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Getting stuck in public school for a year because his parents had missed registration when they moved, Travis was out of his element, away from the posh private schools he had attended in New York. He’d been small, skinny and smart—a prime target for bullying—until Penny, Colin and Miranda had rallied around and taken him into the fold. Travis had completed the group. Colin was the intellectual, Miranda was the adventurer, Penny was the no-nonsense one, and Travis was the clown.
She still recalled how when his parents had tried to register him for private school, he’d pitched a fit to stay where he was, and they’d let him. The Monroes were great. Penny had to admit they had never made her feel out of place or like they were rich and she was poor, though that was the truth of it.
When the four of them played, had parties, or otherwise got together, it was always at one of the others’ homes or some other location. The small apartment her mother had just didn’t have room for visitors, and besides Penny hadn’t really wanted anyone to come over anyhow. She’d slept on the sofa bed in the living room, and her mom in the too-small bedroom. There had been barely room for a desk and a secondhand computer for Penny out in the living room. Miranda had been the only one who ever had visited.
Penny had never wanted Travis to see where she had grown up, though now her mom lived in a modest but pretty home that Penny had helped her buy. It was the least she could do for all the sacrifices her mother had made for her.
She nudged her toe against the wall again and looked at Travis from beneath her long lashes. He was still skinny, but now it was in that lithe I-want-to-start-at-your-ankles-and-crawl-my-way-up-to-your-lips kind of way. His hair fell adorably over his forehead and he was always batting it away from his friendly blue eyes. She loved the color of his hair. Penny was also a redhead, but hers was more strawberry blond, where his was a deep copper. She tried not to notice—honestly she put forth her best effort—but he was just so hot.
She also had to put forth her best effort to hide her feelings when other women noticed him—every time they were out in a public place. Travis hadn’t been a monk, she knew, but most of his relationships hadn’t been under her nose, occurring when he was away at school. He always said residents didn’t have time for romance, which must be true, because she hadn’t seen him with anyone in a while.
She came back into the moment, grinding her teeth when she saw him grinning at her in that “Ha! You think I’m gorgeous” way that burned her butt. She put her hands on her hips, and faced him squarely.
“What?”
“You know you want me. Why don’t you just give in to your desires. Pen? Treat yourself. You deserve it.”
She barked out a laugh and rolled her eyes.
“Hey, maybe you can get one of your doctor friends to check out your ego, it seems to be a little swollen.”
He simply smiled wider and took a step closer. God, the one thing that hadn’t changed was what an annoying smart-ass he could be.
“That’s not exactly where I’m feeling some swelling at the moment.” His eyes were wicked, and she had to fight a smile.
“You’re disgusting.”
“C’mon, Penster. Go out with me. How many times are you going to shoot me down?”
Nervously jamming her hands into her pockets, she scowled. “Give it up. I’m never going out with you, Travis. You’re not my type.”
Those friendly blue eyes took on a little edge, and she tipped her face up, facing off with him boldly as he stepped even closer until he almost had her pinned against the tile wall.
“And what type would that be?” he asked, his voice low so only she could hear.
She craned her neck to look past his shoulder. “Randi will be back out any second. I wonder how she’s doing.”
Travis only extended one arm, planting his hand on the wall aside of her, leaning in.
“I’m sure they’re fine. What type of man do you want, Penny? I’m sure we could work something out.”
Penny inhaled sharply, which was a totally stupid thing to do because even in the antiseptic atmosphere of the hospital ward, Travis’s fresh, clean scent was heavenly.
“Back off, will ya?” She pushed forward, planting her hands on his shoulder, only to have him pull her up close, sliding a look from side to side to make sure they were alone. Then, before she could wrestle free, he swooped in and covered her mouth with his, one fast, hot kiss that shot heat straight to all the places that counted. Places that hadn’t received much attention lately.
He let his mouth linger on hers for a minute, then he backed away slowly, satisfied as he took in her flushed cheeks and dazed eyes. The night-duty nurse clattered down the hall with the medicine tray, rolling along in between them, but even that didn’t break the spell.
“Just something for you to think about, in case you decide I might be your type after all.”
Travis winked and turned to walk down the hall. Penny ground her teeth, berating herself mentally for melting from one hot kiss. She would just have to make sure that that never happened again.
FOR A MOMENT Miranda stood by the door watching Colin sleep. He looked so different from the vibrant man whom she had tried to seduce a few hours earlier. Embarrassment flowed though her as she recalled the disaster that had been. Well, Travis said Colin had lost his memory, so she could only hope and pray he didn’t remember.
She took another step forward, and then another, swallowing visibly as she saw how pale he was. Her heart constricted as she surveyed the purple bruises on his face and arms. Tears threatened again. Biting her lip hard, she reminded herself that he was fine. Travis said he was fine.
She didn’t want to wake him though she wanted to know what his response to her would be. Free to stare, to observe the angles of his face, the texture of his skin, she watched him, thankful that he was still here with her. What had happened between them almost didn’t matter, compared to this. Nothing mattered as long as he was all right.
Sighing, she figured she should leave. Tomorrow would come soon enough, and she would help in whatever ways she could. There was no reason for Ed and Joyce to miss their anniversary trip. Her work schedule was flexible, and she could reschedule appointments if need be to help out Colin.
Reaching forward, she smiled slightly and ran the back of her finger over Colin’s cheek.
“I’ll be back to see you tomorrow, big guy.”
When she turned to go, she heard a grunt and a croaking noise. Glancing back, she saw Colin’s eyes flutter open and her heart leaped. He focused in on her, his eyes heavy from the sedation, and she returned to the bedside.
“Hey there.”
“Randi?” His voice was a grating whisper, but it was enough to make her heart pound with relief.
“You remember me.”
His chuckle came out as a rasp. She smiled and touched his forehead but drew her hand back almost as quickly as she had extended it.
“Let me get you some water.” She poured water from the pitcher on the stand and leaned forward, cradling his head while tipping the cup slightly forward with the other.
“Better?”
He nodded and winced as she removed her hand.
“Listen, I’ll come by tomorrow morning. You rest now.”
Bleary hazel eyes blinked again and watched her closely.
“I can’t remember…what happened. The last thing I remember was getting an e-mail from you earlier today…do you know what I was doing out there tonight? Was I with you?”
Unsure of what to say, she smiled brightly and patted his hand, anxious to leave.
“Don’t worry about it. We can talk tomorrow.”
“But—”
She cut him off in a playfully stern voice. “You need to sleep, or Travis will have both our heads. See you tomorrow.”
She walked away from the bed and sighed in relief, but it was only momentary. Who knew what the morning would bring?
TWO BOTTLES OF WINE and several hours later, Penny and Miranda were sprawled across Miranda’s couch, exhausted and depressed from the events of the day. Miranda told the story of her failed seduction, and Penny squirmed as she told the tale of Travis’s kiss—both were at their wit’s end about how to handle their respective situations.
Miranda lolled her head over against a pillow and sighed. Penny’s problems were solved for the moment, and she was snoring like a lumberjack. No wonder. They had finished the champagne she had put out for Colin and then opened a good merlot and drunk that.
She looked at her watch. Two in the morning. Great. Definitely time for bed, or she would not make it to the hospital at all in the morning. Standing on wobbly knees, she leaned over and grabbed Penny’s ankles, stretching her out on the sofa and ignoring the nonsensical mumblings Penny was making. Then Miranda grabbed a blanket and threw it over her, face and all.
Satisfied that Penny was well tucked in, she glanced at the two empty bottles on the table and shrugged. Staring harder, she cocked her head sideways, noticing that the bottles were on top of the magazine that had given her the idea for that stupid seduction in the first place. While picking it up, one of the empty bottles rolled to the floor. She stuck her tongue out at the magazine and then winged it clear across the room with a few choice words flung after it.
Stumbling forward, she hit her toe on the edge of the coffee table. Damn, this just wasn’t her night. Hobbling, she headed toward the stairs and her room. She would have to set her alarm to wake up Penny in time for work. Only five hours from now. That sucked.
Everything sucked. She was crazy about Colin, and he wasn’t in the least interested in her. How the heck had he ended up falling into the harbor after he left her? Now he had amnesia and, with her luck, he would remember everything by morning, and she would resume her full-fledged-idiot status. And her toe hurt, which probably was going to match what her head would feel like in the morning. Just great. She wished she could forget all this. Colin was lucky.
She walked to the back door and whistled. Lucy and Chuck came bounding around the corner and ran outside for their nightly business. Lucy was a medium sized pit bull/Lab mix she had rescued from the shelter when she moved here. Miranda had found Chuck, an indolent basset hound with irresistible ears and woeful brown eyes, in Denver. Miranda loved them both, and would get more pets if she had the room. Calling them back in, she pointed up the stairs, and they ran to their beds in the corner of her room.
Turning on the landing and following the dogs upstairs, she yawned and wondered if Colin really would remember. As much as she wanted him to be okay, it would be nice if her little snafu never made it to the light of his consciousness again. Really, in the scope of things, what was a few lost hours?
What if he didn’t ever remember? Travis said sometimes it was permanent, right?
A bad plan started forming at the edges of her thoughts. She knew it was bad because, well, she just had that feeling, the same feeling she’d had when she tried the old I’m-gonna-seduce-Colin routine. Peeling off her clothes, she didn’t even bother putting on pajamas. She just crawled under the covers, forgetting the alarm clock altogether.
Instead of passing out as Penny had been so fortunate to do, her mind kept spinning, trying to work out that vague idea forming on the alcohol-fuzzed horizon.
If Colin never remembered what had happened last night, could she tell him whatever she wished had happened? Could she rewrite history a little—well, okay, a lot—just for those few hours? Then she could finally make him see that they belonged together as more than friends.
It would be wrong…but only a little, right?
After all, it was clear that he had wanted her as much as she wanted him. He was held back by some misguided idea that she was replacing Derek with him. What if this little amnesia thing was her opportunity to remove that roadblock? Practically humming with possibility, and in spite of her better judgment, her mind continued to spin out a plan until the wine finally took its toll and she fell asleep.
4
COLIN REACHED OUT, not understanding how or why he was suddenly standing here looking at Miranda, who was smiling coyly as she half lay on the bed. Her beautiful naked form was draped in a cream-colored satin lace nightgown. Because everything around her was gauzy, like in an airbrushed photograph, he knew he must be dreaming. It did smell funny, though. Instead of perfume and flowers, the dream had a more antiseptic odor that had him wriggling his nose, but he shrugged. Who cared about that when Miranda was gazing at him seductively, his for the taking?
And at least in his dreams, he could take her. He had hot dreams about Miranda fairly frequently, and the strange odor, whatever it was, wasn’t enough to stop him. He took a step forward and slid his fingers underneath the flimsy shoulder strap of the lace nightgown, easing it over her slim shoulders. Her head fell back and she moaned, sending a wave of desire pulsing through him. He kissed her deeply, letting himself go; hell, it was his dream, he might as well indulge. Her lips were like silk and he knew he needed to be inside of her. Magically, he was suddenly naked. He loved that about dreams, just think it and it became real.
He had pushed her soft thighs apart, preparing to settle himself into ecstasy, when he suddenly found himself looking at his own image in a mirror he was standing in front of. Miranda was kneeling before him. His hands were wrapped in her hair as she dragged her tongue up his thigh, the sharp nip of her teeth startling him in the best possible way before she slid those luscious lips over his cock, taking him completely, and his world tilted sideways. This could potentially be the best dream he’d ever had.
She suckled him, closing her amazingly strong hands over his butt cheeks, squeezing and murmuring unintelligible things against his skin. Pleasure shot through him and he was surprised he could even continue standing. Watching her kiss him so intimately, he groaned. It wasn’t what he’d originally had in mind, but he wasn’t about to argue as she let him sink deeply into her hot mouth, encompassing him to the hilt over and over until sweet release started to build. Then his focus was shattered by a screamingly bright light that seemed to shine out of the mirror. He fought desperately to hold on to the pulsing pleasure, but consciousness encroached and he groaned, frustrated by the interruption.
“Colin, hey, whoa, that’s some dream you must be having, but let’s wake up now, okay?”
That definitely was not Miranda’s voice. Colin tried to focus back on Miranda, but she was fading away, slipping from him as reality and the throbbing pain in his head set in. Opening his eyes, he started when he met Travis’s eyes, up close and personal. Travis bent close, opening one eyelid then the other, shining a light that just increased the stabbing pain he was already feeling, then proceeded to check his other vitals without saying a word.
“Some parts of you are quite alert this morning apparently…would it be inappropriate for me to inquire how you’re feeling?”
Colin realized his dream-induced erection hadn’t quite faded with the dream. He could only be grateful now he hadn’t reached climax or he would have really been embarrassed. Looking up at Travis and twisting his face away from the probing light, he growled.
“I feel like shit.”
“That sounds about right. The meds are wearing off. You’ll be logy for a while, but then things will clear up. We’ll give you some painkillers for the aches, but nothing too strong—you need to get back on your feet today.”
“I can’t feel my feet. Wait, yes, I can, and they hurt. Everything hurts.”
Travis grinned down at him, sticking his hands into his pockets. “Aw, quit your whining. You were lucky—could have been much worse.”
“How the hell did I end up here with you poking and prodding at me?”
Travis shrugged and wrote something on his chart before answering.
“So you don’t remember our talk from last night? Do you remember anything else? Your mom and dad coming in, Miranda?”
Colin’s attention perked. “Miranda was here?”
Travis nodded and made another note. “Don’t worry too much about it. Memory lapses are common with this kind of thing. What’s important is that you made it out all in one piece.” Travis’s eyes turned serious when he stopped writing. “Seriously, Col, you were lucky. It may not feel like it at the moment, but if you’d been in the water any longer, things would have been a lot worse.”
Colin raised his eyebrows and winced. “I fell in the water? Lord. I can’t remember anything. When will my memory come back?”
“Hard to say. Amnesia can be temporary, but sometimes people will permanently lose their memories of the time surrounding a traumatic incident. You might also have a little trouble with your immediate memory in the next few days, forgetting where you put your coffee or your keys. It’s normal.”
Colin furrowed his brow, concentrating, but all he could recall of the preceding day was correcting papers and getting an e-mail from Miranda. Travis reached over and patted his shoulder companionably.
“Don’t force it. If it comes, it comes. You probably stopped for a beer, went for a walk and didn’t see those bikes coming.”
“Bikes?”
“You were knocked over the rail by a bicyclist. We talked about that a little last night, but you were pretty out of it.”
“Did anyone else get hurt?”
“Just minor injuries. You were kind enough to block one guy’s fall and prevent him from pitching over the side. Other than that, they didn’t have much to add, just that you were standing there and then suddenly you turned into their path.” Travis adjusted something on Colin’s IV, then continued.
“They tried to avoid you, but it was too late. The one who was left standing called the rescue unit and sent up a flare, flagging in a nearby boat with his emergency flashlight.” Travis grinned. “I’ll never make fun of yuppies who get all geared up for a ride through the city again. He saved your life.”
Colin blinked, the enormity of the situation settling in. He had fallen, could’ve died—and he didn’t remember any of it. It was extraordinarily frustrating. And surreal. Waking up the hospital and having no idea why was one of the most disturbing experiences he’d ever had. As a psychologist he had always wondered what amnesia would feel like. Basically, it sucked.
In spite of Travis’s casual response, it was unnerving to know something had happened and not be able to remember what it was. Exhaustion was starting to replace frustration, but he forced himself to stay awake.
“When am I out of here?”
“Later today. Your vitals are fine. We’ll get you up and walking, see how you do, then your mom said she and your dad would come get you. You’re staying with them for the night.”
Colin eyed Travis’s amused expression warily.
“Is that really necessary?”
“Probably not, but I told her it was a great idea, because it was fun to think of you being fed green Jell-O and tucked away in front of the TV in your jammies.”
“That’s just great. Thanks a bunch.”
“No problem. But seriously, Col, it wouldn’t hurt for you to have someone around for your first night home, and it will make them feel better, too. Randi and I talked them out of canceling their trip, so you are only hostage for one night. Enjoy it.”
Colin smirked and let his head fall back on the pillow before his tone turned serious again.
“They were okay?”
