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His hands tightened on her hips before he walked toward the stairs.
“Too far.” Those two words were a snarl of feral need.
He set her on a step and came over her, kissing her again while delving under her sleepshirt and giving her panties an urgent tug. Seconds later they were wrapped around her ankles. Rex let go long enough to pull a package from his pocket and pull his pants down. He rolled on his protection, braced his hands on the step her shoulders lay against. He looked at her, studied her a second as if asking permission. She nodded, and without hesitation he pushed into her.
She accepted all of him. Something horrible must have happened, because the caring man who had been so tender a few days earlier was gone. In his place was this frantic, wild man who had come to her for solace. The wonder of his transformation amazed and gratified her with a profoundness that made her steady herself against his forearms and accept his strong thrusts readily. She would be sore in the morning but that didn’t matter. Rex needed her, and she wanted him.
With one final plunge, he shook and grunted his release. He came down on top of her, his head resting on her breast and sighed. “Tiff.”
She wrapped her arms around him and held him tight. “I’m right here. It’ll be all right.”
Tiffani was slowly rubbing circles on his back when he shifted off her. Rex now seemed embarrassed or ashamed, or perhaps both. She felt honored he’d chosen her to smooth away his pain. The self-assured surgeon had been vulnerable, and had come to her for acceptance.
He searched her face. She let her concern for him, for his wellbeing, shine through her eyes as she met his. Standing, he pulled up his pants. She wanted to say something but nothing appropriate came to mind. Rex offered her his hand and she took it. He helped her to her feet. Tiffani wobbled for a second and he put a hand on her elbow. Her panties remained hooked on one foot.
He went down on his knees and stretched the tiny piece of hot pink material. “Step in.” She did as he asked. With careful, gentle movements, he pulled them up and into place. That was almost as erotic as what had just happened.
“Please, forgive me. There is no excuse for that kind of behavior.” He put his back to her as he stood. “I... I should go. I was wrong to come here. To take my bad day out on you.”
“Don’t.”
He looked at her. “I’m surprised you’re not screaming at me. I barge in here, wouldn’t tell you why, and took you on the stairs? A few minutes ago I was only thinking of myself. That’s not how it should be between us.”
“I could tell you were hurting. You would never hurt me, remember? I believe that. I was glad I was here for you. I understand.” She paused and smiled. “And I liked it too.”
Her words were like a balm to Rex’s wounded heart.
This time she was the one who reached out a hand. He took it and she led him up the stairs.
He hadn’t planned to come to Tiffani’s. Somehow, he’d found himself speeding through the streets and had ended up here. If he hadn’t remembered the detail about the flower pot she kept beside her front door he might still be wandering the city. No, he would have called her. He’d needed Tiffani. She had made the devastated faces of the family of the boy he’d lost go away for a few minutes.
“The bathroom is in there.” She pointed to a door off her room. “Go have a hot shower. Have you eaten anything?”
“Not since noon.” He sounded tired even to himself.
“Then while you’re getting a shower, I’ll fix you something to eat.” She headed for the door.
Some of the shame Rex felt eased. She should have put him out on his tail for the way he had behaved, but instead she had shown him concern.
* * *
Half an hour later, Rex went down her stairs wearing only his scrub pants. A soft humming told him in what direction to go to find Tiffani. She had her back to him as he stood in the doorway of the kitchen, watching the gentle movements of her hips as she worked at the counter.
This was a sight he could get used to. A sight he could look forward to coming home to.
“Hey.”
She smiled over her shoulder.
“Thanks for the shower. I didn’t leave any hot water.”
“You weren’t supposed to.” She picked up a plate and put it on the table in front of the chair closest to him. On it was a ham sandwich, some apple slices and chips.
“Not a gourmet meal like you can fix but the best I can do this late at night. Tea will be ready in a minute.” She stepped to the stove. “Have a seat. Don’t wait for me.”
Rex pulled the chair out from the small white table and sat. “This looks good.”
The teapot whistled and Tiffani picked it up and poured water into the two mugs waiting on the counter. Each had a tea bag string hanging over the side. “My mother always said hot tea makes everything feel a little bit better.”
She sat a mug in front of him then gingerly took a chair at the end of the table. Placing her mug on the table as well, she sat and cradled it with both hands, as if warming them.
Guilt swamped him. He picked up half of the sandwich. Tiffani had actually cut it in half. He’d not had that done for him since he was a child. She had a way of making him feel cared for. She’d demonstrated that more than once while working at the clinic and had certainly shown him in the aftermath of his self-induced shame a short while ago. It had been a long time since he’d felt special to anyone. Her generosity tonight was more than he deserved. He took a bite of the sandwich. “This is good. Thank you.”
“Despite your gourmet cook status, I don’t think you take good enough care of yourself. You miss too many meals.”
“Now you sound like a doctor or a nagging wife.”
She sat straighter, looking indignant. “I’m neither, thank you.”
He liked the fire in her eyes. Finishing his sandwich and chips, Rex started on his apple slices, pausing for a sip of tea. The warmth did calm him somewhat.
Tiffani twisted the handle of her mug one way then the other before she said, “Will you tell me what happened to upset you?”
Rex stopped crunching his apple. After the way he had acted he owed her some explanation. His gaze met hers. Everything about hers said she wouldn’t accept silence. “I’m sorry about tonight. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“I’m glad I was here for you,” she answered in a soft voice. “Please, tell me why I needed to be.”
It took all that was in him to show his weakness but she deserved to know what had driven him to come to her. “I lost a teenager tonight. I hate telling parents their child is gone. There was nothing I could do.”
She didn’t touch him, just said softly, “You and I know better than most that not everyone can be fixed. You even said that during the interview the other day.”
She was right.
“Yeah, but that doesn’t make it better, or any easier.”
“No, it doesn’t.” Reaching across the table, she gave his hand a squeeze. “Knowing how you feel, the malpractice case must have been especially tough on you.”
It had been. More than he’d let on to himself, and nothing he would show the world. It had caused doubt to creep in. Made him second-guess, analyze every decision he made in a case. He went over and over them in his head, looking for something he could have done differently.
Tiffani continued, “I didn’t read much about the case on purpose. I didn’t want to judge you any more than I already had. You were the center point of the campaign and I wanted to think forward, but I did hear some of the media reports.”
“They were neither flattering or accurate. Especially with the Royster family doing all the talking.” He pulled his hand from hers.
It might kill him to tell the story but he was going to anyway. After how he’d acted with Tiffani she deserved to know the monsters that chased him. “I don’
t know if it was the fates, the universe getting back at me or just the luck of the draw that my patient turned out to be Mr. Royster.”
Without saying anything, Tiffani’s look asked him to explain. He had her complete attention. She even stopped fiddling with her mug.
“Vic Royster used to be my father’s best friend when I was growing up. He was also the father of my girlfriend in high school.”
Tiffani pursed her lips and nodded. “I thought doctors avoided doing surgery on people they were friends with?”
“I had no idea it was him. I was called in. An emergency. I didn’t know the patient’s name until after I was out of surgery. He was already too far gone by the time I got to him. I couldn’t have done anything more than I did. But I did try.” Talking about that night started the sick feeling he remembered so well churning his guts once again. Would it ever go away?
“So why the lawsuit?”
He looked at her. “The problem was, my past came back to haunt me.”
