“No, I mean I can’t believe you even thought about the fact that I didn’t have my things,” she clarified.
Of course he thought about it. She was all he thought about. Not wanting that inappropriate truth-nugget to slip out, he changed the subject. “Are you hungry? I can make you something.”
The last time they’d eaten was at lunch the day before. He wasn’t hungry but it was obvious she was exhausted. There were dark circles beneath her baby blue eyes and her skin was a few shades paler than normal. He thought that maybe some food would help put some color in her cheeks.
“No. I’m too tired to eat.”
It was around four-thirty a.m. and neither of them had slept at all last night, not to mention the week before had been so busy they’d only caught a few hours of shuteye a night. Before taking a shower, Maxi had mentioned that she wanted to be back at the hospital when Dr. Shaw did his rounds at ten. If they went to bed now she’d only get a few hours of sleep before she wanted to be back.
“Alright, let’s get you to bed.” He started walking towards her but stopped cold when he saw the strange expression on her face.
Why was she looking at him like…?
Oh shit. He hadn’t meant to say it like that.
“I didn’t mean…I’m going to show you to my room and then take the couch.” He had a three-bedroom house, but one room was an office and one was a gym.
He didn’t entertain much.
“Oh…I wasn’t…I didn’t…okay,” she stammered, fumbling over her words as a flush rose up on her face.
He hadn’t fed her, but he was still responsible for putting some color on her cheeks and that made him really happy.
It wasn’t really the best time to tell her that she was fucking adorable, but he was having a hard time keeping that information to himself. He was having a hard time keeping a lot of information to himself. Like the fact that he was pretty damn sure that he’d fallen in love with her this past week. Or more in love. He was almost positive that ship had sailed years ago and he’d just been pretending the S.S. Heart was still docked at Never Gonna Happen Port.
When things weren’t so crazy, he planned on telling her. He had no idea how she was going to take the news. If she would be happy and fall into his arms, or if she’d shut him down like she had every other time he’d hit on her over the years. But, as soon as her life settled down he was going to find out.
And until that happened he was sticking with his plan to show her how he felt. Starting with putting her to bed. He crossed the distance between them and easily picked her up in his arms, the way a groom would carry his bride over the threshold.
She gasped as her arms wrapped around his neck. “What are you doing?”
“You’re tired so I’m taking you to bed.” He made his way down the hall to his bedroom.
“I’m not too tired to walk,” she protested weakly even as her arms tightened their hold.
“Maybe, maybe not,” he teased.
She smiled as her aqua gaze peeked up at him through a bed of thick, dark lashes. Just like the end of the cartoons he used to watch as a kid where a circle of black got smaller and smaller until it was the size of a pinpoint, his world narrowed so that all he saw was her smile. He knew, then and there, that if he could keep putting that smile on her face, he was the luckiest bastard in the world.
When he reached his bed, he set her down gently beside it and lifted his comforter. “In you go.”
“Are you planning on tucking me in?” Her left brow rose.
He winked. “I’m a full service bodyguard.”
“Wow. Does that line usually work?” she asked as she crawled onto the mattress and lay down.
He covered her with the comforter. “I have a beautiful woman in my bed, so I think that’s your answer.”
“Goodnight,” she said sleepily as she snuggled against the pillow. “And don’t be mad but thank you, for everything.”
Without weighing whether or not it was the right thing to do, he leaned down and kissed her on her forehead before wishing her a soft, “Goodnight.”
He stood back up and was about to ask her if she wanted him to leave the bathroom light on when he felt her fingers wrap around his wrist.
“I don’t want to be alone,” she blurted out. “It’s hard for me to sleep in new places under normal circumstances, but with everything going on I know I’d lay here and my mind would just keep running—”
“Yes,” he answered simply.
She didn’t need to explain, he’d do anything for her. Not that this was any kind of a hardship. He’d happily sleep next her tonight, tomorrow night, and…forever. Since the night they’d spent on the couch, he’d tossed and turned and it wasn’t just from sexual frustration. He’d wanted to hold her, to feel her against him.
After stripping off his shirt he turned off the light on the nightstand before moving next to her. He lay on top of the blanket, because his brain knew that nothing was going to happen, but his body wasn’t totally convinced. It didn’t help his case when she rolled over and laid her head on his bare chest.
He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer to him.
“Do you really think he’s going to be okay?” she asked quietly.
“Yeah, I do. He’s too stubborn not to be.”
She chuckled a little before once again growing serious. “He needs to slow down. He’s not going to be happy about that.”
“I know,” he agreed. “We’ll figure it out.”
She tucked herself even closer to him and unable to resist, he kissed the top of her head. After a few minutes, her breathing pattern slowed as her body relaxed against him. As he closed his eyes he was reminded again that when everything else in the world felt wrong, this was the one thing that felt right. Maxi in his arms. She was his right.
Chapter 18
“Well, I have to get back, but I just wanted to check in and say hi and tell you that you are in good hands with Dr. Shaw. He is one of the most sought after cardiologists in the state,” Becca Sloan, Jessie’s youngest sister and a resident at this hospital, assured them.
“Thanks so much for stopping by,” Maxi said sincerely as Becca stepped out of the room.
Her eyes watered as a yawn claimed her. She’d gotten four hours of sleep last night before returning to the hospital today. Even though it had been four of the best hours of sleep she’d ever gotten in her life thanks to being wrapped up in the arms of the literal man of her dreams, she was still exhausted. This past week with Ricco had gone smoothly, thank God, but she’d paid the price, and that price was sleep and maybe a little sanity.
Whether it was the stresses of her job or the scariness of her personal life, she felt like she was one call, one incident away from a nervous breakdown.
“How many Sloans work here?” her dad asked after the door shut. “They’re coming out of the woodwork.”
Billy smiled and her stomach flipped at the sexy sight. “I think that’s all of them.”
She tried to ignore the havoc that his deep voice and bad-boy grin played on her body. That was a lot easier to do before she’d given into her greatest temptation and now had intimate knowledge of the person that voice and grin belonged to. She hoped that her dad wasn’t picking up on it. She had no idea what he would think about it, especially since he was always trying to hook Billy and Maxi up with different people. Thankfully, there’d been a lot of distractions.
Today there had been a constant stream of visitors and a good percentage of them had been Sloans. Jamie Sloan was first and she came in with her husband Alex Sloan, who technically didn’t work for the hospital, but explained that he was there because he was a firefighter/EMT. Next was Chelle Sloan a nurse who was married to Riley Sloan the second oldest Sloan brother. Then there was one of Jessie’s other sisters Krista who worked as a physical therapist in the PT department. And finally Becca Sloan who’d just moved back to Harper’s Crossing and was in her first year of residency.
Th
ey were quite an accomplished group. And in the immortal words of Zoolander, “Really, really, ridiculously good looking.”
And that wasn’t the end of the Sloan parade of well-wishers. Jessie and Zach had spent a good portion of the morning here. Then Seth had stopped by with his wife Amber. And before they left, Bobby Sloan, who worked at Elite Protection with Billy, stopped by with his wife Sophie, Grandpa J’s actual granddaughter.
The constant stream of people continued with Lloyd, who’d been there for most of the day, and six or seven fighters had come to by. The outpouring of concern and love meant a lot to Maxi, and even though he didn’t show it, she knew her dad appreciated it. She’d always wanted a big family like the Sloans, and it was nice to feel a part of it, even if it was just for a day.
But now they were finally alone and as far as she knew, not expecting anymore company. Maxi thought this was as good a time as any to bring up what had been on her mind even if the thought of doing it made her want to puke.
She scooted closer to the edge of her chair and rolled back her shoulders, to try to alleviate the tension in them. “Dad, have you given any thought about what Dr. Shaw said?”
Dr. Shaw had told them all, in no uncertain terms, that if her dad kept going the way he was, he’d have another heart attack sooner rather than later and next time he might not be so lucky. He not only needed to eliminate the stress in his life, he also needed to change his eating habits. He needed to exercise and take care of himself.
Charlie Rizzo always took care of his fighters, made sure that they were in peak physical condition and on a healthy diet. Back in the day, he used to workout with them, and eat what he prescribed for them. But over the years Maxi had noticed he’d picked up some very bad habits. Like having steak dinners a few times a week and burgers and fries on the other nights, staying up late even if he got up early, and smoking cigars.
“Yeah, I thought about it.”
“Annnnnd,” she prompted.
After sighing, he begrudgingly said, “And I’ll go see that nutritionist.”
“Good.” They’d just cleared one hurdle, now she just had to get over the next. This one was the one that had her palms dampening at the mere thought of broaching it.
Instead of dipping her toe into the cold waters of the butting-in pool she plugged her nose and dove right in. “He also said that you needed more rest and that you needed to eliminate stress in your life, so I was thinking that maybe you could retire.”
The silence that filled the room after she said the r word was loud. The only sound was coming in the form of beeps from the machine monitoring her dad’s heart rate.
“I’m buying the gym.” Her dad stated flatly.
Those were probably the last words she’d ever expected to hear. She was prepared for him to fight her on not retiring, but she hadn’t for a second entertained the notion that he’d actually be taking on more stress, more work, more responsibility.
“What?!” She and Billy spoke in unison.
“You heard me. I’m buying the gym from Lloyd. He’s moving out of state to be closer to his daughter and grandkids. It’s been in the works for a while. That’s why I decided to extend my fishing trip, because I wasn’t sure when I’d get another chance to do it. He’s retiring, not me.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Maxi asked with a much more accusatory tone than she’d ever taken with her dad before.
She half expected him to raise his brow and tell her to, “Watch it, young lady.”
But he didn’t.
“I was waiting for the loan to go through, which happened on Tuesday, but I wanted to tell you in person.” Her dad shifted in his bed and grimaced slightly and seeing him in pain amplified the urgency that she felt.
She tried to keep her voice calm as she made her case, “Dad, with everything that’s happened I’m sure Lloyd would understand that you can’t—”
“This isn’t up for discussion.” He went to his go-to parental conversation ender.
But this wasn’t whether or not he got out and started dating or wore clothes that didn’t match or any of the other things that she’d nagged him about over the years. This was his life.
“Dad, this is serious—”
He sat up straighter, raising his voice as he cut her off, “You don’t think I know that?”
“Does the offer still stand?” Billy interrupted the quickly escalating conversation.
Whipping her head around, she saw him staring straight at her dad.
“What offer?” her dad asked, even though she could tell from his tone of voice that he knew the answer.
“The offer you made me when I hung up the gloves. The offer to come on as a coach. The offer to work with you.”
This was the first she’d heard about any offer and she turned back to see if her dad did know what he was talking about.
He frowned, wearing a stubborn expression. “You weren’t interested then what makes it different now?”
Good question. She certainly wanted to know the answer to that. She turned back to Billy and found herself holding her breath to hear what he had to say.
“I was pissed that my career was over before I was ready for it to be. I didn’t want to be on the sidelines, I wanted to be in the ring.”
Like she was watching a tennis match her head turned back to her dad.
His eyes narrowed. “And now?”
Following the “ball,” her neck swiveled back to Billy.
“Now…,” he began, but paused. After a beat he continued, “I thought I could walk away and not look back, but now I know that’s impossible. Boxing wasn’t my career, it was my life. It is my life. I miss it and if the offer is still on the table, I’d love to join your team and get back to my life.”
That was quite a serve. Maxi spun to see if her dad was going to hit it.
“I never took it off the table, you know you always have a place on my team,” her dad volleyed back and scored, clearly winning the game in her opinion.
Game, set, match.
Maxi felt tears forming in her eyes. With Billy back at the gym she wouldn’t have to worry about her dad overdoing it. He would watch to make sure he was okay without hovering.
If she hadn’t already been head over heels in love with the man sitting beside her, she would be now.
Just as she feared her emotional reaction would be called into question, she was saved by an angel in the form of the nurse she’d met the night before. The door opened and Stephanie walked in. Her strawberry blonde hair was pulled up in a ponytail and the style accented her heart shaped face perfectly. Maxi was struck by her emerald green eyes and full lips. She had the kind of natural beauty that people paid big bucks for.
“Hello, Mr. I’m Fine,” she greeted her dad. “I would ask how you’re feeling but I’m pretty sure I know what the answer would be.”
“Did they teach stand-up in Bedside Manor 101?” Her dad grinned, clearly impressed with his joke.
“Yep.” She nodded without missing a beat as she removed an empty bag from the IV pole and replaced it with a full one. “And I was at the top of my class.”
After checking his vitals and making small talk about the fate of the White Sox and, whether or not they’d still be playing in October, she manifested two Tapioca pudding cups from what seemed like thin air, but must’ve been in her scrub’s large pockets.
Her dad’s face lit up.
But instead of handing them to him, Pudding Houdini kept them just out of his reach. “I scored you the last two I could find on this floor. You’re only going to get them if you promise not to give Molly a hard time when she comes by to get your dinner order tomorrow.”
“I didn’t want to eat any of that crap the hospital serves.” He shrugged dismissively.
Maxi had been there when Molly had attempted to take the dinner order. Her first mistake was waking him up to ask him, her second was trying to make the bland dishes sound appetizing.
Maxi had mouthed an apology t
o the nurse out of her dad’s line of vision.
“Yeah, well I didn’t want to get up and come into my third twelve hour shift in a row after only getting three hours sleep thanks to my new neighbor working on his motorcycle all day. But I want a paycheck, so I did.” She held them out a little further. “So the real question is; do you want these puddings or not?”
Maxi saw that her dad tried to suppress a grin.
“That’s blackmail,” he countered.
“Yep. Blackmail class was right after stand-up, and it was advanced” Stephanie shot right back.
Maxi liked this girl. She liked her a lot.
“Fine. I’ll take the chicken and soup,” he conceded.
“Actually tonight you’re having the turkey burger with a side salad. I ordered it when I came in.” She corrected him as she handed him the pudding. “Tomorrow you can have the chicken and soup after you order it nicely from Molly.”
“Turkey burger?” Her dad’s face soured like he’d just bit into a lemon.
“Turkey burger.” She chirped happily at her dad before turning towards Billy and Maxi who’d quietly enjoyed the show. “What about you two, can I get you anything?”
“No, we’re good. Thanks.” Maxi appreciated the fact that Stephanie and all the nurses had continually checked on them too.
After promising to be back later, Stephanie waved before heading out.
“I like her a lot,” Maxi enthused after she left.
“Yeah, she’s a piece of work. And she’s single.” Her dad’s observation was directed at Billy.
Maxi felt her stomach drop. Which was ridiculous. She and Billy weren’t anything. They’d had sex once. They weren’t in a relationship. There was no reason that her dad shouldn’t be trying to set him up with a pretty nurse. No reason that he knew about anyway.
“She’s not really my type,” Billy said casually.
Please, please, please drop it, Maxi silently pleaded. This was not a conversation that she wanted to be witness to.
“Really?” Her dad didn’t drop it. “What’s your type?”
All He Wants Page 15