Road to Recovery (26 page)

A loud horn blaring had Brooke grabbing
for the dashboard. “Do you mind? One accident was enough for me. I
would like to make it to the hospital in one piece. To work that
is, not in an ambulance. There are speed limits for a reason. And
red lights,” Brooke screeched when Cori blew through
one.

“
That was yellow, not red,”
Cori clarified.

“
It turned red when we were
under it, so that means it was red.”

“
OK, Mom, I’ll slow down.
Geez, first you get me up earlier than normal and now you are
criticizing my driving. And you still haven’t answered my
question.”

“
What? About this week
without Lucas? It was good. We talked every night. Do you want me
to say I miss him? Yes, I do. Even when he’s trying to make me
blush at work by doing all those things you mentioned earlier. But
the truth is I miss it, and him. It’s a battle every day to keep it
separate from work,” Brooke confessed.

Cori gave her a big grin, her head
bopping to the music playing on the radio. “Why do you need to keep
it separate? I don’t understand that.”

Brooke sighed. “I just do. It’s way too
early to be making it public. It’s also not professional to bring
your home life to work with you either.”

“
What are you, the Morality
Police? Let me guess. You put your grocery cart back in the
designated bin when you’re done with it too, right?” Cori took her
eyes off the road again, smirked at Brooke, and then stuck her
tongue out when Brooke rolled her eyes.

“
Of course. Don’t you? Or
are you one of those people that let the cart bang into someone’s
car?”

Cori shook her head. “Never mind.
Sometimes there is no getting through to you. And here we are, so
let’s go get my coffee.” Cori expertly swerved her car into the
tiny parking space.

***

At three o’clock Brooke glanced up at
the knock at her door.

“
Hey, you,” Lucas said with
a bright smile.

“
Hi, yourself.” She smiled
back, and then frowned when he shut her door and started to walk
toward her. “What are you doing?”

“
Giving you a proper hello,”
he said as he pulled her out of her chair and into his arms for a
bone-crushing hug.

“
Lucas, we’re at work.
Someone might come in,” she protested weakly.

“
Don’t care. I haven’t seen
you in five long days. I want to hold you for a minute. It’s all
I’ve thought about on the flight home,” he confessed. Tilting her
face up to his, he placed a gentle kiss on her lips. “Did you miss
me?”

She snuggled closer into his arms.
“Yes, I did.”

He set her back down and looked his
fill. He loved the way she dressed. Today was a short navy pencil
skirt with a navy and orange silk blouse tucked into the waistband,
finished off with navy blue heels. She even pulled her hair up into
some complicated twist. “Wow, you look sexy. Did I ever tell you
how much your work clothes turn me on?”

She laughed. “Many times.”

“
I saw your bags in the
Range Rover, so I know you are packed and ready for the weekend.
Can you leave early? Let me take you to my house and slowly get you
out of those clothes.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

He saw her hesitate, but then quickly
concede. “Can you give me about thirty minutes to finish up what
I’m doing?”

“
Sure. I’ll run and grab a
few things from my office too. I’m going to have to do some work
this weekend. I’m sorry about that.”

“
Don’t worry about it. We
won’t be spending the entire time with my parents. I wouldn’t want
to subject you to that kind of torture.” She said it in a joking
tone, but the laughter didn’t reach her eyes.

“
I can’t believe you’ve
never been to Burlington,” Brooke stated when they made their way
over the Vermont border the next morning.

“
Never had a reason. I’ve
been to Vermont before, but never Burlington. That would be Ryan.
He’s the skier in the family. So anywhere there are slopes within a
three hour radius he is there any chance he can get,” Lucas
explained. “Besides, I could say the same thing. I’m surprised
you’ve never been to Saratoga.”

“
Very true. But my mother
was all about leaving the Northeast for vacation. Not exotic
enough. And though Saratoga is popular in the summer with horse
racing, it definitely wasn’t her cup of tea. Mary Lou Whitney or
not.” She looked over and smiled at him.

“
OK, so tell me—what should
I expect this weekend? With your parents, I mean,” he asked
starting a new conversation for the two-and-a-half-hour
drive.

“
Well, I’ve told you how my
mother is. And you know a little bit about my father. I have asked
that they keep the dinner party small tonight. I really hope my
mother respected my wishes, but I’m afraid she might not have.
Birthdays are a big deal to her. Anytime she can plan a dinner
party, she goes all out.”

Brooke paused briefly. “Last year I was
still in and out of the hospital recovering. She was really upset
that she didn’t get to throw me a birthday dinner. Not that I would
have been in the mood for one. But it’s all about presentation to
her. As far back as I can remember I never had a birthday that I
wanted, only what she thought I wanted.”

His eyes grew wide. “Really?
Never?”

“
Well, no. When I was a
child I had tea parties and princess parties. All catered, of
course, with hired entertainers and staff to make sure everything
went smoothly. My mother and her friends and her friend’s children
would all dress up in the theme and play the part. I guess there
are plenty of little girls out there who would have loved a party
like that. I just wasn’t one of them.” She shrugged and sighed,
then stretched her legs out in front of her, crossed her ankles.
“Don’t get me wrong. I know there are plenty of kids out there who
don’t have any parties at all. I didn’t like to be the center of
attention though.”

She hoped he didn’t think she had a sad
childhood. She always felt it was sad, but didn’t want others to
think so. Maybe he would understand her a bit more if he knew what
it was like for her growing up. Though to be honest, she had told
him plenty and it probably didn’t come off in a good light for her
parents.

“
So what was your birthday
wish? What would have been your ideal birthday party?” he asked
her, taking his eyes off the road and frowning at the concentration
on her face.

“
You mean when I was a kid?”
At his nod she continued with a smile. “Something fun. I know this
sounds crazy, but you know those big blow-up castles? I always
wanted one of those for the day. I only wanted to run around the
yard with my friends, play hide and seek, run under a sprinkler and
jump in and out of one of those blow-up castles. Sounds silly I
guess. And frivolous. But for one birthday, I would have loved
nothing more than a simple party like that. No servers, no dresses
or frilly streamers and balloons all over the yard. Just fun. A
typical party for a kid.”

Not wanting to dwell on what could have
been and start this trip off in a negative mood, she turned the
topic back to him. “What about you? Did you always do what you
wanted on your birthday? I bet you did. Your parents probably had
all sorts of fun parties for you and Ryan.”

“
Yeah. We always got what we
wanted. Birthdays were our day. Our day for whatever we wanted, and
they made sure we got it. Regardless of how big or small it might
have been,” he said in a nostalgic tone.

“
Your parents are pretty
special people. You’re lucky. Don’t ever take it for
granted.”

He reached across and squeezed her
hand, his eyes looking into hers. “Yeah, I’m pretty lucky. And I
don’t take it for granted.”

***

“
Pull to the right of the
garage door.” Brooke pointed to the space in Mac’s driveway. “That
way we won’t be blocking Mac when he gets home.” Brooke had
explained that Mac was on call for the day. But he had promised to
get out as soon as he could, at least before the dinner party,
barring any emergencies.

“
I’ve got a key, so we can
let ourselves in and get settled.” Pulling out her keychain, she
walked to the front door while Lucas gathered their bags. The
two-story modern townhouse overlooked Lake Champlain in the near
distance.

“
He has a nice view of the
lake from here.” Lucas was looking out the back windows after he
dropped the bags by the kitchen island.

“
Yes, he has always loved
the water. Which is why I think he was so taken with your house.
But he isn’t around enough to care for a house. This suits his
needs for the time being.” She walked over to grab the garment bag
that Lucas had laid across one of the barstools in the kitchen.
“There are three bedrooms upstairs. Let’s put our clothes away and
then we can relax a bit before we have to change and go to my
parents.”

Once in the bedroom, Lucas set the rest
of the bags on the floor by the closet where Brooke had already
hung up their dinner clothes. “Come here. You are all tense and
worked up. I know just the thing to relax you,” he whispered in her
ear as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her, then started to
back her up.

Her legs hit the side of the bed.
Something feral came over her. For the first time, she decided she
wanted to take charge. She had all this pent-up energy she needed
released.

Running her hands through his
close-cropped hair, loving the feel of the silky strands, she
gripped his head tighter and deepened the kiss. Then she pushed her
body tightly against his and knew he was as aroused as
her.

She continued to kiss him deeply,
grinding her hips against his, trying to get even closer, wanting
to let go for once. His hands came up to grip her hips and held her
there.

Breaking the kiss, she started to trail
her lips along his cheek to his ear, licking it gently, then bit
his lobe not so gently. She trailed more kisses down his neck and
back up again. When she felt him shiver against her, she grew
bolder and made a split second decision. “Me this time. I need to
do this. Let me do this for you,” she whispered into his
ear.

His groan was the only acceptance she
needed. Running her hands down his waist, then under his shirt,
across his flat abs and chest, she felt the sprinkling of light
hair she knew was there as her hands roamed, sought. She loved the
feel of his chest and abs, loved every bit of his lean muscular
body.

Removing her hands, Brooke directed his
arms to his side. Gripping the bottom of his shirt, she slowly
pulled it over his head inch by agonizing inch, her eyes mesmerized
by his physique. “Have I ever told you how much I love your body?”
Placing her hands against his chest, palms down, fingers spread
wide, she tried to feel as much of him as she could at once. “It’s
so strong. I love how strong you are. How your strength feels
against me.”

Lucas stood still, his eyes deep with
passion, watching her touch him. He seemed unable to form any words
against her actions, not that she expected an answer from him. She
felt empowered in the moment. Loved that she was able to make him
lose control like this.

She hoped that her eagerness would
overshadow any awkwardness from what she was about to do. Something
she never had done before—and wanted Lucas to be her first. Needed
him to be her first.

Clutching his waistband, staring into
his ice blue eyes, she started to unbutton his shorts. The sound of
the zipper being lowered roared in her ears. She leaned in for
another kiss and whispered against his lips, “All for me.” She
pushed his shorts and underwear down. “Step out of them,” she
ordered, her voice hoarse.

She watched while he made quick work of
sliding his shoes off and kicking the remains of his clothes away.
She took her time, her eyes drinking in her fill of him as he stood
there like a Greek God in all his glory while she remained fully
clothed.

Placing her lips again his collarbone,
she started to work her way down, paused at his nipples, licked and
bit, drove him a little crazy. Just like he loved to do to her, she
repaid the favor back to him in spades. His groans and moans
continued to urge her on. Don’t think, she ordered herself, just
feel. Just do.

After paying homage to his chest, she
made her way down further, along his ribs, to his waist, licked and
kissed and sucked in turn. Teasing him with her fingertips, not
able to get enough.

Placing one knee on the carpeted floor,
then the other, she came face-to-face with the impressive length of
him and wrapped one hand around him. Tentatively at first, she
stroked him, then more forcefully when she heard the responses
coming from his throat.

“
Brooke,” he pleaded with
her.

Now or never. She took a breath, leaned
forward, and ran the tip of her tongue over his smoothness. He
continued to stand rigid, so she pressed on. Sliding her tongue
down the length of him and then back up, tasting him, getting
comfortable with the feel of his body. She placed her parted lips
over him and heard him growl as he threaded his fingers through her
hair to hold her head in place.