Sweet Seduction Sacrifice

by Nicola Claire

  "Sweetheart," he said softly. "He might be out of your life legally, but he sure as hell is not out of your life for good yet."

  The room fell silent as Dominic's softly spoken words sunk into my brain.

  Brett. I win one battle, only to face the rest of the war stretching out before me. And from what I'd seen of my loser ex so far, it wasn't going to be nice.

  Chapter 29

  I Was Thinking Of Not A Hell Of A Lot

  Everyone stayed for another hour, long enough to keep me company, catch me up on Sweet Seduction business and crack a few jokes to make me laugh. Nothing beats the knowledge that you have good friends. When your confidence has been knocked to such a degree as Brett has knocked mine, you grasp any pick-me-up available. I laughed with my friends and parents and then by the time the hour ran out, I was yawning and blinking away an urgent need to sleep.

  "Come on," Dad announced to the the room at large. "She's done well for her first day awake, let's let her get some rest."

  Katie and Kelly both took turns dropping kisses on my cheeks and giving me much needed hugs and then they left. And Dad started pulling on Mum's jacket sleeve, trying to lead her out the door.

  "What are you doing, Joe?" she exclaimed loudly, making me jerk awake as sleep had almost claimed me completely.

  "Taking you home, Cher. Dominic will look after her."

  "But..."

  Dad interrupted. "Home," he said forcefully.

  I blinked at his tone, one he usually reserved for wayward teenagers at the high school he teaches at, but rarely used on Mum. Mum required more of a cajoling, gentle hand, one which Dad was particularly astute at giving.

  Having woken up again from near sleep, I caught the handshake Dad gave Dominic, before he pushed Mum out the door. It left a completely settled feeling deep down inside. My father had accepted Dominic and for that split second, watching the two men shake companionably in my hospital room, I felt at peace.

  "Sleep, sweetheart," Dominic whispered in my ear, making me realise time had elapsed and he'd made it to my bedside without me realising he was on the move. "I'll be right here." I snuggled down into the starchy sheets and did just that.

  Sometime later, having had several minutes or longer of a fitful sleep, I heard voices out in the hall, but couldn't find the energy to fully wake in order to decipher them. My body had reached that point where nothing but rest would suffice. The voices dimmed and then vanished and what felt like a split second later, I felt Dominic slide onto the bed at my back and wrap his tall frame around me. His heat and the familiar smell of his cologne and him, did wonders for my aching body and exhausted mind.

  I started to drift off to deeper slumber immediately, but managed a half murmured, half slurred, "Won't you get in trouble for sleeping on my bed?"

  "I have an understanding with Susan."

  "Susan?"

  "Your night nurse," he replied, nuzzling his face into my hair.

  "Mmmmm," I said and nothing else for several seconds, then clawing out of the deeper depths of sleep I was heading into, I added, "What understanding?"

  Dominic squeezed me gently, lay a kiss on my temple and then whispered in my ear, "That I need you and therefore need to be here."

  It took several long moments for me to pick through the words he'd spoken. To realise it hadn't been that I need him here, but that he needed to be here. I might have managed to decipher the sounds he made for words, but further meaning would have to wait, as sleep finally claimed me and wouldn't let me go until the next day.

  Voices woke me again. My nurse from yesterday and Dominic, whispering, but it didn't matter. My body had gained all it would from sleep for now - a remarkably deep and sweet sleep for a hospital bed - and now wakefulness was unavoidable.

  "The doctor will be around shortly to do one final check and then you can take her home, Mr Anscombe."

  "Good," Dominic murmured.

  "The dressings on her wrists will need changing daily for the next week," the nurse added.

  "I have a private nurse who will attend to those," Dominic interrupted her, making me jerk fully awake at those words.

  "That's brilliant," the nurse replied. "Keep them dry, so plastic coverings for the bath. And she will need a lot of bed rest. Recovering from something like this takes time and the body uses sleep to accomplish this. She will tire easily, but with a good diet, calm environment and plenty of rest, she should be back on her feet in about a week."

  "She'll be well taken care of," Dominic assured her.

  "I'm sure she will," the nurse said softly, a hint of a smile in her voice. "Oh, one more thing, in case the doctor forgets to mention it," the nurse added from further away, I was guessing beside the door to the room, "she's been unconscious for two days so any normal medication she takes will have lapsed."

  "Medication?" Dominic asked. "I'm not actually sure if she takes any, did you obtain that information from her GP?"

  "Ah, yes." The nurse sounded less certain now.

  "What medication then?" Dominic asked in his lawyer voice - no nonsense, give it to me straight.

  "I'll leave that up to Ms Cain, Mr Anscombe. Just remind her that she has missed two or more days and it will change the efficacy of the drugs."

  "Very well," Dominic said, but I noted a measure of tension in his voice. I'd been around him enough to pick up on the nuances now.

  Something about me taking medication had alarmed Dominic, but considering the only drug I took was for contraception, his reaction seemed a little off. I suddenly wondered if he had a problem with The Pill. Maybe he was Catholic? But in today's society and with a man like Dominic Anscombe, I couldn't picture contraception not being vital in any relationship he undertook. Unless he had a swarm of mini-Dominics running around the place that he hadn't confessed to.

  Which brought all sorts of mixed emotions to mind, like past relationships that he would always be tied to, weekend visits from his daughter or son. Crazy ex-partners with custody issues taking a disliking to the new step-mother in his house. And he hadn't even asked me if I was protected when we had sex, it was all on, not a moment spared for possible pregnancies that could occur.

  I began to realise I didn't really know this man at all. Clearly he was lackadaisical about contraception and had a problem with The Pill. I bit my bottom lip as I tried to pretend I was still asleep, allowing myself time to think this through. Did I just come out and tell him the nurse was talking about my contraceptive pill? Or did I keep it to myself, in fear of him flying off the handle that I was on The Pill at all?

  "I know you're awake, sweetheart," Dominic rumbled off to the side.

  "Mm-hmm," I said, still pretending I was just waking up.

  "The doctor will be here soon," he added. "Do you want me to help you to the bathroom?"

  I let a breath of air out on a rush and opened my eyes to find him sitting in a chair beside the bed. His head was at the level of my face, his blue-blue eyes staring directly into mine.

  "I do need to pee," I admitted, feeling a blush run up my cheeks. "But I can wait for the nurse."

  "I've sent her away. I'll help you," he answered matter-of-factly, already standing and starting to pull the blankets back off my body.

  At some stage the nurse had removed my IV and line, so I was no longer attached to a pole, which would make manoeuvring into the bathroom a whole lot easier. I let Dominic help me upright, knowing I couldn't argue my way out of this with him. And really, he'd seen me naked, done unquestionably delicious things to my body, helping me to the bathroom was hardly a big thing.

  I took a good look at him as he slipped an arm around my body and held on tightly to my hand, bringing me to a standing position with ease. His jacket and tie were off, and his shirt was a little creased from having slept in it, but otherwise you wouldn't have known he'd spent the night sharing a semi-small hospital bed. He looked refreshed, with a slight stubble across his cheeks which only made him seem more gorgeous to my eyes. I lifted my free
hand up and absently ran a finger over the bristly tips and around to his chin. I hadn't realised what I was doing until I noticed we'd stopped moving. I flicked my eyes up to Dominic's, he was smiling down at me, a warm look on his face.

  "Sweetheart," he said softly. "You are adorable."

  I bit my lip and ducked my head, then heard him make that cough-which-could-have-been-a-laugh sound at my side. With a small squeeze of my shoulders, he helped me the rest of the way into the attached bathroom. Once there he got me in a position where I could manage on my own and then left me to my own devices - thankfully - carefully pulling the bathroom door to, but not shutting it entirely.

  I sighed, knowing he'd left it open in case I needed a hand, but peeing with him right there was harder than I thought it would be. By the time I finished my embarrassing business and washed my hands and face, then made it back to the room, the doctor was already there.

  He did a quick assessment, asked a few questions and repeated the nurses instruction that any medications I was on had been missed while I was here, and to bear that in mind should the urge arise.

  I raised my eyebrows at him on that one, he just offered a fatherly, knowing smile, his eyes flicking to Dominic and back to me as if to say, need I say more? I bit back a laugh and thanked him and then we were free to go. Dominic watched the exchange impassively from the side.

  The hospital provided a wheelchair for Dominic to push to the front of the building where his car was already waiting. I felt a little ridiculous being pushed, but walking would have been a nightmare, I was sure - and have taken ten times as long.

  After settling me into the car and climbing in himself, we pulled away from the hospital and I let a long breath out in relief. No one likes hospitals, I was looking forward to getting home. And then I realised it wasn't my home we were going to, but Dominic's. I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about that.

  "So, a couple of things," Dominic said casually. I flicked a glance towards him and noted the line of his jaw was nothing near casual. "Firstly, Nick has advised that Elliott has disappeared."

  "Disappeared?" I asked, sucking in a breath.

  "Yes, left the country it would seem. Word from Nick's meeting with King last night is, they have sighted him in Sydney and are following up leads there."

  "This is good," I said, relief and a sense of joy washing through me, even as I recognised that Dominic's jaw was still tight. "What else?" I asked, quelling my sudden elation at having the problem of Brett finally resolved, in order to be ready to face what Dominic said next.

  "The medication you take?" That’s all he said, expecting me to fill in the blanks. And it had absolutely come from left field. Nothing at all to do with Brett. He'd said all he wanted to say about that, something that I felt we should have been celebrating, not just sweeping to the side to deal with this. And I did know what this was. Dominic's dislike of contraceptive drugs.

  "Nothing for you to worry about," I shot back, searching for some way to change the topic, to deflect him from it, anything at all.

  "Everything to do with you is something for me to worry about," he answered curtly.

  I bit my lip and stared out the window.

  "Are you going to answer me, Genevieve?" Not that voice.

  "Really, I don't know what the fuss is," I said still staring out the window, but now my hands were wringing in my lap.

  I felt like this was going to be big. The thing that made me realise I'd made a huge mistake. That Dominic would turn away from me, where he hadn't because of my loser ex, my choice of being on a contraceptive pill would be what did it in the end. I didn't want that to happen. I'd finally made the choice that I wanted him, that I'd give him all of me, that I'd see where this led us, despite my fucked up ex and his tendency to screw with me.

  I'd finally decided all of that and even Brett was no longer an issue, clearly choosing the coward's way out, but now everything would be destroyed before it even got started.

  "I like to know what drugs you are consuming, so I can make any allowances that need to be made," he said in a low voice, each word bitten out as though it pained him.

  "Why would you need to make allowances?" I demanded, not understanding why he was so uptight about all of this.

  "Certain drugs have certain side effects that should be monitored. And then there is the chance you stop taking them. If I know the drug, I'll be able to see the signs and circumvent any decline from under-medication."

  "Under-medication?" I asked numbly.

  "You've missed two days, so I would assume there would be some fallout for that. I'd like to know what I'm in for over the next week."

  "What you're in for?" Oh God, I was repeating his words. My mind was shutting down and any minute now my mouth would engage.

  "Yes, so are you going to tell me, or should I get the nurse I've arrange to do a blood test so I can find out that way?"

  "You wouldn't?" I queried, shocked he'd go to this extreme all for The Pill.

  "I'd prefer not to, but, Genevieve, I need to know." And the way he said it, sounded like he really did. As though he was desperate to know, as though if he didn't know, things would be really, really bad - for him.

  "I don't understand," I said, because quite frankly this was over the top as far reactions went to contraception. At least in my world it was.

  "What is there to understand!" he almost shouted, which in the small confines of the Jag was shocking, to say the least. I jumped, grabbed hold of the door handle for support, hurt my wrist in the movement, but made sure I didn't show any signs of pain when I stared at him. Showing weakness didn't seem like a good idea right now.

  "Hundreds of thousands of women take it," I said, numbly. "Maybe millions, I don't know. But why would you have such a problem with it? I just don't understand," I semi-repeated.

  "I doubt whether that many people take the exact same drug as you," he said quietly.

  "Well, similar ones, maybe manufactured under different names, but all doing the same thing I'm sure," I pointed out. "It is the twenty-first century after all. Women are allowed to look after themselves."

  "I have no qualms about you looking after yourself. On the contrary, I want to help. That's why I need to know what medications you take so I can monitor that they are working or not. I've lived through this before, Genevieve. Have you forgotten Caroline?"

  Oh, hell. Did Caroline accidentally - or purposely - forget to take her contraception? Did she try to trap him with a pregnancy? She'd done some pretty drastic things, it would make sense that she'd try the old basic get the man with a baby trick.

  "I'm not Caroline," I said stunned, he'd compare us. "I'd never try to trap you."

  He blinked. "Trap me? Caro didn't trap me, she just tried to hold on too tight and in a dangerous fashion. Because her medication failed. Her behaviour was entirely due to under-medication, or false medication, something I do not want happening to you."

  Caro? Oh, I really didn't need to hear his nick-names for her. And what the hell?

  "Under-medication would lead to only one result," I pointed out, crossing my arms over my chest. "And I might point out that you're just as responsible as me on that one. Did it even occur to you to check before we did anything? If I hadn't been on medication - as you call it - you would have been equally as to blame if we produced that one result!"

  "How is it my responsibility what drug you take? I can hardly help you, or remind you to take it, if I don't know you're on it to begin with," He sounded angry now. His hands were clasped tightly around the steering wheel, his knuckles were actually turning white with the death grip he had going on. "Which is why, sweetheart, I ask you now, what medication are you on?"

  The sweetheart was emphasised, making me cringe at his tone. He could be scary when he got going. I was sure he'd frightened a few of his client's ex's into giving up more of their share of a relationship's assets, with that look he wore right now.

  "You're a jackass, you know that?" my mouth advised. "W
here the hell do you get off having a go at me for looking after myself? For being a responsible adult? I don't want any mistakes following me around for the rest of my life. And you know that's what it would mean, because if it happened, I wouldn't walk away from it. I'd face my responsibilities head on, but it wouldn't be easy. I run my own business, I have a massive mortgage and huge overheads being located in the CBD and especially High Street. So bringing someone else in to that would be really hard, but I would, you know. Because it's not their fault that I forgot to take my pill or that the guy I had sex with didn't wear a condom. But even saying that, I have never forgotten to take it. Not once since I was eighteen and I started on contraception because I had a steady boyfriend and I knew things were getting serious and I was just always one of those girls. You know, the type that takes precautions. I even made him wear a condom just to be safe. Who wants a kid at eighteen? I didn't and even now I'm twenty-eight, I'm not sure I'd be ready. I guess I could do it, but I'd only consider it if I found the right man, if I knew things were going to be forever. It never crossed my mind to have a child with Brett strangely enough. I guess subconsciously I knew things weren't going to last. So, I've missed a couple of days of taking The Pill, sue me, it's not as though I was conscious enough to keep a tab on my blister-packet. I think your reaction is completely unjustified. Besides, after this little discussion, you can kiss sex right out the window, mister. It'll take a month for the pill to be effective again, so I'm abstaining for that entire length of time. Screw you! Or not, as the case may be."

  I hadn't realised until I'd spat all of that ridiculous diatribe out, that we'd pulled over to the side of Tamaki Drive, the sea rolling in on my left, Dominic sitting sideways in the driver's side watching me with this strange expression on his face. Tender with a dollop of amusement and a little relief thrown into the mix.

  "What?" I demanded, arms still crossed over my chest. I'd turned to face him as well, so the only thing separating us was the gear shift.

  "I'll tell you what, my lovely," he said softly, reaching over and wrapping a hand around the back of my neck to pull me a little closer towards him, "I thank God that you have an adorable run-away mouth, that clears things up in half an hour instead the several that, from my experience, is more the norm." He pulled a little more firmly and my arms uncrossed to allow my hands to rest on his chest for support as his grip was making me top heavy towards him. "I thank my lucky stars that you walked into ADK when I was running late that morning, or I would have never fallen for you the moment my eyes met yours."