Part 28 (2/2)
”Fine, don't answer me. I'll ask Patel.”
”No you won't!” she huffed and turned and marched out.
”Hey, come back here, darlin'. Don't blow me off. I need you to talk to me. What's going on with you?”
He found her facing the bed. If he could see her face, look into her eyes, he could make sense of it. When he approached, she spun on him, with a glare that stopped him in his tracks. ”What right do you have to come into my house and go through my things? I trusted you and you betrayed me!” She clenched her fists, seething.
”Why won't you answer me?”
”I have back problems. Okay? I barely take those d.a.m.n pills.” She swung for them again, but he moved them out of her reach. ”It's just sometimes with the long s.h.i.+fts and being on my feet it gets to be too much.”
”Then take a Tylenol. You shouldn't need this. It's too addictive. How long have you been on them?”
”Stop it, Matt. Stop it, or go. I don't like you questioning me like I'm some criminal,” Kim shouted.
”That's not what I'm doing.”
”I told you they're for my back! Why don't you believe me?”
”Because the kind of chronic pain you would have to be in for this dose would have you walking with a cane.” He checked the label again. ”Dr. Anshu Patel? The man's an incompetent sleaze. You know that.”
”I do.”
”Then why?”
”I told you. I told you.”
He handed the pills to her. She avoided his eyes when she accepted them. ”How bad are these back problems?”
”They come and they go,” she answered softly.
”You've seen someone else about this pain? Other than Patel?”
She looked up at him as if the idea never crossed her mind. She's a nurse. There's all kinds of therapies for back problems and cures. She should know that.
”No, I just thought it was part of it.”
”Part of what?”
”My complications. I had a bad delivery with my boys. Patel was my OBGYN. He delivered my sons. That's how-how it all started.” She stepped around him, their arms brus.h.i.+ng as she pa.s.sed. His eyes followed as she sought out the top drawer and filed them away under her bras and panties. ”You're right. Maybe I should see someone else.”
”The twins are what, two?”
”Yeah, so?”
”Two years? You've been on this for two f.u.c.king years?”
”No. No, my pain it changed after awhile. It, um, got worse so, nothing worked, so it got so bad I could barely stand. You know back pains are chronic, and it gets worse.”
”So Patel starts you off on Oxy?”
”No, yes. He tried Vicodin, but it made me sleepy and... stop drilling me.” She pressed her palms into her eyes. ”I've been in pain. How come you don't believe me?”
”Hey, it's okay. I'm just concerned.” He gently took her face in his hands causing hers to drop away. She uttered something indecipherable at his touch, probably a protest. But he refused to let her escape. ”Let's get you another doctor. Some therapy might help, not those pills.”
She lifted to him, captured his lips once more for a kiss. At first he resisted, pus.h.i.+ng back at her shoulders, but just a sample left his lips smoldering for more. He captured her face and was drawn in by her loving. It had been so long since he kissed a woman like this. Her body was soft and curvy. He liked curves, always did. His hands explored every tender dip and rise of her sweetness. His hands dropped to her waist, holding them, then he drew her up against him firmly. With her arms around his neck she submitted all of her feminine warmth to him. What man wouldn't lose his way? The kiss was nice. It ended shortly after it began, but not his desire for more. Her head went back. She gave him a shy smile. He had to brush his lips over that smile once more.
”You promised me and my boys a boat ride. Is that still going to happen? I'm wondering,” she said.
”Wednesday, the boat. Yes, little darling.' It will definitely happen.”
”Going to happen, huh?” she whispered, her eyes lowering seductively, her face close. How was he supposed to respond to that? It was the gentle grazing of her fingertips tracing his jaw that robbed him of speech. She had no idea how much he wanted her, all of her. But she spoke in such a seductive sweet tone he suspected she might. ”What I need is some place to be, where I can relax, and then you and I can sit down and we can talk about things, like my back.”
He nodded, completely under her spell. She pushed her face into the center of his chest. Her body s.h.i.+vers became his own. Was she cold? He could spend the rest of the night keeping her warm if she liked. They stood in silence, absorbing each other's heartbeats. Oh how he was in trouble. There was no way he'd be able to let her go.
”Trust me,” he whispered against her ear, as his hand slipped into the thickness of her hair.
”I'm trying,” she whispered back.
He wondered about her suffering. These back problems, her exhausting schedule, mixed with the stress of her husband's death could make Oxy a crutch, or worse. She just started taking them so there was time to get her on a better path. That b.a.s.t.a.r.d, Patel, should have never prescribed them. He'd get to the bottom of it.
”Kim?”
”I need you, just like this,” she sighed, ”That's what I need. Not a doctor. Just a friend, remember? My friend.”
”I'm here, but-”
”No buts.” She lifted her head once again. ”You're off duty, Dr. Donnelly.”
”You got away with stating the obvious.” He chuckled deep in his throat. ”Strange to have you in my arms, twice tonight. I have to ask. You sure you're okay with this friends.h.i.+p?” He cleared her eyes from her low hanging bang, brus.h.i.+ng the strands away.
”A friendly hug, a little kiss here and there. Yeah, I'm okay with that,” she shrugged. He believed her. Which was another mystery about her. The pictures of Dennis and her inability to let go of him should have her showing him to the door. Did she need him that bad or just anybody?
”It's kind of fast though, considering.”
She lowered her arms. ”Dennis.”
Mathew looked over to the picture once more. She had her husband's picture guarding both sides of the bed; he even stood watch from the dresser. He was in pictures nailed along the walls, family photos on every bookshelf. You couldn't turn a corner and not see him. How did that help her with her grieving?
”I'm trying not to think about Dennis,” she admitted, walking out of his arms over to the bed. She sat down and looked over to the photograph. ”But I need him here to remind me.”
”Remind you of what, your loss?”
She nodded. ”I loved him so much. He wasn't perfect, but he was a good man, husband, and he would have been a good father. He didn't deserve to die that way. He lost the family he wanted so badly before it even started.” She finally looked away, to the floor, then the wall, then to him. ”I don't think I'll ever not be his wife or want him. He was more than my husband. He was my other half. I'm incomplete without him, Mathew.”
Mathew feared that to be the case. It was one of the reasons he didn't open that window of opportunity she kept cracking for him. Was he disappointed? Yes. If she felt that way then what was the kiss? A fluke? Why the offer for him to stay? She smiled as if she knew the question. ”I also feel drawn to you, Matt. It's not so painful anymore, when you're here. I just feel like I can breathe. Does that make sense?”
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