Danger In Oleander: A Cowboy's Heart Novel
Page 6
Get what you need, and quickly close the lid!
Becoming a bit anxious, John pulled out some wet cloths he stored on the bottom under the bandages, and wasted little to no time in sealing the box closed once more. He opened up one of the packets, and started to run it over the area on her back where her jacket had soaked up some of her blood only to make a circle on her skin on the outside of where the open wound was.
No sooner had he started, Emily tightened a bit due to the coldness of the fabric and let out a soft, high pitched gasp from the confines of her mouth at having been caught off guard.
Fearing that he was hurting her, John stopped what he was doing all together, and spoke to her with a concerned tone in his voice.
“Am I hurting you, Emily?”
* * *
“Not at all, John.”
A smile washed across her face the moment when she heard him ask her if he was hurting her by the light strokes he had been using on her back to get rid of the dried blood on her skin outside of where her fresh wound was located on her. She felt good about him and more strongly about her feelings and thoughts towards them staying with each other longer than just two more weeks from having heard, as well as sensed from him, his need to make her as comfortable as possible.
“You are doing a great job in my opinion.” Emily spoke to him in a calm, loving tone despite the intense fatigue her body was under at the moment from all that she had been through. “There is nothing about your touch that is hurting or putting any kind of added pressure on me.”
It was doing quite the opposite for her. The way John was touching her made her more relaxed and warm. His fingertips dancing across her back in the area of where she was stabbed felt more like a great, sensual back massage to her, and it did a great job at helping her forget all about her ex that had been left outside.
Suddenly, it hit her without warning. Johnathon, the very person responsible for all the troubles and issues she had been having that summer and the reason why she was bleeding at that moment in time, had been left alone outside, giving him the opportunity to run away…or to sneak inside without them being aware of it.
Before she could voice her concern at the moment, a soft sigh of pleasure slipped out of the confines of it due to the warm heat of his palms pressing against her back as he was securing a bandage over the open wound on her back to keep her blood from continuing to come out of it.
Emily couldn’t deny how amazing she felt when he touched her body, or that he had her needing him at times that were not appropriate…such as just getting stabbed by a former love.
She let a soft breath of air out of her mouth before her words followed it in a soft voice that oozed the overwhelming feelings burning deep inside of her for him and only him.
“You know just what to do to make me feel much better, John.”
Chapter Nineteen
“Well…There is something else I have that will make you feel even better than that.”
Her body immediately tightened up from the response that she got out of John. All of her muscles tensed up with an unbridled ned for the cowboy that was sitting beside her with her top already halfway up her body, barely inches away from where her round, firm breasts were nestled with only the fabric of her jacket keeping them concealed from his piercing gaze and the warmth of his strong hands.
The thought alone of how mazing his touch was started to add fuel to the fire that was already burning and fueling her raging hormones despite her being in a position that would hinder any kind of activity like that at the moment.
Calm yourself down, Emily.
The rational part of her conscience kicked in as it whispered to her in a calm yet firm tone to try and bring some peace to the emotions she was dealing with at the moment.
The last thing you need to be thinking about right now is having sex with John Hicks. You were stabbed just a few minutes ago, and now you are on a large bed with a bandage secured over the open wound that Johnathon had left you with. This is not the time for you to even consider having him to make love to you.
Easier said than done…
Emily couldn’t shake off the intense and overwhelming desires she had burning deep inside her for the man that was nestled at her side, caring for her and making sure she was comfortable. IT was easy to say it could be stopped for her. However, the feelings were not so easy to ignore.
Doing her best to keep from breaking down at that moment and giving into the sexual needs her body craved, she let a soft chuckle escape from her mouth while the palms of her hands pressed against his bedding.
“John,” she said, “I don’t think right now is a good time for us to have sex.”
Emily had to force the words out of her mouth. There was nothing else she wanted more than to have him make love to her at that moment despite her being in some pain.
“Maybe in a few hours we can-“
“I wasn’t talking about that, Emily.” John let his own chuckle slip out into his southern accent as he spoke to her in a calm and caring tone. “There is something else that I have for you that I am sure will make you feel so much better.”
* * *
John felt good about what he planned to ask her, and that his was the perfect time do just that.
With his eyes on her, slid his hands up to where her jacket had been folded up, and eased it down to cover her exposed skin once more. His fingers moved from there to her sides, and got a gentle hold on them both. Slowly, John proceeded to help her to sit up on his bed from where she had been lying face down.
Easy now, John. You don’t want to hurt her. She is still really fragile with the wound even though you have done a good job at bandaging it up to the point where no blood should be coming out of it. However…it is best to be safe instead of sorry.
That was indeed the truth.
He didn’t want to do or say anything that would upset his lady and ruin his chance to ask her the one question that had been on his mind since their night together in the loft of her granny’s barn.
Once he had moved her to sit up with her back facing him, John reached behind his back to where the medical supplies were still nestled within the box with his right hand. He used his hand to ease the lid of it opened up once it was free from her body. His fingers moved amongst the various items inside of it until he got a hold of the small, black velvet box, and cradled it against the palm of his hand.
“Emily-“
His voice fell short from the squealing of tires outside of his home, letting him know that Johnathon had slipped away with his focus having shifted to Emily. He looked over towards the window to his room, and found the temptation to get up and move towards it to be quick and brief, not really hanging around long enough to really have an effect on him.
I don’t’ care what that little punk runs off and does right now. He can do whatever the hell he wants…The only thing I want to do right now is asking Emily a very important question.
* * *
Moving his body to the other side of hers so he could gaze upon the expressions of her face, he made sure to keep the box behind his back, maintaining its location to be out of sight of her gaze. John’s hand remained there as his eyes and voice started to pour his heart and soul out to her.
“Emily…There is no other woman that I have ever met in my life that has had such a profound and special effect on me.”
He looked upon her facial features softening up, and showing a look of unconditional love to be forming upon it. The visual brought a smile to start forming across his face while his eyes had tears of happiness forming in them.
“We have had such an interesting time so far with one another…and I hope it continues for us.”
Slowly, John brought his hand around with the ring box in sight. He watched her eyes widen in shock at seeing it before looking to him with a similar expression forming on the rest of her face. His fingers trembled as they opened the lid of the box to display an emerald jewel on a silver ring band while he
did his best to utter the question he had been wanting to ask her for such a long time.
“Emily Withers…Will…Will you make me the happiest man alive, and become my wife?”
For a moment, he started to fear she was going to say ‘no’ or that it was too soon for him to ask her since it had only been a couple of months, and they hadn’t been on an actual date during the time they had spent with one another.
Despite all of the inner feelings about the situation, it was the sight of her smiling and giving a silent ‘yes’ with a nod of her head with tears running down her cheeks that sent all of his fears for the moment running far away from him. John had tears running down his own face as he retrieved the ring from the box, and slipped it onto one of her fingers shortly before sealing her into a kiss with him that dripped with all of the love that he had burning deep inside of his frame for her.
Thank you, Emily…Thank you so much.
He had been waiting all this time for a person as wonderful as Emily, and she had come into his life at the perfect time. All of the other women that had tried to steal his heart away did it in all the wrong ways. They never did it in the way that Belle’s grand-daughter did, and none of them could even measure up to what she had to offer him.
John slowly eased his mouth away from hers before he moved back to rest against the headboard, eased his legs opened for her to crawl towards him and extended his hands in her direction. His smile only widened from seeing her slowly moving towards him, and curling up against his strong body without even a slight hesitation on her part. He moved his strong embrace around her to cradle her there, not minding that her jacket was still damp of her blood and was pressing against one of his arms.
“Well,” Emily said, “what do you want to do right now, John?”
“I think…A good nap is in order for the two of us. We have been through quite a lot today…and need to take a little time for us to just kick back and relax.” John managed to keep a friendly tone in his obviously shaken voice from having put his heart on the line with her and was pleased she accepted it. A smile crept across his face as he clung her more closely to him. “Besides…We need to take this time to relax before we break the news to your grand-mother that she is fixing to have another person added to the family.”
A deep chuckle left his mouth at the same time a light hearted one slipped out of her mouth. He had found the missing piece to his puzzle, and now she was going to be at his side for the rest of his life once they were married to each other.
However, at that moment, John was just contented with her going to sleep with him instead of them making love at the end of a very long and dangerous day. Emily had put herself on the line to keep him safe and sound when he could have been on the end of Johnathon’s knife instead, and he risked his own safety and well-being to take her ex-boyfriend down and show him what a southern ass kicking is all about.
Slowly, he eased his eyes closed, and started to drift off into a deep sleep with Emily following suit. His skin on his arms shivered from the light touch of her fingertips dancing across the bit of it that was revealed due to him wearing a short-sleeved top that day. However, he welcomed it and drifted off to sleep with dreams of the wedding they would be having.
The End