Enlightened (25 page)
Even after my firm promises that I would only stay in Nathan’s bed until he fell asleep I found myself waking up the following day with my nose full of his delicious scent, which gave me a fairly good indication that I was still snuggled up to him. I’m not talking about the smell of his aftershave either, because clearly after five days of being in hospital he wasn’t wearing any. No, the scent I loved most in the world was just him; his body, or perhaps whatever weird oils his skin produced. Whatever it was, it was amazing and I wished I could bottle it.
Keeping my eyes closed and body relaxed I ran a quick system check and decided that I actually felt pretty good. After days of intense worry with barely any sleep I must have crashed out on him and slept like a log. From the deep, even movements of his chest below my ear I guessed that Nathan was also still asleep, so rather than wake him I maintained my position and took a moment to relish just how amazingly refreshed I felt after my first proper rest of sleep in over a week. Grinning to myself I couldn’t resist the temptation to run my hand over his chest. Mmm, warm, solid muscle, I bet if I continued my exploration lower I’d soon find another warm solid muscle … but my fun was brought to a sudden halt by a firm cough from somewhere in the room.
A cough that definitely didn’t belong to either Nathan or I.
Practically jumping out of my skin I sat up so fast that I got head rush. Lights flashed before my eyes as I blinked several times and raised a hand to steady my spinning skull before my vision began to refocus. Once my sight had cleared enough I managed to see a stern-looking nurse who was stood at the end of Nathan’s bed, holding his chart and giving me a rather disapproving look.
‘Morning, sleepyhead,’ she said with a raise of one eyebrow, but her voice was only just audible over the hammering of my poor shocked heart.
My cheeks flooded with mortification – not only had I been caught sleeping in Nathan’s bed which surely wasn’t allowed, but I had also been midway through a proper good fondle of his chest when I was interrupted, something that the nurse surely must have seen. ‘I, er, good morning.’ Stumbling for words I decided not to attempt to justify my actions. I’d clearly been caught red-handed feeling up my boyfriend, so staying quiet now seemed the only way to marginally lessen my embarrassment.
‘Or perhaps I should say afternoon,’ the nurse added. This time I could have sworn she was attempting to suppress a smirk. Clambering from the bed in a very inelegant manner I straightened my creased clothes as best I could and blew the hair from my face before glancing at the clock to see that it was almost four in the afternoon. My eyes shot open, good God, we’d slept for nearly fourteen hours!
Seeing Nathan shift amongst the sheets I glanced across to the bed to find him looking incredibly wide awake, perky, and grinning at me, all the while chuckling softly under his breath. One look at the amused expression on his face told me that he’d been awake the whole time, and was loving seeing my embarrassment. Bastard, I would make him pay for this later when we were alone.
‘So, as I was saying before Miss Marsden, err …
woke up
, you’ll be allowed home in the morning Mr Jackson, your consultant Dr Powter just wants you to finish the course of IV fluids we’ve been giving you for your dehydration.’ Had they been speaking before I woke up then? It certainly sounded like it, crap, that just made my ‘morning fondle’ even more embarrassing. I suppose it could have been worse, my stroking could have been on a lower part of his anatomy like I’d been imagining. Now that would have been
really
embarrassing. Chewing on my lip I averted my gaze from the smug nurse and instead looked at Nathan, who was gingerly adjusting himself into a sitting position in the bed and giving a reluctant nod, ‘Fine, one more day. But apart from that I’m OK now?’
‘Apart from your arm and bruises, which you’ll need to be a little careful with, yes.’ The nurse said with a smile.
Flashing a glance at me, Nathan winked and I felt my heart flutter with happiness. He really was going to be OK. After the hellish days we’d gone through waiting for news I almost couldn’t take it all in. The next words from his mouth however, had me spluttering with embarrassment and wishing the floor would open up and swallow me. ‘So can you tell my girlfriend I’m allowed to have sex with her then please, she’s treating me like I’m going to break in half.’
Oh. My. God.
My cheeks returned to full blush mode as mortification swept through me for the second time in two minutes. My mouth fell open in shock as I stared at Nathan in complete horror – he didn’t really just say that, did he? Turning my wide eyes from him I flashed a glance at the nurse and saw her desperately trying to suppress a smile by biting down hard on her lower lip.
Lip biting? Now that was a habit she really didn’t want to be doing in front of the finicky Mr Jackson.
Although it was probably just my lip biting that my demanding man had issues with
, I thought with an eye roll. At Nathan’s comment the nurse gave up her earlier pretence of sternness and turned to me grinning broadly. ‘Been trying his luck, has he?’ she asked with a gentle chuckle, which was so close to the truth that I only just managed cover up my splutter of embarrassment with a cough and give a limp smile and a nod.
‘Well, you really must be feeling better then,’ she said, glancing at Nathan. ‘Sex is completely fine, but please have some compassion and save it until you’re home, Mr Jackson, remember that I have to change the sheets once you leave,’ she said with another smirk. ‘Watch that arm of yours though, no acrobatics just yet.’ Shaking her head with another smile she placed his chart back and began to pick up the tray stacked with Nathan’s lunch plates as she turned to leave. ‘As much as I’ve enjoyed looking after you, the sooner you go home the better. Maybe then my nurses can stop faffing with their hair and make-up every five minutes and get back to work,’ she said with another grin before closing the door behind her.
Staring at the door my mouth opened and closed several times, but I was at a complete loss for what to say. I think I was in a state of shock from Nathan’s unbelievably blunt comments about sex – the man clearly had no shame whatsoever. But then again, that shouldn’t really have been a surprise to me – in our time together he’d done all sorts of naughty things to me in public places without ever so much as blushing.
Slowly I turned back to him with raised brows. My brain had restarted after my shock and I was now fully intent on giving him an earful about embarrassing me in public, but I was abruptly stopped from saying anything by the arrival of Nicholas poking his head in the door. ‘Hi, brother, come on in,’ Nathan said, shifting to sit himself upright. Glancing at me he caught my look and flashed me a wink and grin so glorious that they made me forgive him almost immediately. God it was so good to have him back and healthy.
Nicholas was whistling under his breath as he breezed into the room with a tray of food in one hand, a large cup of coffee in the other, and a copy of the
Financial Times
under his arm and I had to say that Nathan’s brother looked, and sounded, a whole lot better after a good night’s sleep.
‘Ah, Stella, you’re finally awake,’ Nicholas said pleasantly with a small smile. ‘I got you some food, you must be starving by now.’ If possible my embarrassment grew further – had
everyone
been awake and collected in the room around me while I slept on obliviously for the day? Apparently they had. I suppose all I could do now was try to move on and hope I hadn’t been snoring.
‘You could have woken me up earlier, Nathan,’ I muttered a little grumpily, which he apparently found amusing because I saw him try and fail to smother a laugh.
‘Don’t worry about it, you obviously needed the sleep, sweetheart,’ Nathan said reassuringly as he patted the edge of the bed to indicate I sit down. Sighing, I knew I couldn’t refuse him, so I moved forwards and perched next to him. Besides, he was right, I
had
needed the sleep. I felt so much better now, I really shouldn’t be moody about it.
Once I was settled, Nicholas placed the tray of food on a wheeled trolley and pushed it towards me, filling my nose with the delicious smell of warm cheese sauce. ‘Eat up,’ Nathan murmured, rubbing my back gently as I examined the food before me.
‘So you woke up earlier?’ I asked him as my stomach protested loudly at my slow start to the meal.
‘Yep, a couple of hours ago. We’ve had the specialist in here and everything.’ I wasn’t sure if he was teasing me with this last remark, but by now I’d given up on being embarrassed. Sod it, my man was conscious and healthy, and at the end of the day, that was all I really cared about.
My stomach rumbled again, so with a grateful smile towards Nicholas I picked up the fork and tucked in to the plate of macaroni and cheese with gusto whilst Nathan chatted casually with his brother. As I chewed the warm pasta I couldn’t help but moan my appreciation – it was really delicious and way better than I had expected from hospital food. ‘This is so tasty. I can’t believe the canteen here made this!’ I remarked, going back for a second forkful. Snorting a laugh at my comment Nicholas raised an eyebrow. ‘It’s not from the canteen. Nathan mentioned that you like Italian food so I went to Buono to get it for you. It’s one of the best Italian restaurants in London,’ he informed me airily. Oh. Well, that certainly told me then.
The pasta was so amazing that it didn’t take me long to hoover the whole lot up. In fact, the food had been so good that I only just held myself back from licking the plate. ‘God, it’s so good to eat again.’ Seeing Nathan’s frown and curious look I shrugged. ‘My appetite sort of vanished this week. I couldn’t eat whilst you were just lying there,’ I explained in a tiny voice as memories of the long, terrifying hours of his unconsciousness came back to me and made me shudder.
Using his good hand, Nathan pushed himself fully upright and turned a fierce glare on Nicholas. As I watched Nathan’s sudden change I immediately spotted how his body suddenly bristled with annoyance, the muscles across his back hardening and a flick appearing at the corner of his jaw as his eyes fired a stare so menacing that even I cringed a little. ‘Why didn’t you make her eat?’ he demanded in a near deadly tone, but Nicholas met his scorn with a raised eyebrow and small smile, apparently well used to Nathan’s temper.
‘Tell me this, Nathan, have you ever succeeded in forcing Stella to do something she didn’t want to?’ At this remark I smiled too, but the question was obviously rhetorical because he continued almost immediately, ‘I tried to make her eat, believe me, but she wouldn’t.’ Turning his eyes towards me, Nicholas smiled fondly, ‘You have one dedicated, but bloody stubborn, girlfriend.’
Grinning, I turned to Nathan and shrugged as he held my gaze for several seconds before shaking his head in defeat, ‘Tell me about it.’
Happy at my minute victory I picked up a spoon and the bowl of pudding on the tray, tiramisu, and popped a spoonful into my mouth.
Oh. My. God.
It was like heaven on a frigging spoon. Starring at the bowl I hummed my approval before looking at Nicholas. ‘Where is this restaurant?’ I asked with my mouth half full, ‘Because this is seriously the best tiramisu I’ve ever eaten.’
Giving my bowl a look of disapproval Nathan clicked his tongue. ‘When we get out of here I’ll take you to Buono for a full meal, but first I’m going to make sure you eat properly, Stella, not just desserts all the time, whatever it is that you and the baby need.’
‘Right now I need more tiramisu,’ I said hopefully around a delicious mouthful of coffee-flavoured cream, but one look from Nathan told me I wouldn’t be getting seconds, not that I really needed it, but he was such fun to tease.
It had been so late when I woke up that the rest of the afternoon passed relatively quickly, Nicholas stayed for several more hours entertaining us with updates of his weddings plans, then once he had departed Nathan had his dinner and spent the entire time moaning that it didn’t look anywhere near as appetizing as my takeaway from Buono had. I didn’t say it out loud, but I had to say I agreed with him.
Once he’d finished his meal and the nurse had been in to check on Nathan for the night I popped into the en-suite to brush my teeth and freshen up for bed. Again. To be honest after all the sleep I’d had I wasn’t sure I needed to sleep again, but Nathan was still recovering and would need rest, so I’d do my best to join him even if it was just to keep him company until he fell asleep. I had my Kindle in my handbag, so I could always settle down with a good book if I needed to.
Instead of finding Nathan lying down for sleep when I emerged from the bathroom, I was instead met by him sitting upright with a look on his face that I remembered very well. It was his ‘
I’d like to ravage you
’ look, and was so hot that it really should be illegal. Just meeting his heated gaze was enough to increase my heartbeat and have me licking my suddenly dry lips.
‘In all seriousness, we do need to discuss how your pregnancy will affect our sex life, Stella. But if we stick to vanilla for today, I’ll jot some points down once we’re home and we can discuss them.’ Well, he was certainly feeling sure of himself, wasn’t he? A frown formed on my brow and I pursed my lips cautiously, a little alarmed about his talk of ‘jotting down points,’ because that sounded an awful lot like the contract we’d signed at the start of our agreement. Even though we still lived a small percentage of our lives as Dom and sub, and did the occasional scene with safe words and toys, I had to say I thought we’d gone way beyond a paperwork relationship by now.
‘Nathan, I’m not sure I like what you’re suggesting,’ I said quietly, not wanting to upset him, but feeling the need to voice my concerns.
Cocking his bandaged head to the side he watched me intently for a second or two. ‘It’s nothing major, just a few things I want to put in place to keep you and the baby safe. We’ll talk properly when we’re home, I promise.’ Hmmm. I still wasn’t entirely convinced, but if it was just to keep the baby safe then I suppose it would be OK, so I nodded my agreement.