For a moment I think about my words carefully. “Baby, the circumstances were pretty harsh. You spent the night with your ex in his hotel room. He told me straight up that he’d been with you and was rekindling your relationship. Trust never played into it.”
Her gaze narrows. “Except when the entire world thought you were cheating on me in Milan with that stripper, or with Sophie, and I had to wait an entire day to find out the details . . . not once did my faith in you waiver. Why was it so easy for you to take the word of my ex? Someone you know is a liar and a cheat himself?”
An arrow of guilt rips through chest and pierces my heart. My stomach drops, and that sinking, empty, twisty feeling sets up shop again.
“You’re right.” I cup her cheeks and look her in the eyes. “You’re right, Sky. I should have had more faith. In you. In us. In what we’ve built these past several months. It’s just . . .”
Her hand comes to my cheek, and I nuzzle into it, needing her warmth and her soothing touch. “Talk to me.”
“My past is fucked. You know that. Even when we first started, I held you back. Kept you at arm’s length. I figured we could just have fun together, when the whole time, deep inside, I craved so much more. Except, I was afraid. Hell, Sky, I’m still afraid.”
“Afraid of what?”
“That you’ll do what she did.” The honesty comes out of my mouth like a dragon breathing fire and singeing everything in its path.
“Who?” She frowns and runs her fingers through my hair, her nails scratching along my scalp just the way I like.
“Kayla.”
She blinks prettily for a moment. “The woman you were with in college.”
I nod. “She messed me up, baby. Bad. I never knew how much until the past few weeks. Both Royce and Bo have been giving me advice, reminding me not to compare what you and I have to what I shared with her, but . . . it’s fallen on deaf ears. I’m trying to change my mindset and not compare, but the fear is still there.”
“Honey . . .” The one word is breathless, but it’s filled with love and sadness. For me. Not for her. “I’m not Kayla. I’m never going to be Kayla. I’m not going to hurt you.”
I lick my lips and close my eyes. “The only other time I was anywhere close to being this happy in my life was with her. You and I, what we have, is a million times heavier. Better. Stronger. It means more. And I . . . I worry about losing it.”
Sky cups both of my cheeks, presses her forehead to mine and kisses me softly. Once. Twice. Three times.
“You’re not going to lose me. The only way that could happen is if you leave me. I want a life with you, Parker. Nothing is going to change my love for you.”
I wrap my arms around her until I feel her warmth against my chest, right where I need it. “I want so badly to believe that.”
She kisses my neck and shifts back so she can look into my eyes. “Then believe it. Trust your heart. It will never lead you astray.” She smiles sweetly, using the words she wrote on the mirror to me as a personal mantra.
Trust your heart.
“I think I’m going to have to get those words tattooed on my wrist, so I can remember them always.”
She grins. “That can be arranged.”
I push my hand into her hair, letting the strands spill over my forearm. “Are we going to be okay?”
“Do you love me?” she asks softly.
“More than I could have ever imagined.” My chest tightens, and the overwhelming emotion of this moment in time makes every single one of my nerve endings come alive. I can feel each inch of her skin that is touching me. Hear her lovely breath as she inhales and exhales fluidly. Smell her arousal mixed with her peaches-and-cream scent.
“Then we’ll be okay.” Her thumb slides along my cheek and then down to the scruff on my chin.
I wiggle my nose against hers. “Simple as that.”
“Love doesn’t have to be hard. It can be simple and easy. And sometimes, it’s both.” She smiles, and I swear it lights up the dark room with an ethereal glow.
“All I know, Peaches, is whatever love has planned for the future, I just want it all with you.”
This has my woman sitting up higher, pulling off her camisole until her bare breasts bounce free. Oh, how I’ve missed those rosy peaks. My mouth waters and I grip her hips tight.
“Good answer!” she growls, and attacks my mouth.
Rachel Van Dyken’s black combat boots sound heavy against the hospital tile floor. Her long blonde hair is pulled back in a complex ponytail that contains a series of what I can only call warrior braids. Her T-shirt sleeves are rolled up, and you can’t miss the cut muscles of her biceps and shoulders. She walks with purpose, a gun at her hip and a pair of handcuffs dangling from the belt loop at the small of her back. Each of her strides is taken with intention as she scans the hospital hallways. Several feet behind us, her husband pulls up the rear, making sure we’re not interrupted or accosted. Skyler was able to come in under the radar yesterday, but the second people started tweeting and commenting that they’d seen her in the hospital, it required the protection of her personal Van Dyken security team. Both of them have yet to speak to me. I’m not sure if they’re pissed at me or the situation, or trying not to get personally involved. At some point, I’ll have to have a one-on-one with them both to smooth over the rough waters.
As we approach Wendy’s room I’m startled to hear Wendy’s voice ring out through the quiet space.
“I want my damn collar!” her raspy voice screeches.
Rachel stops in front of Skyler and shakes her head, basically encouraging us not to enter. We can see Wendy sitting up in bed, hands over her face and Michael by her side.
I push around Rachel and enter the room, Skyler moving hot on my heels.
“You’re awake!” I rush over to Wendy’s side and put my hand to her head.
She lifts a watery gaze to mine. “You’re okay?” she croaks.
Tears fill my eyes, and I don’t even care that I might look like a pussy as a couple fall down my cheeks. The joy of Wendy being alive and awake is an emotionally overwhelming sight. “Totally fine. No worries. I’m just glad you’re awake. You scared the hell out of us all these past few days. When did you wake up?”
She swallows. “Last night. I told Mick not to call you guys. Wanted it to be a surprise.”
I glance at Michael. He looks like a train wreck. Worse. He looks like a man who’s been hit by a train and left for dead. His normally light eyes are red rimmed with dark smudges underneath coupled with some puffy bags. The generally neat hairstyle he keeps is a wonky mess that looks as though he’s tugged and run his fingers through it a million times.
“How do you feel?” Skyler asks, running her hand down Wendy’s shin.
She smiles when she sees Sky. “They’re making sure I’m not in any real pain. Drugs are good for that.” She winks and I chuckle.
Only Wendy could cop jokes and make the worried people around her feel better.
I run my hand over her short red hair again. “Why were you yelling a moment ago?”
Her face turns hard, and she presses back into the pillow. “They cut off my collar.”
Michael lifts up her hand and kisses it. “I put your ring back on,” he says, but even to my ears it sounds like a consolation prize. Which to me is a surprise, because he bought her a huge diamond. Most women would be worried about their rock.
She glances at her engagement ring, but it only garners a slight twitch of her lips. “Not the same, and you know it.”
He sighs heavily. “Yes, I do. They cut it, Cherry. They had to in order to take you into surgery and repair the damage the bullet caused to your chest and lung.” He sits up taller and leans closer. “Don’t worry though, I’m going to get you a new one. Made to fit, with diamonds this time. Would you like that?”
She shrugs and then winces. Maybe those meds don’t cover all the pain, but she doesn’t complain. “I feel . . .” Tears fill her eyes and fall
down her cheeks as she focuses on Michael. “I feel naked. Exposed. Alone.”
He bites down on his lips, and the expression that flits across his face is thunderous. Then he pats his heart, and I swear that I can almost see the gears moving in his mind as he does so. As if a light switch has been flicked, the darkness and anger are replaced with sudden happiness. He reaches up against his collar and into his dress shirt, where the long beaded chain he wears resides. Her padlock is there along with his key. He removes the chain from around his neck, undoes the hook, and removes the key. He puts that in his dress shirt pocket and stares at her, focused on her gaze. “Right by my heart at all times. Because it’s you, Wendy, that makes this useless thing beat. You know that. You know . . .” His voice cracks.
She nods her head frantically, tears falling from her eyes.
Watching them feels like Sky and I are intruding on a private moment, but the air in the room is warm, an electric energy whirring in the space between us and filling me with a sense of peace and love. It’s safe, and so special, I can’t move away. I’m glued to this spot, my arm around Skyler holding her close as Michael tries to settle the love of his life.
He latches the necklace, then places it over Wendy’s head and spins it around once, then twice. The beads fall down against her chest, and she inhales and sighs, her hand clutching the padlock like her own personal talisman.
“Feel better?” He grins confidently, knowing damn well that she does.
She smiles and blinks sleepily. “Yes, I do. You always know how to take care of me.”
He kisses her forehead and then holds her hand to his face. “The most important job in my entire life. I’ll put you and your happiness first. Always.”
“I know,” she murmurs, before her eyes close. “So tired . . .” Her voice falls off, and a puff of air leaves her lungs as she falls asleep, hand still clutching her padlock.
Skyler grips my elbow and nods her head toward the door. “We should go, let them rest.”
I clear my throat as the emotional tide bangs against my chest. Michael makes sure Wendy is covered with the blanket and follows us outside of her door.
“How is she really doing? What’s her prognosis?”
Michael rubs at the back of his neck then rolls his shoulders. “She woke in the middle of the night. They tended to her—doc says everything looks good, there’s no sign of infection—but they’re giving her antibiotics intravenously as well as the pain meds. Wounds look clean and are healing normally, but it will take some time until she has full range of motion in her shoulder and arm. She has to take it easy for the next six weeks at least. Which, I’m telling you right now, may be forever.”
Forever.
That single word hits me like a gunshot to the chest, almost bowling me over. “Wait a minute, are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
He crosses his arms defensively. “If you’re thinking that my future wife will be tending to our home and planning our wedding and nothing else? Then yes. She doesn’t need to work. She chooses to—”
I cut him off before he can continue, because at this point, the possibility that Wendy may not come back to IG is devastating. “You think she’s going to be okay with that?”
“I’ll make it clear to her that it is in her best interest for our family. The one we’re building and the one we plan to have in the future. Your business may be important to you, but she . . .” He points a finger to where Wendy is sleeping in the bed. “She’s everything to me. If she’s not breathing, they may as well set up a coffin for two, because there is no place I won’t follow her, the grave included.”
Jesus.
There’s head over heels, and then there’s this. I can’t even explain the level of devotion and blind commitment Michael has for Wendy. Frankly, I’ve never seen it. Not even with my parents, and they’ve been in love for close to forty years. This is downright cosmic.
“I feel you, Michael, but ultimately it’s Wendy’s choice. And even if you try to sequester her away with all your millions, she’s made it very clear that we are a part of her life, a part of the family you mentioned. And I’m not letting her go. She’s like a sister to me now, and I’ve never had one of those. So yeah, be prepared to fight . . .”
Michael plants a hand on my shoulder. “I’m not taking her away from your friendship, but I’m not exactly keen on her going back to work. I didn’t want her to work in the first place. This just proves how dangerous it is out there.”
I sigh heavily. “It’s not normally like this.”
He huffs and runs a hand over his scratchy jaw. “Says the man whose girlfriend has to have not one but two security guards with her at all times?” He glances at Rachel and Nate, who are on either side of our huddle about five feet away, pretending not to be involved, when we all know that if there were a threat of any kind to their charge, they’d react faster than you can light a match.
Sky rubs along my bicep, soothing me while reminding me that she’s there for support or whatever else I may need. I loop an arm around her waist. “We’ll be back later when she’s had some rest. Cool to tell the guys that she’s awake? I’ll let them know that she’s resting for the next few hours.”
He nods. “Just tell Montgomery if I hear so much as one smart remark or innuendo of any kind, I’m liable to take him down where he stands. His days of hitting on my woman are done. You hear?”
I bite my lip, trying to hold back the smile threatening to break free. “Got it. Will warn him.”
“Appreciated. And, Skyler, always nice to see you. No offense about the security guards. I know you need them.” He frowns.
She pats his shoulder. “None taken. I shouldn’t need them, but I do. And you’re right. Life can be dangerous, but so is not living every day to the fullest. I’ve done that too, and in a way, it was like dying a slow death no one could see. Now, I may be taking risks, but I’m living free and enjoying every moment.” She eases out of my hold and wraps her arms around him.
At first, it’s as if Michael doesn’t know what to do with his hands or how to hug a person other than Wendy. Which makes me feel sad for the guy. To have all of your joy wrapped into only one person . . . it’s no way to live. Just makes me want to bring the fella into the IG fold even more.
Eventually his shoulders droop, and he drops his chin to her shoulder and wraps his arms fully around her, accepting her comfort. His body trembles as if he’s letting go of the built-up tension. “I thought I lost her,” he whispers, and Sky cups his nape and nods.
“You didn’t lose her. She’s here. Safe and sound. Healing. And she needs you more than ever.”
He nods, sniffs into her neck as the emotions spill out of him. I can practically feel the waves of distress pumping off him.
She hugs him for a full minute before she eases back. “You gonna be okay? Is there anything we can do for you?”
He shakes his head, then moves the few feet over to the glass windows that look into Wendy’s room. He places his hand on the glass. “All I need is in there.”
She smiles and pats his back. “Well, go to her. We’ll be back later with the guys and some food.”
“Okay.” He turns around and holds Skyler’s hand. He squeezes it and whispers, “Thank you,” to her, and then nods to me.
Skyler moves back to me, and I wrap my good arm around her waist. “You were good with him,” I whisper as we walk back down the hallway, Rachel in front, Nate in the back.
She shrugs. “I know what it feels like to lose everything you love. There’s nothing scarier.”
I kiss her temple and think back to how it felt to be without her. Even though I didn’t technically lose her, for a while it felt like I had. I’d never wish that kind of pain and torment on anyone.
“No, Peaches, there isn’t.”
2
The guys are in a rush to get to Wendy later that evening. Skyler and I are a few paces behind them. I’ve got my bum hand loosely hanging on her hip, my other han
d carrying a to-go bag with a sub sandwich, chips, and a Coke for Michael.
We get to her room, and without even knocking, Bo barrels right in, Royce following behind him, the two of us after.
Bo’s holding a big squishy teddy bear, and Royce a bushel of wildflowers.
When Bo sees Wendy sitting up in bed alive, he opens his arms wide and hugs the sky, the bear hanging from one hand. “Thank you, Lord above! Hey, Tink, how the hell are you, beautiful?”
Wendy grins. “Is that bear for me, or is that the one you cuddle at night to keep you warm when you’ve kicked your chicklet to the curb?”
He waves the bear and comes to the side of her bed. He lifts her chin and leans forward, his lips dead set toward hers. Before he can reach her lips, Michael leans over her, puts his entire hand over Bo’s face, and pushes it back.
“Don’t test me,” he growls menacingly.
Bo snickers. “What? I was just gonna kiss her on the forehead. Jeez. So territorial.” He shakes his head mockingly.
“It would be wise for you to remember that. I barely tolerate you as it is, Montgomery, and only because she has a high threshold for bullshitters and a soft spot for idiots. I, on the other hand, do not.”
Bo holds out the bear to Michael. “Here, I think you need this more than she does. Maybe it will warm your black heart.”
Sky and I can’t help but chuckle in the corner as we watch the sparring unfold.
Wendy snatches the bear and tucks it to her side. “I like him. Thank you, dick-for-brains. It’s good to see you alive and kicking.”
Bo runs a hand through his hair. “Nothing can hold me down.” He winks.
“I’m sure I could find a straitjacket that would do the job,” Michael mumbles, and Wendy grabs his hand and squeezes.
“Easy, tiger. I’m the only one you’re allowed to tie up.” She grins, and I swear to all things holy that the guy’s gaze heats with a burning lust right before my eyes.
London (International Guy Book 7) Page 2
