Back for Seconds (21 page)

Soon color and light exploded in her brain as she came again. He was relentless as he rode her through the first multiple orgasm she’d ever experienced through straight intercourse. Her nails sliced into his broad shoulders as she cried out for him, begging for more, needing something only he had been able to give her. Within minutes he was reduced to primal grunts and growls of his own. When she whispered, “Come for me, Xander,” he shuddered hard before he raced to the climax he had been withholding. He cried out as he thrust deep, holding himself inside her as he finally came.

He was breathing hard as he crashed down on top of her. He gathered her into his arms and held her as each tremor passed. “Oh my God, that was fucking fantastic,” he finally breathed.

A smile broke across her face, the smile of a woman who knew how to turn a man into jelly – just like the man in her arms at that very minute. She clutched him deeper inside of herself until he moaned. “It’s not over, is it?” she asked with an innocent lift of her eyebrow.

He growled as he dove into her neck. “Oh no, baby,” he promised gruffly into her ear. “We’ve only just begun.” His hands tangled in her hair as he kissed her deep and slow.

A hundred and eighty miles west of that hotel room, Russell was still awake and staring at the ceiling in his darkened bedroom when he heard the door creak open well after midnight. “Daddy?”

He peered in the low light as he struggled to make out who was addressing him. From the whimper in her voice, he knew it was Hannah. He sat up in bed, turning on the lamp on the nightstand. “What’s the matter, baby?”

She walked over to the bed, where she crawled up to cuddle beside him. “My tummy hurts.”

He cupped her forehead with his hand. She was burning up. Her fever had gotten worse, not better. “Where does it hurt, honey?”

She pointed to a spot near her belly button. He was out of the bed like a shot, immediately disappearing into the bathroom. He carried a thermometer when he returned. Just as he feared, her fever had crept over 102. When he touched her tummy, she cried out in pain.

“It’s okay,” he promised at once, though he knew well enough to know that they were facing a possible medical emergency. He grabbed his phone immediately and called Jena, who was groggy as she answered.

“What’s up?”

“I’ve got an emergency. Can you come over and watch the kids?”

She grumbled a bit. “What time is it?” He heard her move her phone from her ear to check. “Jesus, Russ. It’s nearly one o’clock.”

“I wouldn’t call if I didn’t have a choice,” he snapped. “But I need to get Hannah to the hospital and Joely’s out of town.”

She was quiet for a moment. “She’s out of town?”

“Business,” he answered, annoyed that was what mattered most to Jena out of what he had said.

“I’m not dressed, Russell,” she whined and he could almost picture her sexy pout. Only right now it wasn’t sexy at all. It was childish. She was childish. “Kari and Nash are old enough to stay at home alone. Or they can go with.”

Russell’s mouth thinned into a hard line. “So that’s a no.”

“Rain check,” she offered in a sleepy voice before she hung up the phone. He knew in that instant that she had been partying with her friends and was likely passed out on several shots from the bar. She probably wouldn’t even remember the call when she got up at noon or better the next day. He took a deep breath before he grabbed his clothes from the chair across the room, hopping into them with the efficiency of a doctor on call. He picked up Hannah, cradling her in his arms as he raced down the hall to Kari’s room. He knocked, but she didn’t answer immediately. He knocked harder, until finally she pulled the door open, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

“I have to take your sister to the hospital,” he told her. Her eyes flew open wide as she glanced over at Hannah, who was crying now in earnest.

“What’s wrong?” she repeated.

“Not sure,” he lied, though he was pretty sure it was her appendix. Neither child needed to be as panicked as he felt. “Just wanted to let you know before I left. You’re in charge while I’m gone.”

“Can’t I come?” she asked and he shook his head.

“It’ll be better if you stay here with your brother. Everything’s okay,” he lied again. “Just a precaution.”

“Should we call Mom?”

His lips thinned into a line. “I’ll call her from the hospital. You get back to bed. I’ll text you and keep you updated.”

Kari nodded before she stepped forward to kiss her sister’s forehead. “Get better, okay?”

Hannah nodded through her tears, which only made Kari cry too.

“What’s going on?” Nash asked from the doorway of his bedroom, which was right next to Kari’s.

“It’ll be okay,” he assured them with much more conviction than he felt. He didn’t waste another minute before he carried Hannah down the hall, down the stairs and out to his car. Kari turned tearfully into her brother’s arms as the wait now began.

As expected, the emergency room was packed that late Friday/early Saturday morning when Russell arrived with Hannah. Like Russell, the triage nurse immediately assessed the dire situation, sending them right to the back to be seen immediately. Within an hour they knew that Hannah had acute appendicitis and surgery was imminent.

Joely was blissfully unaware as she straddled a naked Xander, who ran his hands along her body, memorizing every inch of her skin. “Has anyone ever told you how sexy you are?” he murmured as he looked up at her. She was all woman from the heavy, natural sway of her breasts to the inviting swell of her hips. Slipping inside her was like losing himself in a dream.

She shook her head as she stared down at him. “No one till you,” she said as she bent forward for a kiss that he met with enthusiasm.

“I have so much to correct,” he murmured against her lips. He deepened the kiss immediately as he clutched her close, feeling her tighten around his body. Everything about her made him crazy. He was insatiable for her. Before they could fully lose themselves in Round Three, her phone rang in her purse, which had been tossed onto the seat at the foot of the bed.

Her brow furrowed immediately. It was after two o’clock in the morning. She knew in an instant something was terribly wrong. Before he could stop her, she scrambled out of Xander’s lap and reached for the phone.

It was Russell.

“Hello?”

“You’re awake,” he muttered into her ear.

If it was meant to be a dig, to let her know that he knew exactly what she was doing, he missed the mark. He wouldn’t have called her unless something had happened with the kids. “What’s wrong?”

“Hannah’s in the hospital. She has appendicitis and they need to operate.”

For a second Joely couldn’t even breathe. “What?”

“She didn’t have a stomach bug,” he explained. “Her appendix is inflamed and it needs to be removed before it bursts. We’re at the hospital now. I just need to sign the forms.”

Joely hopped off the bed. “I can be there in less than three hours.”

“It can’t wait that long, Joely,” Russell told her. “They need to operate now.”

Her heart toppled to her feet. Had she really left her baby girl when she was so sick? The thought was unbearable. “Is it dangerous?” she managed.

“It’s surgery,” he responded with a sigh. “There’s always a risk.”

“I need to see her,” Joely said, starting to crumple as she realized that anything could happen in the three hours it would take to race home. Why had she gone so far away? What had she been thinking?

“She’ll be fine,” he assured, though the tremor in his voice, one that only someone who had lived with him for twenty years could recognize, belied the words.

“I’m coming,” she promised as she snatched up her clothes from the floor. “Tell her Mommy loves her,” she added in a tearful plea.

There was no condescension in his voice when he said, “I will.”

That scared her even more.

She disconnected the call and turned towards Xander, who was already reaching for his pants, having pieced together how dire the situation was from her side of the conversation. “It’s Hannah,” she said. “She’s really sick.”

She promptly fell apart and Xander pulled her into his arms. “Hey, we’ll be there in three hours. Two if I speed.”

She nodded and they dressed quickly. They were on the road within a half-hour of Russell’s call. Xander stole glances at her as she fidgeted in the passenger seat as they flew back towards Abilene at well over the speed limit. She hadn’t said much, issuing terse, clipped answers to his questions.

It wasn’t till they reached Cisco that she said what she was really thinking. “I shouldn’t have left her.”

“You had no idea she was that sick, Joely.”

“But I knew she was sick,” she answered flatly. There was a catch in her throat as she added, “She asked me to stay and I didn’t.”

“You couldn’t have known,” he insisted but she shook her head.

“I’m her mother. I should have known.”

He wanted to assuage her guilt but he knew it was pointless. He fell silent as he drove them back home as fast as he dared.

It was four-thirty when they finally arrived at the hospital. He didn’t even bother to park the car. He left her off at the emergency entrance, where she raced inside. She didn’t even look back.

They sent her straight up to surgery, where she found Russell nursing a cup of coffee in the waiting room. She ran over to him immediately. “Is she okay?”

He was ragged as he turned to face her. “She’s still in surgery.”

Her stomach fell. “Is that bad?”

Before he could answer, the doctor entered the room. “She’s in recovery,” he told them, and Joely buckled against Russell. “Her appendix ruptured so we had to flush out the infected fluids, but everything looks good. We’re going to keep her a couple of days for observation.”

Joely leaned on Russell, whose hand trembled as he held her up. “When can we see her?” she asked the doctor.

“Like I said, she’s in recovery. We’ll get her up to a room as soon as we can.” The doctor touched Joely’s arm with a warm, comforting smile.

After he left Joely turned to Russell. Despite his cool, professional demeanor, his eyes were glassy with unshed tears. He had been just as terrified as she had been. She reached for a hug and he didn’t deny her. In fact, he held her tighter than he had held her in years. He hadn’t remembered her feeling the way she felt in that moment. She was warm. She was comforting. She was home.

“Hello?”

They both turned to Xander, who had just entered the room. Joely quickly stepped away from Russell to make the introductions. “Russell, this is Xander Davy. Xander, this is Dr. Russell Morgan,” she said, adding Russell’s title out of sheer habit.

Xander walked further into the room, extending a hand in greeting. Russell took it, but the handshake was stiff and formal. “Nice to meet you,” Xander said at last. “How’s Hannah?”

“Fine,” Russell said dismissively.

“She’s in recovery,” Joely told him. He reached for her arm, just as a gesture of comfort, but she moved away before Russell could see. Xander’s eyes darkened as he studied her. “You should go home and get some rest. I’m going to stay here as long as they let me.”

“I can stay,” he offered but she shook her head.

“It’s okay. I’ll call you later,” she promised. “Thanks for everything,” she added, though it felt cheap to say. What was she thanking him for? The night of her dreams? Or the way he selflessly drove her nearly two hundred miles at breakneck speed to get her home to her daughter because Hannah needed her more than some weekend booty call? Was she thanking him for yet another meeting with his press contact that she had blown? Or was she just thanking him to leave before he did or said anything that would make Russell’s contemptuous glare even more painful to tolerate?

She could tell by that look in his eyes he wasn’t sure what she meant either. He simply nodded and wished them both well before he stalked from the room.

The minute he cleared the door, Russell turned to her. “He’s a little young for you, isn’t he?”

Normally she’d blast him for the irony of his criticism, but she was exhausted and she was scared. The night had been one hell of a roller coaster, and she just needed a quiet moment to get her bearings. It wasn’t worth another fight. “It’s nothing, Russell, okay?”

She couldn’t admit to him or to anyone that she was off enjoying some lascivious fantasy while her baby needed her from hundreds of miles away. The guilt was so crushing she could barely breathe.

Outside the waiting room, just on the other side of the door, Xander leaned against the wall and tried to pretend her denial of what they had shared – something that he had never shared with anyone else – didn’t hurt. Though all he wanted to do was stay, to be there for Joely even if she was too stupid to see that she needed him – he squared his shoulders and walked away.

Day was breaking by the time Joely walked into Hannah’s private room. She was groggy but awake. “Mommy!” she said as Joely sank into the chair next to the bed. Russell took the seat on the other side, watching their exchange quietly.

“I’m here, baby,” she crooned as she brushed Hannah’s damp hair from her face. “And I’m never leaving you again,” she promised.

That pleased Hannah, who dozed on and off until just after nine o’clock in the morning, when Lillian and Granny Faye rushed into the room. Both ignored Russell, who took the opportunity to excuse himself so he could fetch another cup of coffee from the cafeteria. Instead they fussed over Hannah, who was feeling so much better she reveled in the attention.

“Who’s watching the restaurant?” Joely asked her mother while Granny Faye pored over a brand new coloring book she’d brought along for their sick girl.

“Xander,” Lillian told her. “He knew we’d want to be here.”

Joely nodded, avoiding her mother’s knowing look. Their cover had effectively been blown. She just wasn’t ready to talk about it with anyone.

“You should go home and get some sleep,” Lillian said, but Joely shook her head. God himself couldn’t take her from Hannah’s side.

“I’m fine,” she assured.

Lillian nodded. She knew her daughter well. “I’ll bring you some lunch,” she promised. They stayed until Hannah began to doze again, thanks to the medication she was under. Both women hugged Joely tight before they left, heading back to the restaurant.

Russell entered the room shortly after they left. “If you need to go, I can stay.”

She shook her head. “I’m staying. Besides, you should probably get back to the kids.”

He rubbed his tired eyes as he nodded. It had been a hell of a night. “Do you need anything?”

“No, I’m good.”

Before he left, he stopped at the door. “Thank you for coming back.”

Her eyes met his. “Where else would I be?”

Again he nodded and left her alone with Hannah. She rested her head on the bed, staring at her precious baby girl as she slept. It was frightening to think that she might not have seen her again. Just one selfish decision and she could have been punished for a lifetime. That woman in that hotel room hadn’t been her. This was who she was, who she had always been. She was a mother. This was real life. Everything else had just been an illusion.

Russell was dog-tired when he got back to the house. He was stunned to find that it was cleaned and breakfast had been prepared. Nash was washing dishes when he entered the kitchen. “Something smells good.”

He just shrugged and pointed to a plate with pancakes and bacon. “I thought maybe you’d be hungry.”

Russell stood next to his thoughtful child. “Thank you, son.”

Nash nodded. “How’s Hannah?”

“Much better,” Russell said. “She’s going to be in the hospital a few days but she’ll be back to her old self in no time.” He looked around. “Where’s Kari?”

“Up in Hannah’s room. She wanted to pack her a bag with her pajamas and some toys and books.”

Russell nodded. It warmed his heart to see them rally together for the family. He had never seen that side of them before. He knew that Joely was responsible for that. She had done her job well raising them. It made him reevaluate the last twenty years they’d spent together, especially when he entered Hannah’s pretty pink paradise of a bedroom, where Kari sat on the floor, listening to her earphones, as she packed a small suitcase for her sister.

He glanced around the room, where he and Joely had brought Hannah home nearly six years before. There were so many memories in this house, everywhere he turned. He shuddered to think how close they might have come to losing Hannah. All that would have been left behind were the many memories in that house. How empty it was without her laughter, or without the sounds of Kari and Nash fighting over the bathroom, or Joely nagging them to do their homework or clean their rooms.

Had he really believed it all to be mundane?

Kari spotted her dad out of the corner of her eye. She pulled one of the earbuds out of her ear. “How’s Hannah?”

“She’s resting. Your mother’s with her now at the hospital.”

Kari almost seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. “Good. I’m almost done packing a bag for her. Can we go see her?”

Russell smiled. “Of course. Just give me a couple of hours to get a nap.”

She nodded and went back to her task. Russell watched her for a bit before he headed down the hall to his bedroom. His bed was still mussed from the hasty departure. He didn’t even bother to undress as he collapsed on top of it.

The sheets still smelled of Jena’s perfume. He always loved that smell, that exotic blend of spice and jasmine. She was such an enticing creature from the moment that they met, so different from Joely. It was what he thought he needed – what he thought he wanted. He sighed as he reached to the empty space on the other side of the bed. He stared at it until his heavy eyelids drooped and he slipped into a fitful nap.

Around noon, the lunch her mother had promised her arrived, hand-delivered by none other than Xander. In one hand he carried a big takeout box that she knew immediately Lillian had filled with all sorts of comfort food. In his other hand he carried a bunch of colorful helium balloons, attached to a plush pink teddy bear for Hannah, who brightened the instant she saw them. “Are those for me?” she asked with those big blue eyes.