Sunrise for Two (12 page)

“
Does it
matter?”

“
What do you
mean?” he asked carefully. His gaze returned briefly to the way her
nipples had hardened. He wanted to sink his mouth onto her glorious
curves and he really really didn't want to upset her
now.

“
Does it
matter what I can feel between my legs and move below my
waist?”

“
You mean in
terms of my attraction to you?”

“
Yes.” she
said very quietly, her big dark eyes holding his.

Chris took a deep breath,
and tried to frame his words. “No Harry it doesn’t matter to me,
but somehow that isn’t what I’m trying to say. I will make sure it
doesn’t matter to you too, and I know that I can make it wonderful
for you, if you can trust me.” He smiled at her and hoped that she
would smile back, but she did not, and the silence stretched rather
uncomfortably between them.

“
I went out
with a surgeon a couple of years ago” she volunteered finally. “He
was very flattering, and very enthusiastic, until we had the
conversation, the one you and I are skirting around.”

“
The sex
conversation?” he asked, as casually as he could.

“
Yes that
one.” she said lightly.

“
Can you tell
me more?” Chris asked quietly, and felt his chest tighten when she
looked at him. “I know I've hurt you by being insensitive, but I do
really want to get things right.”

“
John, that
was his name, asked me about the level of my paralysis, and when I
told him he stayed for a final glass of wine then just when I
thought he was going to take me to bed, he left and never came
back.” She closed her eyes then, unable to face his
reaction.

“
Hey,” he
said gently, “he's an idiot, I might be a bit tactless, but I'm not
an idiot. Harry I was attracted to you when you didn't back down on
the phone. The fact that you're gorgeous is a bonus.”

“
Thank you.”
she paused and looked up at him. “Why did you look so horrified
when you saw my chair?”

Chris looked at her and
ran his hand along her shapely legs. “Because I felt bad yelling
at...” he stopped and took a deep breath.

“
Yelling at
someone in a wheelchair?” she offered. He nodded, thoughtfully
running his thumb over her delicate calves. “I can fight my battles
just fine.”

“
I know that
Harry, I’d just like to look after you occasionally.”

“
Thank you.”
she said to his surprise and relief. “I might let you
occasionally.” he kissed her again then and tenderly ran his hand
over the curve of her breast. When he reached her nipples the soft
moan made him long to rip open her shirt. He wanted to taste every
curve and savour every sound of her response.

“
When I first
got hurt I couldn't move or feel anything below my shoulders.” She
paused, remembering the loneliness of her hospital bed, “I still
remember when I got my hands back.” She added softly, wanting him
to understand something of the battle she had fought to reach this
place of being able to face the world. She placed her small hand on
his, then jumped when her phone chimed. “Sorry,” she said quietly,
I’m a bit nervous.

“
Would you
like some more wine?”

“
Please,” she
said gratefully, and closed her eyes, trying to steady her nerves.
She knew that she needed to finish this conversation before she let
him kiss her again, but it was so difficult when he tasted
incredible and looked even better. She watched the muscles in his
arms and said suddenly, “Would you take me to one of your rugby
matches?”

“
Of course.”
he said with a smile, “I’d love to.”

“
How would
your friends feel about my wheelchair?”

“
My friends
would think you were beautiful,” he said tenderly, “the only thing
I worry about is that they would all try to get your attention at
once.”

“
Men aren’t
as interested in me as you seem to think.”

“
Do you
really expect me to believe that when I’ve seen how they all behave
around you in the IT suite.”

“
Be
reasonable, it’s the IT suite, anyone with breasts would get
treated like that.”

“
Belinda has
breasts.” He said with a grin.

“
Should I be
worried?”

He answered that by
kissing her again, deep and hard. “You’re the only person I want to
kiss. You’re the only person I want to take to bed.” She felt the
knot of anxiety settle in her stomach again, and he felt the
tension return to her delicate shoulders. “That was supposed to be
a compliment.”

“
I know, I’m
just not sure that you’d want to take me to bed more than
once.”

“
So we’re
back to that question.” Chris said softly. She closed her eyes
again, wanting to curl up, wanting put on a box set.

“
It hurts to
talk about.” She said simply. Chris took a deep breath and ran his
hand along her lovely jaw.

“
I'm asking
you because I want to understand you. I'm hoping that you're going
to going to have a really good time in bed with me, and I want to
know how to give you pleasure.”

Harry smiled at him,
“Okay this is the bit where I really trust you. I know I'm miles
away from my wheelchair and you've got your hand on my breast, but
talking about the sensation between my legs, well it's a very
private thing for me.”

“
Shall I get
your wheelchair?” he asked, suddenly conscious that he had pushed
it back towards the kitchen as he sat down.

“
Would you
mind?” she asked softly, and he shook his head and pushed it back
to within her reach. She smiled her thanks and he took a deep
breath and forced himself to slow down. Then he looked again at her
intoxicating curves, he wanted to explore every inch from her head
to her toes, he wanted to sink his mouth onto her nipples and
massage the back of her neck and he was finding it incredibly
difficult to concentrate when he was so close to peeling off her
clothes.

“
I’m not very
experienced,” she said awkwardly, “so this is not a conversation
that I’ve had much practice at.”

“
Do you
practice other conversations?” he couldn’t help asking.

“
All the
time,” she said with a wry smile, “you threw me off balance by
looking so horrified when you first saw my legs, but if you hadn’t
knocked me off course, I could have treated you to my light
comfortable patter about not being able to walk, but still being
excellent at tennis, or swimming, or…” she paused feeling suddenly
self-conscious, “Well you see the theme,” She said softly, “and
usually people are kind and help me out, and we can all skate into
safer territory with our nerves intact.”

“
It wasn’t
your legs that horrified me.” He said softly, “I think your legs
are lovely actually.”

Harry went completely
still and her dark eyes held his. “Nobody has ever commented on my
legs.” She said finally, and he felt his throat drying out, he
didn’t know what he would do if she asked him to leave now. “Do you
really mean that? About my legs I mean?”

“
Yes of
course I do, that night when you were wearing your dressing gown.
It was an effort of will not to touch you more than I
did.”

“
Thank you,
I’m really glad about that.” She said, treating him to a lovely
smile, and he watched some of the tension drain out of her delicate
form.

“
You can
trust me.” He said softly, and added carefully, “I’m looking for
someone to share my life with Harry.”

“
As am I.”
she told him, “I just can’t believe that anyone would choose me.”
She took a mouthful of wine and added determinedly “It’s very
inconvenient going out with someone who can’t walk, if you want to
meet me in a restaurant you’ll have to check it out first, because
even if places say they don’t have stairs, they almost always do.
The cinema is a logistical nightmare and even the supermarket can
be difficult if they’re unpacking boxes.”

“
I like
takeaways,” he said, his eyes holding hers, “I prefer box sets and
I’ll go to the supermarket whenever you need me to.”

“
Thank you.”
She said softly, and added quietly, “When he ran me over the wheels
caught the base of my spine, just where the bundle of nerves are
separating, I kept some movement to my hips, enough to be able to
move my thighs slightly. Mother could never quite grasp that, she
always thought that if I tried harder then I would be able to walk
again. She tried to make me use the stairs when I first came home,
but I fell and broke my arm and after that daddy installed an
elevator at the back of the house.”

He touched her face,
feeling his anger towards her mother deepen. “I’m so sorry.” He
said unsteadily, watching the dark shadows of pain in her
eyes.

“
It’s okay,”
she said softly, “in some ways I’m grateful to her. She taught me
how to be strong and that’s a good thing.” Then she paused and
rubbed the back of her neck before she drew in another breath,
“It's like the feeling through fabric,” she told him, taking his
hand and holding it tightly, “you know, distant and muffled. If I
put my hand between my legs when I’m wearing jeans, then I can’t
really feel anything. My clit is bit more sensitive and I seem to
have a lot more sensation,” she paused and felt her face colouring
“deeper in my vagina.”

He kissed her then,
feeling protectiveness and tenderness and a huge sense of
possessiveness. He wanted to tell her that she would never need to
have the conversation again, that he hadn't slept with her yet and
he already couldn't bear the thought of another man touching her.
But he didn’t want to frighten her, didn’t want his intensity to
make her regret the sweet trust that he saw in her eyes. “Thank
you.” he said softly, and added again, “You can trust me.” He
kissed her then, more demanding now, more insistent. She kissed him
back, still unsure, still questioning why this tall, dark, handsome
surgeon, approaching the peak of his career, would want to seduce
the disabled woman from the computing department.

Chris forced himself to
think, he wanted her to feel safe, and he wanted her to feel equal.
He pulled his faded rugby colours over his head and she looked at
the delicious definition and the kissable planes of his chest. “Can
I take off your shirt?” he asked unsteadily, and felt a surge of
adrenaline when she nodded, and bit her lip.

“
You can take
off my shirt.” He grinned at her then. This was like unwrapping the
present he had always wanted, peeling open the most delicious
confection. Slowly slowly he unfastened her buttons and feasted his
hungry eyes on her skin. Her colouring was a dark Mediterranean
homage to her mysterious past, and he looked at the soft curve of
her waist and the kissable tips of her hip bones. Tenderly he
helped her out of her shirt, he wanted to run his mouth over every
inch of the area above her waist. He knew that would bring her the
most pleasure, and the thought of hearing her moan made him tingle.
He ran his mouth over her navel and then unfastened the soft fabric
over her intoxicating curves. She was even more beautiful than he
remembered and he lost himself in the way she tasted and the way
she arched her back.

When his pager sounded he
groaned out loud and looked at her apologetically. “Can I use your
phone? I’m not a great fan of mobiles.”

“
Yes of
course.” She gestured to the small table by the front
door.

“
There’s been
a major incident,” he said unhappily, “lots of injured police and
protesters. All of the surgical teams have been called back
in.”

“
Poor you.”
She said sympathetically, knowing it was wrong that she was finding
his summons incredibly sexy, but thinking it all the same. She
pulled her shirt back on and smiled at him, “Thank you for a lovely
evening.”

He sat looking at her,
his own arms still distractingly bare. He wanted to open her shirt
again, he wanted to fix the memory of her lovely breasts in his
mind and listen to the sounds that she had made. “Don’t you want me
to stay?” he asked, his concern obvious.

“
I thought
you had to return to the hospital.”

“
I
do.”

“
Chris I’m
confused.” She said gently.

“
What I mean
is, aren’t you sorry that I have to leave you?”

“
Well of
course I am.”

He put his hand on her
arm and said unsteadily, “If I go now, will you think of me like
him?”

She struggled for a
moment to follow his train of thought, then she asked tentatively,
“You mean like John?”

He nodded, “You trusted
John and then he left you and hurt you. Now you’ve trusted me and
I’m leaving you.”

She took a deep breath
then said rather self-consciously, “The difference is, that I’m
rather hoping you’re going to come back tomorrow.”

“
Of course I
am.” He said emphatically, and she felt the intensity of his blue
eyes in the base of her stomach.

“
Then it’s
not like John at all.”

He smiled then, and
kissed her mouth. “See you tomorrow beautiful.” She nodded, still
trying to catch her breath and he jogged out into the street and
back to his waiting car.