by Jenna Jacob
“Let’s just say it’s one I’d rather not repeat.”
“You and me both, girl.” She chuckled lowly. “You have no idea how badly I wanted to whip your ass bloody. You can try a Dominant’s patience to the nth degree, no doubt about it.”
I rolled my eyes and smirked. “I’m not that bratty.”
“You were.” She arched her brows in emphasis.
Master George entered the room and bestowed a warm, grandfatherly smile. He walked toward where Sammie and I huddled close on the couch and extended his hand. I glanced at Drake, who issued a subtle nod, and then I took George’s hand and rose from the couch. He led me to an unoccupied corner of the waiting room, and with my back against the wall, he leaned in and wrapped me in a warm hug.
“Thank you for allowing me to cover the bases last night. Keeping the details from the uniformed officers on the scene kept this whole unfortunate incident from being entirely more complicated than it needed to be.” His voice was low as he spoke. Anyone watching us would only observe a semiprivate moment of compassion between two people. “Please don’t think less of me that I skirted the facts to protect people I dearly love.”
I tilted my head, as if placing a kiss on his cheek and whispered in his ear. “Never, Sir. I am forever in your debt.”
Pulling back, I saw a broad smile form over his lips, stretching the weathered lines on his face.
“No, sweet girl. All this is water under the bridge. It’s best if we allow it to flow out to sea and stay lost forever.” Stepping back, he placed his hands on my shoulders and winked. “I need a moment with Drake and Emile, but I want you to call me if you or Emile need anything. Understood?”
I nodded in assurance.
“Drake has my number, and I expect you to use it.”
“Yes, Sir. Thank you for everything. I can’t begin to tell you how relieved I was to see you last night. I was so scared. So...”
“I know, dear.” He gave my shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “It’s been a horrific scare to all of us. But Mika will recover from this. He’s a strong young man. He comes from good stock.”
He motioned for Drake and Emile to join us, then George presented Emile with an envelope. It was a directive that Mika had drawn up when he first opened Genesis that Drake oversee the day-to-day operations in the event of his death or incapacitation.
Drake accepted the responsibility solemnly and soon he, Trevor, and Sammie left to ready the club for the evening’s guests. I knew most of the members would be at the club, not only to offer their support, but to try to glean more details about the shooting. Of course none would be given. Drake would make sure the news account was the exact version retold at the club. Besides, no one who knew Dennis McCollum’s alter ego would spill the beans.
Feeling a bit vulnerable with Drake, Trevor, and Sammie gone, I curled my legs beneath me on the couch next to Emile while he made a litany of phone calls. Waiting was always so damn hard.
The soft-spoken nurse finally appeared and whispered something into Emile’s ear. His eyes sparkled, and he nodded his head.
“Come, dear. He’s awake.” Emile beamed with joy.
Butterflies dipped and sailed in my stomach. Suddenly struck with a brutal case of anxiety, I had no idea what to say to Mika. After everything that happened, would he even want to see me? After all, it was my fault he’d been shot.
“Shouldn’t you go see him alone?”
“Nonsense, child. We go together.” Emile extended his hand, and we made our way down the glass-lined hall.
As he stood next to Mika’s bed, Emile gently called his name. Mika’s eyes flashed open in a combination of fear, relief, and love.
“It’s okay, son. Everything is going to be fine. You gave us one hell of a scare, though.” Emile smiled and once again kissed Mika’s forehead. “Are you in pain?”
Mika slowly shook his head no.
“Good. I know you can’t talk and it’s probably frustrating, but there’ll be time for that later. Right now, I just want you to work, son. Work hard on making yourself well.” Emile squeezed his hand and nodded emphatically. Mika nodded gently and closed his eyes.
Surrendering to the ache, I slowly slid my hand into Mika’s. Gently caressing my thumb over the back of his hand, he opened his eyes and turned his head toward me. A low groan rumbled in his chest.
“She is a treasure,” Emile praised. Mika nodded, his eyes searching mine as if he were longing for an answer to some elusive question.
“I’m so sorry. All this happened because of me,” I choked, sobbing on my guilt. “I never imagined he’d come after me like that. I’m so sorry, Mika.”
Blinking through my tears, I felt Mika’s hand tighten around mine.
His eyes suddenly reflected sadness as he shook his head no. Releasing my hand, his finger traced a strange gesture in the air in a somewhat lethargic, caveman type of communication. Emile and I were at a loss. He tried again and again, but we had no idea what he was trying to convey. Mika was becoming exhausted and agitated at our inability to decipher his pantomime. Emile bent and lovingly caressed his scalp, quietly reassuring Mika that there would be plenty of time to talk once he was healed.
~*~
The next three days were an exhausting blur. Emile and I spent our allotted fifteen minutes every hour at Mika’s bedside. Each time I apologized to him, and each time he shook his head and his eyes filled with sorrow.
Something was very different about the way he looked at me. Each time I sat by his bed, he would draw my hand to his cheek and nuzzle it softly. Emile constantly praised the rate at which he was healing and encouraged him to keep fighting.
I couldn’t stop touching him. It was as if I needed the constant reassurance that he was alive. Even when we would venture back in the wee hours of the morning, I would slide my hand beneath his and hold it. Feeling the comfort of his steady pulse in my hand gave me a silent security that he was still here with me if only for a little while.
The steady stream of friends from the club lending their support never waned. Trevor brought clean clothes for Emile and me along with a survival kit of snacks and goodies daily.
On one of our many walks through the hospital, Emile purchased a notepad and pen from the gift shop. Mika was still trying to communicate with his undecipherable pantomime and each time we walked into his room, he would snatch up the notepad and scrawl the same message.
Everything has changed. I need to tell you both. Too much to write down. Get this damn thing out of my throat!
On the fourth day, the ventilator was finally removed. Emile and I stood at his bedside, anxious to hear what Mika had been so obsessed to reveal.
“What is it you need to tell us, son?”
Mika swallowed with a pained expression then inhaled a deep breath. Reaching out, he held both Emile’s hand and mine in his.
“First of all, what I’m going to say will sound unbelievable.” His voice was still deep but horribly scratchy, not the buttery-soft timbre I was accustomed to, and his eyes held such a powerful urgency, it gave me chills. “But trust me, it’s true. I know it is. It wasn’t a dream. I know with every cell in my body it was real.”
“Okay.” I nodded solemnly, wondering what could possibly evoke so much passion in his words and eyes.
“I think I died and was brought back to life.” He wrinkled one brow as if looking for confirmation of his suspicion.
Emile sadly nodded, confirming Mika’s suspicion.
“Vanessa came to me. She told me that she sent you to me, Julianna.” Mika smiled broadly.
A chill raced down my spine. If he only knew of Vanessa’s nightly visits, he’d realize that the story he was revealing wasn’t so unbelievable. I, too, had a story that would surely rock him to the core. But not today. It could wait for another time.
“You knew she came for me that night. Did you see her, too?” He looked at me expectantly as if I could corroborate his experience by confessing to have seen her ghost as well
.
“No. I heard you call her name. I knew she was there to take you away with her.”
“I heard you talking to me. I heard every word you said. You told me to go to her, to be happy with her.”
A wave of guilt nearly took out my knees. I could feel Mika’s stare, feel his eyes burning though me.
“Were you anxious for me to leave this mortal world, Julianna? To leave you?” A sly smile formed on his gorgeous lips.
“No.” I blinked in mortification as my stomach pitched. “No. Of course not. That’s not what I wanted. I knew why she was there. And I know how much you love her. You’re so miserable without her. I...I wanted you to finally be happy.” I lowered my head, ashamed that he thought I didn’t want him to live.
“So you gave me the ultimate gift you could give, complete self-sacrificing love.” The warmth, understanding, and praise in his voice had me softly sobbing at his side. “You were willing to give me up simply for my own happiness, is that right?”
I nodded as tears spilled from my eyes. A bleak sob tore from my throat.
“Shhh, Julianna. Please don’t cry. I am in awe of you. I keep wondering what I’ve ever done to deserve someone as precious as you.”
He raised his hand and caressed my face, wiping away my tears as they streaked down my cheeks. I held my breath, waiting for him to continue speaking.
“Vanessa told me that she’d answered my prayers, that she sent you to me to take away the emptiness and pain. She said I was too damn stubborn to see the gift in front of my face. She was quite pissed at me for it, too.” He grinned. “She told me the rules I’d been raised with were wrong, that the potential to love more than one is inside all of us. She said that we shortchange ourselves when we limit sharing that love with just one.”
He looked at Emile with sad eyes. “I’m sorry, Dad, but I believe her. The love I felt in whatever place I was in was indescribable. I was engulfed with such a powerful feeling of unconditional love, I can’t even begin to explain. My skin glowed with a golden light so bright, so warm and accepting. No human words can give it justice.”
A sudden serious frown formed on Mika’s lips as he looked at his father’s smiling face. His brows drew together in concern, and his eyes held Emile’s as he licked his lips and took a small sip of water. He was already growing tired from expending so much energy talking.
“Mom was there,” he finally announced, watching his father’s expression warily.
Emile threw his head back and laughed. He smiled broadly, looking again at Mika. “How did she look?” he asked as tears glistened in his eyes.
Mika’s chin quivered and he struggled with his own emotions. He swallowed tightly and nodded. “Like an angel.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. She always did.” Emile choked, pride in his voice.
“She said you were also wrong about only claiming one. She said that it was the second time in your life you were wrong and that it was a bigger mistake than the car. I don’t know what she meant by that.” Mika shook his head in confusion.
Once again Emile laughed, but it sounded like a strangled cry of pain. Tears spilled from his eyes. “Ahh, yes, the car.” He swallowed audibly and palmed away his tears. “I bought a used car when you were just a baby. It was a rickety old piece of crap, but I was proud of it because I’d saved like a miser and paid cash for it. I brought it home and smugly announced it was our new car. Your mother cried she was laughing so hard.”
I wiped the tears from my eyes and smiled at his memory.
His lips curled in a broad smile as his eyes twinkled with tears at the memory. “She brazenly told me that I’d been hoodwinked and that it was a piece of junk. She said we’d be lucky if it ran to the end of the block. I was incensed. She’d never scoffed at anything I’d done before, so I punished her. I punished her for all the wrong reasons. I claimed she’d undermined my authority and that she didn’t have faith in my decisions. Just as she’d predicted, I had decidedly been screwed. That damn car broke down three times within the first week. It was then that I had to make amends to her. I had to apologize not only for punishing her unjustly, but for wasting hard earned money on such a worthless piece of shit.”
We were all three grinning broadly, then Mika nodded and once again took on a somber expression. “She said you need to open your eyes and stop being so hardheaded. She wants you to look at what’s in front of you and to stop being such a stubborn fool. She wants you to get on with your life, Dad.”
Emile’s eyes hardened and his jaw ticked, rebelling in the notion that he should move on.
Mika held up his hands in defense. “Her words, Dad, not mine.”
After taking another sip of water, he lowered his head and closed his eyes. “Mom said she sent someone to you, but just like me, you’re too stubborn to see her. I know you don’t want to hear this, but she wants you to stop mourning her.”
A tear slid down Mika’s cheek as he swallowed a muted sob. “She wants you to start living again, to find happiness with the gift she’s sent you.” He finally opened his eyes and saw the tears sliding down Emile’s cheeks. “Do you know who she’s talking about?”
Emile sadly nodded his head yes.
“She loves you dad. She loves us all. She wants you to be happy. She wants me to be happy. Both she and Vanessa just want us to live the rest of our days here fulfilled. They both want us to embrace our futures and not hold onto the past.”
Emile nodded, wiping his tears away, then cradled Mika’s face in his hand and gazed upon him with a love so absolute it made me smile. “Then we will do as they ask. We owe them that much at least.”
Mika then looked back at me. “Come closer, Julianna,” he whispered.
I leaned over the bed, and he spread his palm over my cheek. His liquid amber eyes penetrated deep into mine. “I love you. I’ve loved you for a long, long time. I’ve been a fool, a stubborn, hardheaded fool. I don’t expect you to love me. But I pray you’ll give me a chance to show you, to prove to you who I am and what’s in my heart. We have a lot to learn about each other, but there is no doubt in my soul that I want you as mine. You are my one, my second one. I want to share my life with you.” His eyes sparkled as he pulled me to his lips.
I returned his passionate kiss as every emotion I’d tried to deny detonated, erupting through me like blistering lightning as it surged through my body nearly taking me to my knees. His lips were full and warm and his erotic flavor exploded over my taste buds. I savored his potent demand. Coaxing the seam of my lips wider, he masterfully opened my mouth and claimed what was his. What would always be his—me.
Oblivious to Emile’s presence, I whimpered, needing more. More of his tongue. More of his lips. More of his love. And he gave it to me. Passionately. Erotically, without the slightest reservation. And I took it all. Greedily. Hungrily. I slipped that provocative full bottom lip into my mouth, tugged it gently with my teeth, and slid my tongue over its sweet, plump flesh.
The soft-voiced nurse came rushing into the room, skidding to a halt. Raising my head, I looked into her panic-laced eyes. An almost instantaneous look of relief washed over her face as her shoulders sagged. The tension in her body deflated like a balloon.
“Mr. LaBrache, you nearly took ten years off my life. The alarm on your heart monitor just went berserk. But I now see it wasn’t a pending heart attack that caused the sudden spike.” A mischievous twinkle flashed in her blue eyes.
Emile began to laugh as my face burned hotly.
“I’m going to have to ask you to curtail your...um...amorous activities until you get home,” she admonished with a sly grin, then turned and left the room.
“I guess we’ll have to wait.” Mika’s sensual eyes danced with delight. His broad, beautiful smile filled my heart with fiery anticipation as my clit ached in desire. I gave him a shy nod then planted a tender but brief kiss to his lips.
“We’ll be back in an hour,” Emile announced. “But I’ll guard the girl much closer next
time we come. You don’t want your heart monitor broadcasting your desires.”
“That’s probably a good idea. This little vixen has a habit of stealing my control.” His deep sensual chuckle turned my legs to Jell-O, and a torrid rush of honey spilled from between my folds.
My entire body shuddered as I sucked in a quivering breath.
Reaching up, he wrapped his hand around my wrist, and he pulled me toward him. He nuzzled his mouth against my ear, his warm breath wafting over the column of my neck. “I can smell your arousal, pet. It’s so fucking intoxicating.” His teeth nipped at the creamy flesh of my throat and he released my wrist.
“Oh you’d better hurry up and get well...um, Sir,” I moaned with a hungry plea.
“I intend to.” The promise in his eyes left little doubt he would soon be up and running around in a matter of days. As he lowered his gaze, I followed his eyes and bit back a pitiful whimper. It took every ounce of willpower I had to turn and walk away instead of launching my mouth over the massive arousal tenting the thin hospital sheet.
Emile was still laughing as we left the room. My body was on fire. I wanted to rush back to Mika’s room, rip off my clothes, straddle him, and feed every sinful inch of his glorious hard cock deep inside me. Inhaling a slow breath, I attempted to calm the ricocheting flames singeing me from the inside out.
Emile wrapped his arm around my waist, still chuckling even as we walked back into the waiting room. Raising his head, his body froze like a marble statue. He stared in disbelief at an extremely tall, willowy older woman with thick, shimmering blonde hair. A combination of heartbreak, shock, and embarrassment reflected in her huge, sparkling azure eyes.
She wore a dark pencil skirt and an ivory silk blouse that barely contained her brimming breasts. A blazer was draped over her arm. She looked exotic and earthly erotic atop her high-heeled shoes. Her shoulders slightly sagged as she observed me ensconced in Emile’s arm. Her sense of rejection and remorse was heartbreaking palpable.
“Sarah.” Emile’s startled reaction caused the woman to jump. “What on earth are you doing here? Is there something wrong with the company?” He rushed toward the trembling woman as she blinked back glistening tears.
