by Linda Kage
Chapter Eight
SOMEONE WAS IN HIS ROOM.
Jonah woke drowsy and disoriented, much as he always woke from his midday rest. He usually hated his afternoon nap, but today he was loath to open his eyes. He’d actually been having a good dream for once. A really good dream that left him aroused and aching.
Though he was awake, he kept his eyes closed, willing himself to fall back to sleep. But his Spidey sense tweaked back to life, telling him he wasn’t alone.
He opened his eyes and rolled his face to the side to glare at the nurse who he was sure he’d find taking his vitals.
But seeing red hair and big, beautiful blue eyes instead made him catch his breath.
He woke a little more quickly and licked his dry lips. “You came back.”
She gave him an angelic smile. “Of course.” Then she winked. “It’s time for your sponge bath.”
His eyes flew open wide, and his body was more awake than it had been in a month. He began to sit upright, because the thought of her stroking his bared flesh with a wet sponge was just too—
She gave a husky laugh. “I’m just kidding. I can’t believe you fell for that.”
His disappointment was almost more painful than the ache from his wounds. He closed his eyes and collapsed back onto his mattress with a groan. “You’re absolutely cruel, do you know that?”
She laughed again, this chuckle more angelic. “Are you really that upset that I’m not going to wash you?”
The look he sent her should’ve told her how crazy he found her question, but he went ahead and growled, “Yes!”
Flushing, she bit her lip and glanced away. “Oh.”
He adored her shy side. Her blush and the way those perfect white teeth bit into her bottom lip drove him mad.
“God,” he groaned, shifting on his bed. “You are such a tease. Keep doing that to your lip, sweetheart, and my next dream starring you will be even dirtier than the one I just had.”
“What?” Her teeth immediately lost their grip on her lip as her mouth gaped open. “You were dreaming about me? Just now? Really?”
He nodded. “Oh, yeah.”
“Wow.” She inched closer, her blue eyes alive with wonder. “What was I doing?”
Tossing out a lazy grin that was still full of the sleep he’d just enjoyed, he slid his gaze over her face. “You sure you want to know?”
“Oh.” She rolled her eyes and stopped easing toward him. “It was one of those dreams. Seriously, what is it with you guys and sex dreams?”
His smile merely grew. “Best dreams ever.”
She blushed. “So…” Glancing down at her fingernails, she began to pick at the chipped pink polish on her pinky. “Was I any good?”
Jonah arched an eyebrow. He hadn’t thought she’d ever ask him anything like that. He liked the unexpected question.
“What do you think?” Reaching out, he took her hand, making her stop messing with her fingernails. When she lifted her face, he drew her hand toward him.
Her eyebrows lowered in confusion. “What’re you—”
When he set her palm against his lap and pressed down just enough for her to feel the hardness underneath, she gasped. “Jonah! What’re you—oh, my God.” She surprised him again when she didn’t immediately jerk her arm away. Instead, she sent a wide-eyed glance toward the opened door of his room. “What if someone walked in?”
“I don’t care.” He knew he should stop. He knew he should feel guilty. But he couldn’t bring himself to accomplish either. Tess was back, and he was going to enjoy every minute of every one of her visits. Before it was too late. The world could be falling down around them, and he still wouldn’t care. As long as she didn’t take her fingers away, life was amazing.
“This is the first wood I’ve had since I woke from the coma. I’m so freaking glad that’s not broken too.”
Her eyes softened with sympathy. Keeping her palm against him, she darted another quick, guilty peek toward the open door and bit her bottom lip, looking tempted enough to get his hopes rising. “We shouldn’t do this,” she whispered right before she applied just a bit more pressure to his groin.
Jonah ignored the risk, half closing his eyes because her warm fingers felt so good against him that he could barely keep them open, but his lashes parted just enough so he could continue to see her in all her glorious innocent excitement.
“I could walk,” he told her. “In my dream. I could walk and stand, and I didn’t have any bullet holes in me. I was standing there, taking you against a wall.”
She gasped and tried to remove her hand from his junk, but he caught her wrist and brought her back. And she allowed it, though her fingers began to tremble. If he was reading her right, he’d say she wanted this as badly as he did but was just too timid to take it. Which blew his mind.
Why? Why would she want him? What was she doing here? When had he ever done anything decent enough to deserve her company?
Fuck, it didn’t matter. She was here. And he was going to cherish this stolen time with her.
He let out a soft sigh. “Your legs were wrapped around my waist, and every time I thrust deeper into you—”
“Enough,” she whispered, her face so red, he was a little worried she might physically burst from her embarrassment.
But he was still juiced up from the vision to drop it completely. “I want that dream to come true. I want to be able to stand and walk and be with my girlfriend as soon as I get out of here.” He managed a tender grin. “It doesn’t even have to be against a wall. Just…however you want it.”
She licked her lips. He could see the rapid beat of her heart ticking against the tender skin along her neck. And it only stirred his body more to know she was just as affected as he was.
So, when she said, “You will,” in a low, throaty tone that promised him the world, he groaned aloud. Hot damn.
“Promise?” he asked, watching every nuance of her face, searching for those little tells she gave away when he’d figured out she was lying.
She blushed harder and glanced away, even as she nodded her affirmative. Jesus. No tells. No lie.
A loud clang in the hall followed by the ripe curse of an orderly had Tess yanking her hand away from his lap.
Jonah almost sobbed from the loss of her warmth, and even more from the loss of their moment, but he was still so overwhelmed that it had all really just happened that he couldn’t even regret the end of it.
“I can’t believe we did that,” Tess whispered, looking completely scandalized. A person would’ve thought she’d actually shimmied her hand under the blanket and touched him skin to skin.
Her eyes were so wide and blue, and her mouth had dropped open so far, Jonah wanted to kiss the shock right off her lips just to see how it tasted.
“What?” He grinned uncontrollably, forcing his voice to go innocent even though his damn smile vibrated out every pore of his body and he must look one hundred percent ornery. “Don’t tell me you’ve never touched me there before.”
Okay, fine. He asked that just to make her blush. But, Jesus, it worked. A pink tinge spread down her cheeks, her neck, and disappeared into the opening of her collar. He wondered how far down that amazing color went.
Glancing away, she mumbled, “Not in public like this where someone could catch us any second.”
“Do we do it a lot?” he pressed, fishing for another reaction. “Like, all the time?” When her eyes flared wide, he couldn’t help himself. He had to tease her. Flashing a wolfish smile, he snagged her hand again. “I bet you can’t keep your hands off me.”
“Jonah.” She choked out his name, looking stunned to the core. When she pushed her wild red hair out of her face, showing him just how scarlet her cheeks had become, he tugged her closer to the bed.
Alarm filled her face. He chuckled, too happy to feel any kind of regret. “Don’t worry, Contessa Anabelle. I won’t make you touch me there again.” Then he winked. “At least not in public where someone cou
ld catch us at any second.”
“I’m not…” She bit her lip and tightened her grip on his hand. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be such a prude. I’ve just…I’ve always been ultra-conservative in…this department.”
He lifted his eyebrows. “Even with your boyfriend?” He caught his breath and held it before he added, “With me?”
She cleared her throat tactfully. “Well…you might have coaxed me out of my timid shell a time or two.”
“Really?” Still tugging on her fingers so she’d have to move closer yet, he grinned. “Now this sounds interesting. What’s the kinkiest thing I ever got you to do?”
Her embarrassment kept growing. He hadn’t thought her cheeks could get any more crimson than they already were. But they did.
She glanced away. “I don’t know.”
He knew he should drop the inquisition, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. After she’d left him last night, he hadn’t been able to get her off his mind. And now that she was back, he wanted to push their relationship and somehow cement it into place so nothing could rock its foundation. Not even the truth.
“When was our first kiss? And don’t tell me you don’t remember that either. I’m the one with amnesia here.”
She rolled her eyes as she turned back to him. “I know that. I just—”
“Don’t want to talk about what we were like together…before?” he asked quietly. He should stop with this line of questioning, but he was realizing he learned more about her when she answered him, from how she reacted to what she said…and didn’t say.
Shaking her head, she sent him an irritated frown. “No, that’s not it at all.”
If she said they weren’t together, he wasn’t sure what he’d do. He was even more worried what she’d do. If she left now…Shit, he wasn’t going to think about that. But even as his skin went cold with dread over the very possibility, he pressed, “We are broken up, aren’t we?”
“No,” she growled, her glower gaining strength. “Will you just hush and let me talk?”
So relieved by her answer, and a little surprised by the force behind it, he spiked his eyebrows up. He was coming to realize she didn’t lose her temper easily, but when she did, she knew how to stand up for herself. He liked that.
He zipped his thumb and index finger across his mouth and sent her an angelic smile.
She rolled her eyes. “Thank you. Now, where was I?”
He shrugged, refusing to speak. She gave a long, suffering sigh and leveled him with a dry look. He figured anything he did right now would get on her last nerve, so he simply kept smiling innocently.
Finally, she gave in to a reluctant grin. “First kiss, huh? Well, it happened on our…third date. After one or your football games. We went to this frat party and…and you taught me how to take a JELL-O shot.”
Jonah lowered his brow at the picture she painted. Jesus, that was the worst lie she’d made up yet. “So, I liquored you up and took advantage of you?”
She flushed again and ducked her chin. “It wasn’t like that. And I certainly didn’t mind your…advances.”
Lie or not, his chest swelled with an arrogant kind of pride just to hear her brag about his prowess. “So, you approve of my kissing abilities, huh?” He waggled his eyebrows, hoping she might praise his accomplishments a little while longer or maybe let him give her another sample of them.
“Well…” She glanced at him from under a veil of her long lashes. “I’m still with you, aren’t I?”
“Yeah,” he murmured. “You seem to be.”
Her shoulders fell. “Oh, my God. You still think we’re not together anymore, don’t you?”
“You have to admit,” he confessed on a shrug, “it seems a little too good to be true that you’re really mine.”
He liked the pleasure that bloomed on her face. He liked the way her breathing kicked up and her pulse fluttered in her throat. Jonah told himself he needed to compliment her more often, because looking at her like this was downright intoxicating.
“Well, I guess I’m going to have to prove to you that we’re really together.” Tess touched his face, thrilling his skin with the slide of her soft hands. Then she leaned down. When she kissed him, he was a goner.
Her lips were perfect and plush. Soft with just the right amount of suction. And he clung to them even as she slowly pulled away.
Those long lashes of hers lifted enough to show him a spark of sensuality in her blue eyes as she met his gaze. “So, what do you think now?”
Though his throat was dry, he managed to croak, “I think I’m the luckiest damn bastard on earth.”
She laughed and rolled her eyes. “Says the man lying in a hospital bed with three bullet wounds and a coma under his belt.”
“Like I said, luckiest damn bastard on earth.” Then he hooked his hand around to the back of her neck since she was still close and tugged her back for another round.
Taking control of this one, he thrust his tongue into her mouth, causing her to gasp and then moan. Her fingers curled into his shoulders, a couple catching at a tender pocket of flesh at the edge of his cast, making him flinch. But it was the best kind of pain ever. He wanted her to clutch him like that forever.
Breaking her lips away from his, she pressed their foreheads together and stayed molded to him a moment as if she needed to catch her breath. “You sure are in a frisky mood tonight.”
He slipped his fingers through her hair, relishing this moment of contact with her. “That’s because you’re here. It’s easy for me to forget about all the bad shit when you’re here.”
She swallowed loud enough to tell him how profoundly his words affected her. Then she pulled away and straightened to her full height, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “I think that’s actually the amnesia making you forget.”
Since he knew she wasn’t ready for any serious declarations, he made a silly face. “Oh, yeah. I forgot.”
Laughing, Tess nudged his shoulder. “Honestly, what’s gotten you into such a good mood?”
He frowned. “Honestly, I just told you. You did. And that dream.” He let out a refreshed sigh. “It was a really awesome dream.” And it had been the only non-nightmare he’d had since waking up from his coma. The woman literally took his nightmares away.
Tess lifted her eyebrows. “I guess.”
Needing to touch her, and still grateful he had someone here to see him, he caught her hand and brought it to his mouth to kiss her knuckles. But when he tugged her skin close to his nose, he drew in a deep whiff only to pause.
“Why do you smell like French fries?” Damn, French fries sound good.
Flushing, she tried to jerk her hand back, but he wouldn’t let her go. Testing his theory, he popped her index finger into his mouth. Mmm. Yeah, there was definitely French fry salt on her.
“Jonah!” she gasped, immediately yanking the digit free.
“You taste like French fries too!”
“Okay, fine,” she grumbled. “I may have stolen a couple of your fries.”
“Did you say my fries?” Now he was downright intrigued. After turning away, Tess came back around with her huge purse in her grasp. When she unzipped the top, the smell that came wafting out made his mouth water.
She pulled out a familiar paper bag with a red-headed girl on the front, and he damn near whimpered.
“Hamburgers?” He reached out with both hands. “Oh, my God, you didn’t.” He ripped the sack from her clutches and dumped the contents into his lap. “Oh, my God.” He moaned again. “French fries.”
He consumed a handful of fries before he turned his attention to the burger. He nearly didn’t push down the wrapper in time before he sank his teeth into the meat and breading mixed with onions, cheese, and tomatoes. The groan that followed was probably too carnal to be motivated by food alone, but he didn’t care.
It tasted so frigging good.
“Ohhh…kay,” Tess said, watching him with big eyes. “I’ll take that as a thank
you.”
With his mouth full, he answered, “If I could get out of this bed right now, I’d kiss the ground you walk on. So, yeah, thank you.”
She flushed and ducked her chin. “Well…you’re welcome.” Clearing her throat, she turned away.
He watched her wring her hands behind her back in a fretting-type manner as she wandered around his room, inspecting all the medical gadgets hooked up to him.
“So, your therapist comes tomorrow to test your walking, huh?” she said suddenly, her expression hesitant as she glanced back at him.
Just like that, his good mood plummeted. He wished she hadn’t remembered that. The hamburger went dry in his throat, and he found it very hard to swallow. After taking a large drink, he nodded and focused his attention on his food so he wouldn’t have to meet her eyes.
“Yeah. Tomorrow.”
She nodded as well. “So…is it numb or can you actually feel anything down there?”
Hardening his jaw, he glanced away. “I can feel everything.” A little too well.
“Well, that’s good.”
“Sure.” His voice was so bitter she whirled around to send him a concerned glance.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, drifting closer.
Stuffing his mouth with the last third of his hamburger, he shrugged. “Nothing.”
But she didn’t drop the issue. Setting her hand on his arm, she asked, “Are you scared?”
Wow, how had she nailed it on the first guess? Since that truth wasn’t something he could confess, he looked away and kept chewing somehow through clenched teeth.
“I know I would be.” When her soft fingers touched his hair, he closed his eyes tight and swallowed the rest of his food. “It’s okay, you know, if you are scared. You don’t have to be tough and strong. Everyone experiences fear, Jonah.”
When she lightly brushed his bangs across his forehead, he opened his lashes and looked up. Something warm and powerful squeezed in his chest. He let her play with his hair for a while before he spoke again.
“Can we do what we did last night and get to know each other some more?”