Las Vegas Sidewinders: Karl (Book 3) (13 page)

Erin nodded and Karl
followed the doctor back to the area where Kate was being treated.

“I’d like to admit her
overnight,” the doctor was saying. “Get her hydrated and make sure she eats.
That should keep her from passing out again, and if her breathing goes back to
normal, I’ll let her go tomorrow.”

“Whatever you think is
best,” Karl agreed.

Kate’s eyes opened when
they came into the room. She looked between Karl and the doctor nervously,
frowning a little.

“What happened?” she
asked.

“You collapsed,” the
doctor said gently. “When was the last time you had a meal?”

Kate shrugged slightly.
“I don’t know exactly. I don’t eat a lot of meals anymore, just salad and
yogurt and stuff.”

“You could cause
permanent physical damage by not eating enough,” the doctor said gently. “I
understand you had some very unkind things said about your weight, but what
you’ve been doing is extremely dangerous. You could have
died
.”

Kate swallowed hard,
her eyes misting slightly. “I just couldn’t eat—everything made me feel sick.”

“That’s a physiological
response to something psychological—whatever was said that hurt you left you
believing that food was the enemy. So your body had a reaction whenever you
ate. We’re going to run a few more tests to make sure there’s nothing else
going on, but I’ve seen this before, and it’s never a good thing.”

“So what happens now?”

“We’re going to keep
you overnight, do a few more tests, and if we can get you hydrated, you can go
home tomorrow. But, Kate, you have to understand that you cannot continue this
behavior.”

“I know.”

“Okay, we’re going to
admit you in just a little bit. In the meantime, try to rest and do what the
nurses tell you.”

“Okay.” Kate watched
him go and then turned tear-filled eyes to Karl. “I can’t stop crying and my hands
won’t stop shaking and—” He cut her off, pressing his lips to hers. He kissed
her until she relaxed and the tears stopped.

“Our bodies weren’t
made to starve,” he said. “All of these things that you’re feeling are symptoms
of the early stages of starvation.”

“This is how my sister
eats!” she protested. “She picks and never eats full meals! She lives on
oatmeal, yogurt and salads.”

“Your sister is shorter
and smaller than you are, but you’re wrong—I saw her eating shrimp at her
engagement party, and when they cut the cake, she not only ate some, she ate
the whole piece. And I know this because you were in the bathroom and I watched
her fiancé feed it to her.”

“I’ve never seen her
eat cake,” Kate admitted in surprise.

“I don’t know if body
shaming runs in your family, or if your sister has a really awesome metabolism,
or what, but your body is all you have. You have to take care of it. I thought
your body was perfect the way it was. Maybe some guys like those tall, willowy
types, and yes, I’ve been out with some, but what it boiled down to for me was
chemistry and the overall package. You’re so fucking beautiful…when I look into
your eyes I get lost in them. Your lips, your skin, your breasts—every inch of
you makes me hard.”

“Lots of women probably
make you hard,” she said softly.

“In the past, yes. But
only you made me fall in love. It has nothing to do with whether or not your
stomach is perfectly flat or how perky your tits are. It’s about you, the whole
person. Am I nothing but a professional athlete to you?”

“No! Of course not!”
She looked shocked.

“Then what’s the
difference? You’ve been with Dante all this time and you say you didn’t sleep
with him—he’s a good-looking guy, with a face and body that turns women’s
heads, yet he didn’t turn yours. Why not?”

“Because he isn’t you.”
Her eyes met his.

“Exactly. And all those
other women out there aren’t
you
. I don’t care who walks down a runway
or is in some Victoria’s Secret catalog. There’s nothing wrong with those women
either, but I want you. It’s as simple as that.”

“I’m so tired of
feeling inadequate,” she finally whispered. “Of listening to my mother tell me
no one decent ever marries the chubby girls. Of watching my sister stay so thin
without ever worrying about what she puts in her mouth. I just want to feel
normal—I don’t want to be the fat chick anymore!”

“You’re not, and you
weren’t. No, you weren’t rail thin, but you weren’t fat. There’s a huge
difference. And now that we’re together again, I can help. We can work out
together—it’s so important to keep your heart healthy. Cardio makes you feel
good and it burns calories. Weight lifting makes you look leaner and burns even
more calories without even doing anything.”

“I hate exercise,” she
admitted.

“Lots of people do, but
it’s a means to an end. It will help you live longer, it will help you feel
better about yourself, and it will allow you to eat things you normally
couldn’t without gaining weight. Trust me—I use my body to make a living. And
no one loves pizza and beer more than I do, I promise.”

She snickered. “You do
love beer, although I can’t say I’ve seen you eat much pizza!”

“Most of our time
together was spent naked,” he smirked. “Something I plan to remedy this time
around.”

“Oh hell no,” she
muttered, frowning at him. “If I have to exercise, we definitely have to be
having sex. A lot of sex.”

“Yeah?” His eyes
gleamed for a moment. “You realize this is the longest I’ve ever gone without
sex, since my first time when I was 15.”

“Really?” She reached
for him. “You’ve been faithful to me all these weeks?”

“Of course!” He looked
annoyed. “I didn’t do anything that night with Therese, or any other night.
There’s only been you since the night we met. So you need to get better and get
the hell out of this hospital, because I’m not sure how much longer I can stand
this!”

She laughed softly,
reaching out to bring his face down to hers. “Can you settle for a kiss
tonight?”

“Yeah, I can.”

Kate left the hospital
after two days, feeling much less shaky and no longer struggling to breathe.
While she felt better physically, emotionally she was still a mess. Everything
about her hospital stay was almost surreal; she wasn’t anorexic and it had
never crossed her mind that she was hurting herself. All she’d been doing was
getting over a broken heart and trying to stop eating everything in sight. Or
so she’d thought. The doctors talked ad nauseam about how to eat, what to eat,
when to eat, exercise, psychologists, having a good attitude, and so many other
things that she’d just wanted to scream. Luckily, Karl had sensed her
frustration and stepped in, saying he was going to make sure she did the things
she needed to do. She just wasn’t sure she wanted him to. She wanted things to
be the way they’d been before, when they’d been falling in love and everything
had been so magical.

Now, all she could
think about were the bad things: his leaving her, her mother’s harsh words, not
being able to eat, Dave’s death, and of course, her collapse. It was so
overwhelming, she’d locked herself in Karl’s room when they’d gotten home and
pretended she was napping just so she wouldn’t have to deal with anything.
Dante had told her not to worry about him for a while, and Lana was handling
their other clients. It seemed that all anyone wanted her to do was focus on
eating, and she was tired of hearing about it.

When Karl came in to
tell her dinner was ready, she was on her phone checking emails and she glanced
up, trying not to take her bad mood out on him.

“What’s wrong?” he
asked, noting the tightness in her face and the way she wouldn’t look at him.

“Nothing.” She looked
back at her phone, but he gently pried it from her fingers.

“Don’t lie. What’s the
matter?”

Her eyes narrowed
slightly. “I do
not
need another lecture.”

His stared at her for a
moment, taken aback. “I wasn’t going to lecture you.”

“Yes, you were. You
were going to remind me, very gently, that I need to eat. You were going to say
something sweet and loving to coax me to the dinner table.”

“So gentle reminders
and being sweet and loving are the same as lecturing?”

“Yes!” she snapped,
snatching her phone back. “I need to answer a few emails—I don’t have a $3M
contract that produces a paycheck whether I’m sick or not. I actually have
clients that won’t pay me if I don’t do stuff for them.”

Karl frowned slightly.
The doctors had warned him that she would probably not be ready to eat like she
had before and that she might continue to be weak and out of sorts for a while.
They’d also told him she might try to continue eating very little without
letting people know it, so they had to be diligent. However, no one had said
anything about anger, frustration and outright bitchiness.

“What?!” she griped,
when he didn’t say anything else. “They didn’t tell you that
bitchy
might go along with all the other crap?” She sent Dante a request to attend a
children’s cancer fundraiser and then met Karl’s gaze defiantly.

“Tell me how you want
me to act then,” he said after a moment.

“Do you remember what our
lives were like right before you left for Sweden?”

“Of course.”

“No, do you remember
the details?” She leaned forward, resting her hands on her knees. “Think.”

He paused. “
Er
, are we talking about handcuffs and ridiculously
mind-blowing sex?”

“Yes.” She gripped the
front of his T-shirt so hard she was actually pulling the hair on his chest.
“And do you remember what we used to be like together?”

“Baby, I remember
everything.” He tried not to wince as she continued to claw at his shirt. “What
is it that I’m not doing, other than the sex, which was kind of not appropriate
at the hospital?”

“You’re not being you!”
She released his shirt and sat back with a huff. “You’re afraid of me—afraid of
hurting me, afraid of upsetting me, afraid of
being
with me. I don’t
want to be with the Karl who doesn’t know how to be with me. I want the old
Karl back.”

He blinked at her. “The
old Karl broke your heart.”

“You said you didn’t.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “You said you were set up by your sister
and your ex—so the old Karl technically did
not
break my heart; I was
just made to think he did.”

For a moment he looked
confused. A million things ran through his head as he looked at her, so defiant
and grumpy, but so sweet and sexy too. It occurred to him that she was
partially right; he was walking on eggshells around her and trying to be
careful. It had been bothering him too, but he’d been so worried about her
after she’d collapsed that he just wanted her to be okay first.

Suddenly he smiled,
reaching out to put his hand behind her neck and bring her up against him. His
lips hovered over hers for a second, staring into her gorgeous eyes before
kissing her. His mouth was gentle but demanding at the same time, his tongue
seeking hers possessively. He kissed her until she groaned and was tugging at
his shirt again, but this time for very different reasons.

“You told me I was
going to have to work hard to make you trust me again,” he growled. “I thought
you wanted to go slow.”

“I didn’t know I was
sick…” Her breath came in short gasps against his. “I didn’t know how badly I
needed you.”

“So what you’re saying
is you’ll be a lot less bitchy after I’ve fucked you a couple of times?” His
face was intense but his eyes were twinkling.

“Yeah.” She couldn’t
help but grin.

He groaned when she ran
her hand over his bulging erection. “It’s dinnertime,” he said steadily. “Erin
spent a lot of time making your favorite meal and preparing an intimate evening
for the four of us. Do you think you could wait long enough to let your best
friend spoil you? And then you have my word—you’ll get all the sex you can
possibly handle.”

She smiled, and for a
moment he saw the Kate he’d fallen in love with, her eyes sparkling with
mischief and desire. “Okay,” she conceded. “Pregnant best friends do need to be
handled carefully.”

“As do horny
girlfriends,” he quipped, laughing when she swatted at him.

Dinner with Erin and
Drake actually helped to bring a little bit of normal back into Kate’s life.
Laughing with her best friend, and watching the way Drake loved her, was one of
the best things in the world. When Erin had come home from Afghanistan with
burns, PTSD and an ugly divorce looming, Kate had worried that her friend would
never be the same. Somehow, Drake’s love had done what dozens of doctors and
thousands of dollars in therapy could not; he’d made her feel whole again.

Looking at Karl, Kate
realized that it was his love that would free her from the confines of her
self-esteem issues. Her weight, in and of itself, had never bothered her. She
dressed well, went out often and had a lot of friends. Her career had taken off
almost immediately after college, and though she’d been treated badly by a
handful of guys, so had all of her skinny friends, and she’d never had a
problem finding dates. The problem stemmed from her own need to live up to a
standard that simply wasn’t realistic for everyone. It hadn’t helped that her
mother and sister both had no trouble remaining slim, while Kate battled every
mouthful she ate. The turning point had been a one-night stand that ended with
the guy telling her he didn’t mind fucking fat chicks. She’d somehow taken it
to heart, and after that she simply expected that attitude from men.

It wasn’t until she’d
met Karl that something had begun to change. He’d been furious when she’d snuck
out of their hotel room after the first time they’d had sex, and he’d appeared
at her doorstep an hour later, demanding to know why it was okay for her to
treat him that way when he knew damn well if the tables had been turned it
would have been hurtful to her. From the moment he’d said that to her, she’d
known she was going to love this man. Everything about him was different from
anyone else she’d ever known. His good looks and incredible body were only the
icing on the cake that was the man inside. He was funny and smart, hardworking
and a good son. He had a dry sense of humor that often bordered on sarcastic,
but he was also loyal and fiercely protective of the people he cared about.

Thinking about it now,
she didn’t know how she could have believed he would ever say those things
about her. Some tiny part of her had known he couldn’t have done it, but the
devil on her shoulder refused to let her trust her gut. Everything else that
had happened stemmed directly from that refusal to trust; she couldn’t afford
to do that ever again. The only problem was finding the strength to believe in
herself, and to continue to believe in him.

“I think I’m going to
take my girl to bed,” Karl said, startling Kate away from her thoughts.

Erin smirked, but Karl
simply stood up and pulled Kate up by the hands.

“Good night, you guys!”
Kate smiled over her shoulder as Karl pulled her into their room.

“That was subtle,” she
quipped.

“I could tell you were
starting to think back there, so I figured it was time to distract you.”

“Distract me how,
exactly?” She raised her eyebrows.

“Should I tell you,” he
laughed, pushing her onto the bed. “Or should I show you?”

“Both?” She giggled
when he crawled on top of her, his eyes dark and mysterious.

“I can tell you what
I’m
gonna
do before I do it,” he murmured, finding a
tender spot on her neck and nipping at it.

“And I have a surprise
for you,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“What kind of
surprise?” he paused, looking down at her with interest.

“You’re going to have
to figure it out!”

“Really? I’m intrigued.
How do I figure it out?”

“You do whatever it is
you’re going to do and when the time is right, you’ll get your surprise.”

He narrowed his eyes slightly,
a smile playing on his lips. “Am I going to like this surprise?”

“You’d better!”

“I don’t have any
handcuffs,” he chuckled.

She dipped her head,
resting it against his shoulder. “I was thinking about that gentle and loving
stuff we talked about earlier and I could really use some of that first.”

“Ah. So
fucking
goes out the window—you’re looking to be made love to.” His eyes twinkled with
both amusement and tenderness.

“Is that okay?” She
searched his face earnestly.

“Yeah, baby, that’s more
than okay.”

She reached up to kiss
him and the moment their bodies came together, all the pain and longing of the
time they’d been apart hit both of them. His hands gripped her shoulders while
his lips sought hers. Their tongues did a dance, exploring each other’s mouths
as if it was the first time again. Karl had every intention of making this a
slow burn, and when she reached for his T-shirt he gently moved her hands away.

“We’re going to take
our time tonight,” he reminded her.

“Just your shirt,” she
murmured. “I need to feel skin.”

Never taking his eyes
off her, he slowly pulled off his T-shirt. She ran her hands along his chest
and stomach, touching him one inch at a time, loving every ripple of every
muscle. She stuck her finger in her mouth and then met his gaze as she slowly
pulled it back out. He groaned when she used it to draw her initials on his
chest. She followed with her mouth, dropping light, feathery kisses along his
collarbone, his shoulders and then his chin, before finding his lips again.
When he stroked the round curve of her ass, she pushed him onto his back so she
could straddle him.

Hooking his finger in
the belt loop of her shorts, he held her against him as he sat up so that the
fronts of their bodies were touching again. He slowly unbuttoned her top,
letting it fall back off her shoulders. He pulled out the clip that held her
hair and watched as it tumbled around her shoulders and down her back. Nibbling
her shoulder, he used his teeth to pull her bra strap down and then nudged the
material aside so he could suckle one of her breasts. Her hands rested on his
shoulders, head thrown back as she reveled in his touch.

When he moved to the
other breast, she let out a sigh of satisfaction. He unsnapped her bra and
tossed it aside, burying his face between her breasts. Her fingers snaked
through his long hair, gripping him tighter when he took her nipple between his
teeth and teased it erect. It was so exquisite she shivered.

“It’s been too long,”
she groaned. “I need you.”

“Yeah?” He pushed her
onto her back and unsnapped her shorts. He had just begun to tug them off when
he froze.

A raspy laugh escaped
her throat and she brought her hands to her stomach. “See something you like?”

“Holy fuck, Kate.” His
voice was a harsh whisper, as he slowly ran his finger over the glittering gold
hoop in her navel.