by Dale Mayer
“The navy should be on it themselves,” Mason said. “What’s the point of having guards if they let an orderly in who kills their patient and leaves, with nobody the wiser?”
“That’s half the problem with security outside the room,” Axel said. “Anything that happens inside the room, they don’t even know about.”
*
Finally back in her apartment, though not exactly on the time schedule he’d planned, and hiding the fact that his head was pounding, Axel, with Baylor at his side, quickly checked out her apartment, then helped her inside and got her settled in the living room. He sat down beside her and said, “Sounds like takeout for dinner, huh?”
“If that means ordering in, yes,” she said, “because I won’t be going anywhere to take anything out.”
He chuckled. “And I’d like a good whiskey, but I don’t dare with my head.”
“I can’t believe you went back into that hospital,” she cried out. “That’s insane.”
“Well, once you mentioned it, I knew you were right, and I had this fainthearted idea that maybe we could catch him.”
“Well, you didn’t,” she said, “and it was pretty foolish in the first place.”
He just rolled his eyes at her. Baylor came and stood in front of them. “I feel like I should stay too.”
“We’ll be fine,” Axel said. “Honestly, we’ll be okay here.”
“You’ve got my number,” he said. “Check in for the next couple hours. I’m a little worried about that head.” He turned to look at Ally. “That head injury is nothing to be ignored.”
“I hear you,” she said, studying him and suddenly worried. “Maybe he should go to the hospital.”
Axel snorted and said, “Like hell. I’m not going to the hospital.”
“Why not?” she challenged. “You made sure I went.”
“You also had gunshot wounds, a shattered leg, and a serious head injury that required stitches,” he said in exasperation. “I’m fine.” But he stood up, walked over to Baylor, and said, “Any chance you could make a food delivery?”
“Is that all you think about?” she cried out.
He turned and looked at her and said, “Yeah, when I’m hurt, I want food.”
“Absolutely,” Baylor said. “What are you thinking of?”
“That new Chinese place around the corner,” he said. “I’ve got a hankering for noodles.”
Baylor chuckled and said, “Well, at least if you’re eating, I don’t have to worry about the head as much.”
“Absolutely,” he said. “And I will check in with you a couple times just to make sure I’m still conscious.”
“If there is the slightest chance,” Ally said in a hard voice, “that you’ll go unconscious, you’re not staying here because I can’t look after you.”
“Which is why,” Baylor said, handing her a piece of paper, “I’m giving you my number. You call me if you see him acting different, like blurred speech, falling asleep, not waking up. Anything suspicious and you contact me. You hear me?”
She nodded and grabbed the piece of paper, tucking it into her phone case.
“Just key it into your cell phone now,” Baylor said. “Then you won’t have to worry about looking for it or punching it in.” Obediently, as they watched, she entered his number into her Contacts. “And it’s Baylor, right?”
“Sorry about that,” he said with a grin. “Yep.”
Axel smiled at the two of them. “Now food,” he said, “and get lost.”
Baylor gave a shout of laughter and left. Axel walked into the kitchen, turned on the sink and washed his face and hands quickly. Turning, he spied paper towels and used them to dry off. “Now do you have any coffee?”
“Yes.” She gave him directions on where to find everything. By the time he had a pot brewing, she smiled and said, “There’s nothing quite like the smell of fresh coffee.”
“No,” he said, “there isn’t.” Once the coffee brewed, he poured two cups, delivered them to the coffee table in front of her, then sat down beside her. He picked up her hand, laced it with his, and said, “I didn’t expect to be two invalids together now.”
She chuckled. “Well, according to you, you’re not badly hurt. And according to me, I’m on the mend. So, if we’re going to be invalids, this is the better way to be.”
He squeezed her fingers and gently rested against the couch, leaning his head back.
“If you fall asleep,” she warned, “I’ll just poke you awake again.”
He smiled, without opening his eyes. “I forgot you would follow Baylor’s instructions to the letter.”
“I have to,” she said. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.” There was a catch in her voice as she said that.
He rolled his head to the side, looked at her, smiled. “I was thinking the same thing,” he said. He lifted her fingers and gently kissed them.
“We’re a fine pair,” she whispered, but she leaned over and kissed him gently on the cheek. “I’m so glad you weren’t badly hurt.”
“And I think it sucks that we’re home alone, and we’re both injured.”
She smiled. “We might be home and both injured, but we’re hardly alone. Baylor’ll be back anytime.”
“Right,” he said with a smile. “So I have a couple hours to get my strength back.”
“Not for that,” she said.
“Why not?” he asked with interest. She pointed at her leg. “Wow,” he said, “do you really think something like that will stop me?”
She looked at him in surprise, then shrugged. “Well, maybe. The cast does go up pretty high.”
“Not that high,” he said, chuckling.
She grinned and said, “Well, I guess you are one of those can-do guys.”
“For something like that, hell yes,” he said. “I’ll find a way to can-do you.”
She burst out laughing at his ridiculous phrase, just when somebody knocked on the door.
“Food delivery,” Baylor called out. Axel hopped to his feet, let Baylor in, and they both walked into the kitchen. Taking the Chinese food from Baylor, he quickly served up two plates. Baylor lifted a hand and said, “I’m out. Remember to call me.” With that, he was gone.
Axel came back with forks and the plates laden with food and said, “Now we can eat.” Like an old married couple, the two of them sat side by side and plowed through the food.
In between bites, Axel asked her, “So what will you do now?”
Ally gave him a one-arm shrug, chewed, and swallowed. “Get back to work as fast as I can.”
Axel broadly grinned. A woman after his heart. This one would never tell him to give up his life’s work, just like he would never tell her to give up hers. “For a tiny woman who isn’t carrying, you are one tough lady.”
She laughed. “I’ll take that as a supreme compliment, coming from you.”
“And it is.” He nodded, staring at her. “I guess you’ve been surrounded by men in your life, being close to your dad, your brothers. Then in a field that is predominantly men too, joining the navy.”
“Hmm. Never really saw it that way. You’re right,” she said. “It’s not like I don’t have women friends …” She chuckled, not so much with mirth but with understanding. “Really, I guess they’re more colleagues. Hmm.” When she lifted her empty plate, she shook her head in surprise. “I didn’t expect to be that hungry after those sandwiches we had earlier.”
“It’s the adrenaline rush,” he said, “then the shock and recovery.”
“Says you,” she retorted. “I’m just tired.” She yawned.
“You’re still dealing with the effects of the medications too,” he said. “Thankfully I don’t have that to deal with.”
She looked at him and smiled. “A little bit of dried blood is on your forehead.”
“Right,” he said. “Maybe I’ll have a shower at some point.” He thought about it and nodded. “Actually a shower sounds awesome.”
“Hardly f
air,” she said, “when I can’t have one.”
He looked at her, frowned, and said, “Can’t?”
“No,” she said. “Not can’t,” she explained. “I have to bag it up somehow.” She frowned at that and said, “I don’t even know that I could stand up in the shower. Not to mention try to keep my stitches dry.”
“Well, I can fix that,” he said. He got up and went into the kitchen. “Do you have any garbage bags? Oh, never mind.” But he came back a moment later with a clear one.
She looked at it, frowned, and said, “What can you possibly do with that?” But before she realized what was going on, he had her full leg inside the bag, and, at the top, he used some duct tape he’d found and taped it right up under her skirt.
Smiling, he said, “There. You can have a shower now.”
She looked at him with delight. “Do you think that’ll work?”
He helped her to her feet and, with the crutches under her arms, led her to the bathroom attached to the master bedroom.
“Let’s see what we’ve got to do to get you in there.” He took a look inside and said, “You’ll have to be careful getting into the bathtub.” He frowned. “You could possibly even sit down and use the handheld.”
“Well, that might not be a bad idea,” she said, “as long as the drain is flowing,” she said. “But, I still can’t do it alone.”
He looked at her for a moment. “I guess it depends on how badly you’ll feel if you have some help?”
“How badly I’ll feel?” She smiled and asked, “You mean, embarrassed?”
“Yeah. A lot of women wouldn’t be comfortable if I were to help them in the shower.”
“Well, I wouldn’t be comfortable if you were helping a lot of women shower either,” she joked.
He took a moment and then realized what she’d said and cracked up. “Does that mean you’re okay to let me help?”
Chapter 15
“You know what? I think so,” Ally said, “because I really do want to shower. I just feel grungy.”
“We can do that,” he said. “Let’s get you stripped down and get the water going.” Before long she had a steamy bathroom as the water sluiced down her, and she stood with his support against the wall. “I thought I would sit,” she said.
“I figured it was better if we did this together,” he said, with a smile.
“Says you.” But she was holding on to him for support, and the shower was pouring hot water over her head, making her feel warm, comforted, and taken care of, despite the fact that the bullet path on her scalp stung terribly. The fact that she was standing completely nude, except for a cast in a plastic bag, with him standing next to her, also nude, was amazing. It was so intimate, exciting, and exhausting, but she just knew that this was where they were intended to be.
He held her close in his arms and said, “Here’s the soap. Where’s the shampoo?”
She pointed at the shampoo, and he gently lathered up her hair and slowly washed her head, giving her a soothing scalp massage at the same time while carefully avoiding the stitches alongside her head. “That feels so good,” she whispered. “I checked out how much dried blood was still in my hair, and I got a horrid headache from it. The dried blood on my hair pulls on the stitches, and it’s like these sharp stab wounds.”
“I know,” he whispered. “I’ve had my share of open head wounds too. I’m taking it easy, and we’ll see if we can get your head clean and all that blood off your hair.” After two shampoos and one bout of conditioner, he grabbed the bar of soap and proceeded to smoothly, carefully, and somehow without making it sexual, scrubbed her from top to bottom. By the time she stood here, squeaky clean and blush pink, she said with a chuckle, “I don’t know where you got that experience from,” she said, “but I feel completely cared for.”
“Hey,” he said, “have a seat on the side of the bathtub, and I’ll take care of the rest of me.” And he quickly shampooed his own damaged head and scrubbed himself down the same as he did her, and she watched with interest. “You’re really gorgeous,” she muttered.
He turned and looked at her in surprise. “I’m a fit male in his prime,” he corrected, “so, if that is beautiful, thank you.”
She smiled up at him. “I love the fact that you’re completely not self-conscious about it.”
“I was thinking the same about you,” he said. He shut off the tap water and reached over and grabbed a towel. He quickly dried himself, giving his head a good scrub, and then stepped out of the bathtub and did his legs. “Now for you,” he said.
He took the towel he’d already used and tried to dry her soaking head before taking a smaller towel and wrapping her hair up in it. Then he grabbed a second dry one and gently dried her off. With that done, he gently swung her around so that she was sitting with her legs outside of the bathtub. With her less-injured leg dry and as much of her body taken care of as he could, he slowly removed the plastic bag from her cast. “Look at that,” he said. “Almost as good as new.”
He helped her to her feet with an arm around her, and they hopped and hobbled their way to her bed. “Are you ready to go to sleep?”
“Absolutely,” she said, feeling exhausted. “Who’d have thought a shower would do that to me.”
“Of course it did,” he said. “Your body is still healing.”
“What about your body?” she asked.
“Mine is made out of cast iron,” he said with a chuckle. At the bed, she pulled back the covers. He said, “Do you want a shirt or something?”
“No,” she said, “I prefer to sleep in the buff anyway.” She looked at him and said, “Are you sleeping with me?”
“Just waiting for an invite,” he said, “but I don’t want to pressure you.”
“No pressure,” she said. “Comfort.” So, with the two of them in bed, arms around each other, she fell asleep.
*
It always amazed him to meet women who were so comfortable in their own body that they were okay with their nudity, and yet the rest of the world was the opposite. The kind of women who hid and tried to cover their breasts, even when they stood before him and they had been lovers for months. With Ally, she’d been completely unselfconscious, and it really blew him away. She’d let him help her, and together they’d taken care of a job that she desperately needed done but hadn’t been capable of doing on her own. He knew her head had to hurt, and her hair was soaking wet, and he wasn’t even sure if that was okay while she slept. But he figured it wouldn’t be the first time.
The shower had helped him a lot too. His head was pounding, but he knew that he could nap and keep an eye on her, then nap a little more. He’d texted Baylor a couple times, and so far there had been absolutely no sign of whoever had attacked their prisoner. The base was on lockdown and a search ongoing, but Axel was out of that. When a text came, he reached for the phone to see a message from Baylor, saying all was well. No further news?
No.
Okay. We’ll sleep, he typed. If I wake up, I’ll check in.
With that, he closed his eyes. He wanted to sleep, but there was just something about being in the darkness with her, even breathing beside her. He tucked her close and thought about how special she was and how he had ended up in this position. It had been a few months since his last relationship, assuming you could call a week a relationship. It had taken that long for her to realize she didn’t like him going off on his missions all the time and wanted him to quit his job and stay home. He’d made short work of that and had walked out almost immediately.
This job was who he was. He couldn’t just walk away and separate himself from it the way people seemed to think he could. It was his life and his passion. And, for that alone, he needed to make sure he was true to himself. And Ally here, who had been out in the ocean, testing subs, knew and understood exactly what that feeling was. He reached over and kissed her on the forehead. Her eyes flew open. He frowned. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
She sank back i
n bed and snuggled close. “I don’t know if you woke me,” she said, “or if it’s just that I’m not used to sleeping with somebody.”
“I think I like that,” he said.
She smiled, snuggled closer, and said, “I never have been one to have too many relationships,” she said, “and the ones that I’ve had, I chose carefully because I wanted to make sure that everybody understood who I was first. I had a few wilder days before I went into my field, but that was a long time ago,” she murmured. “Although Carl was a massive mistake obviously.” She slipped an arm around Axel’s waist and asked, “What about you?”
“A few months ago,” he said, “I walked away from the last one because she wanted me to quit my job.”
She tilted her head back and stared up at him in shock. “She didn’t get you at all then, did she?”
“No,” he said, sliding down as she rolled over onto her back. “I don’t think she did,” he said. “Do you realize that we’re both awake? We’re both in bed. And I think, though you can’t really confirm it yet, but I think we’re both not feeling too bad.”
She slid her arms around his neck, and he could see the glow and the depth of her gaze. “So it’s an interesting conundrum,” she said, as she pulled him down toward her. “What do you think we should do?”
“I don’t know,” he said, “but you presented me with a problem earlier.”
“And you promised me a solution,” she murmured.
“I did,” he said, “so maybe, just maybe, you should allow me to try that out.”
“It might take a couple tries though,” she said.
He gently brushed his lips against hers. “It might,” he said, “especially to get it perfect.”
Her lips flashed into a smile, and she murmured, “Well, I’m all about getting things perfect.”
“Trial and error?”
“Practice makes perfect?”
“One never fails, one only fails to succeed?”
“Try, try again?”
He gave a shout of laughter and kissed her hard. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him down against her. He could feel her warm plump breasts against his skin. He’d been holding back all the feelings, like trying to keep his body from reacting to holding a nude woman in the shower, but she’d been injured and so desperately in need of his care that he’d managed to keep his body from showing her just how much he wanted her. But right now, with her in bed and tucked up like this, there was no way in hell. With his erection prodding her thighs, she murmured, “I wondered where that was.”
