“When were you going to tell me about you and Gabriel?”
She blinked and turned her head to look at her friend. “Tell you?”
Jackie smiled slightly. “It’s very obvious to a woman in love when she sees another woman in love.”
She sighed. “I honestly didn’t know there was a ‘me and Gabriel’ before I came here. We met briefly the first time you were attacked. We had a… a memory, I guess you’d say.” She chuckled and shrugged.
Jackie’s eyes grew large and a smile spread across her face. “You got lucky?”
“Yeah, I guess that’s one way to put it. When we met again, it was… Damn, it was explosive. He is so unlike any man I have ever met. He knows me better than I know myself. He gets my runaway mouth.” An embarrassed laugh fell from her lips.
“So, is it serious?”
“It’s more than casual. We agreed to see where it would go. Before all this happened, I thought it could be serious, but after today, I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know if he wants me here.”
Jackie’s blue eyes looked directly up at Anna, “The question should be, do you want someone else to be here for him?”
The thought of another woman with Gabriel almost made her vomit. God, no, she didn’t want someone else with him. She groaned and eyed her friend. “When did you get so smart?” She bent down and hugged Jackie. The tears she’d kept at bay all day threatened to overflow as Jackie hugged her back. “How the hell do I do this?”
“A great nurse, and my best friend, once told me to take things one day at a time.”
“Damn, she sounds smart.” She stood and winked at her friend. She needed to resort to humor, or she was going to lose it in a hospital bathroom. Her love for Gabriel, as new as it was, ran deep. If she let that river out of its banks, there would be a flood of epic proportions. No, she was banking those thoughts, desires, and dreams until she could talk to Gabriel.
She followed the floor nurse to Gabriel’s bedside in the ICU. He was technically out of anesthesia, but still sleeping as the medication lingered in his system. His face had been carefully remodeled where the gun had sliced his cheek. He was so pale, the dark stitches glared obscenely. To her relief, the heart monitors toned endlessly in a comforting symphony of normalcy. Walking into the room, she pulled his chart from the foot of his bed and checked his vitals, the surgical notes, the doctor's post-operation instructions, and the nurse’s annotations. She replaced the clipboard before she walked up and pushed his bangs off his face. There was no unusual information listed in any of the charts, and for the first time, she allowed herself to believe he would recover.
She stroked his arm and watched as Gabriel struggled to break free of the haze enveloping him. His eyes opened and closed. A short while later they opened again. This time he saw her. She leaned over and kissed his forehead gently. “Hey.”
“Anna.”
“I’m here.” She swallowed hard and tried to keep the tears from her eyes. It was impossible.
He closed his eyes and whispered, “Deacon? Jacqueline?”
“They’re fine. Delacroix is dead. Nobody got hurt except you.”
A tear slid down her cheek as he opened his eyes and whispered, “It was just a bad day at the office.”
She shook her head and watched him close his eyes, sleeping once again. “A bad day for you could be deadly.”
Chapter 27
Gabriel checked all the boxes for “bad patient”. According to his doctors, his recuperation should take no less than four weeks, but after a week and a half, he demanded to be released. Anna stopped at the nurse's station on her way to his room, dropping off the coffee and beignets she’d bought for the floor nurses. She knew what it was like to be a ward nurse, and little things made a big difference. She paused to visit with Nancy, the lead day shift nurse. Nancy and Gabriel had agreed to dislike each other immensely.
Nancy laughed when she told Anna of their agreement. “It really makes things so much easier. I don’t have to pretend to like him, and he can be the ass that he is.”
Anna could definitely understand how Gabriel could piss someone off. She dropped off her presents, and after talking with Nancy, walked to his room. The door didn’t push open, so she knocked on it. Craig pulled the door open and glared at Anna as she flashed him a smile and walked into the room. She wasn’t going to be intimidated by the man, and she made it a point to let him know it.
She walked over to Gabriel, who was on the phone, and kissed his forehead. He smiled at her while he finished his conversation. Craig crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the door as he watched her. Anna took off her sweater. She was wearing a short-sleeve shirt. The lower portion of the bruises on her arm where Craig had mauled her stood out in stark contrast with her creamy skin. The moment Gabriel noticed, he ended his call and extended his hand to her.
Gabriel’s voice was very low, very controlled, and ultimately dangerous. “What happened to your arm? Who did that to you?” His fingertip barely brushed the deep purple and black bruises. “Who did this?”
Anna looked down at the bruises and shrugged. “It was an accident, nobody meant to hurt me.”
“I didn’t ask if it was an accident, Anna. I asked who did this to you.” Gabriel’s eyes slid toward Craig.
“I did.” McNair didn’t move from his position at the door. His flat response lacked any emotion.
Gabriel’s expression turned glacial and he said softly, “Anna, will you please get me a cup of coffee from the cafeteria?”
She looked from Gabriel to Craig. Their eyes were locked, and the tension between the two men was palpable.
“Gabriel, I…”
He cut her off immediately. “Go now, Anna.”
“No,” she said quietly. “If you’re going to discuss me, I want to be present.”
Gabriel slid his gaze back to her. “I need to talk to Craig. We are not going to discuss you. We’re going to discuss something we should have addressed months ago.” He ran his hand up her arm, and his thumb caressed the bottom of the bruises. “Please give us a moment.”
She lowered her eyes and walked to the door. Craig was still leaning against it. She waited in front of him, but he didn’t move. She finally lifted her eyes and glared at him.
“Get out of her way, now.” Gabriel’s order was almost whispered, but the sharp words fell like a flick of a bullwhip.
Once the door shut, Gabriel looked directly at Craig. “If you touch her again, in any way, I will kill you.”
Craig sighed. “I don’t suppose you care to hear my side of the story.”
“No, I do not. Those marks are fresh. They are vicious and intentional. I have witnessed your cruelty to women before, and I will not tolerate it again. You’ve had your warning. You’ve been advised of the consequences. Know this, Craig, Anna is mine. Nobody touches her except me. Ever.”
“I don’t understand your fascination with her.” Disgust dripped from his words.
“What I do and with whom I do it is not now, nor has it ever been, your concern. Your value to this company is enormous, but I will kill you with my own hands if you ever touch her again.”
Craig looked directly at Gabriel. The man wouldn’t back down, and Gabriel didn’t expect him to. “Your threat is duly noted.” Craig turned to walk out of the room.
Gabriel stopped him before he opened the door. “Of all people, you know my words are not an empty threat. Touch her again, and I will watch you die.”
Craig turned and regarded him. “I don’t blame you for this, Gabriel. That woman is causing you to act irrationally.”
Anna was waiting at the nurse's station. When Craig walked out, she hustled over to him. “Listen, I'll talk to him. You probably didn’t mean to hurt me. We were both under enormous stress.”
Craig pinned her with his stare. He glanced around quickly to make sure they were alone. “Oh, you stupid little slut, I meant to hurt you. I would have loved to hurt you more. It wo
uld please me to no end to watch you writhe in pain as I beat the shit out of you, plead for unconsciousness as I break every bone in your body. Lucky for you, we were in a public place. Otherwise, you would have needed more medical care than he did. For some reason, you have ensnared Gabriel—for now. Believe me, I can wait. You will not last, and when he’s done with you, I will finish what I started.” He pushed past her and walked out of the ward.
He would finish what he started? He meant to come back and “beat the shit out”of her? She stood in one spot and shook with tremors of fear-induced nausea. Never had she been the object of such focused hatred, or ever imagined such aggressive violence could be directed at her. Even Delacroix hadn’t directly threatened her. Furthermore, she absolutely believed the man would make good on his threat. She breathed deeply, trying to prevent fear from overwhelming her. Shivering, she strode into the hall bathroom and splashed water on her face, hoping to stop the panic she felt. She wiped her face and brushed back her hair, and once she was able to breathe normally, she headed back to Gabriel’s room.
An unfamiliar doctor stood at Gabriel’s bedside when she entered. She politely apologized and backed out to leave.
“Anna, come in. I want you to meet Dr. Kerry. He is my private physician and has flown in to get me out of this disinfectant-smelling hellhole.”
Dr. Kerry turned and smiled at her. “Hello, Anna. Gabriel told me you saved his life.”
She smiled at the man on the opposite side of Gabriel’s bed. “No, his will to live saved his life. I just gave him the opportunity to fight for it.” She walked into Gabriel’s hand, hoping her trembling wouldn’t be noticed.
“That’s a nasty bruise on your arm, Anna. May I see the rest of it?”
She lifted her sleeve, revealing the full extent of the angry, swollen bruise to both Dr. Kerry and Gabriel.
“I’ve seen this type of injury before. Whoever grabbed you obviously intended to cause trauma. Have you had any issues with the bruising that would indicate muscle or nerve damage?”
“No, I don’t think there was muscle or nerve damage.”
Dr. Kerry and Gabriel shared a knowing look. The doctor took a deep breath and lowered his head for a moment. Clearing his throat, he continued, “Well, I believe I can get a release order for you, Gabriel, but I must insist that you have a full-time nurse.”
Gabriel squeezed Anna’s hand gently. “I think I can arrange that.”
Anna blushed a deep red. She knew she did because her face felt like a furnace.
“Good, but in order to secure that release, I have conditions. One, absolutely no field assignments. No travel at all for at least two weeks. I mean it, Gabriel. You are to stay put. No hopping off to the far reaches of the world. Two, paperwork is fine, but you will work from home. You will not go to the office because you will not take care of yourself if you do.”
Gabriel glared at him. “Two weeks?”
“Yes, two weeks, and if you don’t give me your word to comply with this order, I will leave you in this fine hospital with Nurse Nancy down the hall. I hear she loves you as a patient and is petitioning the administration to keep you here. Give me your word you will follow my directions to the letter, or you will stay here.”
Gabriel’s jaw ground together as he glared at the doctor. “Fine. You have my word. I will not travel or go to the office for two weeks.”
“And finally, a warning to the both of you. Absolutely no carnal activities or sexual intercourse for two weeks. Absolutely none. Your body needs time to heal.”
The doctor looked steadily at Anna. “I don’t care what his reasons, rationale, or excuses are. As an RN, you know, medically, I'm being wildly permissive on this issue. Sound medical practice requires at least a four week recovery period of complete rest.”
Mortified, she blushed the color of a cooked lobster—or a fire engine—and wished for a large rock to crawl under.
Gabriel laughed at her obvious discomfort, but took pity on her, and stopped the doctor from adding anything else. “Okay, Doc, we got it.”
The limo ride to the Longline building after a four hour discharge process took more out of him than he was willing to admit. As soon as they settled into Anna’s small apartment on the 16th floor, she handed him a pain pill. He took it and settled on the bed. She fussed around him, arranging pillows and straightening bedding. He grabbed her hand. “Anna, come lie down with me.”
“Oh no, you heard the doctor!”
Her nervous laugh prompted a smile from him. “I assure you, right now, I’m too tired and sore to make love to you. What I want is to sleep with you next to me.”
Anna pulled off her boots and carefully lay down beside him. He wrapped his arm around her and breathed in the scent of her shampoo. God, just leaving the hospital and the noise, smell, and constant activity of the facility, lifted his spirits.
“Why did you get so upset about my bruises? What's the story?”
Gabriel tensed. He knew exactly what, or rather, who, prompted her question. He could shield her from the truth, or he could lay it out there. “I witnessed Craig intentionally hurt a woman in the past.”
“He's done this before?” Anna tilted her eyes up, begging for an explanation.
“I’d hoped he was past it.” Gabriel closed his eyes and sighed. “There was one episode somewhat similar to now. I was seeing a woman, nothing serious, but Craig got rough with her. She bowed out. You are mine, and because you are, I think you pose a threat to him. He feels my relationship with you threatens his position with me.”
“How can that be? How could he think that?” Anna lifted up on her elbow to look at him.
“I don’t know, but you don’t have to worry anymore. I told you before I would protect you from my past, from my enemies, and even from my friends.” He could feel the pain pill kicking in. “Craig is the absolute best at what he does, but keeping him under control is difficult at the best of times.”
Anna snuggled into his arms. With a yawn, she replied, “I think he’s afraid of losing you.”
Chapter 28
Gabriel’s strength returned very quickly. He refused to stay in bed and worked from the living room. He had a business phone installed and at least twice a day one of his men would bring in paperwork or take it out. Anna did her best to make sure Dr. Kerry’s directives were adhered to, but how do you make a six-foot-six-inch, two hundred sixty-pound wall of muscle slow down? She knew from experience it wasn’t easy.
The sexual tension between them mounted as each day passed. One week after he’d been discharged, Gabriel pushed her hard to defy the doctor's sexual restrictions. His smoldering eyes followed her wherever she was in the room. He found reasons to be close to her. His caresses stoked the burning desire that she’d forced herself to ignore. She gave herself credit, though. Despite his constant provocation and contrary to her own desires, she doggedly tried to follow the doctor’s orders. But… Oh God, Gabriel had never been more physically tempting. The days were bad, but lying next to him all night was the worst. She was a wreck.
Today, out of desperation, she left him to go to the grocery store with a made up the excuse about needing to pick up something for dinner. To be honest, she needed some distance from the ever-increasing sexual tease. Her primary thought the entire trip to the store was how to have sex without causing him discomfort. She rolled her eyes. That’s right, be a good little nurse. Follow the doctor’s orders. It’s easy, they said. Bull puckey.
She'd started birth control while he was in the hospital in anticipation. Boy, howdy, was she anticipating. She chided herself as she punched the new security code into the new lock on the apartment door. I am so not going to follow Dr. Kerry's orders the next time Gabriel corners me. Not happening. Nope. She was going to hell. Straight to hell. Bad nurse.
“I'm home.” She tossed her purse onto the small table beside the door. Gabriel wasn’t in the living room. She went straight to the kitchen and put the groceries away before she wandering into
the bedroom.
“Gabriel?” Her heart started to pound harder. The bedroom and bathroom were empty. She went back to the living room and found a note he’d left for her.
Anna,
I needed to get out of the apartment for a couple hours. I have my team with me. No air travel, I promise.
Gabriel
She sank to the couch, relieved. Her constant fear was one of his assignments would require his presence and take him away from her. She was just starting to understand the scope of his work. He ran a massive company with ongoing and complex business deals. He teleconferenced daily and though she could only hear his side of the conversation, she recognized the scope of responsibility he bore. In one of the telephone conversations, he discussed moving assets from one country and staging them in another, and positioned people and money so as not to impede ongoing humanitarian efforts. She’d never considered a security company could be used for humanitarian efforts. She didn’t ask him about it because it wasn’t polite to eavesdrop.
She prepped the chicken for dinner and made the salads before she put the ingredients together for a potato casserole. When Gabriel still hadn't come back, she decided to use the massive whirlpool tub for a long, hot soak.
She turned on the faucet to begin filling the mini-swimming pool. She put in some new bath oils, slipped out of her jeans and shirt, and sat on the side of the tub, wearing only her lace bra and panties.
The sound of Gabriel entering the apartment drew her eyes to the bedroom. It wasn’t ten seconds before he stopped in the doorway. He leaned against the door frame as he ravaged her with his eyes. She could read his intent from across the room. Yeah, no way they would make the two weeks Kerry had demanded.
He pulled the tails of his button-down shirt out of his jeans and made quick work of the buttons. The stitches from his facial laceration had come out before he’d left the hospital and the swelling had almost vanished. Only traces of a black eye and yellowing around his cheekbone remained. Her eyes traveled to the pink line of his surgical incision. It had healed perfectly. According to Gabriel, there was very little tenderness from the operation. His beautiful shoulders, chest, and washboard abs were on display for her. The other incision under his right bicep was red, but it was also completely healed.
Gabriel (Guardian Defenders Book 1) Page 29
