Melting Her Dom's Heart [Dark Desires 3] (Siren Publishing Sensations)

by Suzy Shearer

  “I think we should go.” Dan leaned over and kissed her cheeks. “Glad you’re getting better.”

  Stacy did the same. She kissed Alex. “You should go home now and get a proper night’s sleep, too, Alex. You need it.”

  “Yeah, I will.”

  He shook hands with Dan, and he and Stacy left. Kallie looked at Alex.

  “What did Stacy mean? Where have you been sleeping?”

  “Here.” He pointed to the big chair.

  “Since I came in?”

  “Yes.” He took her hand again and looked down at her fingers captured by his.

  “I couldn’t leave, Kall.” He looked into her face. “I…I didn’t know what was happening. The doctors didn’t know if you would survive.”

  If the tears running down his cheeks surprised Kallie she never commented.

  “Oh, Kall, I couldn’t bear to live without you. These past few weeks have been the worst in my life. Sweetheart, I know I’ve been a prick. I didn’t know how to act around you. I wanted to hold you in my arms and tell you how much I love you, but I was so frightened you didn’t love me. So I fell back into my coldhearted bastard act. I’ve been terrified you would leave if you knew my feelings, and instead, I pushed you away.”

  He took a deep breath. “If it takes the rest of my life, I want to make it up to you. Honestly Kallie, I love you more than life itself. When I thought you were dead in that fucking fire I just wanted to die!”

  “Just promise me you won’t ever be cold to me again!”

  “Oh, my Kallie, I promise.”

  He pulled her close to him and held her. This was where she belonged—in his arms, held tight. He was finally understanding what it meant to let your heart love.

  They sat like that for what seemed like an eternity but was probably only half an hour. A nurse came in after nine and took her observations. As she was leaving, she looked back at Kallie.

  “We are going to change your dressing around midnight. I’m sorry, but we have to do it.”

  “I understand.”

  “Try to get some sleep.”

  Alex made her settle down into the bed making sure she was covered. He held her hand.

  “You have to go home, Alex.”

  “I will. When I know you’re asleep. I’ll be back in the morning.”

  “Okay, but promise you will have a full night’s sleep.”

  “I promise.”

  “Okay.”

  She sounded satisfied. She closed her eyes, and Alex watched as she began to fall asleep, but then she opened one eye and sleepily said, “No more contracts.”

  “No more.”

  “Good,” she murmured. Kallie turned her head to one side, and within five minutes she was deeply asleep.

  Alex stood and stretched. He walked out, putting the gown in the dirty hamper. He left his number with the nurse on duty, just in case, and walked down to the lifts. He pulled out his phone only and discovered the battery was dead. When he reached the ground floor, he found a phone and rang for a cab.

  The closer he got to home, the more tired he felt. When the cab finally deposited him at the side door, he staggered inside. The past few days were finally catching up to him. He walked into the kitchen and was bombarded by Marie and Zeus.

  Marie wrapped her arms around him, and he was amazed to realise he appreciated and needed her comfort. They held each other for a few moments, and then Zeus demanded his attention. The dog looked fine after his ordeal. Charlie was standing grinning at him. He shook his hand.

  “She really is going to be okay, isn’t she, Mister Alex?” Marie asked worriedly.

  “Yes, Marie. She’ll be fine. We’ll have to look after her carefully until she gets better.”

  “Where will she live? You told me her lovely home’s gone.”

  “I’ve asked her to marry me. I hope you two will be pleased. She’ll live here with us.”

  “At last!”

  “Congratulations.”

  Charles shook his hand again as Marie wiped a tear from her eye.

  “Do you want something to eat now?”

  “I don’t think I could, Marie. I’m so tired. I think I’ll just go have a shower and then sleep. I’ve left the number here in case the hospital needs me. She should be fine, though.”

  He wished them all a good night and walked through to his rooms, Zeus following at his heels.

  Walking out on the balcony in the cool evening air he felt like a man renewed. He felt exhausted, but at the same time he was exhilarated knowing that Kallie was going to be his. He promised himself that he would never again hide his feelings from her. He’d been given this one last chance, and there was no way he was going to ruin it.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Somehow Kallie endured the midnight dressing change, although she was whimpering in pain most of the time. The nurse reassured her the leg was getting better. Now the doctors felt they could drop down to every twelve hours, so thankfully the next change wouldn’t be until midday. Comforted but still in pain Kallie finally dropped back to sleep.

  When she woke early the next morning another doctor came and spoke with her, explaining they were going to remove the catheter and get her up.

  “You’ll actually heal quicker if you move. We don’t want that leg stiffening up. I’ve arranged for a physiotherapist to come later this morning to check your leg. We do know no muscles were damaged, but you will need to exercise it. The new skin will be tight as it covers the area.”

  When the nurse came in and removed the catheter Kallie had to wait until a second nurse arrived, and then the two manoeuvred her into sitting on the edge of the bed. She felt woozy, but slowly her head began to clear. Then the two nurses helped her to her feet. The pain in her leg had her perspiring, but she managed to walk around the bed with their help. When they sat her back on the edge of the bed Kallie felt as exhausted as if she’d ran a marathon.

  “Now, you can use the bathroom when you need to, but you are not to stand without help. Do you understand?” Kallie nodded as one nurse continued. “Your leg is going to be very sore. You’re still unsteady so you’ll need someone to be with you.” She grinned at Kallie. “You still have drips in, so we don’t want you to get tangled up.”

  “I understand.”

  “Would you like to sit up for a little while?”

  “Oh, can I?”

  “Of course, but you must promise to ring when you want to get back into bed.”

  The two nurses settled her in the big chair Alex had been sleeping in and showed her how to recline it so her leg would be elevated. Then they left her alone, but about twenty minutes later someone came in with breakfast. The woman set the tray on the table and rolled it to her. She grinned to herself remembering how Alex had fed her the night before.

  That got her thinking. She’d actually avoided thinking too much about his proposal, or rather, the pain of her leg had pushed it aside. When he’d asked her to go back to the way things had been, she’d been so heartbroken. He’d rushed angrily out of the room and she couldn’t stop crying. She thought it was a combination of what had happened and his stupid request. How on earth could he have expected her to go back?

  But then when he had come back and demanded she marry him she’d been too shocked to answer. Part of her still didn’t believe him. She worried things would go back to the way they had been once she’d healed, although he seemed to be acting differently, showing her a lot of affection in front of their friends and the staff. She would just have to wait and see, but she had her fingers crossed. She loved him so much but her heart would never cope with another breakup if he stopped showing his feelings.

  A friendly lady came in and made up the bed for her, and then around eight thirty, a short, middle-aged man knocked on the door, came into the room.

  “Hi, Kallista. My name’s Jeremy, and I’m the counsellor. I wonder if we could talk.”

  Kallie wasn’t sure she needed to but asked him to sit anyway. He shut the door
and then pulled up a chair. They talked about her injuries and how she felt. He asked after friends and if she had a support system.

  “Can we talk about the fire, Kallista? It’s important to talk things through.”

  “Um…I guess so.”

  At first she was fine.

  “How did you miss the evacuation orders?”

  “I was working. I have a recording studio, and it’s sort of attached to the house but separate. I don’t have a radio or television in there. I’d left my mobile back in the kitchen. It was charging, so I had no chance to hear the bulletins.”

  “I understand. What happened when you discovered you were cut off?”

  Kallie explained how she had been told to protect herself. As she got closer to the actual fire burning the house, she found herself getting very distressed. “I honestly thought…” She found it hard to continue. Taking a huge breath she went on. “I thought I was going to die. I didn’t want to die without telling him I loved him. I don’t know why but seemed the most important thing I had to do.”

  “Kallista, when you’re faced with death your natural reaction is to reach out to the people you love.”

  Jeremy tried to comfort her as she cried. He let her get her tears under control, and they talked more about her feelings now she knew her house had been destroyed and she was actually alive. It surprised Kallie to find that she felt a little better after talking about it all. Jeremy told her he would be around to talk anytime she needed to.

  “Kallista, it’s very important that you talk to your close friends. If you feel down or maybe just want to have a little cry. You use them as your support system. Do you have people you could rely on?”

  “I do. My best friend is wonderful, and so is her husband. She and I talk all the time.”

  “That’s excellent. I want you to talk to her about it all. In my notes it says your fiancé has been here all the time. Is that the person you reached out to when you were trapped?”

  “Yes.” Kallie wiped more tears as she continued. “He loves me, and he proposed.”

  Jeremy smiled warmly and patted her arm, offering his congratulations. “I’m very happy for you both. Please, Kallie, understand this. It’s very important you talk to him about your ordeal. You have to share it all. It’s crucial for you to heal mentally as well as physically.”

  He took her hand as he spoke seriously to her. “Kallista, you’ve come as close to death as possible, and actually it’s often an emotional shock when you discover you’re alive. You may find yourself getting depressed at times, so if your partner understands just how you feel, he can support you better and so can those around you.”

  Kallie nodded.

  “If you don’t say anything people will think you’re fine even if you’re not. You need to be honest and talk about it all. Otherwise, it will overwhelm you. It isn’t necessary to carry this burden all alone. In fact it is very unhealthy for you mentally and emotionally to try to do it alone.”

  “Okay.”

  “Promise me you’ll talk to your partner and friends. I know it will be hard, but it’s so important.”

  “I promise, Jeremy.”

  “Excellent. I’ll pop in tomorrow and see how you are. If you need me in the meantime, just ask one of the nurses.”

  “Thank you so much, Jeremy. I do appreciate it.”

  He shook her hand, and as he was opening the door Alex came in. He looked from Jeremy to Kallie. It would be obvious to anyone that she’d been crying. Jeremy introduced himself and explained why he was there. He bade them both good-bye and left the room.

  Alex almost ran to her side and crouched alongside the chair and taking her hands carefully in his. “Are you okay? Why have you been crying? Do you hurt?”

  “Whoa, one at a time.”

  “Sorry.”

  She explained what she and Jeremy had spoken about, telling Alex she felt a little better. Dropping her hands, Alex pulled the chair that Jeremy had been sitting in closer and sat down. He picked up the one hand without a drip.

  “Kallie, I know I’ve not been there for you like I should have. I know how I shut you away. I stupidly thought that was the only way I could keep you.” He shook his head. “I don’t want you to hide anything from me. We’re in this together. I don’t want you carry this pain alone. Just promise me we’ll talk. I know I’m not very good at this, but I really want to. So promise.”

  “I promise.”

  “Good. Hey, you’re out of bed!”

  “Oh, gee, clever man.”

  He looked at her, and she felt blood rush to her face. She’d missed him so much.

  “I think I’ll need that book to keep tabs on your punishments.”

  “I’m sick.”

  He roared with laughter, leant over, and kissed her softly. “Charlie and Marie send their love. Zeus is getting spoilt rotten.”

  “Is he honestly okay?”

  “Yep, he spent the night on my bed.”

  She giggled. “That must be the first time you’ve slept in your own bed with something breathing all night.”

  “Oh, you really must want to be punished, my girl.” He squeezed her hand. “Have you eaten?”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “Just as well.”

  She looked down at their joined hands still unsure of him. “Do you really want to marry me, Alex, or is it just because of the fire?”

  He put a finger under her chin. “Look at me.” When she lifted her head, he went on. “You mean more to me that I could ever imagine. I truly want you beside me forever. Sweetheart, I want us to marry as soon as you feel better. If I hadn’t been such a stupid bastard we would never have been apart. If I’d listened to Dan in the beginning and showed you how I felt, none of this would have happened.”

  She searched his eyes, his face.

  “I honestly love you, Kallista Robins, forever.” He grinned at her. “And you have permission as my sub to kick me in the bottom if I act like a coldhearted fool.”

  Kallie started to giggle and then couldn’t stop. Alex lifted her hand and kissed it. “Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “Kallie…I…this. All my life my parents told me never to get involved, never to tell a woman you loved her.”

  Kallie saw him take a huge breath. Whatever he was trying to deal with was painful to him.

  “From my earliest memory I saw them fight. Saw the way they would bring different partners home. My father was always instilling in me the danger of telling someone you loved them. He kept telling me that it was the worst thing to do—to tell someone you love them because they would definitely leave you and break your heart.”

  He looked at her, and Kallie felt her heart ache for this man. She closed her fingers tight around the hand that held hers.

  “I should never have listened to them. When I knew I was in love with you I should have told you.”

  “Alex, I understand. I really do. You were only a child, and the things that happen to us when we’re young become our truths.”

  “I guess so.”

  As she watched he rubbed the back of his hand across his eyes, wiping away the tears that had fallen.

  “I didn’t want to lose you. I…oh, Kall.”

  He sobbed, and Kallie tried to pull him closer to her. She let him cry against her shoulder like a little lost boy instead of a man in his fifties. Finally he sat up and gave her a watery grin.

  “Guess I’m learning.”

  She grinned back. “I guess you are.”

  He leaned down and kissed her gently. “Thank you.” He sighed noisily. “So tell me how you feel?”

  “Better. The physiotherapist is coming sometime this morning to talk to me about my leg.”

  “Okay, wonder when they’ll let you come home.”

  At those words it was Kallie’s turn to cry. Alex leapt to his feet and perched on the arm of the chair, trying to hold her. “What’s wrong, Kall?”

  “I don’t have a home. I don’t have anything!�
�� she wailed.

  “Yes, you do. You have my home. Kallista, it’s yours, ours. And you have me. You have Zeus and Marie and Charlie. You have Stacy and Dan. You have an awful lot of friends who really care about you.”

  “But I’ve lost everything! I’ve got no clothes, nothing.”

  “Oh, Kallie, my dearest Kallie. We can buy you new clothes. You’re alive! That’s all that matters, and we’re finally together.”

  He held her as she cried. Alex was still holding her when the physiotherapist came in. She offered to come back later, but Kallie sniffed a few times and told her it was okay. The next half hour Kallie learnt the exercises designed to stretch the new skin and muscles on her leg so it wouldn’t tighten up. The physiotherapist told her now the new skin had started forming, it would be essential she do all the exercises. The staff would also give her special cream to rub into the new tissue to help promote its growth.

  By the time she’d finished stretching her leg Kallie felt exhausted, so the physiotherapist and Alex helped her back into bed. Her leg was hurting badly again, but the physiotherapist reassured her it was perfectly normal after the work she’d done on it. The girl left, reminding Kallie she had to do her exercises at least twice a day until the new skin covered the whole area, and then it would be more often. A nurse came in and gave her a couple of paracetamol to help with the pain. She checked Kallie’s blood pressure and then left.

  “Would you like me to get you a coffee or tea, sweetheart?”

  “You called me sweetheart!”

  She felt stunned as he got to his feet and kissed her.

  “So I did.” Alex grinned. “Do you?”

  She nodded with a surprised look on her face. Flustered she answered, “Um…tea, please.”

  Alex reached the door and then turned back to look at her. “Oh, and I’ve been calling you sweetheart since you’ve been awake.”

  He winked and left the room. Kallie held her hands at her mouth. In all the time they’d been together he had never called her anything other than her name or “sub.” Now the word sweetheart had just slipped out as easily as her name. She grinned and felt warm all over. That, more than anything, gave her hope.