Chapter 3
3
Sweat dripped from Lorelei’s forehead. Fear swamped her. Anger, frustration, acceptance.
She was going to die.
Another punch landed on her ribs. Another crunch that told her a rib was broken.
Breathing was harder, like being held underwater. But different because there was plenty of air, it just hurt like a son-of-a-bitch to draw it into her lungs.
“What do you know about Trevor Davis?” the man barked.
Lorelei spit at him. She was not going to give up anything. She couldn’t. If she told them what she knew, they’d kill her source. Hell, they probably would anyway, but Lorelei couldn’t live with herself if she could have stopped any of it.
“Bitch!” He backhanded her, her cheek exploding with pain from the ring he wore on his pinky.
She was going to be sick. She shouldn’t have gone on her own to meet her informant, especially for the case she was on, but she’d done it before and didn’t want to pull anyone away from the reception.
“Lorelei!” a man shouted.
She looked up at the man who’d slapped her. His lips weren’t moving.
Who was calling her name?
Pain ricocheted through her body.
“Lorelei!” That voice. It was familiar. She knew who it was. Maybe? He was safe. He wouldn’t hurt her.
“Wake up, Lorelei. You’re safe. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you again. Come on. Open your eyes.”
She blinked her eyes, prying them apart. The vision in her head vanished the moment her eyes opened.
“What?” she tried to speak, but the word barely came out as a whisper.
“You’re safe, Lorelei. You’re okay. I got you.” He repeated the words over and over again.
His scent wrapped around her. His words calmed her.
It was a dream. It wasn’t real. She was okay. She was with Vinnie. She was safe.
Sleep claimed her once more, and Lorelei didn’t fight it. The soft beeping slowed with her breathing, and she held on to Vinnie and slept.
Vinnie was glad he wasn’t connected to one of the monitors. It would still be screeching, like it did when Lorelei had her nightmare.
Nightmare. Such a shitty word. She wasn’t having a bad dream. She was reliving the hell she went through.
It had been five nights since she was admitted to the hospital. Five nights of Vinnie sleeping when he could, mostly in tiny snippets. He barely left Lorelei’s side. She panicked when he wasn’t there, and every night, she woke up with a nightmare.
She never remembered them in the morning. He asked her the first morning, and she looked at him like he was insane. Since then, he did what he’d done that first night and climbed into bed with her and held her when the nightmare struck.
She never spoke during her nightmare. He wasn’t sure if that was because she was scared, hiding, or refused to answer any questions. Probably the last one knowing Lorelei.
Not that he gave himself that much credit. He still barely knew the woman. No matter how many nights he held her in his arms and breathed in her scent and calmed her with his body.
The doctor told him it was likely because he found her. Just like Vinnie assumed. The imprint of him on her memory was temporary. Once she got all her memories back, she would no longer need him in her life.
It was a painful blow, but one he understood. Lorelei didn’t need him. He was there to help with her recovery, not to be her partner, in work or life.
With her settled again, Vinnie finally relaxed. His heart rate slowly lowered, his body accepting that the threat was over. After five nights of very little sleep, he needed to get what he could. In the morning, Lorelei was leaving the hospital.
The bag of clothes sat on the foot of the bed, unfamiliar items pouring out of it. Lorelei wanted to reach for her favorite clothes, for something that made her feel strong and powerful and beautiful. Something that made her feel like the woman everyone around kept saying she was.
But she still didn’t remember her.
The doctors said she would. Eventually. But Lorelei wasn’t the most patient woman. She wanted to remember now.
“What do you want to wear?” Karli asked.
Her cousin. Lorelei knew Karli was her cousin because she’d been told every day, but she hadn’t conjured up any memories of the other woman. Something that was clear on her face whenever she walked into the dreaded hospital room with hope in her gaze.
Lorelei wouldn’t lie, but it was tempting just to avoid that look of disappointment that followed the hopeful one.
“I don’t know,” Lorelei answered. Nothing felt like her. The clothes were as familiar to her as everything else in her life. Karli said Lorelei had been mostly living in Niagara Falls for the last few months. Did that mean the clothes were left behind in her Boston apartment? Ones she never wore, so they were left behind?
They were fucking clothes. Why was it so damn hard to choose something to wear?
She lifted her gaze to Vinnie and nibbled on her lip. What would he want to see her in? He was the only one who didn’t make her feel like he was waiting for her to do something. He was just patient and approving.
He moved toward the bag and rifled through it. He pulled out a pair of panties that looked silky and sexy and sinful. His cheeks turned red before he shoved the panties back into the bag.
“Give me those,” Lorelei said, reaching her hand out to Vinnie. “I need something. I need all of it. I can’t be shy right now.”
Vinnie held her gaze, then lowered his and pulled the panties back out of the bag. He handed them over, not throwing them at her, but waiting for her to grab them before he let go.
Lorelei touched the soft fabric, running her hands around the edges and finding herself imagining modeling them for Vinnie.
Whoa. Where did that come from? She couldn’t even remember if she’d had sex, but she was overcome with the desire to pop her amnesia cherry with Vinnie.
She sucked in a breath, then balled up the panties and shoved the dirty thoughts away.
Vinnie handed over a pair of cotton shorts, ones that looked endlessly comfortable. He grabbed a teal tank top, then pawed through until he found a brown bra that matched Lorelei’s skin tone.
“I’ll wait outside,” Vinnie mumbled, making a beeline for the door before Lorelei could thank him for finding her clothes.
The soft click of the door told Lorelei he was in the hallway, and the air Karli sucked in told Lorelei she wasn’t the only one who found that interaction more than a little hot.
“Wow. I mean… damn.”
Lorelei looked up at her cousin and found it impossible not to grin at the look on Karli’s face. “What?” Lorelei laughed.
“That was… Hot as fuck. Is something going on with you two?”
Lorelei shook her head. “No. He’s just helping me. He’s a good guy.”
“He’s a really good guy if he’s going to pick out panties for you and not ask you to model them.”
“I was kind of hoping he would,” Lorelei blurted.
Karli tipped her head back and laughed loudly. “I love it! Okay, yeah, you’re liking this protector thing.”
Lorelei’s mood soured at the thought. “I don’t want a protector.”
“No one does, hun. But sometimes you need someone who’s going to put you above everyone else in the world and make sure you have exactly what you need.”
“Is that what…”
“Cade?”
Lorelei nodded. Details were fuzzy. “Yeah, sorry. Is that what Cade does for you?”
Karli nodded, her eyes taking on a dreamy quality that said she was head over heels for her boyfriend. “He does. When we met… he was the only one I trusted to keep me safe. Sort of like you are with Vinnie.”
“He’s not the… Okay, fine. I don’t know why, though. Are you sure I didn’t know him before?”
Karli shook her head. “He said you never spoke. Adam doesn’t know him. I really don’t think you knew each other. Besides that, if you did, it was in passing and not nearly as well as you knew Adam or me. The connection you feel has to be what the doctor said and because he found you.”
Lorelei nodded, trying to keep all the data together. It was a lot. “I guess.”
“Do you want me to help you get changed?”
Lorelei looked at the clothes and knew there was no way she could do it alone. “Are you sure? Are we that close?”
Karli grinned. “If you’re asking if I’ve ever seen you naked, the answer is yes. But admittedly, it’s been a few decades.”
Lorelei snorted. “I have a feeling it’s too soon to ask Vinnie to help me get my clothes on.”
“You need to ask him to help take them off.”
Lorelei scoffed.
Karli laughed. “You know you were thinking it.”
Lorelei chuckled because yeah, she was.
Karli helped Lorelei get her panties over the cast on her right leg and up to her knees, then held Lorelei steady while she stood and pulled the panties up under her hospital gown. They repeated the process for her shorts.
“How do you want to do this? I don’t think you can make that clasp work,” Karli said.
Lorelei shook her head. “I guess you’re getting a look at my boobs. Sorry, cuz.”
“Is it weird to say I’m thrilled to be able to do this because it means you’re still alive?”
Lorelei smiled at her cousin. Even though she couldn’t remember their past, she knew Karli was a good person. Cade, too. They both refused to go back to Niagara Falls without Lorelei. They got a hotel room near the hospital and were with Lorelei from the beginning of visiting hours to the end. The only time Vinnie left the room was when Karli was with Lorelei.
She wasn’t alone. She had people who were making sure she was okay.
“Stay seated like you are. Lift your gown so I can get the bra around you and secure the clasp. You can try to get it into place.” Karli moved around the bed to the back so Lorelei didn’t have to move again.
She nodded, lifting her hospital gown out of the way while Karli looped the bra around Lorelei’s stomach. It wasn’t too tight, but after days of not wearing a bra, and five fractured ribs, it wasn’t comfortable either.
“Are you okay?” Karli asked.
“I will be, but that’s just different. It hurts like a bitch.”
“What can I do?”
Lorelei shook her head. “Nothing. I just have to heal. It’s not going to be fun until I am.”
Karli was still while Lorelei inhaled slowly and exhaled again. She did it five or six times before the pain was tolerable.
“Okay. Let’s see if we can get these girls in the sling. I don’t think I can do it myself. If you want to call a nurse, I won’t be offended.”
“Oh, please. I can lift a boob or two. Drop your gown and we’ll make it work.”
Lorelei eased the gown from her body, the rush of cold air on her bare flesh lifting her nipples to peaks. She moved to get her arms into the straps of her bra. Karli held the strap away, guiding Lorelei’s arm through the strap. Together they eased the strap up and Lorelei positioned her breast in the cup.
Karli moved to the other side just as someone knocked on the door. Before either of them could say anything, the door opened and Vinnie walked in.
“Are you—Shit!” He slapped his hand over his eyes. “I’m sorry. I should have waited. I’ll be back.” He ran into the door trying to back out of the room with his eyes covered, then closed his hand in the door.
Lorelei looked up at Karli, and both women burst out laughing.
“Did you see his face?” Karli asked. “He looked like a tomato.”
“Oh, don’t make me laugh. Ow. That hurts. And my boob is still hanging out.”
Karli choked down her laughter. “Sorry. Okay, let’s get you into your bra so we can let your guard dog back in.”
“He’s not my guard dog.” The thought made her smile.
“Uh huh.”
With her bra in place, Karli helped Lorelei pull the tank top over her head. When she was dressed and settled on the bed again, Karli opened the door to let Vinnie in.
“Are you sure?” Vinnie asked before he walked into the room.
Karli said something Lorelei couldn’t hear.
Vinnie grunted a response, then moved from the door into the room. His gaze was glued to the floor. “I apologize for not waiting until you said I could walk in. I should have thought it would take you a while. I’m truly sorry.”
“Vinnie.” She waited until he looked at her. “It’s okay. They’re just boobs.”
He choked on his next breath, and his cheeks went even redder. He nodded and moved around the bed, keeping his distance.
Lorelei smiled at Karli, and they both laughed softly.
Another knock on the now open door brought the doctor into the room. “I see you’re ready to go. Have you made your plans for where you’ll be for the next few weeks?”
Lorelei shook her head. The doctor dropped that bomb on her the day before, when they talked about her getting the hell out of the hospital. Dr. Jones said Lorelei could not be alone for longer than an hour or two for at least two weeks, maybe longer if she wasn’t improving beyond that. Besides the memory, her broken ribs were going to restrict her from doing most basic functions alone until they were mostly healed.
Dr. Jones pursed her lips and raised her brows. Then she slid her gaze to Vinnie.
He crossed his arms and met the doctor’s gaze.
“Lorelei can’t be alone. She has to have someone with her for the majority of time for the next two weeks. If that can’t be arranged, she needs to go to a rehab facility?—”
“I’ll do it,” Vinnie blurted. He uncrossed his arms and moved toward Lorelei. “If she’s okay with that. If you’d rather stay with Karli or Adam or any of the other people in Niagara Falls, I don’t want you to feel like you can’t.”
Lorelei exhaled slowly. “I’d rather stay with you. If you’re sure it won’t be an inconvenience.”
“We all live in the same area,” Karli told Dr. Jones. “I’m available to help out, and so are the others, if Vinnie has to work or needs a break from this one.” Karli winked at Lorelei.
Lorelei rolled her eyes. “I’m sure everyone will need a break from me.”
“I’m good,” Vinnie said, his tone rough, growly, like he was frustrated.
Lorelei looked up at him. She might not remember who she was or the last time she had sex, but she knew what that look on his face meant. She knew what he was thinking. And she was thinking the same thing.
“Okay, so now that that’s settled, your discharge orders. No strenuous activity for ten days. That means no sex.” She glared at Lorelei, then Vinnie before continuing. Karli just laughed. “No carrying anything over five pounds. Use your spirometer at least four times every day for a month or longer, depending on how you’re healing and feel. If you’re continuing to improve in a week, you can start other activities for ten to fifteen minutes at a time. Normally, I’d suggest walking, but with your broken ankle, that’s not a great option. Find something that gets you up and moving a bit, though. You can slowly increase that and add in some minor strenuous activities, but don’t overdo it. If you try to do too much too fast, you risk a setback. With your amnesia and head injuries, a setback is a major risk, so please go slow.”
Lorelei nodded, keeping her gaze locked on Dr. Jones and refusing to look at Vinnie. She could not think about avoiding sex with him or that would be the only thing she wanted.
Hell, it was starting to become the only thing she wanted. After remembering who she was.
“We’ll make sure she follows orders,” Karli assured Dr. Jones. “Thank you for everything you’ve done.”
Dr. Jones smiled at Karli. “You’re welcome. I’m glad things are going well. It’s a true testament to how strong Lorelei is that she’s done so well with her progress.” She moved to Lorelei. “Thank you for what you do. I’ve read up on who you are, and the world needs people like you out there. I’m sorry for what you went through, but I have no doubt you will regain your memory and get right back out there and make the world a better place.”
“Thank you, Dr. Jones.”
Dr. Jones smiled and put her hand on Lorelei’s shoulder, squeezing gently. “I’ll get your paperwork signed and you’ll be good to go. Someone will be in with a wheelchair to take you out. If you have any issues, please get in touch. Otherwise, I’ll send all of this to your primary care for followup.”
“Thank you.”
Dr. Jones smiled at Karli and Vinnie, then let herself out of the room.
Lorelei looked at the two people who’d been there for her more than anyone else in the last week. She wouldn’t be getting out of the hospital if it weren’t for the two of them. “Thank you both for being here. For helping me.”
“Nowhere else I’d rather be,” Karli said.
Vinnie just nodded, his gaze unwavering, just like his support.
“I’ll go have Cade pull the SUV around to the front. Are we going to your apartment here first to get your stuff?”
Lorelei nodded even as fear welled up inside her.
“Okay. We’ll see you outside in a few.” Karli waved and walked out, not even realizing Lorelei was panicking.
But Vinnie did.
“Shit,” he breathed.
Before Lorelei could process what he was doing, he’d climbed into bed with her and wrapped his body around hers. His arms held her close, but not tight enough to hurt. He whispered in her ear.
“I got you, Lorelei. You’re safe. No one’s going to hurt you.”
Lorelei closed her eyes and let his words and body soothe her. Her breathing slowed, and the panic drifted away. It was like magic.
“How did you… how did you do that?”
His chest rose with the breath he sucked in. He held it, then let it out slowly. “I’ve been doing that every night since you were admitted. You’re having nightmares, and the only way for you to sleep is if I hold you.”
“Are you kidding me?”