She Belongs to Them Both

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Meg stared at him. The ghost of his touch lingered on her hand, long after he’d stopped touching her. She fought to keep her breathing steady. His strange words and actions should have alarmed her, made her ask him to leave but they didn’t. This gentle doctor, with his intriguing combination of rugged handsomeness and refinement, had awakened something inside her, something deep and resonant, a sense of life and mystery. She wished he would take her hand again and caress it.

He furrowed his brow. “Did I frighten you? I’m so sorry.”

She shook her head. “No…you didn’t. Not at all.” She craved to ask him why he wanted to know her hair and eye color and why he’d caressed the back of her hand but instinctively sensed that when he was ready to tell her why, he would. She was simply glad he was here with her and that he didn’t seem to want to leave.

He smiled, his brown eyes flooding with obvious relief. “I’m glad. I certainly didn’t mean to.”

The telephone on the counter rang then and Meg rose to answer it. “Chen’s Market. May I help you?”

“Miss Phillips?”

“Speaking.” She tensed, already recognizing the voice on the other end.

“Rodney Turnbull here, from Boston Development Corporation.”

Megan sighed and rolled her eyes. She leaned her elbow on the counter. “Mr. Turnbull, I’ve already told you, I’m not going to sell.” She hated to speak rudely to anyone but this man was always aggressive with her and plied her with letters and phone calls asking her to sell the building, which had been in her family since the establishment of Chinatown in the 1890s. “I can’t do it. This is an historically registered landmark of the community and provides an important service, especially to the inner city children. We do give summer programs here for them.”

“Oh, I thought you’d suspended those in the wake of your grandfather’s death. I saw the sign in the window.”

She held the phone away from her face and made a frustrated, angry face. This guy was low and dirty to say such a thing to her. She glanced at Jie.

He was watching her, a questioning expression on his handsome face.

Sighing, she put the phone back to her ear. “I simply forgot to take that sign down. Lessons have resumed. You can call the community center and ask them. Laurel Chow is the director.”

Laurel certainly supported Meg’s decision not to sell and had already offered several times to fib for her about the lessons.

Turnbull cleared his throat. “No need. If you say it, it’s true. However, Miss Phillips, you won’t be able to hold out forever. The sum we’re prepared to offer you would make it so you’d never have to work again. You and your family would be very comfortable for a very long time.”

A sliver of anger passed through her. The community was her family as far as she was concerned and she wasn’t going to let them down. And she couldn’t let go of her grandfather’s store. It was her last connection to him. “I’m sorry, I have customers. I must go.”

“Thank you for your time, Miss Phillips.”

Meg hung up without another word. She took a deep breath and went back to the table.

Jie was watching her sympathetically. “Are you all right?”

She nodded, basking in the kindness of his expression and sank into her chair. “A development corporation,” she said. “They’re buying up buildings all around here. I refuse to sell.” She looked down, feeling embarrassed, though she wasn’t sure why. “I told them about the tai chi lessons resuming as a ploy to keep them away. It’s not exactly true but I fully intend to continue with them. I just haven’t been able to. There’s been too much work to do alone.”

She stopped herself. For the second time in a few hours, she’d unloaded her personal baggage onto this man. She barely even did that with Danny who was closer to her than a brother. “There I go again, telling you all these things you didn’t ask.”

“I’ll give the lessons for you, Megan, if it will help.”

His quiet voice cut through her embarrassment. She looked up at him. Was he for real? “I…I…couldn’t ask you to do that.”

He smiled. “You didn’t ask. I’m offering. I see that you have so much to do. I’d like to help. I’ve been practicing tai chi since I was seven years old.”

The room had begun to tilt again. In one morning, this man had come in and helped her beloved Auntie Yee with her headaches and had offered to relieve much of her burden for her. The issue of having suspended the martial arts instruction, even temporarily, was upsetting for her and he’d just offered her relief. Her stomach fluttered. “Are you sure about this? I mean, you may not even have meant to stay here. You’d be stuck.”

“I mean to stay here,” he said softly. “It would be an honor.”

To her embarrassment, hot tears crowded her eyes. She looked down and nodded. “I gratefully accept your offer.” When she’d gotten control of her impending tears, she raised her gaze to his. “But you must let me do something for you in return. You should stay here in our home. Grandfather would have wanted you to. He would have said you’re an honored guest.” She knew she was babbling now but couldn’t stop herself. “That is, if you don’t already have somewhere to stay.” She realized she’d just used the pronoun “our” as if Grandfather were still alive.

“I don’t, actually. I came straight here from the airport.”

She looked at him, wide-eyed. “You must be exhausted! How rude of me! Perhaps you’d like to go upstairs and rest. Shower. Whatever you’d like.”

His brown eyes glowed with a strange combination of humor and something deeper she couldn’t quite identify but it made heat simmer deep in her belly and lower. Her s*x tightened and pulsed. She shifted in her seat.

“I’m not tired,” he said. “I flew west. You always gain time in that direction.”

She nodded, not trusting her voice not to tremble now.

“I would be honored to stay in your home, as long as it doesn’t put you to any trouble.”

She shook her head. “No trouble at all. You’re welcome to go upstairs now, if you’d like. I’m sure Mei wouldn’t mind. She’s my cat.”

A flicker of a shadow passed over his face. “No, I will stay down here with you until closing. No need to go upstairs. Is that all right?”

Again, she felt ridiculously happy that he wanted to stay here with her. She even had the sense that he wanted to protect her somehow. She could live with that. It felt nice to have someone want to be in her company so much, especially since Danny had met Dave and spent less time with her. Before that, she and Danny had been nearly inseparable since seventh grade. “Of course it’s all right.”

“If there’s anything you need help with, just ask me.”

“Thank you, Jie. I can’t thank you enough.” She fought back another threatening onslaught of tears. “It’s so strange. It’s like you’re an angel or something like that.”

At her comment, his dark eyes clouded slightly. “I’m not an angel, Megan but I do want to help you if I can.”

She looked at him, taking in the full sight of his strong lean form, his masculine face with its hint of shadow on his jaw and upper lip and his large almond-shaped eyes, the color of them like melting chocolate. A frisson of energy passed through her, causing her to tingle inside, especially between her thighs. No, he wasn’t an angel. He was a flesh and blood man. A man she was wildly attracted to and whom she’d just invited to stay with her.

And, to her joy, he’d accepted.