Green Eyed Temptation (Halos & Horns

by Lori Leger

  “It was a pill bottle full of little blue pills, dear. Viagra. I wasn’t even sure they sold Viagra in France. Imagine my delight.”

  “Oh, God. Do I have to?” Nan’s laughter carried over the lines.

  “He said he’d gotten the prescription filled a month earlier but hadn’t seen anyone he wanted to try them out on until me. Isn’t that the biggest line of bullshit you’ve ever heard?”

  “Sounds like a line, all right.”

  “Sure it was. I told him he needed to update his pick-up lines, and then I took him to my hotel room. I gotta tell ya, honey. When I got my first glimpse of his tiny little package, I thought I’d made a terrible mistake.”

  Angel covered her eyes and groaned. “Oh my God.”

  “But within minutes of popping that little blue pill, ‘Mr. Wrinkles’ overcame his shyness.”

  “The Frenchman’s last name is Wrinkles?”

  “No, dear, that’s the name of hi—”

  “Ohhh! Don’t say it. I get it now.”

  Nan’s laughter rang out again. “Gilles and I had a lovely afternoon together,” she said, with a satisfied purr. “Wish I could have an experience like than in the Louvre. Now that would be a memory of a lifetime. Love in the Louvre…”

  Angel heard someone speaking in the background as Nan answered. “Is that him?”

  “Him? Gilles? Oh no, dear. I never see the same man more than once, anymore. They become quite attached and it’s too stressful to give them the boot.”

  “Of course. Silly me.”

  “They have to accept the terms before we ev…”

  “Yes, I get it. I understand.” Angelique cut her off, feeling a tad queasy in her belly. “Nan, I really must go now, but thank you for calling. You really have cheered me up.”

  “I know dear. You try to ease up on yourself, a bit, would you? I’m sure you’re causing my Sonny undue concern.”

  “I will Nan. Goodbye now.” She ended the call and lay there, trying to picture some of the things Nan said. She found herself smiling and realized that, despite everything, she did feel better. “God bless that little old lady,” she mumbled. “She may be a loose old broad, but she certainly is lovable.”

  “What kind of pain are you experiencing now, Mr. Harper?” The neurologist hovered around his face.

  “My head is killing me, and my eyes—my eyes hurt like hell.”

  “How’s this? Does this cause any discomfort?”

  “Yes,” Mike hissed, closing his eyes and turning away from whatever his doctor was doing to cause the pain slicing clear through to the back of his eyeballs.

  “Hmm. That’s actually quite good news. It’s the light from my penlight that’s causing pain. That means the pressure is releasing from your optical nerves. As they become more efficient, they get sensitive. It’s like when your foot goes to sleep. As circulation returns, you get that pins and needles feeling, right?”

  “Yes.” Mike nodded, in agreement.

  “Well, it’s the same thing with your optical nerves. They’re being bombarded by all these signals they haven’t been able to receive in nearly two weeks, and they’re somewhat oversensitive.”

  “Does this mean I’ll get my sight back?”

  “It means your optical nerves are trying to recover. I can’t promise to what degree they’ll come back. We’re still in wait and see mode, unfortunately.”

  “I understand.” Mike refused to jump to any hopeful conclusions. Better to accept at least partial blindness now than build his hopes up only to have them shatter later on. “Thanks, Doc.”

  “Try to get some rest now. You’d be surprised how much healing goes on in the human body while it’s in deep, restful sleep mode.”

  “I was about to take a nap before you came in here. For some reason, I can’t seem to quit yawning today,” he said, covering his mouth one more time.

  “Get to it, then, and let me know if there’s any change.”

  Mike nodded as he heard the door close upon the doctor’s departure. He settled back on his pillow, eyes closed, trying to rest, with thoughts and memories of Angel invading his mind.

  He had no way of knowing how long he’d slept. He heard a nurse or someone moving around in his room, and opened his eyes by habit. “Who’s here?”

  “It’s me, Mr. Harper. Julie. I’m your nurse until six a.m. Is there something I can get you?”

  “Can you tell me what time it is, please?”

  “It’s two in the morning. Would you like some water or anything? I’m sorry if I woke you.”

  “That’s okay. No water. I’m fine. But, you could do me a favor.”

  “Sure. What do you need?”

  “Could you tell everyone how sorry I am, that I’ve been a grumpy horse’s ass lately? I had no reason to take anything out on all of you. Everyone here has been wonderful to me.”

  “I’ll do that,” she said, “But…wait a minute.”

  “What is it?”

  “You’re following my clipboard with your eyes. Can you see it?”

  “I supposed it’s because you’re moving around the room and I hear your footsteps.”

  “What footsteps? I’m standing still. The only thing I’m moving is the clip board and you’re following it.”

  Mike concentrated, realizing he could see a shape, blurry, light, and undistinguishable. But a shape none the less. He could see it, could follow it with his eyes. “I’ll be damned.”

  “That’s a good sign, Mr. Harper. A very good sign. Good for you. I’ll leave a message with your neurologist’s answering service for him to come by. He said to be sure to alert him with any changes in your condition. All right!” She left the room on a cheerful beat.

  “Yeah.” Seeing a blurred shape was better than seeing nothing at all. But it was a far cry from being anything close to normal.”

  CHAPTER 27

  Angelique braced herself, smoothing down her blue skirt before opening the door.

  Liam stood before her, looking as handsome as he ever had in his lifetime, she was sure. His thick locks somewhat longer than they had been upon his arrival and spiked up a little with some kind of hair product. The day old stubble, inviting her to run her fingers over his chin. His jeans, just right tight, paired with an emerald and blue print button down shirt that brought out the green of his eyes. What a beautiful man.

  She smiled at him. “Hey. Come on in.”

  He entered, stopping to envelop her in a bear hug that ended with a soft kiss on her cheek. “How’s the man today? Have you spoken to him?”

  “No,” she said, as the intoxicating scent of Yves Saint Laurent’s L’Homme Libre wafted over her, making her mouth water. Damn. He knew how much she loved that cologne on him.

  “I plan on going there later.” She closed the door and asked him to sit on the couch. She sat beside him and let him take her hand in his.

  “What’s wrong, Angel?”

  His voice, heavy with concern for her, had her struggling to hold back the tears. “I can’t put this off any longer, Liam. My heart can’t take it anymore. So…” She took a deep breath. “I’ve made my decision, and I have to go to the hospital later this afternoon to tell Mike. It’ll be the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do. I’m hoping you’ll come with me.”

  Mike rubbed his eyes. They were good and sore now that his nerve endings were firing on all cylinders. His eyesight hadn’t improved since this morning, so he still wasn’t ready to cry victory. “Come in,” he said, at the soft knock at the door. He knew her by the soft click of heels, her subtle, yet provocative scent of whatever the hell perfume she wore, before she ever spoke.

  “Hey Angel.”

  “Can you see?” She sounded surprised.

  He shook his head. “No, but I don’t need sight to know it’s you.” He reached a hand out to her. “I’m sorry for yesterday Angel. I had no right to speak to you that way.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “No. No, it isn’t okay, and it won’t
happen again.” He pulled her close for a hug, noticed a slight vibration pulsing through her, as though she were afraid of something. “Hey,” he said, putting her at arm’s length. “What’s wrong? Did something happen that no one’s telling me about?”

  “No. It’s just that I’m here to tell you something.”

  Mike’s heart did a nose dive to the pit of his stomach. He had to stop her from speaking, from saying the words he couldn’t hear right now. “Now’s not the time for this, Angel.”

  “Mike—”

  “I mean it, babe. Don’t you do this right now.” He stepped back and pivoted to face the window.

  “I choose you, Mike.”

  He froze, wondering if he’d heard correctly. Slowly, he turned to face her again. “You can’t be serious.”

  “I love you, Mike. I want to build a life with you.”

  “You’d have a better life with Nash.”

  “Not if I’d be regretting that he wasn’t you.”

  “I can’t let you do this.”

  “Do what? Love you? You can’t stop me from loving you.”

  He shook his head slowly. “Maybe not, but I can sure as hell stop you from throwing your life away. Marry Liam, have some kids, and be happy together.”

  “I won’t marry him. I love him, but not the way I love you. You’re the one, Michael. You’ve always been the one, even if you won’t have me. It makes no difference if you get your sight back—partially, fully, or not at all. It won’t change anything.”

  “Well that’s too bad, because I won’t marry you unless my sight returns enough to be a cop again.” He snapped his mouth shut to form a hard, firm line.

  “I knew you’d have this attitude,” she said. “What’d I tell you?”

  “Yep, you nailed it.”

  “Nash? What the hell’s going on here?” Mike turned to see a shape walk through the door opening.

  “She asked me to come with her for moral support because she knew you’d be an asshole about this. You just can’t help yourself, can you? She’s one smart lady, our Angel.”

  “I thought she was, until this.” He turned to where she last stood. “You picked wrong this time.” He searched for and found the blur that was Nash’s again. “And she’s not our Angel anymore, she’s yours. Now, take her home and close the door on your way out, please.” He turned back toward the bed. The room filled with an overbearing silence as he waited to hear the sound of the door close.

  “I’m sorry,” Nash said. “What was that last bit you said?”

  Mike turned around, searched for him again and finding him. “I said she’s no…”

  “You son of a bitch. You can see me! I moved locations after I spoke and you found me. You can see, can’t you?”

  “Is this true, Mike?” Angelique burst out in that high-pitched thrilled squeal of hers.

  “No reason to get excited,” Mike admitted. “I see big blurred shapes, and that’s all I may ever see. Nash,” he said, waving his hand in his direction. “Take Angel and yourself out of here, would you?”

  “Don’t be an ass, Harper. Why won’t you accept that this could be the beginning of something good for the two of you?”

  “Because I won’t let it be. Not now—and maybe not ever.” He walked to the door, opened it and held it open for them. “Now leave, please—both of you.” He stood at the door, head down and fighting off a feeling of shame, mixed with the knowledge that he was doing the right thing for her. He heard them walk down the hallway where Angel’s voice carried to him, her words making him smile to himself even as he fought back the urge to cry.

  “I told you he’d be a jerk, didn’t I? He just can’t help himself—big freaking he-man. Nan’s right. Men find it easier to show anger than fear. Nothing but huge walking egos with a set of balls.”

  It’s good she’s pissed—better she be pissed now than hurt later on.

  How odd that he was at the same red light again, thinking of his shopping list for the barbeque. The light turned green and he accelerated slowly just as he had that day, and things began to happen, just as they had the first time he’d lived out this scenario. The Hummer, its driver, and its passenger, and the sudden feeling that God was trying to send him a particular message: Don’t lose hope…

  Every nerve ending snapped to attention as he realized what he was seeing. Damn! How could he have forgotten this part? How could he have let this feeling of absolute well-being slip right out of his memory banks when it was so important? It could have made life so much easier the past two weeks if he’d just held on to it.

  Mike woke with a start, pain radiating from his shoulder as he thrashed in his bed, mimicking the moves that had torn his joints in the first place.

  Everything came back to him in a flood of sensations. The accident. The reason he was here. Partially blind, banged up, with his shoulder in a sling. The dream—reliving the accident. And finally, the memories— the mental images that had the thud of his heart taking center stage in his chest. A deep rooted feeling of restlessness warred with serenity for domiciliary control as he tried to regulate his breathing.

  “Oh God!” He relaxed his shoulder in an attempt to ease the pain.

  The door opened and his nurse entered. “Mr. Harper, are you in pain? You slept through your last dose.”

  “Oh shi-i-itt. I’m sorry!” He gasped an apology to the nurse, still fighting the pain.

  She laughed. “It’s fine.”

  “Yeah, I was dreaming and tried to move it, I guess. It hurts like a son of a bitch now. Sorry.”

  “I’ll be right back with your meds.”

  “Please hurry. Aw shit! Sorry.”

  “I will.”

  Mike heard her chuckling as she left the room. Still fighting the pain when she returned a few short minutes later, he winced as she flipped on the night light to administer the pill to him. He took it and thanked her before she left, and waited impatiently for it to take effect. Finally, it began to thread its way through his system, seeping into the muscle tissue and easing nerve endings. Relief. Sweet relief washed over him as he began to drift off.

  In the last moments of sweet bliss, just before being overcome by unconsciousness, he realized something. The nurse. He’d seen her face. Not clearly, of course, but he’d seen two dark spots for eyes and the blur of her mouth moving.

  He allowed himself an honest to goodness smile just as the pain medication took him completely under.

  “How many fingers am I holding up?”

  “Two.”

  “Good. How clear?”

  “Still blurry as hell, Doc, but I definitely see two blurs and not just one big fuzzy blur. Is that good?”

  Dr. Moore’s boom of laughter filled the room. “That’s very good. Your pupils are beginning to react as they should to the light, Mr. Harper. You understand, of course, that there’s still no indication your eyesight will come back a hundred percent.”

  Mike nodded. “It will, I know it will.” He smiled, thinking of the gift he’d been given. The knowledge of a life with Angelique, seeing, and with something else he’d dared not even acknowledge until recently. A future.

  It took another week for his eyesight to return to normal. By the time he left the hospital, he was able to call his own cab. He gave the driver his home address and asked him to wait for him as he went inside to change into something decent.

  He returned to the cab several minutes later, breathless with excitement. “One more stop,” he said, giving him directions to Angel’s place. He paid the man and walked cautiously up to the door to ring the bell.

  She answered, gasping as she stood there, in her work clothes. He gave her a careful inspection from head to toe, noticing she was in her stocking feet.

  “The shoes are always the first to go.” He laughed as her face lit up with delight.

  “You can see?”

  “I can see everything, even more than I could before,” he said, reaching out to smooth her furrowed brow with his thumb.r />
  “What do you mean?”

  “Let me in and I’ll explain.”

  She pulled him inside and closed the door before walking into his open arms. “I’ve missed you, Mike.”

  “Me too, baby, but I couldn’t face coming to you until my eyesight was back to normal. Now, come over here.” He pulled her to the comfortable sofa. “I want to tell you about something that happened to me just before the accident.”

  “What is it? Did you remember something? Was there someone else involved?”

  He settled next to her, pulling her close against his side. “I think it was God, but hear me out. Have you heard how people say their life flashed before them right before an accident? Well, in the moments just before that Hummer hit me, I caught a glimpse of my future. It’s almost like time stopped for me. I saw that rich kid behind the wheel, the same punk who hit Sarah and the girls, he just drove right through that damn red light.”

  Mike wiped his forehead and steeled himself, wondering what she’d think when she heard the rest of the story. “Now here’s where it gets strange. I remember blinking, and when I opened my eyes again, it wasn’t him behind the wheel anymore.” He turned to face her as she sat, seeming to be totally absorbed with his story. “I was behind the wheel.”

  She blinked twice and shook her head. “You saw yourself driving…what? The Hummer?”

  “That’s exactly what I saw, and you were my passenger in the front seat. You were wearing a white blouse and your hair was loose, blowing in the wind, because the windows were down. Babe, you were laughing and looking at me with such love.” He lowered his forehead to hers and released a long, deep sigh. “I know now that God showed me this glimpse of our future so I wouldn’t lose hope,” he said.

  “But you did, Mike. You made yourself and everyone else around you miserable. I don’t understand why you did that.”

  “I know I did, and I’m sorry. I couldn’t remember it, Angel. It wasn’t until you and Nash left after your last visit that I dreamed about the accident again, and it all came back to me.” He smiled down at her, kissing her lightly on the lips. “In the dream I could see even more detail and this time something in the backseat caught my attention. Something I hadn’t noticed the first time.”