PREVIOUSLY

Nick heard a noise and looked up to see a slender shape standing over bythe door of the living room. She had come in quietly through the still unlocked front door - as if she wanted to blend into the landscape of the room,but unknown to her, her intention of not making an grand entrance failed miserably. As she walked forward into the room, some recessed lighting hit her fully in the face, illuminating her and what she was wearing. The vivid jade of her soft knit top made her entire face bloom and accentuated the rich ebony color of her hair.
Slowly rising from his prone position, Nick's eyes drank in every detail of her and amazement began to set in as he realized what he was thinking.
I want her…

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A sensation passed through him that was fluid with a deep yearning - an emotion personally unfamiliar to him. So this is what I've been missing…
Sherry knew when she was having an effect on a man, but she had not expected the look that materialized momentarily in the sharp hazel eyes absorbing her entrance into the room. That he would find her attractive had occurred to her, but a flicker of emotion left unveiled revealed something else she had never expected from this man. So he can be vulnerable. The look quickly disappeared, and he adopted a masked, approving smile as he complimentedher.
"Nice outfit."
"Thanks," she said and glanced toward the kitchen. "I guess I'll gohelp out Slider."
After she left the room, he sank back into the sofa trying to grapple with the feeling, which had come into the cold chamber of his heart. Ihave to master this…I don't know what to do with it…
Sherry's face felt warm from Nick overt scrutiny as she walked into the kitchen. Slider was standing at the sink washing something out under running water. His back was turned toward her, and for a minute, she could imagine that she was walking into the kitchen as his wife and could tiptoe over to him and give him a gentle squeeze around the middle.
Hearing her, Slider wiped his hands on a dishtowel and turned to see her standing behind him.
She was standing in the kitchen as she had done on many other occasions when they had cooked and shared supper together. She had always looked good,but tonight her skin glowed in blended harmony with the cool hue of the jade and her dark eyes shimmered with intensity.
"Wow…you look..," he shook his head, attempting to find the right word.
"If that's a compliment, I'll take it."
"It is…it definitely is," he said again, his eyes lingering over her longer than she could ever remember.
Go ahead, look…look all you want, Slider.

"…the memorial service for your husband is tomorrow…"
Pounding. It came into her consciousness like heavy blows, and it began to get louder…and louder…and louder…
"Tea?" Miguel saw her previous vivacious attitude blotted out in an instant and her face whiten into a chalky pallor.
"Tea…I'm sorry…I shouldn't have said…", Miguel grabbed her hand and squeezed it hard.
The pounding halted suddenly and the clarity of her thoughts returned. "No, it's okay…it is. If I didn't know what I know…," she stopped as she saw Miguel's concerned face.
"Do you want to go?" he asked her gently.
What do I tell him now? He knows I'm eluding the authorities, but he'll think it so strange that I have no intention of going to my own husband's service.
"I don't want to, Miguel. I don't think I could stand it." This is not a lie either. I don't think I could take hearing him eulogized and mourned as if he were really dead. Anyway, probably only a handful of people would even show up…maybe Viki…Sam.
"Tea, you do what you want. If you don't want to put yourself through it, not a soul could blame you…you know I don't. You don't want to run into your brother right now either."
"No, Del is the last person I want to see right now," she admitted and thought of the irony of possibly seeing him at Todd's memorial service. "Gracias, Miguel," she said and patted his hand affectionately. "I haveto do this my way, I guess."
Miguel's flashed her a smile. "You're the lawyer, Tea…not me."
Oh yeah…I'm the lawyer all right…up to my neck in it, and what'smore, it's probably going to get worse. There's a chance that I'm headed into a direction that will put me in some kind of danger.

Nick lay silently as he heard the muted sounds coming from the kitchen. They're busy in there…having a good old time together fixing dinner. The physical manifestation of his sudden new feelings rose up as awrenching, dull ache, and he turned his shaded face toward the ceiling, looking upward at the shadows playing across the surface. This is not like the other time…
Slider pulled his eyes from her, and forced himself to focus on the dinner preparations. She had stunned him again. First, the way she had reacted to the kiss he had given her on the cheek and now…now a heightened, charged quality seemed to radiate from her. What's going on with you, Sherry?
Looking at his watch, he snapped his fingers and looked at her abruptly. "Chicago! I forgot to walk him. Watch the spaghetti sauce…I'll be back. Oh…and would you pop that loaf in the oven?"
Sherry smiled and her tone was the same familiar one he had come to know so well over the past four years. "Anything else, Chef Paxton? Don't worry…I've got it covered. I'll even chop up the veggies for yoursalad."
He grinned at her and grabbed a leash hanging on the wall. "Back soon."
She heard the excited scampering of Slider's Labrador and his voice talking briefly to Nick in the other room. Busying herself with the shredding of the lettuce, she found herself humming some old song that her mother had sung to her as a girl. Her eyes moved over the kitchen. This was now very familiar territory to her, and as much as she liked her own kitchen, she had cometo appreciate the difference in his. Hers was neat and extremely organized with a lot of things put away in cabinets and out of sight. His counters were cluttered with all kinds of glass containers filled with of different colored pasta noodles and a battery of kitchen equipment she wasn't even sure she could identify. He had been amazed at her lack of cooking knowledge,but she had once informed him that her career had taken precedence over everything.
Thinking and humming to herself, she didn't hear the slight sound behind her nor did she see the man propping his body up against the doorjamb and lean into it for support. She couldn't know that her happy bustling aroundthe kitchen was being observed and that the face of the man was altering as he watched her.
"Smells good."
Sherry spun around as if she had heard an alarm go off, and gaped at the tall form standing there.
"Nick!"
"Don't start scolding me like some overprotective doctor. I'm fine."
"Well, at least come in and sit down. It's not good for you to stand on those legs for too long."
For a moment he seemed to just want to stay where he was, but he grudgingly acquiesced to what she wanted and started to move away from the door. He had made his way through the hallway by using the walls for support, but the walk to the kitchen table had nothing for him to hold onto. With effort, he slid his legs carefully along the floor, his eyes seeking the table at a distance as his goal. With determination he crossed the slick floor and halfway there, he caught her eye with a look of triumph that he had accomplished it by himself, but seconds later, his legs buckled under him and his body shook as he tried to straighten himself up.
Before he could right himself, she was there - her slender, but steely arms around his sides gripping his shaking body. He slumped into her smallframe as she guided him carefully the rest of the way. As if in a dream, he saw her face just inches from his - his long hair falling against her shoulder as she eased his trembling body expertly into the chair. Her hands moved up to his shoulders to steady him as his lowered eyes opened wider and looked deeply into the face so close to his.
"Ni…," she never finished as her voice was silenced by arms reaching around her middle and his lips smothering hers with a crushing hardness. A need to fight pushed up momentarily within her, but the force of his lips on hers changed and softened into a consuming, caressing touch - drugging her sensibilities and capsizing her will to pull away.
Time had stopped for her, and she didn't know if anything was real anymore. As his full, warm lips kept touching hers in ways she had imagined someone else doing, she screamed inside herself. No…no…no!!
She uttered the last "no" aloud and his lips left hers immediately with the warning tone of her voice.
It's ludicrous to act upset. He knows already that I liked it…that I really liked it.
There was only one recourse to save face. She knew what she had to do.
Pulling slowly away from him, she backed away and looked boldly at him. "Okay, so you know I'm human, Nick, and you are, too, obviously." She turned and went over to the sink, mentally calming her shattered nerves and willing herself to behave normally. Picking up a bell pepper, she began slicing through it, and her voice floated out coolly. "You can imagine that this has happened before with patients of mine."
Nick had only just recovered from the rapid-fire reaction he had had when she had rescued him from falling and some alien urge had completely takenhim over. For once he hadn't plotted anything, and instinct alone had risen to the forefront of his controlled intelligence. He knew he had been a victim of his desire - the new invading sensation that wanted to master him.
"…I'm not angry even though I should be," Sherry's voice continued toswing in and out of his consciousness as the intensity of his emotions plummeted slowly downward. "Let's just forget this ever happened…"
"Forget what?" Slider walked in and his piercing blue eyes moved first to her startled face and then to Nick's stricken one.

~ TO BE CONTINUED ~