Seize (St. Martin Family Saga: Emergency Responders) Book 2: Erotic Romance (17 page)

Chapter 18

Machines beeped, light
seeped from under a door, and mechanical sounds hissed. Augie had watched her sleep for ten hours. When would she wake up? They’d admitted her when she passed out in the emergency room. Dr. Williams said the dehydration coupled with her infection had caused her body to shut down.
No fucking shit
. It was what he’d been trying to tell everyone. Since he didn’t have a medical degree, no one listened.

Augie rubbed at the ache behind his eyes.

Why hadn’t she told him about her leg? It must have been painful, yet she never let on. God, he’d been so scared. Were her vital organs shutting down? Dr. Williams assured him that was not the case. He hadn’t been much of a prayer before, but he prayed to all the gods now. Her fingers fluttered and her eyes rolled beneath her lids. She moved to sit up and disturbed papers on the foot of the bed that then rolled to the floor.

“Easy.” He jumped up from his chair in the corner of the room and went to her side. He picked up the stuff from the floor and dumped it back on the bed. “How do you feel?”

She opened her mouth and moved her lips, but her voice was gone. She held her hand to her throat. He pressed a button on the side of the bed and said, “We’ll get someone in here to help in just a minute.”

She looked groggy with her half-shut eyes and sluggish, imprecise movements. She examined the room, focusing on the machines and their strange noises, her forehead creased.

A short nurse with blond hair and large blue glasses breezed into the room. “Good evening, Mrs. Roy.” The nurse’s high-pitched voiced was loud.

At her salutation, Mia shifted her attention to Augie. She mouthed the word
Roy
, but her voice still wasn’t working.

When he grinned at her, she gasped and her hands instinctively moved to cup her mouth. Next to her, Augie winked. “Careful,” he said, gently pulling the hand with the IV down. It was her left hand and there was a new dainty ring on it, a ring he’d found at a pawnshop around the corner.

“How are we feeling today?” The nurse was next to Mia, shining a light in her eyes and forcing her to halt her excited inspection of the ring. Mia held her hand to her throat. “Thirsty?” the nurse asked. Mia nodded, and the nurse scooped up the pitcher from the bedside table and was gone.

Placing her ring-clad palm in her right hand, Mia brought it up close to her face for inspection. A myriad of emotions rolled across her face. Augie read shyness at first, then a pink blush that said embarrassment, and then a delighted smile that declared her joy. She bit into the soft flesh of her bottom lip and her eyes sought his. When they met, her blush deepened and her eyes turned dark amethyst.

Damn, what was going through her mind? Did she remember why they’d had to marry? God, she was like a schoolgirl with a new puppy. He’d only intended to provide her with the medical treatment that she needed to survive—that didn’t include the provision that they’d be a legit married couple. But she kept eyeing him with those deep purple eyes and that shy smile that drove him wild, her blush creeping all the way down her chest. Christ, what was she thinking? Seeing her expression, he could guess.
Fuckety fuck.

The ring he’d found was delicate and made of rose gold with a soft pink center stone that was square cut but was turned in the setting to resemble a diamond. Actual diamonds girdled the stone. Dainty scallops shaped the band, with diamonds following it around. He’d just happened into the shop, saw the ring, and immediately thought it was perfect and just big enough for her slim frame. He
hadn’t
expected her to react in such a way. He just thought it would be fun for her to have.

The nurse was back with ice water, and Augie poured a cup while she took Mia’s vitals.

“Ninety-eight point six.” She moved around and slid a blood pressure cuff up Mia’s arm and inflated it. “One twenty over eighty. Good as new. Doctor will be in to see you shortly.”

The little nurse was efficient; no movements were accessory, all were deliberate.

“Here’s your breakfast tray. I want to come back to an empty one.” She winked at Mia.

He removed the lid from the tray and frowned; the food looked bland. No seasoning on the eggs and pasty gray oatmeal. He wouldn’t eat it, but he hoped she would. She liked veggies, so how much worse could this be? He passed her the oatmeal and a spoon.

She smiled softly. “Thanks. I’m starving.” The words were a whisper, but he understood. She scooped a spoonful of oats into her mouth and frowned, just as he had. “Eww. Not good.” She set down the brown plastic bowl and pushed the food away.

“What do you want?”

Smiling, she said, “Nothing. I’m good.”

He picked up her hand, squeezed it. “If you could have anything to eat, what would it be?”

“Hmm … Belgian waffle, over-easy eggs, bacon, crispy golden hash browns, tons of syrup.” Her eyes closed, and she licked her lips.

“I’ll be back soon.”

“Where are you going?”

He waved to her from the door. “I’ll be back soon.”

There was a Waffle Hut across the street from the hospital but really, once he knew she was going to be okay, he needed a break from … everything. Even though he’d taken control of the situation with her medical needs, the mess was out of control yet again. The way she’d looked at him and smiled when she’d seen the ring … She practically glowed when she’d been called Mrs. Roy. Hadn’t she understood why they’d gotten married? He’d made it clear, at the car. And she’d said yes.

No … Not exactly. She’d said
for the record, I was about to say yes
. As in, you asked me to marry you, and I said yes. But he hadn’t asked her. He’d said,
We’re going to get married … my medical insurance will cover you instantly if you become my wife.
Had she misunderstood? What could he say now? Whatever it was, it needed to be said now, before it got any more out of hand. He shook his head. Why’d he buy her that damn ring?

He sauntered into the restaurant and up to the cashier and ordered Mia’s request to go, times two. Going over the possible things he could say to her, he recognized that they all sounded hurtful. His concern was that she’d take something the wrong way. He didn’t want to hurt her. God, after observing the interaction between her and her mother, he knew to tread lightly. She’d endured enough crap. He scratched the back of his head. This whole mess was a giant cluster fuck.

Returning with the food, he was surprised at how nervous he was. Hell, he’d conducted raids in downtown Kabul that had him less agitated than he was now. With every step he took perspiration, beaded on his upper lip. Self-fulfilling prophecies could make or break a soldier in the field and so he’d apply the same rules here. He pictured himself successfully turning this situation around. Pumped, he was ready to face her. He barged into the room.

“Mia, we need to—”

Damn, she wasn’t in the bed. And he’d been so prepared.

He rolled the table over to the bed and set up the breakfast.

“Augie!” In a flash she bounded from the bathroom to the bed. On her knees, her arms laced around his neck until she was weightless and hanging from him. She kissed his lips. “I missed you.” She checked out the breakfast spread and giggled when her stomach growled. “Mmm, you’re the absolute best most wonderful husband in the world. When we get out of here, I’m going to show just how wonderful you are.” She grinned, winked, and then popped a piece of dry waffle in her mouth.

Oh shit, game on. But he couldn’t break her spirit now. She was so confident, and he delighted in her newfound self-assuredness.

“The doctor is going to release me.”

“He was here already?”

“Yep.” She nodded. “Said I was good to go. Just got to wash, irrigate, and change the bandage until it’s completely healed.”

His eyes closed and he inhaled on a prayer thanking God that she was all right. In that moment it didn’t matter that there was a misunderstanding. He didn’t care if they stayed married forever as long as her light shone bright.

“Mia.” He pulled her tight for a hug. “I’ve never been so scared in all my life. I thought you… you were out for so long I thought…”

“But I’m okay now. And if I was gone, who else would annoy you to death in the car?”

He kissed the top of her head. His eyes stung, but he blinked away the moisture.

“Hey, tell me one thing—and I’m hoping like hell the answer is no—but did we consummate this thing and I missed it?” She held her ring hand in the air next to their faces and wiggled her fingers.

Laughter exploded from his chest. Deep cleansing laughter that he couldn’t keep inside. “No, baby, and what an insult. Trust me, if we’d consummated, you’d remember.”

“That’s a relief.” She dipped a piece of bacon into the runny part of her egg and stuffed it into her mouth. Smiling at him she said, “I would have hated to miss it.”

“You didn’t miss it, baby.”

*

The jury was in: Mia did not like hospitals. She’d been once before to visit a high school friend who’d had a baby, and she’d associated hospitals with joy and glee, but now she had another image forming. One of pain and apprehension. Every time a new person came into the room, they wanted to poke and prod at her like she was some breathing pin cushion. Finally, after she’d been checked over what seemed like a thousand times, they officially cleared her for discharge. It had been a long day, and she felt greasy and dirty and wanted a bath and a big soft bed.

“We’ll be to Baton Rouge in about ten hours.”

Downhearted at his seeming delight regarding the ten-hour drive, she sighed.

“You okay?”

“I’m tired and was hoping for a hot bath and nice big soft bed.”

“Recline the seat.”

“It’s six thirty; are you seriously going to drive for ten hours straight?”

“Straight through, baby.” He gestured at the highway. “Be there before sunrise.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t want to be in this car all night. I want a bath, a hamburger, a big soft bed, some reality television, and I want to snuggle up next to you, and I want you there too if you’re not going to be all
Augie’s law
all night.” She was frustrated, and her words were clipped.

He frowned. “What’s Augie’s law?”

“Augie’s law is where you act crazy. You know, that thing you do where you act demanding and testy. What’s that saying—
When I say jump, you ask how high
? I think it’s because you’re ex-military, but I’m not a cadet, so it’s just not gonna fly.”

Smiling, he grabbed her hand and kissed the knuckle. “No woman—hell, no man—has ever spoken to me the way you do.”

“I’m just tired. I want to be in a bed with you.”

“Okay, that’s not an unreasonable request. We’re going to have to stop to clean and treat your leg. So instead of stopping for a moment, we’ll stay the night.”

“Reasonable or unreasonable, I want to stop.”

“Okay, baby.”

They drove a while longer and swung around to drive back in the opposite direction. She’d learned he didn’t like to be questioned, or at least she didn’t think he did, so she tried not to ask him many questions. He’d proven to her time and again that he could be counted on to ensure her safety and see to her needs, and she trusted him completely. Leaning against his shoulder, she sighed contentedly as her eyes closed.

Electronic beeps filled the car and his biceps worked beneath her as he punched
Gateway Arch
into the GPS. He had something special up his sleeve, and she was giddy at the thought. The sun had set and as they turned a corner, her breath hitched at the sight before them. She’d seen pictures, but the pristine, sleek metal curved to perfection and magnified to its full glory took her breath away.

“The gateway to the west.”

“It’s breathtaking.”

“It is quite spectacular.” He pointed to a massive hotel across from the arch. “I say we get a room at the top of that thing.”

“I don’t know, it’s like a four-hundred-dollar-a-night hotel.”

“Should know how to make a good Belgian waffle then.” He pulled the car under the porte cochère, and at once a valet opened her door.

Augie grabbed the little bit of stuff they had. He took her hand and pulled her inside. She slowed at the entry to admire the massive crystal chandelier with its many prism-like dangling teardrops. The ceiling had gold leaf detailing and a paint job reminiscent of the Sistine Chapel, and opulence simply dripped from every surface.

“It’s gorgeous!” She gingerly padded to one of the many red velvet couches and rubbed her fingers over the material. Mini-chandeliers designed to be a likeness of the main structure hung over the couches and chairs.

A man in a tuxedo stopped at her side. “Would you like a drink menu?”

She sank down in the couch until only her eyes peered over the high back. An arm wrapped around her shoulders. She turned to see Augie standing behind her.

“Would you like a drink?” he asked.

“Um, I want a sex on the beach,” she whispered back.

“You can’t have alcohol with your medication.”

She frowned. “Well, then, why did you ask me if I wanted a drink?”