Chapter 20
It was pouringrain when we woke up in the morning. I snuggled next to Pearce with my head on his chest.
“Good morning,” he whispered as he kissed my hair. “I was getting ready to get up to head back to the hospital.”
“I’m there with you.”
“You didn’t let me finish,” he said, rubbing my back in those tiny circles that always made me hum. “I was going to say I was gonna shower until I started looking at you lying in my arms and then it hit me. I don’t want to go anywhere for a while.”
“Hmm, sounds like you have a plan.”
I felt his chest rumble as I was flipped onto my back. And boy did he have a plan. My guy had all sorts of plans. We did end up going to the hospital, but it was a couple of hours later.
The two patients were doing well. Or maybe they were as well as could be expected.
Terri looked awful. Her face was bruised all over and she was in a cast from her waist on down. Well, half of her was anyway. It was too complicated to even try to explain. They had to go back in and place a pin or two in her leg. Whatever Pearce was talking about was way over my head.
Justin was freaking out. All he wanted to do was to go and see Terri, but they wouldn’t let him yet. He was really pissed off. Terri couldn’t be moved either. Pearce tried to reason with him and ended up storming out of his room, throwing his hands up in the air.
“I’ll go talk to him.” I went in and Justin was on a rampage, shouting at the nurses and demanding to see his surgeon. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, buddy. What are you trying to do here? Bring down the house?”
”They won’t let me go to her and I need to see her!”
“Justin, she’s okay. I just left her room and she’s resting comfortably. She’s going to be fine. You know, the best way for you to help her is for you to take care of yourself first. She’s going to need your help later, when she’s out of here.”
He grabbed his hair and then frantically rubbed his face. “It’s all my fault this happened.”
“Don’t say that! It was an accident.” But I knew exactly how he felt.
“I was looking at her, Lexi. I wasn’t watching the road like I should have been.”
Oh no. Looking at Terri and not the road? How do I handle this? “Look, everyone does that when they drive. A glance here or there. No one expects a deer to fly out of nowhere and crash into them. Whatever you do, don’t blame this on yourself. And please listen to me. I’ve been there. I know what you’re going through. This is not your fault at all.”
His eyes bored into mine. Anguish and guilt told me everything. I sat on the side of his bed, even though I probably shouldn’t have, and grabbed his hand.
My voice was firm when I spoke. I had to get his attention. “Listen to me and listen good. It was a fucking accident, Justin Middleton. Nothing more. Yes, Terri is injured. No sugarcoating that. Yes, she’s gonna go through some difficult times ahead but she’s also a tough cookie and would be pissed at you right now for blaming yourself for this. It’s time to stop. Don’t you dare go down that road because if you do, it will fuck you up. I have firsthand experience in this, and if you want, I’ll share it with you one day. Understand?”
He looked at me like I was someone he didn’t even know.
“Look, I’m sorry if you think I’m being a total jerk, but I was driving a car that crashed and someone ended up dying. I blamed myself for years. If it wasn’t for someone I recently met, fell in love with, and would die for, I’d still be blaming myself. I’m going to ask you one question and I want you to answer it honestly. Did you intend for your Range Rover to spin out and crash after you hit that deer and for Terri to get hurt?”
“Never!”
“Then it’s time to stop blaming yourself. That’s why they call it an accident.”
His eyes widened and it was like a light bulb clicked on. I watched as the tension flowed out of him.
In a small voice, he asked me, “Do you think she’ll forgive me?”
“Justin, there’s nothing to forgive. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
I bent down, kissed his cheek, and left his room.
Pearce was talking with his parents in the ICU waiting room when I joined them, and they wanted to know Justin’s status. I told them he’d calmed and appeared to be better. Then we all decided to grab some lunch since none of us had bothered with breakfast.
While we were eating, Susan brought up the wedding.
“Have you two set a date yet?”
“Not yet.”
“We haven’t even talked about it, Mom,” Pearce said, coming to my rescue.
“Well, do you have any ideas of what you might want?”
“Mom! We haven’t even begun to discuss it. This is going to be all about Alexia. It’s her day.”
I interrupted the conversation. “Wait, Pearce, you get a say in all of this. I really don’t care either way. I would like a small ceremony though.”
“Honey, what about your family?” Susan wanted to know.
“No. They won’t be invited. I’m not even telling them.”
Pearce and Susan exchanged glances and I knew what was coming. I headed them off before they even got the chance.
“Look, you two, I know what you’re both thinking. But seriously, my parents literally dumped me in my greatest time of need. They dragged me out of the funeral home after Peter died and yelled at me, telling me it was all my fault and that I was the biggest disappointment of their lives. That was when I needed them the most and they pretty much kicked me in the teeth. At this point in my life, after I’ve picked up the shattered pieces and glued myself back together, and only because of you, Pearce, they don’t get to share in our joy. They would only bring me back down to that horrid place I was in and nothing on earth is going to spoil the most important day of my life.”
All three of them stared at me and then Henry said, “I believe Lexi has made up her mind and I have to say I am on her side.”
“That makes two of us,” Susan joined in.
Pearce smiled and agreed with them. “Nope, it’s three.”
“Thanks, everyone. That means a lot more than I can say.” I went on, “I’d still like a small ceremony, and then you all can plan whatever kind of reception you have in mind. I’m open for anything.”
Pierce looked up at the ceiling. “Oh, God, Alexia, do you have any idea what you’ve just done?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve given my mother permission to run the show and it’ll be nothing like you’ve ever seen.”
Susan sat there and grinned as she rubbed her palms together. Henry watched her and laughed.
“There is one thing. We have to wait until Terri can walk because she’ll be my maid of honor.”
“I’m fine with that. With the way Justin acted, he’ll be supervising her physical therapy.”
Everyone laughed, although I worried about what Terri would have to endure. I knew she was in store for some difficult times.
Later that afternoon I texted my manager to ask him if it was okay to take the next day off work. I wanted to spend the day with Terri. They were transferring her from ICU to a regular room. He texted me back that it would be fine with him.
That night Pearce and I were sitting in bed and he was going over his schedule for the week. He had Monday off, but then he had call for the next five days. He’d linked his schedule with my calendar, which gave me access to his call schedule.
“I have some errands to run in the morning. I’d like to take you to dinner tomorrow night to Josette’s.” It was the most exclusive restaurant in town.
“Really?”
“Is that okay?”
“You’re kidding, right? I’ve never been there. I’d love to go.”
“Good. I made a reservation for seven. And, Alexia, wear your bracelet.” He smiled.
I instantly found myself squirming under the sheets. I looked at him and swallowed.
“What?” he asked, all innocent-like.
“Put down that damn iPad now, or you might find you’ll need to buy another one.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I was on him like a wet blanket, ready and willing. There was something about him … no, everything about him. His smoky-gray sexier-than-anything eyes, his full sensuous lips, the way he ran his tongue along them, his thick black wavy hair, his sculpted muscles and the way they rippled as he moved, his hips as he thrust into me and the sounds he made as we made love. There would never be enough Pearce for me.
“Fuck, Alexia.”
When he talked to me while we made love, his voice was deep and husky and it turned me on even more. I leaned over him and kissed his neck and then started to nip at his ear. Then he went into a sexual frenzy. He flipped me on my back and threw one leg over his shoulder as he rocked his hips. I raked my nails across his back as the sensations became intense.
And then came his words, the ones that always drove me over the edge.
“Alexia,” he groaned, “open your eyes and say those words for me.”
I did as he commanded, and the air suddenly thickened between us. I sucked in my breath at his beauty. “Ahh, yes, Pearce, I love you.” And I fell over the cliff of ecstasy. He was right behind me as he laced his fingers with mine and held my hands above my head.
Then he kissed me like a man who’d just been given water after dying of thirst.