Ryann squeezed his hand, and croaked out, “Jeremy?”
Jeremy’s head shot up. “Ryann?” He smiled a dazzling smile, relief evident on his face.
“Luv?” Ryann’s mom rushed over.
Jeremy leaned up over her and brushed back her hair, “Hey.” He swallowed and brought his forehead down to hers, taking a deep breath. He leaned back and looked her in the eye. “How are you feeling?”
“Thirsty.” She smiled up at his gorgeous face, “Can I have some water?”
“Of course, hold on…” He reached over to get her cup of water, then helped hold up her head. “Open up, baby…take a small sip.”
She did.
“Ryann, we’ve been waiting for you to wake up, luv.” Her mom reached down and kissed her forehead, then smiled with relief. “I’ll go get the doctor.” She looked at Jeremy and winked, then left.
When she left, Ryann turned to Jeremy, whose eyes were glittering with unshed tears. She reached out her hand, and grabbed for his.
He looked terrified, and sat next to her on the bed, trying not to jostle her too much, and kissed her hand. She could see him swallowing...once...twice...trying to regain his emotion.
“I’m okay, Jeremy. I’m okay,” she said over and over, stroking his face, while he kissed her palm. He still hadn’t said anything, battling whatever demons were inside him. “I love you...I love you...” she kept whispering.
“Baby.” Pause. “God, you scared me to death...thank God you woke up.”
“I’m missing a few details in my head… Can you fill in the blanks?”
“I’ll tell you anything. What do you want to know?”
Before she could form a question, a tall good looking man came in with her mother, wearing a white doctor’s coat. He looked to be in his mid-thirties, and was a light skinned African American, with dark calm eyes.
“Well, hello there,” he said in his rich voice, smiling at her. “I’m Dr. Huntington. How are you feeling?”
“Good. Just a little tired. And thirsty.”
He reached for the cup, and Jeremy said, “I just gave her a little sip.”
“Good.” He spent the next few moments checking her pupils, and asking her generic questions.
“Do you remember how you got here?”
“I was just about to ask Jeremy some questions....was I shot?” She couldn’t believe she was even asking the question. It was like a movie.
“Yes. Why don’t I give you some of the medical highlights.” He paused. “You were shot, on your left side. The bullet didn’t hit any major organs, and passed cleanly through right below your ribcage. You’ve had a surgery to patch everything up, but you’re going to be fine.”
Ryann processed what he said. “I remember. It was Jennifer,” she said turning to Jeremy for confirmation.
He swallowed, then nodded.
“What happened to her?”
Jeremy looked at the doctor and her mom.
Ryann repeated her question. “What happened to Jennifer, Jeremy?”
He looked at her, “She’s dead, baby.”
Ryann paused until it sunk in, then she nodded, “Ok.” Pause. “It was Michael?”
Jeremy nodded.
“He’s okay?”
Jeremy nodded again, and kissed her hand.
“Thank God. And you’re okay?” she asked with a moment of panic.
He smiled softly, and stroked her cheek. “Yes, unless almost having a heart attack when I saw Jennifer aiming a gun at you counts for anything,” he mumbled, then seemed to be hit by what he said. He shook his head and closed his eyes to regain some control.
She squeezed his hand, and he looked at her.
“How did you get to the Institute? How did you know to come?”
“Manny…you hadn’t come out, and you didn’t bring your phone in with you, so he went up to the door and looked in, but couldn’t find the security guard. He called me. At first, I was completely confused because I thought you were in the house, but Manny started explaining, so Michael and I took his dad’s car and left immediately.”
Ryann asked in a whisper, “Did they kill him? The guard?”
“No, they tased him, then tied him up. He’s going to be fine.”
“That’s right. Jennifer told me that...I was so scared. She shot Armand…”
Jeremy nodded. “We heard you scream.” He was gripping her hand as if he never wanted to let her go. “No one is ever going to hurt you again, baby. I promise you that,” he said in a furious whisper.
“I’ll leave you all to visit,” Dr. Huntington said quietly. “Ryann, you’re a strong woman. You’re going to make a full recovery. It might take a couple of weeks, but you’ll be as good as new.”
Ryann thanked him profusely for helping her, and he left.
Riley leaned down and said to Ryann, “I’m going to let you and Jeremy catch up, luv, and start calling some folks.” She kissed her head. “My strong baby girl,” she said with a sniffle. “I love you so much.”
Ryann was crying a little too, and said, “I love you, too, Mom. It’s all going to be okay.”
Riley beamed. “Yes, it is. In fact, it’s all going to be wonderful. You two have a good visit.” She looked at Jeremy, then left the room.
Jeremy looked at her with such pain in his eyes. He was so quiet.
“Jeremy?”
He laid down next to her on her good side, being careful not to hurt her, and put his arm up over her head on the pillow, playing with her hair. His face was right next to hers, and he kissed her face softly. His eyes were closed.
“I’m okay, Jeremy. It’s going to be okay.”
“Ryann…Just give me a sec.” He lay there, breathing deeply, his lips on her face. After a moment, he said, “I have never been so scared in my life. I swear…when she shot you, I thought…” He didn’t finish.
“I’m here, baby. I’m right here, baby,” she cried. “I love you so much…I love you so much… All I kept thinking about was that I didn’t want her to take away this happiness that we found. That I would do everything in my power for you not to feel what I felt when I lost Brent. I was prepared to fight, but everything happened so fast…”
“You were perfect. You stayed alive long enough for us to get there. As soon as Manny called me, Michael and I left. We were there in about 10 minutes from when he called. At first, we weren’t even sure if anything was going on, but we knew that Jennifer hadn’t been seen all week, and neither of us wanted to take any chances. We kept Manny on the phone, and as he continued looking in the lobby, he finally saw the guard’s shoe peeking out from behind the desk. That’s when we started flying and Mike called the precinct. When we got there, we went in quietly, and the cops were just arriving. We heard the shot just as we walked in...and your scream...”
He got quiet.
She stroked his face, and whispered. “I’m so sorry. I can only imagine what was going through your mind. I shouldn’t have gone, or at the very least, I should’ve told you I was going. Our moms knew. I didn’t even think it would be a problem.”
“When I think that you could’ve taken the subway...then we’d never have known...God, Ryann.” He snuggled her face. She could feel his jaw tightening.
“I went to get...oh! My painting! Do you know if anyone found my painting?” She continued to touch his face and smiled, “I painted you something.”
He smiled back, and cleared his throat to stop the emotion from taking over his voice. “I know. The FBI thought it was somehow involved in some way, until they unpackaged it. When they saw your name on the front, they gave it to Mike. I was already on my way to the hospital with you.”
“I need to see Manny...and Mike. I need to thank them.”
“Manny is going to have the biggest raise of anyone in the universe.” Pause. “He’s blaming himself. He’s wishing he went in with you.”
“No. He did absolutely the right thing.”
“Yes, he did.”
They snu
ggled each other some more.
“Armand? Is he…?”
“He was still in surgery last I heard.”
Ryann sighed. “What a…crazy…thing.”
Jeremy took a deep breath, then said quietly, “Look, as soon as the FBI knows you’re awake, they’re gonna want to question you. Emily said she would be here for that, and I won’t be leaving your side either. I don’t care what they say. You have nothing to be worried about, but I just wanted you to know they want to talk to you about what happened.”
“Of course.”
“I need to talk to you before they come, because I have some things to say, and I need you to hear me.”
He was getting worked up about something, and Ryann looked at him concerned. “What’s wrong?”
“Listen, I know you’re an independent woman, I know you just bought your first place in the City, I know we’ve only been together for a few weeks, but when you were shot…when I thought that I lost you, I swear Ryann… I…,” he stuttered. “Look, I’m not going to take no for answer on this, ok?”
Ryann started to smile. “Well, how can I answer yes or no, when you haven’t asked me anything yet?”
Jeremy took a deep breath, and held her face, looking deep into her eyes, and said, “I want you to move in with me.”
Ryann looked at him shocked. Before she could respond, he continued in a rush.
“And when you’re ready, I’m making you my wife. But until then, I want you with me. I have tons of room, baby. We can give you the whole third floor. You can use your living room furniture to have your own sitting room up there, you can have your own studio… I just… I know this is fast.”
He mumbled a curse, and Ryann tried not to smile at his discomfiture, or his mandate that they were going to get married. He was absolutely adorable at the moment, in the midst of his sputtering.
“I don’t want to live without you, baby. I…can’t live without you. I need you with me. I need to go to sleep with you at night, and wake up with you in the morning. I want you with me, to protect you, to love you. And I know you want your independence…I know this, but I’ll give you whatever space you need. Please, baby. Just don’t say no.” Pause. He swallowed and closed his eyes. “Don’t say no, baby,” he whispered with feeling.
Ryann was so touched by his emotional, and ineloquent speech that her eyes watered up. She reached up and stroked his face.
She couldn’t believe she was about to say yes, but she was. Because being with him was so much more important to her than staunchly protecting her independence, or analyzing that they had only been together for a few weeks.
She loved this man, and they both knew from life experiences, that it was extremely precious and short. She wanted to start living her life with him right now. She didn’t want to wait.
Ryann lightly touched his closed eyes, then his cheek, and she leaned over to his lips. With her lips touching his, she whispered with a smile, “Ok.”
His eyes popped open. “Shit. Really? Are you sure?” he said, his eyes lit up with hope.
“Well, you did say you weren’t taking no for an answer,” she grinned. “And what kind of proposal was that, buddy?”
He let out a whoosh of air, and kissed her hard on the lips, then looked at her. “That’s right. I’m not taking no for an answer...and I was giving you fair warning about making you my wife. I’m not taking no for an answer there, either.”
“You didn’t even ask!” she laughed.
“That’s because if I ask, you would have the opportunity to say no. That’s why I’m giving you the warning first so you can get used to the idea.” His eyes twinkled.
“Well, then. I guess that’s settled,” she said in a wry tone, but inside she was doing her happy dance.
He let out such a sound of relief, she thought he was going to start crying.
“I thought you were going to fight me on this, and I didn’t want to lay down the law, but there was no way you were going to win this fight. I had all of my arguments ready.”
He paused, looking like he was about to say something. Then, “I talked to my mom about you...that night I met her for dinner before leaving for Chicago.”
Ryann swallowed down the lump in her throat.
He hesitated again, then began. “I told her about how you had me completely in knots. I knew I was in love with you then, and I knew that you were it for me. But I was trying to reconcile all of these new feelings with the old decisions I’d made for my life when I was younger.”
“What did your mom say?”
“She told me that she knew you were the one...at the showing. That it was time to man up, and live life fully...as my dad would want me to.” He looked at her, and stroked her face. “I want to start living fully now. I don’t want to wait.”
Ryann smiled a teary smile, and said, “I love you. Life is so very short, and the thought of us bouncing back and forth between places… I don’t know. Just being able to sleep with you every night in our own place together…sounds absolutely wonderful. Let’s start living fully now, Jeremy. I don’t want to wait, either.”
He kissed her passionately, then in an excited tone, he said, “I can’t wait for you to put your stamp on things. And I was totally serious about the third floor. You can have an art studio, and do whatever you want up there with the space.”
She snuggled closer with him. “Actually, this may work out perfectly… I told you Ayanna needed a place by the end of the month. I could rent her the apartment. It’ll be perfect for her.”
“Good. She’s been going crazy worrying about you. Everyone has. I’m sure your mom has called her by now.”
“What time is it?”
“About four in the morning.”
She yawned, then looked up at him. “Will you sleep with me?
“Baby, wild horses couldn’t drag me away.”
She snuggled into him, and fell fast asleep.
Epilogue
Three weeks later
Ryann closed the door to the last of the friends who had spent the past couple of hours hanging out in the living room of the brownstone. They had all come over to see her for an impromptu house warming party, but also to see how she was doing.
Jonathan and Ayanna hadn’t talked much, from what she’d observed, but they definitely looked at each other a lot. Now that Ayanna was going to be living two floors down from him, she wondered how their relationship would play out.
Emily steered clear of Michael, but he still charmed the socks off of all the other women in the room. Emily had finally moved into her apartment on the Upper West Side, and Tiffany decided she was going to be moving back to New York. She was staying with Janie, rather than Luke, while she looked for a place.
One of the best surprises was the visit from her doctor, Dr. Drew Huntington, who had been invited by Jeremy. She’d had her final appointment with him a couple of days before, where she had been given a clean bill of health. It was then when Jeremy had asked him to join them for their little gathering. They were both so grateful to him for the part he played in helping her, that they wanted to introduce him to all of the people who were important to them. Tiffany was babbling like crazy, so Ryann could only assume the man made her nervous, which put a smile on her face.
Both Ryann’s and Jeremy’s parents came for a bit, which was perfect timing since Ryann had finally had an offer on her car from when she’d put it on craigslist before moving to the City. Tony was delivering it to the buyer for her.
She had moved in with Jeremy the day after their discussion in the hospital, but all of her things hadn’t officially been moved over until the day before. Jeremy had hired a moving company to pack up her things and haul everything over, and Ayanna was due to move her own stuff into the apartment that next week.
The past three weeks had been busy for Ryann. She’d finally had her closing on her house in Cranford, she’d been talked to by the FBI, and in the days that followed, Michael had filled her in on the rest of th
e details. It had been all over the news. Armand had survived and was facing charges, the Institute had been closed for a few days after the shooting to clean up the crime scene. Ryann had slowly been making her way back to work the week before, much to Jeremy’s annoyance. And probably the best news of all, was the offer that the Institute made her for a permanent position at the end of the summer because of the incredible job she’d been doing. Ryann, who was afraid the offer came as a result of the shooting, had at first declined their offer, saying they should wait until the end of the summer as planned, but the board, and Paul, had insisted that they were ready to make the decision. She had accepted happily, and handed in her resignation to the Academy the following day.
She was finally feeling back to herself. Aside from the occasional itchiness in her side, she felt good. Which was why she had gone out to buy some new lingerie. She and Ayanna went and bought some a few days earlier... and that wasn’t the only stop they’d made, and come hell or high water, Ryann was determined to get some kind of reaction out of Jeremy.
She was praying that the sexy outfit, as well as what was under it, would spark their love life again. Although he had been incredibly sweet and attentive since the shooting, their sex life had been nearly non-existent. A few days earlier, she had asked him about it, and with a guilty look on his face, he apologized profusely, then touched her gently, taking his time and bringing her to orgasm…but it wasn’t the same.
She was missing him. All of him. He hadn’t once let her touch him intimately since the shooting. He was forever telling her that he didn’t want to hurt her that she needed to heal, that he didn’t want to be too rough.
Well, she was done. And she was planning on pulling out all of the stops. She was finally alone with the man she loved, and she was ready for the seduction to begin. And if she needed to play dirty, then the dirtier the better. Didn’t he teach her that once?
“That was nice,” she said, as she walked over to hug him. On her way, she passed her painting which was sitting on the easel he had made her. They had displayed it on one of the foyer tables he had made. She had given it to him a few days after the shooting, and they had both shared a beautiful moment together when she recounted the history of her first painting and the new significance of this second one. The moment became even more touching when he read her message to him on the back of the painting. He insisted that it be proudly displayed for all to see as they walked into their home.
Release (Iris Series) Page 38