Private Property: a Contemporary Romance Novella (10 page)

“What?  Oh, no.  It’s fine.  I was just thinking.”  She pushed some cauliflower on to her fork.

“W
hat
were you thinking about?”

She swallowed the bite.  “
Nothing in particular.
”  Her face was getting redder by the second.

He grunted and refocused on his food.

They finished at the same time;
Jared’s plate wiped clean, hers
still half full.  Jared pushed back away from the table, pressing his back into the chair.  “Oh, much better.” 
He exclaimed on a sigh. 
He’d emptied another beer and went to get a fresh one.  By her count, he wa
s working on his fifth now.

“Hey, do you mind clearing the table?” 
He called out. 
She shook her head at him.  “Just pile the dishes in the sink, I’ll get them later.”

He headed outside, calling Sam
after
him.  Tabitha decided to attempt loading the dishwasher.  It was a bit rough going, but not too bad.  A couple of times she chased a plate around the basin with the scrubber, but corralling her temper allowed her to back the damned thing up into a corner and attack it clean.  By the time she’d finished, her slight beer buzz was gone.  She opted for another to revive the warm, fuzzy feeling.

She joined Jared on the back porch where he was lazily tossing a stick out over Sam’s head and waiting for the Mastiff to bring it back.

He held out a hand to help her sink down on to the first step next to him.  Between the arm in a sling and the bottle filling up her other hand, it was the only way she was going to sit down without
the risk of
falling.

“It’s going to be a nice evening.  Woo!”  He suddenly exclaimed, leaning back and slapping a leg.  “Man, I needed this after the week I’ve had.”

Tabitha sat in stunned silence.  Was he really talking about something as mundane as the weather
and work
?  She figured she’d better catch up to the good buzz he obviously had going and knocked back the beer in her grip.

It took awhile before he spoke again, both
of them
comfortable to sit in the solitude surrounding them.  “What do you think about when you’re out here?”

Tabitha didn’t know how to respond to
such a deep
question.  Especially
coming from the
seemingly
emotionally stunted
man sitting next t
o her.  “Well, I guess I try
not to.”

“I think about how badly I’ve
abused myself.”  He took a swig of
beer.  “A
nd a
bout
how
much I hate the city - t
he people, the traffic, the steel and cement.  I just hate it.”

“Then why don’t
you move out here
?”

“If it were only that easy.”  He sounded angry
at something
.

“Nothing’s easy.  But, I don’t see why a successful doctor can’t move his practice.” 
Not being able to move
didn’t
make any sense to her at all.

“It’s not my patients.”

“Then what?”

“Amanda.”

“Ah, The Girlfriend.”  He sent a questioning look and laughed a bit at her label.

“Yes, the girlfriend.”

“So, what’s wrong with her?”  Tabitha shoved her shoulder into him, nudging him slightly.  “She doesn’t like the country or something?”

“It’s not that at all…”
He huffed into his beer bottle before finishing it off.  “Never
mind. 
Wanna
take a walk?”

He pushed up
then turned
and pulled
her to her feet.  They ambled about the property, not wandering too far into the surrounding trees. 
As they walked,
Jared offered up
a
little more information
in the form of
childhood memories of play
ing
outside
with his sister.  It was after dark when t
hey made their way back to the house and Tabitha
realized
she was beat.

“Well, I’m off to bed.  It’s another day at the office tomorrow.”
  She absentmindedly squeezed his arm
as she passed him.

When he grabbed hold of her wrist, a momentary s
hock coursed through her body.

When he stared
intensely
at her, not releasing h
is
hold, confusion set in.

When his lips slowly pressed against h
ers, numbness reigned overall.

She stood there like a mannequin, not responding i
n any fashion to his attentions;
even her mind had gone blank.  She could feel the warmth and pliant pressure from his seductive mouth, his hot breath stealing across her cheek
in waves
, his warm hand still gripping her wrist.  But, not a flicker of response filled her.  She didn’t even close her eyes.  Just stood
star
ing at him.

And continued to do so after he broke his kiss and waited, gazing at her, for something she wasn’t quite sure of.  The two squared off on the porch in front of the screen door, looking
all the
world as though they’d been frozen in time.

Jared’s look of consternation searched her features for something, while Tabitha tried to get a handle on what had just taken place.  Jared
Larsen
, her doctor
, her boss
and
sometimes
lofty jerk
, had just kissed her.  Man!  He was drunk.  But she didn’t know how to respond.

On one hand she was flattered –
the man had made it obvious he was attracted to her
.  On the other, however, she felt insulted by the possibility that he was just drunk and looking to get laid. 
She found she
agreed most readily with
the
lat
ter
.  After all, he’d never before made any kind of inclination towards her.  It had to be the beer.

Her
mind set
, Tabitha turned on her heel without a word and entered the house.  Jared followed quietly.  Let him figure it out.  She wasn’t about to throw herself at a man making it so blatantly obvious he only wanted her to cure his itch.  She could safely say that under other circumstances, she’d have no problem throwing herself at him, but not for the sole purpose of burning off a buzz.

Becoming quite miffed, Tabitha found herself stan
ding in the center of the living
room looking about as if lost.  Jared’s arm slipped over her shoulder.  “Care to play some darts?”  He was holding another beer bottle.

“W
hat’s wrong with you?”  Tabitha eyed
him suspiciously.  He hadn’t ever acted that way around her and she’d now known him almost a month.  He was distant,
brooding, curt
but not playful
, and she had yet to see him do anyth
ing on a whim.  Like that kiss…
 
N
ow that kind of thinking was going to
lead her down the wrong path e
specially with
him currently leaning his body
heavily into hers, his arm draped across her.

“What do you mean what’s wrong with me?”  He pulled back slightly to meet her gaze.

“You’re not yourself.  Something go wrong in the office today?  Or does this have to
do
with Amanda?”  Maybe she shouldn’t have been butting in, but he was
the
one hitting on her.

“I don’t want to talk about today.  I just want to play darts.  Can you play?”  He moved away from her and over to a small wooden box mounted above the couch that until then she’d never paid much attention to.  He swung the doors open to reveal a dartboard in its confines.

“
Alright, s
ure.  I’m not good, but I’ll play.”  She glanced at him, sized up the situation then made another split second decision.  “And get me another beer.  If I have to tolerate you in this state, I might as well join you there.”

“That’s my girl.”  He smiled broadly,
two crescent dimples
adorning his sexy mouth.  No…not sexy.  She had to stop seeing him that way.  Not that there was another way to describe him, she noticed, as he sauntered back into the kitchen, jeans
accenting
his trim waist and firm butt.  Oh, she was in trouble here.

By the time he’d made it back, Tabitha had fully dismis
sed the kiss outside.  It was nothing more than a
drunken act, surely, and of little consequence in the grand scheme of things.

Jared e
xplained that they’d
go with
C
ricket -
a game played by striking different numbered areas of the board three times in order to ‘close them out’.  All she needed to do was take aim at the numbered areas of 20 down to 15 and the
b
ull’s-
eye
.  Jared took
the
first turn and easily knocked out two of the 20’s and one
b
ull’s-
eye
.  Tabitha positioned herself and threw – securely embedding her first dart into the wall below the board.
  Luckily a backboard was mounted beneath the dartboard and took up a greater portion of the wall.

“Okay.  Let’s get you positioned correctly first.”  Jared pressed himself against her back, slipping an arm around her waist.  Her body went rigid and
she
tried furiously to control the urge to lean back into him.  He jiggled her
arm
a bit and muttered, “relax” into her ear.  Ha! 
Easy for him to say.
  It had been a long time since a man had stood this close to her. 
And even longer since a man had kissed her.
 
Forget the kiss, Tabitha.

He grabbed at her right
shoulder and rolled it around, loosening her up.  Then he placed his chin on her shoulder and guided her
into the correct position – right
leg forw
ard, left
leg back.  It made sense, but unfortunately it also placed a very intimate part of
him
against a very delicate part of her backside.  She expelled a loud breath and tried to regain her center.  He was bent at the knees in order to bring himself down to her height and that made him have to lean heavily into her for extra balance.  He swayed slightly, trying to get a good eye line over her shoulder, which made him inadvertently rub his crotch against her.  She stared intently at the
bull’s-eye
.

He slid his hand along her lifted forearm and grasped her wrist.  “Okay, now just cock back and toss the dart.  Don’t throw it; just release it from your fingers.  Pretend your arm is a catapult.”  She did as instructed and landed on the 7.  “Good.”  He handed her a
nother
dart, still pressed in to her.  “Now, try again.”

Was it her imagination, or was he reacting to being next to her?  It sure seemed like certain parts of his body were reacting.  Tabitha took aim and threw again.  This time she managed a 19.  She whooped with excitement, leaning back into him as casually as you please.  He wrapped his long arms around her waist and hugged her tightly.

“See?”  He breathed into her ear, sending chills rippling along her spine
and jerking her out of her exuberance
.  “All you needed was some guidance.”  He didn’t break contact with her, lingering in the embrace.  Tabitha knew she should move away, but couldn’t bring herself to do it.  She closed her eyes and laid her head back against
his chest
, inhaling the clean scent of his cologne.  Jared began to sway, still holding on to her, and hum a tune quietly.

She didn’t know how long they stayed like that, rocking back and forth, Jared humming in a lo
w timbre against her ear.  I
t felt good and she was reluctant to pull away.  But, eventually she would have to.  When she did, he stopped her, increasing the pressure of the hold he had at her mid-drift until she halted.

“No.  Don’t.”  He whispered.  “Just stand here with me.  This is nice.”

Tabitha didn’t want to just stand there.  She wanted to turn around, fiercely rip his clothes off, and map out his
entire
body with her tongue.  That’s what she
w
anted
to do.  But that would
definitely
be
crossing a line.  Her body language must have defied her, secretly telling him what her innermost thoughts were, because suddenly he turned her in his arms and brought a scorching kiss down on her.