His Love (14 page)

“Holy crap. You have to stop,” she said raggedly, both of her hands on his thighs now. “I’m melting into a puddle here.”

“You started it.” He kissed her neck, licked her throat, and then his hand moved down to her thigh. He was barely doing anything, and she was turning into a mindless heap of lust. He was right, she’d started it, but now, he’d clearly taken the reins. Moving back to her ear, he whispered, “Just letting you know I’ll finish it.”

She kissed his mouth, hot and hungry, not caring who saw them. Her hands twisted in his hair as she pulled him closer. He kissed her back with equal fire.

“I can get you two a room, if ya like.” Sean was only inches away, smirking at them from the other side of the bar. “Either that, or something cold to drink to help you cool down. Take your pick.”

Pulling back, Toni had to laugh. But Gavin actually blushed as he sputtered, “Shut it, ya muppet.”

“Just sayin’.”

“And I’m just sayin’ to shut it.”

“My bar, son.” Sean winked, enjoying his younger brother’s discomfort. “Too bad Cassie couldn’t come out tonight. She’d be so pleased to see you two like this.”

“She feelin’ all right?” Gavin asked.

“Aye, fine. She’s out on the island for the weekend with her girlfriends. She’ll be back tomorrow night.” Sean flashed a bright smile. “Getcha a drink?”

The sound of a glass shattering at the other end of the bar made them all turn their heads. Taylor, the other bartender working with Sean, was holding her hand, her face pale. Blood dripped down the side of her hand onto the floor.

Sean swore under his breath as both he and Gavin rushed to her.

“It slid out of my hand,” Taylor said in a shaky voice. “I tried to catch it…”

“Ah, shit,” Sean said when he saw all the blood. He looked to his brother, but Gavin was already on it, reaching for her hand.

“You’re all right,” Gavin said gently. “Let me see. I’m a doctor. Let me help.”

Toni watched from her seat as Gavin tended to the young woman. Even as tears slid down her pale face, Taylor remained calm. Whatever Gavin was saying to her, she nodded a few times, then spoke. Sean hovered, his face creased with concern. Toni watched Gavin care for her, watched him say things to Sean over his shoulder while holding the sliced hand up, watched him apply pressure with a white towel as he smiled and spoke to her, meant to soothe.

Toni’s father was a doctor. A surgeon. But she’d never actually seen him operate or anything. Watching Gavin tend to a nervous patient, calm and collected and bringing smiles from the girl in pain… a soft kind of warmth flowed through Toni, surrounding her heart and squeezing it. She was more than impressed by Gavin; she was proud to be with him, to be his date, to be his… whatever she was.

It was more than pride buzzing through her. It was… well, something else, but what? Affection? She blinked at the thought, stunned. She’d never felt anything for the guys she’d dated. She didn’t let herself. It was easy to keep men at a safe emotional distance when she didn’t have real feelings for them. So this… no, she couldn’t feel anything deeper for Gavin. It wasn’t okay. He was
leaving
. That was why a fling with him had been such a good idea in the first place. No expectations, no demands…

He walked back to Toni, brows furrowed, and said, “She needs stitches, she cut herself pretty deep. Sean can’t leave. So I offered to ride with her in a cab to the nearest hospital, just to get her safely to an ER. I’m so sorry…”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Toni cried. “You’re helping her, that’s a wonderful thing. Go, go!”

But he hesitated, still looking at her. “I could leave you here, come back for you after, and I know you’d be fine. But the truth is, I’d rather you just come with me. If that’s all right with you. I mean, we won’t stay long, I just want to get her there and—”

Toni quickly kissed on his mouth, then grabbed her tiny handbag off the bar and hopped off her barstool. “I’ll go hail a cab. You bring her out front.”

*

Two hours later,
they were seated at a small Greek restaurant a few blocks from the hospital, having a late meal. After taking Taylor to the ER, they’d sat with her for half an hour before she’d insisted they go enjoy the rest of their night and that she’d be fine. She thanked Gavin profusely and hugged them both, sending them on their way.

“I have a confession to make,” Toni said over her Greek salad.

Gavin ripped a piece of pita bread in half, his brows arched. “Sounds interesting. Please, absolve yourself, my child.”

She giggled as he dipped the bread into the bowl of tzatziki in front of him. “Watching you in doctor mode… you were very impressive. I was impressed.”

His brows lifted even higher. “Really.”

“Yup. You’re, um… you’re an impressive guy, you know.” Her face turning pink, she bit back her grin and speared some lettuce and feta.

He chewed, mulling over her words. They ate in comfortable silence for a minute before he said, “Siobhan dumped me because she wanted me to be a plastic surgeon.”

Toni fumbled with her fork, almost dropping it into her salad. He knew it was likely because he never spoke of Siobhan, and he certainly hadn’t offered any details of the breakup before. She looked at him with cautious surprise. “I’m sorry, what?”

He blew out a weary breath. “I’m in general practice. I work in a small family practice in Dublin. Decent pay, lovely patients most of the time. Pretty standard.” He rubbed the back of his neck, eyes distant. “But boring, to her. Not quite prestigious enough. But being a doctor’s wife in itself had some sort of prestige, I suppose, so she stayed. Until I was offered an internship with a high profile plastic surgeon in Cork. I turned it down flat. She was furious.” He stared over Toni’s shoulder, caught up in memories. She watched and waited in patient silence.

“And when I told her what I really wanted was to be a pediatrician?” He said the last word with mock horror, eyes wide. “Nearly blew her head clear off. No prestige in that, no big money, no social rise, no swank.”

Toni smiled softly. “You want to be a pediatrician?”

“Aye. I’ve always loved kids; when I did my first rotation in pediatrics, I knew one day I’d pursue that. Always meant to.” He peered at her. “I’m curious… you seem to like the idea. Do ya?”

“Yes.” Her smile bloomed wider. “I think it’s wonderful. And kind of adorable, too. I bet you’re great with kids. You’re kind, gentle, patient… I bet you’d be great at it.”

Emotion welled up inside him, closing his throat. He could only stare at her. What he’d have given for Siobhan to say that even once, much less mean it. Toni meant it, her sincerity was obvious. A pang squeezed his heart, deep and resonant.

He blinked, cleared his throat, and said, “Thank you for that.”

“So are you going to pursue it now?” she asked.

He kept staring at her. She had no idea how much the things she was saying meant to him, the significance…

“Gavin?” She looked at him, face crinkling. “Hello?”

“Sorry. Sorry…” He reached for his water and took a long swallow. “Aye, I start the transition in September. I’m excited about it, actually.”

“That’s fantastic!” She raised her glass of Riesling in a toast. “To your dream coming true, then. To your success. I wish you all the luck in the world.”

“Thanks so much,” Gavin murmured, and lightly tapped his glass to hers. “Sláinte.” And as he sipped his drink, staring across the table at Toni as she smiled sweetly and went back to her salad, he realized he’d fallen in love with her.

‡

G
avin reached into
the bowl of popcorn with one hand and held the remote in the other, channel surfing aimlessly. Anna and Wren had left for work, Joe had gone out for a bike ride, and he was waiting for Toni to get home from work. During the week, she usually got in around six-thirty; they’d have dinner together, then hang out. Sometimes they went for a long walk on the beach, sometimes they went out to the Nest, sometimes they stayed in and watched TV or a movie… but every night, they’d end up in her room, having hot, urgent sex like he’d never had in his life.

The two of them together… it was explosive. As soon as they got near each other, much less started to kiss, it went from zero to sixty in about ten seconds. Groping recklessly, pulling off clothes, panting… they couldn’t get enough of each other. Then they’d cuddle for a while, talking about light, easy things. But every weeknight, he went back to his room to sleep. That boundary worked for her, so he didn’t push it. It just made him savor the weekends, when she’d let him stay the night. He loved being wrapped around her, holding her close, listening to her breathing turn slow and deep as she fell asleep in his arms, and waking up with her in the morning.

He couldn’t believe it was Wednesday already. The days were flying by. It’d been such a good holiday so far. He took walks or borrowed Joe’s mountain bike to explore the beach, or the town, looking into shops and finding places to enjoy the American food. Being on his own suited him fine, but Anna was his companion most days, since she was home during the day and worked at night. And the steamy nights with Toni… they went too fast. She filled his head during the day, when she was gone.

The front door slammed, breaking him from his reverie with a start. Toni stomped in, looking pretty but harried, and dropped her bag by the stairs with a thud.

He sat up straighter on the couch. “Hi.”

“Hi,” she bit out, flopping onto the loveseat. She yanked her hair out of its messy ponytail with a heated huff, then pulled it back and redid it. Anger radiated off her in waves. Even beneath her sleeveless ivory blouse and red silk pants, he could see the lines of her whole body were tense. She wasn’t just ticked off, she was livid.

He aimed the remote at the flat screen and turned it off. “Long day?” he asked carefully.

“I fucking hate my job,” she growled. “I hate everything about it. I hate my bosses, those pretentious, condescending asshats. I hate the clientele. I hate that I’m doing tedious paperwork and basically being paid to smile, wasting my time there when I know more about art than most of the people who walk through the door.” She took a deep breath and hissed. “I didn’t spend four years at Georgetown working my ass off for an art history degree only to fetch coffee and take shit from these snobs. And by that, I mean both my bosses
and
the clients. I should be working in a museum, or a much better gallery, or…” Her voice trailed off and she squeezed her eyes shut. “Oh, my God. I am so sorry.” She took a deep breath as her eyes opened and fixed on him. “I just came in here like a ranting lunatic. I must sound like such a raving bitch right now.”

“Well, not a bitch. And it sounds like you’ve good reason to be rantin’ and ravin’.” He held out a hand. “C’mere.”

*

With a sigh,
Toni moved to sink onto the couch beside him. He angled her slightly, brushed her long ponytail aside, and dropped a kiss on each bare shoulder before he started kneading the muscles in her neck. “Christ, you’re tense.”

“Yup.” She whimpered softly. “That feels wonderful.”

“Good. Relax. Take some deep breaths.”