Bad Karma

by J. D. Faver

  Sky stopped, staring at the swirling mass on the screen. A little tingling started at the base of her spine. “What does that mean?”

  “Too far away to bother us,” Rick said. “It may not amount to anything. Florida is going to get wet though and probably Cuba.”

  Sky gave him a little smile. “I’m new to all this coastal living. Let me know when I should get worried.”

  “Hurricane season just started, but so far, the storms have been in the Atlantic this year. Maybe we’ll be lucky this time.”

  ~*~

  Cassie had thanked Javier’s mother for the breakfast and received a kiss on the cheek and a warm embrace in return.

  A fleeting thought did cross her mind about aliens possibly having abducted the real Selena Rios and leaving a pleasant clone in her place.

  They drove away, with Javier behind the wheel. He was wearing a knit shirt with an open collar. Broad stripes emphasized his wide chest and the muscles under it.

  She glanced at his bandaged arm as he reached for the gear shift. “Are you sure you can drive?”

  Javier shot her a big grin and reached across to squeeze her thigh. “I think you like driving this truck.”

  Cassie had to admit it was fun to roar around town, sitting high above other vehicles in a blazing red truck...in Javi’s truck.

  “It’s all right,” she admitted.

  He pulled up in front of his new address, and made her use her key to open his apartment. “See how easy that was? You can use it anytime.” He swung the door wide open and she stepped inside the empty space.

  They hung his clothes in the bedroom closet. “See, there’s lots of room left for your clothes.”

  “Javi, I only have three things on hangers.”

  He squeezed her shoulder. “We’ll fix that. Pretty girls need pretty things.”

  “I’m fine,” she said. “I have a church dress and a date dress, some shorts and jeans and a few tops.”

  Javier stretched out on the freshly shampooed carpet under the ceiling fan and reached for her.

  Cassie grinned down at him. “How come you always seem to be inviting me to lay down with you?”

  “Don’t ask me that, because I just might tell you.” The look he gave her caused a squeezing sensation in her gut. “Don’t worry, Cassie. You’re not going to lose your cherry today. Come on down here.”

  She groaned and sank to her knees beside him, but he pulled her down on top of him, wrapping his arms around her.

  “It feels good to be able to hold you with both arms.”

  “Don’t strain your stitches,” she growled, narrowing her eyes in warning. She pulled away to glare down at him.

  “Then make it easy on me. Submit to my will.”

  She snorted. “Yeah, right. I’m not known for being submissive.”

  His dark eyes flitted from her eyes to her mouth. “Then you can be aggressive. I’m going to lay here and let you kiss me. Come and show me how your lips can set me on fire.”

  Cassie bit her lower lip, gazing down at Javi. The longing in his eyes stirred something inside her, like setting a match to dry kindling. Slowly, she leaned down to touch her lips to his. She brushed her slightly parted mouth over his, again and again until a growl of protest roiled up from his chest.

  “Baby, you’re torturing me.”

  “Hush! You asked to be tortured.” She touched the tip of her tongue to his lower lip, delighting as his mouth spread into a wide grin. “Close your eyes.”

  He laughed and pressed his thick fringe of black lashes together.

  Cassie straddled his waist and held his face with both hands, caressing his high cheekbones, the dark shadow of beard showing under his skin. She lowered her lips to his, entering his mouth cautiously. His tongue stroked hers and she felt his broad chest heave as his breathing quickened. The warmth of his hard belly between her legs fanned the flames of her desire.

  She arched her back, rubbing her breasts against him. She felt strangely empowered, with Javi lying motionless beneath her. Almost motionless.

  Cassie lifted his shirt, running her fingertips over the sun-tanned rack of six-pack abs. Trailing her short nails upward, she touched one of his nipples, grinning in satisfaction as it drew taut.

  She lowered her head and touched his nipple with the tip of her tongue, drawing a circle and then taking it in her mouth.

  “Oh, baby, baby,” he whispered. “You’re killing me.”

  She grazed her lips over his chest, taking a little nip of skin between her teeth. “I could stop.”

  “No,” he groaned. “Please kill me.” His hands caressed her thighs before sliding to cup her rear.

  She giggled as Javi opened his eyes and rolled up to a sitting position, pulling his shirt off over his head. He pressed her against his erection, and skewering her with his eyes. Holding her close, he delivered a deep kiss, embracing her with both arms.

  Cassie felt a rush of moisture as he pressed her crotch against what felt like a tree trunk growing in his jeans.

  He spoke close to her ear. “You remember what I said about you not losing your cherry today? I had my fingers crossed.”

  “Javi!”

  He slipped her knit top off and flipped her bra catch open, letting it slide down her arms and onto the carpet. Javier’s palm caressed her breast, his thumb gently tracing little circles around her nipple.

  The little circles spiralled through her midsection, constricting her airway, clutching her gut.

  He rolled her onto her back and spread her hair out in a circle around her head. He trailed kisses down from her neck to her breast, taking her nipples into his mouth and suckling them each in turn.

  Cassie couldn’t catch her breath. Her pulses throbbed in her ears. Was she really going to be deflowered on the floor of Javi’s empty bedroom?

  Javier trailed his tongue down to her ribs and then he pulled away, crouching over her.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “I’m trying to do the right thing,” he said, breathing heavily. He flashed a rueful grin. “But at least I got my DNA all over you. I’m marking my property.”

  She grinned up at him. “You’re saying that I’m your property?”

  “You’re damned right you are!”

  Cassie laughed. “And what does that mean? You’ve given me a key to your apartment and invited me to use it.”

  “Baby, you’re looking at your future husband. You better get used to the idea, because I’m in your life to stay.”

  “Javier Rios! Is that your idea of a proposal?”

  “No, baby girl, I’m just giving you fair warning. I will marry you in the very near future.”

  She narrowed her gaze, feigned a pout. “Not romantic.”

  His dark eyes twinkled. “You want romance?”

  “If you’re going to be my husband, I expect a proposal that I can tell our children about and not that you ordered me to marry you while we were both half-naked on the floor.”

  His look softened. He rubbed the side of her face with his thumb. “When I officially propose to you, I promise that it will be memorable and very romantic.”

  Cassie grinned and drew his head down to kiss him again.

  He took a deep breath and scrambled off her, sitting with his knees drawn up.

  “What’s wrong?” She put her hand on his shoulder.

  “Baby, right now my jeans are fitting way too tight. Sit real still for a few minutes while I think about train wrecks and other sad things.”

  Silently, Cassie slipped back into her bra and top, willing her pulse rate to return to normal.

  In a short time, he blew out a deep breath. “Okay, then. Come and help me pick out some furniture for our future first place."

  ~*~

  “Rick! Can you help me, please?” Sky pulled back the cubicle curtain, looking for the doctor.

  “Um, he stepped outside.”

  Sky whirled around.

  Hank stood on an aluminium ladder r
eplacing a fluorescent tube in the light fixture.

  “He left?” Sky fought to keep the panic off her face.

  “He’s in the ambulance bay with the orderly. They’re working on someone the EMS just brought in. Is there a problem?” Hank climbed down from the ladder and stood, looking on her.

  “I, I need the doctor. My patient is in atrial fibrillation. He’s having arrhythmia. I need Rick.”

  Hank set the ladder flat against the wall and ran outside only to return a few seconds later. “He can’t come now. Can I help you?”

  Sky looked at him doubtfully. “Maybe you can help me get him onto his back.” She turned back to the cubicle and stepped through the curtain.

  The patient was an obese man with a ruddy complexion. He slumped over in an armchair, gasping for breath.

  Hank stepped in front of her and lifted the man onto his shoulder and unrolled him onto the examining table. His brown eyes held hers. “What else do you need?”

  Surprised by his quick action, she flashed a nervous smile at him. “Thanks, Hank. I’m going to get the oxygen on him and see if I can slow down his heart rate.” She placed a plastic mask over the man’s face and reached to adjust the flow of oxygen.

  Hank’s hand was on the knob. “How much?”

  “Give me four liters.” She watched as his long fingers adjusted the flow correctly.

  He ducked his head, muttering softly, “I was a corpsman in the Army.”

  Sky hooked the patient up to the monitor and studied the green backlit numbers informing her that her patient’s blood pressure was one-eighty-nine over one-ten and his heart rate was one-fifty-seven. She pressed her lips together and drew a breath. She needed to start an IV but his fists were gathered at his chest and she couldn’t straighten his arm. She cajoled and crooned in his ear, but the man seemed determined to curl into a ball.

  Sky gave up on searching for a vein in the patient’s pudgy arm and tried to use a vein in his hand.

  She pointed to a small plastic fracture board and Hank handed it to her. She taped the patient’s wrist to the board and spread his fingers out. Hank helped her hold his hand down while she inserted the IV catheter into a large vein and plugged a fresh line into a bag of normal saline.

  Sky injected the IV with Propanolol and, within minutes, the patient’s heart rate slowed and his blood pressure decreased. She ordered an EKG and kept charting his vitals as his ruddy coloring grew more normal and he began to breathe easier. At least his face looked less like raw liver.

  Sky pulled the cubicle curtain back and looped her stethoscope around her neck. “Thanks for your assistance, Hank.”

  Hank ducked his head. “Glad I could help,” he mumbled.

  Sky grinned up at him. “I couldn’t have stabilized this man without your help.”

  “It wasn’t anything.” He turned back to his duties, reaching for the ladder.

  “Seriously, Hank, you should consider looking into a nursing program offered around here. I don’t know the area so I can’t give you advice, but you have a lot of knowledge and keep a cool head.”

  Hank grinned at her, looking pleased. “You think so?”

  She nodded. “You’re a natural.”

  ~*~

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Trepidation

  They’re looking for me. He pulled the visor of his baseball cap down over his eyes.

  There was a storm in the Gulf. The weatherman was scaring everyone with dire predictions. If he played his cards right, he could get his business with Skyler Danforth over and done with and then get out of town before the storm blew in.

  The water was choppy that afternoon, making the boat rock rhythmically. His stomach felt queasy. Probably should eat soon.

  He’d need to go to shore for more provisions.

  Should have done it earlier, when I made my little foray into town. At least I got to see her. The sheriff’s department is circulating my picture.

  He’d seen it posted behind the cash register at the convenience store where he’d been shopping. He shook his head and adjusted his dark glasses.

  Skyler looked very pretty this morning. It seems she’s attracted a suitor, the brash young red-haired fellow driving the Jeep. Too bad for him. He shouldn’t get too attached to a woman with a heart of stone. Oh, yes, she pretends to be Florence Nightingale, but she has the heart of a vulture. What kind of a medical practitioner would stand by while a woman and small boy were dying?

  In truth, he knew Skyler had sustained injuries of her own, but she shouldn’t have been on the road in that condition. She shouldn’t have been driving under the influence. She shouldn’t have chosen to be in Kira’s path that rainy night.

  But, since Skyler had chosen the wrong course, Luther felt it was up to him to make sure she didn’t have any more lapses in judgment.

  I’ll make sure of that.

  ~*~

  Zach stood on his deck keeping a watch on the water and the sky. It was clear and beautiful with the wind coming from the east. He’d checked earlier and thought he should add to his supply of non-perishable provisions. He had three mouths to feed now.

  He should stock up on water and batteries too.

  Sky came out on deck, barefooted. She’d changed from her scrubs into a pair of shorts and a little tank top.

  She stood behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, leaning her cheek against the back of his shoulder blade.

  Could a man be any more content? Yes, he could. The fear that had been hanging over their heads had to be dealt with and soon. He wanted to move on to the next step with Sky.

  He picked up her hands and kissed them.

  It’s so gorgeous out there,” she said. “I wish I was on a boat, way out beyond the horizon where nothing bad could happen to me or anyone I love.”

  “You want to go on a long boat ride?” He turned to face her, cupping her face in his palms.

  “I would. It must be safer out on the water than it is to be a sitting duck here on shore.” She grinned up at him, “That’s in my fantasy, but here in the real world, I have to work for a living.”

  His brow furrowed as he gazed down at her lovely face. He brushed s kiss across her forehead. “Do you?” He gripped her shoulders, staring into her clear blue eyes. “Do you need to work? Do you have some extravagant needs that I can’t meet?”

  “I, I don’t think so.” She looked confused, her soft, full lips parted.

  Zach leaned down and kissed her, tasted her sweetness, pulling her against him. “You know that I’m in love with you, don’t you?”

  She smiled, a soft blush staining her cheeks. “I love you too, Zach.”

  “I was thinking that we should get married.”

  Sky opened her eyes wide. “Married? I’m being pursued by an insane man who wants to kill me and you think we should get married?”

  He nodded. “Yes, I think we should. And I think we should go on a long honeymoon cruise to some distant port and stay gone until Rafael catches your pursuer. How does that sound?”

  Her eyes filled with tears and her lower lip quivered. “It sounds pretty good to me.” She buried her face against his chest. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

  Zach grinned, pressing his lips to the top of her head. She said it! Marrying me. Sky is going to marry me. A swirl of emotions ran through Zach’s consciousness. He felt numb on the outside as though he was observing himself from afar. She said yes. His breath caught in his throat as he searched for the right way to express his feelings to his future wife.

  “We can pick out a ring tomorrow and you can redecorate the house when we get back. Or we can live someplace else if you don’t like it here.” Stupid! That wasn’t what she wanted to hear. “And I love you,” he whispered.

  She pulled back, gazing up at him with tears running down her cheeks. “I love you, Zach. I love your house. It’s just perfect. I love to walk out here on the deck every morning and when Rafael catches the bad guy, we can go walking on the beach again and
swimming.”

  He nodded, wiping her tears away. “You can quit working at the hospital or just take a leave of absence until this thing is all over.”

  Sky shuddered as a sob shook her. “I want to believe that this can all be over, Zach, but I’ve been living this nightmare for so long, I can’t remember what my life was like before... before the fear.”