“No, I’m Nick Maddox. Matthew’s business partner. We spoke on the phone. The doctors say his condition is critical but stable for now. We had some scares earlier, but it looks as if he’s pulled through.”
It was hard to believe that less than twenty-four ago she was in her dorm room at the University of London, talking to this man on the phone. He had called her from the hospital within hours of the accident and offered to pay for her tickets to come home to see Matt. Without a thought to the man on the other end, she had accepted, thinking only of her brother. Now she felt as if she owed him a huge amount of gratitude.
“Nick, I’m so sorry. I expected you to be older,” said Riley. “I can’t thank you enough for getting me back here so quickly. I’ll pay you back the money for the flights.” She paused for a moment, thinking of the mountain of student debt she was already facing. “It might take a while.”
Nick waved the offer aside. “No need. I know how terrible it would be to be stuck on the other side of the world while all this was going on. I’m just glad you’re here. For Matt’s sake.”
Riley regarded his face for a moment. “You look really familiar,” she said.
“We met once before,” he said, eyes focused ahead of him as he navigated the bleak corridors. Riley cast her mind back, trying to place him in a memory. “About three years ago,” he continued, “before you left to study in England. Before Matthew and I started the company.”
She found herself staring at him as they walked, trying to remember, her overburdened mind unable to slot things into place. Then it clicked. It had been at Matthew’s apartment in Tampa before he moved to Miami. She’d been visiting him for the weekend and Nick had come around to discuss a business opportunity. He’d introduced himself as one of Matthew’s college pals, brimming with excitement over a crazy idea he had to start a tech company. He’d had long hair then like some figure from Greek mythology with a penchant for checkered shirts and surfing. She was eighteen then and remembered thinking how cute he was in a beach bum kind of way.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t recognize you. My mind is…” she trailed off.
“I understand.” His voice was resonant, but tender. “Here we are,” he said gesturing to a door. She felt another overwhelming wave of gratitude for him then as she realized that she would never have been able to find the room by herself. The number on the door was faded and indistinct and the hospital corridors seemed like a maze in her state of disorientation.
“Listen,” said Nick softly, his hand resting on the door handle. “It might be difficult to see him like this, he’s pretty bruised up. I want you to know that we have the best doctors in Florida treating him. They’re doing everything they can. Are you sure you’re ready?”
Riley nodded, steeling herself.
He opened the door and ushered her inside.
Riley’s hands fluttered to her face as fresh tears burst from her eyes. Matthew’s eyes were bruised and puffy, his neck was wrapped in a tight brace while needles in his arm fed him nutrients from a drip. She rushed to his side, wanting to throw her arms around his neck and hold him, but not wanting to disturb the equipment. Instead she took his hand gently in hers and smoothed his hair back away from his forehead.
“Oh, Matt, please be okay.” She planted a kiss on his forehead and squeezed his hand. “I’m so sorry, I haven’t spoken to you in so long, things just got really busy and now this…”
Matthew’s chest rose and fell gently.
“How did it happen?” Riley asked Nick.
“It was my fault.” A look of helpless self-directed rage passed over Nick’s handsome features. “We were out surfing. I should’ve known not to have gone down so close to the cove. I guess we got cocky. A riptide took him, smashed him against the rocks. I tried to pull him out, but the current was so strong. I should’ve been quicker dragging him out of there.”
“But you saved him,” said Riley, wanting now to throw her arms around him. “That’s all that counts.”
“If I had got to him sooner…” he trailed off.
“What about you? Are you okay?”
“Just some scratches, but otherwise I’m fine,” he paused, as if thinking about the incident caused him pain. “Can I get you anything? Some coffee maybe?” he asked eventually.
Riley nodded gratefully, unable to form the words through the lump forming in her throat. As Nick left the room, the dam walls finally gave way and Riley let her head fall to her brother’s bedside as she sobbed, still clutching his hand.
“Matt, if you can hear me, I love you. I’m sorry I’ve been so busy. I’m sorry for not being here for you.”
At the sound of her voice, his fingers curled around hers and the steady beep of his heart rate monitor quickened.
“Matt?” she said, “You can hear me, can’t you?”
She allowed herself to hope for a moment. His hands tensed again.
“Matt? Matthew?” Riley launched herself to her feet.
His eyes opened slowly, straining against the swollen lids.
“Riley?” he croaked. “How did you get here? Am I dead?”
A chuckle, half surprise and half relief burst from her and she threw her arms around his neck, being careful not to jostle him around too much.
“Take it easy,” groaned Matt. “I’m feeling a little tender.”
2.
To Riley’s relief, though he still sounded groggy, Matthew was incredibly lucid after his ordeal.
“I must be dreaming,” said Matt. “Last thing I remember is being on my board. I’ve never seen a wave that big. Wait a second, how did you get here?”
“Nick dragged you out of a riptide, you got beat up by some rocks. Nick flew me over just in case. We were so worried about you.”
“Oh, yeah. I remember the rocks. And the foam. It was crazy.”
Nick walked in then with two paper cups of coffee. For a second Riley thought he was going to drop the cups, but then his eyes widened with joy.
“Big guy! You’re awake!” He rushed to the bedside grinning.
“How long have I been out?”
“Going on forty-eight hours,” said Nick. “If you wanted to take a couple sick days, you just had to ask.”
“Am I correct in assuming you’ve been working twice as hard at the company to make up for my absence?” quipped Matt.
“Nah, I left that to the PA to handle. No way I’m letting you take time off and leave me sweating away.”
Matt chuckled and then winced. “Man, I’m pretty beat up, aren’t I? What’s the damage?”
“So far just a couple broken ribs, a concussion, a neck sprain and some bruises and scratches. You also have two massive shiners, but I’d say that’s an improvement. What do you think Riley?”
Riley giggled. The guys jostling each other was helping to drive home the fact that Matt was going to be okay. Their bravado in the face of an otherwise serious situation put her at ease. “Yeah, Matt, it kinda looks like you’re wearing eye shadow,” she chipped in.
Matt chuckled softly. “Stop making me laugh. It hurts.”
“Maybe you damaged your funny bone as well. Then again, your sense of humor was pretty weak to begin with,” said Nick still grinning. Their comradery was that of brothers and Riley couldn’t help feeling that she was in good hands.
“You know something, Nick? I think I might take a break from surfing for a while.”
“You sure? I was thinking we could head out again tomorrow, maybe just strap you to the board and push you out. You can paddle with your toes.”
The door creaked open and Riley spun around to see a large, angry-looking nurse standing in the doorway. “What’s going on here?” said the nurse sternly. “Visiting hours ended at nine. You need to leave. You’re disturbing patients in the other rooms.”
Matt looked up at Riley apologetically. “Thanks for coming, sis. Really means a lot to me.”
“We’ll be back again tomorrow to take you surfing,” said Riley and pecked
him on the cheek.
“You take care of my sister,” said Matt as the fuming nurse escorted them out. “And hands off.”
Outside in the hall, Riley looked at her watch. “Oh my gosh,” she said. “It’s like five in the morning in London right now. My body is telling me I should only be waking up around now.”
“Yeah, it’s already midnight here. We should probably get some sleep.”
“Is there a motel somewhere around here I can book into?”
“No way,” said Nick. “I couldn’t let you spend the night in some dodgy hotel. I promised your brother I’d look after you. I’ve got a spare bedroom at my place. Come on, I’ll drive you back.”
“I would’ve settled for a couch to be honest,” said Riley. “But okay. Only if you let me make you breakfast in the morning.”
Nick grinned, a broad and honest smile. “I think you have yourself a deal.”
3.
The hospital parking lot was all but deserted and the night was warm and thick with humidity. Riley wasn’t sure if it was her relief that Matt was going to be okay, the joy of being home again, or — though she couldn’t believe she was thinking this — the thrill of being in Nick’s presence, but the night seemed electric with possibilities.
She’d missed nights like these. She loved London and the friends she had made there, but the constant gloom and cold always made her feel a little homesick.
Suddenly she felt very little like sleeping at all, and her awareness of Nick’s body beside her became almost unbearable. She could feel the fine hairs of her arm standing on end as if the man exuded some sort of electrical field. His solid frame, cavalier stride and quiet strength in the face of the crisis gave him an almost preternatural aura of calm and magnetism.
Whatever you’re thinking, she told herself, just stop it. He’s your brother’s best friend and Matt’s in hospital. Not to mention he’s ten years older than you. It would all be so wrong!
But as they walked across the parking lot, Riley couldn’t help stealing glances at Nick’s square, stubble-lined jaw and the muscles of his shoulders and chest stretching taut the fabric of his shirt.
She’d been so distracted by her errant thoughts of Nick that she hadn’t paid any attention to the car they’d been walking towards.
“There’s my baby,” said Nick. “It’s a little garish, I know, but I wanted to get to the hospital as fast as I could.”
Riley glanced ahead to finally take it in — a matte black Lamborghini parked in a spot beside a palm tree, giving off the impression of a sleeping black panther.
“Are you kidding me? It looks like the freaking Batmobile! Is this really your car?”
Nick shrugged. “Yeah. What can I say? The last few years have been good for your brother and me at the company. Things really took off in the tech industry since we started.”
Nick pushed a button on his keychain and the two doors slid up into the air, enhancing the illusion of a panther, now flicking up its ears as it roused, ready to attack.
“I’m a little less practical than your brother when it comes to cars. Sort of a weakness of mine.” He grinned, almost apologetically, noting the expression of shock on Riley’s face. “I’ll take the drive home easy, promise.”
“That seems a bit of a waste,” said Riley. “I want to see what this thing can do!”
“Get in,” said Nick, his face now becoming mischievous and determined. “I’ll show you.”
Riley squealed with delight as the engine roared to life. The car’s deep resonance vibrated through her entire body like the crash of thunder. Nick eased the car onto the street far enough away from the hospital before giving the car the power that it seemed to crave. The empty streets provided the perfect track for the beast.
Riley could feel her entire body being forced back into the leather bucket seats as the car accelerated. Her heart thumped in her chest, but all she could hear was the deep power of the engine.
She glanced from the streetlights streaking past to see Nick grinning devilishly. She couldn’t help chuckling at his boyish enjoyment.
Matt and Nick were cut from the same cloth, both thrill chasers and risk takers. Matt was always planning his next great adventure or daring expedition: skydiving in Texas, bungee jumping in Alabama, sailing from Miami to the Bahamas — and Nick’s name had been a constant in all of his stories. Their fearlessness had served them well in business, but it had also got Matt into the trouble that he was now in. While they had been chasing thrills, it seemed, the devil had been chasing them, and had finally caught up.
Finally, the straight roads and skyscrapers gave way to winding roads and plush luxury homes on one side and the moon hanging full and high over the ocean on the other.
Nick slowed the car and eased it around the bends. The engine became a low, soothing thrum and the adrenaline that had initially coursed through her body evaporated, leaving her eyelids feeling heavy and her body weak and tired. She watched the reflection of the moon drifting on the ocean as she nestled into the deep, comfortable seat.
Sleep crept up on her suddenly and within moments she was snoring lightly in time with the ocean.
4.
Riley dreamed of the first moment she had ever met Nick. Now unfiltered by waking consciousness, the memory came back with surreal clarity.
She was sitting in the living room of Matt’s apartment, reading a magazine in the sunshine coming in through the window. When the doorbell rang, she got up to answer it, thinking it was the pizza they had just ordered.
Nick stood in the doorway, three years younger, wearing a black and red checkered shirt and a beard, his hair long and sun bleached. His eyes were a bright blue and they lit up when he saw her. “Hi!” he said. “Matt didn’t say he had a girl over.”
“I’m his sister, Riley.”
“Nice to meet you, Riley,” he said shaking her hand. “Matt’s told me a lot about you. I’m Nick. I went to college with your bro. Is he around?”
“Sure, he’s just in the shower. He’ll be out in a minute. He said you might come around.”
“Yeah, I have this idea for a start-up that I wanted to talk to him about. I figured your brother’s the kind of guy to really run with the idea and make it work. I hope I can convince him to be as excited about it as I am.”
“Is that Nick?” called Matt from the bedroom.
“The one and only,” returned Nick. “You better hurry up before I bore your sister to death. Or tell her all of your embarrassing stories.”
Riley giggled, hoping Matt would take his time so she could spend more time with this funny, charismatic stranger.
“Don’t you dare! I’ll be right out.”
While Matt finished up, Nick told her stories about adventures the two of them had had and trouble they’d been in together. Their lives sounded so exciting, always trying out new business ideas and although none of them had quite worked out, they had always managed to cover their losses and had some fun doing it.
“I think this is the big one though,” said Nick.
“I hope you’re right,” said Riley. “I can’t wait to hear about it.”
When Matt came through, Nick launched straight into it and while he spoke, Riley could barely keep her eyes off him, his bright eyes shining from his face, his strong hands gesturing enthusiastically, his rock star hair waving ever so slightly in the breeze coming in through the window. He would catch her eye every now and again and grin and her heart would flutter.
Nick’s enthusiasm seemed to rub off on Matt and soon the two of them were scribbling down the first steps of how they were going to make their dreams come true.
“Let’s do it!” declared Matt.
“Awesome!” said Nick, “I knew I could count you in.”
They stood up and shook hands like they had just concluded a formal business deal, even though it had been anything but. Then Nick, in his excitement, planted a kiss on Riley’s cheek, his beard hairs tickling her and made her blush.
&
nbsp; “Okay,” said Nick. “I gotta go make some calls to get the show on the road. I’ll let you know later how it goes.” And just like that he left again, leaving Riley still feeling hot in the face and smiling to herself every time she thought about him.
5.
Riley woke up to the smell of bacon and the summer sunshine streaming in through the huge windows of a strange room. It took her a moment to piece together how she had come to be tucked into an enormous bed in a strange house, still fully clothed.
The room had an en-suite bathroom and she quickly undressed and showered. She guessed her backpack with all her clothes inside must’ve still been in Nick’s car, but she found a t-shirt in the closet and pulled it on.
The spare room she found herself in was on the second floor, which meant that Nick had carried her all the way up a flight of stairs. She couldn’t help feeling a blush of embarrassment at the thought: her snoring away while he slogged her limp body upstairs like an overgrown child.
The house was bright and spacious, with large portions of the walls consisting of glass looking out at the ocean. Downstairs she found Nick cooking bacon and eggs.
“Morning, Riley! Did you sleep well?”
“I’m so embarrassed,” she said rubbing her eyes. “Did you have to carry me to bed?”
SHEIKH'S SURPRISE BABY: A Sheikh Romance Page 68
