Page 24 of Desire Me
She opened her eyes, swallowed hard against the need to surrender to the intensity of the man before her. “Saint—”
The door to her room opened before she could get another word out. “You’re awake! Good.”
The night nurse had been incessantly cheerful since Rae had moved to this ward, and the fact had irritated her to no end, but now she sighed in relief. Lying back against her pillows, she let the woman’s chatter and hustle—and flirting with Saint—fill the silence she wasn’t ready to fill.
By the time the round of vitals and fussing with things were done, the pain meds had fully kicked in and the pain in Rae’s head had finally subsided, leaving her sleepy. Saint seemed to sense that. He pulled the recliner close to her bed, retrieved his phone from his back pocket, and settled in. “Why don’t you catch a little shut-eye while you can?”
She honestly didn’t think she could sleep with a stranger in the room, but to her surprise, she stirred sometime later to find Saint watching her. Heat rushed to her cheeks as she swiped at her face. “I didn’t drool, did I?” Her cheeks flushed hotter.Did I really ask that? Way to embarrass yourself, Rae.
The ease with which she found herself using her “new” name surprised her.
“No drooling.” Saint chuckled, a hint of gravel peeking through as if he hadn’t spoken in hours.
“How long did I sleep?”
“About four hours.”
That had her eyes widening. “Really?” No wonder her head wasn’t pounding. That might be the longest stretch of sleep she’d had since she’d awakened from the coma.
That sense of unreality hit her again, the one that was always present when she remembered she had been hit by a car, in a coma, had amnesia. These things happened in dramas on TV, not in real life. And only on TV did the heroine wake up to a gorgeous hunk searching desperately to find her.
Saint was circling the bed to pour her a fresh cup of water. “Yep.” He threw that sexy grin she was already becoming familiar with over his shoulder. “You even snored a little.”
“I did not!”
He laughed. “If you say so, but you weren’t awake, so…” He passed her the cup, holding it securely until he was certain she had a firm grip. As she brought the cup to her lips and sipped the chilled liquid, he leaned close to her ear. “It’s a cute snore, by the way.”
She choked, then glared when he laughed again. “I do not snore,” she managed to grit out, holding back the grin that wanted to escape. Saint amused was difficult to resist.
His cocked brow conveyed both skepticism and acquiescence. This man was gonna be a pain in the ass, she could already tell.
Saint’s eyes narrowed when she shifted on the bed. “Need the bathroom?”
She willed herself not to flush again. “You don’t miss much, do you?”
He was already taking the cup back. “Trained not to. Come on.”
“I do not need your help going to the bathroom.”
“I can call a nurse if you want.”
Her glare had zero effect on him—he simply shrugged. “Hey, Cindy said to call when you needed to go, so I’m just following orders.”
She didn’t want any company going to the bathroom, but Saint wasn’t going to give her that choice. “Hand me that gown,” she demanded, pointing at another hospital gown on a side rung of the table tray.
“For?”
She snatched the fabric from his hand the second it got close enough. “For covering my bare ass.” Turning the gown backward, she slid it over her arms so that it opened in front, effectively becoming a robe. Her balance wasn’t good enough to both walk across the room without help and hold her gown closed in the back.
“I have no objections to seeing your bare ass.”
She stumbled as her feet landed on the floor. Saint was right there, his hand on her arm, holding her steady. The touch—and his words—sent an unwanted thrill through her. She tried her damnedest to sound tough. “Yeah, not gonna happen, buddy.”
His breath warmed the side of her neck when he leaned close. “Already has.”
She stilled even as a shiver shot down her spine. “Saint—”
He eased back. “Too much?”
