“Back when I couldn’t afford much, I would go to the Dollar Store and buy packs of ribbons.” Shrugging, she said, “They made me feel pretty. Kind of like a princess wearing a tiara.”
They lay quiet for a few more minutes, light kisses taking the place of words. Regretfully, she felt him lift off her and he pulled her up.
“I need to head to my camper to shower and get dressed. I’ll be back and drive you to work,” he said.
She nodded but her eyes drifted to the bed. He lifted her chin and asked, “What’s going on in that beautiful head?”
“I just wanted you to know that no matter what, I don’t regret a moment of last night.”
Stepping closer, he said, “Belle, no regrets. I cherish the gift you gave me…both your body last night and your trust this morning. I told you, I wanted to wait because I have things I need to do to be the man you deserve, but I’m selfishly going to take what you’re offering, because I don’t want to wait anymore. My promise to you is that, I promise to work on myself.”
Not understanding his cryptic comments, she said, “I just need honesty, Hunter. Please, don’t lie. Not about me…not to me.”
He bent to take her lips once more and they stood in the glow of the sunrise, silent promises made.
13
An hour later, Belle was showered, in her scrubs with a pink ribbon tying back her hair. Halfway through a bowl of oatmeal, she heard a knock on the door. She wondered if it was acceptable to give Hunter a key, but then decided that was too presumptuous and definitely too soon. Throwing open the door, she saw Brittany.
“Hey sweetie,” she exclaimed. “Come on in.”
“I haven’t seen you this week,” Brittany said, “and my mom doesn’t have any food for breakfast.” She stared at the bowl on the counter longingly.
“I’m having some oatmeal. Let’s fix you some as well.” She turned and walked back into the kitchen, grabbing a bowl.
Brittany poured the instant oatmeal, added water, and placed it in the microwave. Within a minute, she moved to the table with Belle and they finished their breakfast.
“How’s school?”
“Same as always. Boys are jerks and girls are bitches.”
She sat, thinking how similar Brittany’s words were to her own that morning when she was talking to Hunter. Sucking in a quick breath, she wondered if she should step up her questions about Brittany’s mother. “Um…do you feel safe at home? With your mom, I mean.”
Shrugging, Brittany replied, “She’s not too bad when she’s sober and keeping a job. Sometimes, between jobs, money gets tight. Other than that, I only hate it when she parties, but I either stay in my room or go visit a friend.” Shoveling the last of the oatmeal down, she said, “Thanks for breakfast, Belle.”
Just then another knock sounded and Brittany’s eyes widened as they jumped to the door. Belle hopped up and opened it up for Hunter. Her eyes raked over his body, now known intimately to her. Navy Careway polo, hugging his chest and biceps. Jeans, clean but deliciously worn. Boots that somehow, he made look sexy. His blue eyes had not left her, and his smile was wide. Meeting his smile, she invited, “Come on in. I’ve got company.”
As he entered, his eyes landed on the young teen and she introduced them. “Pleased to meet you, Brittany,” he said.
She blushed and blurted, “Damn, you’re big.”
Throwing his head back in laughter, he agreed.
“Hunter and I’ll be at the next game, Brittany,” Belle said. “He’s going to start helping coach.”
“That’d be good. Need another big guy to keep some of those assholes in line.” Grabbing her backpack, she walked over to Brittany and gave her a hug. “Thanks again.”
“You want a ride to the bus stop?”
“Nah. I got it.” With a wave toward Hunter, Brittany walked out the door stopping just as she was about to leave. Looking over her shoulder, she grinned at Brittany and said, “Looks like I was right…you are the next one.” Her lips still curved upward, she tossed out her goodbye and headed through the door.
As it closed behind her, Hunter turned and cocked his head. Reading his silent question, she explained, “She lives near the back. Her mom is about as good a mom as mine was.”
His head swiveled and he watched through the window as Brittany walked down the street. “Jesus, Belle.” He looked back at her and asked, “Is there anything we can do?”
She walked closer, stopping just in front of him, resting her hands on his arms, a small smile playing about her lips. “I love that you want to help. But, so far, she seems okay…just needs another person to listen to her and understand. I keep an eye on her. It seems her mom parties hard but Brittany tells me she isn’t afraid.”
He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in closely, kissing the top of her head. “You let me know if I’m needed. Got no problem putting the fear of God in some teenage boys or beating the shit out of another man.”
Lifting up on her toes, she kissed the underside of his jaw, loving the feel of his just-shaven skin underneath her lips. “My hero.”
Snorting, he replied “Hardly.”
“Come on, let’s get to work. I want to be there for the other residents as they grieve Mr. Rosenberg.”
With Belle tucked underneath his arm, Hunter escorted her to her car, driving them back to Careway. Arriving, he hesitated as she alighted from the vehicle. Uncertain how much PDA she was comfortable with, he stood awkwardly next to the passenger door.
Looking up shyly, she grinned as she reached out her hand. Taking it gladly, he linked her fingers with his and they walked in together.
The day passed quickly and Hunter found that he barely saw Belle. He told her he had an appointment at the Pain Center after work but he would come by her house after it was over. Running into Mr. Weldon early in the afternoon, he stopped as the owner lifted a hand to call him over.
“Hunter, I wanted to ask you to be ready to paint Mr. Rosenberg’s room tomorrow. That’ll give the housekeepers a chance to finish cleaning it.”
Nodding his acquiescence, he continued to stand in the hall, waiting on Mr. Weldon, who seemed to want to say more. The owner, neat and impeccably dressed as always, clasped his hands in front of him as he rocked slightly back on forth on his feet.
“I just wanted to thank you for staying here with Ms. Gunn. It would have been hard for her to face losing a patient on her own.”
“No thanks are needed.”
“She’s special. I’ve known Ms. Gunn since when she would come to visit her grandmother, almost ten years now. It didn’t escape my attention, how she was with the elderly clientele.”
“Belle’s told me that you encouraged her each step of her education.”
Eyes wide, Mr. Weldon smiled. “Well, I must say that’s a surprise. She’s normally very reticent to speak of herself.” Continuing, he added, “If she’s trusted you to share part of her life with, I hope you hold that trust in high regard.”
“Yes, sir.” He watched as Mr. Weldon walked on down the hall and sucked in a deep breath. Just then he observed Belle come out of Mr. Rosenberg’s former room, walking with one of the housekeepers whose arms were full of linens. The sad expression on her face cut him to the quick, but when she looked up, he smiled at her, willing his strength onto her.
She answered back with a slight smile of her own before hustling down the hall to respond to another resident.
With the day almost over, he wanted to find her. The realization that they had slept together without him taking her on a proper date dug into him and he wanted to rectify that situation. Stepping into the employee lounge, he was glad to see that Nola was not hanging around. Moving to his locker, he opened it, surprised when a note fluttered to the ground. Bending to pick it up, he opened it, reading the typewritten words.
I’m a friend of Lionel’s and he says you’re interested in some shared business. If so, just leave a note in your locker and I’ll get it. Hope we can help each other
.
Scribbling on the bottom of the note, with a deep sigh, he left his affirmative reply in his locker. Scrubbing his hand over his face, he grimaced as he thought of Belle. Fuck…I’ve got to work this out…for her…for us.
“What have you got, Chief?”
Ginny walked into the BPD seeing Mitch, Colt, and Liam leaning over a laptop. Mitch looked up at her question and replied, “Colt’s finished checking on the facilities in the area that have drugs in North Heron and Liam’s been checking Accawmacke. Every doctor’s office we talked to don’t keep drugs on their premises, other than the samples given to them by pharmaceutical companies. In each case, the doctors have responded to our inquiries and have told us that the samples are kept locked up and the doctor is the only person who has access. Not even the nurses or office staff can access the sample drugs.”
Colt added, “That’s not to say we don’t have a doctor that’s selling drugs, but it cuts down on who has access.”
Grant, already sitting at the table, asked, “What about the other facilities?”
“Nursing homes and pharmacies have ready access. We checked with the two nursing homes in the county and they’ve reported that the CNAs are the ones who hand out the drugs to the residents, but that the LPNs are the ones who give the CNAs the drugs to distribute. There is only one RN per nursing home and they are the one in charge of ordering.”
“What about the Pain Management Center?” she asked.
Nodding, Colt said, “Yeah, they have drugs and they’re on my list to visit today.”
The police and sheriffs meeting ended and Colt waved goodbye to Mitch and Liam, calling out, “I’ll let you know what I find.”
Thirty minutes later, Colt was ensconced in the Pain Management Center, waiting for Dr. Tom Caldwell to meet with him in the doctor’s private office. He walked to the window and noted the pharmaceutical truck parked in the back. The driver was talking to another man, but he was unable to see who it was.
“Sheriff Hudson,” Tom called out, walking in and extending his hand.
After the greetings were over, Colt nodded toward the window and asked, “Is that the usual pharmaceutical delivery truck and driver?”
Tom peered out of the second-floor window and looked down. “Yes, we use Matrix Pharmaceuticals. They are based out of Baltimore and I think they deliver up and down the Eastern Shore.”
“Same driver?”
Tom’s face scrunched in thought and he confessed, “Yes…Lionel…uh…something. I’m usually the one who sees him when he comes in, so that I can lock the drugs in our safe, but sometimes our head nurse locks them up as well.”
“Her name?”
Grinning, he replied, “Rosalinda Caldwell. My wife.”
Nodding, he met his grin, then, asked, “You didn’t want to use a pharmaceutical company out of Virginia Beach?”
Shaking his head, Tom said, “Bad weather can shut down the Chesapeake Bridge. We want to be able to get what we need, and Matrix has been able to accommodate. They also supply to others in the area.”
“Is it unusual that you have narcotics here on site instead of just going through a pharmacy?”
“On occasion, we use injectable drugs when working with patients, if and only if needed, so we do keep some locked up here.”
“And who has access?”
“Only the doctors. Not the nurses or physical therapists. And we only use them after a group meeting has occurred where we, as a team, agree that the patient needs it. So, no one person, even the physician, uses the drugs without others knowing about it.”
Nodding, Colt shook his hand and walked down the stairs and into the lobby. Seeing Hunter, he walked over. “Hey, man. I didn’t know you came here.”
Hunter forced a smile. On the one hand, it was not unusual to see a fellow American Legionnaire at the clinic, since it was talked about at the last meeting. But, even so, he hated to feel like his privacy was invaded. “Got some pain from my time in the service.”
“Sorry to hear about that. Hope these people can help you out. I know Dr. Caldwell…heard good things about him and the clinic.”
“Good.”
Colt’s eyes dropped to the shirt he was wearing, his eyes landing on the logo on the breast pocket. “I forgot you work at Careway Nursing Home.”
“Yeah…maintenance.”
Colt shook his hand and said, “Well, I gotta go. It was good to see you.”
He watched the sheriff walk out of the building and breathed a sigh of relief. Hearing his name called, he turned to walk back to the examining room, his heart pounding. That was a fuckin’ close call.
14
“Oh, I wish I had your boobs,” Jillian moaned, looking at Belle’s numerous, colorful sundresses hanging in her closet. Glancing down at her slender build, she said, “If we were the same size, I could share your clothes.”
As soon as Hunter had asked Belle for a date, she had been excited about another motorcycle ride, but had no idea what to wear. This resulted in an impromptu girls’ meeting at her house where Jillian, Tori, Katelyn, Madelyn, and Jade went through her outfits.
“They’re overrated,” she said, looking down at her chest.
“I agree,” Katelyn nodded. Pregnancy had made her lush body even more voluptuous.
“Speak for yourself,” Jade commented. “I’m happy with my body, but I’d love to have a little more to fill out the top of my bathing suit.”
“I bet Lance is thrilled with your body,” Madelyn said, her voice muffled as she went through her underwear drawer.
“I can’t wear a sundress on his motorcycle,” she said. “I did that once, but was afraid of giving everyone a peek show.”
“I say just wear jeans and a cute top,” Tori said, pulling several shirts from their hangers and laying them on the bed before she bent over the baby carrier and checked on a still-sleeping Eddie.
“This!” Madelyn cried, pulling out a dove grey matching satin bra and panty set.
Looking over, she eyed the lacy underwear with undisguised doubt. “I bought them on sale, but only tried to wear them once. They don’t cover very much—”
“They’re perfect,” Jade said, enthusiastically agreeing.
She took the lingerie set and moved into the bathroom to slip them on. Poking her head out the door, she said, “I don’t know about this.”
Stepping back into the bedroom, she was met with silence and quickly turned to rush back into the bathroom.
“No!” they all shouted at once.
“You are absolutely gorgeous,” Jillian said, her smile wide. Everyone else was equally effusive in their praise.
The women had her try each shirt Tori had picked out and they finally agreed on the light blue, jersey shirt with the little cap sleeves. Paired with a pair of form-fitting dark jeans, they declared her perfectly dressed for a night at a seafood restaurant and a ride into the sunset on the back of Hunter’s motorcycle.
“But what about your shoes?” Katelyn asked.
“Oh,” she replied. “Uh, what should I wear?”
“Can’t go wrong with boots,” Jillian said, backing out of her small closet with a pair of leather, low-heeled boots in her hand.
Agreeing with their choices, she hugged the girls goodbye and bent to kiss Eddie’s cheek. Their wishes for her to have a good time filled the air, and she waved as they drove down the lane. Hurrying back to her bathroom, she applied simple makeup, followed by braiding her hair and tying it with a light blue ribbon, before she stared into the mirror.
Hearing the roar of a motorcycle coming closer, she grinned at her reflection and ran to open the door.
The sight of Hunter in thigh-hugging jeans, well worn in all the right places, a midnight blue shirt with the sleeves rolled over his forearms, and boots on his feet had her standing in the doorway, speechless. She wondered if she would ever get used to someone as ruggedly handsome as him coming to call.
Before she had a chance to ponder that thought more, h
e stepped into her space and wrapped his arms around her. Taking her lips in a searing kiss, she melted in his embrace. Pulling back, she blinked several times, bringing his smiling face into focus.
“We gotta go, sweetheart, or I’m liable to skip dinner and head straight to dessert,” his rough voice washed warm against her face.
Her lips curved as he stepped back and linked fingers, leading her outside. A few minutes later she wrapped her arms around his waist tightly and held on for the ride. With the motorcycle’s engine rumbling underneath and his ass pressed against her crotch, she wondered if it were possible to orgasm just from the trip to the restaurant.
Hunter’s steak almost filled his plate but his eyes were only for the beauty sitting across from him. The smile Belle had greeted him with at the door was still firmly on her face. The ribbon in her hair matched the shirt that managed to be both modest and seductive at the same time. Walking her into the restaurant, he had been proud to have her on his arm, while sending a few well-earned glares toward a couple of men at the bar whose eyes strayed to, and then stayed on, Belle. He knew his size could intimidate and was glad the men quickly turned back to their beers.
Now, his steak was almost finished, she was eating the last of her shrimp and sitting opposite of him…he felt like he had won the lottery. He heard her speak but was so engrossed in watching her he missed what she said. Blinking, he said, “Sorry?”
Wiping her mouth, she repeated, “I wondered if I had anything on my face. You’re staring and I wasn’t sure if—”
“You’re beautiful,” he blurted as his reply. Seeing the blush creep across her face, he continued, “And what’s so fuckin’ sexy is that you have no idea how beautiful you are.”
She opened her mouth, then, snapped it closed as he kept talking.
Waiting for Sunrise: Baytown Boys Series Page 11
