Final Surrender (17 page)

“Uhh…thanks. So I can go home?”

“We’d like to keep you overnight for—”

“Can’t I go home?” she asked a bit louder.

The doctor looked at her quizzically and said, “I’d much prefer you to stay here, Ms. Meyers. Concussions and the rest of your contusions should not be taken lightly.”

“You’ve already said what’s going to make me better is rest and relaxation, and I won’t be able to do either if I stay here. Please, let me go home?” she begged, emotion clogging her throat again.

“Ms. Meyers, I can’t in good conscience let you go back home alone.”

Clay cleared his throat. “I’ll be escorting Ms. Meyers home and will be staying with her until further notice.” He glared at her, probably waiting for her to say anything to negate his statement.

“And I’ll be taking them directly from here back to Ms. Meyers’s apartment,” James added.

She tried to smile back at Dr. Rendini as she wiped the tears away again. “Please.”

“Well,” the doctor said, deliberating for a few moments as he reviewed her chart. “I guess that’s okay since all your tests came back clear. But you make sure to call the hospital if you have any trouble.” He turned to face Clay and added, “And it will be your job to make sure she stays off her feet.”

They both agreed and Dr. Rendini turned to leave and added over his shoulder, “You’d better get your vehicle and drive it up to the employee entrance in the back so you can leave out the emergency door. I hear the photographers have been increasing, along with the number of calls the hospital has already received from reporters.”

“Oh no, I’m so sorry,” Angela said and she hung her head. She didn’t want to be in the magazines, especially not looking like this. The last thing she needed was whatever satisfaction this nutjob got from seeing her damaged in the papers.

“No worries at all, Ms. Meyers. This hospital is well equipped to protect your privacy.”

Then he left to get her discharge papers in order and her prescriptions for pain and antibiotics since she had so many open wounds to contend with.

“So are you ready to blow this Popsicle stand?” James asked her, trying to break the mood.

Angela swung her legs off the side of the bed gently and Clay helped pull her into a sitting position.

“Oh no, Clay!”

“What, did I hurt you?” he asked, trying to adjust his hands on her body.

“No, I just realized I haven’t called Mark and told him what happened. I don’t want him to read crap or see it on TV before I have a chance to tell him what happened. He’ll be completely freaked out. Or poor Ron! He’s probably still camped out somewhere waiting for our call and…”

“Whoa, calm down. I found Ron’s card in my pants pocket when you were in X-ray and called him already. If it’s okay, while you get ready to go, I’ll call Mark and let him know you’re all right until you can call him yourself. Sound good?”

“Yes, sounds good. Tell him I said hi and that I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine,” Clay muttered under his breath as James came and took his place holding Angela. For some reason he looked like he wanted to punch his friend before walking out.

In no time flat she sat in a wheelchair, wearing her very stylish open-backed gown and Clay’s tuxedo jacket, which still smelled like funky birthday candles.

“Hey, Detective Wyatt, did you get my dress? They said you guys wanted it for evidence.”

“Yes, ma’am, I’ve already got it loaded, and if you’re ready to leave, I’ll go get the car and bring it to the employee exit. Unless you would prefer to have your picture taken by the twenty or so paparazzi that are hanging around front?”

“No, no the back way is just fine,” Angela agreed with a sigh.

She wondered how bad the coverage of the incident was going to be.
Probably not bad
, her inner optimist shoved into her pity party.

As Clay pushed her to the exit she thought,
Well, at least I don’t have to wait long. The photographs would make it into the papers by tomorrow morning
.

She stayed awake long enough to half hobble, half be carried into James’s Impala.

“At least it’s not a squad car with bars on the window,” she admitted to both men after Clay followed in after her and tucked her under his arm, while James climbed in the front and they were on their way home.

Home
, she sighed and was out like a light.

Chapter Seventeen

“Am I dead, and if not, what the hell?” Angela croaked. She knew Clay was in the room with her, but couldn’t make out where in the darkness. She rolled her head to the side as she heard him get up from a side chair.

“You’re not dead, but the next few days you’re gonna feel like hell. Thanks to me and my head up my ass,” he muttered at the end.

Angela chuckled and rolled onto her good side as Clay sat gently on the edge of the bed. She cleared her parched throat twice before she could say, “Just been sitting over there berating yourself, I see.”

Every muscle in her body was screaming in protest as he ignored her statement and asked quietly, “How do you feel?”

“I’ve definitely been better,” she muttered on a groan, “but I’ve been worse, too, so that’s something.” She was glad for the darkness or Clay surely would have seen the anguish on her face.

“How long have I been out?” she asked, trying subtly to change the subject.

Clay gently ran his hand over her scalp where the huge goose egg was sitting. Not so silently cursing himself for his momentary lapse of judgment.

She winced as his fingers found their mark and gently covered his hand with her own.

“Most of the night. It’s about three in the morning now. Thirsty?” he asked before standing and turning on the light in the bathroom.

The door was partially shut so it didn’t fry her retinas. Still, it took several tries to keep her eyes open long enough to watch him turn to the nightstand and lift a glass of ice water.

“Parched,” she admitted as she struggled to sit up and not watch him like a lovesick teenager.

Clay handed her two pills and she stared at them like they were moon rocks.

“Doctor’s orders. You need rest and some medicine to help you get better, so bottoms up, and then you can go back to sleep for a month. Antibiotic and pain meds. Printed info on the kitchen table when you’re up to reading it. We stopped and grabbed them on the way home from the hospital. A different pharmacy than you normally use but it was faster.”

“I’m not allergic to anything so I’m sure they’re fine.” Angela threw back the pills and swallowed them quickly. Water had never tasted so good. She handed the glass to Clay after she had drained it and sank back below the covers.

He pulled away, trying to move off the bed when her hand touched his warm arm.

“Don’t leave,” a fragile voice pleaded. “Don’t go!”

Oh, great, it was her voice. So she could go ahead and add begging to her resume.

Super.

He stared at her. The expression on his face was unreadable. Tense, but focused. She almost apologized and ugly duckling dived back under the covers, but instead she watched him lean over and oh so gently place his lips against hers.

Tears welled in her eyes at the sweetest kiss she had ever received. One filled with longing and regret. It was her feelings she felt, and she knew that. But for one night she could forget he didn’t love her and just enjoy him being close. Surely she’d earned it.

He didn’t force his way into her mouth. He ate at her mouth like she was his last meal. He nibbled her bottom lip. Sampling her flesh as he would a fine wine. Awareness skittered over her like a pebble skipping across the water. The next set of ripples superimposed themselves over the first until her entire body sank into the sensation.

Her grip on his arm relaxed, as did the fear caught in her throat. She let a whispered sigh pass her lips, opening her eyes as Clay moved a few inches away and stared down at her.

“Angela, if something would have happened to you tonight… If you had been seriously hurt or worse, I…”

She raised her somewhat steady hand and placed her now warm fingers against his lips to still them.

“Don’t,” she whispered with as much fervor as she could muster.

Hearing a confession coming from him was something she didn’t have the strength for tonight.

The breath escaped past her fingers as he eased her hand back onto the bed.

The past is the past and it’s better if it just stays there
, she decided. She wondered how long it was going to take him to bolt. She could already feel him pulling away, back into himself.

“I won’t leave,” he promised. “Go back to sleep and I’ll be here when you wake.”

She was exhausted and completely surprised he decided to stay.

“Will you lay next to me? Will you hold me tonight, until I fall asleep?” she nearly begged again, hiding behind her hooded lashes. She could hear it in her head, sounding childish and scared, and she couldn’t help herself. She didn’t want to be afraid and this man was the last one she wanted to ask anything of. Tonight could have been her last and she needed a bit of reassurance that tomorrow would come.

“I thought you didn’t want me to touch you again while I was here?” he asked, trying to hide his hurt pride.

“I told you not to touch me, but I never said I didn’t want you to.” Girl logic, go figure. It was amazing what courage you had when pain meds opened your mouth for you.

For a few endless seconds Clay deliberated over her answer and then stood. He took off his shoes, belt and shoulder holster and finally put the safety back on his weapon.

He looked like he expected someone to come storming the building after her. Thankfully nothing had happened there so she always felt the safest in those walls.

Angela rolled over the other direction and the weight of the bed shifted as Clay got in behind her.

Her bed.

The one that had been empty for so long she didn’t remember how it felt to have someone next to her. Clay tucked the covers around her, shifting his weight ever so slightly until he was right behind her. She realized immediately he had removed his shirt as well and his warmth was an elixir she would have spent her last penny on.

She remembered the last time they were this intimate. A lifetime had passed for both of them and then somehow it felt like only yesterday.

“Sleep, Angela,” Clay whispered as he brushed the hair away from her neck, lightly kissing her shoulder.

As he settled next to her, Angela reached back and found his arm laying on his side. Without a word she lifted it, tugging it over her hip, wrapping herself in his embrace. She knew she would regret her lapse in judgment tomorrow, but she moved closer.

She knew the wounds she had so long ago tried to bury would drown her in the morning, but the concussion and pain meds already had her in just enough of a fog to allow her to throw caution out and feel contentment and joy.

She rested her chin against his raw knuckles that she had her fingers wound through and leaned down and kissed them softly.

“I’m sorry you got hurt.” Her eyes finally succumbed to the weight of the drugs in her system.

“You too, baby,” he whispered as she closed her eyes, determined not to get lost in the moment. She could still feel it just as strongly as she had years before. How much she loved him.

What are we going to do?
she wondered as she drifted into a dream of the past, or of the future. No clue which she feared more.

Hours later, Angela came to, breathing heavily. A light sheen of sweat covered her entire shivering body.

“Angela, can you hear me?” Clay nearly choked beside her.

She stared at him, blinking rapidly, trying to keep the tears in check that were threatening to overflow again.

“Clay?” she asked as confusion clung to her brain like a wet blanket. He lowered his forehead to hers, breathing out a sigh of relief.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” she wanted to know when he didn’t say anything else.

He lifted his head and reached over her, rubbing her back softly, as he said, “You must have been having a bad dream. You were calling my name, like you were choking. It was awful. I’ve never felt as helpless as I have tonight,” he added.

Her eyes closed involuntarily and she raised her hands and placed them on his bare chest.

Without thinking it through, she pressed her lips against his warmth and she didn’t even notice that it made his breath catch as hers did. So lost was her body in the sensation of kissing him just because she wanted to.

The hands that had been moving on her back stilled.

“Angela…” was all he could get out as her teeth scraped against his chest. She moved closer under the comforter until her body was pressed full length against him.

Clay cleared his throat and started again, probably trying to gain a handle on the situation that was getting out of hand quickly.

“Angela, we can’t do this.”

Before he could continue she asked, “Why not?” as she continued raining kisses on his chest. Her little tongue peeking out to taste him.

“You’ve just had a near-death experience and you’re reacting off the adrenaline high.” Despite his best protests, his hands were moving over her, learning her again. God, he knew just where to touch, her body pulsing in need for him to take her.

No point in holding back…

“Uh-huh and what was my excuse last night when I almost had you fucking me against the wall of my kitchen?” She ran her fingers around to his back, kneading the muscles she’d ached to hold so long ago.

“That was, um, a reaction to us not seeing each other for a long time.”

“I don’t jump any of my friends from Texas, Clay. I don’t jump any of my friends at all, actually. Haven’t since the last time we were together.” She nibbled his jaw, which had just gone slack.

“What do you mean you haven’t…you haven’t what since us?”

“Us, I like how that sounds. Mmm… I haven’t had sex since we were together a hundred years ago. Wow, that makes me sound like a prude, doesn’t it!” she exclaimed with a wicked smile. “So don’t you think you should help me out a little bit here?”

Clay was certain he had fallen back asleep at some point and this was just one really odd dream. Surely she hadn’t said what he thought she did.

One night, that’s all she’d ever had?

He was pretty sure his dick couldn’t get this hard in a dream, or that Angela would feel so soft and yielding. God, he wanted her. Wanted her so bad he could taste her on his tongue.

He came to, realizing Angela was licking at his lips and drawing his face closer to her pouty smile.

“You’re over-thinking it. Just kiss me,” she cajoled as she brushed her lips against his seductively. Nipping at them when he took too long to decide.

Without thinking, he half rolled her over so she was lying on her back. A leg was still thrown over his and her nipples brushed against his chest with nothing but her soft shirt between them.

He ate her lips as if she were the most exquisite dessert he had ever gotten to taste. Dipping his tongue into her mouth, eliciting a groan from both of them, as her tongue met his.

“You just got out of the hospital. I’m going to do nothing but hurt you.” He tried to think with the right head as his shaft nudged against her belly.

His hand went to her breast and palmed it, holding her nipple between his fingers. Her back arched her chest closer to his hand as she held his face. It had been torture watching her crawl into bed with just a T-shirt and panties on. He should have insisted she put a full suit. Her breasts were such a perfect handful. Tight, firm globes topped with the sweetest berries God ever put on the earth. He could picture it perfectly from the night before in the glaring light in the kitchen. He glanced up, making sure she watched, and had to concentrate real hard not to come in his pants at the look of Angela watching him.

Sexy lashes brushing her cheeks, bee-stung lips that her tongue peeked out between as if she knew that called to his inner caveman. Slowly, he plumped her breast in his hand and leaned down, sucking her nipple, T-shirt and all into his hot mouth.

Her breathing sped up, coming in short gasps as she angled her hips against his. Rubbing against him. Both of them needing relief like they needed air.

“We shouldn’t be…” Clay began again but stopped on a groan when Angela moved higher against him. Now he was angled to penetrate her if their clothes weren’t in the way.

“God, that feels good,” Angela gasped as Clay reached under her nightgown and ran his hands up her back, pressing against her, showing her exactly what she’d been missing.

His fingers snaked around to her stomach again, rimming the edge of her panties, sliding beneath the sweet lace hiding the treasure of wetness he could only catch the faintest whiff of when they moved.

Just as he found the center of her sweet juicy pussy she yelped.

She’d moved just a few inches too high on the bed, bumping her head on the headboard, seeing stars if covering her eyes was any indication.

He cursed his cock. Told it to shut the hell up as it pounded behind the zipper of his pants.

What the fuck had he been thinking
? He bolted out of bed, jostling her again.

“Sorry,” she muttered as she lay back on the pillows with her eyes closed, probably trying not to barf. She looked a bit green around the gills.

“Dammit, don’t apologize to me…sorry, and I’m yelling at you. Jesus, could I be any worse at this taking care of you shit?”

“You were doing extra great up until I got a bit…eager.”

“Here, take this,” came out of his mouth several seconds later as he shoved another pill in her hand with a glass of water from the kitchen.

She took it and handed the empty glass back to him. “There are two of you. That’s kind of scary. I’ve had ménage fantasies before but seriously…I don’t think I could handle two of you.”

“Jesus, stop talking about ménages. I’m so jacked up you could kick my ass with a paperclip right now. Our timing just sucks.” Within moments he was pulling her back into his arms and covering her with a blanket.

“Sleep, you need sleep, Angela. We’ve got time for the rest when you’re back on your feet.”

“Promise?” she asked when she started her slide into sleep with her pain pill kicking in.

Clay snorted an answer and then willed his hard-on to go away. He was really going to have to get a handle on his libido. Sure it had been several years since he had been with a woman and the woman he wanted was in his arms safe for the moment.