His Wicked Pleasure (12 page)

‘Everyone keeps saying that,”
laughed Daniella with a hint of confusion in her tone.
‘Not to change the subject but I want you to know that I’ve been handling things for you over at Rossi Co.’

‘Really? Thank you. I hope I don’t come back to losing my company,’
joked Kristie trying to lighten up the conversation.

‘I love you and can’t wait ‘till you’re home.’

‘I love you too.’
Kristie ended the call and wiped away the tears that fell from her eyes.

              Letting out a loud sob, she finally gave in to the tears that she’d been holding back. Her phone rang again, which pulled her out of her own personal misery.

             
‘Hey Benny.’

              ‘I’ve been so worried about you. Are you all right?’
asked her brother in a tired voice.

             
‘I’m okay so you don’t have to worry about me any longer.’

              ‘I hear Daniella is running Rossi Co. for you. Hope she doesn’t bankrupt you,’
Benny joked, trying to make his sister smile for a moment.             

             
‘I have every faith that Daniella will do just fine.’

              ‘Good. I love you.’

              ‘I love you more.’

Ending the call, Kristie closed her eyes and tried to relax but found herself crying again.

              “Ugh. I need to stop this,” she yelled while struggling to get out of bed. Lucky for her, Lorie had been a godsend and had brought her clothes to wear instead of the hospital gown. In addition, Lorie had taken the time to fix her hair and makeup before she headed to the office.

              Kristie shrugged off her worry and stood up to get dressed. The moment her right foot touched the ground, she lost her balance and fell further injuring her already sprained ankle.

              The pain shot through her and brought tears to her eyes. Each time she tried to move, the pain level increased. Using her strength, she called out, “Help me. Somebody please help.”

              Unable to stand the pain, Kristie used everything she had to pull herself up. The moment she made it, she ended up falling again. This time someone heard her.

              “Barbie Doll?” Declan groaned as he lifted her up off the floor. “What happened?”

              Kristie started crying hysterically. “It’s useless. I can’t eat, can’t sleep, and I can’t walk anymore. Just take me out back and shoot me. I can’t take it anymore.”

              “Shh, don’t say that.” He placed his warm lips on her forehead and held them there as he breathed her in. He closed his eyes and allowed his presence to calm her. “Let me get a doctor for you. You must be in pain right now from that fall.”

              “Please don’t leave me,” Kristie whispered and, for a second, he wasn’t sure if she had even spoken. “Every sound, every movement, every little thing makes me so afraid.”

              “I’ve got you Barbie Doll. I won’t let anyone hurt you,” whispered Declan wiping away her tears. “I have something I need to talk to you about. Will you promise not to get mad at me and give everything I say some thought?”

              “Okay,” Kristie nodded. “What’s going on?”

              Declan sat Kristie on the bed and took her hands in his. Blowing out the air in his lungs, he said, “I haven’t been extremely honest with you about something.”

              Kristie felt her heart plummet and a new fear replaced her current one. “No. I can’t do this. I can’t. Not now.”

              “Just let me finish,” said Declan. The words were calm and slow. Looking around the small hospital room, he noticed all his little gifts neatly arranged and smiled. Pulling his attention back towards Kristie, he continued, “I’m a Lieutenant with the Navy SEAL’s and will do everything in my power to see to your safety. You have come to mean a lot to me in such a short period of time.”

              Kristie sat there without saying anything; she just sniffled and sucked in air. After the dead silence, Declan moved forward, placing both hands on either side of her face. “Barbie Doll. Did you hear me?”

              Her eyes were looking off to the side, seemingly focused on the wall. After a few more minutes, Kristie finally turned her attention back to Declan and gave him a shaky smile. “That’s it. I got it. Finally.”

              Scratching his head and shifting his position, he said. “I’m not following. What did you get?”

              “Your nickname,” she replied as the smile spread on her face and her eyes sparkled with laughter.

~*~*~*~

              Kristie glanced up as the door to her room swung open and her doctor walked in. He was a handsome man, in his early forties, and his kind, brown eyes were filled with intelligence. He was definitely a doctor who knew what he was doing.

              His eyes crinkled with his smile as he said, “Hello Miss Rossi. I’m Dr. Kelly. I have your test results back.” He paused and flipped the chart he was holding. “There is no trace of a bullet so it was what we suspected—a graze. That is the good news.”

              Her smile slipped as she realized there was more. “Okay, what’s the bad news?” she asked as impending doom lingered in her mind.

              The doctor paused and looked around. “Is your family here?” he asked.

              “Not right now. They’ll be back in an hour or two though,” she said with concern.

              Kristie sat there waiting patiently while the doctor scanned the chart again and two nurses walked into the room. They moved around the equipment monitoring her and quickly faded into the background. Finally, after agonizing minutes, the doctor finally spoke and Kristie had a hard time focusing on his words. “Well, the good news with your ankle is that it isn’t broken like we feared. Instead, you sprained your ankle when you fell and the swelling is what’s causing the severe pain.” Kristie felt a moment of relief but then she lost that relief as he continued to ramble on about bed rest and other medical complications that could happen if she aggravated the injury. She needed to be active and the sprain was going to leave her inactive for four to six weeks.

              The younger of the two nurses placed a set of crutches on her bed and exited without saying a word. Looking at the offending pieces of metal, Kristie attempted to get out of bed and groaned from the pain.

              “Here’s the most important advice for your sprain,” said the doctor as he looked at the swollen ankle with the dark purple bruise. “Rest, ice, compression, and be sure to elevate.”

              Kristie looked at the doctor for a moment completely confused. She just couldn’t focus on his words...instead, her business and her absence from it ran heavy on her mind. Realizing that she hadn’t said anything, she said, “Run that by me again please.”

              “Don’t worry. I’ll have everything written up for you in a folder.” Then he turned and made his way to the door. “I’ll be back in a little bit. I’m going to take care of your release papers.”

~*~*~*~

              Kristie was wreaking havoc up and down the hall as she practiced using her crutches. “I can’t do this,” she said to the poor physical therapist helping her. “It’s impossible for me.”

              Rubbing his neck to relieve the tension, he suggested, “How about a wheelchair? Maybe that would be better,” he said with a nervous smile. “For the safety of both humans and animals alike.”

              Kristie turned to respond but ended up losing her balance and stumbled backwards.

              “I got you,” said Declan as he steadied her on her feet. He had been watching her progress since they’d arrived a half hour ago.

              “For now,” said the therapist looking at Kristie. “Little children use these all the time so I know you’ll get the hang of it. Try again.”

              Kristie awkwardly maneuvered down the hall in the most uncoordinated fashion where she took out a metal tray and a poor, unsuspecting orderly. “I hate these things.”

              Lorie watched her sister and started to laugh. “Imagine that. We finally found something that Kristie Rossi doesn’t make sexy. Oh, I can see the headlines now.”

              Kristie turned and gave her sister a dirty look before she smiled at her. “Ha, ha, very funny.”

              The doctor walked over to Kristie and handed her the paperwork with a smile, “I see we made a little progress here. If you change your mind and want a wheelchair, I can have that arranged for you.”

              “Jokes. Suddenly everyone’s a comedian,” mocked Kristie as she moved around like an orangutan.

“Lucky for you,” said Declan lifting her into his arms. “You have a very strong and sexy boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend?” asked Kristie moving closer to Declan’s ear and whispered, “I don’t recall ever being asked to be your girlfriend.”

In a gallant gesture, Declan placed Kristie down on the nearest chair and bent down. “Barbie Doll, will you be my girlfriend.”

“I’ll think about it,” she said giggling while he poked her a few times. “All right. All right. Yes. I’ll be your girlfriend.”

“Wait just a minute,” said Declan standing his full height. He frowned down at her. “Before we leave here, what is my new nickname?”

“Oh that,” said Kristie taking his hand and standing up while her sister brought over her crutches. “G.I. Joe.”

Chapter Eleven

Trapped! She was trapped in her house and she was ready to scream. It had been three weeks and while she felt better, her ankle was still weak and she was still stuck in her house.

Needing to escape, Kristie sent out a group text to her two sisters, and her best friends, Vanessa and Stacey,
‘Let’s meet at the Grill at noon.’

She smiled as they buzzed back, agreeing to be there. Looking at her handiwork in the mirror, Kristie snuck downstairs as quietly as possible to make sure that no one heard her with her crutches. Once the coast was clear, she snuck out the door and down the driveway where she waited for the car service.

Watching as the car approached, Kristie fixed her black wig, ditched the crutches in the grass, and hobbled the six feet to the waiting car. Her attempt to walk without the crutches didn’t fare well and she ended up stumbling.

“Miss, let me help you,” the driver jumped from the car, picked up her crutches and assisted her into the back seat. Getting into the car and closing the door, he asked while looking in the rearview mirror, “Where did you say you were going Miss Rossi?”

Kristie gasped in surprise before she grinned, “Damn, my disguise didn’t work?”

“I’ve been your driver since your high school days. Plus, I have five teenaged kids at home; there’s not a lot that gets past me,” said the driver laughing.

Kristie chuckled, “I’m going to the Grill.”

Kristie paid her driver and thanked him as he helped her into the restaurant. Doing her best to concentrate on not knocking anyone down, Kristie made her way to the hostess and said in a soft voice, “I reserved a table earlier. The name is Mazza.”