Francine felt his arousal hot and huge against her stomach, and closed her eyes to savor it. God, what would Mark look like with no clothes on? She pictured him as hard and chiseled, all fierce grace and controlled power, and her breath caught. She’d do a lot to take this man to her bed – even just for one night. She was sure it’d be a night to remember. Forever.
Assuming she survived it, of course.
His kisses were heating up now, and they were heartbeats away from bursting in to frantic, out-of-control flame and wildfire. She just held on, though, let it carry her away. For a few seconds, she let herself not care what was going to happen next – to just enjoy the sensation of being taken by Mark.
The sound of rustling caught her attention now, breaking through the haze of lust surrounding her. She ignored it, but when she heard it again, she froze.
Mark felt her withdraw, and he lifted his head. “Francine?”
Without a word, she pulled away, and dashed over to Alexandra’s bed. That was when Mark saw a single brown eye staring over at them, bewildered and teary.
“Oh, my God,” he said. “Alexandra…”
Francine was holding the other woman’s hand carefully. “Alexandra? Can you hear me?”
Alexandra blinked slowly.
“I’ll get the doctor,” Mark said, already halfway to the door. “Gimme two minutes to track him down.”
Francine nodded, but didn’t move her eyes from Alexandra’s face. It was a mass of bruises and swelling, her body was bandaged and broken. Francine couldn’t even imagine what Alexandra was thinking or feeling now, but she was sure that the overwhelming emotion had to be terror, closely followed by confusion. Oh, and pain, of course. Lots and lots of that.
“Alexandra?” Francine said softly. “Ma douce?”
“Uhhhh…” Alexandra groaned, trying to sit up. “What…”
“Shhhh,” Francine said, trying to soothe her. “Don’t move, OK? Wait ’til the doctor gets here and looks you over. Right now, you just stay still, and you breathe. Alright?”
“Doctor?”
“Yes.” Francine stroked Alexandra’s hair gently. “You’re in the hospital.”
“Rick?”
“Yes.”
“Oh. Oh, God.” Alexandra’s eye fluttered shut again. “He hurt me. Bad this time.”
“Yes.”
“I remember…” A tear rolled down her cheek. “I remember what he did…”
Francine felt anger rising, and she shoved it down, hard. “I’m sorry. I’d wipe it right out of your memory, if I could.”
Suddenly, Alexandra’s eye opened wide. “That man –”
“What man?”
“With the eyes… the green eyes.” Alexandra stared at the ceiling, trying hard to retrieve the face that was swimming just beyond her grasp. “The gorgeous angel. The angel who saved me.” She paused. “He was so gentle, but he was also angry.”
Despite her worry, Francine smiled. A ferocious, tender, green-eyed angel could only be one man.
“Mrs. Mayer?” The voice behind her was soft, but Francine still jumped in surprise. She turned to see the doctor standing there with Mark. The doctor moved closer, his body language and facial expression kind and calm. “Mrs. Mayer, do you know where you are?”
“In the hospital.”
“Yes.” The doctor came over to the bed, and Francine felt Alexandra clutch her hand tighter. “Is it OK if I examine you? Touch you?”
Fear flashed across Alexandra’s face. “I –” She swallowed. “I – I’m not sure. Will you hurt me?”
“No.” The doctor’s voice was low, but Francine heard real anger beneath the professional detachment. “I’d never hurt you, Mrs. Mayer. If you want, Francine can stay with you while I check you over.”
“OK.” Alexandra shut her eye again. “She stays.”
“Of course I will.” Francine took a deep breath. “I’ll stay as long as you want me to.”
“I’ll wait outside,” Mark said quietly.
Alexandra opened her eye at the unknown voice, stared over at him. Recognition flashed across her face.
“You,” she whispered.
“Me?” Mark said gently. “Me what, hon?”
“You’re the angel.”
Mark gave her a grin. “I’ve been called a lot of things in my life, but ‘angel’ has never been one of them.”
“You – you were there,” Alexandra said, still confused. “You saved me.”
Mark approached now, slowly, watching Alexandra’s face, looking for any signs of fear. There were none, though: she just stared up at him, bewildered and uncertain… but unafraid. He stood right next to the bed, gave her a warm smile.
“I’m Mark,” he said, his voice low. “I’m sorry for what happened to you, Alexandra.”
She hesitated. “You were there?”
“I was.”
“You helped me?”
“I did.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, tears falling again. “Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome, hon.” Mark touched her arm, so soft and careful. “Can the doctor look you over now?”
“Yes.”
“OK.” He stepped back. “I’ll be out in the hall.”
Everyone nodded, and he left the room, closing the door behind him. Once he got outside, he exhaled a hard, angry breath. Goddammit, what he wouldn’t give to be alone with Rick Mayer, just for five minutes. The man beat on a woman so much smaller and weaker than himself, and hurt her easily – and Mark wondered how the dickhead would hold his own against another man. A bigger, stronger, more pissed-off man. A man like Mark.
He sighed, pulled his cell out of his jeans pocket. It was going on eight a.m. now, and the Solid Security offices would be open for business. He needed to check in with Dallas, sort out a few things. He hit Dallas’ number on speed dial, sipped his coffee.
“Mark.” Dallas’ gravely voice in his ear. “How are things at the hospital?”
“Alexandra just came to, and the doctor’s checking her over now.”
“Francine?”
“OK. Shaky last night, but she got some sleep. She’s alright, man. She’s tough.”
“No shit.” Dallas sighed, and Mark heard a pause. He grinned to himself, knowing that the man was sucking down the caffeine, just as he was. “So, what do you want to do?”
What Mark wanted to do was throw Francine over his shoulder and take her back to his place. He wanted to rip her clothes from her curvy body, then run his tongue over every single inch of it. He wanted to taste her sweet pussy, watch her stunning face as he fucked her with his tongue, grip her close as he gave her an explosive orgasm. Then he wanted to bury himself inside her hot little body, as deep and high and hard as he could, and watch her come on his cock, then he wanted to pin her to the bed and take his own pleasure.
So yeah… that’s what he wanted. But it wasn’t what he was going to get – not yet, at least. Solid Security was seriously understaffed at the moment, and he had to back up Dallas and the team.
“I’ll be in,” Mark said. “Gimme an hour.”
Dallas sighed again, in relief this time. “Thank God. I can’t have one more staff member out right now.”
“No, I know.”
And Mark did know; of course he did. Sully and Cordelia were both on a plane right that second, flying out to Florida with Cordelia’s son, Sean. They were going to see a specialist in the type of brain tumor that Sean had, and the kid was lined up for five solid days of rigorous tests.
It was going to be hell on all of them – especially Sean, but Cordelia was going to be a damn close second – but if the tests showed what Doctor Finn wanted them to, then Sean was going to get the most cutting-edge laser surgery out there. If it worked, that damn tumor was going to be removed from his brain, an
d the kid was going to finally have a shot at full remission. And it was all going to cost a fraction of the price that it normally would.
But Sully and Cordelia weren’t the only staff members out of the office. Selena Perez was in a hospital bed herself right that second, recovering from her second breast reconstruction surgery. Selena had had a voluntary double mastectomy a few months earlier, and she was now well in to the process of changing her body, yet again, in reverse this time. Her boyfriend Luke Rhodes would be right there with her, Mark knew, and he’d be the one who’d take care of her while slowly healed over the next three weeks or so.
Also? John Griffin was still out of commission, though not completely. Griff had been stabbed in the throat a couple of months earlier, and although he’d made a good recovery, he was still on desk duty. Nothing out in the field, no protective detail, no gun-carrying privileges, even.
To say that Dallas was scrambling to find people to put on bodyguard duty was putting it mildly. Both Mark and Dallas were stepping up and taking some shifts for some clients, so if Mark bailed now, Dallas was up the proverbial creek without so much as a boat… forget about the paddle.
“Yeah.” Dallas took another sip of coffee, looking for some much-needed energy. “All hands on deck, Hayden.”
“I know, boss. I’ll just stick around to hear what the doc has to say about Alexandra, then I’ll be right there. OK?”
“OK. Thanks, man.”
“Sure.”
Mark disconnected, finished the last of his coffee. He glanced over at the door to Alexandra’s room, saw that it was still shut. He rolled his shoulders, stared hard at the door, willing it to open. He really, really wanted to know what kind of damage the woman had, so he could decide precisely how pissed off he really was at that asshole, her husband.
Standing there in the bustling hallway, Mark let his mind wander back to Francine, let himself revisit just how good she’d felt in his arms. How silky and soft she’d been held against him, how fucking incredible she’d tasted under his mouth. How brave and smart she’d been the night before, how kind of compassionate she was in general. Yeah, Francine was everything, and Mark was going to make sure that she knew he thought so.
The door opened now, and he jumped to attention. The doctor emerged, spotted Mark, came over.
“And?” Mark said, ignoring the pleasantries.
“Not bad,” the doctor replied. “Not as bad as we thought initially, anyway. She’ll need some work on her cheekbone, and she’s going to be in bed and in pain for a couple of weeks. She’ll make a full physical recovery within a month, I’d guess, though I wouldn’t presume to even contemplate how long an emotional and psychological recovery will take.”
“You’ll keep her here?”
“Yes. For a week, for sure, to monitor her recovery from the surgery on her cheekbone.”
Mark nodded. “And Francine’s staying?”
The doctor laughed. “I’d like to see us try to keep her away. She won’t be able to stay overnight again after tonight, but she’s already made it clear that we’ll be kicking her out every night, and she’ll be here at the crack of dawn every morning.”
“Yeah, that sounds like her.”
The men shared a grin. Then the doctor looked at his watch, moved away.
“I have to finish the rest of my rounds,” he said. “Will I see you again?”
“Count on it,” Mark said. “I’ll be here every morning that I can manage it around my work, checking in.”
“Good. So maybe I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”
“Yes.”
Mark headed back to Alexandra’s room, stood in the doorway for a few seconds, making sure that it was OK for him to go back in. He imagined that Alexandra had to be feeling vulnerable and violated, and he wanted to make sure that he was welcome.
She saw him, and right away, she smiled at him. He smiled back, happy that she wasn’t afraid of him, at least.
“Hey,” he said gently. “How you feeling?”
Alexandra shook her head. “Tired. Furious.” She paused. “Totally embarrassed.”
He moved closer. “OK, the ‘tired’ and ‘angry’ parts I get, but the ‘embarrassed’ part has to go, hon.”
Alexandra looked away, and Francine held her hand a bit tighter.
“Mark’s right,” Francine said softly. “Be as mad as you want for now, but no guilt, no shame. None of this was on you.”
“But you told me that things were escalating,” Alexandra said. “You told me that over and over again in our sessions, and I just kept telling you that it wasn’t as bad as you were making it out to be. I kept waiting for things to change… to get better.” She dropped her gaze to the bed. “I – I should have accepted your help. I should have gone to that safe house that you told me about. I should have listened to you. If I had, I wouldn’t be here now. This – it’s all my fault.”
Francine opened her mouth to protest, but Mark spoke first.
“Hey, now,” he said. “None of that, hon. You hear me? This is not your fault.”
“But –”
“No ‘buts’,” he said firmly. “I’m a man, and I’m a big man, right? I’ve been trained to hurt people with my hands, my body – I’ve been trained to kill, Alexandra. I know just how strong I am, and I’m fully aware that I have to take care with women when I put my hands on them, even when I’m being gentle and helpful. It’s not sexist, and it’s not bullshit… it’s fact, it’s reality. I can dominate and subdue a woman in seconds – I can take down most guys too, without any major problems – and that makes it my responsibility to not hurt anyone. The onus is on me, Alexandra, to stay in control and stay cool.”
She looked up at him, listening now.
“Every man knows this, hon. We all know that on a simple biological level, most men are physically stronger than most women. There are exceptions, of course, and I’ve met some of them… but on the whole? We can hurt you, and we can do it pretty easy. We can do it without even really trying.”
Francine bit her lip, thinking about Mark with his hands on her throat as he kissed her, about his astounding strength, even just in his fingers. The damage he could have visited on her, if he’d chosen to do so, was phenomenal – he could have had her down and helpless in mere seconds. She had to trust that he wouldn’t; she had to take that leap of faith, if she was going to be with him.
And she’d take that leap with him, for him, for sure and no problem. He wasn’t going to hurt her. Never. She knew that as sure as she knew her own name.
“It was all on your dickhead husband to keep his hands to himself,” Mark said quietly. “No matter what he felt, or thought, or wanted. No matter how angry or frustrated he was with you, or himself, or his job, or whatever. No matter what he thought, no matter what he said to justify what he did to you. He had no right – none, Alexandra – to lay a finger on you in anger or punishment. Ever. That was his call, and he made the wrong one. He made his choices, and now he’s going to have to be held accountable for them.”
Alexandra nodded.
“He’s held accountable. Not you. The bill has come due on his actions, and it’s monstrously high, I promise you. He’ll be paying it for a long, long while. Maybe even the rest of his life. But you don’t have to keep paying. You’re free and clear, and you can start again.” His eyes met Francine’s. “I know Francine will do whatever she can to help you rebuild your life, and you count me in, too.”
Alexandra wiped tears from her eyes. “Really?”
“Really.” Mark smiled. “Anything you need, you ask me. I’ll give it to you, I’ll make it happen. That’s a promise.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, her throat impossibly tight. “I don’t think I’ll ever stop thanking you.”
“It wasn’t all me, you know,” Mark said with a bit of teasing. “Francine was there, too.”
“It’s fine,” Francine hurried to say. “I didn’t do much, anyway.”
“What?” Mark exclaimed. “Like hell you didn’t!”
“Nah. I just waited in the car.”
Mark stared down at her, totally confused. But he trusted what she was doing here – whatever the hell it might be – and he was going to have her back. If she said that she’d stayed in the car the whole time, then that’s where she’d been.
“Well,” Mark said smoothly. “It was chilly out there.”
Alexandra gave a tiny giggle, and both Francine and Mark rejoiced to hear even that small sound.
“So,” Francine said. “I’ll stay with you, OK? I’ll take as much time off work as you need me to. The police will be back today for sure, to take your statement, and I’ll be here the whole time.”
“Oh. Oh, no.” Alexandra shook her dark head. “I’ll be fine here on my own. I mean, Rick’s in custody, so nobody can hurt me. I’ll manage.”
“Alexandra.” Francine’s tone was calm and kind, but it had steel beneath it. “I’m staying. That’s the end. OK?”
“OK,” Alexandra said, showing her relief now. “Thank you.”
“You know it’s no problem,” Francine said. “But do you mind if I run to the cafeteria and grab another coffee and maybe a muffin?”
“It’s fine.” Alexandra blinked hard, ran a shaking hand over her face. “I’m tired, anyway. I think I’ll try to get some sleep.”
“You want a nurse to come and sit with you until I get back?”
“No.” Alexandra gave her an exhausted smile. “I’m alright, really. I’m not afraid. Not anymore.”
At the realization that Alexandra was actually safe for the first time since she’d met her, Francine felt her voice catch as she spoke. “I’ll be right back. Just relax.”
Alexandra nodded, shut her eye again. Mark and Francine exchanged glances, walked out in to the hallway. Right away, he pulled her close.
“I have to go to work, babe,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
Solid Heart (Unseen Enemy Book 7) Page 7
