by Hannah Ford
“They’re actually bringing a wheelchair for you,” Red told her, squeezing her hand tight, “so that you can go see her right away.”
Nicole tried to sit up a little, but she grimaced. There was a great deal of pain in her abdominal area, for reasons she didn’t need explained to her. Still, she was shocked by the discomfort.
“I need to sit up.”
“Let me raise the bed,” he laughed, grabbing the controller and raising the top of the hospital bed slowly.
“That’s good, Nicole told him, sighing.
“Kallie’s here,” he told her.
“She’s here?” Nicole said.
“I ran into her in the waiting room when you were sleeping. Apparently, she took a cab to the hospital right away when I let her know what happened.”
“Really? That must have been expensive.”
“I’m sure it was.”
The door to the hospital room opened, and Nicole saw a nurse pushing an empty wheelchair. The nurse smiled and said, “Are you ready to see your daughter?”
“I’m already getting up,” Nicole replied.
Red jumped to help her out of the hospital bed. It hurt to stand up, but she didn’t care about the pain right now. All Nicole cared about was seeing her baby girl.
They got her situated in the chair, and then Red wheeled her out of the room and they went down the hall.
A minute later, they were approaching the NICU. Nicole’s heart was racing and she felt like she could barely contain herself—she wanted to jump out of the wheelchair and run to her baby.
“Where is she?” Nicole asked, as they wheeled her past the incubators. “We’re almost there,” the nurse told her.
Bringing her to the back row, and stopping at one incubator in particular, the nurse pointed straight ahead.
“Oh my god,” Nicole said. “Can I hold her?”
“Just a moment.” The nurse reached into the incubator and began to take the baby out. Nicole was surprised at how much medical equipment centered around this one tiny little being—it was kind of frightening.
But she couldn’t be frightened for long, because a moment later her daughter was being placed in her arms. She looked down at her child, saw the girl’s little beautiful face, and tears flowed down Nicole’s cheeks.
She looked up at Red and he was laughing and tears were there for him as well.
“I can’t believe it,” Nicole said, looking back at her baby. “You’re here, beautiful girl. Look at how little and perfect you are.” She cooed at her.
Nicole rocked her gently, feeling her warmth, and Nicole felt her own heart open and melt and break into a thousand pieces.
She thought of Renee, the little baby who’d never had a chance to live. Maybe her spirit was with them now, happy and relieved and celebrating—it felt like she was.
“I think we should call her Riley,” Nicole told him.
“She looks like a Riley,” he agreed.
This was it, Nicole thought. She had everything she could ever want right here in this hospital room full of equipment and machines and tubes. She had Red and she had her little girl, safe and sound.
They were finally a family.
***
Kallie didn’t know if she was overstepping her boundaries by showing up at Nicole’s hospital room so soon after her surgery. After all, Kallie wasn’t family—she wasn’t even a longtime friend like Danielle. She was just a girl that Nicole had been nice enough to help out of a difficult spot.
But Red had texted her and told her to stop by the room, so that gave her a little more courage.
As she approached the door to the room, she could hear the two of them laughing and talking inside. They sounded so happy, so in love—she could feel it all the way out here, in the hallway.
It hurt a little, she realized. As happy as Kallie was that everything had worked out and the baby was safe and Nicole was healthy—Kallie couldn’t help but think about how alone she was, and how she didn’t have any of what they had.
Still, this wasn’t the time for selfish and self-pitying thoughts. It was time to think of her friend’s joy.
Kallie knocked. The door was ajar, but she didn’t want to presume.
“Come in,” Nicole called out.
When Kallie stepped into the room, she was struck by just how radiant the two of them were. Nicole’s face was glowing, and Red had a smile like she’d never seen on him before.
“Congratulations!” Kallie cried, and ran to Nicole’s hospital bed.
She hugged her, not too hard, and realized that right at this moment she was completely and utterly happy for Nicole.
Look at her, Kallie thought. She deserves this. She deserves every bit of it. Nicole smiled and held Kallie’s hand for a moment. “I really want to thank you for coming out here to support us today. Red and I both appreciate it more than you know.”
“Thanks, but it was the least I could do after everything you’ve done for me.”
“You’ve more than repaid us for all of that,” Nicole said, waving her off. “And especially after the way I treated you earlier. The way I spoke to you was completely unacceptable and I’m ashamed of myself.”
“Nicole, you don’t have to say—“
“I do. I really do.” Nicole looked at Kallie, her eyes unwavering. “Do you forgive me?”
“Of course! Of course I forgive you. It’s water under the bridge for me, seriously.”
“Good.” Nicole patted her hand again, and seemed to lighten. “Now we can move on to other important matters.” She glanced at Red and he took over the conversation.
“Kallie, Nicole and I’ve been thinking about our situation. She’s going to likely be recovering for the next few weeks, and we don’t want to take any chances with her health.”
Nicole scooted up in her bed a little and continued. “We figured that it might be nice for all of us if you stayed on,” she said.
“Stayed on?”
Nicole smiled. “We’re asking if you want to be our nanny.”
Kallie was surprised. She hadn’t seen that coming at all. And then she realized that she wanted to do it very much. She liked being around Red and Nicole. She liked their energy, and their love, and she valued Nicole’s friendship so much already.
“I’d love to,” she replied.
After some more celebrating, Red asked if Kallie wouldn’t mind running back to the Connecticut house to pick up some things for Nicole, since she didn’t have anything prepared for a hospital stay. “I’ll have a car come and meet you out in front of the main entrance,” he told her.
Kallie got the house key and the alarm code, and then made her way down to the main entrance. Her head was spinning. So much had changed in just the last twenty-four hours and she didn’t know how to process it all.
But she did know that she was happy to have this job, and to be working with people she liked and respected.
As she waited out front for the car that Red had sent to pick her up, Kallie looked around at all the passing traffic and people going about their daily lives. There was something so connected about it all, she decided. People were driving, honking, running, walking, talking on phones, listening to headphones. But somehow they were all a part of this, all together in this weird little world.
For the first time in a long time, she felt connected—truly connected to the world around her. And that’s when she knew she’d made the right decision to leave home and come to New York.
Everything had led her to this place and this moment.
A second later, a black car pulled up beside her on the street. The passenger door was pushed open from the inside, and Kallie pulled it the rest of the way open and bent down to peer inside.
This wasn’t the car that Red had sent for her.
Because Hunter Reardon was sitting in the driver’s seat, looking at her as if there were nothing strange about him showing up here.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Get in
,” he said.
“I can’t,” she told him, even though her heart was pounding—and telling her yes. She wanted to get in. She couldn’t lie to herself—she was happy to see him.
“You can.”
“I’m waiting for another car to pick me up and take me somewhere important.”
Hunter smiled enigmatically. “That’s fine. You can wait for it with me. Just give me five minutes of your time, Kallie. I’ve come a long way to see you.”
Sighing, she got inside and immediately the air was charged. She couldn’t look at him for fear that he’d see in her eyes how much she still wanted him.
“Why did you come?” she asked.
“Because, I need to explain why I act the way I do. I need to help you understand.”
“You don’t owe me any explanations,” she said.
“But it’s important to me. You’re important to me.”
There was a long silence after he said it, and Kallie’s pulse raced. Was it crazy that she loved hearing those words, even as she dreaded what it might mean for her?
“I feel like I might get hurt if I keep seeing you,” she said softly.
Hunter licked his lips and looked straight at her. Slowly, he reached out and put his hand under her chin, nudging her so that she would meet his gaze. “I never want to hurt you. But there’s something I need to explain.”
“Okay, explain.”
“It’s a lot to get into in five minutes,” he replied carefully.
“You said that’s all you needed.”
Hunter grinned. “Okay, fair enough.”
She suddenly realized that Hunter Reardon was nervous. What about her and this conversation could possibly make him nervous?
“I’m listening,” she said. “But I’m getting out of this car unless you tell me what you want from me.”
Hunter grew quiet, and he seemed to search for words. Finally, he spoke. “Have you ever heard of BDSM?”
Kallie heard the words and didn’t know what to say. She nodded slowly, and then Hunter began to speak. And she couldn’t believe what he said next.
His Every Desire (For His Pleasure, Book 7)
Hunter Reardon was looking at Kallie—looking straight into her eyes—and telling her that he wanted to be in control of everything that happened between them. “BDSM is about power,” he told her, as she sat in the passenger seat of his car and tried to listen to him.
But listening was hard when you were confused and anxious, and also overwhelmed by feelings of desire that were strong enough to make you doubt your own sanity.
“Whose power?” she asked. “Yours or mine?”
“Both of ours, of course.”
“It sounds like you need to be in charge of me.”
Hunter paused, thinking. “We would come to an agreement beforehand on exactly what the rules are between us. It doesn’t work unless we can both be clear in advance about what we want out of this.”
She shook her head. “This isn’t the first time you’ve proposed this kind of deal to some would-be girlfriend. Would you even call me your girlfriend or do I get some other title—slave, perhaps?”
“You wouldn’t be my slave,” he laughed. “Unless you wanted to be.”
Kallie hated the way he was talking about this…she didn’t even know what to call it. This “proposition” he was making. It seemed cold and calculated and completely unromantic. The more she thought about it, the less she liked it. “I don’t think I want to be involved in BDSM or whatever it is that you’re asking me to do with you, Hunter.”
“BDSM isn’t some dirty, nasty secret. What it describes is a certain kind of relationship. It’s a power dynamic that can work wonders if the right people are involved,” Hunter continued, his sexy mouth curving into a smile. “And I think you and I are the right people. We fit together.”
“I don’t think we do.”
“You know we do,” he replied. “Remember how we fit together last night?”
Kallie did remember. She remembered all too well how his hands had felt on her body, the way he’d effortlessly taken charge. She could vividly recall the feel of his hands holding her wrists up over her head, and his weight pressing down against her as he slid his manhood inside her deepest, most intimate place.
She shook her head to bring herself back to reality. “I remember,” she admitted. He smiled wider, as if victorious.
“But I also remember the way you treated me afterwards,” she told him.
For the first time in the conversation, Hunter seemed slightly uncomfortable. He sighed and looked away. “That’s the problem,” he said. “I failed to explain to you that we need things to be a certain way if this is going to work between us—“
“You mean, you need things to be a certain way,” she interrupted.
Hunter’s eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared as he turned his gaze on her once more. “You’re right, Kallie. I need things to be a certain way. But soon you’re going to realize that the way I need things is the best way, for both of us.”
“Well I think you’re arrogant, and narcissistic. It’s crazy to assume that I want the same exact thing that you want, without even asking me.”
Hunter chuckled. “It’s not arrogance, it’s observation. I can look in your eyes and see how much you want this. I can watch the way your body responds to me, and I know—even if you try and hide it. In fact, I can see right now the way your skin has flushed, your temperature is a few degrees higher, and your eyes continually track toward me rather than away from me. In other words, you’re incredibly attracted to me whether you want to be or not.”
Kallie tried to laugh his claim off, but inside she was both terrified and excited by how clearly he’d perceived her arousal. She wanted him, but she also was somehow repelled—repelled by his overconfidence, his emotional detachment, and his unwillingness to meet her halfway. “We had a hot night together,” she replied softly. “I won’t bother denying that. But we’re not right for each other. I’m not going to be treated the way you treat the women in your life.”
Suddenly he reached over and touched her forearm with his fingertips, lightly grazing her skin momentarily. Just that brief contact, and the boldness of the gesture, excited her beyond belief. Instantly, her nipples were hard and stiff.
Her heart sped up, and knowing that he could sense her excitement somehow made it all the worse.
“It’s not about what your intellect tells you is right,” Hunter explained, sitting back slightly and watching her. “It’s about what your body knows you need.”
At that precise moment, when she was about to admit that she did in fact need him—need his touch—that she would be willing to give in there and then if he would touch her once more, a long black sedan pulled up to the curb behind them.
“I think that’s the car they sent to pick me up,” Kallie said, regaining her composure.
Hunter’s expression flashed brief annoyance, but then he just nodded slightly and smiled. “Well, okay then. I suppose we’ll have to continue this conversation some other time.”
Kallie didn’t respond. She opened the door and got out of Hunter’s car, feeling his eyes upon her, knowing that he wouldn’t give up so easily. And realizing, as she closed the door and walked to the sedan that was waiting for her—she didn’t want Hunter Reardon to give up just yet.
***
On the ride over to Red and Nicole’s house, Kallie sat in the back of the town car and thought about what Hunter had said to her.
She was confused, and as she stared out the window and watched scenery roll by, she tried to make sense of her feelings.
Kallie knew that she wanted Hunter more than any man she’d ever met. He was all of the things that she found attractive—dark and handsome, mysterious, charming, and most of all, passionate. The way he’d touched her last night was still as vivid to her as if it had happened only moments ago.
Even now, Kallie could feel his skin against hers, his lips brushing her lips, his h
ands on her breasts, his hardness pressing against her most intimate place.
She burned for him, a hot flame that didn’t seem as though it could be put out. And she wanted to put the flame out, because Kallie knew that Hunter was bad news. She knew even more now, after listening to his speech about BDSM.
The only thing Kallie really knew about BDSM was from the time in college when she and some friends spent a night giggling and reading excerpts aloud from an erotic novel someone had brought to the dorms.
She hadn’t taken it seriously enough to question whether she was turned on by the concept—the whole thing had seemed silly and completely abstract at the time.
But now, Hunter had entered her life, as if the fates had molded him specifically for the purpose of testing Kallie’s true desires. As if by laughing that night back in college at that silly book, she’d angered some dark gods.
And this was her punishment.
If only she could stop thinking about last night—if only Hunter’s eyes didn’t haunt her, if only his hands didn’t promise to touch her in new and exciting ways, if she didn’t feel like she might scream from wanting him so badly.
The landscape was changing outside the car window now, as they neared Red and Nicole’s house. They were in a very wealthy area of Connecticut and it was obvious that everybody who lived around here breathed rarified air.
You couldn’t even properly describe them as houses—they were mansions, plain and simple. The yards were enormous—the houses were ornate and intimidating.
Even though she’d spent six months as a nanny for the Danvers family (who were themselves quite well off), and even though she’d been in The Hamptons and seen plenty of rich folk and how they lived, Kallie had still not gotten used to it all.
She’d come from a modest home and she’d even shared a bedroom with one of her brothers until she’d left for college. That’s just how it was for her family and for most of the families that she knew growing up.
The idea of living in some giant house with twenty plus bedrooms seemed absurd to her—as did the fact that most of the people who lived in these homes rarely even used or visited a majority of the house on a regular basis.