, her phone trilled. She moved around him, happy for the distraction. “Doctor Preston.”

“Doctor Preston? It’s Alicia. I think my baby’s coming.”

Immediately, Sydney’s mind changed gears. “Are you having contractions?”

“Yes.”
Alicia’s voice, so young and scared, wobbled.
“They’re about five minutes apart. That’s when you said to call.”

Sydney kept her voice calm, hoping it would reassure Alicia. “Good. Is JD there? Do you have a ride to the hospital?”

“Yes. We’re on our way.”

“I’ll meet you there. Take deep breaths, Alicia. You’re going to be fine.” Sydney hung up and turned to Mitch. “I need to go to the hospital. I have a patient ready to have her baby.” The word “baby” hung between them. Had they married, they might have had a child, maybe even several by now.

“I’ll take you.”

“I’ll probably be there for awhile.”

“I’ll take you and wait.” The passionate lover in Mitch was gone. Now he was a protector, out to do his job.

S
ydney disappeared
around the corner while Mitch blew out a breath and headed to the waiting room. What had he been thinking to touch her like that? He hadn’t been thinking, that was the problem. The need to touch and taste her, to feel her around him gnawed at his insides. Like a hunger, he feared it wouldn’t go away unless he fed it. That didn’t make it right. In fact, Mitch held on to the belief it was wrong.

I haven’t been living like a nun.
Her words drifted through his mind, and he hated them as much this time as when she’d first said them. He knew she had probably been with other men. It had been ten years, after all. But the thought of someone else touching her, sliding in and out of her… Mitch swore.

Sydney deserved more than a fling. A part of him wished he could give her more, but he knew love like they’d had before wasn’t sustainable. It had been real, but it was created in a safe bubble, where the ugliness of the world hadn’t been able to taint it.

Still, to be able to touch her one more time.

“Mitch.”

Mitch looked to the voice interrupting his inner diatribe.

“Hank.” Mitch stood, extending his hand to the man rushing toward him. Hank was several years older than Mitch, but they’d become friends when Mitch was in high school and dating Hank’s youngest sister. Even when that relationship ended, the two men retained a friendly acquaintance.

“Alicia is here. Have you seen her?”

Up until that moment, Mitch hadn’t put together that Sydney’s patient, Alicia, was Hank’s daughter. Mitch remembered the spunky little kid he’d seen with Hank on a few occasions during his dates with Hank’s sister. “I haven’t seen her, but I know she’s with the doctor.”

“Is JD with her?” Hank said the name JD as if it burned his tongue.

“I think he brought her.”

Hank dropped into a chair. “I’m not even forty, and I’m about to be a grandfather. Do I look old enough to be a grandfather to you, Mitch?”

Mitch sat next to him. “At least Alicia waited until she was nineteen to have a baby. You and Karen were what?”

“Seventeen.”

It was strange to think about. Like Mitch, Hank had fallen in love young. He and Karen had an unplanned pregnancy and, after only a couple years of marriage, Karen had bailed on Hank and Alicia. Now, Hank was only a few years older than Mitch, and he had a grown daughter and a grandchild on the way. It was another example of the messiness of life. Messiness Mitch wanted to avoid.

“Do you think she’s okay?” Hank stood, looking up the hall.

“She’s in good hands with Doctor Preston.”

Hank turned, giving Mitch an annoyed glance. “I don’t like her.”

“Really? Why?”

Hank looked again toward the doors behind which his daughter was having a baby, before returning to his seat next to Mitch. “When Alicia told me she was pregnant, we had it all planned out. She’d stay with me and work at the shop while my mom watched the baby.”

“Alicia is lucky to have you.”

“Yeah, well tell that to that Yankee doctor. They don’t understand family up there like we do here.”

“What happened?”

“Doctor Preston helped Alicia and JD find a place of their own.”

“You don’t like JD?”

“He’s alright, but they’re young. They don’t have any education. It’s not like when we were coming up, Mitch, and you could earn a living with a vocation.”

“How are they going to live?” Mitch always thought of Sydney as being practical. She wouldn’t encourage two kids to live on their own if they didn’t have the means to pay the rent.

“Alicia says she’s got some job from home answering phones for airlines or something. And she’s planning to sign up for online college courses.”

Mitch scanned his brain for why that plan was irrational. “I don’t know, Hank. Alicia and JD are about to be parents. Having a job and taking classes from home, where she can be with the baby, sounds like a good plan.”

Hank looked at Mitch as if he’d grown a third eye. “That’s my baby in there. What happens if JD or Alicia gets laid off? What will they do then?”

“Then they can live with you and your mom can watch the baby, just like you originally planned.”

Hank ran his hands over face. “Yeah. I know you’re right, but how the hell did this happen? Sometimes I envy you, Mitch. You figured out how to avoid all this.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re not married, have no kids, and if everything they say about you is true, you never will. No drama. No entanglements. No pacing the hospital because your nineteen-year-old daughter is having a baby.”

Mitch agreed, and yet, hearing Hank say it made his life sound empty and shallow.
No
, he told himself. It was safe. And he liked safe. No drama. No entanglements. No betrayal or heartbreak.

And wasn’t that what Sydney had agreed to? “Friends… with benefits.” She’d made it clear she not only understood his conditions, but she wanted them. And, Christ, he wanted her. He couldn’t remember wanting a woman as much as he wanted her. It was more than want. He was nearly desperate with it. He’d always liked women, been attracted to and enjoyed them. Sometimes the desire was intense, but not like this. The need ate at him, like every neuron was firing and would continue to fire until Sydney calmed them.

Hank stood, adjusted his baseball cap with the hunting camouflage design. “I imagine I’ll be here awhile. I’m gonna get coffee from one of the machines. Want some?”

“No. Thanks, Hank.”

As Hank went off to get coffee, Mitch tortured himself again with the pros and cons of giving in to his need for Sydney. He briefly considered calling one of his other lady friends, just to help him take the edge off. But besides the fact that it would make him a complete jerk and it was logistically impossible with Sydney staying with him, he knew it wouldn’t matter. Only Sydney would be able to satisfy the hunger. He’d thought he’d extinguished his feelings for her, but now he realized they had only been lying dormant, and now, were erupting to the surface. And he was helpless to stop it.

Hank wasn’t much in a talking mood when he returned, so Mitch perseverated on thoughts of Sydney for the next several hours until the door opened to the maternity ward and Sydney walked through. She was wearing pink scrubs, and her hair was pulled back in the same ponytail she’d had the night before.

“It’s a girl. Everything went perfectly, Mr. Shoner.” She reached out and took Hank’s hand. “The nurses are getting her settled in a room and the baby checked out in the nursery, then she’ll be ready to see you.”

“How’s my baby?” Hank looked both in awe and nervous.

“She’s very well. And so is the baby’s father. You should be very proud of them.”

Hank nodded and changed the grip on Sydney’s hand so he could shake it, which he did until Mitch thought he might pull her arm from the socket. “Thank you, Doctor.”

She smiled and put her other hand over his, presumably to lessen the shaking. “You’re welcome, Grandpa.”