Summer Obsession: An Instalove Possessive Alpha Romance (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 185)

by Flora Ferrari

  A huge hand covers mine, and I recognize his touch, it makes me shudder. Not with cold, but with a familiar heat. The heat I know is burning inside me now for him.

  I should be scared, I should be worried, but damn. If I’m not the horniest drowning victim this side of the Atlantic.

  I moan softly, and an oxygen mask is put over my face. I can’t move to see him yet, but feeling his hand over mine is the next best thing. Maybe even better.

  His touch telling me everything’s alright, and I know for the second time today that I’m going to be his from now on.

  I sigh, and then cough a little. A stabbing pain in my ribs is nothing compared to the warmth of his touch, made warmer when I hear his voice again as he speaks with the paramedics.

  “It’s a good thing you happened by, Colton,” one of them says. “She’s a lucky girl.”

  I can hear his growl of satisfaction. “She’s mine,” he murmurs and I gasp again, feeling a line of heat from his hand straight to my mound.

  “You know her?” asks the other voice. But all he can say is, “Mine.”

  “Alrighty then, Colton. You sure you didn’t bump your head or get a lungful of water yourself back there?” The medic laughs, and I can hear him slapping Colton on the back.

  “You’re a hero man, great job!”

  My hero.

  Colton.

  The name is like a blanket, like the warmth of his hand. Something I want to wrap myself in and be held safe by forever.

  I drift off again, but the jolt of the stretcher, then the rattle of a hospital gurney wakes me with a start.

  Strange, unfamiliar faces hover way too close over mine with lots of questions and a constant bright light in my eyes. I try to speak, but nothing comes out.

  There’s only one word on my lips anyway.

  Colton.

  I wonder again if I imagined the whole Colton thing, I can’t feel his hand anymore, but once I hear his gravelly voice, speaking harshly somewhere not too far away, my lips curl into a little smile.

  “I’m not leaving her, dammit!” he growls, and the murmur of calm voices sound like they’re calming him down.

  “Colton. C’mon now, you know the drill. We need to make sure she’s okay. You can see her when we’re done. Now C’mon, let’s get you checked out buddy.”

  Inside a cubicle, I’m examined by a team of doctors, and I’m grateful more than once that Colton isn’t there to see my sorry ass, literally, as they examine me more thoroughly than I’d like.

  After some time, and what I guess is a long nap, I wake up again in a bed with a hospital gown covering me, along with a pile of thick blankets.

  I look around, noticing I’m in a single hospital room now, and the one person I want to see is sitting right next to me, taking my hand as soon as I open my eyes.

  “Hi,” he says softly, looking almost bashful. His high boned cheeks flush and his chiseled jaw tightens as he looks at me intently.

  He moves to brush some hair back from my face, but hesitates.

  No, it’s okay! Touch me, please touch me.

  I try to say something, but wince in pain and then flush red myself when I hear the hoarse croak that comes out of me.

  Reaching across from himself, Colton offers me a plastic cup with a straw poking out from it.

  “I figure you might not want any more water, but you should try and drink some,” he says, smiling a little.

  He holds the cup, and my fingers curl over his as I struggle to sit up enough to even take a few sips.

  “Better?” he asks, and I nod. I go back for some more, but only to get a hold of his fingers against mine again, which makes me feel way better than the stinging water as it goes down my throat.

  “You had half the bay in your lungs,” he continues. “I’m Colton by the way… I, uh… I fished you out. You fell off the pier,” he says, looking uncertain from my silence.

  I try speaking again, and my scratchy voice manages to say something.

  “I feel so stupid,” I rasp, then remembering a little more of what happened, I try to sit up suddenly.

  “My camera!”

  Colton looks down, smiling to himself. “Oh, that’s here,” he says, jutting his chin towards the shelf.

  “We still don’t know who you are,” he says with a question in his eyes.

  “I’m Jaydee. One word, not initials,” I crackle trying to smile, but still feeling like I’ve swallowed a razor blade.

  “Jaydee,” he growls to himself, and we both sit for a moment, quietly content to at least both have found a word, a name for this feeling we share.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Colton

  She’s perfect!

  Watching her sleep after I get the all clear from the doctors, I insist on being with her. I can’t lie but I do give the strong impression that she’s under my protection.

  “But you don’t know her name?” the doctor frowns before sighing heavily.

  “Alright, Colton. You have saved the day so far, but we need to know who this girl is before we let you or anyone else go anyplace with her, alright?”

  I nod absently, only satisfied when I’m by her side again. Watching her chest rise and fall slowly, her eyes closed, waiting for them to open so I can see them again.

  Her property bag is on the seat when I walk into her room, and I can’t help but look over her camera. It switches on so I figure it must be waterproof.

  I also figure there might be some clue as to her identity in there, but get the surprised shock of my life once I discover dozens of snaps of myself.

  From the beach, she photographed me as I jogged, stretched and…

  I growl low again, feeling the thickness in the photos of my bulging crotch springing to life again.

  There’s endless close ups of my bulging shorts, and I can see how she became so distracted on the pier.

  She wakes up not long after I decide to pack the camera away. It’s making me too hard to even concentrate and I don’t want to blow my chances by being caught in her hospital room with not much more on than this aching hard on I have.

  The hardness I have for her.

  Leaning forward, I can cover myself, barely. And I give her some water, grateful more than anything to see her eyes open, but most of all on dry land.

  She tells me her name and I bask in the sound of it from her lips. If she feels half of what I’m feeling right now…

  We sit in silence for a while, I can only stare at her, taking her in.

  “Is there someone we should contact?” I hear myself ask her finally, suddenly hating the question. Dreading the news she has a boyfriend or worse.

  Fuck! I never even thought of that. She’s probably already taken, of course she is, look at her!

  I grimace, the very idea of someone else making my plans more difficult… somebody else anywhere near her…

  “Just my dad,” she whispers hoarsely, her brows knitting together. “You okay? You look mad as hell.”

  “It’s nothing,” I assure her, beaming with relief. A dad I can deal with, maybe. Just as long as there’s no boyfriends, girlfriends or husbands I have to contend with.

  This girl’s all mine, and I’ll do whatever I have to and keep it that way.

  A worried look spills across her face. “And you? You don’t…?” but I’m already shaking my head.

  “Nah, just me. Nobody to answer to or for,” I tell her truthfully.

  What I want to tell her is that she’s the only one for me. That our new life starts right now, but I don’t want to scare her off. Even though she’s landed right in my lap today, I don’t want to risk anything to change that.

  The old doctor’s clipped steps approach, and he pauses in the doorway. I look up and catch a glimpse of his knowing look. He knows the score at a glance.

  Who couldn’t?

  “Well,” he announces cheerfully. “Our patient’s awake.” He smiles, looking in my direction.

  He examines Jaydee, only taking her
pulse and listening to her lungs, which I grit my teeth through. Telling myself that apart from being old enough to be her grandpa, he’s just doing his job.

  And you’re old enough to be her what? Her father?

  I ask myself, and I feel a stab of uncertainty, the first I’ve really had since laying eyes on her. The doc’s rhetoric breaks my disturbing train of thought.

  “Well. It’s nice to meet you Jaydee,” he says after being formally introduced.

  “You owe Colton here your life, by all accounts,” he says, shooting me a cautioning look, which makes my eyes narrow before he winks and smiles.

  “You’re doing fine, just fine. But I would like to keep you in overnight, just to be sure you don’t develop any infection from all that seawater. It’s mostly saline sure, but there’s a lot of other stuff in it.”

  I open my mouth to speak, but the doctor’s finger is up.

  “You’re the hero, Colton. And I am aware of the legacy that your Grandfather gave this hospital, but I’m the doctor,” he says with finality.

  “I’d like Jaydee to stay with us tonight,” he repeats firmly, almost growling himself before his infectious and wistful smile appears again.

  And I’d like her to spend the night with me.

  Jaydee’s confused face scans mine, and I can only think of my intense feelings for her. I don’t want her out of my sight and I’ll stay in this damned chair as long as I have to. But she looks suddenly embarrassed.

  Annoyed.

  “Thanks doc, but I really think I’d like to go home now,” she says, just as firmly as he recommended she stay.

  “I am grateful for the rescue, I am,” she says curtly, glancing at me. “But at the same time, I’m still an adult. In charge of my own decisions, right?” she reminds us both and the doctor breathes through his long nose before he pinches the top of it with his fingertips.

  “Alright, Jaydee. We can’t make you stay but I would like to give you a shot of antibiotics, and some for you to take home,” he says by way of compromise.

  There’s a buzz from the doctor’s pocket and he looks at his pager with a pained face before hurrying off. Seconds later there’s a code announcement for all available staff to the emergency department.

  “Sounds like they’ll need your bed anyway,” I offer, but Jaydee’s gone a little too chilly for my liking.

  “I can manage on my own,” she clips and I feel another stab, in my chest this time.

  Like she’s rejecting me.

  “Jaydee? What’s the matter, I thought we were…?” I ask, dumbfounded, but she’s sitting up and looking around. More annoyed once she realizes she has no clothes. Just a plastic bag with her camera and sandals in it.

  And me.

  Her two worldly possessions right now.

  Buzzing for the nurse, she’s not surprised when there’s no reply. Chaos seems to have broken out in the hallway, with doctors and nurses rushing this way and that to deal with whatever emergency they’re facing, but I only have eyes for Jaydee.

  She’s all I care about right now.

  “I can get you some clothes,” I offer, reading her thoughts. “Then I can…”

  But she cuts me off.

  “You can mind your own business!” she snaps. “I said thank you for saving me, didn’t I? But I don’t need a babysitter… I can call my dad… he can arrange to come get me,” she huffs, pressing the buzzer for a nurse again.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Jaydee

  I might have known.

  Should’ve guessed.

  Once the doctor drops the hint that Mr. Perfect’s family paid for half the damned hospital, I realize how out of my depth I really am. I would’ve stood a better chance sunk at the bottom of the ocean.

  I feel like I want to be back down there, digging that hole so I can be swallowed up.

  Colton’s from money, real money. And as much as I do find him insanely attractive, and wish I could even begin to show him how grateful I am for him saving me, it makes me feel a half inch tall once I realize who he is.

  The type he is. There’s two types in this world. The type with money and the type without.

  And I know which side of the coin I’m on.

  I don’t have the heart to tell him or the doctor that the real reason I can’t stay in the hospital is because we don’t have insurance. As it is, the ambulance bill and emergency room… I shudder to think how much all this has cost so far.

  Dad’s gonna freak.

  Why won’t this damned nurse come?

  Every second I have to lie here, with Colton looking at me like that tears me apart. I just want out so I can go back to my old life.

  My little meaningless life, without him.

  The thought tears at my heart, but I just don’t see, can’t see what a man like him could possibly see in a girl like me.

  It could never work.

  I jump as his hand closes over mine, instantly wiping out everything I just constructed in my mind.

  “Jaydee? I don’t know what I did or said to upset you, but I’m not going anywhere without you,” he tells me firmly.

  “I don’t think I saved you today… I think you might’ve just saved me.” he says cryptically.

  I try to take a breath, try to muster the argument I had in my mind, but it’s so hard with him touching me. With him looking at me with those eyes.

  “I just…” I start to say, hoping for a sound argument from myself, but I only feel my lip tremble. My whole body shudders under his touch.

  “I…” but I can’t. I can’t give voice to something I know isn’t true in my heart.

  I can’t push him away, I wouldn’t even know how to.

  “I’ll get some clothes for you, and anything else you need,” he says calmly. His deep voice reassuring me, relaxing me.

  “And once we get you out of here, well. Let’s just see about some clothes first, huh?”

  I pump my head slowly in a nod, fighting back tears now and I know Colton’s only trying to help. I remind myself of my life before Colton.

  Rather, the life I don’t have without him.

  “I don’t have insurance,” I confess, feeling so ashamed, more than not having any clothes to even go home in.

  Colton’s brow creases, then softens as he realizes I can’t stop my tears anymore. I’m sobbing like a child. The stress of the day, nearly drowning. The sudden mixed feelings for Colton, it’s all happening so fast and it’s all spilling over.

  “Hey,” he says softly, comforting me.

  Without even thinking, I reach out for him, my arms hooking around his huge neck and I feel everything falling back into place as he holds me in his arms once again, shifting himself so he can hold me as he sits on the edge of the bed.

  “Don’t even think about the bill,” he says in my ear, making me shiver again as his lips brush against it. His hand brushing my hair back as he holds my face in front of his.

  “I told you, Jaydee. I’ve got you now, you’re mine, understand?” he asks me, and I nod, feeling my face gravitating towards his.

  My throat is burning and my eyes sting with tears, but I know a first kiss when I feel it.

  I’m out of my depth, sure but I decide I may as well die trying.

  I’ve never even kissed a boy, let alone a real man. But everything else seems to have worked out today so far, so why not?

  “Ahem! Uhmmm. You buzzed?” a short tempered voice cuts in.

  I watch Colton’s eyes close for a second and my own just blink in disbelief before I turn and see a huge nurse blocking the doorway with her arms folded.

  “I… Uhhh,” I stammer.

  “Jaydee’s coming home with me,” Colton announces, forcing a smile where I know he’d rather growl, warning anyone and everything away from what I get now, that I belong to him, and nobody else.

  “She’ll need some clothes then,” the nurse replies, smiling to herself and recognizing the potentially intimate moment she’s interrupted.

 
“I’ll see what we can manage,” she says, and disappears as quickly as she came in.

  “I should go home,” I hear myself protesting, but only because I’m almost afraid of what I want to do to Colton.

  What I want him to do to me.

  I’ve never felt anything like this ever and if Colton’s heart is pounding against his chest even half as much as mine is, then I think it’s safe to say we both want the same thing.

  Although my want is starting to turn into a definite need by the second.

  The memory of my house though.

  It’s not a bad place. Dad’s provided for me like any loving father. But…

  The thought of Colton seeing it. The thought of my dad seeing Colton in it…

  Ugh! My mind’s racing like a dog chasing its tail. I don’t know what I want, but I also know exactly what I want.

  I’m just terrifies me that once I get it I might not ever want to let go.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Colton

  I thought I’d done something, maybe said the wrong thing or worse, imagined the whole line of attraction between us.

  But she’s just worried. Worried about what I’ll think. I feel my heart melt and I want to hold her tighter than ever, want to hold her how she needs to be held but I have to remember where we are.

  My own body doesn’t care where we are, and in seconds I’m rock hard again, stifling moans from having her pressed so close against me.

  I tell her she belongs to me now, I have to. It’s all I can think of to begin to show her just how much she means to me.

  They’re not just words either. I mean to claim her as my very own, to fill her with my seed and start our lives anew.

  I feel like my heart will burst when her lips almost touch mine, but it’s not to be.

  The nurse finally appears and although she’s interrupted us, I know the sooner my girl has some clothes, the sooner we can leave.

  Sometimes I forget. I’m not my grandfather either. Even though he was never my real family.

  He was an old man when he adopted me as his grandson, making me promise to carry on his name. His own family line, which he himself couldn’t in his lifetime.

  It was so long ago, and I never really thought about it until just now.