Page 86 of A Billionaire Between the Sheets

The woman glanced down at Olivia and finally noticed that her eyes were open. “Welcome back. How are you feeling?”

Olivia took inventory before she answered. “My head hurts a little, but other than that I think I’m okay.”

While they were still moving, the woman took a flashlight out of the pack on her waist and flashed it at Olivia’s pupils. “I don’t think you’ve got a concussion, but it might be best if we took you to the hospital.”

Olivia came fully awake. “The hospital? I can’t go to the hospital.” She tried to sit up, but she was strapped down to the gurney.

“Calm down,” the woman said. “We’re just going to take you there for a few tests.”

“I don’t have time for tests.” She struggled with the straps. “Please! I have to get to Deacon.”

“I’m right here, Olivia.”

She stopped struggling as Deacon moved to the other side of the gurney. He took her hand, and the entire world brightened. “How do you feel?”

It was hard to talk with those beautiful eyes staring back at her. She felt as if she were floating in an indigo sea of warmth.

“It looks like she got her bell rang but good.” Nash appeared on the other side of the gurney, right next to the EMT, who blushed profusely when he gave her a smile. “So how are you doing, hijacker?” He winked at Olivia. “You gave us quite a scare.”

“Mostly Deke.” Grayson moved next to Deacon. “I thought he was going to throttle the woman who hit you.”

“Now, your brother would never hurt a woman, Grayson.” Donny John joined Nash. “Beaumonts don’t hit women—even large manly ones.” He took Olivia’s hand. “Do you remember me, darlin’? Don Juan Beaumont at your service. After seeing you all grown up, I see why you have Deacon all aflutter.”

“That’s enough, Dad,” Deacon said. “So what were you doing on the plane, Olivia?”

She swallowed hard. Suddenly all the things she’d wanted to say to Deacon got jumbled up like Scrabble tiles. “Well…I…”

Her cell phone rang. And since she was strapped in, Deacon pulled it from her purse, glanced at the screen, and then answered it. It wasn’t hard to hear Samuel’s loud prayer of thanks.

“Thank God she stopped you in time!”

“What’s going on, Samuel?” Deacon continued to hold Olivia’s hand and walk next to the gurney as they headed for the elevator that would take them to the exit. This time Olivia couldn’t hear Samuel’s answer, but Deacon must not have liked what he said because his eyes turned stormy. As soon as they were out of the elevator, he released her hand.

“Fine,” he said. “I see your point.” He hung up the phone and placed it back in Olivia’s purse before his gaze pinned her. His eyes were cold as the gel ice bag beneath her head. “So that’s why you came to the airport,” he said. “Why you were so frantic to stop the plane. And here I thought you had come for me.” A sad smile tipped his mouth. “But it’s always been about French Kiss, hasn’t it, Olivia?”

Before she could even try to deny it, he looked at his brothers and father. “Grayson, you and Dad stay with Olivia and make sure she’s okay. Nash, you come with me to the fashion show. Two Beaumont brothers should be more than sufficient for the press.” He was almost out the front doors when Olivia finally found her voice. It wasn’t a timid, unsure voice. It was a strong, commanding voice that had Deacon stopping in his tracks.

“Stop right there, Deacon Beaumont!”

She looked at the EMTs. “Get these straps off me. I’m not going to the hospital.” They glanced at each other before they did what she asked.

Deacon came striding back over. “Oh yes, you are going to the hospital. Now lie back down, Olivia.”

“No.” She hopped off the gurney and met him toe to toe. “I’m not going anywhere until I’ve said what I came to say.”

Deacon released his breath. “I get it, Olivia. If your designs are going to make it, we need to be at the fashion show. And if you hadn’t pissed me off so much the other night, I would’ve realized that and stayed until after the show.”

“I pissed you off?” She pointed at his chest. “You punched my father.”

He blinked. “Your father? That street bum is your father?”

“He’s not a street bum. He’s a salesman who just happens to prefer the outdoors to four walls.”

Deacon studied her. “So why didn’t you tell me that?”

“Because you never gave me the chance. Like always, you just barged in and took over. Just like you did today. You answered my phone—my phone—then assumed you knew why I was here without once waiting for me to tell you.”

“She is right, Deke,” Nash said.

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