Authors: Adriana Law
“You
look as though someone stole your best friend…I’m guessing that means the
position is up for grabs?”
“No.
Nothing that dramatic…I’m waiting for my nurse.”
His
gaze slid beyond the double doors to the desk where there was an abundance of
nurses, laughing and cutting up. “Which one is she…I’ll be glad to go in there
and inform her you’ve been sitting out here for a good twenty minutes
unattended.”
Had
he been watching her?
“She’s
not any of them.” Suddenly she was laughing. “Honestly, I have no idea where
she went.”
The
entire situation fell right in with her shitty luck lately: sitting in a wheel
chair without makeup on, hair that hadn’t been washed in days swept up in a
ponytail, and Mr. Sexy comes along feeling sorry for her pathetic ass. Yep, her
life was shit.
Before
she knew what was happening, Mr. Sexy had kicked off the lever that locked the
wheels to keep the chair from rolling and he was pushing her towards the glass exit
doors.
“What
the hell do you think you’re doing?” She squeaked out, lifting the bedroom
slippers sliding over the polish floor to the foot rest before he ran them
over.
“Relax;
I’m just taking you out for a little fresh air.”
“But…”
Gripping
the handle of the chair, he leaned in, “your nurse most likely snuck off to
have a cigarette and a nice long break…she’s going to come back to find you
gone and freak…now, do you feel an ounce of guilt for making her worry?”
She
squinted against the bright sun as the glass door automatically “wushed” opened
and a fresh air hit her face. A couple of days spent in the hospital and you
come out appreciating the sun. She tilted her face toward it and smiled. First
smile in a while and it was all because of some stranger.
He
parked her by the door and collapsed down on the closest bench where patients
where loaded and unload at the emergency room. Today, there didn’t seem to be
any emergency’s.
“Do
you feel better?” He asked, smirking. He knew damn well he had been the
highlight of her day, her week, her month. “I’m Conner, by the way.”
“Megan.”
He
didn’t ask her what was wrong with her. They just talked. Mostly about how
shotty the hospital’s care was. A few times she had wanted to ask if he was there
visiting a patient, but she respected the fact that he didn’t ask her a lot of
questions, so she returned the favor.
Then
she heard her name being called. Like a sneaky child pulling a prank he hid by
the brick wall watching as the nurse’s face grew more concerned by the minute.
“She looks like some lady who’s just come out of the grocery store and can’t remember
where she parked her car, doesn’t she?” He pointed out with a cocky grin. He
was enjoying it way too much.
The
glass door rushed open. “There you are!” The nurse said, scowling as she
stalked towards Megan helpless in the wheel chair. It was clear she had a few
not so nice words she wanted to let fly, but froze and blushed profusely when her
gaze found Conner leaning against the brick wall. Her palm flew to her chest,
“Dr. Hamilton!”
Dr?
He
straightened, the smirk disappearing, replaced by a power that had the girl
shrink before him. “Are you having a problem keeping up with your patients,
Libby?”
“No,
sir, I had…”
He
cut her off, “Don’t let it happen again, understand?”
“Yes,
sir.”
Megan
was whisked away by the crimson-faced nurse. She glanced back one last time to
see that the cocky grin had returned to Dr. Hamilton’s face and she knew
instantly he was the kind of man that went after what he wanted.
“Hey
beautiful,” Conner pressed his lips lightly to her cheek bringing her back to
the present. She’d not even heard him come into the bedroom. “You look so
sad…is everything okay?” She nodded. The side of the mattress dipped with his
weight and he brushed hair out of her eyes as she blinked up at him. He tucked
the hair behind her ear. “Your mother said she thought you were taking a nap.
Are you ill?” His palm touched her forehead, checking for a fever.
He
would forever be a doctor at heart: nurturing, companionate, always thinking of
others. She pushed up onto her elbow. “I’m fine.”
“You
don’t look fine.”
His
gaze dropped the ring she now held between her index finger and thumb. She must
have slid it completely off of her finger without even realizing she’d done it.
He glanced at her through the down-sweep of thick lashes, his blue eyes full of
unspoken hurt at seeing the ring no longer on her finger. His words were spoken
low, “Please, tell me you’re not thinking about breaking up with me, Meg?”
She
sat up on the bed, swept tears from the corner of her eye with a bent finger
and held out the ring for him to take, “Here, you should save it for the right
girl.”
He
rubbed his short hair with a large hand, “I don’t understand…you are the right
girl.”
“No.
I’m not.” She urged him to take the ring, but he wouldn’t.
He
clenched his jaw, “It’s because you went to the ranch…it’s because of him,
isn’t it?”
She
clamped her eyes shut and tried to swallow, but couldn’t past the bile rising
up in the back of her throat. “I had sex with him.”
Silence.
Deafening,
horrible silence.
She
felt the brush of his fingers and the ring was gone.
A
sharp pain shot through her stomach. She opened her eyes to find him leaning
forward, elbows on his knees, rolling the ring between his fingers. “Do you
love him?”
“What
I feel for Drew is…
indescribable
.” Sometimes it was love, sometimes
hate.
He
exhaled a long breath, stood, and paced, the quiet calm turning into a rage.
“You let him fuck you?” He shouted and she cringed hoping her mother and Paul
hadn’t over heard. Conner paused, leveling her with stormy blue eyes. “You and
I haven’t even…” Back to more
wild
pacing, muscles along his neck bulging.
“I
know…I’m sorry. You deserve better,” she choked out.
“I
knew I shouldn’t have left you with that smug bastard!” Then in an instant he
was there by the bed, kneeling in front of her, gathering her trembling hands
in his. “No, you deserve better! Where is he, Meg? I don’t see him fighting to
have you. He only takes what is conveniently laid in his lap.”
Her
thoughts exactly.
He
lifted one of her hands and placed a soft kiss on the back of it. “He screwed
with your head. He tempted you into doing something you normally wouldn’t do. I
get that. I’ve done my share of lying to get into some females pants, but with
you it’s always been different. You’ve been through a lot. It’s understandable
for you to be vulnerable. I’m sorry. It’s my fault. I should have kicked his
ass when I had the chance…but, WE can get past this together…” He uncurled her
clenched left hand and slid the glistening ring back in place with shaky hands.
He
was shaking?
Hell,
she was the one who’d messed up.
His
blue eyes lifted to hers. “I love you and that means loving every part of you…”
the ever present smug grin, “even the parts that make huge mistakes.”
A
sob bubbled up out of her in a rush. She was stunned. Overwhelmed. “Are you
saying you still want to marry me even after…” he pressed a finger to her lips
to silence her.
“More
than anything. The question is… do you still want to marry me?” ♠
Twenty-
Four
“Is
she still here?” Drew asked Lillian as she opened the front door wider to let
him in.
“Yes.
She’s still sleeping. Conner was here late last night.”
“And?”
“And
he didn’t stay the night, and she didn’t leave with him. Don’t make me regret
this Drew Mackenzie.” She picked up her purse from the narrow table in the
hallway and checked her perfectly styled mahogany-colored hair once in the
mirror hanging over the table before she moved towards the door, her high heels
clicking over tile. “I need to go to work.” Her brows crease and she frowned.
He
leaned in, kissing her lightly on the cheek. “Thank you, for this, but also for
always believing there was something decent in me.”
She
pretended to be unaffected, but when she spoke again there was a slight crack
in her words, “Don’t make me regret it. Paul and I won’t be home until after
5…if she’s crying when I get here…I’m hunting your ass down.” She patted him
twice on the shoulder and then turned to leave.
“Lillian?”
“Yeah?”
“Which
room is hers?”
“Shit.
I forgot you’ve never been here.” She pointed him in the right direction,
before she left.
Drew
stepped carefully trying his best not to wake Megan as he pushed open the bedroom
door. His chest tightened as his gaze swept over the sunny room: everything
white or lavender, except for the cherry stained hardwood floors, the room of a
teenage girl. Fuck. Could he be any more nervous? This was huge for him.
Monumental. But he refused to let her go twice, and to be fair about it, he had
warned her. He’d told her what he would do if she ever tried to run from him
again. The handcuffs in his back pocket was proof that, he might be lacking in
many things, but willingness to follow through with what he claimed he would do
wasn’t one of those things. He moved towards the bed, slid off his shoes,
cuffed one of her wrist to the bed post, stretched about beside her and then
patiently waited. ♠
Megan
woke lying on her side, her right arm stretched high above her head. Clank!
Clank! She tried to move her arm, but couldn’t. Her gaze widened against the
morning sun, her eyes shifting up to the bed post and the pair of handcuffs
rubbing at her wrist. She tugged a couple of times to make sure she wasn’t
dreaming.
Not
only was she handcuffed to the bed, she was also not alone and anger started to
simmer deep inside her. Pushing up on an elbow she glared over her shoulder at
him, the snoring fool that thought he had a right to spoon with her whenever he
liked. She huffed, throwing back the covers, scowling at the arms around her
waist holding her snug up against him. Okay, she could handle this real easily.
She peeled two of his fingers off her belly and bent those suckers back toward
his wrist as far as she could.
“Oww!
Stop! That hurts?” he yelped!
“Good!
Now uncuff me!” She snapped over her shoulder, her eyes narrowing into venomous
slits.
His
simply said, “No.”
Clank!
Clank! She tugged furiously on her arm again. “Dammit! You think this is
funny?” She screamed, “Mom! MOM!”
“Nobody’s
here except us.”
“She
let you in, didn’t she?”
“Yes.
I’m very determined. ”
Yes,
she was starting to see that. Something about the way he smiled as he divulged
that information caused her heartbeat to skyrocket. They were alone, all alone.
Not at the ranch, but in her bed. Now, there would always be the memory of him
in a place that was her safe place. He was invading her space, her life, and that
scared the shit out of her. Even worse, her mother was encouraging it!
She
pushed up, deciding the best and only thing she could do was to attempt to get
as far away from him as the bed would allow, which meant cowering up toward the
headboard.
“Where
do you think you’re going? Come back here.” He went up on his knees, took
complete control of her legs, and then her bottom was quickly sliding down the
bed towards him. He crawled over her body, slow, predatory like, spreading her
bent legs to accommodate his body between them. She swallowed hard at the
intensity in his brown eyes as his head dipped and his lips brushed over hers,
gently. It wasn’t a wild ‘I have to have you right now’ kind of kiss, but it
was sweet. His nose skimmed her jaw line. “Mmm you smell good?” he whispered,
warm breath feathering out over her neck.