by Shae Black
“Elijah is going to get your breakfast, apparently he knows…” I stop in my tracks; I didn’t knock before entering and Marcus is holding the sheet away from himself examining his cock.
“What is this?” he asks.
“Uh…. If you have to ask, you must have really hit your head harder than I thought,” I snicker and close the door quickly. I’m a nurse after all, I’ve seen plenty of dicks, but I’ve taken special care not to look at his.
“No, this tube coming out of my cock, what the hell is it? Get it out!” he demands with horror. I smile and bite my lip to stifle a laugh and move closer for a better look. I’ve been avoiding this because he was unconscious but if he’s going to show me I’m going to look. Ok yea I am genuinely impressed, shit I’m glad I didn’t look before! I’ve seen a lot of naked men and all their glory parts, but this guy is absolutely spectacular. I look away and find his eyes full of fear about the catheter mixed with smug pride at my obvious reaction to his exposure. I know there is a standing order to remove the catheter when a patient becomes conscious so I ask, “Do you want it removed? I’ll get your nurse if you want me to?” I’m hesitant and trying very hard not to look at what that V has been mysteriously pointing at for eight days.
“You are my nurse, I want you to do it,” he says.
“Well actually, there’s a day nurse assigned to you right now,” I inform him, but he doesn’t let me go any further with that excuse.
“No! Only you. I do not want anyone else, just you…” he barks, with his deep mature male voice and the attitude of an astonishingly spoiled child.
“I’ll take it out.” I agree against my better judgment. “But I can’t be here all the time Marcus, you’ll eventually have to let me go and accept help from another nurse.” Am I really going to do this? Such a bad idea Imani, you shouldn’t do this and you know it! But I can’t say no to this man so I retrieve a pair of gloves from the box at the bedside and a syringe out of the drawer, his eyes widen almost comically at the sight of the syringe.
“What is that?” He scoots away from my edge of the bed. “You are not going to inject me with something are you?”
“No, there’s a balloon of fluid at the end of that catheter inside of you holding it in, you really want me to deflate that before I take it out, trust me,” I reassure him, and his face relaxes slightly as I turn and put my gloves on, silently wishing someone would reassure me.
“You look really sexy in that outfit with your gloves on, looking at my cock,” he says.
“I’m a nurse, this is not my first rodeo, so try to get your mind out of the gutter,” I snap, but I’m feeling like I’m in a porn flick right now, and more than a little apprehensive. I have to really touch him to do this, like touch him, touch him. But he’s awake and more than consensual so it’s ok. His eyes follow my gloved, shaky hands to the catheter, I attach the syringe and let out the fluid from the balloon, and as carefully and clinically as possible I grasp his thick cock at the base and ease the catheter out slowly while he inhales sharply. Unbelievably he’s at half-mast as I drag my eyes up his eight pack until we are staring at each other. Before I can move to throw the catheter away he reaches up taking my face in both hands he pulls me down to kiss me quickly and softly on the lips. When he moves my face away from his he smiles and whispers, “That hurt.” I jerk back, speechless and breathless. That was so inappropriate, not to mention unexpected; I was taking out his catheter for God’s sake, what a time to make a pass! And we can scratch gay off the list of questions…for sure.
“Uh…. sorry, I guess I figured you’d know it wouldn’t be comfortable,” I say tossing the supplies into the trash can. “What was that?” I ask still in shock.
“A kiss Imani, I can familiarize you further if you come back over here, I’m sure you’ve been kissed before.”
“But wh…. why…?” I stutter.
“Because you were finally close enough to me, and with you holding my dick in your hands, it seemed as good a time as any.” He’s so cocky, pun intended.
“Oh…” The earth shifts under my feet; my lips tingle where his perfect mouth touched mine and my heart flutters like a million butterflies in my chest. There’s a knock at the door and I realize he’s still exposed, and aroused. I rush to his side and cover him with the sheet, blanket and comforter attempting to disguise his growing erection. He’s smirking all the while, eyebrows lifted mischievously, “What’s wrong, nurse Imani, don’t want to share?”
“No.. I mean Yes…I mean oh! Just cover yourself will you, that could be anybody!” I sputter. He knows he’s embarrassing me and he likes it…
“Come in!” he calls and Elijah enters the room with a bag from Dominus…he went all the way to the restaurant and back already? It doesn’t seem like a place that would be open for breakfast. I wonder who cooked for him at this early hour.
“Your usual Sir and this,” Elijah drops a white gold chain with a rather large crucifix hanging from it into Marcus’s open palm before automatically arranging the food on the bedside table, for all the world like he really is his wife. The food smells delicious; an omelet made with only egg whites, bacon and fresh squeezed orange juice. Somebody who knows his preferences cooked for him. My stomach growls loudly, and both men look up at me.
“Sorry, I need to go home and shower and get something to eat,” I say. A hot blush creeps up my neck while I gather up my purse; my damn stomach did that on cue I swear it!
“No, Imani….sit. Eat with me, you can’t leave…. do you work tonight?” Marcus asks, trying unsuccessfully to keep the alarm out of his voice. Elijah looks up from the food clearly taken aback by Marcus’s response to my leaving.
“I’ll step out,” he says as he exits the room abruptly.
“I don’t work tonight. I’m not scheduled for two more nights,” I inform him. His eyes dart around the room nervously, his hands clutch the sheets again, and a fine layer of perspiration forms on his forehead.
“Are you ok?” No response. I move to sit on the edge of the bed and pry his fingers from the sheet so I can hold it between both of mine. “Marcus…can you hear me? Do you know where you are?” I ask. Slowly he turns to look at me. “Imani?”
“Yes, where did you go just now?” I ask.
“Where is Megan?” he responds, the same question he asked me last night.
“Is that who was with you in the accident?”
“Yes…I told you that last night?” I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding, God I’m so relieved that he remembers.
“Yes, you did. Was she your friend?”
“Yes…a friend, she worked for me in the club.” he answers, no emotion on his face. No other way to do this, he needs to know she’s dead. “Marcus, the passenger in the car with you didn’t make it,” I say softly, and his hand grips mine so tight it’s painful but I don’t complain.
“I know.”
“You do, so you remember the accident?”
“No, not exactly but I remember her floating next to me in the car, in the water- she was already dead, her eyes were open and so empty. She just stared at me….”
“Oh Marcus I’m so sorry, do you need me to call your sister for you, maybe having some family here with you would help?”
“No,” he snaps, looking past me to stare at the wall.
“You know Elena’s been coming to sit with you every day,” I say. “I could hear her, I wish she hadn’t come.”
“Why? She really seems to love you. She sat all day, every day by your side and made sure you had the best doctors, she even requested that only I take care of you if I was working.”
“She wasn’t here because she loves me, she was here because she fears me, and she knows if she were to let anything happen to me she would be in a lot of trouble.” He’s looking at me now full of sorrow as he continues. “She deserves everything I have and more, and if I die she will get it all. I made sure of it.” I sit, stunned and confused. “Why do you think she fears you,
I didn’t get that feeling at all.”
“You don’t know anything about us Imani, believe me when I tell you Elena is scared of me, I’m not saying any more about it, we’re done with this subject.”
“Has anyone called to tell her you’re awake?” I ask.
“I don’t know, you are the only person besides Elijah I have spoken to, and the hostess at Dominus when I asked for Elijah. Do not call her, I do not want her here,” he orders, narrowing his eyes at me with a stern look.
“I promised her I would.”
“I don’t care, I do not want her called, do you understand?” His heart rate is accelerating.
“Ok, ok, I won’t call her but I hope you’ll reconsider.” A light knock at the door interrupts us. “Come in!” Elijah pokes his head around the door.
“Can I get you anything else sir?” he asks.
“No, just email me the paperwork we discussed and the schedules for the Seattle and Miami locations, you can go now.”
“Yes sir, I’ll send them right away.” Elijah closes the door and he’s gone.
“I need to leave too,” I say reluctantly. I have his full attention now as he reaches out to grasp my hand again.
“Come back.,” he says his bright green eyes darkening. “Please?” he hesitates, “Yes please come back.”
“Since you asked me nicely I will,” I tease, but then seriously I ask. “Why did you ask for me when you woke up?” The question has been nagging at me all night.
“I don’t know…I just needed you,” he admits.
“You needed me? But you hadn’t even met me…” His brow wrinkles into a frown. “I don’t fucking know. I just woke up and I needed you. I have been listening to you but it was so dark and I couldn’t respond, I was paralyzed. I knew you were there though and when I could finally move and speak all I could think of was your voice…your touch, it was all I could remember.”
I don’t know how to respond to his outburst of honesty. Silence hangs between us and my heart constricts; he seems so alone right now, and it’s then I realize he is alone. He has no family other than his sister, whom he has some serious problems with. He has employees that are petrified of him, and no girlfriend or wife at his bedside. Marcus Castillo is completely alone in the world, and I have a feeling he’s made it this way on purpose. Until now that is…until his mind wasn’t in control of his body; until me…
Chapter 9
I sit on the edge of Marcus’s bed and stroke his arm while I hold his hand. He tenses slightly staring at our hands as he caresses his thumb over my knuckles slowly, his touch burning like fire and electricity combined. How am I going to get out of here and home to shower, I can hardly make myself leave the room to get him breakfast, let alone go all the way home. Marcus is looking at me with anticipation in his eyes; the flashing emotions that continuously cross his face worry me.
“Marcus, I’m going to try and run home to shower and eat, but I promise I’ll come right back.”
“Do you have to? What do you mean by try?”
Ok decision time- do I let him know how he affects me? Like a super nova, exploding in space, outshining the entire galaxy? Should I explain why it’s been an effort to leave his side every second since I first lay eyes him in that bed? Or should I keep my heart safe and stay quiet? I’ve never had feelings like this before, and for a virtual stranger at that! It’s ridiculous that I’m having trouble tearing myself away. Men have pursued me throughout my life, and I’ve shot them down immediately every time, even if my body reacts positively my mind rejects anything more than friendship from a man. Marcus unknowingly stormed the stone wall around my heart demolishing it thoroughly. Maybe that was the key, the slow progression of my introduction to him while he was unconscious. I was allowed to explore his physical presence without fear, with no response or judgment. I don’t know how it happened but it did, so I plunge in feet first and admit my feelings….
“It’s hard for me to leave you, it has been since I first saw you in that bed, so when I say try, I mean it takes a conscious effort to go.” So there it is, let’s see what he does with it. He’ll probably think I’m a needy, clingy nutcase.
Marcus, props himself on one elbow letting go of my hand. Shit, this isn't good, but it’s only for a moment before he reaches out to tuck a long strand of loose hair behind my ear. He feathers the back of his fingers down my cheek, resting his hand right above my breast. My heart stops beating, I don’t think I’m breathing…. “I do not want you to go, I can’t explain it, I don’t know a thing about you, but I am drawn to you. I realize you cannot hold vigil at my bedside, but I need you to come back today, soon if you can…. Please,” he says please like its foreign and painful, but he said it. Breathe Imani, shit my heart is pounding so hard he must hear it. But he feels the same way, or at least it sounds like it. Relief spreads through my body, warm and comforting.
“I’ll be back in an hour, one hour, I promise.” I hold up one finger for emphasis. Being a nurse I know that it eases a patient’s anxiety if you give them a specific time that you will return. Wrinkling his brow he bites that sexy, full bottom lip for a long moment he finally concedes.
“Ok, an hour- one, I do not want that other nurse giving me a bed bath.”
I smile wide and giggle, “Don’t worry, you won’t get a bath unless it’s from me.”
“All right, go! The sooner you go, the sooner you will come back to me.”
“So now your pushing me out the door huh?” I tease, his face darkens and I realize that was not the best choice of words.
“I’m kidding, just kidding,”
“I know, hurry up,” he commands, and something strange and possibly insane in me makes me happy to comply. He smooth’s his hand from where it’s been resting over my wildly beating heart to the swell of my breast, down to my waist before he nudges me up. I rise from the bed and back out of the room closing the door with a soft click after one last look at him. I scan the hall in both directions before I make a beeline for the elevator to avoid a new onslaught of questions from Courtney.
When I step out of the hospital I feel like I’m emerging from a thick fog…the Marcus fog… I check my phone for the first time since leaving the club last night. Fourteen missed calls and ten texts good lord. All of them are from of the girls but most from Lana. Where the hell did you go? Who woke up? Imani!!! Answer me!! And on and on- I shoot a quick group text back to them; I’m fine, don’t worry, it was a patient at work sorry, I’ll call you later. There, I pray that appeases Lana, I can’t talk about any of this right now, I don’t even know what the hell I’d say. Uh yea, this crazy gorgeous patient I’ve been flirting with while he’s been in a coma for eight days woke up and decided he couldn’t live without me so I had to go! Even thinking it makes me feel insane. I check around me for strangers while I walk to my car, a habit I’ve perfected after ten years of looking over my shoulder. I press the button on my key fob to unlock the doors and hop in quickly re-locking immediately before heading home. My anxiety stems from knowing one of my kidnappers is still out there…somewhere living with the knowledge that I could identify him. My one saving grace is the reconstructive surgery on my face, I pray he wouldn’t recognize me if he saw me today. The attack was so damaging that I had to have plastic surgery to eat, speak or even breathe properly.
The morning is brisk and my entire body is covered with goose bumps when I finally unlock the door to my apartment. Shower…I really need a nice warm shower; sitting in a hospital chair in club clothes all night has left me feeling grimy and sore. After a much shorter shower then I’d like and quickly braiding my wet hair I throw on some jeans, a cashmere sweater and comfy Sperry’s. Heels are definitely out for a while, twelve hours in stilettos has done a number on my poor feet. It’s been forty minutes when I grab my purse and dash out the door, I only have twenty minutes to prevent another meltdown. As irrational as it is I know in my bones that he will lose it if I’m late. I gave him a specific time so he wouldn’t
panic and I have to be punctual or security will be getting their morning workout in room eight.
Courtney stops me on my way to Marcus’s room. “Wow, you left and came back already? You don’t work tonight? And it’s only noon anyway.” Oh god, how can I explain what I’m doing here when I don’t even know myself? I go with the truth, or at least a partial truth, “He asked me to come back. Did anybody call his sister last night?” I ask.
“Yea, I think Sheila did, no answer though.”
“And she hasn’t been by today either?”
“Nope, which is weird too because she’s always here at nine.”
“Did Sheila leave a message?”
“Yea I think so, why?”
“Oh nothing, I just wanted to make sure she knew he was awake, I promised her I’d call right away but it was kinda hectic last night and I wasn’t on duty,” I lie. I’m really just curious about why Marcus said not to call her.
“I think they are talking about moving him to a regular floor now that he’s not critical anymore,” Courtney offers.
“Oh…that’s great,” I say with absolutely no enthusiasm; if he leaves my floor someone else will be taking care of him, and now I’m the one panicking.
“I better go see how he is.”
“Ok, Traci is his nurse today if he needs anything.”
“Ok.” I work my way down the bustling hall to his room, and when I enter he’s sitting up in bed with his laptop on his bed side table dark rimmed reading glasses propped on his head and various papers organized in neat piles around him. He looks up from concentrating and I see pure relief in those bright green eyes of his. The connection between us is undeniable and immediate, I approach him casually as if we’ve been friends forever and make myself at home draping my coat over the back of the chair next to his bed.
“You came back,” he says softly.
“I said I would.”
“You look beautiful, I like your hair braided, and actually I’d love to pull it.” His eyes darken with lust.