Page 18 of Sexy as Sin
“Saturday,” she said. Sounding cheerful again. Rainbows and unicorns, and her name was Willow. His brain still worked, then. Thank God. He could do without his leg. He couldn’t do without his brain. “You broke your femur yesterday,” she said. “Falling off a rock. Fairly spectacular, the breakandthe fall. That’s the bone you don’t want to break in your leg, or so the doctor said. You’re an overachiever. I’m guessing that’s not news. You also scared me to death, so cheers for that.” Now, shedidtake his hand. “Thanks for not dying.”
“You’re welcome,” he said.Focus. Adjust.All right, breaking your thigh bone wasn’t great, and he had a meeting in Portland on Monday with the bank that he was going to miss, but life was all about... adjustments. Maybe he could... conference call...
His hand jerked in hers, and he jolted awake. “What? Sorry.” He was wearing a hospital gown, he realized. He was falling asleep. He had a bag ofurinehanging from his bed. Not a good look at all. “How did I... what did I do? I fell? Tell me I was saving you. I don’t have a...” He was trying to fall asleep again. Better than vomiting into a bag. Barely. Or needing a bedpan. “I don’t have a good feeling.”
How, Willow wondered, could he still look so... adorable? Blue-and-white-print hospital gown, dark stubble on his jaw, his dark hair mussed, and his leg encased in white dressings. Looking strong, because he could never look anything else, but so worried, too, that he hadn’t been strong enough. She smiled, and his expression turned apprehensive as he said, “What?”
“Nothing,” she said hastily. “You may be a bit cute, that’s all.”
He closed his eyes again. “I’m guessing I didn’t save you.”
“Well, no. But you did worry about me, so... good on ya?”
He frowned. Great eyebrows. Thick, dark, and relentlessly straight, as determined as he was, underneath the smooth exterior. Thenormallysmooth exterior. “You needed water,” he said. “You were shaky. Sweating. It was hot. And you were wearing those same clothes.”
“Well, yes,” she said. “All of the above. I’m lovely, hey. I rode with you in the ambulance, though, and I’ve been here ever since. I didn’t know who to call, and nobody else did, either. Who to tell about you. And I didn’t want you to—” She stopped.
His gray eyes, which had gradually been sharpening despite the opiate cocktail being pumped into him, fixed on her. “What?” he asked. She shook her head, tried to breathe through a suddenly too-tight chest, and he pressed her hand and asked again. “Willow. What?”
“I didn’t want you to be... alone. When you woke up. And I didn’t want you to die.” She tried to laugh, and couldn’t quite manage it. “Silly, isn’t it? We think if we’re there, we somehow have magical powers. That we can hold the person here.”
“You did.” He was, somehow, back to “steady and strong” again. “You did hold me here. I remember. Thanks for that. It was too much, though. The day. The night, too, and what about your job?”
“I could be a wee bit tired, yeah.” She tried to smile again. “I also had to pretend to be your girlfriend in order to stay with you, so don’t tell. I’ll go into work now, though. My partner could be a little unhappy. Business partner,” she hastened to add. “You threw a wrench into everybody’s day. Your own partners were pretty fussed. I’m guessing you’ll get flowers.” He made a face, and she laughed. “What? Flowers are for girls? You like them. You told me so.”
“I did?” He tipped his head back on the pillow and groaned. “What did I say? Exactly? Besides the crying.”
“Nothing. You said nothing.” Something in her twisted hard. That endless day, and the night. Too many close calls, and too many reminders. “You asked me to talk to you. You held my hand. You were strong, Brett. You were brave. You have nothing to be ashamed of.”
“Hey.” His hand tightened around hers again. Not asking for comfort this time. Giving it. “I’m all right. I remember now. Something about your parents. Something sad, wasn’t it? I remember a sad story.”
She smiled. It felt pretty wobbly. “It was all a long time ago. You asked me for my story, so I told you the sad bits. My life is rainbows and unicorns now, though, remember? Also glitter.”
“Yeah.” Black-lashed gray eyes steady on hers. “I remember that, too. I wish you’d go home, though, and get some sleep.” Another press of her hand, like he could transfer his strength to her, and like he wanted to. Exactly the way he’d felt holding her on the beach. “But if you want to come back later on, we could watch a movie or something. Have a date, if you’re being my girlfriend. It’s morning now, right?”
He didn’t say anything about her entanglement, and neither did she. You couldn’t exactly cheat with a man who couldn’t get out of his hospital bed, and whose reaction to moving was to vomit. This was her good turn, that was all. He didn’t have anybody in Oz, he’d helped with her shark-rescue, and he might have fallen because she’d distracted him. It was only kind. “Yeah. It’s just after eight. You’ll be getting breakfast soon, surely. I’ll only be an hour late, and that’s not too bad.”
“But then,” he said, “there’s that bonus you earned for our day.”
“I did?”
“Oh, yeah.” He smiled. The grin of a tired, dirty, endlessly confident pirate. White teeth, dark scruff of beard, mussed hair, and broad shoulders, his smooth veneer all the way gone, and every bit of him sexier for it. “Popsicles? Rescue services? You get a bonus for that. Every time.”
It was the fifth or sixth time he’d woken up. He’d lost count. He normally never lost count of anything, so it was annoying. He forgot the annoyance, though, when he saw who’d walked in.
No black pants and white shirt this time. She wasn’t wearing that dress with not much front and even less back, but he wasn’t going to be complaining. “I can tell you with absolute certainty,” he said, “that you’re the best thing that’s walked through that door today.”
“Because I’m not bringing you a bedpan?” Oh, yeah. All the way sassy now.
“Don’t remind me. Besides, I’m mobile.” He nodded to the walker beside the bed. “I objected on the grounds that I look like somebody’s grandpa. I wanted crutches. They didn’t listen. Something to do with intravenous opiates and falling risk. No bedpans, though. Always a plus. And you’re very beautiful.”
She didn’t say it wasn’t true, but he suspected she wanted to. “And, no,” he said, “that isn’t just by comparison. My surgeon’s fairly hot.” He laughed at her look of outrage. “That’s better. I like your pretty dress. Also your hair, but I always like your hair. I’d have dressed up for our date myself, but...”
Her smile had more confidence in it now. More sunniness, too, like her optimism came naturally. She kicked off her flat sandals and sat in his recliner again, the full skirt of her halter-neck bandana-print blue sundress settling around her in a drift of whisper-light fabric. She looked so much cooler and fresher than he felt, with her hair in a soft knot at the nape of her neck, and some tendrils escaping because, he guessed, they always would. Her lipstick was red, and she had some color in her cheeks that he thought was natural, because the light dusting of freckles was right there to see on her straight nose. “Somebody’s combed your hair, though,” she said. “And brought you flowers. I was right.” She eyed the gargantuan bouquet of orange Oriental lilies, birds of paradise, and some kind of twisted snaky things that stretched almost all the way across the window. “It’s cheerful, I guess. There’s that.”
“Mm,” he said. “That was the partners, as you predicted. Very romantic. It’s like the jungle in here. That’s also who I have to thank for my private room, though, which I appreciate more. All I need is my laptop, and I’m back in business. That’ll have to be tomorrow, though. Things still have an annoying habit of going in and out of focus. I did comb my hair and brush my teeth, and I did it myself, like a big boy. Shaved, too, see? I’m civilized. Not going to throw up on you this time, either. You look like you got some sleep. How are you feeling?”
“Brett.” She laughed. “You’re the patient. I askyouthat. Except that I can tell you’re better. Is there ever a time when you’re not in charge?”
