-20-
“You sure do know how to get a girl’s attention. First, you throw yourself in front of my car and now, you get yourself stabbed.”
Gage opened his eyes. Tayler was standing near his feet. He was lying on a hospital bed, which he’d expected. It was either going to be a hospital bed or not waking up at all, but he’d made sure that if he died, he’d meet that fucker in hell.
“Fine.” She smiled. “You’ve got my attention.”
He tipped his head. “Come here.”
She moved to the edge of the bed but he shook his head and touched the space next to him. She climbed in and he pulled her into his side. His right side was completely wrapped and he was sure, had it not been for the drugs they were pumping into him, he’d be in a shitload of pain.
“I’m not hurting you, am I?” she asked.
“Last time I saw you, I thought I’d lost you,” he said. “Won’t happen again.”
“I know it won’t, baby.”
He glanced down. “What happened to the little girl?”
“Kendall? She had a minor concussion, but other than that, she’s okay. At least, physically. Children’s services came to take her. They’ve already contacted her extended family.”
They lay in silence. No matter how close to death he’d come, he hadn’t wanted to imagine never feeling this way ever again about this woman.
“See, I told you guys he’d be okay,” Julien’s voice rang out from the door. He entered, trailed by Mo and Giorgio with Ares ambling by Giorgio’s side. Though animals weren’t allowed back in the recovery room, Mo had still brought him along. There wasn’t a soul alive who would challenge Giorgio.
Ares hurried over to the bed and Tayler managed to pull him up onto the mattress, settling him between, and slightly on top of her and Gage. He wiggled and whimpered, and Gage gave him his customary scratch beneath his collar.
Mo gave Gage a careful hug before moving back to Giorgio’s side.
“Do you three plan to stay long?” Gage asked.
“Well, damn, you would think that you’d have a bit more compassion for friends who flew across the country for you,” Julien said with a smile. “By the way, Tayler, I’m Julien. You’ve met Giorgio, and the other guy was Dez.”
“Where is Dez?” she asked.
“Something important called him overseas.”
“Gage, we get that you want more alone time with Tayler, so I won’t stay long,” Mo jumped in. She flicked her thumb at Giorgio. “And you know this beast will be leaving with me.”
Giorgio didn’t stir.
“Since I’m fluent in Gage-speak, what he’s really saying is that you guys are great friends,” Tayler teased. “The greatest. He appreciates all of your help and doesn’t know what he would do without you.”
Mo and Julien laughed.
Tayler pointed to Giorgio. “Actually, I’m thinking that you’re probably already pretty fluent in Gage-speak.”
Giorgio still didn’t stir.
“Well,” Mo started, before they descended into the eerie silence that talking to Giorgio often brought. “We’ll go ahead and get on up out of here. By the way, Julien, my sister’s called me three times looking for you.”
“Shit.” Julien pulled his phone from his pocket and rushed out of the room. Mo sent them one last lingering look before she left. Giorgio followed.
“Is he like her personal bodyguard or something?” Tayler asked.
“Not quite,” Gage answered.
No one actually understood Giorgio’s fascination with Mo. All they knew was that when the two first met, it was the only time any of the men had ever seen Giorgio stop dead in his tracks. Giorgio was the immovable object that had met Mo, the irresistible force. Any union between them was sure to end in destruction.
“Have you ever been to the Sydney Opera House?” Gage asked.
“In Australia? No, I can’t say that I have,” Tayler replied. “Why? Have you changed your mind about where we should have our first date?”
It would be his first time setting foot back home ever since his family’s murder, but it would be different with her. Everything was different because of her.
“I thought you said you wanted Ethiopian,” he reminded.
“I did, so why’d you bring up the opera house? Second date?”
“No. The wedding.”
She smiled up at him. “Where will we live afterward?”
“Wherever you want,” he answered.
“How hard do you think it’ll be to sell the North Carolina house?”
“Sell it, turn it into a bed and breakfast…I’m sure we can think of something.”
She maneuvered until she’d found enough space between them for her to rest her head on his shoulder.
“I was thinking maybe five dates,” she said.
“Then, you’ll marry me.”
“Is that what you want?”
“Yes.”
Their lips touched. At that point, he didn't need any painkillers.
“On one condition,” she added. “One of those bikes is mine.”
“Thought you were going to ask for a ring.”
“Doesn’t the ring come standard with the proposal?”
“You’re asking for a lot. Maybe I should change my mind.”
She laughed and he pulled her in for a kiss that would have ended up with her naked and underneath him if it hadn’t been for the stitches and damned hospital bed.
“You’re making me quite randy, mate,” she said in her best Australian accent.
“Randy is what they say in the UK, Tayler,” Gage replied, smiling.
“You guys all sound the same.”
He faked another gasp. “You wound me, love.”
She giggled and managed to settle closer to his side. Not long after, the sound of Ares’ soft snores filled the room. They both looked at him, shook their heads, and fell back into their comfortable silence.
“Only angels save men from death,” Gage suddenly said.
The phrase had come from nowhere, and he hadn’t even realized that he’d remembered what his father had said to him, years ago, when they were on a fishing trip together in Exmouth out in west Australia.
In a moment of mental abstraction, his father had told him how his life had changed when he’d met his mother. How, when he’d realized that she was “it” for him, it dawned on him that he was in for some of the greatest moments of his life—moments that couldn’t be measured, and memories that would supersede mortality.
Tayler’s eyes filled and her mouth transformed into a beautiful curve. This smile topped all of the other ones. It told him everything that he needed to know. Everything that she felt.
“So, I’m an angel now?” she asked.
He swiped his thumb across her cheek. “Maybe.”
“An angel.” She laughed. “An angel and an assassin. I can only imagine what our kids will be like.”
Now, he was certain that he was in for some of the best moments of his life. This woman was incredible.
He never stood a chance.
Before You Go…
I hoped you enjoyed Gage and Tayler’s story. Although I introduced Gage’s group mates in this one, the story up next will be Kellen’s to finish out the Ethan, Tayler, and Kellen saga. Here is a snippet from Kellen’s story:
-----
The woman he wanted was right in front of him, standing across the street in the middle of a heavy late-night shower. Her hair was stuck to her face and her dress was equally as plastered. A pair of red pumps hung from the tips of her fingers as she stood in the middle of the parking lot outside the hospital. She was as still as an oil painting, and the matching red glare of her dress ignited the landscape like a wildfire blazing through a drought-ridden forest.
Kellen approached her, making his presence evident so that he didn’t startle her. Her wet brown skin glittered like diamonds as beams of moonlight hit the droplets. The dress was tight, date-night tight, and he sh
oved away an unnatural urge of jealousy when he thought about any man but him giving this woman the attention she deserved.
He’d assumed that he would eternally be relegated to seeing her at the Starbucks on the corner near his office where she worked as a barista. She would smile when saw him walk in, point to him, and then rattle off his order as he neared the counter: “a grande medium roast, nothing fancy, for the doc.”
She’d then write his name on the cup, adding a little heart at the end, and he’d been seconds away from asking her for her number until he saw it—another man with his name on his cup, the same heart punctuating the “Chris” written in her handwriting.
He wasn’t the man who stopped at coffee shops every single morning just to see a woman’s face, no matter how drop dead gorgeous he found her. But, she made him feel odd. Weird. Sixteen.
She made him…nervous.
He never got nervous, at least not since his balls had dropped and the braces had come off, but he found himself lapsing into a mangled mix of Spanish, English, and French whenever he tried to talk to her about something other than coffee. Sometimes, even just trying to say the words “good morning” came out as though the words had grown necks and were being choked to death.
Now, he was two feet in front of her and she still hadn’t wavered. The rain was nowhere near light, but she stood in the middle of it as though it was a brief afternoon shower.
“Hey, you okay?” he asked, extending his umbrella over her head. “Want to come inside?”
Her head slowly ticked to him in a robotic fashion. Mascara lines streaked her face, nowhere near potent enough to mar what he personally considered an excellent combination of attractive features.
Lightning crawled through the sky like electric spider webs. Suddenly, the lamps in the parking lot sparked and went out, blanketing them in thick darkness.
“I can’t believe…” she began, but then she started to choke as though the remaining words had somehow become lodged in her throat.
He would apologize later for what he was about to do, but he fitted his hands against the back of her knees and lifted her until she fell into his grasp. He raced towards the hospital doors and challenged inquisitive stares as he walked her through the lobby and up to his office.
Once inside, he fished one of his spare work shirts from the closet in the wall and handed it to her. Her movements were still mechanical, but she took the shirt from his hand and reached for the zipper on her dress, pulling it down. Then, she stepped out of the dress right in front of him and unhooked her bra.
By the time he turned around to give her some privacy, the soft orbs and mahogany areolas had already been imprinted by his optic nerve.
He waited a few moments before slowly facing her again. His shirt hung from her shoulders in a way that couldn’t have been more seductive even in his dreams. It was still unbuttoned, giving him a glimpse of the arcs of her breasts peeking from the edges, and a full view of her mons, sprinkled by a light dusting of curls.
She walked over to him, beautiful mascara-stained face and all, grabbed his hand and slid his finger between her legs. The wetness that he felt was definitely not from the rain outside.
“What do you want to do now that we’re alone?” she asked, her voice husky in a way that, of course, he would find sexy on this woman.
There she was, the woman that he wanted, virtually naked in front of him and sliding his finger closer to her entrance. So, he did the only thing he knew to do…
The End…
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
K. Alex Walker was born on the island of St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. She obtained a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from Florida State University, and a Master’s in Public Health from the University of South Florida, but writing is, and forever will always be her first love.
She is a hopeless romantic at heart and a classic introvert, which both prove to be a winning combination when people-watching from behind the screen of her laptop. She is the author of bestsellers, The Game of Love 1 & 2, and Fated. Her additional books include: A Very Special Christmas. One day, she'll hopefully be able to end this bio with: She lives in {insert city/country here} with her hubby and/or human child(ren), and furry child. If not, she will be requesting therapist services to ward off her parents’ ensuing depression.
Ways to connect with Alex:
Blog: http://www.kalexwalker.wordpress.com
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @kalexwalker
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mskalexwalker
Become a published author:
Jessica Watkins Presents is currently accepting submissions for the following genres: African American Romance, Urban Fiction, and BWWM Romance. If you are interested in becoming an author and have a complete manuscript, send a synopsis and the first three chapters to [email protected].
Angels & Assassins: BWWM Romance Page 23