The Cowboy's City Girl - An Enemies To Lovers Romance

by Emerson Rose

  Nurse Pudgy cracks the door and takes one step inside. She looks at the monitor and back at Marcus with eyes full of warning, finally someone with some balls. I nod my head up and down silently agreeing that he needs to calm down or else. She leaves pulling the door shut behind her.

  I lift the blanket and slide in next to him. “I’m so fucking serious, Imani. If you go near him or try to put your insane plan into motion, I’ll lock you up in our bedroom and never let you out.”

  I smile against his skin, “Yeah? I might like that.”

  He swats my ass, and I arch into his side. “I mean it, lady.”

  “Okay, okay. I was teasing, damn, you haven’t lost any strength, that hurt.”

  “It was meant to. You behave, or I’ll do it again.”

  “Yes, Daddy,” I sass sarcastically. I have no idea why I’m testing him, it’s not intentional. Sometimes I shoot my mouth off before I think. This is one of those times.

  “You think I’m playing? Keep it up,” he says and mutters something about me having a smart mouth under his breath.

  “Sorry. Merry Christmas.”

  “It’s Christmas?” If my arms weren’t around him I’d pat myself on the back for the clever distraction.

  “Yes, for about ninety minutes now. It’s our first Christmas together.” I sigh.

  “It’s our first Christmas married.” He picks up my hand and holds it up. “Where are your rings? I heard you and Elena squealing when you found them. Why aren’t you wearing them?”

  Truth, Lie, Truth, Lie… okay. I’m going with a lie in the name of keeping his blood pressure down. I’m curious to see if it’s even possible to lie to him.

  “Oh,” I say, like he just reminded me of something important. I rotate my hip back to slip them from my pocket. “I took them off to wash my hands when I got ready for bed. I must have forgotten to put them back on.” I slip those two rings on in record time and hold up my hand for him to see.

  “Perfect. I knew they would be.” He holds my hand out in front of us tilting it this way and that assessing the stones.

  “Yeah, you did pretty well, Mr. Castillo.”

  “I did, didn’t I?” he says, with pride

  “We need to talk about that sometime soon, when you’re calmer. Can we just snuggle in for a long winter’s nap?”

  “You don’t expect me to say, ‘I in my kerchief and mama in her cap,’ do you?”

  “No. It would sound kind of funny coming from you, though. I’m surprised anyone ever told you that story.”

  “My aunt made sure we had as many normal experiences as possible. Christmas was her favorite holiday; ours, too, because Mother would let us spend the night with her on Christmas Eve. She didn’t believe in Santa Claus. She said he was satanic and Dad wasn’t around to correct her. Angelica managed to keep us all day every Christmas until after dark.

  “I’m glad you have some happy memories of your childhood.”

  He tips my face up to his with his finger under my chin, “The only memories that are important to me are the ones I make with you.” He presses a tender kiss to my lips and lingers there before he drags his fingertips down my face, closing my eyes, encouraging me to sleep.

  “I can’t sleep, I’m too happy.” I feel the rumble of his chest against my body as he chuckles. Then the fingers of his free hand trail down my spine to my sensitive lower back. He slips his hand inside my pajama bottoms.

  “Oh, you hang on a sec there, coma man. We have to wait.”

  He snorts, “We don’t have to do anything, but I’ll show you want I want to do.” He grabs the majority of my cheek with his big hand giving it a squeeze.

  “Marcus, you have to have all these monitors discontinued, IVs out, catheter removed. You remember that, don’t you?”

  “I remember that my beautiful wife is a nurse and knows how to do all of those things. And, yes, I’ll never forget you taking that thing out. How could you let them do that to me again?”

  “You’d rather wet the bed?”

  He pauses to think, “Hmm, no, you are right. I don’t like wet sheets unless they’re wet with sweat from us going at it like animals.” He pushes his hip against mine playfully.

  I laugh, really laugh, a hearty light-hearted laugh that feels like heaven. “Okay, okay, I get it.”

  “How about you give yourself at least twelve hours minimum before we rip all those wires and tubes out of you and go at it like animals?”

  “I’ll appease you this once but don’t expect me to wait for what I want again. I’m not a patient man, you know that.”

  “I know you’re not. I love you and I’d never deny you unless it was for your own good. This isn’t easy for me either, you know.”

  “Okay, so at…” he glances at the clock on the wall opposite his bed, “two o'clock this afternoon, it’s just you and me and this bed.”

  I sigh and reluctantly agree. What he may not be considering is that we’re going to have company all day tomorrow. It’ll be a lot longer than twelve hours unless he kicks people out on Christmas and even he wouldn’t be that rude, I don’t think.

  “I want all this shit removed in the morning though, all of it. I’ll do it myself if you don’t.”

  “I know you will, honey,” I say patting his chest.

  “You’re not patronizing me, are you, Mrs. Castillo?”

  “Who, me? No, never.” His fingers dig into my ribs tickling me until I nearly wet his bed.

  “Stop, stop! I’m done!” I screech, and he stops tickling me to cover my mouth with his hand.

  “Shush, you don’t want the nurse coming back now, do you?” I quiet down and stick my tongue out to lick the palm of his hand that’s covering my mouth.

  “You’re feisty tonight. I can’t wait to fill that smart mouth of yours with something other than sass.”

  “Promises, promises.”

  “I always keep my promises, baby.”

  “I’m counting on it.”

  Seventy-Nine

  After a fitful night of dozing off and on without sleeping pills, I slip from my warm spot in bed. I’m excited beyond belief about Marcus’s change in condition and my family’s arrival today.

  I can’t wait to be home, whether it’s here in Italy on Lake Como or back in Seattle, anywhere is better than this hospital.

  I check to see that he’s sleeping and pull on a robe and slide my feet into a pair of Toms. Outside his room panic grips me when I glance toward Brian’s room. Elena was supposed to get the ball rolling with him on her way out of the hospital last night. If she did and Marcus finds out he’ll kill us both. I can’t walk past his room without knowing. I need to call her and ask but my phone is back in Marcus’s room. I creep back into the room and tiptoe to the table next to the bed and grab my phone.

  “Forget something?”

  “Shit, I thought you were sleeping.” My heart pounds in my chest when he startles me.

  “I was until my wife left me cold and alone in this hospital bed.” He smirks, and my heart skips a beat as always.

  “I had to go to the bathroom.”

  “And you needed your phone to do that?”

  I look at the phone in my hand, “Uh, yeah, I like to listen to music while I’m in there.” He raises his eyebrows but mercifully chooses to abandon the subject.

  “Okay, I see. Will you let the nurse know on your way out that I want all of this apparatus removed from my body this morning?”

  I roll my eyes and agree, “Yes, I’ll let her know.”

  “Well, hurry up, I want to spend Christmas with my family unhooked from all these chains, scoot.”

  He doesn’t have to tell me twice. I’m doing the pee-pee dance as it is, and I’ve still got to call Elena before I can go.” Outside the door, I dial her number, and she answers on the second ring, thank God.

  “Elena, please tell me you didn’t talk to Brian last night like I asked you to.”

  “Okay? I didn’t talk to Brian last night like you
asked me to.”

  “Yeah? Seriously, you didn’t?”

  “No, Imani, he was sleeping. His nurse said he took a sleeping pill. Why? What’s going on? Merry Christmas, by the way.”

  “Oh, yeah, Merry Christmas. Sorry, it’s just that, well, you were right. Marcus totally freaked out when…”

  “Hold on, backup. What do you mean Marcus freaked out? Is he awake?”

  “Oh shit, Elena. I’m so sorry. Yes, he woke up when I was getting ready for bed. He touched my back and when I turned around he took out his esophageal tube… himself.”

  “Oh my God, is he ok? Does he remember anything? Can he talk?”

  “Ah, yes, on all accounts.” She sighs with relief.

  “I had a feeling something was coming. I don’t know what exactly, but the atmosphere in his room yesterday was different.”

  “Me, too. I couldn’t even take my sleeping pills last night, it was like part of me knew he was almost here.”

  “I’ve got to run. I didn’t want to walk past Brian’s room if you’d spoken to him. That’s why I called but I’m about to wet my pants. When are you coming?”

  “I’m up; I’ll be dressed and out the door in fifteen minutes, we can be there in twenty-five.”

  “Okay, perfect. See you soon, and Elena?”

  “Yeah?”

  I pause and swallow over an emotional lump in my throat, “He’s really back.” I whisper.

  “I know, honey, it’s a miracle.”

  And it is. We have been given yet another chance to make this right, to have forever together, and nobody’s taking it away from us. This time, we will conquer his tumor, his past, and our demons. No more fighting ghosts.

  Two minutes later, I return to Marcus’s room. The room is buzzing with tension and Marcus’s temper is threatening to boil over and scorch anyone within a mile’s distance.

  “What’s the matter?” I ask.

  “That fucking nurse is what’s the matter. She refuses to listen to reason. I need to get out of here. I’ve got a fucking hospital in my house, for Christ’s sake.”

  “Don’t you think you should think this through a little? I know how much you hate not being in control; believe me I do, but…”

  “I’m going to cut you off right there, lady. I’m going home today, period.”

  I sigh, close the door and wedge a chair under the handle. Hospital doors don’t have locks so this will have to do. I have his attention now. He’s eyeing me carefully as I move to the drawer where the nurses keep their supplies.

  “I’ll make you a deal, I remove some of those things and give you what we both know this is really about if you’ll stay a couple more days. Okay? Okay,” I say answering for him before he has a chance. I wait for an argument or some resistance but it never comes.

  I take his catheter out, stop his IV fluids, but leave the access port, in case he needs something intravenously later. I also leave the leads on his chest that monitors his blood pressure. The nurses will be in here instantly if that’s turned off, they can see it from the nurse’s station. It takes me less than five minutes to get him thinking rationally.

  Curious eyes follow me while I clear the mess away. “You’ve barricaded us in, what’s next on your agenda, Mrs. Castillo?”

  “I told you, compromise.” I smile a sly smile and crawl onto the bed straddling his hips. “You sure everything’s in working order here?” I say, wiggling over his cock that is already hard between my legs.

  “Yes, perfectly.” He wraps his hands around my hips and thrusts himself upward raising me onto my knees.

  “You’re lucky I did a range of motion exercises on your arms and legs while you were unconscious. Do you feel weak?” I tilt my head in a teasing manner. I actually did give him a workout three or four times a day, moving his arms and legs to keep him from becoming stiff. In turn, I was usually sore from the effort but I’m not complaining now.

  “Give me that smart mouth,” he growls raising up to face me. He slides his hands around to cup my ass and jerks me against his chest covering my mouth with his warm lips.

  I could do this forever, the feel of his tongue gliding along my lips, tracing, sucking, and nibbling. The way he moves along my jaw line to my ear where his breath warms my skin raising goosebumps everywhere. “I love you, Mrs. Castillo,” he whispers.

  I moan and tip my head back to give him better access, “I love you, too. Thank you for coming back to me.”

  “I will never leave you, baby. Something in your soul always calls me back to you, you’re my home.”

  I work at untying his scratchy hospital gown at the back of his neck. When it’s loose, I pull it out from between us and toss it onto the floor. He lies back with his hands behind his head and eats me alive with his stare. I slide my hands over his defined abdominal muscles one by one, savoring the sight of him naked under me, real, alive and awake. My God, this is actually happening.

  Tears spring to my eyes when I pause to appreciate the moment. He laces his fingers with mine and pulls me down until my cheek is against his chest.

  “It’s going to be alright now, baby. I’m back. You can stop worrying now. I know this has been hell. I promise you from this day forward everything will be about me getting well for you. Anything you want from me, anything you need me to do, I’m in one hundred percent, no hesitation. This tumor is going to leave my body and the evil side of me will go with it.”

  His voice is hoarse and broken from being intubated, but his words couldn’t be clearer. He’s making promises he may not be able to keep and that’s a worry I have to own myself. It’s mine, but if he’s on board one hundred percent like he says, I know we can do this.

  Our warm legs tangle, and suddenly I’m on my back under him, with my hands held over my head. I’m helpless and unable to move and I love it. I never imagined I would be able to surrender my body to a man and trust so fully, but with Marcus it’s natural and easy.

  “You believe me,” he says. It’s a statement, not a question and he’s right, as always.

  “I believe you,” I repeat his words with sincerity. He rains kisses over my body beginning with my mouth, which has a direct line to my aching core. I want him deep inside of me, he is my addiction, and I’ve been clean for weeks. I need him now, as untimely and inappropriate as it may be.

  He rocks his hips into me, my body responds instinctively, arching toward him, and I feel the thick hardness of his cock between my legs, but I’m still dressed in sleeping pants and a tank top.

  “I need to feel you.”

  He removes one of his hands and continues to hold both of mine with the other. His eyes are locked on mine as he pulls the drawstring on the waistband of my pants and pushes them down. I wiggle them the rest of the way off as he catches the edge of my tank top with his thumb and slowly drags it up exposing my breasts. I feel his warm breath on my nipple as he hovers over it teasing it with the tip of his tongue, circling and sucking it into a hard pebble of sensitive nerve endings. He moves to show my other breast the same attention and my head is spinning out of control.

  “You’re going to make me come.”

  I’m panting with need when he looks up at me with his telltale smirk. He’s merciless, he wants to push me to the edge and hold me there until I beg and I will. His mouth moves over my skin covering me with titillating kisses. His tongue glides across my flat belly, dipping into my navel as he passes it.

  A shock of desire lands a direct hit between my legs. I’m soaked. I need him right now, and he’s dragging this out, playing with me.

  “Please,” I whimper, but he knows what he is doing. He knows what I need, and he’ll give it to me, no holds barred, at the exact right moment. He returns his mouth to mine and slips his tongue between my lips and two long fingers between my wet folds.

  “Oh God, Marcus,” I gasp against his lips and close my eyes tight. I push my head into the pillow and arch my back. He knows I’m close when he drags his fingers out slowly and spreads my
wetness over my clit.

  “I need you, too, so much, Imani.” The weight of his cock glides lightly over the folds of my sex before he enters me, slowly, almost carefully. He pauses lingering inside of me.

  “Ah, Imani, my God. It’s been too long, you feel so fucking good, so wet. I could stay like this forever.” I open my eyes to see my fantastic husband frozen in ecstasy with his jaw clenched and his muscles rippling over me. He takes a deep breath, and I worry about a million things at once, first of all being the side effects of his removing the endotracheal tube himself. Like always, he knows what I’m thinking.

  “Stop, I’m fine.” And to prove it, he slides out and thrusts into me deep, shoving my body up the bed. There is nothing in my life that I need more than this. He is everything to me. No one else can evoke the feelings that he does. He fills my heart so completely that there is no room for anything else, only him.

  I could easily come at any second, he’s brought me to the edge but I want to stay this way forever, too. I try to concentrate on the individual aspects of the experience instead of allowing it to consume me.

  Our eyes are locked, and I can see the faint familiar ring of purple around his irises. He pumps in and out, sliding his cock out to the very tip, teasing me by holding it there just long enough for me to rein in my orgasm again and again. He buries himself in my pool of desire until I can’t hold back any longer.

  “Marcus, I can’t… I can’t wait.”

  “Don’t wait, let go,” he says breathlessly picking up the pace. Pinned to the mattress with my hands bound, he is in complete control and it feels so fucking good.

  “Ah God, Marcus!” I yell when my orgasm explodes from me freeing the tension of weeks of worry, desperation, and fear. Deep abiding love and adoration passes from my body to his through my orgasm.

  Like an out of body experience, my soul watches as my body responds to his every movement, his every touch. Before I’ve had time to fully come down from my high, he releases my hands and slides my legs up over his shoulders to penetrate deeper.