Under Her Skin

by Michelle Love

  She bats at my shoulder. “You rogue!”

  “Rogue, huh?” I ask, then run my hand over her ass. “You weren’t bitching when I was making those marks, baby.”

  “Stop messing around. I have to get to the hospital to relieve the night nurse. And we still have to stop at my place so I can change.” She pushes me away and grabs up her dirty clothes.

  “No, here. I have some sweats you can put on for me to take you home. Just leave those there. My maid will clean them and they’ll be hanging in my closet for you. You can leave them here along with that bra and panty set. I think you should bring some of your clothes over here so we don’t have to do this every morning.”

  “I think you think I’m going to be doing this most nights, and I am not. Maybe two times a week,” she says as she pulls the clothes on.

  “We’ll see,” I say, knowing full well she’s going to get a lot hornier than she thinks she is. I’m going to see to that.

  Taking her by the hand once she’s dressed, I lead her through the house to the garage. “Damn, Blaine, this place is enormous.”

  I open the door off the mudroom to the garage and watch her reaction as I turn the overhead lights on. “Pick your chariot, princess.”

  “Blaine! I can’t even count all the cars in here. This is way too many cars!” She points at the one that’s three cars away from us. “Is that the Bat Mobile?”

  “One of them, yes. You don’t want to take that one, do you? It will get us noticed for sure. But I’m game if you are.”

  “No, I want to go in that demure, somewhat normal, black BMW. Lots of doctors have cars like that one. We won’t stand out at all. You can take me to the parking lot where I parked and discreetly let me out,” she says as we make our way to her choice.

  “Okay,” I say as I open her door. “We sure don’t want anyone getting wind about us.” A chuckle follows my words and I see a frown on her pretty face as she looks up at me from her seat inside of the car.

  “You will act appropriately, won’t you?”

  I nod and don’t say a word about my plan to fuck around with her all day today. This should be fun!

  Chapter 6

  DELANEY

  “Did you strain something, Nurse Richards?” the charge nurse, Becky, asks me as I put my purse behind the desk and moan as I have to squat to put it behind another one that’s already there.

  “My back,” I lie. “Moving furniture in my apartment. I don’t know what got into me last night. I rearranged my living room.”

  “Maybe you were trying to get rid of some of the pent up sexual frustration after spending the whole day with that sexy hunk of man yesterday,” she says, making me freeze. “Is he coming back today or was it all too much for him?”

  “I think he’s coming back. That’s what he said, anyway.” I turn away from her to start making the rounds.

  She stops me as she asks, “Didn’t you leave with him? That’s what Matilda in the gift shop said. She saw you leave with him and get into his Suburban.”

  Fuck!

  I turn and think quick. “He insisted on having his driver take me to my car in the back parking lot. He’s a gentleman, through and through.” Except when he’s an animal in the bedroom!

  A rush moves through me as I remember the way he smacked my ass, which aches in the best way.

  “Oh, I see. I thought it was kind of odd. You aren’t that girl, after all,” she says.

  “Not me,” I say and get the hell away from her area before I break into a sweat.

  Checking on Tammy first, I find her and her mother up and am happy to see a smile greet me as I come into the room. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this kid smiling. “Good morning. You look amazing, Tammy.”

  “Thanks, Nurse Richards. Mom helped me take a shower this morning and she put a little makeup on me too. Do you like my new sweats? Mom bought them for me. I think they're cute.”

  “I do too. I love pink. You look precious, Tammy. Let me check your vitals really quickly before your breakfast gets here this morning.” I notice Patsy looking a little tired. “How did you sleep, Patsy?”

  “This place gets busy pretty early. I’ll get used to it, though.” She pushes a strand of her hair back and it makes me think.

  “You know, now is the best time for you to run home and get yourself bathed and all cleaned up so you can come back up here before lunch. I’ll take good care of our girl while you’re gone. Don’t worry.”

  The way she looks at me lets me know she’s thankful and she nods, then asks Tammy, “Would that be okay with you, baby girl?”

  “Yeah, Mom. Please, go take a bath and a nap if you need one. I’m just so happy that you’re going to be here so much more and will be spending the nights with me. But I understand you need time to get your act together each day. Go. I’ll be fine.”

  “You are an amazing girl,” her mother tells her as she runs her hand over her shoulder. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours.” She looks at me. “Thanks for everything, Nurse Richards. You are a gift straight from God.”

  “No, Mr. Vanderbilt is. I let it slip about Tammy and he took the initiative on his own to do what he did. You can’t give me that credit.”

  “I’ll be sure to thank him. He is such a nice man. Is he married?” she asks, making my hackles raise.

  “No,” I say and act like I don’t care that she asked that, but I do care. I care a lot. “Why do you ask that?”

  “Oh, no reason. I mean, he’s just so nice and sweet. A very handsome man, to boot. He’s a catch, is all.”

  “Yes, I’m sure he is. But you work for him now, so you know any flirting would constitute sexual harassment and might cost you your brand-new job, so make sure you keep that in mind,” I say, trying my best to make sure she doesn’t make my insane jealousy over him come to the surface.

  “I didn’t think about that,” she says. “Thanks for bringing that up before I messed myself up good. Well, see you later. Love you, baby.”

  She leaves, and I find Tammy watching her go. “You know, mom’s been alone for a couple of years. Her last boyfriend was a terrible man. He hit her at least two times that I saw. She could use a nice man. And Mr. Vanderbilt is very nice.”

  Not her too!

  “But your mother has to keep her new job. Now that she’s working in a new line of work instead of waitressing she’ll find a great man. I’m sure she will. You’ll see. Her self-esteem will go up, and along with that, good men will look her way. Don’t worry.”

  “Mr. Vanderbilt, I can let you come with me today.” I hear a woman’s voice coming from the hallway.

  “Gotta go,” I say and hurry out of the room to see who the hell is trying to grab him up now.

  As I open the door and step into the hallway, I see Blaine with his back to me as Nurse Amanda ‘Slut from hell’ Jones walks up to him, swaying her hips as she does. “I heard you needed an aid. Nurse Richards must have expressed her disinterest in helping you. So I’m here to take you around today.”

  “Who the hell said that?” I ask as I come up behind them, making Blaine spin around with a surprised expression on his handsome face.

  “Did you say you weren’t interested in helping me?” he asks.

  “Not at all,” I say as I look around him at Amanda. “I have him, Nurse Jones. Go on about your business. We made plans yesterday for the children he wants to see today. I’ll be aiding him the entire time he’s visiting our kids here.”

  “Do you really want that?” she asks Blaine.

  He turns back to her and asks, “Sure. Why wouldn’t I?”

  She shakes her head. “Because she’s kind of bitchy.”

  “Hey!” I say and try to step around Blaine, who grabs my arm.

  “Well, you are,” she says as she steps back. “Even I overheard you being mad you had to let him tag around after you yesterday. I thought I was doing you both a favor. Excuse me.” She turns away and starts walking.

  “Well, you’re n
ot. I’ll be his aid,” I shout after her.

  Blaine smiles as he looks at me. “You need to chill out, Nurse Richards. People might get the wrong idea about us.”

  Damn my temper! He’s right.

  “Okay,” I say, then take a breath. “Let’s go see Colby first since Terry asked you to do that.”

  “Have you seen anyone yet?” he asks me as we walk side by side down the hallway. He takes something out of his pocket and holds it out to me. “I thought you could use these. You’re walking kind of funny.”

  I hold out my hand and find a couple of menstrual cramp pills being put into it. “You stopped and bought me some of these?”

  “Yeah, you won’t be as sore and stiff once you take them. We can stop off at the cafeteria really quick and grab a donut and apple juice for you to eat with them.”

  I stifle an aww, as this is one of the sweetest things any man has ever done for me. “This was nice of you.”

  “I know. I’m learning how to be a nice guy. You make it easy.”

  His fingers move across my thigh for only a moment, then they’re gone, and I find I miss them already.

  This isn’t going to be very easy to hide today!

  Chapter 7

  BLAINE

  Leaving Colby’s room after finding out what would help him feel and deal better with his leukemia, I have the first item on my list for today’s gifts for the kids. It’s an electric guitar, and I have to get headphones to go along with that so he doesn’t get thrown out of the hospital for shredding too loudly.

  Delaney is only a step ahead of me as we hurry away to see the next kid. I’m checking where I can get what he’s asked for on my cell phone. “I need you, Delaney,” I hear a man say and stop searching for guitars to look up and see Doctor Paul taking my woman by her arm, stopping her.

  I stop, too, and wait to see what they say to one another. Delaney looks over her shoulder at me with a deer-in-the-headlights kind of look, which I find kind of amusing.

  Let’s see how she handles this little situation!

  “Why?” she asks him.

  “I need a date for Thanksgiving. My parents are insisting I bring someone and mom likes you,” he says, then gives me a nod. “How are you doing today, Mr. Vanderbilt?”

  “I’m great. I had a good day here yesterday, followed by a great night. Cannot complain, not one bit,” I say as I wait to see how Delaney gets out of this.

  “Is it in the afternoon or evening?” she asks, making my insides get a bit on the jittery side. If she thinks she’s going to go with him to his family’s house, she has another think coming!

  “Evening,” he says, then he moves his hand up to stroke her cheek with his knuckles, and I get very jittery insides.

  She steps back and shakes her head. “Can’t do it then, sorry. You see, I’m Mr. Vanderbilt’s aid and he wants to throw the kids a Thanksgiving dinner in the evening. During the day, he’ll be with his brother and sister to eat with them.”

  Then the monkey is on my back and Paul looks at me. “Can’t you switch things around, Mr. Vanderbilt? You can do lunch with the kids here and eat a nice Thanksgiving dinner with your family in the evening. Then she could come with me.”

  No way in hell, buddy!

  “No can do. My sister has invited someone and they have to work in the evening. Sorry. Maybe next year,” I say and watch him frown.

  “Surely another nurse can help him for that day. Find him someone else, Delaney,” he says, then reaches out for her again. “I need you. You know I wouldn’t be begging like this if I didn’t.”

  She takes another step back to avoid his touch. “Paul, I can’t do that. End of discussion. We have a ton of things to do today and this is slowing us down and putting us behind. Ask someone else to go with you. I already told you we were done anyway.” She reaches back and grabs my hand. “Come on, Mr. Vanderbilt. We have three more patients to get to before lunch.” She tugs me along behind her as Paul watches her with his lips held tightly together.

  I wait until he’s out of earshot, then whisper, “He is not a happy man.”

  “I know. He’ll move on. I’m sure of it,” she says, then turns abruptly and knocks on another door, “Meagan, are you decent?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” a young girl answers her.

  As we walk in, I am struck by the many lines that are going into the young girl. “Hi,” I say as I make my way to her bed, which she obviously can’t get out of. “I’m Blaine. I’m here to make some of your dreams come true, princess.”

  She has a tiny, pink bow taped to the top of her bald head. Her green eyes are so light, they’re nearly transparent. She has to be all of six years old, I bet.

  “My dreams?” she asks as she peers up at me from her flat position on the bed.

  “Yes, your dreams,” I tell her and sit on the side of the bed. Gently, I stroke her shoulder, then run my hand over her forehead. “How are you feeling?” Her head is warm and her cheeks are red, while the rest of her is so pale it seems unreal.

  “Not good,” she says.

  I turn back to find Delaney busily checking the machines. “She’s kind of warm, Nurse Richards.”

  “Let me get her temp,” she says and hurries to place a thermometer in her mouth.

  It doesn’t take but a moment for it to start beeping. “You have a fever, precious,” I tell her as Delaney pulls the thermometer out and checks it.

  “One hundred and one. Let me have Dr. Jensen paged. She’s here today.” Pressing the nurses’ station call button on the side of the bed, she sets things in motion for the doctor to make this very sick little girl a top priority.

  I sit on the bed and run my hand back and forth along her thin arm. Never have I seen someone so small and frail. It hurts me to know children can get this sick.

  The memory of the first few weeks when mom didn’t come home linger in the back of my mind. I recall asking Pops if there was any way possible that she might get to come back home. I asked him nearly every day, and I prayed she’d walk through our front door on many occasions.

  It was all the way back then that I started questioning if there was a God at all. And if there was, why would he take away three little kids’ mother? We needed her and he took her away from us.

  I look at this poor, sweet little girl and have to ask, what did she do to deserve this? Why was this put on her tiny shoulders to bare? What kind of a God would do that?

  After I swallow back the knot in my throat, I say, “I’d like to bring you something to make things better for you. What kind of toy would you like? Anything in the world is yours for the asking.”

  “I have been wanting a tablet. I can’t sit up and watch television. I could use that to watch cartoons. I used to like to watch cartoons before I got sick and had to come here.” The door opens and her little eyes go to it. “Hi, Daddy.”

  “Hey there, darlin’. How’s my baby?” he asks as he looks at Delaney.

  “She’s got a fever. I have a doctor coming to check her out.”

  “This is Blaine, Daddy,” Meagan says as she points at me. “He’s going to buy me a tablet.”

  “And why is that?” he asks me with a frown on his face.

  I get up and shake his hand. “Hello, I’m Blaine Vanderbilt. I’m spending the holidays here with the kids on this ward and trying to make their stay here a little bit happier by giving them gifts.”

  “Well, we don’t allow our kids to have electronics,” he tells me.

  “Daddy, please. I’m so tired of lying in this bed with nothing to do,” she whines at him.

  His words are sharp. “I said no!”

  What an asshole!

  Chapter 8

  DELANEY

  November 24th:

  Standing in the hallway, waiting for Blaine to meet me in front of the cafeteria where he has a full staff from one of the local restaurants here to prepare and serve the Thanksgiving feast to the kids and their families, I feel like a damn fool.

  He
decided costumes for us were in order for this festive occasion. He found me a turkey costume, and I feel ridiculous. I have no idea what he’s dressing up as. It’s a surprise.

  We’ve spent every night together since the first one. I start out each morning by telling him I won’t be staying the night. By the end of the day, though, I find myself craving the man.

  But I can tell he’s getting impatient with me. I still think it’s a bad idea for our relationship to be out in the open. I already hear little bits and pieces of gossip about us as it is.

  The sound of a man clearing his throat has me looking back, and I see Blaine looking like a very handsome pilgrim while I look like an idiot. “Blaine! That’s not fair! I look like a fool. Why do you get to be that and I have to be this?”

  “I think you look adorable,” he says. “Give me your wing and let’s greet our guests, my turkey lady.”

  With a huff, I walk away from him. Or waddle!

  He’s quick to get to my side as he chuckles.

  “Shut up!” I hiss at him.

  “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,” he greets the room full of people. “I’m happy to have you all here today for this feast. And with no further ado, let the food be served!”

  The guests cheer as the waitstaff begins to bring out the food. Blaine and I split up to hobnob with the patients and their families. I watch him pass by the table where Meagan’s family sits. He hates her father, Mr. Sanders.

  The poor girl can’t even be with them, as she’s stuck in her bed. Blaine offered to have a table set up in there so they could be served in her room. It was her father who said not to do that. He’s a strict man.

  I had to take Blaine out of the room when he turned down his offer. His reason was that he doesn’t believe in spoiling his children. No one gets special treatment at any time. If they were to alter things for Meagan, then he called that spoiling her.

  I’ve noticed Blaine’s progress slowing. What was going quickly has slowed to the speed of molasses on a cold day. He’s spoken to me several times about why kids would be put through these horrible things.

  I have no words to tell him. There is no explaining things of this nature. I never say it’s God’s plan. I can see he already has an issue where God is concerned.