Blood From a Stone Read online

  She laughed. “Well…are you my man servant now? Never mind. You were definitely my man servant last night.”

  He chuckled. “And I will be every night if you want me to be.” He handed her the toothbrush and she raised her eyebrows.

  “Are you trying to tell me something? Morning breath? ” She laughed.

  “No. I have a surprise. Just take this, go do whatever it is you need to, in the hall bathroom and then come back here.”

  “Okay…what are you up to?” She tilted her head and her brows knit together, as she slid from the bed, grabbing her bathrobe from the chair and heading out into the hall.

  “You’ll see. Just go.”

  She disappeared down the hall and returned a few minutes later, with fresh breath, fresh face and hair up.

  “Now, what?” she said.

  He moved in close and twisted one of the tendrils of her hair that had worked itself loose around his finger. “Shhh. Close your eyes.”

  She looked skeptical, but complied with his request. He slid the robe off her shoulders, drinking in the sight of her naked body with renewed appreciation, and then picked her up in his arms and walked toward the master bath, pushing the door open with his toe.

  “I know what you carrying me means” she laughed. “I found that out last night.”

  “Maybe. But not like you think this time.”

  “Can I open them yet?”

  “Yeah.”

  She opened her eyes to the sight of the candle lit oasis he’d created in her bathroom, just as he was lowering her into the warm, fragrant water. He slipped the damp towel from his waist and climbed in with her.

  “I thought…maybe we could start this day as good as the last one ended.” He smiled and moved over her, sliding her back against the wall of the tub, as his lips captured hers.

  “Maybe we can…let‘s see how we do,” she said playfully, as she entwined his long hair in her fingers, pulling him closer and deepening the kiss.

  A few moments later his lips parted from hers, and he loosened her hair and spread it out around her shoulders, before laying her back in the warm, swirling water. He put his hands behind her and cradled her body as he kissed his way down the slippery length of her neck, and across the glistening skin of her breasts.

  A soft sound escaped her lips, as he dragged one of her nipples into his mouth and reached between her legs with his skilled fingers.

  She arched forward to meet him, eagerly moving against his hand as she began stroking him beneath the sudsy water.

  A moment later he changed positions, lifting her up out of the water as he lay back and repositioned her over top of him. She smiled down and kissed his lips as she straddled him, and sunk down over the length of him. His hands reached forward to cup her breasts as she began to move.

  Fire and desire burned with white hot intensity as he slid his hands down to her waist helping her to glide up and down in an age old dance. He could feel her palms against his chest and her breath came in shallow gasps as she neared her peak.

  He began to move beneath her, teasing her with the pad of his finger, and matching her every move. A few moments later she cried out, reaching up to lift her hair off her neck as she did. She looked like a wet, golden goddess there on top of him in that moment and he buried himself as deep as he could go, before exploding into what felt like a million shards of sensation.

  He caught his breath for a moment before pulling her body down to lay on top of his. He captured her lips in his own gently stroking the soft skin of her back.

  She pulled back from him smiling. “So, how’d we

  do?”

  He looked puzzled for a second before the light of

  comprehension crossed his features. “Pretty damned good if you ask me. We can always practice more later in case we didn’t quite make it. But I think I can safely say, this day is starting off very well.” He kissed her again and then without warning, she squealed as he heaved himself, and her up out of the water. He popped the plug out of the tub, closed the curtain around them and flicked on the shower overhead dragging her against him into the warm jets of water.

  He lathered her body and hair before turning her around and aiming the jets of water to rinse her off, then helped her step out onto the mat. He rinsed his own hair and body, savoring the heat of the water pounding the muscles in his wide back. A few minutes later, he shut off the steamy torrent and opened the curtain to find her standing there holding a towel for him.

  He smiled and took it from her, drying off and following her back to the bedroom where she wrapped herself in a robe as he slid on his jeans.

  She took his hand and led him down the hallway toward the kitchen. He sat down on the couch in the living room, Cisco happily bounding over to lay at his feet, as she brewed coffee. A few moments later she appeared, handing him a mug of the steaming liquid, plunking down on the couch next to him, taking his hand hers.

  “I guess I don’t have to ask why you came back last

  night.”

  “No you don’t. Unless you think it was only because I

  wanted to take you to bed.”

  She laughed. “Well…that’s exactly what you did, now isn’t it.”

  “Okay. You have me there,“ he shrugged and smiled sheepishly. “But that’s not the reason and you know it. Love brought me back here last night. And as for taking you to bed…well, it was in my humble opinion, the best way to express the things that words won’t cover.”

  He winked rakishly as he reached up and tucked a lock of her hair back behind her ear, and kissed her lips softly, then pulled her into his lap.

  She stared at him for a long moment. “We’ve only known each other for what? Days. How can it be love that you feel?” A look of mild alarm crossed her features. “I don’t even know your last name for God’s sake!”

  “Trust me. I know what love isn’t…I’ve done that a few times. This is different. And…it’s Bellmaine.”

  He took a sip of his coffee. “Are you going to look me in the eye and try to tell me you don’t feel the same way? Because if you do you‘re a liar.”

  “Well. Samson Bellmaine, you’ve already read my thoughts…or rather, felt my soul. Whatever it is that you do.”

  “You felt it too…or have you forgotten? Although I guess it wasn‘t strong enough for you to have picked up my last name,” he said raising his brow.

  She shrugged. “Yeah…I guess, but it’s not the same. It only happened one time for a few seconds. You say that you do this, or feel this all the time.”

  “Well, it’s not all the time. Just, from what I can tell, after I’ve healed someone.” He inhaled deeply, not really feeling like broaching that subject, knowing it would indeed be in the spotlight in a few hours when she went to work and found out about the little boy.

  “We have to figure out what to do about this thing with your blood.”

  “I know,” he said quietly. “But it can wait. We can take our time and figure it out, can’t we?”

  “Yeah. I guess there’s no rush.”

  He shifted his body beneath her and slid a pillow behind his head. “What time are you going to work today?”

  “I usually work the 3pm shift. Speaking of which, I haven’t heard any more news about the little boy. I wonder how he is.” She looked around the room and he knew she was scouring the perimeter for her cell phone.

  She got up from his lap and headed toward the bedroom to search for it. As soon as she was safely out of sight, he pushed it a little further up under the corner of the couch, just to make sure.

  She returned a few minutes later and searched all over the kitchen before finally giving up.

  “Well damn. I can’t find my phone. I guess I’ll have to look some more later. Or have you call it and see if it starts buzzing somewhere. I hope I didn’t drop it in the restaurant.”

  He shrugged innocently, intent on changing the subject. “I’m sure it’ll turn up. We can look for it some more later. Do you
want to go out for breakfast?”

  She nodded. “Let me throw on some clothes.” She headed down the hallway toward the bedroom while he collected their coffee mugs and took them to the kitchen sink. Damn. He was really dreading what was going to come when she found out about the little boy.

  Choices. He sighed realizing it was time for another one of them. Maybe he should just go ahead and tell her. No matter what the consequences, he at least owed her that much. He’d promised her he’d never hurt her…at least not if he could help it. Now, he’d done something that probably would not hurt her so much as make her madder than hell. Although lying to her and not telling her what he’d done probably qualified in the hurt department. Either way, the choice was here to make, and he’d decided to tell her himself instead of letting her find out from someone else.

  He wandered over to the couch and pulled her phone out from under it, and put it in his pocket. He would give it to her after he told her.

  He was jolted out of his thoughts as her kitchen phone began to ring. Without thinking he picked it up.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey!” It was Sasha, not sounding all surprised to hear his voice on the other end of the line. “Where’s Willow. I have some good news for her!”

  He hesitated for second. “She’s…in the shower. What’s going on?” But he already knew, of course.

  “The little boy that was hit by the car on his bike woke up this morning and it’s like there’s nothing wrong with him. No one can figure it out. They did some tests and he’s normal.”

  “Wow,” he said trying to sound surprised. “I know she’ll be really glad to hear that.” And he knew she would be…once she got over her anger. Or at least he hoped.

  “Well, listen…I’ll tell her when she gets out of the bathroom. We are just getting ready to leave and go have some breakfast. I‘ll have her call you. Talk to you soon.” That sounded plausible enough, and would buy him the time to try to tell her the truth over breakfast so at least she’d hear it from him first.

  He hung up the phone just in time before she emerged from the hallway.

  “Who was that?” Her brows knit together.

  “It was Sasha.”

  “Oh, God. I hope that little boy is alright?” She sat down hard on the edge of the ottoman.

  Samson smiled. “Yeah. He’s doing much better.” That was no lie….but it wasn’t exactly the whole truth either.

  She sighed deeply. “Oh, my God. I’m so relieved. I hate it when we have one go downhill. Or worse and we lose them. It’s just…so devastating.” She shook her head. “But every time we send one of these kids home and they’re all better, it feels so rewarding and helps us to cope with those other times.”

  He stared at her marveling at how much he felt for her right now, as she spoke of her love for the children that came into her care.

  “I told her you’d call her back…well, that is when we find your phone or when we get back from breakfast….I hope that’s okay? I don’t want to speak for you.”

  She smiled. “It’s okay…now, let’s go eat.” She grabbed her purse off the counter and hooked her arm through his as they walked to the door.

  A few minutes later she slid next to him in the booth at Chico’s, where they ordered coffee and some eggs.

  “Listen. I have to tell you something,” he said softly. She nodded and took a sip of her coffee.

  “It’s about last night,” he said tentatively. She looked slightly worried and he wished to God there was some other way to tell her, or rather, that he didn’t actually have to tell her.

  She swallowed hard. “What is it?”

  He sat there staring at her in silence.

  Her mind was racing. This couldn’t be good. She now found herself wondering if he was indeed going to gracefully announce that they needed to ‘cool off’ or one of the other usual blow-offs after sleeping with someone too soon…or not too soon, and then deciding you really don’t want anything long term.

  Last night. In those moments when they’d been wrapped so deeply in what she thought was more than just a night of passion, and especially after all his talk about ‘right reasons‘…she’d been so sure that this was different. She’d felt his soul for a few moments…and what she’d found there had seemed genuine. Maybe she was wrong.

  She struggled to keep her voice steady and as emotionless as possible. “You want to tell me that last night was great, but… Right?”

  “Well sort of,” he said.

  She nodded, swallowing back the tears that threatened to sting her eyes.

  “Is it because you don’t trust me with your secret? Because I swear to you that I would never tell anyone.”

  He realized in that moment what she thought and reached over to take her hand in his. She pulled it back quickly, but he took it anyway.

  “It’s not what you think. I’m not telling you that I want to slow down…or leave…or that this isn‘t a relationship. Because it is, and I‘m not going anywhere. Unless someone or something beyond my control hauls me away against my will.”

  She dragged in a deep breath, trying not to make it obvious how much she gave a damn. But he knew.

  “I meant every word I‘ve said. Last night. Today. Pinkie promise.” He smiled remembering little David’s ritual as he held out his right pinkie.

  She smiled playfully and looped her own through his, and after a quick shake, her brought her hand to his lips and kissed her fingers, hoping to lighten the mood a little and ease her mind. At least if he could do that, it might temper things for what was to come.

  A deep sense of relief washed over her and she turned away so he wouldn’t see the tears that threatened to spill from her lashes. He saw them anyway, and turned her face to his own.

  He kissed her lips softly and brushed her hair back, and a moment later she slid closer to him as he put his arm around her and cradled her next to him.

  She could feel his heart beat against her cheek. This whole thing seemed…so surreal. Ridiculous. Unsafe. People don’t fall in love in a few days. That only happened in movies…or romance novels! And yet, here they were and there was no denying what was happening. She wished she could talk herself out of it….to reprimand herself, and yet, there was no reasoning with herself when it came to Samson. Anymore than there’d been any reasoning with him last night when he’d shown up at her doorstep and carried her to bed. She flushed at the thought of lying in his arms, remembering every angle of his body as he’d worked his magic on her own.

  She pulled back and stared at him for a moment. His blue eyes drawing her in like a moth to a flame.

  “So, you said you had to tell me something about last night. If you’re not ditching me, then what is it?” She smiled, hoping to lighten the mood. “Is it something about this thing with your blood? I know you’ve been hiding something.”

  He sighed. Here goes. He might lose her right now, but there was no turning back.

  “Remember last night before I left your house, I asked you to promise that you’d still trust me tomorrow? And you said you would. Well…I went somewhere.”

  He pulled her cell phone from his pocket and quietly set it on the table in front of her. She looked puzzled. “What? You stole my cell phone?”

  “Read the message,” he said.

  She tapped the screen and he watched her expression as she read the text about the little boy. The smile that quickly turned to concern and then disbelief as she realized what it meant.

  She dragged in a deep breath and sat back in the booth trying to remain calm while she adjusted to the initial shock and implications.

  They sat there in silence for what seemed like an eternity before she finally spoke.

  “How could you?” She shook her head. “How could you have done something so stupid…so selfish.”

  “I had to,” he said softly.

  “NO. You didn’t have to. You chose to. There’s a difference.”

  Choices.Maximus told him he’d be making s
ome…and so he had. With all choices comes a result…or a consequence.

  “Yeah. I chose what I chose. Would you have done any differently?” His eyes bored into hers. “Look me in the eye and tell me that you could know that you had the power to heal, and see him lying there and just walk away.”

  “Dammit. That’s NOT fair,” she shot back.

  “And why’s that? Because it’s me and not you? It’s so easy to make such a judgment when you’re not the one having to deal with it.”

  “That has nothing to do with it. You know why I asked you not to. We don’t know what kind of consequences this will have days…weeks…months down the road. How the hell could you do something like this?” She shook her head in exasperation. “And now they are probably going to put him through all kinds of tests…who knows what… trying to figure out how this ’miracle’ happened.”

  “Willow,” he sighed. “Listen. I’m sorry…actually no. I’m not sorry for saving that kid. I can’t be. And no we don’t know the long term consequences, but what you don’t know…is that this happened before. I didn’t just save Cisco and the cat. I saved another human being.”

  Her brows knit together. “And you didn’t tell me this? Why?”

  “I didn’t think I could. Look. I’m still learning about

  it myself. But the vagrant man I saved…Harold. He was fine. Look at Cisco. He’s fine. The evidence so far, is that whoever I heal with my blood IS actually healed.”

  She sighed. “Okay. So you’re right. But what if? What if down the road something happens to them? How can you possibly think it’s okay to have decided that for them? My God. I can’t deal with this right now.”

  She started to slide out of the booth, but he grabbed her arm to stop her. “Where are you going?”

  “I’m leaving. I can’t sit here with you for another second. I trusted you.”

  “Please don’t go. Can’t we talk about it?”

  She shook her head. “There’s not really anything more to say.“