“No, you don’t,” he said, catching me as I started to lay back down. “Come on. You need to be in bed and you need sleep.”
“No, I have school,” I said, suddenly remembering that I had no choice but to go to school. The principal would be pissed if I took off more time.
“You’re not going anywhere. I’ll send the principal a picture if I have to. He’s not gonna want you around students like this. Now, stand up or I’m going to carry you.”
With his help, I barely got to my feet, but I was leaning on him heavily. I could hear his sharp intake of breath and straightened. He didn’t need me leaning on him. But when I tried to push away from him, he pulled me closer. I made it to my room and laid down just as my legs were about to collapse. I shoved my feet under the covers, but Craig only pulled the sheet up over me.
“I want the covers. I’m cold.”
“Just a blanket.”
I felt the warmth cover me and relaxed back into the bed. “You should lay down,” I mumbled.
“I’m fine. Besides, Hunter’s coming here this morning to check me out and he can look at you.”
“I don’t need a doctor.”
“I say you do, so you’re being seen by one.”
“Whatever,” I grumbled, rolling over on my side.
Sometime later, I heard Craig talking with someone. I felt so terrible. My head was pounding and the light coming in was way too bright.
“You should be laying down. You’re the one that’s recovering from surgery.”
“She’s my wife,” Craig said.
“Only because you tricked her. What the hell are you doing, man? She’s made it really fucking clear that she doesn’t want you, and you’re in here taking care of her when you should be taking care of yourself.”
“I love her,” Craig said fiercely, making me feel it hard in my chest. “I don’t care what any of you think. She’s sick and I’m going to take care of her.”
“She has the flu. It’s not like it’s serious.”
“I don’t give a fuck. When you’re sick, you want someone around to take care of you. I’m here and I can do that for her.”
“Whatever, but she’s gonna break your heart. She’s only going to tell you so many times before she’s gonna get pissed. And then she’s gonna do something that will make you want to fall in a river and drown.”
“You don’t know her. She’s not like that. Look, thanks for coming by, but we’re fine and I can take care of her and myself.”
“Just stay off your leg and don’t put pressure on that foot. And don’t forget to schedule a checkup with Kate.”
I heard the other man walking away and then I felt the bed dip. I didn’t open my eyes. I didn’t want him to know that I had been listening to his conversation. He had been so open and honest and he probably wouldn’t appreciate me listening in. I drifted off again and when I woke up next, Craig was sleeping next to me. I slid from the bed and walked on shaky legs to the bathroom. After peeing and exhausting what little energy I had, I headed for the kitchen to get a glass of water. The nice thing about the movers was that someone put most of the stuff away. Not that it was all where I wanted it, but it would do for now. I sank back in bed and placed the glass on the nightstand. The sun was starting to set outside.
“You feeling better?”
I startled. I hadn’t realized that Craig was awake, let alone watching me.
“Um..tired, but not quite so hot anymore.”
He placed his hand on my forehead. It was so strange. I’d never met a man that actually stuck around when a woman was sick. Weren’t they supposed to go running in the other direction?
“You feel much better. Are you hungry?”
“Not really.”
“I’ll make you something when you’re up to it.”
I chewed on my lip as I stared at him. God, he was beautiful. Way more beautiful than any man I had ever seen. If he hadn’t been so weird in the coffee shop, I would have gone out with him.
“So, why did you really get shot? Was it on the job or something else?”
He looked at me funny and shook his head. “This old guy shot me in the ass on the job.”
“Right, I know that, but the other wounds…are they also from the job?”
He snorted and scoffed at the same time. “Of course they are. I mean, where else would they be from?”
“So, you didn’t get yourself shot on purpose so that I would feel obligated to take care of you?”
“What?” He laughed nervously. “Of course not. I’m not that desperate.” I raised an eyebrow and he shrugged. “Fine, I may have suggested that it would be the right way to go about getting you back, but I never told him to shoot me. Alec decided to take matters into his own hands.”
I laughed lightly, shaking my head. “I can’t believe that you thought this would work.”
“It’s not working? Not even a little?”
“Well, since you ended up taking care of me, I think it backfired on you a little.”
“I suppose it did.”
“So, you weren’t gone very long. How did you manage to get yourself shot?”
“Well, we got called out to install security and protect this man’s daughters. But when we got there, the man pulled a gun on us and started firing.”
“Was this before or after Alec shot you?”
“After. It wouldn’t have made any sense for him to shoot me if I had already been shot.”
“Right, because shooting you at all made sense.”
He shrugged. “Anyway, we booked it out of there, but then he shot up our SUV. We ran for the neighbors, but then they started shooting at us too. Then I got caught in a booby trap and ended up hanging from a tree.”
“No way.”
“I’m serious. We had to call in backup.”
“You couldn’t handle it on your own? I find that hard to believe.”
“Well, we tried to find another way out, but we were sort of boxed in. There was a river running behind us, and then the two neighbors’ properties were on either side of us. Hell, by the time Cap showed up, there were landmines going off and at least five cows were dead.”
“No people?”
“Luckily, no.”
“Do you normally get cases that are so odd?”
“Not me personally, but a few of the other guys have had some really weird shit happen to them.”
I nodded and sank down into the bed further. I was tired, but oddly enough, I really liked laying here talking with him. He didn’t seem quite so strange when we were just talking like friends.
“So, now that we’re married and all, maybe you should tell me a few things about yourself. You know, where you’re from and that sort of thing.”
He grinned and sat up a little in bed. “Well, I already told you that I’m from New York.”
“Does your mom still live there?”
“No, she moved to Connecticut to live with her sister.”
“Do you get to see her often?”
“I usually see her at Christmas. What about you? I already know you have a crazy grandmother. What about your parents?”
“They live in town. I’m not as close with them as I am my grandmother. I spent a lot of time with her as a kid. My parents weren’t really that into parenting. Don’t get me wrong, they’re good people, but I spent more time with Grandma than them.”
“Why did you choose to become a teacher?”
“I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “I guess I was always that little girl that dreamed of having a desk and getting to write on the chalkboard. Of course, we don’t use chalkboards anymore, so I can’t even send students out to bang erasers when they’ve been bad.”
“I banged a lot of erasers as a kid. I was always in trouble.”
“No,” I said in mock shock. “You? I can’t picture it.”
His grin sent tingles through my body. Why did I have to be so attracted to this man? “I was always pulling some girls hair or givin
g wedgies on the playground. My parents got called a lot.”
“So, did having a dad as a lawyer help?”
“No, half the time I felt like he was negotiating for me to have a harsher punishment.” He shifted to his elbow and stared at me curiously. “So, what’s with you and Brooke? You don’t really seem like you have that much in common.”
“She lived next door to me as a kid. If you can imagine it, she was always picking on me and telling me what to do.”
“Actually, I can. She still does that.”
“Yeah, she just kind of bulldozes over people, but she has good intentions.”
I yawned and Craig pulled the cover up over my chest, tucking me in. “You should get some more sleep. We can’t have you missing any more school.”
“I don’t think I’m going in tomorrow.”
“We could just spend the day in bed,” he said softly.
My eyes were getting heavier, but for some reason, I fought to stay awake and look at him. “I might like that.”
I let my eyes slide shut and then I felt his fingers running through my hair. I loved it when he did that. It struck me right before I fell asleep that I was getting way too comfortable with my stalker.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Craig
“Hey! Where’s the Wolf?”
I looked up from where I was working in the conference room, filling out papers from the last job, to see Brooke wandering around. I stood with my crutches and hobbled over to her. I had no clue what she was doing here, but she was always causing trouble.
“Brooke?”
She held up her hands and then dropped them in a huff. “Well, you screwed that up, didn’t you?”
“What?”
She pointed at my leg. “That! You couldn’t have done better than that?”
“I’m confused. What are you talking about?”
She sighed and tossed her giant bag/suitcase on the conference room table. “I’m talking about the fact that you planned to get yourself fucked up on the job and you did a piss poor job of it. I mean, come on. Do I have to do all the work for you?”
“I’m sorry, but you’re not doing any of the work for me.”
“Oh, puh-lease! I let you into the house the first night. I gave you the keys to her house. If you had informed me that you were going to kidnap her and make her marry you, I would have made sure that she was going along with it willingly.”
“Wait, so you really want to help me?”
Her eyes went wide and she held her arms out wide like she was completely baffled by my stupidity. “Yes! Geez, you should see the boring dates she calls men. It’s pathetic. You know, one guy actually slobbered on her when he kissed her? He didn’t even realize that you don’t kiss like that!”
“Okay, so what’s your plan?”
“My plan?” She sighed and plopped down in the chair. “Well, I guess we’re going to have to come up with one, and not one where you try to kill yourself to get her attention. Honestly, I’m not sure what was running through your head.”
“I knew I shouldn’t have done that,” I grumbled. “It’s those damn ladies.”
“Yeah, well, I know Reese. You should really take advice from me. Those ladies don’t know her like I do. Okay, first thing you need to realize about Reese is that as soon as she sits down and really thinks about the fact that she’s married, she’s going to decide that she needs to get as far away from you as possible.”
“Okay, and when might that happen?”
“Well, since she’s feeling better, I would imagine that’s happening right now.”
“Then I need to get to the house and convince her to be with me.”
“No, you need to sit your ass down and listen.”
I sat down, and for the first time since I met Reese, I really listened.
“Now, the problem is that she doesn’t want to want you. You’re not on her prescribed list of acceptable men. You have a dangerous job, you follow her around like a lost puppy, and you don’t listen at all to what she wants.”
“So, she wants an accountant that doesn’t give a shit what she’s doing, but hangs on her every word?”
“No, that’s just what she thinks she wants. You just have to wait out the storm.”
“What storm?”
“Jesus, it’s like I’m talking to a man that’s never dated a woman before.”
“Well, if you want to get technical-”
She held up her hand to stop me. “It doesn’t matter. She’s going to do everything she can to push you away and hope that you’ll end this for her. Then, when that doesn’t work, she’s going to start finding other men that she thinks are better than you.”
“So…what do I do? Do I let her?”
“No! You have to keep stalking her! That’s what’s going to help you win in the end.”
“But you said she doesn’t like that.”
“Well, no, but when she goes out with all those other idiots, she’s going to realize that she actually likes that you stalk her. As a matter of fact, I’m sure she already realizes it, but thinks it’s wrong. You just have to give her time to come to her senses.”
I nodded and tried to come to grips with the fact that she might try to date someone else, and I was going to have to witness that and even let it happen so that she could realize that I was the one for her.
“There’s just one problem.”
“What’s that?”
“I think I might kill anyone that tries to kiss her.”
“Well,” she stood and slung her handbag over her shoulder, just barely missing my head, “you’re going to have to do something about that. When you know she’s going out on a date, you’ll just have to have someone with you so that you don’t end up in prison. I’m pretty sure that’s a line you can’t cross.”
I slumped back in my chair as she walked out of the room. This was going to be harder than I thought. I was going to have to really steel myself so that I could make it through this. I had no clue what I would be in for when I went home tonight.
“Hey, was that Brooke?” Alec asked as he came into the room.
“Yeah.”
“What did she want? Was she trying to give you tips on stalking?” There was something about the way he was grinning that set me on edge. But then Hunter walked into the room and howled.
“What the fuck are you howling for?”
Hunter smirked, “I heard about your new nickname. The Wolf. Sounds scary,” he chuckled. “Only problem is, you’re more of a puppy dog, following your woman around all the time. Ahooo,” he howled again.
“Shut it,” I growled.
“No, it’s good. I mean, we didn’t really have a nickname for you before, but now we have something. Although, I think we should come up with something more fitting. Maybe Oscar or Buddy.”
I stood from the table and shoved my crutches under my armpits, heading for the door.
“What? You don’t like those?” Hunter asked. “How about Scout…Charlie…Max. Cooper!” I headed down the hall, but he kept hounding me.
“We already have a Cooper,” Alec chuckled.
“Right, no Cooper. Uh…Bear…Duke…No! I’ve got it! Benji!”
I spun around, losing my balance slightly and glared at him. He was still laughing his fucking ass off.
“You can call me Craig.”
“Nope,” Hunter grinned. “Sorry, but your new nickname is Benji, just like the dog in that movie.”
I couldn’t pull out my gun and shoot him. Unfortunately. Cap would be pissed if I shot one of our medics. But I could beat the shit out of him, even if it wasn’t with my fists. Lighting fast, I swung my crutch, hitting him in the ribs. He bent over in pain.
“What the fuck? I was just teasing.”
I swung again, this time hitting him in the back. “Are you gonna call me Benji?”
“Fuck, is it really that big of a deal?”
I swung again, this time hard enough to drop him to the ground.
<
br /> “Alright, alright. I won’t fucking call you Benji.”
“Good.” I turned and headed for the elevator, punching in my code and doing the scanner. I stepped in and followed the same procedure and smirked as the doors started to close. Hunter was just getting up and he smirked at me.
“See ya later, Benji!”
Fuck. I was never gonna get rid of that nickname.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Reese
I was pacing around the house. I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I had made a huge mistake by letting my guard down around Craig the last few days. He had been so sweet though. I mean, I’d never heard of a man that actually took care of a woman when she was sick, and there he was, ready to carry me to bed despite his wounded leg.
I just didn’t get it. What did he even see in me? It wasn’t that I was a bad catch or anything. But we had completely different lives. He was some crazy security guy and I was a teacher. And no matter how many times I said it in my head, it just didn’t make sense. We didn’t make sense. Somehow, I had to make him see that.
As if on cue, the door opened and he hobbled in, grinning like he did every time he looked at me. It was pathetic really. No man should ever look at a woman the way he looked at me. It was like he could envision me naked whenever he saw me and he was ready to fuck me instantly. And on top of that, it didn’t matter what I looked like. Something was seriously wrong with him.
“What?” I snapped.
His smile faltered and he set a bag down on the ground, coming over to me and cupping my cheeks.
“What’s wrong, my little Reese’s Pieces?”
“You know,” I shoved his hands off my face, “I’m not little. I mean, technically, yes, I am. But that doesn’t mean you need to point it out all the time. Besides, it sounds perverted.”
“How does it sound perverted?”
“Because….it’s like calling me a little girl or something. Is that what you want? Some little girl in your bed?”
“What?” He stepped back and shuddered. “That’s disgusting.”
“Well, that’s what it feels like to me. And stop being so damn sweet all the time. I know you’re a killer. You don’t have to put on an act for me.”
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