by Jessie Cooke
One of the nurses left once they had her restrained, and moments later she came back with a syringe and put whatever was in it in Elise’s IV. Storm watched and within minutes, before her eyes, her mother began to calm down. Storm’s heart didn’t stop slamming into her chest until her mother’s eyes were closed and her chest was slowly and steadily rising and falling once more.
“Did you put her back in the coma?”
“No,” the nurse told her. “It was just a mild sedative. It’s scary to wake up from surgery, especially surgery you didn’t know you had. I gave her a small dose of morphine, which should handle her pain, and Ativan, which will probably make her sleep for an hour or two. You might want to take a break for a while now while she’s sleeping.” Storm nodded and thanked the nurse. When she was alone with her mother again she said:
“I’m going to go grab some coffee, but I’ll be back.” She bent down and kissed her on the cheek and said, “I love you.” She waited, foolishly hoping her mother would reach up and grab her or open her eyes again, but she didn’t. Finally, she turned and left the room, stopping at the nurses’ station and reminding them to call her if there were any changes. As soon as she stepped through the ICU doors and they closed behind her, she spotted Ryder. The sight of his big body, once again uncomfortably asleep, this time in a small vinyl chair, made her heart hurt. She went over and knelt down in front of him. Putting her hands on either side of his face, she raised his head up gently and in a soft voice she said, “Hey, Ryder, wake up.”
He opened his sexy brown eyes and she was almost overwhelmed with the desire to kiss him. They still had a lot to talk about, though, before she let herself go back to that place, so she just smiled at him and said, “You should go back to the hotel and get some sleep...or better yet, go home. It’s probably going to be days or even weeks before they let Mom leave here. I can get a cheaper room and stay here. I’m sure you have better things to do than sit here and wait for me all day.”
His eyes still looked heavy and he seemed slightly disoriented. Storm wasn’t sure he’d even heard anything she said until he shifted his weight and sat up and said, “No. I’m good. I called Dax this morning and he told me I could take as much time as I needed. How’s your mom?”
She couldn’t help it at that point. She leaned in and kissed his lips, softly. He seemed stiff and surprised at first, but he warmed up quickly. She still had her hands on his face, and he put his around her and pulled her up so that she was almost in his lap. The kiss was sweet and slow, and he tasted like coffee...and Ryder, which was a taste she seemed unable to get enough of lately. Storm remembered suddenly that they were in a public place and although there was no one else in the waiting room, the walls were glass and everyone in the hallway could watch them make out. She pulled back, but Ryder was looking at her like he was about to attack her again. She smiled and said, “We probably shouldn’t do this here.”
“Okay, anywhere,” he said with a grin. “Does this mean you’re not still mad at me?”
“I forgive you, but please remember what I said...I don’t find that kind of jealousy flattering.”
He looked remorseful again and said, “I’m not like that usually, honest. I feel pretty stupid about it today. Wish I had been drunk so I could blame it on that.”
Storm smiled. “Well, I guess it’s good to know that you have at least one flaw. I was beginning to believe you were perfect.”
Ryder laughed out loud at that. “Wow, stick with me, kid, I’ll show you about eight hundred more flaws a week. But right now...let me take you back to the hotel and I’ll take you to heaven for about an hour.”
She giggled. “A whole hour?”
“Well, you know...in shifts.”
Still smiling she said, “The doctor told me to take a break. They’re waking Mom up...so, I guess I could spare an hour.” Ryder was on his feet and pulling her up after him before she stopped talking. He practically carried her out of the hospital and put her on the bike. When they got back to the hotel after kind of a wild ride and he was already trying to undress her in the elevator she said, “Hey, why all the urgency?”
He stopped what he was doing and said, “I thought I blew it. I thought that you weren’t ever going to let me touch you again.”
“You’re so silly. We had a fight, a disagreement.”
“Usually that means the end of...I want to say the relationship, but I’ve never really been in one of those. It’s never bothered me before, either, for it to end. I’m usually looking for the exit door before I’m even...finished, I guess is the word. The thing is...I kind of want you to be my old lady.”
“Kind of?” she said with a smile.
“Okay, not kind of, I do.”
“What about that thing where old ladies live like 50s housewives? I’m not sure I could be convinced to do that.”
“Yeah, I figured that out about the time my six-foot-three body was trying to get comfortable on the less than six-foot-long vinyl couch last night.” Storm laughed, and he said, “As I deserved. And about that not fitting in the box thing, it’ll make you fit right in on the ranch. Just wait until you meet Angel and Tammy.” He whistled through his teeth.
“I’m looking forward to it,” she said.
“So can I take this to mean you’ll be my old lady?”
“Yeah, you can. Do I get a patch or something?”
“Baby, you get whatever you want.”
Storm stood on her tiptoes then and kissed him on the lips. “I want you,” she whispered.
22
Ryder had no idea how turned on the idea of having an old lady would make him until that moment...or maybe it was just Storm. Either way, he was incredibly turned on, and he had to have her, right that second. They started ripping each other’s clothes off. What was left of the clothing ended up in a pile on the floor and once they were both naked he propelled her toward the big glass window that looked down over the city. They were up so high, and it was daylight so it was doubtful anyone could see them, but the idea of it...of showing off her tight, toned body...made his cock ache.
Storm had her arms wrapped up around his shoulders and he had one of her legs pulled up so that it rested on his hip. His other hand was around her waist and he pressed her hard, up against the cold window, and let the hand on her waist slide down and find the warm wetness between her legs while they kissed. He loved the way her tongue felt like it was searching for something when she had it in his mouth. She never missed a spot when she kissed him. She ran that delicious tongue over his tongue, his teeth, in the corners of his mouth, and sometimes all the way to the back of his throat.
He loved that she was assertive with sex. She turned him on so fucking much. Her pussy was soaking wet and he used two fingers to split open her lips and press his thumb up against her swollen clit. She whimpered, and the kiss was broken as she pressed her forehead into his and rocked her hips against his hand. He moved his thumb in circles and listened as her breaths became ragged and her whimpers turned into deep, sexy moans. She was holding her own leg up now, so he moved that hand around behind her and slid it between her sexy butt and the window. If anyone could see them, he wanted them to see him holding her...he wouldn’t say it to her for fear of sleeping on the couch again...but he wanted them to see him fucking possessing her. She was his...and as much as he’d try to control his stupidity...no one ever better really try to come between them.
Storm brought her hands down from his shoulders and pressed her palms into his chest. She slid them across his hard pecs and down to his stomach. His cock was already throbbing and hard, but the closer her hands got to it, the more he jerked and danced. Her fingers finally touched the tip of it and his body jerked in response. She ran them around the outside and then dipped her thumb into the pearl of fluid leaking out the top. He was sure she could probably count every beat of his heart from the pulsating that his cock was doing in her hand...and then she slid down to her knees, back still against the window, and Ryder
could see outside. He felt her wet tongue touch his swollen balls first and then he felt her slide it all the way up from the base of his cock to the tip. She opened her full lips and let the tip slide inside and then toyed with his swollen head until he couldn’t take it any longer. He grabbed her hair and thrust himself into her mouth. He felt the tip of it hit her throat, and she took every inch of it. With every movement, every thrust, he felt her tongue or her lips meld with each sensitive ridge of his cock. It was fucking amazing, and when she brought up a hand and used her soft fingers to stroke between his legs while she licked and sucked his cock, he was afraid he was going to lose control.
It took every shred of willpower he had in his body to pull back and let his cock fall out of her mouth. He pulled her to her feet and kissed her, hard. When he broke the kiss, he grinned down at her and said, “I’m about to fuck you like you’ve never been fucked, baby.”
“Give it to me, old man,” Storm said with a smile. Ryder kissed her again and then suddenly spun her around so that she was facing the glass...and then he pressed her into it. Her soft, firm breasts were smooshed into it and Ryder was almost disappointed that he wasn’t on the other side of the glass watching. He had to imagine that was almost as sexy as being involved. Storm had her arms above her head and her face turned to the side. Her body was arched, and her sweet butt was pointed in his direction. He took his cock in his hand and lined it up before thrusting his hips forward and driving his cock into her as deep as it would go. She was so wet, so tight, so fucking amazing. Ryder grabbed hold of her hips and began pumping in and out of her. Every so often he would hold himself inside of her, feeling his cock pulse against the silky, soft walls of her pussy. When she was ready for him to move again she would wiggle her hips back into him and groan. Ryder’s thrusts were hard, fast, and deep, and Storm’s moans and cries were loud and sexy. He slid his hands up from her hips and grabbed her breasts. He played with her hard and now-cold nipples and when he realized his hands hit the glass each time he thrust, he placed them flat against her nipples and held her breasts tightly while he fucked her.
“Oh Jesus, Ryder...so fucking good.”
“Yeah, baby? Good enough to fuck me forever?”
“Oh yeah.”
“Just me?”
“Just you.”
“You’re my old lady, baby. Do you know how happy that makes me?” He was so breathless that he could barely speak, and sweat was rolling off his forehead and dripping down onto the small of her back. She was so fucking hot that he was surprised it didn’t sizzle.
“It makes me happy too,” she said.
“Good,” he breathed out. “I think I love you.”
He wasn’t sure, but he thought she was giggling again as she said, “I think I love you too.” Ryder exploded at that moment and Storm thrust her hips back into him and cried out. He pushed her into the glass, kissed her neck, and ran his mouth up to her ear.
“I love you.”
“I love you too,” she panted out. He looked out the window at New York City and knew at that moment that he’d never see Central Park again without thinking of this moment. It would get filed in his brain under fucking awesome moments, and any time he was unhappy about anything, he’d be able to pull it out and make himself smile.
“When we go back to Boston, I need to find another job.” Ryder had carried Storm over to the bed and they were lying tangled up on top of the covers. When she said that he lifted his head and looked down at her face.
“I think Weiner will understand that you had to be here for your mom.”
“Yeah, I called him earlier and he was great. He told me to take as long as I needed. But, I mean, I’ll need another job. I promised my mother she could stay with me when she gets out of the hospital and I’d help her figure out how to pay off her debts. I don’t think she meant for any of this to happen, Ryder, and I don’t want her to keep suffering for it.”
“She’s lucky to have you.”
She smiled. “Thanks, but when you get to know the real Elise Waters, and not the woman you’ve been introduced to through all this crap, you’ll know that I’m the lucky one. She was a good mom and she deserves my help now.”
He nodded. “I get it. You’re a good woman yourself, and I’m lucky to have you. I can help you.”
She shook her head. “I’m not asking for help. I just don’t want to start off this relationship with any secrets. I’ll be tight for money, at least for a while.” Ryder’s thoughts were swimming. He wanted to tell her that there was no way she could work a normal job...or two...and pay these guys back...at least not fully, even if she tried for the rest of her life. The interest rates they were charging her mother were higher than Storm probably imagined or could even fathom. Unless she came up with the money to pay them back fully...it would only get worse. But...he wasn’t sure how to say all that without upsetting her, and he didn’t want to do that. Finally, he said:
“I know you’re not asking for help and I know you probably won’t accept money from me...but baby, you know that amount of money, plus the interest, is going to take you forever to pay back.”
“I know,” she said, and then changing the subject, sort of, she said, “Do you think Carolyn or her boyfriend paid that loan shark fifteen thousand dollars to try to frame my mother for this?”
Ryder knew it was going to hurt her because she thought of Carolyn as a friend, but he told her the truth: “I think they paid it to frame you. You were the new girl and Carolyn assumed since she’d been there for so long without any problems that Dax would jump right to thinking you did it. They wanted to make sure of that, though, so they sent an anonymous message to Dax, started rumors, and yes, I think they paid that fifteen grand. Hunter tried to get Santos’ guy to tell him where that payment came from, but those guys do their business under a shroud of secrecy and lies. They wouldn’t tell him anything.”
“Wow. I know I didn’t know Carolyn long, but I thought she was my friend. I really thought she liked me. I guess I kind of suck at reading people.”
“Or maybe she did think of you as a friend. You just never really know what someone might do when they’re desperate. I’m sorry she hurt you, though, and I promise you that we will find them and they won’t get away with this.”
Storm looked like she was thinking that over, and Ryder expected her to ask once again if the Skulls were going to hurt her, or her boyfriend. He knew she was struggling with her ideas about the Skulls and how they lived and what they might be capable of. He hoped that once she got to know them all she would love them as much as he did. He already knew they were going to love her.
“I should get ready and get back to the hospital.” Ryder gave her one last kiss and let her get up and head for the shower. As soon as he heard the water come on, he pulled out his phone and looked up a number. When he found it, he made the call and asked for a guy named Carl.
“Yep, this is Carl.”
“Hey, Carl, it’s Ryder.”
“Hey, boss! How’s my girl?”
Ryder smiled. Carl had fallen in love with Edith the same way Ryder had, when she was in the showroom of the Harley store in Vegas. At the time, he’d been in the process of buying a new resort in Vegas and his assets had been all tied up. Once the fire happened and Ryder bought her, Carl had tracked him down and offered him two hundred grand for her. Ryder wasn’t impressed with money and he was happy with his life the way it was. What he had wanted at that point in his life, more than anything, was Edith. But it would seem that suddenly...his priorities had changed. “She’s great, Carl, beautiful. Hey, there’s something I need to talk to you about...”
23
Three days after Elise came out of her induced coma, the doctor finally let them know that the tumor they’d taken out wasn’t cancer. She would still have to stay in the hospital for a week because she was having seizures. The doctor seemed to think they were just from the trauma of the surgery and would go away. Storm hoped so because they were scary as
shit. That morning she was finally able to talk Ryder into going back to the ranch. She was going to miss him like crazy, but he had a life that he’d completely put on hold for her. She could tell by his conversations on the phone that something was going on back in Boston that he really should be there for even though he tried hard to pretend like he didn’t. After talking most of the night, in between sessions of marathon sex, he’d finally given in.
It had only been four hours since he left, and she missed him already. She had been sitting with her mother, watching television with her and reading to her out of a book one of the nurses had given her. Elise was a little more lucid each day and that was encouraging. Storm had been really scared for the first twenty-four hours when she hadn’t remembered her. By that morning, however, she was beginning to remember other things and she even sounded like her old self sometimes...the woman Storm had grown up with, the mom she had before her father died.
She’d left the room when her mother finally fell asleep and she’d gone downstairs for coffee. She had just paid for it and was headed to the condiment stand for cream and sugar when her phone rang. Thinking it was Ryder she pulled it happily out of her pocket. She didn’t recognize the number, but it was a Boston area code.
“Hello?”
“Is this Storm Waters?”
“Yes.” It was a man’s voice and she didn’t recognize it. Her first thought was that something had happened to Ryder although he had texted and let her know he was home safe just a short time ago. “Who is this?”