“I’m okay,” I lied. “Where’s Oliver?”
“I sent him down in the elevator,” Maddie said.
“You should have gone with him.” I moved to get up but I got a searing pain down my arm and into my chest and I winced at the pain. “Can you help me sit up?” I asked her.
Niki was on his cell phone. “Everything’s okay up here,” he said, “but we’re going to need a medic.” When he’d finished the call he looked me over. “You look like shit, Collins. Can you walk?”
“Hell yes, I can walk!” I said irritated. “Just help me up.”
Maddie got on one side of me and Niki on the other and they helped me to my feet. The elevator sounded and five members of the SWAT team came out to the observation deck.
“You want some help?” Niki asked.
“Yeah, but from her,” I said, pointing to Maddie. “She’s a lot prettier than you.” I put my arm around Maddie’s shoulder and she hooked hers around my back and we made our way to the elevator. “You coming?” I asked Niki.
“In a minute. I’ll meet you down there.”
Maddie and I got in the elevator by ourselves. “Come here,” I said, and I took her in my arms and held her as the elevator made its way down the 600 feet to the ground. “You doing okay?” I asked her.
She nodded. “I’ll be fine as soon as I see Oliver,” she said. I was leaning more and more heavily on Maddie until she was practically holding me up. “You’re not going to pass out on me, are you?” she finally asked.
“I hope not.” I leaned back against the elevator wall, still holding onto Maddie for balance. I knew I was bleeding again because the bandage was wet against my skin, but I didn’t know how bad it was. My whole body hurt.
Maddie moved next to me and rested her head against my chest. “I know you don’t like for me to thank you for anything, but thank you for helping me get Oliver back.” She started crying again and I stroked her hair. “I don’t know what I would have done without you today.”
“It’s okay. It’s all over,” I said, trying to assure myself at the same time.
Maddie looked up at me, tears streaming down her cheeks. She looked so beautiful and so vulnerable, and I had this terrible urge to kiss her. I’d just witnessed yet another facet of this woman’s persona, one that I never would have believed existed. Granted, I could very well be bailing this particular facet out of jail within the hour, but all the same, I was wholly impressed and my desire for her was undeniable. I would have acted on the impulse, but as it was, I couldn’t muster the energy to do it like I wanted to.
I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the elevator wall. “I’d kiss you if I weren’t so damn tired,” I said.
She took my face gently in her hands and kissed me on the cheek, then rested her head back against my chest.
“That’s not what I meant,” I said, and I could feel her laughing into my chest.
The ground rose up beneath us and the elevator came to a stop. The doors opened and we were greeted by cheers, which quickly turned to gasps of shock and horror. At the time, I didn’t know why. It was only later when I looked in the mirror, that their expressions made sense.
I leaned on Maddie as we walked out of the elevator arm in arm.
“Oliver?” Maddie called out.
“Mommy!”
Oliver fought his way through dozens of legs to get to us. I let go of Maddie and she dropped to her knees and Oliver ran into her arms.
“Mommy’s here. Everything’s okay. Everything’s okay,” she said, rocking him in her arms. “Are you okay?”
Oliver’s face was wet with tears, but he nodded his head. “I’m okay.”
“You were very brave up there and I am so proud of you,” Maddie said. “That was scary wasn’t it?”
He nodded again. “Were you scared?” he asked her.
“I was scared,” she said.
Oliver looked at me. “Were you scared?”
“I was scared,” I admitted.
Maddie picked up Oliver and brought him over to me. “You’re face is big and fat,” he said. He pointed to a spot by my eye. “Does that hurt?”
“Everything hurts,” I told him.
Maddie pulled Oliver’s hand back. “Don’t touch it sweetie,” she told him.
Maddie called out to no one in particular. “Is there an ambulance here? My friend needs to get to a hospital.” And that’s the last thing I remember until I woke up in the hospital the next day.
Chapter 25
I woke up with my arm strapped to my side, one eye swollen shut, and with a pounding headache. My whole body seemed to be throbbing, and I was so stiff I could barely move.
“Good morning.”
I turned my head towards my mother’s voice and a stabbing pain shot down my arm. “Hi mom.” She came closer to the bed and leaned down and kissed my cheek and I thought of Maddie in the elevator. “How long have I been out?” I said, trying to sit up.
“You’ve been in and out for the last 12 hours. The doctor said it’s the pain medication.”
“It’s not working,” I said, giving up the effort to sit.
“Well, you took quite a beating. You’ve got a concussion. Plus, you were shot.”
“I know,” I said irritably.
She was holding the morning’s newspaper and the picture on the front caught my eye. “Can I see that?” I said, but I knew better than to try to reach for it. My mother placed the paper on my chest and I took it and held it up. “Great,” I said grumpily, and I dropped it back down on my chest.
It was a photo of me and Maddie getting out of the elevator and I looked like I’d been beaten to a pulp. The caption under the picture read: “Local attorney Samuel Collins helps save neighbor’s abducted child.” Two days in a row. My reputation was ruined.
“How are Maddie and Oliver?” I asked.
“They’re both fine. Maddie has already called twice this morning to check on you. Your dad is outside getting us coffee,” she said smiling.
“You haven’t been here all night, have you?”
“Of course we have. When you have children of your own, you’ll realize that it doesn’t matter how old your kids are – they’ll always be your babies,” she said, and she brushed my hair back with her fingers like she used to do when I was a kid. Part of me wanted to slap her and the other part wanted to hug her. The door opened and my father walked in before I could do either.
“Hey! How’re you feeling?” he said, surprised to see me awake.
“Not too bad.” I gritted my teeth and shifted around trying to get comfortable. Mistake. I moved something that I shouldn’t have and I yelled out involuntarily at the pain.
Mom looked like she could cry, which would really suck; and Dad looked pissed. He looked like he wanted to beat the shit out of one Larry Roeberts.
“It’s okay,” I said, holding up my good arm. “It was just a bad position.”
I leaned back against the pillow and both of them relaxed. I needed to get rid of them so I could quit pretending to be fine.
“I’m going to get the doctor to bring you some pain pills,” Mom said, and as she was leaving the room, I called out, “Strong ones!”
My dad took up her position beside my bed. “Want some coffee?” he offered.
“Yeah. Thanks.” I found the bed control and raised the back so that I was in a sitting position and my dad gave me my mom’s cup, but before I could take a sip, the door opened and Maddie poked her head in. When she saw that I was awake, she got a big smile on her face.
“Hi! Oh Samuel,” she said, walking straight over to the bed, “You look terrible! Bless your heart. Look at your face. It’s a lot worse than it was yesterday.”
She was running her fingers over the different places on my face that were hurt, and every time she touched me it sent a shudder through my body. This was not good. I thought that my feelings for her in the elevator stemmed from what we had just been through together. Sort of an aftershock
reaction to the crisis. But the feeling had gotten worse overnight, not better. I wanted to kiss her more than ever. And that wasn’t all. If I’d had my way with her right then, there would have been no stopping. Damn it to hell!
“Hi, Mr. Collins. How are you doing?” Maddie asked, oblivious to what she was doing to me.
“Much better now that Sam is awake. I think I’ll go find his mother,” he said, and he disappeared out the door.
I needed to concentrate on something other then Maddie, but she climbed up on the bed right next to me and sat facing me.
“How’s Oliver?” I asked.
“Amazingly well,” Maddie said. “We talked about everything for a long time last night, and I’m going to take him to a counselor just in case, but he’s doing great. When are they going to let you go home?” she asked.
“I don’t know. Will you feed my cat?”
“I already did. You asked me to last night.”
“I did?”
Maddie nodded. “Niki’s here. I saw him down the hall when I was coming in.”
Out of everyone to be indebted to . . . I owed the guy my life. How bad did that suck?
“Our picture is on the front page of the paper this morning,” Maddie said. “We look terrible.”
“That’s only half true. You looked okay.”
“Only compared to you,” she said, and she smiled sympathetically. “Don’t worry; you’ll be good as new in no time.”
I reached out and touched her face. “You’re a brave woman, Madeline Griffin.”
She put her hand over mine and patted it. “No more so than you. The brave part, not the woman part,” she added. “What do you think is going to happen with Larry?”
It was something I didn’t want to think about. “I don’t know.”
Maddie glanced at the clock on the wall. “Whale, I guess I’ll get to the office. What do you need me to do?”
“Nothing that can’t wait. Don’t even go in, Maddie. Take the day off. Penny can handle things.”
“I’ll just go in for a little while. I need the distraction.”
I knew what she meant. With things as chaotic as they were, a little normalcy was good. She scooted off the bed then leaned across and kissed me on the cheek.
“Let me know if you need anything, okay?” she said.
I nodded. “I will. Tell Oliver we’ll play catch on Saturday.” She looked at me like I was crazy, but she didn’t say anything. “I’ll be fine by then,” I said, but neither of us believed it for a second.
“Oh, that reminds me,” she said. “They checked Mrs. Howard in here last night. She’s having breathing problems again.”
“She’s in this hospital?” I asked, and Maddie nodded. “Really? Maybe I’ll go visit her.” It would give me something to do to kill time before I was released.
“I’m sure she would love that,” Maddie said. “I think she’s on four.” She looked me over one last time and smiled. “I’ll call you later.”
“Thanks, Maddie.”
“Don’t thank me . . . I didn’t do anything,” she mimicked, and I could tell she had been just waiting to throw the line back in my face.
“Very funny. Hold on and I’ll walk you out,” I said.
“You’ll walk me out?” Maddie laughed. “The door’s right there,” she said, pointing three feet away.
I set my coffee down, and I carefully moved the covers back and swung my legs off the side of the bed, trying to keep my upper torso as still as possible. “Okay, then you walk me out. I need to get out of here. I’m getting claustrophobic.”
“Oh, brother.”
“Oh, brother? First you mock me, and now you oh brother me?”
“Gosh, I’m pretty brutal, aren’t I?”
“Pretty,” I said, except I didn’t mean it how she did.
I was staring at her, but I couldn’t help it. She had me mesmerized. I stood up and Maddie looked me up and down and smiled. I was wearing one of those stupid hospital dresses and socks, and I’m sure I looked ridiculous.
“You look so cute,” she said. She was making no effort whatsoever to hide her amusement. Hell, she was practically laughing at me. It was just a good thing that I didn’t humiliate easily. “Nice legs,” she said.
“They are, aren’t they? I think cross-dressing suits me. Maybe I’ll steal a couple of these dresses. You want me to get you one?”
“It’s not a dress. It’s a gown,” Maddie laughed. “Sure, I’ll take one.”
I could just picture her from behind – the way the damn dress gaped open with those two flimsy little ties that guaranteed to show off a patient’s assets – or liabilities – as the case may be. In Maddie’s case, it would definitely be assets.
“You’re not going to walk down the hall like that, are you?” Maddie asked.
“Hell yes! If these people don’t want to be subjected to a bunch of bare butts, they shouldn’t make us wear these things in the first place.” I had a lot of faults, but modesty was not one of them.
“In your case, I don’t think they would feel like they were being subjected to anything, Samuel,” she laughed.
“Oh. Well, then I’ll give them a thrill.”
She was looking at me funny, kind of staring at me like I’d been doing to her a few minutes earlier. If I didn’t feel so comfortable with her, it probably would have made me feel self-conscious, but as it was, I just stared back. It turned out she was just plotting a strategy.
“Wrap my sweater around you,” she said decisively, and she whipped off her sweater and came at me with the thing. Her body was right up next to mine, touching it, as she reached her arms behind my back and brought the sleeves around to the front. It took all my power not to take advantage of the situation. Maddie looked up at me and smiled as she tied the sleeves at my waist, then she stepped back and nodded her approval. “That’ll do pig,” she said.
“Excuse me?”
“You’ve never seen Babe?” she asked in disbelief.
I was still in a state of shock from being so close to her. I shook my head no, and she went into an explanation of the line, but I wasn’t paying attention. Her lips were moving and sound was coming out, but I didn’t hear a word of it. I couldn’t concentrate on anything except the fact that I needed to kiss her.
It finally got to be too much and I reached my arm out behind her neck and pulled her face to mine. I brought my lips to hers and kissed her gently, not wanting to disclose the intensity of my feelings with an urgent, desperate kiss. But after the initial shock of my move, Maddie returned the kiss with such enthusiasm that I lost all self-control. I pulled her as close to me as I could, and bore down on her, my lips pressing hard against hers, until I was afraid I was hurting her. I ran my fingers through her hair and kissed her cheek and down her neck, then went back to her lips, desperate that it might be the only time I’d get to do it. I felt like a kid in a candy store, stuffing as much into his mouth as he could before he got caught. I was gorging on Maddie and I knew that I’d never get enough before I had to stop.
And then something happened that took me totally off guard. “I love you, Maddie,” I said. The words were out of my mouth before I even had a chance to think what I was saying. And once they were out, they hung in the air, lingering and impossible to ignore. It stopped me cold in my tracks. “I’m sorry,” I said lamely. I wasn’t sure what would be worse – to take it back or just to leave it out there.
Maddie read my mind and she let me off the hook. “Whale he really did whack you hard, didn’t he?” she said. She placed her palm on my cheek and smiled at me. “We’ve been through a lot together and I have very deep feelings for you too, Samuel. It’s only natural.”
“I guess you’re right,” I said, but a part of me wanted to disagree with her. There was nothing natural about the way I was feeling for her at the moment, but I didn’t want to get myself into any more trouble than I was already in so I kept my mouth shut. But the truth was, I did love her. As ridiculous as
it was . . . in spite of the fact that she had two kids . . . that she was my neighbor . . . that she was my client . . . that I already had a wonderful girlfriend . . . in spite of all that, I honest to God loved her.
Maddie cinched the sleeves tighter around my waist. “You’re a much better kisser than I thought you’d be,” she observed.
“What do you mean? You didn’t think I’d be a good kisser?” I said, offended.
“No. I didn’t say you wouldn’t be good, I said you were better than I thought you’d be,” she corrected.
“It’s the same thing.”
“No, it’s not the same thing,” she argued.
“So you’ve thought about kissing me before?” I asked.
Maddie blushed. I’d busted her, but she still had the nerve to deny it. “I didn’t say that either. You’re putting words in my mouth.”
“Did you not just tell me that I was a much better kisser than you thought I’d be?” I said.
“Whale that doesn’t mean that I sat around thinking about it. If I thought about it, it was only in passing, and not necessarily in the context of you and me kissing.”
“You’re such a liar! You thought about kissing me before and you thought I’d be a shitty kisser. I can’t believe you thought that!”
“I did not!” she said emphatically. “I knew you’d be good, but I didn’t know you’d be that good. That’s what I meant.”
“Oh. So you did think about it before. You admit that much?”
Maddie rolled her eyes, balled her hand up into a fist, and looked for a place to slug me. She finally settled on my good arm and she let me have it.
“Ouch! Damn you’re mean. I don’t know why I wanted to kiss you in the first place,” I said.
Maddie laughed. “I’m leaving,” she said, but I pulled her back before she could go.
“You were better than I thought too,” I said, and Maddie laughed out loud.
I stood there looking at her, wondering how things would be between us from then on. The door opened and my mother and Landra walked in, and I realized that, whatever happened, I had no regrets.
Advice of Counsel (The Samuel Collins Series Book 1) Page 29
