and stubborn. She’d never let anything stop her from what she wanted.” I ran my hand over her arm. “I don’t think anything could ever get her down, not even a brain injury.”
Alicia smiled. “She’s a lucky woman to have a man like you in her corner.”
“She would do the same for me.”
Alicia picked up her iPad and headed for the door. “I’ll let the doctor know what’s going on. I’m sure he’ll be by soon.”
“Thanks.”
I studied Harley’s face. The bruises were beginning to yellow and the swelling had mostly receded. She was beginning to look like Harley again. The bandages on her arms had been reduced, the bandage on her head cut down to just a long swath that covered the healing laceration and the space where they’d inserted the subdural screw. Her hair was beginning to grow back already, a fine, blonde fuzz that poked out here and there, all over her bruised head.
If not for the cast on her leg and the arm that was still tucked into a sling, she might look like she was sleeping off a party gone bad. I slid my hand over her cheek, loving the familiar feel of it under my palm.
“You’re going to be okay, babe. You’re going to wake up and all of this is just going to be a bad dream.”
***
“My place or yours?”
She took hold of my tie and pulled me close against hers. “Which one is closest?”
“The car is just over there.”
She giggled, but with the way she was moving her hips against mine, I’m not sure she was joking. I buried my fingers in her hair and kissed her, a kiss that made all my intentions impossible to miss. She sighed, as she slid her hand over my jaw, her nails scrapping against the side of my face in way that sent shivers of pleasure down my spine.
I broke the kiss and turned her, propelling her forward as I rushed toward my rental car. I couldn’t touch her as I watched her climb into the passenger seat, afraid that if I did I would get us both arrested for indecent exposure.
I don’t know how she could think I didn’t want her. All I could think about was her. When I was in Los Angeles, I couldn’t concentrate on my work. I couldn’t remember what was happening in the meetings I was attending, or why we were even in that stupid conference room. All I wanted was to get back to her. All I did was count down the minutes until it was time to board a plane that would bring me back to her. And when I was here, all I wanted was to be close to her.
Touching her was everything. The few, chaste kisses we’d shared these last few months were the most delicious, pleasurable kisses I had known. It took every bit of willpower I had to keep my hands off of her. But I did it because I believed it was what she wanted. I still believed it. But now? Now that she was giving the green light? I couldn’t get her into that hotel room fast enough.
I don’t even remember the ride there. All I remember is the taste of her lips as the elevator door closed on the hotel lobby.
“Are you sure?” I asked as we danced across the hotel room, clothes falling as we tore them from each other’s bodies.
“I’m sure.”
I groaned, as I carefully pushed her down onto the bed. I leaned over her and studied her face, wanting to memorize every inch of it.
“I don’t want to know,” she said softly, as if answering a question I didn’t remember asking.
“Want to know what?”
“About the women you were with before me. I used to think it was important to know those things. But now…I don’t want to know.”
“Okay.”
“I just want you to always be mine.”
“I am yours, Harley. I have been since the moment I first saw you.”
***
“This will take some time,” Dr. Caliendo said for the third time. “The process is slow. And when she wakes, she may be confused. Disoriented.”
“Okay,” I said, as I watched him insert a needle into the catheter in her IV line.
“Don’t be surprised if she’s slightly combative when she starts to come out of it.