Page 62 of Temptress

She studied me for one more second, then nodded. “Good.” Then she reached for the remote attached to her hospital bed and hit a button that turned all the lights on. It was enough to wake Sloane, which must have been the plan, because when she blinked the sleep from her eyes and uncurled from the chair, leaning forward and asking, “What’s going on? Are you okay? Did something happen?” Lucille waved her off breezily. “I’m fit as a fiddle, darling. But your young man is here to take you home.”

Sloane jolted, then turned her head and noticed me standing only a few feet away.

“Silas,” she said on a surprised breath. “What are you doing here?”

“Like I said, my sweet girl, he’s here to take you home. You’ve been glued to that chair for the past two days. You need to eat something that hasn’t come out of a vending machine and get some good, solid sleep. Two things you won’t do as long as you’re here.”

I saw the stubbornness that I’d come to love warring with fear in her beautiful eyes.

“Lucille, I can’t leave you here. What if—” She stopped, her throat working on a heavy swallow.

Lucille spoke up so Sloane didn’t have to finish her frightening thought out loud. “If something happens, I’m exactly where I need to be, surrounded by dozens of people who know exactly what to do. You’d only be in their way. But it doesn’t really matter, because nothing is going to happen to me, darling. I’m going to be just fine. You don’t need to stay here and babysit me.”

Sloane chewed on her bottom lip nervously, and it was plain to see how worried she was for her friend. “I’m not babysitting. I’m simply visiting.”

Lucille’s brows went up. “Well then. In that case, you’ve worn out your welcome, and I insist you go home.”

I chuckled at the woman’s brashness, realizing she was most definitely my kind of people. No wonder both my girls loved her so much.

The corner of Sloane’s mouth trembled in a suppressed grin as she forced herself out of the chair, stretching her limbs to loosen the muscles that had to be knotted up from that fucking chair.

“Fine,” she said on a grumble. “But don’t call me if you get bored or run out of Sudoku puzzles before they release you, because I’m not bringing you any more.”

Lucille smiled, knowing she was full of shit. “Yes, you will.”

Sloane huffed in defeat, muttering, “Yes, I will.”

“Go on now, get out of here. We’ll talk soon, love.”

Sloane bent and placed a tender kiss on Lucille’s cheek before forcing herself to move away from the bed. I trailed after her as she exited, stopping long enough to look back at the older woman and nod my head in silent communication that I’d repair her girl’s heart before pulling the door closed behind me.

We moved through the hospital corridors in silence, the whole time my hands itched to reach out and touch her. It wasn’t until I got her into the passenger seat of my SUV and started the engine up that she spoke.

“How did you know I was here?”

“Asher told me after a bit of begging on my part.”

I saw her turn in my direction from the corner of my eye, confusion marring her beautiful face. I knew she probably wanted to ask why I’d beg to know her whereabouts, but she clamped her lips together, refusing to give in to her curiosity.

That was fine. I could wait. I wasn’t exactly known for being a patient man, but for Sloane Chambers, I’d wait for an eternity.

The drive was painfully quiet, and I ran through so many different things I wanted to say that by the time I turned into my driveway and threw the car into park, it was all a jumbled mess, and I didn’t have the first fucking clue where to start.

She cleared her throat awkwardly, tangling her fingers together in her lap. “Well... thank you for the ride,” she said as she reached for the door handle, and a wave of panic slammed into me, causing me to reach out and engage the locks.

Her head whipped in my direction, all that thick silky hair flying. “What are you doing?”

I gripped the wheel so hard my knuckles turned white and the leather creaked. “When I married Kim, I knew I was one of the lucky ones who got to tie myself to my best friend,” I started, the words pouring out of me unchecked. “But I also knew that there was something else missing. I cared for her. I respected her. I even loved her, but it wasn’t in that way you see in movies or read in books. I didn’t end each day desperate to get home so I could kiss her. I never had that undeniable urge to claim her in a way that people would see and know she was mine. I missed her, but it was more like missing a friend you hadn’t seen in a while. It wasn’t like missing the breath in your lungs or the heart in your chest.

“I knew what it was like to be content, but I never knew what it was like to be truly happy.” I turned in my seat, my gaze burning into hers. “At least not until I met you.”

Her eyes widened and the pulse in her neck began to flutter.

“I thought people were full of shit when they described that consuming kind of love where you couldn’t possibly be in the same room as the person without touching them. But then I fell in love with you, and knew those people were right. I knew it was real, because that was exactly how I felt about you.”

Tears built in her eyes, overflowing and sliding down her cheeks, and the sight of them nearly killed me. Unable to stand the distance between us for another second, I reached over and undid her seatbelt, yanking her across the console and into my lap. Taking her face in my hands, I brushed my thumbs over her cheeks to catch the tears that fell.

“I convinced myself that kind of love wasn’t healthy because it scared the hell out of me, but the truth is, I didn’t know what any of it meant, and by the time I finally learned, I’d already ruined everything and lost you.”

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