TheHealers (2 page)

“Do you need anything?” His question implied lots of things, besides the food and drink that I thought he meant to offer. Stormy blue eyes raked me over with an intent that suddenly chilled my body.

Leo guided me down the long hallway to his bedroom. My eyes glanced up at the large niche across the hall from his bedroom. It reminded me of something
—
the slithery creatures resembled snakes
—
but I couldn’t be sure.

His hands continued to tug at me until we were in front of his bed.

“What…um, what are we doing?” The words scattered as they came out of my mouth.

“I thought it would be obvious.” His thick words fell on my ears.

Leo snaked his hands around my waist and brought me close enough to feel the hardness that radiated off of his body. His hand slid in the waist of my skinny jeans and rubbed roughly. The tugs on my skin woke up needs that I had disregarded for a long time. I closed my hands over his and brought them to the rhinestone button that would open me up to him. No hesitation, his hands quickly unhinged the button and tugged on my pants. Friction and pressure incited the heat as the pants came down. Then I stood there in a shirt and thong filled with nothing but desire. Nervous bubbles filled my insides and I stepped back to find security in the bed, but Leo tugged me upward.

“I’m not finished yet and I want to see everything.” A possessive smile tugged his lips upward.

Hot, passionate lips demanded my attention while his hands busied themselves on my back. His tongue darted in and then taunted me back out. Over and over he encouraged me to play with him until I joined in. My tongue followed his rhythm until I dizzied in anticipation. This would happen. Stuck in a haze of surreal vision I broke off from his kiss to remove my shirt. Discarding it on the floor I stepped back into his embrace, and waited. I still wanted him to approach me and bring me back into the searing heat of our bodies together.

My heart skipped a few beats. What were we doing? I cared about Leo and he had always been a great friend to me. I knew there was a reason I had avoided this before now, but my body had taken over and I wasn’t currently able to process any thoughts coming from my mind. All of my body screamed
yes!

His eyes were filled with wonder. The way he was looking at me…I knew his lips would soon follow. My feet stepped back and I landed down on the bed. My now drunken gaze was met with those little pieces of a dark stormy sky that were trapped in his face. Leo leaned over into me and I caught his scent. I could detect the clean smell of the white lemon and cedar leaves that came from his cologne. It comforted me. I would never be able to turn down the safeness it offered. Our lips met and his strength enveloped me. His tongue ravished the softness of my mouth and my eyes opened. His body surrounded me, and I didn’t want to move. Leo’s eyes glowed with pure hunger. In that moment, I felt a pang of guilt for knowing that I just needed this physical act. He was the right guy for a happily ever after story. Everything about him made sense and I would not mess this up. I made my decision and placed my hands up around his neck and pulled him closer. My soft gesture answered his silent question and he immediately brought his lips to my neck.

“Layna.” His lips quivered. The look on his face was pure bliss. The way that his lips slowly scandalized my neckline was outrageous. I might not be
in love
but my body definitely responded to his need. Slowly, his hands began to fall down until they rested securely on my hips. And then he sat up and pulled me into his lap. Hungry kisses warmed me over as he continued to breathe,”Layna, Layna.”

“I want you right now so bad that I’m afraid I’ll hurt you.” His voice was heavy with emotion.

“Uh uh…” was the only sound that emerged clearly from my lips as his hands began to slide over my bare skin. I couldn’t help myself. It had been a long time and it was a restraint on my part to not jump on him. My panties and bra disappeared and I rolled over to straddle Leo. The friction of his clothes on my naked skin tortured my thoughts.

My hands went to work removing his clothes. My lips followed with kisses that touched all of his skin.

Our bodies were intertwined and bare, securely tucked in the warmth of his king sized bed. Passion-filled eyes stared at me and his strained voice whispered, “I love you, Layna. You and I are meant to be together. This is right.” My heart broke into a million pieces as I realized how pure he was to declare this to me when I think it was pretty obvious I would have given in already. It also hurt because I knew that he really did love me. Leo knew me and still was here now. I knew the right thing to do. But, I still paused.

Being a psychiatrist had allowed me insight into the workings of the human mind and I knew that love was a choice. We are supposed to choose what is right for us. Leo was a good choice. I made my choice.

“I love you,” my voice whispered in the semi-darkness of his room. The words were barely out before he devoured my lips and continued where we left off.

I savored every wet kiss and caress until I was drowning in his touch. He rolled me over and pinned my wrists above my head. This was it, no going back now.

Leo brought his hand down between us and pushed himself right on the cusp of being inside me. He stilled.

“I just want to feel you, nothing in between us. Is that okay?” His voice and body strained from his severely compromised position above me. Normally I would say no, but this was Leo. Was there anything I didn’t know about him? I knew pregnancy wouldn’t be an issue since I took care of that on a regular basis. One move and it wouldn’t matter anymore. Neither one of us would be able to stop. I trusted Leo, and knew everything about him. No way would he hurt me.

Since words and breathing had become difficult, I just grabbed him and wrapped my legs around to push him in.

A hard sound hit my ears from his throat. His face was covered with shock. He attempted restraint at first, but thankfully, his hunger took over.

Thoughts escaped as animal instinct compelled us both. Rough, hard pushes in and out brought both of us beyond our sanity.

Pleasure licked its way through and still I begged for more. Leo continued to trace his hands all over my body as I began to wonder how long we could go without sleep.

Chapter Two

There
were two serpents, always two. They would kill me. Trapped in the bed, I could see them slowly slithering up the mattress until they rested on the edge of the comforter. Sweat beaded from every pore on my skin and my breaths came in hard gasps. Air dried over my lips as I attempted to pierce the quiet, but no shriek came. I was frozen. The heels of my feet dug into the bed with fervor as my back collided with the headboard.

Nowhere to escape.

Did the nightmare come from my head or the snakes? Their power spoke to mine. These were not ordinary snakes. That much, I knew. I couldn’t face them, I wasn’t ready. My magic healed. How would I battle something that hurt? They called to me like a dare, but, I knew better. Like a child with a nightmare, I buried my head under the sheets and kicked until it all went away.

Leo’s arms wrapped around me until the kicks and shivers stilled. A nightmare.

“Shhh. I’m here, nothing will hurt you.” His body locked over mine in a protective hold.

My eyes opened to sunlight peeking through the windows. Our eyes met. Embarrassment shadowed over my cheeks. At my age, nightmares made me feel juvenile.

“I’m sorry. It’s just that sometimes I have crazy dreams.” No need to go into details. I didn’t want to scare him off the first night we had sex. I did want him to get me naked again. The lust warmed over my body. The love would come later. It had to. This man that loomed over me right now melted my heart with his gaze. The blue in his eyes shone with fire as he regarded my body covered only in his sheet.

“Do you want to tell me about the nightmares?” I hadn’t said anything about nightmares had I? Although, I guess the trembles gave me away. I couldn’t share these with anyone.

“No.” A quiet word, but unwilling to bend.

“Layna.” A soft sigh escaped his mouth. “Whenever you’re ready, I’m here.”

“I’m glad you’re here.” Leo had always been my rock. I placed a hand on his chest. It flexed from my touch.

“Wow.” His voice lingered in my ears and the adoration in his eyes spread heat throughout the bed. He had a fair to tan complexion that balanced well with the dirty blond locks on his head. They were scattered now and his hand instinctively went up to his head to comb them out.

I brought my body closer to his and wrapped myself around him and the sheets as best as I could. My soft ivory skin looked like a reflector next to his tan skin.

“I can’t believe we finally did this,” he said with a mischievous grin on his face. I saw the excitement grow as the crinkles in his eyes grew deeper.

“I’m the happiest guy on the planet right now. Do you even realize how trapped you are for life? I’m addicted now.” His words paused as his hands grabbed at my ass. “Are you going to say anything? Is this okay? I mean, you feel good, right?” The nervous questions started to spill out of his lips so I decided to save him. I didn’t think I’d ever seen this much emotion so blatantly on his face. Leo’s good looks gave him a confident air. I took a little guilty pleasure as I watched him squirm.

“I’m just savoring this moment.” It was so simple. Really it was. Something held me back. I had told him last night that I trusted him, because, I knew everything about him. Belatedly, it occurred to me that Leo probably thought he knew everything about me too.

He didn’t. Some things I couldn’t tell anyone.

His gaze hovered over me expectantly while waiting for me to continue.

“How does a girl get so lucky?” I breathed in his ear. Then I saw the joy come to his face, first in his lips as they quirked up in a smile and then in his eyes as they grew wide and serious and then got crinkles in the corners as they smiled, too. Could I ever have someone that knew everything about me?

Our lips joined in a kiss that had guarantees of a lot more than that when my phone rang. Because of my job, I usually had to answer the phone. I never knew when a mental breakdown would require my services with the hospital or the police. A quick glance at the phone told me it was Cameron.

“I guess you’re going to answer it,” Leo surmised, but did have a tinge of regret in his voice.

“Hi, Cameron.”

“So…you’re still with Leo?”

“Yes.” I couldn’t help the smile on my face now. Of course, I was a little embarrassed because I was pretty sure he could hear Cameron, too.

“I knew it! We all knew it! I’m so happy for you two. Do you know how long I think he’s been trying to seduce you?” I could just see how her cute little auburn curls must have bounced up and down with all the energy her voice was giving off. And when I thought about her question I realized I did know.

A hand gently slid up and down my leg. I looked into the eyes of the guilty party and just thought it was too cute to stop him.

Cameron’s voice brought me back to the phone call.

“Well, now that you two finally got that out of the way I need you to come join us for brunch at our favorite French restaurant.” A purposeful sound in her voice brought me back to the phone. What was the secret?

“Okay, but give me an hour.” I would have to get clean clothes from home first so I wouldn’t have the
I spent the night somewhere else
look in my outfit. Not that I worried about what my friends thought. That would probably be the majority of our discussion. I just didn’t want the other patrons of the restaurant to know.

I hung up the phone and looked back at Leo.

“I’ve gotta go.” My mind quickly recalled some of the words we’d said to each other last night. One three word sentence in particular stood out in my thoughts. I love you.
Oh my gosh
. Shock still trembled through my body as I remembered all the years of our friendship that had changed last night. Had we made the right choice?
I’m just going to go with this and see what he says. I won’t bring it up.

“I’m only letting you go if you’ll promise to have dinner with me tonight.” How could I deny anything to those baby blue eyes? His hands cupped around my cheeks and slipped his tongue right into my already parted lips.

“I think I can put up with being fed,” I bantered back.

Chapter Three

An
hour and a half hour later I drove to the restaurant. Of course, the girl who’d shacked up last night had to be late. I couldn’t wait to hear their comments.

As I pulled into the parking lot, I was reminded why this was always our favorite spot to meet. The warm colored bricks and cozy colors gave it a quant but old world feel. And we loved the creamy, rich French food.

I pulled the door open and stepped through. A decision to throw on my favorite pair of jeans that had a hole in them stopped me for a second. I knew that holes in jeans were kind of cool so I let it be. I had just earned the hole instead of paying for it.