by Kailin Gow
I grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight. “We’ll pull through, Nat. I know you’re very worried about Drew, too. We Donovans always pull through.”
“We Donovans?” Nat smiled at me.
“I’m practically a Donovan,” I said.
“I know, Summer,” Nat said.
“And you’re what, maybe a Jones?” I hated bringing up the possibility he could’ve been Aunt Sookie’s abandoned son, but ever since we found Aunt Sookie’s gift to Nat at his parents’ home in San Francisco, there were doubts in his and everyone’s mind whether he was a Donovan or a Jones.
Nat looked deeply into my eyes, and held my hands. “I’ve been wondering about that for a while, Summer, but it still didn’t affect the way I had and will always feel about you.”
My stomach jumped. I knew Nat still loved me, despite whether or not we were blood-related. But it had been a strong reason why he left me to go to Afghanistan on the mission that changed everything.
“I looked into it a few years ago,” Nat said.
I held my breath. He could be my cousin, which would be so strange after all these years, yet, in some crazy way, cousins in Shakespeare’s Days, and in the past got together…only…but I was with Drew, and…
“Summer,” Nat said, “As much as I wanted to be Aunt Sookie’s child because I loved her so much like a mother, I’m not.”
“Aunt Sookie’s child died before the Donovans could take him home. Caught a bad cold and died. The Donovans were devastated, thought they were going to have a baby boy at last after so many years of trying for a child so they adopted me from an orphanage right away, a baby who happened to have had Aunt Sookie’s coloring.” Nat hesitated and said softly, “So you see, I was adopted by the Donovans, legally and binding. I was not the little boy Aunt Sookie gave birth to, although she grieved heavily over his death yet still loved me as though I was him.”
“You’re not my cousin; we’re not blood-related,” I said.
“No,” Nat said, taking my hand and twining his fingers through them, sending warmth through me. “I held back from being with you because I thought I was, Summer. I went to Afghanistan because I thought I was. But I found out after a blood test and some investigation Lamar helped me with, that I wasn’t.”
“How long ago was that?” I asked.
“Almost as soon as I left everyone and had to go into hiding. The crime ring was on my trail soon after the theater incident and with your stalker. I had to leave right away. No time for explanations. No time for good-byes,” Nat said, looking deep into my eyes.
“You could’ve told me,” I said. “About everything, later, right?”
“I wanted to, but you and Drew were already together, and you made your choice, Summer. I had to respect that. As I do now.”
He searched my face for a second, and said, “I don’t know what the future holds for either one of us, but I do know, I’m trying to live my life to the fullest, Summer. As Aunt Sookie wanted us to. I have, and I think you and Drew have too. Rachel, too.”
Drew. My heart sank, and I looked over at him. We had planned so much, to get married finally, to maybe start a family…
Drew…
I went to take his hand, and jumped back. My heart sunk. His hand was cold.
Oh my dear God. “Hurry, Nat!” I cried. “Drew is…” I couldn’t finish.
Dear God, I prayed. Please don’t let Drew die.
*****
FREE
FALL 3
kailin gow
A Contemporary Adult Loving Summer Novel
Free Fall #3
Published by Sparklesoup.com
THE EDGE is an imprint of Sparklesoup Inc.
Copyright © 2015 Kailin Gow
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Prologue
Summer
I can’t remember the day Drew proposed to me. He had proposed to me sometimes jokingly, sometimes over morning coffee, and even during sex so many times throughout the years we have been together, that it had become routine between us.
“Oh God, that was amazing, Summer,” Drew said once, when we both laid in bed, sweaty and breathing hard from having a passionate night of love-making. “I swear Summer, that I won’t let you go as long as I live. You’re gonna marry me, aren’t you?”
“I’ll think about,” I would joke, feeling secure in our love and being together.
“Really, Summer? You have to think about it?” He kissed me gently at first on my forehead. Next came a light peck on the tip of my nose. Before I can say anything, his lips crashed down on mine, kissing me with such sensuality, I felt like he was going down on my mouth. I was arching my back, writhing underneath him, and feeling close to climaxing when he pulled away.
Suddenly I felt cold and empty as Drew collapsed next to me on the bed.
He turned to me and grinned. “Admit it, Summer, you nearly had a Drewgasm from that kiss, didn’t you?”
Drew and his Drew-isms. I had to laugh.
“Nah,” I said, “Just from a kiss? No one can get an orgasm from just a kiss.”
Drew traced his finger on my lips before dipping it into my mouth. “The tremors I felt from you were just you reacting to the cold, wasn’t it?”
“Uh huh,” I said, getting hot as Drew used his fingers to dip in and out of my mouth before he traced his fingers down my neck and leaned his head down to dip his tongue into my mouth, where his fingers had been.
He moved over me and rubbed his naked body against mine, lightly and then vigorously, his hot skin barely touching the tips of my breasts while his mouth played with mine. “You feel nothing at all?” Drew asked, his warm breath tickling my ears.
“Nothing,” I said, gritting my teeth as he lowered his body to grind his hardness against the part of me that wanted him so badly. He simulated lovemaking with me, pumping and grinding against me to the point I almost cried out.
“Nothing?” he asked, now pushing up against me with his entire lower body, pumping me up until I was climbing up the wall with my back. I was being pounded against the wall, and it had never felt so good.
“Oh my God, Drew,” I moaned.
He pounded harder and drove me up the wall further until I was clutching the back of his head as his mouth covered mine taking my breath away. My head felt light-headed as he kept pounding, and I felt my pulse beating wildly against my ears. I couldn’t stand it any longer and I finally began quivering and shaking with release.
That was when Drew lowered me to bed and kissed me softly on my lips. “How can you resist a man who can make you climax like that just from a kiss?”
“I can’t, Drew,” I said smiling. “You know how irresistible you are.”
“Then marry me once and for all, Summer,” Drew said.
“Of course, Drew,” I said. “I’m yours. I’ve been yours all these years.”
“I know,” Drew said. “But I just want to hear you say it to me. I am the most confident man, but when it comes to you, Summer, I am as weak as a feather. I’m putty. I turn into a puddle of goo just being near you. And when you smile or look at me with those beautiful eyes of yours, my mind turn to mush. All I want to do is drown in those eyes. Get lost in your arms and be nothing other than the man who will love and protect you forever.”
I could only smile at him with tears in my eyes before I tell him, “I love you, Drew.”
“I love you, too, i
f you haven’t guessed yet,” Drew grinned.
“And yes, I guess a girl can get a Drewgasm just from a kiss,” I said coyly. “If that kiss was like that.”
Drew laughed. “So that means you’ll marry me?”
“I haven’t decided,” I joked.
“So I’ll keep asking until you say ‘yes’,” Drew said. “But let’s start planning the wedding. I hear there’s a long waiting list to get a venue these days so I want to get a head start.”
“Confident aren’t we?” I asked.
“When it comes to getting what I want, I am,” Drew said, “And I want you.”
“Is there any way I can resist?” I asked.
“No,” he said. “Because baby, I know you love me.”
“How do you know?” I asked.
“Because there is no way a woman can have a Drewgasm from just a kiss unless she loved the man.”
“So it’s not because of your mad skills at lovemaking?”
“It is,” Drew grinned, “but it’s also because you love me, and that makes everything hotter.”
“You dork,” I made a face at him.
“A hot dork,” Drew said. “That you’re madly in love with.”
“Uh huh,” I said.
“And just said ‘yes’ to marrying,” Drew smiled slowly.
“Right,” I said.
“How about a summer wedding, Doctor?” Drew asked.
“That would mean I have to get started with the plans right away,” I said.
“Then get started,” Drew said. “I’ll even help you.” He reached for his phone and looked at his contact list. There were contacts for wedding dress designers, caterers, chapels, hotels, stationery printers, and even pastors.
My heart melted. He had been planning this, had been wanting a wedding for so long. “So you got this?” I asked.
Drew gave me a look that said, “What do you expect?”
That was the last proposal he gave me, which I finally accepted or semi-accepted from Drew.
It was a little over a year ago.
And now I wished we had set the date earlier.
I wished I had said ‘yes’ earlier.
I wished I hadn’t been so caught up in my career to not make it happen earlier.
But most of all, I wished I didn’t have to have any of these regrets at this moment as I sat next to Drew in the van, transporting him to the private medical facility Nat had spoken of, which were equipped with the most high tech equipment.
Drew was pale as death, and his pulse was now faint.
“Hurry, Nat!” I cried out. “Please hurry!” I turned to Drew, rubbing his hand. “Please hold on, Drew. Hold on. You’ll be fine soon. Please hold on.”
Chapter 1
Nat
I was already tearing through the streets in my van when I heard Summer’s cries to hurry up.
After all these years of finally seeing my brother Drew again, I couldn’t let him perish. I wouldn’t let him perish at the hands of the Dragon.
I had left home, given up my chances with Summer, and even my inheritance as a Donovan for Drew.
“You can’t die now, Buddy,” I whispered to myself as I swerved into a shortcut route that took off half the normal time to get from where Summer’s Malibu Pad was to my compound. I knew it like the back of my hand since I’ve taken this route countless amount of times throughout the years when I kept my identity hidden and built up my empire as Andrew Knight.
Still Summer’s Nat in Shining Armor, but without her knowing I’ve kept an eye out on her, on Drew, my little sister Rachel, Mom and Dad throughout the years.
As luck would have it, the road was clear. Miraculously, there weren’t any traffic.
I shouted to Summer, “We’re almost there. Hold on.”
“He is holding on,” Summer said. “He’s fighting as hard as he can for his life.”
“That’s our Drew,” I shouted back. “He was always one who never gave up. Keep talking to him, Summer. Keep talking to him about your plans for the wedding…how you’re going to do it up real nicely, have it on the beach right at Aunt Sookie’s Malibu Pad…how you’ve prepared a special letter for him, how you can’t wait to start your life as his wife…”
I found myself thinking about Drew and everything we’ve been through together. Spending summers at Aunt Sookie’s, moving to San Francisco, going through the rough times with Mom and Dad’s marital problems, losing Aunt Sookie, and learning and dealing with Mom’s illness. There were so many things that we went through that made us stronger. Although we loved and fought over the same woman, loving Summer had brought Drew and I closer.
“You have me, bro,” I said to myself. “I will try my best to pull you through this one…” My memories shifted to a distant past all of a sudden, and I saw Drew in my mind’s eye as he was the first time I met him.
I knew Drew since his birth. We’ve been brothers and buddies since the first time Mom took my hand and placed it next to Drew’s baby hand. Although he was asleep, and I was just barely over a year old, I felt like a big brother…a protective big brother as soon as Drew’s baby hand found mine and he grasped my baby hand.
Rachel was asleep next to him, bundled up in blankets, like all babies, except hers was purple with little printed silver stars. Mother placed my left hand on Rachel’s baby hand, and she moved it closer to touch it. She was my little baby sister after all, and even then she had a style all her own.
I knew then in my heart, even as a baby, I would do everything to protect them. My little brother and sister.
I was a Donovan, and this is what Donovans do.
“Are we almost there?” Summer’s voice rang out.
Right as she said that, the armored gates of my Oasis came up. I pulled out a phone hidden in the console of the van. It was used just for this purpose; and the van was built for speed and emergencies.
“Coming in, guys. Prepare the Medical Room. Turn on all equipment, get the staff ready. Bullet wound in the heart. Very critical. Landing in about…”
The van pulled up to the gate, which opened without a hitch, letting me pull through quickly and through to an open area straight into a space leading to a non-descript building with an open garage.
It was our medical facility, where the van could pull straight into the building, the doors of the van would automatically open in the back, and a ramp would pull out, level, while the person on the cot in back could be pushed out onto the ramp, and it gets lowers, and wheeled quickly to the surgery area a few steps away.
“Hurry, Summer,” I said, quickly turning off the ignition and running to the back of the van to press the lever to lower Drew’s cot down and roll it off to the ramp. “Help me with Drew.”
Without hesitation, Summer jumped right in and helped pushed the cot to the ramp with me.
My medical team of highly-skilled surgeons and nurses stood by the ramp. As soon as the ramp lowered, one of them, a muscle-bound doctor called Raymond C., took charge with pushing the cot on wheels to the surgery space.
He pushed it to an area just outside the operating table. “Lift!” he told the others, and they lifted Drew up to place him on a table. They tore off his clothes, examined him, cleaned him and prepared him for surgery, all in a matter of seconds.
The whole team then rolled the table to the surgery area marked by a circle on the ground.
Summer had joined me as we watch the preparations. “Who are the doctors?”
“The top ones in the nation,” I said. “Used to work for the government, operated on Generals, their families, and our top military.”
“Why are they here?” Summer asked.
“They knew too much, saw too much, and worked with some of the most classified medicines and equipment around. Some of those medicines got approved years later while others were deemed too good and effective for consumer use. Pharmaceutical companies would go out of business selling those instead of having a steady stream of business selling less effective medi
cations.”
“Wow,” Summer said. “I always thought that, especially as a doctor. There must be medicine strong and effective enough to cure a problem by taking it once instead of having it prescribed for monthly dosage…you know for certain diseases.”
“Well, that’s what these doctors believe too, and for some reason, which I am not at liberty to tell you, we are able to have or recreate those right here in our lab and medical facility. It’s been another passion of mine that I’ve been looking into since I left Donovan Dynamics.”
“Drew’s in good hands with these guys?” Summer asked.
“The only surgeon who I would trust more than these guys would be you, Summer,” I said looking at her. “But this is Drew we’re talking about, and I don’t want any feelings you have for him to unnerve you during surgery. We’re talking heart surgery. It’s not just a bullet wound, but now a heart wound. That’s not your specialty and any little mistake…”
Summer took a deep breath before letting out a sigh. “I know. I understand. As much as I want to be the one to work on Drew, this one’s beyond my expertise.”
I reached out my hand to grab hers and gave it a squeeze. “Have faith, Summer. Drew will pull through.”
Summer squeezed my hand back and said, “I do, Nat. I always have faith in Drew and you.” She turned to me and gave a sweet little smile that made me stop thinking about Drew for a second. There was the sunshine girl I knew and loved. My perfect Summer looking at me with her wide understanding and loving eyes. “You Donovan boys may not be perfect all the time, but you always do the right thing. You always know what to do deep down. You follow your guts, you follow your heart. And no matter what,” she said touching my chest right where my heart was, “you stay true to yourselves even in the most taxing circumstances.”
I leaned into her hand on my chest, wrapping my arms around her. “Summer,” I whispered into her hair. It was the first time since I saw her at the hotel that I had a chance to be alone with her and to hug her.
