“Can I see her?”
“You can go with her up to the ward. Come with me.”
He followed her to the same cubicle. Gigi was lying under a hospital sheet. She looked so tiny. He clasped hold of her hand in his and just watched her sleep. Fuck, if anything happened to her.
Okay, slow down, man. You just met her. And it wasn’t the best meeting. You don’t need to be falling for her right now. She needs you.
And he was going to be here for her. He walked beside the orderly as he wheeled her up to a ward, then watched closely as another nurse got her settled.
“Visiting hours are going to end soon, sir.”
“I’m staying,” he said brusquely.
The nurse frowned. “We don’t let people stay in patients’ rooms.”
“You can make an exception. Please.” Macca forced himself to smile at her, hoping that would work. “I wouldn’t sleep if I was worrying about her all night. I promise, you won’t even know I’m here.”
The nurse still looked a little doubtful but then she sighed. “All right, but if my supervisor sees you, then you’ll have to go.”
“Thank you so much,” he looked at her name tag, “Enid. I really appreciate it.”
“I’ll find you a blanket and pillow. You’ll need to sleep in the chair.”
“That’s no problem.” He’d sleep on the floor if need be. He’d promised Nan he’d take care of her and that’s what he was going to do.
4
She felt like shit.
Her head was pounding, her body achy and she was so thirsty.
“Here, drink this.” A straw prodded at her lips and she opened her mouth, hoping she wasn’t being fed poison.
“It’s not poison,” an amused voice said. “Your mind goes to some strange places, doesn’t it? It’s water, baby. Drink it up like a good girl. You’re dehydrated.”
She forced her eyes open, blinking to clear her blurry vision. There he was, again. Looming over her like a bad smell.
He sighed. “So far, you’ve called me a jerk, an ass head, a butt face and now I smell bad. I’m starting to get hurt feelings. I may even have a complex.”
“Sorry.” Guilt flooded her. She wasn’t being very nice to him.
Regret chased away the amusement on his face. “No, baby, I’m the one who should apologize. I’ve behaved so badly; you have every right to call me names. Not that you’d be allowed to get away with that at any other time.”
There was a stern note to his voice as he said that last sentence. Instead of annoying her, it made her insides tingle. She’d always wondered if she was a submissive.
Snippets of a conversation they’d had came back to her. Had they really discussed BDSM and gags? Oh God.
“You’ve gone all red. What are you thinking about, little one?”
“Nothing,” she said quickly. “Um, where am I?”
She reached up with her hand to massage her aching head then realized she had a needle in her hand. Shoot. Hospital. On a drip.
“You were admitted into the hospital. They won’t tell me much other than to say it was a flare-up and that you need to be monitored.”
Frustration filled his face and she noted how tired he looked. “You should go home and get some sleep. How long have you been here?”
“All night.”