Frankenstein In Love Page 16

  “Tiffany.” The voice was soft against the pounding surf. “Tiffany.”

  Moving her gaze away from the magnificent of the ocean, she saw a man’s silhouette standing against the brightness of the sky. His long hair was blowing in the wind, and Tiffany felt a stab of fear, thinking Quinn had found her until he turned, and she saw his face—the scars—revealed as she’d never seen them before.

  *

  Kirk was aware of Tiffany’s shock when she saw him, but he didn’t turn away. He knew that if they were ever going to have something she would have to see what she was getting, so he stood there, not hiding, but letting her gaze upon him.

  After what seemed like an eternity, she lifted her hand, and he stepped into the wide, smooth groove beside her. The space was cramped, their bodies pressed together, and their eyes locked in a hot, magnetic gaze.

  The wind whipped violently around them, but within the groove of the rock, their words echoed in the small chamber.

  “I was afraid you wouldn’t come,” she whispered, her sweater falling down, exposing her shoulder and the inviting rise of her cleavage.

  Kirk’s gaze shifted toward the appealing roundness, and moved his finger to blaze a bold trail across her breasts and down into the valley between them. “You don’t know how hard it is to be here with you now, to let you see me in the daylight. To let you see the scars that before were hidden in the darkness.”

  “Kirk,” she whispered, reaching up and caressing his scarred face. “I see every line, every flaw, and every little imperfection, but it doesn’t make any difference. Don’t you know by now that I don’t care about your scars?”

  “Tiffany, think about it,” he whispered urgently. “Are you sure this is the face you want to see above you?”

  “Oh yes,” she urged. “I’m not blind, Kirk. I see the scars, every one of them, but no ugliness. To me you’re the most handsome man I’ve ever known.”

  *

  Kirk leaned toward her, and Tiffany sighed as he pressed his soft, delicious lips against hers. He sensuously parted them in a delightful exploratory kiss, and Tiffany moaned as she opened up to him. He kissed her over and over again as his arms surrounded her, pulling her to him. She could feel his hard body as it pressed her down on the smoothness of the unrelenting rock. As he sweetly released her lips, he breathed heavily into her ear, speaking her name softly.

  With the heat of the moment racing through her, Tiffany began to feel the most base, impure need to feel him, to taste him. She hurriedly unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it back, opened her mouth and drew on his shoulder, feeling his hard muscles rippling beneath her touch. She buried her fingers in his thick, dark hair, closing her eyes as his mouth moved along her neck and breasts. As her desire grew, she began to move her hungry lips and tongue along his chest and neck, giving her a faint taste of the spice and foam.

  As the cool wind whistled mournfully, she began unbuckling his pants, feeling a desire inside her as strong as the elements around her. As the wildness of the wind whipped and raged, her desire flared as it never had before. His mouth covered one and then the other of her nipples and began to suckle hungrily.

  The rock trembled as the force of the elements surged all around them, the surf saturating them with the pounding ocean. As they hurriedly stripped off the rest of their soggy clothes, they devoured each other. Tiffany felt like a wanton bitch hungering for her mate. She arched her back as the electricity of pleasure streaked through her time and time again. As the wind blew, the ocean heaved wave after wave upon them, puddling their bodies in the restless water.

  Having Kirk so near after wanting him for so long was potent, and the desire building inside her made her want to literally inhale him. Nestled in the yawning chasm of the rock, the desire she felt pounded just as furiously within her as the wind and surf. Wet flesh touched wet flesh when Kirk began to caress her body softly. He was afraid that a heavier touch would break the heady magic, leaving him to slightly tease her with his hands until Tiffany began writhing like a snake, ready for him to enter her. Wild with desire, she couldn’t wait, but reached down and took his pulsing shaft in her hands, pushing it against her sensitive opening.

  When she felt the first delicious thrust of penetration, her moans mingled with the violent crashes of the ocean as it saturated them once again. It seemed the wildness of the winds and waves orchestrated their every movement, and as if taking his cues from the very elements, Kirk began a wild movement above her, recklessly burying himself deeper and deeper inside her. She lifted her legs, and cried out as Kirk’s violent plunges seemed in competition with the waves. Although the relentless tides were savage, Kirk was giving her a ride even more exciting than the wind and the surf. She grabbed him, holding on as they moved together toward paradise.

  Kirk sank inside Tiffany to the very hilt, pulling her upward to meet his thrusts, and pushing her hard into the small depth of sea water that had gathered inside the rock. As he forced her down deeper and deeper into the dark cavity, she wound her legs around his waist, welding them together, climbing toward glorious release.

  Kirk’s face contorted as he exploded inside her. Tiffany moaned aloud as she felt his juices flood her and felt her own release right behind his. She arched her back as she felt consumed with a pulsing orgasm that caused her cunt to grasp his cock and contract over and over, reluctant to let him go.

  When it was over and she lay exhausted in Kirk’s arms, she lifted her fingernails and saw blood and flesh underneath where her passion had apparently dug them into Kirk’s back. Tears welled up in her eyes, because Tiffany knew for the first time in her life that she was in love. It was a deep, aching love that she knew could not be felt twice in a lifetime. She stayed wrapped in Kirk’s arms for as long as possible, enjoying the closeness, but finally had to leave, knowing if she stayed any longer she would be missed. So, when she finally dressed in her soggy clothes and walked back along the ocean path with Kirk, Cat’s Paw slowly came into view, and Kirk turned to her.

  “You go in first, and I’ll come in later.”

  “Why?”

  “Quinn’s probably there.” Kirk said with uncertainty. “I don’t want him to see us together.”

  “If you say so, but I don’t understand why it matters.”

  “I just don’t want to give him another opportunity to cheapen what we have, or even destroy it. Please, Tiffany.”

  She knew he was right, and a pang of uneasiness spread through her when she thought of the way he had already hurt Kirk with his lies and his manipulations. She couldn’t stand the thought of him being hurt again. “Of course, darling,” she said softly. “You’re right.” She turned to go, but stopped and paused for a moment, gazing up at him. “Kirk, would you think about moving upstairs? It’s important that you start living in the world again. Wear the mask if you want, but at least think about it, would you?”

  “I don’t know.” He seemed nervous. “Maybe.”

  She stepped up close to him and whispered, “I promise I’ll make it worth your while.”

  Kirk grinned. “There you go, trying to seduce me again.”

  “Hey, after today I’m beginning to wonder who seduced who.”

  His finger drew an imaginary line along her chin as he whispered, “Okay, I promise I’ll think about it.”

  Tiffany continued her climb up the little slope leading to Cat’s Paw, and turned at one point high above the beach and gazed far down the sandy strip at the huge rock that had been their meeting place. The pounding surf was so wild and wonderful—just like her love for Kirk.

  Chapter 15

  KIRK was angled back in a large, brown leather chair, blinking up into a bright light, a huge magnifying glass, and a camera that seemed to be glaring at him with one lens. The doctor sat on a stool adjacent to him, squinting through a large, amplified glass. With antiseptic hands he probed, stretched, and moved his fingers roughly across Kirk’s scarred face. After a while, he pushed t
he larger glass aside and fit a small, black instrument against one eye for closer work.

  “You know,” the doctor said as his fingers moved across Kirk’s face, “you’ve gotta be the luckiest son of a bitch on the face of the earth.”

  “Doc,” Kirk began, while scowling up into the bright lights. “I think you’re a little confused here. Good luck is if I had never gotten into that car. This—” he said, pointing to his face, “this is what you call bad luck. See the difference?”

  The doctor chuckled, pulling away. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t understand. Glad you could straighten me out on that.”

  While extracting the black object from his eye, he lifted his hand and turned off the lights, and sat looking at Kirk. “What I mean is, it could have been a whole hell of a lot worse.” He paused, taking off his antiseptic gloves. “Personally, I don’t know how in God’s name you came away from that accident without being decapitated, your throat cut, or at the very least, blinded. Someone had to be watching over you.”

  “Someone was watching over me?” Kirk said excitedly. “I’ve spent ten years in a friggin’ basement, and you think someone was watching over me?” Kirk cast the doctor a wry smile. “You get funnier all the time.”

  “That’s another thing, Kirk,” the doctor said while adjusting the camera and puttering around. “Why wait ten years to get this work done? I know at first you had to recuperate, and you needed time to grieve for your parents, so it was tough, I understand that. But after that you could have had the work done anytime. Why wait until now?”

  Kirk shrugged. “I don’t know. A lot of things, I guess. According to the doctor I was in shock and they couldn’t operate. I was miserable. I knew I looked like a monster, and I felt like one. That’s when the depression started. It was serious enough for the surgery to be postponed temporarily, but before I knew it, ten years had passed. By that time I figured it was too late.”

  “Why the hell would you think that? I mean, I work with faces that have had years of sun damage, years of getting old and wrinkled. Good grief, Kirk, there’s no time limit on cosmetic surgery. If there was, we’d all be out of business.”

  “Hell, I knew that. Maybe a shrink would tell me that subconsciously I was punishing myself for killing my parents. All I know is I set my own limitations. I was determined not to allow myself any happiness. I didn’t feel I deserved it—hadn’t suffered enough.”

  “Hadn’t suffered enough? Good God, man, you were practically torn apart, and you felt you hadn’t suffered enough?”

  “I know I was stupid, but the truth is, the longer I stayed down in that hole, the easier it got.”

  “What do you mean?” the doctor asked.

  “Do you know what it’s like, facing the world after staying buried in a hole for ten years—or one even—or two? As long as I stayed down there, I didn’t have to worry about the world at large, or adjusting. After a while I was hiding out from the world, from everything. Hell, I don’t know, it’s all so damned confusing. What I’m trying to say is, I don’t know how the hell I’m going to adjust. I mean, the world has changed so much.” Kirk pointed out all the new-fangled machinery in the doctor’s office. “Look at these gadgets,” he said as he indicated one sleek device after another. “Whatever happened to a simple examination followed by a friggin’ scalpel?”

  The doctor smiled. “These are not toys, Kirk. They help me do my job. Progress, you’ve heard of it.”

  “Sure, I’ve heard of it, but don’t you see what I’m saying? Ten years—ten friggin’ years, a decade of my life is gone. The world is a new place.”

  “So the hell what?” the doctor said, sliding onto the stool opposite Kirk and leaning toward him. “It’s better than two decades—three—your whole life being gone, isn’t it? Kirk, don’t you see, damn it? You’re doing it again. Setting limitations. Hell, adjusting is nothing. Besides, did it ever occur to you that if this whole thing hadn’t happened, you might never have met Tiffany? When you left school you would have become the hotshot lawyer you kept telling everyone you were gonna be, right? The next step would’ve been marriage with a girl that would’ve taken everything you made in alimony. But, as it happened you buried yourself, shying away from any kind of human contact. Then Tiffany comes along and takes an interest in you—hell, even falls in love with you. Maybe it couldn’t have happened any other way.” When he saw Kirk considering what he was saying, he got up and went over to his computer. “Anyway, I still stick with my original opinion. Any man with Tiffany Lovelace in his bed is one lucky son of a bitch, no matter what it took to get her there.” The doctor began punching keys, and turned toward Kirk. “Look into the camera, Kirk.” When Kirk glanced into the camera lens, the doctor’s fingers played over the keys until he was satisfied, and then continued. “So, you had to give up ten years of your life to find the woman of your dreams.” The doctor cut his eyes over at him. “Wasn’t she worth it?”

  Kirk frowned at the doctor suspiciously. “What in hell are you saying?”

  “Wasn’t she worth it? You know, between the sheets.”

  Kirk jumped up. “You lousy son of a bitch. I don’t like your suggestive remarks.”

  “All right, calm down, Romeo, I didn’t mean anything by it. I’m just complimenting your taste in women.”

  “Yeah? Well, you could have just given me a thumbs-up or something.”

  The doctor smiled, punched a key, and a picture of Kirk crept out of a machine. Walking over and picking up the picture, he turned to Kirk with a thumbs-up gesture—concerning both matters.

  * * * *

  Tiffany stood out in front of The Sea Shadows Inn waiting for Kirk when a cab pulled up and she noticed someone getting out. Watching him while he leaned over to pay the cabby, Tiffany couldn’t help noticing how handsome he was. Finally pulling her gaze away, she peered down the street, still watching for Kirk when she heard a voice behind her.

  “Going my way?”

  She turned and saw the flashing blue gaze of the man who got out of the cab, and almost fainted. It was Kirk. She scanned his face. “My God, Kirk, your face, what…”

  Kirk glanced around at the staring people. “We’re making a scene. Let’s step inside, and I’ll tell you everything.”

  As they walked Tiffany said, “Kirk, we’re not making a scene, they’re just looking at your gorgeous self.”

  “Oh, yeah? Maybe their looking at your gorgeous self.”

  “I don’t think so,” she said, noticing the women who were boldly appreciating Kirk. “God, I almost wish the scars were back.”

  “Oh, they’re here, you just can’t see them.”

  “They are?” she said. “Well, they’re not on your face. What did you do, put them in your pocket?”

  “Very funny.” He guided her to a seat in the lobby, and carefully turned her face toward his. “Now, look closely at my face.”

  “I have been,” Tiffany said when she noticed a very faint, small line. She reached up to touch it.

  He caught her hand. “No, don’t touch it. It’s a skin-tone, stretchable synthetic that was made up for the doctor by a friend of his. It adheres to the skin naturally and covers any disfigurement. It was invented by a makeup artist who works in the film industry. This is just something he put together for the movies, but it worked so well he showed it to some doctors. Before long a lot of interest in the field of cosmetic surgery was worked up, and with their help he’s going to put it on the market. It’s called—or it’s going to be called, Second Skin.”

  “But your face…it was so badly torn up it seems impossible that something as light and simple as a…” She touched it. “My God, it’s fantastic. It even feels normal.”

  “It only appears light. There are actually several thicknesses, for instance, there are the heavy duty camouflage sheets like the one I’m wearing, but they come in all different depths and widths. It all depends on what you need, and how serious the damage to your face is.”
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br />   “It’s seems so real. I would have never known.”

  “It’s getting late,” he said glancing down at his watch. “Where is this woman we’re supposed to meet here? And who is she? You never told me.”

  “Didn’t I? Well, there’s not much to tell. Reyna owns Lovelines Literary Agency. With all the hype going out about my disappearance, I was afraid Reyna would worry, so when the phones began working again I called and left a message telling her I was all right. Anyway, she called me back telling me she was going to be down this way, and just wanted us to have lunch and get together again. Kind of like old times. She’s a great gal, and I’m anxious for you to meet her.”

  “You didn’t tell her I would be with you?”

  “No, it didn’t seem important. Why?”

  “Nothing, except she might not know about me.”

  “Oh, she knows about you. I told her all about you, and…Oh, hey, it is getting late,” she said as she noticed the time.

  “What time was this lunch?”

  “She said noon-ish.”

  “It’s about that time now, so I guess we’d better be getting up there. By the way, what room is she in?”

  “She’s up in room—” Tiffany began scrambling around in her purse until she found a piece of paper. “Room 203.”

  “Okay, let’s get going.”

  They walked to the elevator, and Kirk turned as if he were searching for something. When he found it he began pushing her toward a door, and said, “It’s only one floor, how about we take the steps?”

  “Okay, whatever.”

  Kirk pushed the door to the stairwell open, and she was just about to take the first step up, when Kirk stopped her and turned her around.

  “I didn’t really want to walk up, I just wanted somewhere we could be alone.”

  “Oh yeah?” she said, smiling. “What did you have in mind, stranger?”

  “A little of this,” he whispered as he pulled her to him and covered her lips with his. “And a touch of this,” he continued as he began sensuously nibbling on her ear.