THE BILL
August 2010 DQ Challenge
By: Tess Thieler
"Something wrong, Sully?"
"You could say that," the mountain man bit out. "Just got Dr. Mike's bill for stitching up Wolf after he tangled with a bobcat last week."
"She's charging you a lot, huh."
"No charge."
"No charge?" Horace laughed. "What's wrong with that?"
"I don't need her charity." Leaving Horace in the wake of his huff, he stormed out of the telegraph office to the clinic, but the sign on the door indicated Dr. Mike was done for the day. She'd already left for the homestead. Fine. He'd confront her there.
Sully's search around the homestead led him to the barn where Michaela just finished milking. Bill in hand, he burst through the open barn door in flustered fury. "What's the meaning of this?"
Michaela stood, glanced at the paper extended in her direction, then cast her eyes away, trying hard not to grin. She knew Sully to be prideful, but he nearly seethed with rage now. "I see you got my bill."
"This ain't a bill – it's charity!" he fumed.
She drew a breath to force down her amusement. "Sully, charity is a donation. That bill is not a donation."
"Why'd you do it then? I'm perfectly capable of paying my own way you know."
Michaela looked him in the eye, struggling to remain serious despite how adorably cute she thought he looked with his dander up. "I never charge family," she simply stated.
"Family? We're not family… we barely know each other."
She felt her face flush as her secret romantic feelings for this courageous frontiersman rushed to the surface. She swallowed noticeably then cast her gaze to the barn floor as she humbly admitted, "It wouldn't take much to change that."
There. It was out in the open now. Would he laugh? Would he storm out the door refusing her friendship? Or would he simply ignore her implication? Michaela felt each individual beat of her heart as the seconds ticked by torturously slow. And then… a gentle touch to her arm drew her attention. Glancing up, much to her relief, she witnessed a genuinely sincere expression on his handsome face.
"Did ya really mean that?" Sully's soft, tender tone sent a warm tremor down her spine.
Unable to find her voice, she simply nodded while noticing the previous rage possessing his crystal blue eyes evolved into something akin to passion.
"Michaela…"
Her name hung as a sigh in the air as Sully scooped her into his arms and kissed her with what resembled long-suppressed emotion. She kissed him back with equal intensity and felt her feet lift right up off the floor. She had long dreamed of a kiss from this sensual mountain man, but the actual experience overrode all previous imaginings. All this time he was attracted to her as much as she'd been attracted to him!
Sully set her back on her feet to momentarily break their heated embrace. His eyes perused her delicate features while his thumb sweetly stroked her blushing cheek. "Really?"
"Really," she stated in breathless conviction, her gaze never unwavering from his.
"May I court you then?"
She beamed a bright smile up at him. "You may."
Just before his lips captured hers again to seal this new commitment to each other with a kiss sure to set their hearts aflutter, she uttered, "No charge, forever."