CHAPTER TWENTY
It was pouring rain when we woke up in the morning. I was snuggled next to Pearce with my head on his chest.
“Good morning,” he whispered as he kissed my hair. “I was getting ready to get up to head back to the hospital.”
“I’m there with you.”
“You didn’t let me finish,” he said, rubbing my back in those tiny circles that always made me hum. “I was going to say I was gonna shower until I started looking at you lying in my arms and then I realized I didn’t want to go anywhere for a while.”
“Hmm, sounds like you have a plan.”
I felt his chest rumble as I was flipped onto my back. And boy did he ever have a plan. My guy had all sorts of plans. We did end up going to the hospital, but it was a couple of hours later.
The two patients were doing well...I should say as well as could be expected.
Terri looked like hell. Her face was bruised all up and she was in a cast from her waist on down. Well, half of her was anyway. It was too complicated to even try to explain. They were going to have to go in and pin something or other in her leg. Whatever Pearce was talking about was way over my head.
Justin was freaking out. All he wanted to do was to go and see Terri, but they wouldn’t let him do that yet. He was really pissed off. Terri couldn’t be moved either. Pearce tried to reason with him and ended up storming out of his room, throwing his hands up in the air.
“I’ll go talk to him.” I went in and Justin looked like he was about to lose it. “Hey, Justin, she’s okay. I just left her room and she’s resting comfortably. She’s going to be fine. You know, the best way for you to help her is to get better. She going to need your help later...when she’s out of here.”
“It’s all my fault this happened.”
“No! It was an accident.” I knew exactly how he felt.
“I was looking at her Lexi. I wasn’t watching the road like I should have been.”
Shitfuck! What to say to that?
“Look, Justin, everyone does that when they drive. A glance here or there. No one expects a deer to fly out of nowhere and crash into them. Whatever you do, don’t blame this on yourself. And please trust me on this. I’ve been there. I know what you’re going through. This is so not your fault.”
He looked at me and the anguish and guilt in his eyes tore through me. I sat on the side of his bed, even though I probably shouldn’t have and I picked up his hand in mine.
My voice was firm, not tender when I spoke. I knew I had to get his attention now. “You listen to me and you listen good. This was a fucking accident Justin. Nothing more. Yes, Terri is injured. No sugar coating that. Yeah, she’s gonna go through some tough times ahead but she’s also a tough cookie and she would be pissed as hell at you right now for blaming yourself for all of this. So stop it. You can’t go down that road because if you do, it will fuck you up. Trust me on that. I have firsthand experience on this one and if you want, I’ll share it with you one day. Are we clear on this?”
He looked at me like I wasn’t who I was...like I was someone he didn’t even know.
“Look, I’m sorry I you think I’m being a total ass, but I was driving in a car that crashed and someone ended up dying. I blamed myself for years. If it wasn’t for someone that I recently met, fell in love with and would die for, I would still be blaming myself. I’m going to ask you one question and I want you to answer it honestly. Did you intend for your Range Rover to spin out and crash after you hit that deer and for Terri to get hurt?”
“Hell no!”
“Then you have to stop blaming yourself. That’s why they call it an accident.”
It was like a light bulb clicked on in his eyes and the tension flowed out of him.
In a small voice, he asked me, “Do you think she’ll forgive me?”
“Justin, there’s nothing to forgive.”
I bent down, kissed his cheek and left his room.
Pearce was talking with his parents in the ICU waiting room when I joined them and they wanted to know Justin’s status. I told them I think he was calmer now and we all decided we needed to grab some lunch since none of us had bothered with breakfast.
While we were eating, Susan brought up the wedding.
“Have you two set a date yet?”
“Um no.”
“We haven’t even talked about it Mom,” Pearce said, coming to my rescue.
“Well, do you have any ideas of what you might want?”
“Mom! We haven’t even begun to discuss it. This is going to be all about Alexia. It’s her day.”
“Wait Pearce, you get a say in all of this. I really don’t care either way. I would like a small ceremony though.”
“Honey, what about your family?” Susan wanted to know.
“Huh uh. They don’t get invited. I’m not even telling them Susan.”
Pearce and Susan exchanged glances and I knew what was coming so I headed them off before they even got the chance.
“Look you two, I know what you’re both thinking. But seriously, my parents literally dumped me in my biggest time of need. They dragged me out of the funeral home after Peter died and screamed at me and told me it was all my fault and that I was the biggest disappointment of their lives. That was when I needed them the most and they pretty much kicked me to the ground. So at this point in my life after I’ve picked up the shattered pieces and glued myself back together, and only because of you Pearce, they don’t get to share in this joy. They would only bring me back down to that horrid place I was and nothing on this Earth is going to spoil the most important day of my life.”
All three of them stared at me and then Henry said, “I believe Lexi has made up her mind and I have to say I am on her side.”
“So am I,” Susan joined in.
Pearce smiled and agreed too.
“So,” I went on, “I’d still like a small ceremony, and then you all can plan whatever kind of reception you have a mind to. I’m open for anything.”
“Oh God Alexia, do you know what you’ve just done?”
“What?”
“You’ve given my mother permission to run the show and what a show it will be.”
Susan sat there and grinned and rubbed her palms together. Henry watched her and laughed.
“We have to wait until Terri can walk you know. She’ll be my maid of honor.”
“I’m fine with that. With the way Justin acted, he’ll be supervising her physical therapy.”
Everyone laughed, although I worried about what Terri would have to endure. I knew she was in store for some difficult times.
Later that afternoon I texted my manager to ask him if he minded if I took the next day, Monday, off of work. I wanted to spend the day with Terri. They were transferring her from ICU to a regular room. He texted me back that it would be fine with him.
That night Pearce and I were sitting in bed and he was going over his schedule for the week. He had Monday off, but then he had call for the next five days. He’d linked his schedule with my calendar so I knew when he was on call.
“I have some errands to run in the morning. I’d like to take you to dinner tomorrow night to Josette’s.” It was the most exclusive restaurant in town.
“Really?”
“Um, yes. Is that okay?”
“You’re kidding right? I’ve never been there. I’d love to go.”
“Good. I made a reservation for seven. And Alexia, wear your bracelet.” He smiled.
I instantly found myself squirming under the sheets. I looked at him and swallowed.
“What?” he asked, all innocent like.
“Put down that damn iPad now, or you might find you’ll need to buy another one.”
“Yes ma’am.”
I was on him like a moist blanket, ready and willing. There was something about him...no everything about him...his smoky gray sexier-than-hell eyes, his full sensuous lips, the way he ran his tongue along them, his thick black wavy hair, his sculpted
muscles and the way they rippled as he moved, his hips as he thrust into me and the sounds he made as we made love. There would never be enough Pearce for me.
“Fuck Alexia, you drive me wild.”
When he talked to me while we made love, his voice was deep and husky and it turned me on even more. I leaned over him and kissed his neck and then started to nip at his ear. Then he went really crazy on me. He flipped me on my back and threw one leg over his shoulder as he rocked into me. I raked my nails across his back as the sensations became so intense.
And then came his words...the ones that always drove me over the edge.
“Alexia,” he purred, “open your eyes and say the words for me.”
I did as he commanded and the air suddenly thickened between us. I sucked in my breath at his beauty. “Oh Pearce, I love you.” And I was falling over that cliff of ecstasy. He was right there with me as he laced his fingers with mine and held my hands above my head.
Then he started kissing me like a man who’d just been given water after he’d been dying of thirst.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
I was sitting in Terri’s room telling her what had happened two nights ago. Her memory was a blur. She didn’t remember much at all. Her voice was still hoarse, but luckily, her injury to her trachea was not as bad as Pearce had originally thought.
She was in and out of it because they had her on a morphine pump. It was a good thing too. I could only imagine the pain she was in. Every time she’d conk out, I’d head on over to Justin’s room. His mood had improved over yesterday. They were going to move him out of ICU today. He was barking out orders to all the nurses. I guess whoever said that doctors make the worst patients, was right. Justin was not a very good one and I told him so.
“You need to calm down buddy. You’re nurses are gonna put ExLax in your food or something in retaliation.”
He looked at me and then burst into laughter.
“Oh God, don’t make me laugh. My guts hurt like crazy.”
“Well they should. Your brother had his fingers in there for at least an hour.”
“What?”
“He didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
Fuck, me and my big mouth.
“I think you need to hear it from him.”
“Give it up. Now Lexi.”
I let out my breath in a gush. “You were bleeding. Like it was coming out in spurts. I had to hold a light and Pearce stuck his fingers inside of you and found where it was coming from. He held it closed until they got you here.”
“No shit. Why didn’t he tell me?”
“Because he’s Pearce and that’s the kind of stuff he does every day I suppose.”
Justin rubbed his face and shook his head.
“Thanks for telling me Lexi.”
I made a fist and held it out to him. “Can I just say Pearce was amazing that night? I never really knew what he did, you know, when he went to work every day. But he went into overdrive and you and Terri were in the best hands.”
“Yeah, I know.”
We shared a look, a very meaningful one.
“Hey Lexi?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m glad you’re going to be my sister.” He grinned.
“Me too!” I laughed.
I left the hospital late that afternoon and went home to my carriage house. When I got there, there were two Land Rovers in the driveway. One was black and one was silver. I wondered whose they were. I walked inside and Pearce was sitting on the couch watching TV. He got up and greeted me, smiling.
“Hi honey.”
“Hi,” I said as I kissed him.
“Here, this is for you. Or this, you take your pick.”
He held out two keys.
“What is this?”
“Keys. To the Land Rovers.”
“But Pearce, I don’t need a new car,” I protested.
“Yes you do. And so did I. You’re precious cargo and there’s no way in hell I want you driving back and forth to work in nothing less than that. After going over that accident in my mind, I realize that if we’d have been the car in front, if that deer had hit us, we’d have been killed Alexia. My 911 wouldn’t have been able to handle that wreck. Justin’s Range Rover came out of that intact. And because of that, they’re alive. I’m selling the 911. You can give Lisbeth the Highlander back because I want you to have solid protection. And no arguments honey. Please, do this for my peace of mind. Okay?”
I nodded, “Okay.” I wouldn’t make him anxious over this. Never would I do that to him.
“So?” he asked.
“So what?”
“What color do you want?”
“Silver.”
“That’s what I thought. Here you go. I’ll be here at seven. Or do you want to just come over. We’re sleeping together tonight so you decide how you want to work it and in whose bed you want to sleep.”
“I’ll be at your place at six and just get ready over there. Okay.”
“Perfect. Love you sweetheart.”
“Love you back. See you then.”
I didn’t tell Pearce, but I had a three o’clock appointment with his friend, Phillip Sorensen, the psychiatrist he’d recommended a while back. If we were going to be married, I wanted to do my best to go into it as baggage free as possible.
I walked into Dr. Sorensen’s office and I was totally nerved out by the whole thing. I wasn’t sure about any of this. My last counseling experience was so awful, I wasn’t so sure I was doing the right thing here.
His office door opened, he was ushering me in and telling me to make myself comfortable on one of the cushy leather chairs. He looked to be Pearce’s age, and he was heavy set, blonde and blue-eyed. He wasn’t much taller than I, about five feet eight or so, but he immediately made me feel at ease. I felt myself smiling at him.
“Hi Ms. Hammond it’s great to meet you.”
“Dr. Sorensen, same here.”
“Okay, first things first. How would you like to be called?”
“I prefer Lexi.”
“Okay, then. And please call me Phil. I like to dispense with formalities around here.”
“There’s another thing I want to get out of the way too. I know you realize that Pearce and I are very close. We go way back...and I mean way back...to kindergarten.” He laughed. “But keep in mind, you and I have a professional relationship in this office. Everything that we discuss stays in here and I’m not at liberty to discuss this with him. Pearce would never, under any circumstances ask me about it either, but I just want you to be clear on this. Okay?”
“Phil, I didn’t tell him I was coming.”
“Oh. Can I ask why?”
“I guess I wanted to do this all on my own. I want our marriage to be as strong as it can be. I have a lot of issues so I wanted to see if I could start getting rid of some of them.”
He asked some pointed questions about my past and things started centering around my parents. I halted everything and told him right then I would never make things right with them. I believed they were the ones that had done me wrong and I wouldn’t be the one to extend the olive branch. He didn’t have a problem with that which made me feel better. The other counselor I had gone to had tried to make me feel like I needed to keep trying to have a relationship with my parents, even though every time I did, I came back feeling like I’d been physically punched in the gut fifty times. Phil didn’t do that. He accepted my feelings and moved forward. Our session ended with my story about the accident and how I’d felt afterward...the guilt and blame I carried.
Phil and I decided that I’d see him twice a week for starters and then we could adjust our schedules. I really felt good about him and told him so. I also told him about my last experience and that I was impressed by him already.
He laughed and said, “I wouldn’t be too quick to say that yet. We’ve only just started Lexi. But I’d like to say something. I appreciate your willingness to be so open already. Many pat
ients have problems with that and that can delay them getting better.”
I thought about what he said all the way home. I knew my biggest problem was going to be telling him about my slutty days. I was just going to have forge through and get it over with when the time came.
I got home and jumped in the shower and quickly got ready for my night out with Pearce. I packed a bag, picked out work clothes for the next day and decided what to wear that night. I chose a black skirt with a pretty blue sleeveless silk blouse and a pair of black heels. I made sure I had the sex bracelet too.
Gathering all the papers for the Toyota, I ran across the yard and went to Lisbeth’s. She was in her usual spot, so I pranced in and told her what Pearce had done.
“Under the circumstances, I can certainly understand that honey. But I gave you that car free and clear. So Alexia, dear, you sell it and keep the money.”
“Good God Lisbeth, I couldn’t do that! I only had it for a few months. It’s brand new still and only has a couple of thousand miles on it.”
“Well honey, why don’t you do this then? Whenever you and Pearce decide to tie that knot, why don’t you use that money for your wedding gown?”
I grinned at her. “News travels fast doesn’t it? I was getting ready to tell you that next! But I would never spend that kind of money on a wedding dress Lisbeth!”
“Darling Alexia, you are marrying a Middleton and when you walk down that aisle, youwill be swathed in Angel Sanchez if it’s the last thing I make you do on this Earth. Now run along and take those keys and title with you. Have Pearce sell the damn car for you and you use that money for your bridal trousseau. You hear me young lady?”
“Yes ma’am!” I hugged her and went back to my carriage house. If there was one thing about Lisbeth, it was when she made up her mind about something, that was it. You were not going to get her to change it so I had learned early on to quit trying.
I was ready to head over to Pearce’s early so I got in the car and went. His car wasn’t there yet so I let myself in and made myself at home in his bed. I stretched out, intending just to relax a few moments but I must’ve fallen asleep, because I woke up to find him rubbing his scruffy face across my cheek.
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