His mouth found hers as he continued their slow, sensual ride to completion. Her breathing quickened and he could tell she was close to her climax.
“Oh yes, Tom. Harder. Harder.”
He raised himself up on his elbows and increased his pace. His own orgasm was so close, but he didn’t want to come without her. He reached down in between them, finding her clit and circling it with his thumb. It was enough to set her off, her muscles clenched on his cock and it set off his own release. He shouted her name as he thrust one more time, holding himself still over her as he pulsed into the condom.
His arms shook with the effort to keep from falling on her. “That was amazing, Ambs.”
Her lips peppered kisses over his neck. “Yes, it was perfect.”
Sighing he wrapped his arms around her and rolled them so they were laying on their sides, facing each other.
Tenderly he brushed a strand of her hair off her face. Amberley was weaving her way into his heart. No, that was bullshit, she’d always been there, he was just allowing his feelings for her to come to the surface.
He wanted her in his life and he would do whatever he had to, to keep her there.
A low moan woke Amberley. It took her a few seconds to work out why she felt so hot. Tom had her wrapped up in his arms, arms that were tightening with each passing second.
“Tom,” she called gently, not wanting to shock him awake should he lash out and hurt himself. Or her.
During their talks, Tom had mentioned how they all suffered from various forms of PTSD. After everything they saw and the things they had to do on their missions it was likely they all had demons to fight. She would’ve been more surprised if he told her he didn’t suffer from PTSD.
Tom moaned loudly beside her. She reached out and touched his forehead. Moisture beaded across his hot flesh.
Working her way out of his embrace, she sat back on her haunches and ran a hand down his chest. Maybe soft, soothing movements would wake him and make whatever demons he was fighting disappear.
“Tom, wake up. You’re here, with me. Amberley. You’re safe.”
A second later his eyes flicked open. “Ambs?”
“Yeah, hon, I’m here. You were dreaming I think.”
He scrubbed a hand down his face. She maintained her touch on his stomach. Her fingers gliding over the ridges of his six pack.
“Sorry you had to see that. As I said, it takes a few days to unwind after coming back from being away.”
“You don’t ever have to apologize to me, Tom. I get it. I really do. I’d be worried if you didn’t have a few demons to fight.” She finished by voicing her earlier inner thought.
He reached up and wound some of her hair around his fingers. “Come here.”
She lay down, resting her head on his shoulder, and throwing an arm across his chest. “You don’t ever have to hide who you truly are in front of me, Tom.”
“Thank you,” he murmured.
“Go back to sleep now, I’ll keep you safe.” Amberley tightened her arms around, giving him something he’d never willingly ask for.
She lay there watching him sleep knowing with every rise of his chest she was falling more and more in love with Tom.
Amberley closed her eyes, happy she’d taken the plunge and lied about having a relationship with him. It was the best lie she’d ever told.
“Are you going to open the package you got last night?” Tom asked as he sat at the small table she in the small nook in her kitchen.
Amberley glanced over to the cardboard box sitting where she’d left it the previous evening. “I probably should. If I remember I was about to open it and then I got side-tracked.”
Tom smiled, the corner of his eyes crinkling. “I’m more than happy to keep you side-tracked.”
Amberley threw a piece of toast at him before getting up and grabbing the box. It wasn’t huge and it was light. She had no idea what it was and who sent it to her. An uneasy feeling settled in her stomach. Simon had been texting her again, even though she constantly told him to leave her alone and blocked his number, threatened him, again, with a restraining order, he hadn’t given up. What did the guy have? A collection of burner phones he continually used? That was the only explanation she could come up with as to how could he have so many numbers.
“Everything all right, Ambs?” Tom’s hands landed on her shoulders.
“Yeah, I was just trying to remember if I did order something. Maybe Mom ordered it as a surprise.” As if her mother would do something like that. Bettina wasn’t known for her spontaneous gifts for her daughter.
“I’m pretty sure you don’t believe that.” Did the guy have mind reading abilities? The box was taken out of her hand before she could say anything more. “Let me open it.”
She couldn’t deny relief flowed through her when Tom grabbed the knife she’d taken out the previous evening to open it.
It was so stupid to be feeling this way. If Tom wasn’t here she’d be opening the box herself. Would’ve opened it the previous evening.
“Stop.” She all but shouted at him. Tom’s hand hovered above the brown tape, the tip of the knife about to breach it.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“This.” She waved her hand at him. “If you weren’t here I’d be opening the box myself. So hand it over and let me do it.”
“But I am here, so I can do it for you,” he argued.
Of course he’d go all alpha male/Navy SEAL on her. But she was no shrinking violet. She’d survived numerous years of the paparazzi and fans hounding her and wanting to get her attention. She could damn well open her own box. “Tom, seriously, hand it over.”
He stared her down, using a look she was sure he gave to the bad guys to get them to spill all their secrets to him. Only she wasn’t a bad guy and there was no way she was going to let him intimidate her. Placing her hands on her hips, she straightened her spine, and glared right back at him.
The corners of his mouth lifted slightly. “I think I’ve met my match.”
Amberley scoffed at that. “Yeah right. I don’t think you’d cave that quickly if you were going after a terrible person. But in this situation, yes you have met your match.”
Tom slid the box over the quartz counter top and handed her the knife. “Thank you,” she said, a hint of smugness entering her voice.
She slit the tape and opened the flaps. Like with anything, half the box was filled with packing peanuts.
“What is it?” Tom asked.
“Don’t know, there’s so much packing stuff in here it’s hard to see anything.” Amberley reached and closed over something small and hard. Pulling it out, she held up a figurine of a girl holding a notepad and pen. It was silver and was about four inches tall. “Oh wow this is beautiful.”
“It is. And appropriate too, it looks like she’s writing a story.”
“Yes,” she whispered and traced her finger along the lines of the girl, then traced the pen and little note book a couple of times. Her finger snagged on some rough metal and tore a bit of her skin. “Ouch. I won’t be touching that area again.”
Amberley looked at her finger and noticed she’d cut herself and it was beginning to bleed. Before she could think Tom grabbed her hand.
“Let me look after this.” Not giving her a chance to argue with him, he took the figurine out of her hand and placed it on the counter, before marching her over to the sink where he proceed to wash away the blood.
“I could’ve done this myself, you know. It’s not like it’s a major cut or anything. It’s just a scratch.”
“I know. But I’m here and I want to take care of you.”
And there it was, the Navy SEAL again. She shook her head at him. If she was going to get involved with Tom, then she would have to get used to him taking care of her. “You’re going to do this whenever I get hurt, aren’t you?”
“Yup.” He wrapped a piece of paper towel around her finger. “Now where’s your first aid kit? I think you shoul
d put some antibiotic cream on it.”
“For goodness sake, aren’t you ov—” A wave of dizziness washed over her and she swayed a little. “Whoa, that’s different.”
“Ambs? Are you okay?”
Amberley lifted her gaze to Tom and squinted, why where there two Tom’s? Another wave of dizziness hit her and she tried to reach for him, but it was like her arms weren’t getting the message from her brain.
Her vision became clouded with black spots. “I don’t fe…” Her knees buckled and the last thing she heard was Tom calling her name again before she sunk into a dark abyss.
Chapter Ten
Tom’s heart leaped into his throat as he caught Amberley before she fell to the ground. “What the hell?”
He carefully laid her down on the tiled floor, before placing two fingers on her carotid artery. He released a breath when her felt her steady pulse.
“Amberley, wake up, babe.” He brushed his fingers down her cheek. She remained unresponsive. “Fuck.”
The last thing he wanted to do was leave her but he needed to call 9-1-1. Something wasn’t right here. Why the hell had she passed out like she had? It couldn’t be from lack of food because he’d seen her eat the eggs, bacon and toast they’d prepared together.
Touching the side of her neck again, reassuring himself that her heart still beat strongly he stood and strode into the living room where he’d left his phone. Picking it up he punched in the numbers. He gave his name to the operator and quickly explained the situation while he unlocked the front door. The woman on the other end of the phone advised she’d send out an ambulance as quickly as possible.
He raced back to the kitchen, hoping that while he’d been on the phone Amberley had woken up. Unfortunately she was still out cold on the floor. Had she got paler since he’d been gone? It didn’t seem possible but the closer he looked he could definitely see that she had lost more color in her face.
This time he picked up her hand to check her pulse. Instead of being strong and steady like the previous times he’d check, it was erratic.
“Fuck, what the hell happened. Ambs?” Concern rushed through him and he wished Cowboy was there. As the team’s medic, he could be working on Amberley to help her.
A phone shrilled through the house and it took Tom precious seconds to work out it was probably the guard house calling Amberley. He looked around the kitchen and spied a phone on the wall. He rushed over to it and picked it up. “Hello?”
“This is Chuck from the guard house, did one of you call an ambulance?”
“Yes, I did, Amberley’s passed out. Let them in.”
“Certainly, sir. I’ll notify Mr. and Mrs. Price as well.” The guard hung up before Tom could thank him. He’d been so concerned about Amberley he hadn’t given any thought to contacting her parents.
If they didn’t want her seeing him before, there was no way they’d be happy with their relationship now. Their only child had gotten hurt on his watch and he had no fucking idea what the hell had happened. One minute she was fine, admiring the gift she’d been given, the next she was collapsing at his feet.
Something niggled in the back of his mind, but he couldn’t grasp it as the wail of approaching sirens diverted his attention. Placing a kiss on her forehead he noticed her skin was clammy. It was like she was getting worse with every passing second.
Getting to his feet he rushed to the front door, yanking it open so quickly the paramedic that was about to knock on the wood almost fell forward.
“Are you Tom Grant? Did you call 9-1-1?”
“Yes I am and I did. You need to come quick, she’s in the kitchen and getting worse by the second.”
Tom stepped to the side and allowed the two paramedics to enter the house. While everything in him screamed to follow them he could see two people racing toward him.
Amberley’s parents.
“Where is she? What did you do to her?” Bettina demanded the second she reached the front door.
“She’s in the kitchen, help is in there with her. And I didn’t do anything. I would never hurt, Amberley.” He clenched his fists to stop himself from punching the door. How dare Bettina think he’d do anything to hurt Amberley. Hell he loved her.
Shit.
He loved her.
He’d been half in love with her when he’d been in high school. His crush hadn’t died when he started dating Joanna or even when he joined the Navy. His feelings had only been buried deep and the second Amberley reached out to him the first time all those months ago, they returned with the maturity of adulthood.
While he’d been on his most recent mission, those times in the dead of night when everything was quiet, thoughts of Amberley had entered his mind. The way she smiled. The way she laughed when he made a lame joke. The feel of her body against his as he drove into her and made her his. Because she was his.
A hand touched his arm, jolting him back to the here and now. He looked up and found Amberley’s dad standing in front of him.
“I’m sorry for what Bettina said. I know you won’t do anything to hurt my daughter. It’s written all over your face how important she is to you.”
“She is. Really important.”
“Bettina will see that you’re the right person for Amberley.”
Tom bit back a scoff. Now was not the time to remind him that his wife thought Tom was exactly what Amberley didn’t need. All that mattered was Amberley and getting her well again.
The sun shone in the ER’s waiting room, brightening up the place, but the occupants paid it no mind. Tom paced around the space glancing at the door every few seconds. Bettina and John sat on the plastic chairs, holding each other’s hands. Looking at the couple he could see that they weren’t together merely for publicity’s sake. They genuinely loved each other. John was murmuring in Bettina’s ear and she was leaning on him, taking the support he silently gave.
“How much longer,” he muttered to no one in particular.
“It hasn’t been that long, I’m sure they’re doing everything they can. Are you sure you can’t think of anything she may have eaten or drunk that could’ve caused her to pass out?”
Tom shook his head. He’d been trained to be level-headed in high stress situations. To observe and take in everything around him. But this was Amberley, nothing made sense to him. “We ate and drank the exact same thing and there’s nothing wrong with me. I don’t understand any of this. She was fine one minute, the next she was swaying and then collapsing at my feet.”
The feeling he was missing what should’ve been obvious niggled at the back of his mind. He closed his eyes, and concentrated on his breathing in an attempt to clear the clutter in his brain. In his mind’s eye he replayed the scene over and over. The way she smiled with delight when she opened the box and saw the silver figurine. How she traced the contours of it, admiring how sweet it was. Then pulling her finger away after cutting it. Him washing the small wound.
The answer was a shadow in his mind, right there, but just out of reach.
“Mr. and Mrs. Price?”
Tom’s eyes flicked open the second the doctor spoke. He noted Amberley’s parents were now standing but hadn’t made a move toward the doctor, as if fear rooted them to the spot.
“Yes. What can you tell us about our daughter?” Bettina finally spoke, except where her voice usually held the tone that she wasn’t to be argued with. This time she spoke quietly.
The doctor walked forward holding out his hand which both Bettina and John shook. “I’m Dr. Branston, I’m the attending ER registrar on duty when they brought your daughter in. At the moment we don’t know exactly what’s going on. We’re running tests and Ms. Price is still unconscious.”
Bettina’s legs buckled and Tom was by her side in a flash propping her up. John appeared to be in shock and hadn’t noticed that his wife was struggling with the news of her daughter not being awake. She gripped his arm like he was an anchor in the midst of choppy seas. Tom placed his free hand over hers a
nd squeezed it. As hard as it was for him to know that Amberley was sick, it had to be even harder for her parents. She was their only child. And while she may grumble about how they treated her and some of the things they were doing, he knew Amberley loved them the way they loved her.
“Is there anything else you can think of that may be of use to us?”
Tom cleared his throat and the doctor made eye contact with him. “I was with Amberley when she was collapsed. She’d cut her finger on a small figurine she’d been given. I washed the wound and was asking if she had a first aid kit when she passed out.” This was the same information he’d given the 9-1-1 dispatcher, but he wasn’t sure if it had been relayed to the paramedic team and if they’d passed the information onto the doctor when they arrived with Amberley.
“Right, I noticed the cut as I was examining her but didn’t think anything of it. I’ll check again to see if there is a piece of metal buried in the skin. However, that’s not likely to cause her to react the way she has. We’re running tests and screening for toxins of any sort.”
“Do you think she’s been poisoned somehow?” he asked. Doing what he did for a living he’d seen and heard plenty. They’d closed down many chemical weapon factories where poisons were being developed that could kill on contact with the skin. It was scary to think about what could happen when someone touched something without them being aware of the danger.
Touch something without anyone being aware of the danger.
Fuck. The figurine. It couldn’t be that could it?
“I think I know what’s happened.” He extracted himself from Bettina’s grip. “I’ll be back and I’ll be bringing something for you to test.”
“Um, okay.” The doctor’s words reached him as he exited the room. His large steps eating up the distance from the waiting room to the hospital’s exit.
The second he stepped outside he paused and looked up at the blue sky. “Hang on, Ambs. Please, hang on,” he whispered.
Guarding Amberley Page 9
