by Jessie Cooke
He brought his hand up and softly caressed her face before leaning in and brushing his lips against hers. He let the hand that was on her face slide slowly down to her neck and he played with the skin there underneath her hair and just behind her ear, causing her to shudder violently. His hand kept moving, down across her chest, lightly brushing fingertips to nipples before doing a sexy dance down across her stomach and to the top of her mound. Angel moaned out his name and Dax’s lips twitched in a smile. She wanted to make him feel better, but she knew this was what he needed. Dax liked to be in control, but he never failed to treat her like a queen in the process. When his fingers reached her pussy once again, he slid open her lips and played in the wetness along her slit until he found her hot opening and slipped two fingers up inside of her. He leaned down simultaneously and caught her gasp in his mouth as he covered hers with his once more. He moved his fingers in and out of her, slowly, lazily, so fucking sexy, while his lips began to trail down her body, following the path that his fingers had taken only moments before. He kissed and suckled her skin and her breasts until he reached her soaking-wet, hot pussy. His tongue replaced his fingers almost magically and before Angel knew what was happening, he was using his tongue and his lips and his teeth to make love to her, pushing her closer to the brink by the second. When he took her clit between his lips and sucked it into his mouth and against his tongue, Angel cried out his name again as her orgasm hit like a tsunami. She rode wave after wave of it while Dax gently manipulated her clit until she had come so hard that she was actually dizzy.
When she collapsed into an almost comatose state, Dax kissed and licked each one of her thighs and then let his lips travel back up her body until they arrived at her lips. Angel brought her tongue out and licked his, tasting herself on him. It made her feel special because she knew that her taste would be the only one on his sexy lips, forever. He climbed up on top of her, straddling her hips and deepening the kiss. Once again he kissed her until she could barely remember what oxygen tasted like and then he pulled back so that he could lock his sexy blue eyes into hers as he entered her. Angel wrapped her arms around his neck and as he moved, she moved with him. It was like everything they did together; they were in sync. When Dax was inside of her, sometimes she thought that she could really feel their souls reach out and touch each other.
He moved slowly at first, increasing his pace mostly thanks to her urging. She had her legs wrapped around him and she was using her calf muscles to press in on him with every stroke. Dax was soon pumping in and out of her quickly, sliding a hand underneath her butt as he did, to hold her up at an angle where he could strike deeper and harder. Angel was biting down on her lip, whimpering and moaning, trying not to scream. If Susie hadn’t been asleep down the hall, she would have screamed. As it was, she was digging her fingers into the skin on his shoulders and saying his name repeatedly in a rush of heated breath. Dax didn’t miss a stroke as he sped up, getting closer to his own release. Angel held onto him tighter when she felt his body tense. His already thick cock swelled up inside of her, filling every available space. Angel had to let go of him and reach for the pillow behind her head. She covered her face in it and bit down on the pillowcase, screaming and gasping into it as quietly as she could. Her excitement fed his and it was only minutes later that he grunted out loudly, whispered her name through gritted teeth, and filled her up. Every time he came inside of her, Angel said a prayer. The doctor told them it was unlikely that they’d ever get her pregnant…but he hadn’t said “Impossible.” Angel knew just the fact that they were together proved that anything was possible, and it was easier to think about a new beginning than it was the cloud of impending doom that hung precariously over both their heads.
25
David woke up to the jarring motion of his chair being kicked. He opened his eyes to the blurry vision of Kat standing over him with two cups of coffee in her hand. She held one out to him. He cleared his throat and sat up, finally taking the paper cup out of her hand. She dropped down into the chair next to him, took a sip of her coffee, and said, “You can’t sleep here every night. Go home.”
David took a sip of his own coffee. He almost smiled. She’d remembered just how he liked it. “How’s Dillon?”
She shrugged. “Half dead, I guess. Don’t you have a job?”
“You need me here. Work can wait.”
“I don’t need you.”
“Okay then, I need to be here.”
“You’re being stupid.”
He did smile then. “I can always count on you for a reality check, can’t I?”
She sighed and rolled her shoulders. Her pretty cat eyes were shot through with red and her usually smooth face had lines running down the side of it, like she’d slept against her hand, or a chair. “Please go home,” she said.
“Why does it bother you so badly that I’m here? Why do you always have to pretend that you can do everything yourself and that you don’t need anyone?”
She snorted. “I’m not pretending. That’s the way it’s always been. I’ve done just fine without you all this time. I’ll keep doing fine without you from here on out.”
“I’m not arguing the fact that you can do this alone, I’m just asking, why? Why can’t you accept help? What’s so bad about admitting you need someone else?”
She narrowed her eyes and trained them on his face. “What’s so bad about it? Hmm…let’s see…oh, I remember, the last time I admitted that I needed you, you walked away. And then of course there was the other night…”
“I got called to work, Kat. I didn’t want to leave you. And the other thing was…”
“Unforgivable?”
David shook his head, sat his coffee down on the table next to him, and leaned forward. “No, it wasn’t. I forgave you.”
She snorted again. “Lucky me. I commit the ultimate act of evil and Saint David is willing to bestow his forgiveness on me. Wow, I’m blessed.”
“Why do you always have to be so sarcastic? Tell me something, Kat…did you even think about me when you did it? Did you even care about how much it was going to hurt me? Do you ever look at a child and think…?” Kat jumped out of her chair. Looking at him with fire in her eyes she said:
“Think what, David? Do I ever look at a kid and wonder what it would have been like? Do I even think about what we would have been like…together, raising a kid? No. I don’t. We don’t have a kid and we’re not together, so what’s the point?”
“I know you’re not that heartless.”
“You don’t know shit. You don’t know anything about me at all. You knew me when I was a kid. I’m a grown-ass woman now and you don’t know me anymore, so stop trying to pretend that you do. You walked away and forgot about me until I showed back up and then you had to deal with me. You thought you’d get a piece of ass out of the deal. How dare you act so fucking holier-than-thou all the time? You’re not perfect!”
David chuckled. “Damned if I don’t know that, Kat. I’ve never thought I was perfect. I never expected you to be perfect. But I did think we were perfect together and even if I put aside my religious beliefs and my own values, there’s still the fact left that you made a life-changing decision without even talking to me about it. You went off on your own, as usual, and did something that affected us both. You didn’t give me a chance to…”
“To do what, David? To be a father? To be a husband? Guess what…? You were never going to be either.”
“What are you saying, Kat? It wasn’t my baby? Was Kyle right? Is that why you…?”
“Why I aborted it? You can say the word, David, you won’t burn in hell for that. And fuck Kyle, he didn’t know anything about me or our life. Did I cheat on you? Fuck no. It was your baby and it…I…Shit! This is pointless. I don’t have time for this shit. I have to get down to the lab.”
She started to walk away and David stood up. “Why do you have to go to the lab?”
She kept walking, so David followed her. As she pushed thro
ugh the door she looked over her shoulder and said, “Stop following me. It’s none of your business why I have to go to the lab.” She kept walking, faster then. Her legs were shorter than his, but she was walking so fast that he nearly had to jog to catch up with her. She stepped into the full elevator and as David pondered if there was room for him or not, the doors slid shut in his face. He growled and found the stairs. Following the signs, he got off on the second floor where the outpatient lab was located. He scanned the room, found Kat, and sat down in the chair next to her. She sighed. “Five years without a word and now he’s a stalker.”
“I’ve been stalking you all along.”
She turned toward him with fire in her eyes. “What?”
“I checked in on you from time to time to make sure you were okay.”
“So, you didn’t want me, but you wanted to…what? You were like some creepy voyeur?”
“I just followed your progress at work so I knew you were doing okay. I’m sorry…about what happened to your partner on that last shoot.”
“Oh my god! Are you insane? Who does that?”
“A person who does still want you,” he said. “I never stopped loving you, Kat.” Finally, something that seemed to render her speechless. As she was looking for her words, a nurse stepped out of the door and called her name. When she stood up he said, “Why are you having labs done? Are you okay?” She ignored him and followed the nurse. He groaned and leaned back in his seat. He’d never met such an exasperating woman in his life.
“So what are you drawing on me?” Kat asked the nurse as she eyed the tubes the woman seemed to just keep pulling out.
“We’ll be running a type and cross-match for your blood type, doing a liver panel, testing for certain viruses that can affect liver function, and also just doing normal panels like a complete blood count and chemistry.”
“Damn. Will I be able to walk around after you take all that blood?”
The nurse smiled. “Yes, just drink plenty of fluids and get some rest. You’ll be fine.” Kat took a deep breath as the nurse inserted the needle, and thought about all the other tests that were in the literature the doctor had given her. Beyond the written history she’d already done, they were going to do a complete physical on her. Then a chest x-ray and an EKG. The paperwork also said something about an ultrasound to make sure she didn’t have any blood flow problems. They were going to check her lungs, her upper and lower GI, and even do a mammogram to make sure she didn’t have any cancer. By the time they finished with her, despite the surgical incision and the missing piece of her liver, she’d have a sterling bill of health…she hoped, anyways. Unfortunately, she wasn’t even able to focus solely on all that. She was still waiting to hear from Tucci, and she knew Gavin was right…the old gangster wasn’t going to loan her a dime unless she met with him face to face. She didn’t know him, but he had quite the reputation in L.A. and he even financed a few of the films that she’d worked on. He rubbed elbows with Hollywood’s finest, but his money had come from his ability to smell desperation and use it to his advantage. Kat couldn’t help but wonder how much, if anything, her desperation would be worth to him.
“Okay, all finished,” the nurse said, putting a piece of tape over the cotton ball she’d covered the needle prick with. She looked at the lab slip in front of her and said, “It looks like they’re expecting you in the heart lab for the EKG next. The upper and lower GI will be scheduled in the next few days and there’s an ultrasound here for this afternoon. Just make sure not to overdo it. If you feel like it’s taking too much out of you, you can reschedule any of it that you need to.”
Kat stood up and instantly had a head rush. She didn’t tell the nurse that she hadn’t had anything other than two cups of coffee for the past twenty-six or maybe even thirty hours. She just thanked the nurse and left. As she walked toward the waiting room door, things began to spin, slightly. She reached out for the door and held onto it for a few seconds to steady herself before pushing through it. The first thing she saw was David’s gorgeous face. He said he still loved her. She didn’t know if it had taken her all that time to process it…or if she just didn’t believe it. But…why would he say something like that if he didn’t mean it? What would his angle be? She cursed her traitorous body for the feelings that gave her, and then telling herself she didn’t have the time or energy to deal with it right then, she walked right past him without saying a word. She heard and felt him get up and follow her. She didn’t look back until she got to the elevator and pushed the up button. The cardiac lab was on the third floor. He was standing so closely behind her that she could hear him breathing. When the elevator slid open and there was no one else inside, she stepped on and waited for him to get in too before unleashing on him once again.
“Am I going to have to call security?” She was looking up at him, but he was fuzzy and gray fog framed his face.
“Kat? Are you okay?”
The elevator was spinning and David’s face was getting blurrier. “I’m fine,” she gasped out, just before everything went black. She had a vague memory of hitting the floor and thinking, “Great, the asshole can follow me around, he can mess with my heart by telling me he still loves me, but he can’t catch me before I hit the floor.”
26
Kat could hear David’s voice, and a woman’s, but she wasn’t ready to open her eyes. Her eyelids felt heavy and her head was pounding. She could feel something in her arm and something else wrapped around one of her fingers. The sounds of beeping machines told her that she was still in the hospital; everything else alerted her that this time she was a patient.
“Why isn’t she waking up?”
“She was dehydrated and her blood sugar was really low, which probably means that she hasn’t eaten in a while. The dehydration caused her heart rate to accelerate and her blood pressure to drop and that’s what caused her to faint after her blood was drawn. Once everything returns to normal, she’ll wake up and she’ll be fine. She’s healthy otherwise.”
“Why were they drawing labs?” Kat opened her eyes then and mumbled:
“Mind your own business.”
She felt David squeeze her hand. She hadn’t even realized he was holding it. She almost squeezed his back before she caught herself. When she remembered that she was still angry with him, she pulled it away. David let go of her hand, but reached up and brushed a lock of dark hair off her forehead. “Hey, how are you feeling?”
“Like a million bucks,” she said. She tried to sit up and the nurse came over to the side of the bed.
“Stay lying down, Miss Brown. Your blood pressure is low. We don’t want you passing out on us again.” Kat’s head throbbed, and she tried to reach up and touch it, but realized there was an IV in her right hand. Using her left hand, she touched her forehead. There was a bandage on one side.
“What happened to my head?”
“You fell and hit it on the wall in the elevator.”
Suddenly Kat remembered. “Oh, yeah, I remember thinking what a worthless stalker you are. You can follow me around and ‘check up on me’ but you can’t catch me when I fall. Great.”
David laughed and looked at the nurse. “She’s fine now.”
Kat’s eyes landed on the heart monitor next to the bed. “Does that qualify as an EKG?”
“They did one while you were out,” the nurse said.
“Good, one less appointment I have to make. When can I get out of here? I have things to do.”
“I’ll have the doctor come in and talk to you. He wants us to finish this bag of fluids. When was the last time you ate?”
“I don’t know.”
She raised an eyebrow and said, “If you are planning on being a…” Kat gave her a look and the nurse looked at David and stopped talking.
“Being a what?” he asked. “What’s she talking about, Kat?”
Kat kept her eyes on the nurse. “Can you please ask my visitor to leave so that I can have some privacy and maybe get some rest?
”
“Kat…”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Brady, but if she doesn’t want you here I’ll have to ask you to leave.”
“You don’t have to apologize to him,” Kat said. “He wasn’t invited here.”
The nurse looked like she felt bad for David, but she didn’t say anything else. David stood up and said, “I’ll be outside in the waiting room.”
“Go to work.”
He looked at the nurse and said, “I’ll leave my number at the desk in case she needs me.”
“I won’t.” He ignored her and left the room. Kat breathed a sigh of relief. She couldn’t breathe when he was in the room. He sucked out all the oxygen. No wonder she passed out. Once he was gone, the nurse told her that the EKG came back normal, but she needed to take care of herself, i.e. eating and taking in fluids and sleeping, or she’d never be healthy enough to give Dillon part of her liver.
“It’s been a rough couple of days,” Kat told her. “I’ll get back on track.”
“Good. I’ll let the doctor know you’re awake and he’ll be in soon.”
“Can I have my phone?” The nurse got the phone from her belongings and handed it to her before she left. Kat turned on the phone and saw that she had a missed call and voicemail. She dialed the voicemail—it was from Vinnie Tucci.
