Sweet Seduction Sacrifice (41 page)

"I'm telling you, those boys are trouble," we all heard spoken at full volume by Kelly on the other side of the door. "Hottest of the hot-rush hotties," she declared.

"Hot-rush hotties, darling? Whatever is that?" Katie's sweet voice wafted through the partially closed door.

"That brother of yours for one and what was with the blond? I mean, dude. Was he coming on to me or what?"

I moaned aloud, Dominic made his cough-which-could-have-been-a-laugh sound and Mum and Dad shared a puzzled look between themselves.

"You're on radar, darling," Katie advised. "If I were you, I'd just go with it. Fighting it will only make them more determined. You don't want that."

"Unh-uh," Kelly replied, the door starting to swing open before her. "Kelly Quayle does the chasing, sister. Not the other way around. I'm the lioness, they're all the lions. I'm the one to hunt down my meal and no one else."

"We'll see," Katie chirped following my best friend into the room.

"Gen, tell Katie I'm not on anyone's menu unless I place myself there," Kelly announced, not bothering with niceties such as
hello
.

"She's right, Katie. Kelly is always the one calling the shots," I supplied, greedily taking the proffered black with hot pink writing take-away coffee cup from Katie's outstretched hand. She blew me a kiss and gave me a finger-wave hello in exchange.

I waved her over for a quick hug instead and whispered in her ear, "I'm so happy you're OK," then choked back a sob.

"Darling," she whispered, but didn't say anything else.

I decided to turn my attention back to Kelly, mentioning what happened wouldn't help anyone get past it in the end. We all had to move on. It was Brett's fault and Brett alone. I had to think of it that way, or I'd simply want to curl up in a guilty ball and cry.

"Kelly, watch out for those two, they've got a bet going," I advised her.

"Genevieve," Dominic chastised. "You don't give that sort of intel away, sweetheart. What are you thinking? Nick will blacklist you from the inner sanctum of ASI and ADK wagers from here on in."

I swung my head to look at him. I think he was being serious.

"I'll take my chances. Kelly's been my friend for a lot longer than Nick has."

"Suit yourself," he said on a shrug, the edges of his lips curving upwards. "But he is monitoring your store, he'll seek revenge somehow and with the way you skate around the place in thick pink socks singing to your heart's content, I'm sure he'll have video ammunition before too long."

"What?" I said ineloquently for the second time that day.

"Genny-Benny," Mum joined in on the chastising front, "it's rude to say
what
."

"Yeah, we've got cameras up the wazoo," Kelly announced, ignoring Mum completely. "And I just gotta say, that Eric is one mighty fine camera installer."

"ASI has put security cameras into my shop?" I asked in a low voice, looking directly at Dominic.

He picked up on my anger immediately, leaned forward and ran his finger along the edge of my jaw and then cupped it, tilting my head up to meet his face.

"Sweetheart," he said softly. "He might be out of your life legally, but he sure as hell is not out of your life for good yet."

The room fell silent as Dominic's softly spoken words sunk into my brain.

Brett. I win one battle, only to face the rest of the war stretching out before me. And from what I'd seen of my loser ex so far, it wasn't going to be nice.

Everyone stayed for another hour, long enough to keep me company, catch me up on Sweet Seduction business and crack a few jokes to make me laugh. Nothing beats the knowledge that you have good friends. When your confidence has been knocked to such a degree as Brett has knocked mine, you grasp any pick-me-up available. I laughed with my friends and parents and then by the time the hour ran out, I was yawning and blinking away an urgent need to sleep.

"Come on," Dad announced to the the room at large. "She's done well for her first day awake, let's let her get some rest."

Katie and Kelly both took turns dropping kisses on my cheeks and giving me much needed hugs and then they left. And Dad started pulling on Mum's jacket sleeve, trying to lead her out the door.

"What are you doing, Joe?" she exclaimed loudly, making me jerk awake as sleep had almost claimed me completely.

"Taking you home, Cher. Dominic will look after her."

"But..."

Dad interrupted. "Home," he said forcefully.

I blinked at his tone, one he usually reserved for wayward teenagers at the high school he teaches at, but rarely used on Mum. Mum required more of a cajoling, gentle hand, one which Dad was particularly astute at giving.

Having woken up again from near sleep, I caught the handshake Dad gave Dominic, before he pushed Mum out the door. It left a completely settled feeling deep down inside. My father had accepted Dominic and for that split second, watching the two men shake companionably in my hospital room, I felt at peace.

"Sleep, sweetheart," Dominic whispered in my ear, making me realise time had elapsed and he'd made it to my bedside without me realising he was on the move. "I'll be right here." I snuggled down into the starchy sheets and did just that.

Sometime later, having had several minutes or longer of a fitful sleep, I heard voices out in the hall, but couldn't find the energy to fully wake in order to decipher them. My body had reached that point where nothing but rest would suffice. The voices dimmed and then vanished and what felt like a split second later, I felt Dominic slide onto the bed at my back and wrap his tall frame around me. His heat and the familiar smell of his cologne and him, did wonders for my aching body and exhausted mind.

I started to drift off to deeper slumber immediately, but managed a half murmured, half slurred, "Won't you get in trouble for sleeping on my bed?"

"I have an understanding with Susan."

"Susan?"

"Your night nurse," he replied, nuzzling his face into my hair.

"Mmmmm," I said and nothing else for several seconds, then clawing out of the deeper depths of sleep I was heading into, I added, "What understanding?"

Dominic squeezed me gently, lay a kiss on my temple and then whispered in my ear, "That I need you and therefore need to be here."

It took several long moments for me to pick through the words he'd spoken. To realise it hadn't been that
I
need him here, but that
he
needed to be here. I might have managed to decipher the sounds he made for words, but further meaning would have to wait, as sleep finally claimed me and wouldn't let me go until the next day.

Voices woke me again. My nurse from yesterday and Dominic, whispering, but it didn't matter. My body had gained all it would from sleep for now - a remarkably deep and sweet sleep for a hospital bed - and now wakefulness was unavoidable.

"The doctor will be around shortly to do one final check and then you can take her home, Mr Anscombe."

"Good," Dominic murmured.

"The dressings on her wrists will need changing daily for the next week," the nurse added.

"I have a private nurse who will attend to those," Dominic interrupted her, making me jerk fully awake at those words.

"That's brilliant," the nurse replied. "Keep them dry, so plastic coverings for the bath. And she will need a lot of bed rest. Recovering from something like this takes time and the body uses sleep to accomplish this. She will tire easily, but with a good diet, calm environment and plenty of rest, she should be back on her feet in about a week."

"She'll be well taken care of," Dominic assured her.

"I'm sure she will," the nurse said softly, a hint of a smile in her voice. "Oh, one more thing, in case the doctor forgets to mention it," the nurse added from further away, I was guessing beside the door to the room, "she's been unconscious for two days so any normal medication she takes will have lapsed."

"Medication?" Dominic asked. "I'm not actually sure if she takes any, did you obtain that information from her GP?"

"Ah, yes." The nurse sounded less certain now.

"What medication then?" Dominic asked in his lawyer voice - no nonsense, give it to me straight.

"I'll leave that up to Ms Cain, Mr Anscombe. Just remind her that she has missed two or more days and it will change the efficacy of the drugs."

"Very well," Dominic said, but I noted a measure of tension in his voice. I'd been around him enough to pick up on the nuances now.

Something about me taking medication had alarmed Dominic, but considering the only
drug
I took was for contraception, his reaction seemed a little off. I suddenly wondered if he had a problem with The Pill. Maybe he was Catholic? But in today's society and with a man like Dominic Anscombe, I couldn't picture contraception not being vital in any relationship he undertook. Unless he had a swarm of mini-Dominics running around the place that he hadn't confessed to.

Which brought all sorts of mixed emotions to mind, like past relationships that he would always be tied to, weekend visits from his daughter or son. Crazy ex-partners with custody issues taking a disliking to the new
step-mother
in his house. And he hadn't even asked me if I was protected when we had sex, it was all on, not a moment spared for possible pregnancies that could occur.

I began to realise I didn't really know this man at all. Clearly he was lackadaisical about contraception and had a problem with The Pill. I bit my bottom lip as I tried to pretend I was still asleep, allowing myself time to think this through. Did I just come out and tell him the nurse was talking about my contraceptive pill? Or did I keep it to myself, in fear of him flying off the handle that I was on The Pill at all?

"I know you're awake, sweetheart," Dominic rumbled off to the side.

"Mm-hmm," I said, still pretending I was just waking up.

"The doctor will be here soon," he added. "Do you want me to help you to the bathroom?"

I let a breath of air out on a rush and opened my eyes to find him sitting in a chair beside the bed. His head was at the level of my face, his blue-blue eyes staring directly into mine.

"I do need to pee," I admitted, feeling a blush run up my cheeks. "But I can wait for the nurse."

"I've sent her away. I'll help you," he answered matter-of-factly, already standing and starting to pull the blankets back off my body.

At some stage the nurse had removed my IV and line, so I was no longer attached to a pole, which would make manoeuvring into the bathroom a whole lot easier. I let Dominic help me upright, knowing I couldn't argue my way out of this with him. And really, he'd seen me naked, done unquestionably delicious things to my body, helping me to the bathroom was hardly a big thing.

I took a good look at him as he slipped an arm around my body and held on tightly to my hand, bringing me to a standing position with ease. His jacket and tie were off, and his shirt was a little creased from having slept in it, but otherwise you wouldn't have known he'd spent the night sharing a semi-small hospital bed. He looked refreshed, with a slight stubble across his cheeks which only made him seem more gorgeous to my eyes. I lifted my free hand up and absently ran a finger over the bristly tips and around to his chin. I hadn't realised what I was doing until I noticed we'd stopped moving. I flicked my eyes up to Dominic's, he was smiling down at me, a warm look on his face.

"Sweetheart," he said softly. "You are adorable."

I bit my lip and ducked my head, then heard him make that cough-which-could-have-been-a-laugh sound at my side. With a small squeeze of my shoulders, he helped me the rest of the way into the attached bathroom. Once there he got me in a position where I could manage on my own and then left me to my own devices - thankfully - carefully pulling the bathroom door to, but not shutting it entirely.

I sighed, knowing he'd left it open in case I needed a hand, but peeing with him right there was harder than I thought it would be. By the time I finished my embarrassing business and washed my hands and face, then made it back to the room, the doctor was already there.

He did a quick assessment, asked a few questions and repeated the nurses instruction that any medications I was on had been missed while I was here, and to bear that in mind should the urge arise.

I raised my eyebrows at him on that one, he just offered a fatherly, knowing smile, his eyes flicking to Dominic and back to me as if to say,
need I say more?
I bit back a laugh and thanked him and then we were free to go. Dominic watched the exchange impassively from the side.

The hospital provided a wheelchair for Dominic to push to the front of the building where his car was already waiting. I felt a little ridiculous being pushed, but walking would have been a nightmare, I was sure - and have taken ten times as long.

After settling me into the car and climbing in himself, we pulled away from the hospital and I let a long breath out in relief. No one likes hospitals, I was looking forward to getting home. And then I realised it wasn't my home we were going to, but Dominic's. I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about that.