McDonald_SS_GEN_Nov2014 (11 page)

“Speaking of my bra stash. . .you should have seen Nicolas’s face when I started pulling stuff out of it the night we went to his mother’s for dinner. He kept watching my breasts to see what I was going to pull out next. It was the only time I ever flirted with a man where it actually worked like a charm. I’m so glad now you taught me all that stupid stuff.”

“Did you use the lipstick trick on him?” Kendra asked.

Megan sighed and chuckled. “Yes. It turned him into a zombie. God, that was fun. He still kisses really well—even after all this time. I think it was always going to be him for me, Kendra. I was waiting and didn’t even know I was waiting until he kissed me. The amazing thing is Nicolas seems to feel the same way about me. It’s like we’re two pieces of a crazy puzzle meant to fit together. It was really great when we finally did.”

“Wonderful. I’m not getting any right now and it’s torturous. Just how well do you and Nicolas fit together?” Kendra asked, grinning at her friend’s blushing face. “Details. I need lots and lots of details. Use adjectives.”

“No. It was too good to discuss with anyone but him. He’s. . .perfect.”

Laughter bubbled up and out of Kendra like a fountain. It felt incredibly good to laugh. Her brain tried to imagine the quiet, overly polite Nicolas being her friend’s idea of male perfection. When Megan was feeling better, she was going to ask her how she got the shy man to do anything to her.

“Oh sweetie. Nicolas is not perfect. That’s just the love buzz talking. It’s caused by chemicals and wears off eventually.”

“Does it really?” Megan asked, feeling sad and hoping Kendra was wrong.

Kendra sighed and reeled her cynicism back in a few notches. Her life sucking was no reason to rain on her friend’s brand new love life. Turning into David was not going to win her any points.

“Well. . .no. Not all of it changes, but yes, some of it fades a little over time. I confess I still want to jump your brother every time I see him, but you’re not allowed to tell him so. I barely have any dignity left where my failed relationship to him is concerned.”

Megan blew her nose again. Feeling woozy and vulnerable, she laid her head back down on her friend’s shoulder.

“Will you sit here with me until I don’t look like I’ve been crying? I don’t want Nicolas to think I’m some emotional baby. Or one of those women who sobs when she breaks a fingernail or something stupid like that. Wouldn’t crying over everything be awful? I saw one of those women at his mother’s house. I had this fantasy of breaking off each of her plastic fingernails and trying to make her scream.”

Kendra snickered and patted her naïve, but bloodthirsty friend’s head.

“I’m absolutely sure Nicolas does not think you’re overly emotional. I’d be surprised if he believes you ever cry at all. You two are going to have such an interesting life together. I hope I always get to be part of it. If you get married, I want to be in the wedding too, since it may be the only one I ever get in my life. We’ll do the sucker up right—long dresses, heels, the whole shebang.”

“What about you and David getting married?” Megan asked, turning her face to see Kendra looking sad.

“Never happening, sweetie. Apparently, I gave the milk away for free so long he doesn’t want to ever buy the cow. Eight years is a really long time to be with someone before recognizing your mistake. It’s hell growing up. I hate it.”

“Did David actually call you a cow? That’s the worst insult I’ve ever heard. Want me to kick his ass for you?” Megan asked.

Kendra laughed and rolled her eyes. “God, I’ve missed you. And you’ve barely changed a bit. I’m so glad even the Marines weren’t able to dim your personality much.”

“Oh, I’ve changed. Don’t think I haven’t. For one thing, my boobs are much bigger,” Megan said, sniffing. “They made me do the same push-ups the guys did. And my ass is a weapon. Kendra—I have glutes that would make a marble statue weep.”

“Brag. Brag. Brag,” Kendra chanted. Trying to tease while fighting laughter had always been a challenge around the woman next to her.

“Thank you for talking to me. I feel much better now.”

“You’re welcome.” Kendra patted her still mostly naïve friend’s cheek. She might be giving up the brother, but she was never giving up the sister. “Now go see your handsome geek before they drug him with painkillers to get him to stop complaining. For a man who never talks much at all, he hasn’t shut up since he became conscious. But don’t lose it when you see him. His neck brace looks like they’re framing him for a building or something. I hear he’s getting a more mobile-friendly cervical collar tomorrow.”

Megan sighed. “Will you come with me? Just until I get past my apology for making him worry. If I make him mad enough, you’ll get to hear how bossy he gets with me. Sometimes I tease him just to get that reaction.”

Kendra nodded and fought not to laugh over Megan’s pride about it. “What’s a man like Nicolas do? Use a bunch of big words to make you feel bad? Honey, I doubt the man is going to even notice I’m the room once he gets to see you.”

Nicolas laid back against the pillows because he had no choice. The weight of the device holding his collar bone steady gave him a headache if he moved too much.

“Can I get you anything?”

He glanced at his subdued mother and felt a pang of sympathy, even though he knew she’d brought most of it on herself. Plus, it might have been much worse, if not for Megan.

Sighing in resignation, Nicolas held out a hand. He waited until she put her hand in his before he spoke.

“I’m doing fine, except for worrying about Megan. I’m sorry Ross didn’t turn out to be the good guy you thought he was.”

“Thank God I was smart enough to get a prenup.”

Nicolas watched his mother’s shoulder rise and fall as he heard the door opening. He felt his mother slip her hand from his, rise from the chair, and walk to the woman who came through it at long last.

When she saw him, Megan halted a few feet inside the room. He heard more than saw Kendra
ooompf
, as she bounced off the back of the woman he adored. Megan’s single-minded focus made him grin. That was his girl—focused only on the biggest target in front of her.

But his throat got tight when his mother spoke to her.

“Thank you for saving my son’s life.”

Wrenching her gaze away from Nicolas, Megan swallowed and nodded to his mother. “I know you don’t really like me, but I hope you can get used to me. I’m in love with him,” she announced.

Then she winced.
Damn it
. She hadn’t even said the l-word to Nicolas yet. Why had she said such a bald thing to the already stunned-looking woman in front of her? Why couldn’t she have simply said “you’re welcome” instead?

Megan felt a hand rub along her spine and heard Kendra laughing behind her. Being tactfully polite was something she was definitely going to have to work on.

She watched Nicolas’s mother roll her eyes and look over her shoulder at Nicolas in the bed. He looked so awful and uncomfortable. But at least he was smiling and not glaring. She was going to focus on that.

“Well, Nico. I guess time will tell if you are choosing a better life partner than I did with my last one. Next time I find someone interesting, I’m going to ask your friend David to investigate him thoroughly. You’re obviously going to be in good hands with Ms. Marine here. Call me if you need anything. I have to go kick your former stepbrothers out of my house.”

Megan stared at the man in the bed while his mother walked around her and out the door. Kendra’s perfume disappeared at the same time, which didn’t surprise her. Her friend hadn’t wanted to risk running into her brother again. She sighed over her brother’s loss, but walked forward to the biggest, best gain she’d ever made in her life.

“I don’t think your mother likes me very much. I’m a little bit too blunt for her.”

“It’s okay. She’s not the one who’s sleeping with you, so she doesn’t get a vote. Where the hell have you been, Megan? Come here. We’re both still alive and I need a hug.
Now
.”

Megan snorted, sighed, and walked across the room. She liked it when Nicolas got bossy with her because it gave her permission to be herself when she answered back. “I’m afraid to hug you. You might break more.”

Nicolas glared. “Very funny. Climb up here with me and I’ll show you broke. Be prepared to do all the work though. I’m not staying in this head gear another day.”

Eyebrows up at his dare, she refused to swap insults and plopped herself into the chair by his bed. A nurse entered the room quietly, busily checked his vitals, and then just as quietly left them alone again. The woman never said a word.

“The nurses think I’m awful and aren’t speaking to me—thanks to you. I kept threatening to get up and start searching on my own. Why did you save my ass and then just leave me alone to face all the crap without you?”

Megan sighed. She scooted forward and laid her head on his leg. It was a very nice leg. Despite his complaining, Nicolas’s hand came instantly to stroke her hair. He did that frequently now and she liked it a lot.

“I stayed away because I had a little bit of a meltdown when I realized you could have died. David sent Kendra to talk some sense into me and it worked. I’m sorry I worried you. I wasn’t trying to do that. I just had a bad emotional reaction to what almost happened.”

“Well, you weren’t the only one. My last thought was to wonder if the guy was going to shoot you too. I thought I was going to die with the image of you shooting your gun burned into my brain,” Nicolas whispered.

Megan reached across both his legs and hugged herself more into his lap. “I don’t want to lose you, Nicolas. I know people die all the time—I’ve seen it personally—but this was the first time I didn’t think I could go on if it happened. I think I must already love you more than people do after so short a period of time. The thought of anything happening to you makes me stop being able to function.”

Nicolas swallowed hard and stroked her hair more. “I have no intentions of dying any time soon. For the first time in my life, I have an incredible reason to live. Look at me, I have the hottest girlfriend any geek ever dreamed of having. More than that, I have the girl I’ve always dreamed about, and she is about as great as I think a woman ever gets. I’m even hoping she might marry me one day.”

Megan rubbed her face against the sheet fighting not to cry on him. She still wasn’t a hundred percent back to herself, but she also knew that she was going to marry him. It felt as right to her as being in the Marines had felt.

“I happen to know she’d marry you anytime you wanted. Just set a date.”

Nicolas’s hand froze mid-stroke on her head. “You would? Just like that you’d marry me? Even though we’ve only been an official couple for a few days? I’d understand if you thought it was happening too fast.”

Her chuckle against his lap made him laugh too—and think of all they would do to each other in the years to come.

“I can’t believe talking you into marrying me was so damn easy. What’s the catch? You’re not going to take any of this back later, are you?”

Megan snorted at his shock. Kendra was right. They were going to have some interesting times together. “I guess you caught me in the right mood today, Dr. North. Do I have to wear an engagement ring, and pick out flowers and stuff?”

His hand trembled as it stroked her hair again. “Well, wedding stuff like flowers and long dresses is pretty traditional. I do have a family ring I’d like to give you. Don’t you want to wear one?”

Her shoulders shrugging seemed sad to him.

“What’s wrong, Megan? You just made me the happiest man in the world. You’re not allowed to be sad after randomly accepting my marriage proposal and shocking me senseless. Think about all the advantages of us being together. You’ll get to be on top when we have sex at least half the time because I believe in having an equal partner in everything. Plus, you’re really, really good at riding cowgirl. I love that you’re so athletic. In fact, I think we need to buy a book about all the possible positions. I may not have had much practice at the real thing, but I’m a whiz at research.”

“Now I see why you’ve made so much money in your father’s business. You sound so reasonable and convincing when you argue your case.”

Megan laughed, let go, and stood. Then she very carefully climbed onto the side of the bed until she could lay her head against his beating heart. It sounded so good to her. She let it remind her of how lucky she was.

“There’s something you need to know, Nicolas. I’m still a little. . .messed up in the head. . .about getting shot when I was in the Marines. I may have to do some more therapy until I get completely straight about it. But I know talking about it messes with you too, so I think I’ve been avoiding therapy because I know going in, it’s going to be hard. Could we wait until after I finish and then talk about getting married? I know we’ve both been waiting a long time for each other. I don’t really want to wait longer, but I think it’s best to make really sure this is going to work out.”

Nicolas placed two fingers over her mouth and stroked her lips as he shushed her. “You can have all the time you need, but nothing is going to change the fact I want you in my life permanently. The therapist is no doubt going to piss you off and make you think of things you’d rather forget ever happened. When it gets like that, I want you to come throw your angry temper tantrums at my place. My furniture can take it and there’s a gym on the bottom floor to work off the mad. At least together, we can have feel-better sex after you calm down. Don’t you think we might as well put all that transformative energy to some good use?”

“Kendra said I wasn’t allowed to cry or have pity parties about this anymore, so I’ll just say yes. And thank you for caring about me. Oh, and for your offer of feel-better sex. That’s my favorite.”

Nicolas grinned at her honesty. “Have you told David about your plans? Will you stay on with him in his business?”

Megan sighed as she straightened and met his concerned gaze. She was surprised by Nicolas’s assumptions, especially after learning first hand how dangerous security work could be. She knew in Nicolas she had found a type of moral support even her brother hadn’t found with Kendra.