Hellraiser (Erotic Romance - Romantic Comedy) (6 page)

“Take your time.” She heard him leave the room as she looked around in the fridge for something to heat up for their meal. Although she enjoyed cooking breakfast, by the end of the day she was usually beat and in no mood to cook. Thankfully, she could usually get by on whatever treats people brought in or TV dinners.

As the bathroom door clicked shut, she awaited the sound of Zach’s fury when he saw his hair.

“No…fucking…way!”

She couldn’t help the wicked smile that came to her lips.

Chapter Five

“Thanks for helping me restock the exam rooms.” Sam was happy to have Zach’s company, grumpy as he was. She had a feeling he still hadn’t forgiven her for cutting that big chunk of hair off the top of his head yesterday. She could tell he tried combing his hair a different way to try to hide it, but it still showed. Judging by the way he always wore his dark hair perfectly styled, he probably felt as if part of his manhood had been snipped away.
What an ego
, she thought, trying to dredge up as much anger against him as she could. Trouble was, it never lasted more than a couple of minutes.

When he didn’t answer her, and instead focused on stuffing cotton balls into the glass container on the small counter, Sam couldn’t take his silence any more.

She left the room and came back half a minute later wearing Marty the puppet on her hand. “Oh Zaaaach…” she said in a silly, high-pitched voice as she stuck the puppet in his face. “Are you mad at, Sam? She didn’t mean to give you a funny haircut.”

Zach only rolled his eyes and opened a new box of latex gloves, shoving them to the back of the counter, along with a box of tissues.

“You can’t be mad forever,” she still used her Marty voice and made gobbling noises as she tickled his neck.

“Just stop it!” His face was red as he looked at the puppet. “Get that stupid thing out of my face.” He looked at Sam. “I‘m not one of your preschool patients.”

Sam felt as if he’d punched her in the heart as she saw the height of his anger. All she had wanted to do was make him laugh, not tick him off. “I was just trying to make you laugh. You’re always in weird moods.” She slid the puppet off her arm and tossed it on the counter.

“Well at least I do have moods!”

She frowned at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Don‘t you ever take things seriously? Or do you solely live in your cotton candy, neon glitter, happily-ever-after fairytale world?” He pointed at her. “Didn’t you get enough attention as a child?”

“Wow, you can be a real ass sometimes, can’t you?” She said the words a lot more quietly than she had intended. Somehow, his remarks cut her deeply. “Maybe I’m cooped up here around my patients too long and don’t spend enough time around grownups.” Sam shrugged, trying to look brave and logical when all she wanted to do was run upstairs and lock herself in her room…or kick Zach in the gonads.

“You just have this totally breezy way of behaving that irks me to no end.”

“And you have this totally gloomy way of behaving that irks
me
to no end!”

“I prefer to look at my personality as that of being stable rather than manic.” He went back to rearranging things on the counter and she felt he did it just to busy himself since everything looked fine.

Sam walked over to him, standing just a breath away. “Are you saying I’m manic?”

He turned again, resting against the counter, arms folded across his chest. At first he looked like he was going to let loose with one helluva verbal assault, but instead he said, “No, my mother was. The only time she acted calm and attentive was when she had a man in her life. During my formative years there was a fuck load of mania going on since she tended to go through men at the rate of several per year.”

At his words, Sam’s stomach did a funny little dip. He was opening up to her and she didn’t want to ruin it. This explained so much. Why he stayed in his dysfunctional relationship for half a decade and why he did his very best to control his emotions.

It was in her nature to reach out and soothe those in pain, but she instinctively knew that Zach would recoil at such a display. “Well, taking that into consideration I can see why my personality gets on your nerves at times.”

He gave a rough snort.

Applying her knee to his gonads seemed even more appealing. “One of these days, Alice, pow, right in the kisser!”

Zach rolled his eyes. “Seriously, do you have to do bad impressions and quote ancient TV shows?”

San heaved a sigh then said, “I’m just trying to lighten the mood. Rest assured that I’m not looking for attention nor am I hiding some mental defect, I just think people take life too seriously at times.”

He shrugged. “I prefer to think of myself as stable rather than overly serious.”

Sam looked up into those blue eyes of his, recalling the kisses they’d shared. “Maybe, though you’re not easy to figure out.”

“How so?” He seemed galvanized to the floor, as if he needed to stay put and hear her words.

“Well, a couple of times we’ve been lip-locked and headed to sin city, but then you retreat and act like nothing happened.” Her bottom lip started to tremble so she bit on it. She didn’t want him to know that he had hurt her.

Scalping a hand through his hair, he began pacing the small room. “Sam, there’s no doubt about it, I’m attracted to you.” She tried not to swoon at his words. She wasn’t a Southern belle and this wasn’t the 19
^th
century. She was a doctor, a woman who had had her share of relationships, yet Zach Taylor affected her bone-deep. “But I only play one game…” He held up a forefinger and she felt her soul fall to her toes. She had a feeling she wasn’t going to like what he said.

He was quiet, a muscle in the side of his jaw ticking as if it beating in time with his heart. Sam looked around the room suddenly feeling nervous, but she needed to know. “Are you going to tell me what game it is you play or should I guess?” She lifted her chin in defense.

They both talked at the same time. Sam said, “That you only want an affair.” While Zach said, “That I only play for keeps.”

“Wait, what did you say?” Sam was confused.

“I don’t screw around,” he flatly stated. “When I was younger, sure, but as I got older I only wanted to pursue relationships that were going somewhere. And, as delightful as a fling may be with you, I’m not in the market for that. I came here to get my life together, sex isn’t even on my mind.”

Sam shot him a disbelieving look.

“Okay, I’m lying on that count. I think about it a lot. However, I’m not ready for a roll in the sheets just yet. I’m hoping that being celibate clears my head.” He gave a tight smile and Sam realized she couldn’t blame him. They had known one another for about a week and, though she was okay with a having sex and
then
seeing where things went, with Zach’s childhood and divorce he needed more convincing.

A part of her felt spurned yet another part took it as a challenge.

“I understand, Zach.” She walked up to him as she headed for the door. “But don’t blame me if that roll between the sheets happens sooner rather than later. Your mind may be thinking one thing, but that body of yours has other plans.”

He closed his eyes and muttered, “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

Smiling widely, Sam walked over to the front door and unlocked it, preparing for another day tending to patients. And now Zach’s wary heart was on her list of urgent cases.

* * *

Later that afternoon she decided to stop in and see how he was doing. She hadn’t seen him at lunch time and figured he was avoiding her after divulging his intentions. Or, lack of them. She could understand his wariness at allowing anything to happen between them, but she was a firm believer in
que sera sera
. Whatever was to be would be, regardless of how fast or slow they went. She had been so wrapped up in her work since breaking up with Justin that letting loose and simply enjoying herself sounded fabulous.

As she approached his exam room she heard the sound of giggling and peeked around the corner, not wanting to disturb doctor and patient. When she looked in the room the young girl on her mother’s lap saw Sam and waved to her. “Hi Dr. Winslow!”

Zach swiveled his head in her direction and she saw that he wore her red clown nose, though he promptly pulled it off.

“Hi Marissa.” She then grinned at Zach. “I see you’re getting along pretty well with Dr. Taylor.” The little girl nodded. “I’ll let you get back to what you were doing.” She winked at Zach then went back to the waiting room to call her next patient, smiling all the way.

Fifteen minutes later she looked up to see Zach standing in the doorway just as she finished with a patient. As the boy and his mother exited he came in and sat with one hip on the exam table. Sam said, “Unless you’re my next patient I suggest you play receptionist for a minute, if you don’t mind?”

“I have to admit it works.” He drummed his fingers on his thigh as if he felt uncomfortable with his words.

Sam had him stand up so she could change the paper on the exam table. “What works?”

He pointed at his nose. “The getups. That girl was terrified of me and said I was scary.”

Sam laughed. “Well, you can be quite intimidating.”

“However, I followed your lead and put on that dumb-ass clown nose and she calmed down right away.” Though he seemed to be thanking her, he didn’t look pleased in the least.

For some reason she had the urge to push his buttons. “Hey Zach, what’s your full name?”

He stiffened. “You talked to Tom, didn’t you?”

Sam looked over the chart for the next patient, feigning concentration while in reality it tickled her to see him flustered. “Maybe. So what is it?” She looked at him, half expecting him to not answer.

Finally he took a deep breath and said, “Zacharia Ichabod Taylor.”

She held the file in front of her face so he couldn’t see that she was ready to burst out in a fit of giggles. Slowly she lowered the chart and peeked over it. He stood before her with that hard chin of his, looking down his nose, as if daring her to say something. “Oh my.” She said it as straight-faced as she could.

“I’m named after both of my great-grandfathers. One was a three star general in the army, the other was said to make the best moonshine this side of the Rockies. Made a shit ton of money during prohibition. I’m not sure which man I admire most.” With that he turned and left.

* * *

The rest of the day sailed by and she was just locking up as Zach came into the waiting room.

He gave her twice-over. “What the hell is this getup?”

“Debbie the Dinosaur.” She gave a curtsey and said the words matter-of-factly, as if every doctor went around wearing a big pink dinosaur costume.

“How many costumes do you own?” He stuck his stethoscope into one of the pockets of his lab coat.

She took the dinosaur head off and set it on a chair then shook out her hair. “Enough, though I hit the Halloween stores the day after so I can buy them half off. I always find something fun to wear.”

He leaned against the wall. “You know, I think you enjoy wearing these things just as much as the kids enjoy seeing you in them.”

“You know, I think you’re right.” She closed the blinds and the room darkened. “I may be an adult, but I refuse to grow up. I have several that would probably fit you too, so be my guest.”

Zach shook his head. “No thanks. I don’t mind wearing a clown nose once in awhile, but I don’t want to be known as that dorky doctors or anything like that. One of us is enough.”

“Fine,” she sniffed, pretending to be offended, “see what I care. You can just walk around in your stuffy old slacks and starched shirts.” As she walked past him, intending to confirm a few appointments for the following day, Zach grabbed her arm and hauled her against him. There was a primitive look in his eyes that had Sam’s blood cartwheeling through her veins.

His gaze was all over her face. “Did I ever tell you that I took a few paleontology classes when I was in college?”

“No. Did you learn anything interesting?” He stroked her back through the bulky material. How she hated this costume right now. She wanted to feel his touch against her skin. Also, she was quickly overheating and didn’t want to pass out.

Taking her by the hand, he led her to the first examining room and hoisted her up onto the table so they were at eye level. “Well, I definitely don’t recall any pink dinosaurs in my text books.” He placed one palm on either side of her face and slowly came toward her.

“How can you be so sure?” she whispered, not even bothering to fight him off. Heck, she had waited for this moment since she opened her front door and saw him standing there. “All scientists have found are bones. It’s merely an educated guess. You never know, there could have been pink dinosaurs, maybe purple ones too…” She could no longer think as he gently rubbed his lips back and forth over hers. The soft friction caused a surge of adrenaline to rocket through her body.

“Yes, I suppose. Possible, though not probable.” He gently bit her bottom lip then slid his tongue over it. Sam shuddered. She wanted to rip off the costume, her clothes, his clothes, and get naked. She didn’t want to screw this up though so she let Zach call the shots. She just hoped they would go all the way this time. She couldn’t take this sexual teasing where he’d kiss her to the point of delirium, only to have him back off.