by Donna Hill
Slowly she approached the bed. The nurse was right. The sight of Rafe, bandaged and bruised, connected to wires and tubes, broke her heart. She heard her own whimpers mix with the hum and beep of the machines.
She pulled up a chair and sat next to him, took his hand in hers. “Baby, I’m here,” she whispered. “The whole family is down the hall, waiting to see you.” She stroked his hand. “We were so scared. I...don’t know what I would do if I lost you, not after all that we’ve been through. You’re going to get better, baby. You have a wedding to attend.” She wiped tears from her eyes, glanced at the machine that tracked his heart and pulse. “We have plans, and I can’t do them without you. You promised me forever, and I’m holding you to it.” She sniffed, leaned over the bedrail and kissed his hand. “Come back to me,” she whispered. “If you can hear me, come back to me. I love you so much.”
A nurse came in to change the bag of warm saline. “I’m sorry but you’re going to have to leave now,” she said softly. She hung the new bag and checked the tubes.
Avery nodded numbly and slowly stood and then leaned over and whispered to him, “I’ll be back as soon as they let me. Rest. Heal.” She kissed his bruised cheek. “Love you, darlin’,” she said using his term of endearment.
* * *
Throughout the day, the family took turns visiting with Rafe. The doctor advised them that his temperature had returned to normal, his vitals were strong and all they could do now was wait until he woke up.
Avery was sitting next to the bed the following morning, talking softly to him about the new job and all the training she had to go through when suddenly his fingers moved. She jumped up. “Rafe. Rafe. Can you hear me, baby?”
His eyes fluttered open. It took several moments before he was able to focus on Avery. “Who’s Rafe?” he asked in a hoarse whisper.
Oh, God, no. Avery’s hand flew to her mouth, and then that slow simmering smile moved across his. “Hey, darlin’.”
Her heart thundered so fast she could hardly catch her breath. “You! How could you do that?” she screamed, more elated than upset. “Rafe. Oh, baby.” She leaned over to hug him and he winced. “Sorry. Sorry. Nurse!”
The nurse came running in.
“He’s awake!”
She came around to the side of the bed, took his pulse, checked his pupils and the readings on the monitors. “I’ll get the doctor. Welcome back, Mr. Lawson.”
Chapter 26
“Do you remember what happened?” Avery asked while he wolfed down a cheese steak she’d brought him. Great hospital, he’d said, but the food was lousy.
“Most of it. One minute I was in the air and the next...” He shuddered. “They just came out of nowhere. A swarm of damned birds. Knocked out the engine. I lost control.” His jaw clenched as the images and the fear that engulfed him that night filled his mind. “You know how they say your life flashes before your eyes?” He snorted a laugh. “It’s true.” He turned to Avery. “All I could think about as that plane was going down was you—all the times we were together, the love we made, the promises, our wedding. I didn’t want you to see me in pieces.”
“Babe...”
“When the plane hit the water...”
Avery squeezed her eyes shut.
“I blacked out I guess,” he said slowly as if searching for the words. “When I came to it was freezing. I was so fucking cold.” He threw his head back. “It was pitch dark.” He frowned, tried to concentrate. “I must have been thrown clear. I don’t even know. I found a piece of debris and clung to it. The next thing I remember was waking up in the hospital and seeing you.” Janae’s words flitted through his head. She’d told him that he was the only constant in her life, the one thing she clung to, the memory. Now he understood, because he’d lived his own version.
“I heard you talking to me.”
Avery blinked back tears and held his hand. “You did?”
“I swore I heard you. It was like you were pulling me up out of the water, out of the dark. I knew I had to get to you. Let you know it was gonna be all right.”
“It will be. It is,” she said and leaned in to kiss him long and sweet. She moved back and stroked his forehead. “Might leave a scar.” She lightly ran her finger along the butterfly bandage over his left brow. “Gives you a rugged look,” she teased.
“As soon as I can, I’m going to show you rugged, darlin’, believe that.” He reached up, cupped the back of her head and drew her in for the kiss he wanted. Just to make his point.
“Get a room.”
They turned to see Quinten in the doorway, chuckling.
“We already have a room, bro. Folks just won’t leave us alone,” he joked.
Quinten came in and gave Avery a warm hug. “How you doing, lady?”
She grinned as if she’d won the lottery and shot Rafe a quick look. “Doing real good. Listen, fellas, I’ll leave you two alone. I have a few errands to run.” She leaned over and kissed Rafe. “See you later, baby.”
Avery walked out, warmed by the sound of their laughter. She couldn’t wait to get him home. They’d have to devise some innovative techniques until he was completely healed, and she couldn’t wait to start experimenting.
* * *
The press was camped outside of the hospital the day that Rafe was released more than a week after he was brought in. Lee Ann had suggested that it would be best if Rafe gave a statement to the media, suggesting that it would slow the feeding frenzy and then he could recuperate in peace.
Rafe talked it over again with Avery while she helped him get into his shirt.
“Whatever you need to do,” she’d said. “This is Lee Ann’s arena down here. If she thinks it’s the right move I would take her suggestion.”
He winced, held his side and slowly sat down on the one chair in the room.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, yeah. Gonna take a minute.”
She got his sneakers from the closet and put them on his feet. “Not much that can be done for cracked ribs. Rest.”
“Funny how things happen.”
“What do you mean?”
“Couple of weeks ago I loosened the reins on all of my businesses. Now it’s good that I did. Got all the right people in place and I don’t have to worry about it while I recuperate.”
Avery leaned to the side and put her hand on her hip. “I really would have preferred that you found some other way to make space between you and your businesses. Next time you want to make major changes in your life give me a heads up.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The nurse arrived with a wheelchair.
“Your chariot, Mr. Lawson,” Avery teased. “The family is downstairs.”
Avery walked alongside the nurse’s aide who pushed the chair down the hall. She bent down to whisper in his ear. “Be your sexy, charming self so I can get you home—alone.”
“Naughty girl. I’ll talk fast.”
Lee Ann, Dominique, Justin and their father met Rafe and Avery in the lobby of the hospital.
“The car is right out front,” Lee Ann said. “Plenty of reporters out there. You have a feel for these things,” she said, pressing his shoulder. “Say as much or as little as you want.”
He glanced up with a lopsided grin. “I got this, sis. Not my first rodeo with these folks.”
“Don’t we know it,” Dominique quipped.
“Very funny,” Rafe responded. “Okay, let’s do this.”
Branford opened the glass exit doors and Justin took over for the nurse, pushed the wheelchair down the ramp and the media descended.
Immediately Avery’s protective instincts and training kicked in. Her first reaction was to block him from the crowd that approached and scope out any potential threats, anyone out of place who didn’t look right. There was the general array of print and television
media, many faces that she recognized from her various details, and of course there were the curious bystanders who stopped to see what was going on. Her gaze continued to scan the crowd while keeping within inches of Rafe.
Slowly he rose to his feet. Avery watched him contain the pain as he came to his full six-foot-three-inch height. He still sported the bandage over his eye and his thigh was thickly bandaged under his gray sweats, his ribs taped beneath his Tulane University hoodie, and Avery couldn’t describe how utterly edible he was.
“How are you feeling, Mr. Lawson?” one reporter shouted.
“Like I’m getting over being in a plane crash,” he said with his patent roguish smile.
The crowd chuckled.
Rafe held up his hand. “But seriously. I’m very lucky to be here. My family, the coast-guard team never stopped looking for me. I had the best doctors here at Georgetown who patched me up—pretty much brought me back from the dead. And I want to thank everyone involved.”
“Planning on getting up in a plane again?” another reporter called out.
“Soon as I can.” He started to sit back down and Justin grabbed his arm to help.
“Senator Lawson! Senator Lawson, any comment about your son’s miraculous rescue?”
“I’m very grateful, and I think my son has said the rest. Thank you all very much.” He walked ahead and got into his Suburban.
“Senator Lawson, do you think that you being the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee had anything to do with your son’s plane crash?”
Branford stopped halfway in and halfway out of the door of the Suburban. He turned toward the reporter. “Unless terrorists can command bird strikes I doubt it very seriously.” He shook his head in annoyance and got in the car.
“How does your fiancée feel about you wanting to fly again?” another reporter tossed out to Rafe.
Avery inwardly flinched, second-guessing her decision to be present. The last thing she needed was to get tossed back under the spotlight.
“Ya’ll know I’m a true Southern gentleman and one who never tells. Thanks, ya’ll.” He sat down, and Justin pushed the wheelchair toward the waiting SUV.
Avery bit back her smile. He was right. He knew how to handle the media like a pro. The whole family did.
As Rafe was wheeled past the phalanx he caught a flash in his peripheral vision. “Wait.” He suddenly gripped Justin’s hand.
“What’s wrong?”
Avery stopped short, as well. “What is it?”
Rafe looked again. His gaze raced over the crowd. “Nothing.” He frowned. “Sorry. Thought I saw someone. Let’s go.”
Avery studied the faces and the bodies of the dispersing crowd, while Justin helped Rafe into the SUV. Something spooked him. But what? She waited until everyone was in the SUV before she got in, taking one last look before shutting the door.
* * *
Branford returned to the Capitol. Lee Ann, Dominique and Justin came by Rafe’s home, made sure he was settled and then went back with Lee Ann to her home in Silver Spring. Dominique, Justin and Bailey were booked on flights to leave in the morning. Jacqueline would return to New Orleans at the end of the week and promised to help Alice out during the day while Avery was at work.
* * *
“Alone at last,” Rafe said and stretched his arm out for Avery.
She eased down next to him on the couch and gently adjusted the pillow under his elevated leg. “Need anything?” She pressed her palm to his chest.
“Just you.” He brushed his thumb across her bottom lip, turned as much as his cracked ribs would allow and leaned in to kiss her.
Avery melted against him, physically needing him with a ferocity that swirled with hurricane force inside her. She moaned into his mouth as the tip of his tongue pressed and danced with hers. A match of desire lit in her belly, the warmth spread to her limbs, intensifying when Rafe slid his hand beneath her blouse. As much as she wanted to feel him inside her, she knew for the time being that second base was as far as they could go.
“Get undressed,” he ground out and then sucked on her bottom lip with his teeth.
Avery’s lids fluttered open. She reared her head slightly to look him in the eyes. “Rafe...we can’t...”
“Get undressed,” he said again. “I need to see you.”
She drew in a shaky breath and slowly stood in front of him.
Rafe rested his head against the cushion of the couch and watched, with growing lust, the show unfolding in front of him.
Avery unbuttoned her starched white blouse and let it fall to the floor. She reached behind her and unfastened her black lace bra, slid one and then the other strap off her shoulders and tossed it aside. Rafe’s eyes darkened. A groan rumbled in his chest. “Keep going.”
There was only one time she’d ever felt shy and uncertain with Rafe, and that was during the very first time they’d made love. But he’d made her feel not only beautiful and desirable but invincible. She knew that however she felt, weak or strong she could be those things with him and it would be okay. This moment was different. She felt like she was readying herself to be with him for the very first time.
“Everything,” he insisted.
Her fingers trembled ever so slightly as she unzipped her slacks and slid them down. She stepped out of them and repeated the act with her panties. She’d never felt more vulnerable in her life. But when she witnessed the look of love, admiration and heat in his eyes, her insecure moment evaporated.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered.
Her entire body heated. She stroked her lip with her tongue.
“Come here.”
She took the few steps, but he stopped her when she was close enough to reach out and touch. He languidly caressed her hip, her thighs.
“Put your foot up here.” He patted the space on the couch next to him.
Her breathing escalated. Rafe stroked the inside of her thighs until she began to moan. His fingers teased her slit, which grew slippery and wet with an invitation that he willingly accepted. She gripped the back of the couch to steady herself and gasped when his finger slid inside her.
“Closer,” he urged.
Her head spun.
“Closer,” he said again, and then his mouth was on her, his tongue in her.
“Ahhhh!” Her fingers dug into the couch. She cupped the back of his head and gave herself over to him.
His mouth was magic, casting an erotic spell that she wished would last forever. His tongue flicked and teased and licked until she was weak. The pit of her stomach fluttered. She heard her cries rise above her pounding heart as the first wave of release whipped through her. Rafe gripped her rear and squeezed in rhythm with the pulse that throbbed within her wet walls until she was spent.
She slipped down onto the couch, mindful of not tumbling on Rafe while she pulled herself back from the heavenly ride he’d taken her on. She rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes. What they’d just done played behind her lids. An unbidden moan slipped from between her lips.
Rafe twisted a lock of her hair around his finger. “You good, cher?”
“Hmm, umm,” she murmured. Her hand drifted down his chest past his bandaged ribs and inched beneath the elastic waistband of his sweats until she wrapped her hand around his thickening erection.
He sucked in air through his teeth. “Naughty girl.”
“Returning the favor...”
Chapter 27
Rafe’s eyes fluttered closed and then opened halfway. “I think you took advantage of me in my weakened state.”
“I’d have to say that you rose to the occasion. Pun intended.”
He winced from the pain when he laughed.
“You want to take a pill?”
He shook his head no as he settled in bed. “I’ll ride it out. Not too bad
.”
“What about your leg? Coming up the stairs...”
“Nothing I can’t handle, darlin’.”
She leaned over and kissed him. “I’m going to let you get some rest.” She adjusted the pillows and pulled up the comforter. “Alice fixed a bunch of food. I’m going to see what I can heat up.”
He yawned. “Sounds good.” His eyes drifted close. “Nurse...maybe you could give me a sponge bath later.”
Avery burst out laughing. “You are terrible. Get some rest.” She turned out the light next to the bed and tiptoed out.
When she checked the double-door fridge, she had no idea one woman could cook so much food. Every shelf was stacked with food—rice dishes, potato salads, fried chicken, rice and beans, crawfish, steamed vegetables, shrimp and even a large container of lobster bisque. She shook her head in astonishment. Every plastic container was labeled. “This woman needs to open a business.” She took out a container of shrimp and one of red beans and rice. She took down a plate from the cabinet, spooned on food from the containers and then popped the plate in the microwave. She had a pretty good feeling that Rafe was fast asleep, but she was starving.
While she waited for the food to heat, she turned on the television. The local news was on. She was going to surf past it to MSNBC when the familiar backdrop of George Washington University Hospital filled the screen and the Lawson family leaving the hospital.
“Earlier today, flanked by family and security, Rafe Lawson, son of Senator Branford Lawson, was released from GW Hospital after more than two weeks, following a near-fatal plane crash. The younger Lawson has built a reputation on his daredevil lifestyle and his array of beautiful women. Most recently he’s been paired up with Senator Horace Richards’s daughter, Avery Richards, with a wedding date set for late spring. When asked today what his fiancée had to say about him flying again, this was his response...”
They played the clip of Rafe’s very gallant response.
Avery smiled. He was born to be a star. The camera loved him. A real natural. Then suddenly his open, engaging expression tensed, as if he’d seen a ghost. She looked closer. That was the moment he’d stopped the wheelchair. He saw something in the crowd. She only assumed it then but she knew for certain now.