Free IF I WERE YOUR WOMAN by LaConnie Taylor-Jones Page B

Some experience only a few of the side effects while others experience all of them.”
    “Red, a man doesn’t want his woman to see him puck all over the place.”
    “Raphael—”
    “Ice it, Red!” Ray got up from the table and glared down at Laney. Yesterday stripped away the last shred of his masculinity. He silently admitted his macho side had overruled common sense, but it was all he had left. The finality in his tone was undeniable clear. “What I do with my life is off-limits to everyone, including you. I’ll get Brie to go with me today. Understand?”
    Laney didn’t flinch at Raphael’s outburst. She knew frustration ate at him. It was a bitter reality for him to accept that his life had changed. The last thing he needed was for her to push him to do something he wasn’t ready for. As a physician, she understood cancer from a clinical perspective. However, living with the disease was something entirely different. If she could get him to channel his anger for the disease into the strength to fight it, the battle would almost be won.
    At least someone from his immediate family was with him. Although she knew Raphael would prefer to go through chemo alone, she was happy Raphael’s oldest sister, Gabriella, who mostly answered to Brie, had flown out from Oakland to be with him. She conceded to his request with a nod.
    Ray whirled around before he reached the entranceway of the kitchen. “And while I’m gone, go out and find yourself a real man.”
    Usually, Laney’s temper was a languid as her stroll, but Raphael’s last comment riled her to the core. “I’ve got a real man.”
    He released a cynical chuckle. “Wrong! You’ve got a freak.”
    Laney was on her feet in an instant. “Freak?” she uttered through tight lips as she stalked toward him. “You think you’re a freak? You see this?” she ground out, holding up her deformed right hand. “Do you think because I was born with a deformity that for one second I considered myself a freak? And do you think I’ll ever allow anyone to call you a freak or even allow you to call yourself a freak? Well, do you?”
    “Just forget—” Ray started, but Laney was already gone. He stared, stunned. He’d never seen her move that fast. In fact, he’d never seen her angry about anything. Girlfriend wasn’t playing, either. Laney never bluffed, never threatened anyone unless she was prepared to follow through to the bitter end. If the situation weren’t dire, he’d laugh. However, it was the look in those green eyes that kept him from doing so. He dared not crack as much as a smile.
    Laney returned a few moments later with her purse and keys in hand. She placed them in the middle of the table, then faced him. Green eyes locked with slate blue. “Your session starts in less than two hours and I’m going with you.”
    “Now look here, Red—”
    “We have an hour and a half drive ahead of us.” Laney moved in closer until they stood toe to toe and thrust her chin up, her eyes daring him to continue the protest. “We’ll leave in five.”
    Ray hadn’t meant to snap at her, but frustration boiled inside him until he felt he’d explode. “I’ll leave in five … with Brie .”
    “Raphael—”
    “I don’t want you and I sure as hell don’t need you.” Ray whirled on his heels and stormed out the kitchen.
    Laney knew Raphael was concerned not only with the fact he had cancer, but with the physical aspect of their relationship. He hadn’t come right out and told her, but when he said what he said, she knew.
    Sex was an important part of any relationship, but that wasn’t what she wanted from him now. Cancer was his battle, but loving him through cancer was her war. She swept her purse and keys off the table and headed toward the hallway.
    And with each step she took, she planned her campaign to win both.
    ~ ~ ~
    “When the hell is Red coming back home?” Ray posed the question to his sister Brie two weeks later. Since the day he’d yelled