Saving Forever - Part 2 (2 page)

“After my first surgery in residence. I got lucky with a surgery most third years fight for, and I got to do it on my own.” She had been ecstatic and so in love with becoming a doctor back then.

He rested his chin lightly on her stomach, angled so he could face her. “Why did you switch careers?”

She stared down at his handsome face. His tousled hair and half naked body gave seduction a new meaning. She didn’t want to talk
; she wanted him.

His eyes, with their eyebrows raised in question, changed their meaning and he gave her a sly, sexy grin.

It dawned on her then that while she’d been mesmerized by his good looks, she had started pressing her hips up against his body again and again. Apparently her body knew what it wanted more than her head did.

He pressed his soft lips against her stomach and let his tongue circle her belly button. He leaned to his left and let his body weight shift to his left knee and elbow as he brought his head back level to hers. As he spoke, his hand circled the inside of her leg. His fingers brushed the skin of her inner thighs but would not touch the one spot begging to be touched. “Too much talking?” he teased.

Charity let her head fall back against the pillow. Her sigh turned into a moan when Elijah’s hand rubbed over her panties, in the center of her heat and desire.

Chapter 2

Elijah’s lips pressed hard against hers. His tongue forced its way into her mouth and she arched her body to be closer to his. Her hands ran over his chest and found their way down his back. No man should have skin this smooth and soft. Her fingers ran into the top of his jeans. She had undone his button and zipper but then he had distracted her with his kisses and touch.

She turned her head slightly away from his mouth but that did not deter his lips. They continued their torment along her neck. “Hey,” she whispered
. “Do you want to take these things off?” She tugged lightly at a belt loop.

Hot breath teased her ear and neck. “Do you want me to?”

Was he serious? “Well, it’s only kinda fair. I’m lying here in my undies.”

His head came up so he could look her in the eyes. He smiled. “I really like those panties.”

Gosh, even the way he said that was beyond sexy.

He slid towards the end of the bed and before he stood, kissed the center of her underwear. “So in the event of being complete
ly fair…” He pulled his jeans down and kicked them off.

Charity’s gaze roamed hungrily down his bare chest, across an extremely hot pair of black Calvin Klein boxer briefs. She paused there momentarily and then glanced down at his muscular quads. He had to run distance. The guy had unbelievable muscle tone like he lifted weights but he was lean and fit. She let her eyes travel back up to Elijah’s face. She was grinning and winked when she met his gaze. “Nice undies.”

He hopped back on the bed. “Happy now?” His bare skin brushed hers and her left leg had a mind of its own and wrapped itself over his hip.

“I’m getting there.”

He laughed. “I feel like a sixteen-year-old kid when I’m around you.”

“Wow. If this is how you looked at sixteen…” She ran a finger zigzag over his chest.

He caught her hand and brought it to his mouth. He pressed each finger against his lips and gently sucked each one so they brushed against his tongue.

Charity wondered if his mouth could create a
more exquisite torture against her breast without a bra on. The thought had her panting and biting her lower lip to try to hide it.

Elijah’s eyes never left hers. He brought her hand back to rest against the side of her body and then tenderly ran his fingers down her leg that lay over him. When he reached her knee, he cupped it and lifted it off of him back against the other. His palm covered the side of her hip and as his fingers dug gently into her derriere muscle he pushed against her hip bone to force her on her back
instead of her side.

His hand found its way under the lace of panties. “Look at me,” he whispered when her eyes closed in pleasure. His hand stopped its movement until she opened her eyes.

“You…are…” She lost the ability to speak when his finger slipped inside of her. Each time she closed her eyes, he begged her to open them. He didn’t speak, but would pause until she looked at him again. She could feel the rushing pleasure building inside of her and when he bent forward so he could kiss her breast, she let everything go and climaxed.

He knew exactly what he was doing, and
he was good at it. Very good. Her eyes still closed, she smiled. She heard him chuckle and knew he was watching her. When her heart settled back to a semi-normal rhythm, she pounced. She pushed his shoulders back and straddled his hips, forcing him onto his back.

His look of surprise switched to a confident grin as he tucked his hands behind his head. “You enjoyed that then, did you?”

“Very much, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Under her hips, she could feel his hardness beneath her. As much as she really wanted to know what it felt like to have him inside of her – and she
really
wanted to know – they had somehow come to an unspoken agreement that there would be no sex tonight. It must have been his idea but she didn’t recall having the thought cross her mind. She had to admit she liked it, and it made her like him more.

She bent down and kissed his beautiful lips. “I believe,” she whispered between kisses as her hand trailed down his chest, “I have a favour to return.”

His eyes closed when her hand slipped inside his boxer briefs.

She paused her movement until he opened his eyes. She shrugged and grinned. “It’s only fair…”

An annoying radio talk show invaded Charity’s sleep. Elijah lay beside her, his arm and leg covering her. She swore under her breath when her body trembled in anticipation of what he could do to her. They had spent the night kissing and fooling around like a couple of sixteen-year-olds. He was asleep now, but if she…

The radio
host on the clock beside her laughed at some stupid joke he’d just told. Charity rolled over and hit the sleep button.

Crap! Her flight left in a little over an hour and she had to pack! They’d barely fallen asleep. She suppressed a smile. It was worth it.

She slipped out of bed and quietly went to the bathroom. She showered, pulled her hair in a ponytail and threw on a bit of mascara. She’d grabbed tights and a comfortable shirt the night before and set them in the bathroom. She dressed and then brushed her teeth. Packing her toiletries quickly, she stuffed them in the suitcase right by the bathroom door.

Elijah turned on the light beside the bed and leaned up against the headboard. The sheet barely covered his lower body. His stomach muscles flexed as he stretched and yawned. “Did I just catch you trying to sneak out of your own hotel room?”

She laughed. “Darn it! Why’d you have to wake up? You foiled my plan.”

He sniffed. “I feel so used and abused.”

She crawled across the bed and kissed his exaggerated but still sexy pouting lips. “Sorry, but I’m going to miss my flight if I don’t hurry.” She hopped off the bed and stuffed the few clothes inside the drawers into her suitcase.

“When are you back in town?”

“Two weeks.”

“Damn, I was hoping I might have changed your mind and had you wanting to come back next weekend.”

She smiled. “I would if I could. I’ve got stuff going on in Atlanta next weekend so I can’t make it back till the following weekend.”

“Two weeks and you’re running late now? Somehow my plan to leave you all hot, bothered and wanting got ruined. You deviously turned it all around.”

“I’m very sneaky.” She zipped her suitcase and pulled the handle up. “I seriously would love to stay but I’ve got a meeting at eleven-thirty. I can’t miss this flight.”

“No worries, mate.” He started to get out of bed.

Charity put her hand on his chest to stop him. The warmth of his skin tingled up her arm and her body responded instantly. “Why don’t you stay here and sleep? Check out isn’t until eleven. That’s over five hours of sleep if you want. Probably more than you get on a normal night.” Every doctor she knew worked on little to no sleep. They had to steal it when they could.

Elijah hesitated before leaning back against the pillows. “You’re right. It saves driving home and I have to be back at the hospital at noon.”

“I’ll even tuck you in.” She pulled the tousled comforter off the floor and laid it on the bed. The duvet hugged against his long, lean body as if it were trying to taunt her. “It’s tempting to crawl back in there with you.”

“There’s plenty of room. I’ll make it worth missing your flight.” He grinned mischievously.

She groaned. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re a tease?”

“Never.”

She sat on the end of the bed and put her runners on. What should she say now? Thanks for the great time? Catch ya on the next round? Everything sounded cheap or stupid. She looked on the bright side of leaving; he wanted to see her again so this wasn’t a one night stand. She checked her watch. Rrgghh! She had to get going.

Elijah came up behind
her and wrapped his arms around her. He kissed her hair. “Can I call you?”

She turned her head to kiss him. The kiss deepened and sent butterflies scattering everywhere inside her. She hated to pull away but had to. “Call, text, I promise to answer.”

“Fraudster. You said the same thing last week.” He groaned. “You are going to be the death of me.”

“It’s a good thing you’re a doctor then.” She kissed him one more time before regretfully heading to the door.

Chapter 3

Once back in Atlanta, Charity tried to focus on work. She had a ton of things to organize and take care of. She planned a massive Christmas Extravaganza for Forever Hope Hospital. Already into November, there were now less than two weeks before the event. She had to remind herself to focus on work, not Elijah.

The Extravaganza would only be one day, but it would focus on kids during the day session and
adults on the evening. Speaking of focussing… she wouldn’t mind putting some attention on one particular adult.

She caught herself daydreaming again and wondered if Elijah might be thinking of her as well. He called her the night she had flown back. She had said hello and asked how he was doing. He started to reply and then had to let her go because of an emergency somewhere in the hospital he needed to rush to. They hadn’t talked since. That was four days ago. They had exchanged the odd text but it wasn’t the same as hearing that sexy accent of his.

The muffled ring of her cell phone caught her attention. She sat at her desk behind the computer and checked if the phone was hidden under the messy mounds of papers piling on both sides of the keyboard. She finally figured out, from the barely audible ring, that it lay in her purse. The ringing stopped by the time she pulled it out.

She
checked the caller ID. Her father.

Did she need to call him back? She tapped the side of her phone with her thumb and tried to come up with a reasonable excuse to avoid him. The man had x-ray vision.  As a teen she couldn’t get away with anything and he was hardly ever around. She rolled her eyes. He probably took one look at Elijah on Sunday or Monday and knew he’d been fooling around with his daughter. Elijah’s head was probably mounted on some l
amppost outside the hospital as a warning.

Her eyes rolled toward the ceiling. She needed to quit watching HBO. Plus her father would never blame his doctors.  The phone buzzed to show she now had a message. She hit the speed-dial number to check it. Would Elijah have mentioned something to Simon or someone else at the hospital
? And, if so, had word gotten round to her father? She could just imagine the judgement he’d pass down on her. She knew exactly what would happen. He’d be furious and accuse her of taking advantage of his staff. Like she was purposely trying to sabotage his hospital.

Phone on speaker, she had to enter her password and go through the automated voice telling her what buttons to press. She finally got to new messages and hit the play button.

Click!

Her bloomin’ father called, listened to her voice answer and then hung up! She hit redial and counted slowly to ten. Not really sure why she was annoyed, she focused on letting it go before he picked up.

“Dr. Thompson.”

“It’s me, Dad. I missed your call.”

“Charity!” Rustling paper sounded through the phone.

She realized he had her on speaker.

“Was there something you needed?”

She rested her forehead against the heel of her palm. He’d called her and she returned his call. “I missed your call. I thought I’d check if you needed something.” Their conversations for the past few years were always similar. Awkward and always somehow accusing.

“A bunch of packages arrived here yesterday addressed to you in care of me. I didn’t know if I should get my office assistant to post them to you.”