He shrugged into his blue T-shirt and grabbed his wallet off the dresser. He shoved it and his cell phone in his pocket and stepped into his great room. He had a lot of work to do today and was eager to get to it.
He was putting on his sneakers when his cell phone rang. He put on his Bluetooth headset and answered.
It was Max. “I’ve contacted Sheri. It seems you were right. Her problem hasn’t gone completely away.”
“Shit.” Simon finished tying his sneakers.
“Yeah. Parker found her again.”
Simon stood with a sigh and grabbed his car keys. “So when does she arrive?”
Max snorted. “You know me so well.”
He shrugged into his coat and headed out the door. “Dude. To quote Becky, ‘Ew’. You make it sound like we’re fucking married or something.” Simon locked his door, grinning as Max made kissy noises over the phone. In the background he could hear Emma giggling. “Sorry, I’m just not into cocktail wieners.”
“Asshole.” Max laughed.
Simon climbed into his Ram and started it up, eager to get to his studio. “So?”
“She’s already here.”
“Cool.”
“I want you and Becky to take her to dinner. Emma and I would do it, but we’ve got a meeting with the caterer after work.”
“You popped the question?”
“Are you kidding me? She left post-it notes all over my office. What her favorite color is, what type of wedding ring she wants, even a build-your-own-engagement-ring URL with a detailed description of what to buy. She put a catering menu up as the backdrop on the computer, and wedding dress pictures as the screensaver. It was sheer self defense.”
Simon put his head down on his steering wheel and howled in laughter. He could see the Little General Post-it bombing Max’s office.
“And that was what she did at work!”
Simon couldn’t breathe, he was laughing so hard.
“Go ahead, laugh. You should have heard Adrian when he got a look at it.” Simon could practically hear Max roll his eyes. “She forgot Adrian and I share an office. I’ve never seen a grown man run so fast in my life.” Max snickered. “I can’t wait until he finds his mate.”
“That should be fun.” Simon wiped away the laugh tears. “Oh, man, I can’t wait for that.”
“Neither can Emma.”
“I’ll talk to Becky and make sure she’s up for dinner tonight. We’ll hold the formal intro Sunday?”
“My place; I’ll send out the e-mails, let the Pride know. Oh, and bring Becky over to our place for dinner Friday so I can formally acknowledge her, too. She should have changed by then.”
“Got it. Bye, Max.”
Simon pulled out of his driveway. He pushed the number for Wallflowers and listened to the phone ring.
“Hello?”
“Becky?” He frowned. Something in her tone of voice seemed off.
“It’s smiling at me.”
“What’s smiling at you, baby?” He stopped at a red light and listened to her panting.
“The apple.”
“What?”
“I think it’s mad because I wanted to eat it.”
Her whisper was full of shaky fear. “Becky, where are you?”
“Behind the counter in the store.”
“Where’s the, um, apple?”
“In my kitchen. I can hear it hopping around up there.”
He was starting to get seriously worried. He sped through the intersection as soon as the light turned. “I’m on my way, baby.”
“Okay. Simon?”
“Yeah, baby?”
“Tell it I’m sorry and I promise not to eat it if it will go away. Okay?”
The thread of tears in her voice scared him to death. His Becky hadn’t cried when the bitch-cat’s claws had been imbedded in her stomach, but now she was crying over an apple? Something was seriously wrong here. “Hang on, baby, I’m almost there.”
“Okay, Simon. Okay.”
“Keep talking to me, sweetheart.” Silence greeted him. “Becky?”
Nothing. Not a sound, not even a whisper.
He screeched to a halt in front of the store. Without bothering to switch the ignition off he ran inside, his heart pounding with fear.
“Becky! Where are you?”
Becky was slumped on the floor behind the counter, phone in hand. She wasn’t conscious.
“Hello?”
He turned at the hesitant, familiar voice in the doorway. “Belinda?”
“Simon? Is everything all right?” She stepped into Wallflowers. “Your truck is running and the front door was wide open…oh my God.”
He picked Becky up in his arms and carried her to the front door, surprised when Belinda stepped behind the counter and picked up the phone. “What are you doing?”
“Calling Halle General to let them know you’re on your way.”
“What?”
She was dialing as she spoke. “I’ll call Max’s and ask Emma to come as quick as she can. I’ll stay here until she gets here.” She looked up at him. He could clearly hear the ringing of the phone on the other end of the line. “Go!”
He took a deep breath. “Thanks.”
She nodded. “We’re Pride.” She turned back to the phone as Simon heard a voice on the other end say, “Halle General.”
He raced out the door, his mate held securely in his arms.
Becky was floating. The colors were so beautiful, so peaceful. Simon had gotten there and everything was fine now. Everything was always fine when Simon was there.
“Any idea what may have caused it?”
He sounded worried. She frowned. Simon shouldn’t worry. There was nothing to worry about. Couldn’t he feel it?
She heard some papers rustling around. “Yup. She’s hypoglycemic.”
“Hypoglycemia doesn’t cause hallucinations, does it? She was scared of an apple, for God’s sake!”
“If it’s severe enough, yes, it can. I gather she didn’t tell you about this?”
Funny, that sounds like my doctor. Wonder what he’s doing here?
“No, but you can bet I plan on bringing this up with her.”
Oh, now he’s getting growly. I wonder why he’s growly?
“Simon?” She opened her eyes to see his worried face hovering over her own. She smiled dreamily. Damn, she felt so good. “You have beautiful eyes.”
“Hey, baby. How are you feeling?”
She stretched. “Mmm, I feel wonderful. Don’t you?”
He looked off to his left with a frown. “Doc?”
“Could be a side effect of the glucose we’re pumping into her bloodstream.”
She lifted one heavy hand and stroked Simon’s cheek. “I’m okay.”
His frown was fierce. “You scared the hell out of me. Why didn’t you tell me you suffer from low blood sugar?”
“The tests hadn’t come back yet, so I didn’t know if it was hypoglycemia or my thyroid. I didn’t want to worry anyone until I knew for sure.” She shrugged. “Besides, I had the test on Friday and didn’t, um, hook up with you until Saturday night.”
“You could have told me any time this weekend.”
She stared up at his fierce frown and blushed. “We were busy. Remember?”
She heard a laughing cough behind Simon and turned to look. There was Doctor Harrison, hiding a grin behind his hand. “Actually, Simon, you have Max to thank for talking her into getting checked out. He knew the dizzy spells weren’t normal and asked her to come see me for blood work.”
“So it’s definitely hypoglycemia?”
Doc Harrison nodded. “Yup. This means we need to change a few things in your diet. Like making sure you eat regularly.”
She winced and refused to look at either of them.
“Also we need to find out what the underlying cause is, make sure there’s nothing more serious going on. The fact that you found her unconscious is cause for worry; however, her rapid response to the glu
cose is encouraging.”
She felt Simon breathe a sigh of relief. “So you don’t think it’s serious?”
“Not enough to warrant an extended hospital stay. We’ll monitor her for another hour or two, and then I suggest you take her home. Make sure she eats tonight, and under no circumstances is she to skip a meal. You’ll want to get plenty of good carbs into her, along with reducing her sugar intake. But if she seems to be having another episode, by all means hand the woman a regular Coke or glass of juice.”
Simon nodded and held out his hand. “Thanks, Doc.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Thanks, Doc Harrison.”
The doctor left, leaving them alone in the room. She peeked up at Simon from under her lashes, startled to see the fear in his normally sunny expression.
“You scared the hell out of me.”
“I scared the hell out of me, too.”
He pulled her into his arms, careful of the IV. “I just got you. I’m not ready to let you go yet.”
He’s trembling. She ran her hands down his back in an effort to soothe him. The fact that she could make him feel so much humbled her. “I don’t plan on going anywhere.” She grinned slowly. “After all, I never did get my donuts.”
His amused snort was music to her ears.
She had to buy a glucose monitor. Simon wouldn’t hear of taking her home without one, and the doctor agreed. Since her blood sugar was back up to normal and she was showing no further signs of problems they released her late afternoon. She’d insisted on returning to her apartment for toiletries and clean clothes and he’d grumbled the whole time. He refused to wait in the car for her, and tried his hardest to tie her to a chair so she wouldn’t overexert herself. He was even talking about cancelling the dinner with Sheri just so she could get some rest, even though she felt perfectly fine.
“I’m okay, Simon, really.” She watched as he went through her underwear drawer, discarding all of her comfy panties in favor of what she called her “dress-up” panties. She blushed when he pulled out a lacy, pale green thong. With a grin, he added it to the pile to be dumped into the suitcase on the bed.
“Well, I’m not, so indulge me.”
The doorbell rang. “I’ll get it.” She practically flew off the bed, ignoring his growl to “Slow down, damn it!”
She threw open the door and was immediately enveloped by a pair of pale rose arms. “Hi, Emma.”
“You scared me!”
“Can’t. Breathe.”
Emma stepped back. “Oops.”
Once Emma let go she sucked in a deep breath. “Damn, woman, you’ve been eating your Wheaties.” She stepped back to let Emma through the door.
Emma blushed bright red. “Hi, Simon!”
“Damn it, Emma! Where’s Max?”
“He’s at his office, I think. Why?”
Simon stepped out of the bedroom holding a pair of black stockings and a matching garter belt. He had a fierce frown on his face. “Does he know you’re not at the store?”
Becky eyed the underwear in his big hands and grinned. “Are you planning on going to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show? You’d make a lovely Dr. Frank-N-Furter.”
Emma laughed so hard she turned purple. Becky could just see her friend picturing Simon in a corset and heels.
“What?” Simon looked down, rolled his eyes and threw the frilly underwear on the bed. “Well?”
Emma took a moment to catch her breath. “I’m shutting Wallflowers down early, and I’ll meet him at home. We’re going to the caterer’s from there, remember? Why?”
“No reason. I just don’t want my ass kicked because he can’t find you.”
A confused frown crossed Emma’s face. “Why would he kick your ass?”
“Because he won’t kick yours.”
The two women exchanged a confused look and Simon sighed. “Just call the man, okay?”
Emma shrugged. “Okay, Simon, if it will make you happy.”
“It will. I and my non-chewed-on ass will thank you.”
Emma shook her head and sauntered into the kitchen to call Max. Becky grinned at Simon and shook her head. “I’m going to go pack my makeup and something to wear for tonight, okay?”
“Sure.”
He was staring in the direction Emma had gone. He still looked a little growly so she stroked his chest. “Can you keep Emma company while I change clothes?”
Simon frowned, his attention back on her. “I’m still not sure we shouldn’t just cancel the dinner with Sheri.”
“I have to eat, right? So, why not eat with your old friend?”
His look said he still wasn’t sure he shouldn’t just wrap her up and put her to bed.
“The doc says I’m fine, Simon. He even told you since I reacted so well to the glucose that he was pretty sure it’s just hypoglycemia. He also reassured you that I was fine to do everything I normally do tonight.” She sighed at the stubborn set of his features. “Tell you what, tomorrow we’ll order in some Chinese and you can feed me with chopsticks, okay? We’ll stay in and cuddle in front of that wonderful fireplace you have.”
He nodded reluctantly. “You’re sure you feel okay?” He hissed when she started doing jumping jacks. He grabbed her arms and picked her up off the ground. “Don’t do that!”
She kissed the tip of his nose. “See? I’m fine.”
“I’m not!”
“Then let’s pack and you can take me home, okay?”
They stared at one another, the shock of her calling his place home in both their faces. Becky could feel the tension slowly easing out of his big body as he lowered her to the ground. “Okay.” His lips quirked up into a possessive smile. “Chinese or pizza?”
“Meat lovers?”
“Done.”
Just then Emma ended her phone call and grinned at the big artist. “So, Max wants to know what size corset he should buy you. Just in case.”
“Emma!”
“Just make sure you get it in pink.” Becky was biting the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing, but when he blew a raspberry at them both women collapsed into giggles.
Chapter Six
She’d managed to sneak her truffles into her bag without Emma seeing them. Damn, that pretty brown box tempted her. And Emma was just as bad as she was when it came to Godiva.
“You ready, baby?”
She shoved the truffle in her mouth just as Simon walked through the bedroom door. “All set.”
He smiled at her. “Man, I’m glad you wore another dress. You look incredible.”
She twirled for him, causing her skirt to flare up around her hips. She heard him moan as the pale green thong flashed him. The black eyelet lace dress was lined in a pale jade silk that matched the panties. Long bell-like sleeves and a square neckline hugged her assets, while the above-the-knee skirt showcased her legs. The black boots she’d worn with the bandita costume and chunky gold hoops completed the outfit.
He held out her coat for her just like he had the night of their dinner with Max and Emma. He took her hand and led her into the garage, settling her in her seat first before climbing in himself.
He started the truck and opened the garage door. The soft strains of Loreena McKennitt filled the air, the haunting Celtic melodies flowing out of the speakers and soothing her. She looked at him with a slightly goofy grin. “You stole my CD, didn’t you?”
He smiled. “Since most of your CD collection was this Celtic stuff I figured you wouldn’t mind.”
She stroked his cheek. “Thank you, Simon.”
He took her hand and cupped it in his own. He kissed her palm and curled her fingers through his. “You’re welcome.”
She turned her head and stared out the window. She knew the goofy grin was still on her face.
Rain began to fall, coating the windows in running droplets. She watched the rainbows caused by the streetlamps dance in the drops. She traced one of the running drops with her finger as it slid down the window.
“Baby?”
“Hmm?”
“You okay?”
“Um-hmm.” She leaned her head against the window and smiled. Everything felt so peaceful, so Zen. Rainbows danced all over the place. “So pretty.”
“Becky!”
“Hmm?” She turned her head to see his worried frown. She patted his cheek, not wanting him to be sad. How could he be sad on such a beautiful night? “It’s okay, Catman. Rainbows can’t hurt you.”
“Shit.” He pulled into the parking lot of the motel Sheri was currently staying in. Reaching over her, he pulled a packet of cookies out of the glove compartment. “Eat one, baby.”
She stared at the chocolate chip cookie he held out. It had rainbows playing across it. “Won’t I hurt the rainbows?”
“No, baby. You’ll take the rainbows inside, and they’ll become a part of you, and that will make them happy.”
“Really?”
“Yes, baby. Trust me.”
She smiled at him. “Of course I trust you, silly.” She took the cookie and began nibbling on it. Suddenly she giggled. “Does this mean I ‘taste the rainbow’?”
“I’ll be right back, okay? Can you stay in the car?”
She hummed softly to the music. The rainbows were dancing along with it. It was so beautiful she barely heard what he said.
With a sigh he climbed out of the truck. She barely felt his door slam shut, so caught up was she in the multicolored dance in front of her.
Simon was about to lose his mind. Twice in one day? What about that shit the doc told him about the glucose and how as long as she ate she’d be fine? Simon had seen to it personally that Becky ate lunch; hell, he’d stood there practically spoon-feeding her fast food he’d brought to her in the hospital. He’d refused to take a bite of his own until she’d downed at least the burger.
Now here she was, acting like she had that morning, although less scared. If he didn’t know better he’d swear she was…
“Simon?”
He started. He had been so caught up in his worry over Becky he hadn’t realized he’d stopped in front of Sheri’s door. “Sheri, hi.” He accepted the hug she gave him. Her pale blonde hair practically glowed against the darkness of his leather trench coat.
Sweet Dreams Page 5
