Wild Boys - Heath (8 page)

He shook his head and brushed her hair from her shoulder. “You do this cute thing when you’re worried. You draw your brows together and nibble on your lower lip.”

“Way to avoid the question.” She readied herself to leave. “If you’re married, I don’t want—”

“Ally, I’m not married. I told you I don’t lie, and cheating is lying. I spend a lot of time with my family.
My mother and brothers. It’s complicated.”

“Oh, sorry. I thought...Complicated how?”

He pressed his lips to the point where her brows drew together. “Sorry. Sidetracked.”

She smiled.
He
was complicated. He was a fierce lover, but he was revealing a gentler side that she wanted to get to know better.

“My mother is blind, and my brothers and I take turns going over to spend time
with her, take her on errands, out to dinner, you know, things like that.”

She reached for his hand, feeling all of her muscles go soft. “That’s so sweet of you, but how is that complicated?”

“It’s just busy. We have dinner there Sunday nights, too, and that time with my family is important to me. Between my work schedule and my family, I don’t have much time for doting on someone.”

“I think it’s wonderful that you cherish the time you have with your family and you’re dedicated to your patients, but did you really just use the word ‘doting’?” She smiled.

“What’s wrong with ‘doting’?” His eyes went serious again.

“Nothing.” She laughed. “It’s not something guys usually say.” She leaned in close and whispered, “Especially guys who talk dirty.”

“Well, see? I
am
complicated.”
He leaned in even closer and said, “And I’d like to dote on you in several dirty ways.” He kissed her cheek as the waiter brought their food.

They shared their meals, and conversation came easily. Ally noticed that she was the focus of Heath’s attention throughout the meal, despite the attractive women seated at what seemed like every other table. After he paid for their meal, he hailed a
cab and they headed for a
secret
destination.

“Tell me about your family, Ally. Are you from New York?”

“I’m supposed to think and speak coherently when you’ve told me you’re whisking me off to a
secret
destination?”

He shrugged. “Testing your ability to multitask.”

“I like you, Heath Wild.” She drew in a deep breath.

“The feeling’s mutual.” He touched her chin.

While her
insides did a happy dance, she answered his question. “I grew up just outside of the city, where my parents still live. I went to SUNY Cortland. It was cheap, so it wasn’t a hardship on my parents, and my sister had gone there, so it felt safe.”

“You have a sister?”

“Yes. Amanda.
Mandy
. She’s a year older than me. We’re really close. In fact, she lives around the corner from me and works
near the hospital as a paralegal.”

“That’s nice. How often do you see your folks?” he asked as the cab pulled over in front of the Central Park Zoo.

“Um. Heath? You know the zoo is closed, right?”

He paid the cabdriver and came around to open her door. “It’s closed to the public, yes. But I pulled a few strings. Talk to me, Ally. Tell me about your folks as we walk.”

He took her
hand and guided her around the main gate. He was taking her to the zoo? At night? This was so romantic that she was having a hard time keeping her focus.

“My parents?”

“Your parents,” he urged.

“My dad is an accountant, and my mom stayed home with us when we were little, but now she works part-time at the library and volunteers just about everywhere she can.”

Heath led her to a
gate where a tall blond man who looked to be in his late thirties was waiting for them.

“Heath, good to see you again.” The man shook Heath’s hand and smiled at Ally. He had a friendly smile, the kind that said he clearly understood that this was a special evening for them. “You must be Allyson. I’m George. Nice to meet you.”

“Hi, George. Nice to meet you, too.”

They followed George
into the zoo, and he locked the gate behind them. “Okay, guys, enjoy. I’ll be waiting here when you’re done.” He pointed to a bench where a pregnant blond woman was sitting. Heath waved, and the woman waved back as Heath guided Ally in the opposite direction.

“That’s his wife, Julie,” Heath explained.

“He’s just going to let us wander around? What if we do something bad, like jump into
an animal’s enclosure?” They walked along the wide path toward the animal habitats.

Heath laughed. “I think he trusts my judgment. Should I trust yours?”

He draped an arm over her shoulder and pulled her against him. Moonlight cast a hazy glow over the pavement. “You said you’d never been to a zoo. I thought it was something we could do that was different.”

“This is different, all
right.” She stopped walking and touched his chest again. “This is so special. Thank you, but you didn’t have to go to all this trouble.”

“Well, don’t get too excited yet. We may not see any animals this late at night.”

“I don’t care if we don’t see any animals. It was such a thoughtful thing to arrange. Thank you, Heath.” She went up on her toes, and he met her halfway in a sweet kiss.
His lips were warm and moist, inviting. As he deepened the kiss, her body melted against him, and she didn’t want the kiss to end. His hands splayed against her back, and she could feel his strength through his chest, his biceps, his thighs pressing against hers. When their lips finally parted, she was breathless for more.

“I sure like you, Allyson,” he said softly.

“Ditto,” was all she
could manage.

As they neared the animal habitats, musky scents hung in the air. Without the road noises or people milling about, Ally was focused on Heath. His stride felt easier, as if he wasn’t on alert, ready to fend off strangers, like he seemed to be when they were out on the busy streets. Ally thought they’d hear animal noises more clearly at night, but there weren’t many discernible
animal sounds, just the sounds of their shoes on the pavement and every now and again a random feral noise in the distance.

They walked through the aviary, and she was delighted to hear the sounds of wings flapping, as they must have scared a bird into flight. Ally’s sense of smell and sound were heightened, but while she tried to focus on spotting birds, she was distracted by the man standing
beside her and the feel of his shoulder pressing intimately against hers.

Heath was right: They didn’t see many animals, but just being together was nice, walking in the moonlight, having the zoo all to themselves. Knowing that he cared enough to go to the trouble of pulling whatever strings it took for him to get George to open the zoo made Ally feel special.

She marveled at the way her
heart skipped a beat when the glowing eyes of deer appeared in the tufted deer habitat. Deer were fairly common. Why did this feel so magical? Heath kissed her temple, and she had her answer. Being with Heath was magical. Everything else—the animal sightings and sounds—was a gift.

As they made their way through the zoo, the otter and porcupines were not curious enough to appear when they passed.
They continued along the path, and Ally felt like every minute brought her and Heath closer together. She glanced at him, and he smiled down at her. Each time he caught her sneaking glances, he pulled her in closer, and she felt as though they were becoming more than just physically close. They were both relaxing into their surprise coupling.

“You were cute in the lab today,” Heath said as
they walked around the temperate territory, where the snow monkeys and red pandas were kept.

“Cute? I was so nervous. I had no idea you worked there.”

They stopped at the stone wall by the snow monkeys, and he tugged her in close again. “Nervous? What worried you?”

“Well, let’s see. You and I were both looking for a night of no-strings-attached fun, which somehow turned into two nights,
and
then
you somehow got me to have phone sex with you. Then you top it off by walking into the lab where I work. What about all of that sounds comfortable to you? I wasn’t sure if you’d be pissed that I worked there, or, for that matter, if
I
would be that
you
worked there. I was kind of shocked, to be honest. I had just written you off.”

“Written me off? Why?” He tightened his grip on her
hips. “Am I that bad?”

“No, but…” Her eyes skated nervously over the monkey enclosure. Rocks lined a pool of water moving in the evening breeze on the far side of the exhibit. Ally tried to figure out how to explain what she’d felt earlier.

He stepped into her line of sight and gazed into her eyes with a soft, worried look that she hadn’t seen before.

“Talk to me, Ally. We’ve both
been lied to. We established that the other night. I’m not going to do that to you.”

“I’m not worried about that.” She dropped her gaze. “Or maybe I am. I’m not sure. But this afternoon I realized I was anxiously awaiting each text from you, and I kept thinking, what happens when they stop? Eventually they would, and I’d already felt myself getting tied up in you in a way that I probably shouldn’t.”

“That’s why we’re here.” He said it so easily, like it made perfect sense, and she didn’t have a clue what he meant.

“At the zoo?”

“No, sweetheart.” He smiled again.

Somehow his words, his smile, eased her worries. He looked trustworthy and sincere, and she knew it was genuine, but she’d been hurt before.

Hasn’t everyone?

She hated the conflicting feelings warring inside
her.

“That’s why we’re on this date,” he explained. “I was feeling the same things, Ally. I’ve never checked my cell phone as many times as I have in the last two days. I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I had to find out why, and when I saw you in the lab, all my rules about dating came crashing down.”

***

HEATH COULDN’T BELIEVE the words that were spewing from his mouth. They were
all true, but he hadn’t realized how strongly he’d felt them. He could tell by the worry in Ally’s eyes that she was struggling with this as much as he was, and all he wanted was to make her worries go away.

That wasn’t exactly true.

He wanted much more.

“But why, Heath? Why are we feeling this way after the things we did?”

“What do you mean? If you have great sex, it can’t lead
to something more?” Didn’t most women want something more? Now he was flat-out confused. “I have to be honest. I have been confused as hell over all of this, but then I thought, why fight it?”

She touched her forehead to his chest, and he held her close. There beneath the moon and the stars, outside the snow monkey enclosure in Central Park, Heath felt his world shift and his heart open.

He cupped her face between his hands and tilted it up toward his, searching her eyes for answers. He didn’t even know what the questions were, but somehow he knew that whatever the answers were, they lay within her.

“We’ll go slow, Ally.”

He was rewarded with another sweet smile. He couldn’t help but press his lips to hers.

“We can start by you telling me your last name.”

She
laughed, and it was music to his ears. “Jenner. Allyson Jenner.”

“Related to Bruce?”

She shook her head, and he lowered his lips to hers again. “You really are the most intriguing woman I know, Allyson Jenner.”

They left the zoo a short while later, having seen few animals and discovering a whole new world within each other.

They walked back to Ally’s apartment, and by the time
they reached her door, Heath didn’t want the night to end. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d enjoyed spending time with a woman so much or hadn’t wished he was reading a medical journal or catching up on sports instead. When he was with Ally, the rest of the world fell away.

“Do you want to come in for a drink?” she offered.

It was nearly midnight, and Heath knew she had to get up
early, as did he, but when she blinked up at him with her big doe eyes, he couldn’t resist accepting.

“Sure.”

She unlocked the door, and the first thing she did when she walked inside was bend down to pick up Fifi and give her a snuggle. He wondered if she was nervous, or if she was overly comfortable. He found that
he
was both. He was overly comfortable with Ally
and
he was nervous about
where to take things from here.

Her efficiency apartment smelled like spring, fresh and floral. To the right was a small kitchen counter and a row of three cabinets, with a breakfast bar and two black stools tucked beneath it. Scarred hardwood floors and white walls gave the small space an airy feel. Heath’s eyes rolled over the simple sofa and television and moved to the king-sized bed just
beyond.

“Wine okay?” she asked as she reached for two glasses.

“Yeah, sure.” He picked up Fifi and petted her while he discovered more about Ally. “I like your apartment.”

She looked around the room. “The efficiency makes it easier for Fifi to navigate. The fewer walls the better.”

That made sense. He thought about his mother and the way she trailed her fingers along the walls
of the home she refused to give up. He was sure she knew every squeaky floorboard, every nook and cranny on each floor. He lifted Fifi and kissed her head as he eyed Ally. It took a special person to care for a blind pet, and as he watched Ally put fresh water into the cat’s bowl before pouring their wine, he knew she was the perfect person for Fifi. The question was, was she the perfect person for
him, too?

On the coffee table he found her library books—all medical, which surprised him. He picked one up and waved it in Ally’s direction.

“So the lab is more than just a place to work for you?”

She shrugged as she joined him by the sofa and handed him a glass of wine. She sipped her wine, and Heath wondered how anyone could make skinny jeans and a turquoise blouse look sexy as
hell.

He set Fifi in her bed as they sank down to the couch beside each other.

“There was a time when I thought I wanted to go to medical school, but I didn’t have the money, and I’m not sure I really wanted it enough to succeed. So, when something medical catches my eye, I read up on it. It’s really just hit or miss. A weird hobby, I guess.” She flipped through a book about human anatomy
and physiology. “What I really like is the patient interaction and figuring out the puzzles. Fact finding, I guess. The ability to find definitive, or close to definitive, answers.”