Flawed Beauty (7 page)

Putting the glass in the sink, she
turned and gasped.
Jace
was standing in the archway,
wearing nothing but his jeans.

He stood with his arms raised above
his head, holding onto the top of the archway with his fingertips. She
swallowed at the beauty of his body. It was obvious he spent a lot of time at
the gym, as his muscles were well-chiseled and defined. He was just beautiful.

“Are you okay?” he asked softly.

“Just a little headache,” she
murmured.

“What time is it?”

“Almost four-thirty,” she replied.

“
Umpph
.
It’s a little bit early to be
taking more ibuprofen. Don’t take them but every six hours, okay?”

“Okay.” Feeling awkward and trying
to shove the remnants of her dream from her mind, she exhaled and moved towards
him. “Well, goodnight.”

“What’s wrong, Tate?” he asked with
his head tilted to one side.

She looked up into his brilliant
blue eyes and grimaced.
“Nothing.
It’s just been a
long night.”

“Come sit with me for a little
while. I have to leave shortly for the hospital.”

“Oh,” she said with disappointment
in her voice.

He flashed a smile at her tone. “I
don’t suppose you have any coffee?”

“The coffeepot’s ready to go, just
turn it on,” she answered, thankful for the coffee packets she’d scavenged from
the student hall.

He lowered his arms and leaned forward
to flip the control button on the coffeemaker. Almost immediately, sounds of
water being sucked up into the machine filled the room.

“Come sit with me,” he enticed.

Wrapping the edges of her housecoat
more firmly around her body, she complied.

After they sat, she in the chair,
and he on the couch, he slipped on his shirt and asked, “Outside of the
headache, how do you feel?
Any more nausea?”

“No, just the headache.
You must be so exhausted. Do you
always stay up till three a.m. then work at the hospital?”

“Usually.
While my shifts change
continuously, I normally don’t go in until nine on the weekends. But I have a
patient who had surgery last night and I wanted to check on him first thing
this morning.”

“Oh,” was the only comment she could
think of to make.

“Tell me about yourself, Tate. It
dawned on me after our lunch, that you never actually told me anything,” he
said, propping his elbow up on the arm of the couch and holding his face up
with his hand.

With a shrug, she said, “Not a lot
to tell. I’m studying photography and graphic design, work at Zeal’s, and live
in this apartment.”

He furrowed his brows at her answer.
“I already know all that. Tell me other things, like where are you from? Are
your parents still alive? Do you have any siblings? Are you from Gainesville?
If not, where did you come from?”

Hearing the buzzer that let her know
the coffee was ready, Tate escaped to get
Jace
a cup.
“How do you take your coffee?” she asked.

“Black.”

She poured the coffee, handed it to
him, and settled back in her chair.

He eyed her as he sipped his coffee.
“So?” he asked.

Looking down at her folded hands,
she said, “Why do you need to know those things?”

 “I don’t
need
to know.
It’s just how people get to know each other. What? Do you have skeletons in
your closet or something?” he grinned.

She gave him a small smile, but
didn’t answer. Overcoming a lifetime of keeping people out was a hard habit to
break.

He studied her over the rim of his
cup. “Okay, I’ll start. I was born in upstate New York, but my parents moved
down to West Palm Beach when I was eight. I love the sun and beaches, but do
occasionally miss the snow. I have an older brother, who fortunately messed up
so much that my younger sister and I caught very little grief for the trivial
things we did. He currently resides in the Federal Prison Camp in Miami, doing
thirty-six months for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine.
So see, no one’s family is perfect.”

She slowly nodded her head, but
still didn’t say anything.

After a hesitation, he continued,
“My father is a financial advisor and my mother is a professor at West Palm
Beach Atlantic in the history department. My sister still lives in West Palm
Beach and attends the college where my mother teaches. She is in her third year
and has, of yet, not picked a major, which drives my parents crazy. I was in a
rock and roll band when I was in high school and had a dream of making it big
that way, but my parents felt the medical field was a safer bet. Fortunately for
everyone, I’ve always wanted to be a doctor also and was fortunate to be born
smart, where I’ve been able to breeze through most of the classes. I hope to
return to West Palm Beach to be close to my family, but it will depend on a
variety of factors,” he finished on a rush.

Again he hesitated, waiting on her
to reciprocate. She didn’t.

“I live in an apartment close to the
hospital with a fellow I met in med school. His name is Sean Devlin and he
comes from Tennessee. You’ll like him, as he also is a photography buff. Not as
talented as you,” he said nodding towards her framed photographs of sand, surf,
and sunsets, “but talented nonetheless.”

Once more he hesitated. When she
still didn’t speak, he begged, “Please tell me something.”

Looking back down at her hands which
were fidgeting, she cleared her throat and said, “I’m not from here but from a
small town in Illinois. I… have no family to speak of and came to Gainesville
on a scholarship.”

“Now, was that so hard? See, I know
something about you, and you know something about me. Now, we have a start of a
relationship… we’re practically dating,” he said with a grin.

Rising from her chair, she went to
stand in front of her photographs with her back to him. Here, in her living
room was this gorgeous, sexy man, who any woman would want – who she, herself
wanted. But the divide between them was just too great. She would bet her last
dollar he’d never had to eat instant noodles for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
He needed to be with someone like the fun-loving Tiffany Baker, who had no more
worries than how to con her parents out of money for high-priced boots. He
needed someone who knew how this game was played – who wasn’t afraid to play
the game with him.

“
Jace
, I
can’t… be involved with you.”

“But I thought after our lunch, you
changed your mind.”

Giving a slight laugh to lighten the
serious feel of the moment, she turned her head to him and said, “I’m a woman,
we change our minds many times.”

“I don’t accept that,” he said
softly.

“Why?” she asked.

Instead of answering, he asked,
while motioning between them as she had done at the gym, “So you’re not curious
what this is?”

Slowly, turning her head away from
him, she shook her head. “No,” she whispered.

She felt him move behind her and
place his hands on her shoulders. She tensed, but didn’t move away. He was so
tall, his chin rested easily on the top of her head. “Why not… really?” he
whispered back to her.

She wrapped her arms around her
middle protectively. There were so many reasons why she couldn’t be involved with
him; things that would certainly put an end to any desire on his part to be
involved with her.

“I… I just can’t. I… wouldn’t be…
good for you,” she answered in soft tones. She felt her stomach tighten, afraid
she’d said too much.

He rubbed his face against her hair.
“Why don’t I get a say in what’s good for me?”

“Because you will walk away
unscathed… but I don’t think I’ll be that lucky,” she said truthfully with her
voice trembling.

“So what you’re really saying is I’m
not good for
you
,” he murmured.

She shook her head slowly side to
side. “No, it’s not that at all – probably exactly opposite of that. But you’ll
hurt me. I know it. So why start something that I know will end badly?”

Jace
turned her to face him. He lifted
his hands to her face and tipped it up towards his. “We all would like
guarantees, Tate, but life isn’t like that. What’s to say you won’t be the one
doing the dumping? You may find my quirks too difficult to live with. But I’m
willing to take the chance. Why won’t you? Besides, I’m not looking for a
lifelong commitment, just maybe dinner or a movie.”

She blinked her eyes rapidly and
swallowed hard. She was out of her depth here. She pulled out of his hands and
turned away from him once more. “I just don’t think it’s a good idea. My life
is very… complicated,” she trailed off with a shrug of her shoulders. Fear
wrapped its cold hands around her heart painfully.

Jace
ran his hands through his hair in
exasperation. “I’ve got to get to work. I’ll… see you later,” he said
emotionlessly.

She only nodded but didn’t turn
around. She banged her forehead against the wall when she heard the door being
pulled shut behind him. She winced when she hit the raised bump already on her
head.

She jumped and turned when she heard
the door bang back open.

“Screw it,” he glared.

He crossed the room and tangled his
hands in her hair. Backing her slowly up against the wall, he lowered his lips
to hers and kissed her as if his life depended on it. He stroked her lips with
his tongue until she opened her mouth to him. He pulled her even closer into
his body and moved his hands down her back, molding her body against his. 
She ran her hands up his back and clung to him as he devoured her lips. The
flames of desire licked up her spine and seemed to settle in the pit of her
belly. With dexterous hands, he untied the sash of her housecoat and slipped it
off her shoulders, leaving her standing in her nightshirt and panties.

He gave a strangled oath at her
skimpy attire and ran his hands down further to cup her firm bottom within his
grasp and brought her up tighter to his hard body. She slipped her hands up
under his shirt and around to his bare back and kneaded his muscles there. He
began to raise the hem of her shirt when sanity and fear filtered through her
consciousness. She began to pull away from him.

“No, stop. We have to stop.
Jace
, I can’t. I’m sorry, but I can’t,” she murmured
through deep, soul-wrenching kisses.

Little by little, control returned
to him and he slowly pulled away from her. Finishing as he’d started, he again
captured her face within his hands, but this time, he kissed her softly and
sweetly. Drawing back and walking backward, he said, “Tonight. Seven o’clock.
I’ll pick you up. Be ready.”

Jerkily, she nodded.

§§§

Tate would have liked to have slept
in once
Jace
left, but she had her self-defense
class. But tiredness and a simmering headache stopped her from working out. As
she rode her bicycle home, even with her ailments, she had to admit, she was…
happy. The thought filled her with a terrible forebode. She’d never wanted a
man like she wanted
Jace
Staton
;
but he was so much more experienced than she. He was a doctor, for goodness
sakes. He came from a decent family and didn’t seem to have anything bad in his
life other than a brother in jail, while she had… terrible things. Maybe she
should just tell him and get this over with now instead of going through the
motions of a relationship. She’d grown up with people knowing the travesties of
her life and judging her because of those travesties. She didn’t want anyone
here knowing about her past… especially
Jace
. Pride
demanded she keep her mouth shut. She didn’t want
Jace
to think of her like that – the girl had by many, but wanted by no one.

Feeling all riled up on the inside,
she swallowed a couple of ibuprofen, grabbed her camera, and hit the streets.
There was nothing she enjoyed more than capturing people doing the normal
things of life. Heading down to the park, she wandered aimlessly through the
trails, snapping pictures. She loved snapping a picture of something ordinary
and making it extraordinary. She caught several shots of leaves as they floated
across the sky on a gentle wind.

She was excited to see a group doing
yoga in the middle of the park. They were all dressed in white shirts with
black yoga pants, with the exception of the instructor, who wore a red shirt.
The visual was spectacular as their movements were coordinated and in sync. She
got several great shots of all the participants with their arms raised to the
sun. Then, they all lowered them to lie down on the ground, their arms spread
out in front of them.

She caught shots of couples as they
sat on their blankets, looking relaxed and comfortable. Tate found herself
staring at the couples. She wondered if she’d ever feel that comfortable with
someone to just sit and relax. She thought of
Jace
,
but he made her feel anything but relaxed. She thought about all he’d told her
the night before. He was such an open book, and she was shut up tighter than
barrel of pickles.