5. Chapter 5
Chapter 5
The Hospital
When he arrived at the hospital, he went to the information desk. An overly tanned, leathery-looking woman with pointed, fake fluorescent pink nails sitting on the other side of the desk sighed heavily before looking up at him as if it pained her to be interrupted from what she was doing, which appeared to be playing a game on her phone. Her eyes landed on him, and it was like a neon sign on a casino flicking on. Her face lit up as she straightened and leaned forward toward him.
“Can I help ye?” she said breathily as her eyes trailed greedily over him.
Lachlan smiled politely despite feeling like a piece of cake she’d like to devour. “Good morning. I was hoping ye could tell me which room Violet Munro is in?”
“Och, aye, of course. One second, love.” She clicked away on her keyboard with surprising efficiency, given the length of her nails. “Are ye family?” she asked.
“Aye,” Lachlan lied and cringed inside. He never lied, but he realized he might not be allowed to see the lass if he wasn’t family.
The woman looked up at him. Her eyes narrowed. “Husband?”
Lachlan nodded, feeling his neck heat. Christ, for all he knew, her actual husband could be in the room with her now.
The woman glanced at the bouquet in his hand and must have decided that he was being truthful. “Second floor. Ward eight. Room Two B. The elevator is just behind ye love.” She grinned up at him.
“Thank ye.” He nodded and turned toward the elevator.
“God, some lassies have all the luck,” she muttered.
Lachlan smirked to himself, pressing the button for the elevator.
“Gor,” she groaned. “I should take a picture of that arse. Claire will be sorry she missed it.”
He scrunched his eyes closed, wishing he hadn’t heard that part. Clearly, the woman didn’t realize how her voice carried in the hollow walls of the hospital. Lachlan was about to go find the stairs when the elevator doors, thankfully, opened, and he was able to make his escape before his arse ended up on the woman’s phone.
Ward eight was the neurology department, and a wave of trepidation rolled over Lachlan. He stood outside Violet’s hospital room door. His hands were suddenly sweaty. He feared the worst. What if the lass had a brain injury? He swallowed, trying to steady himself. If it was bad, wouldn’t she be in the ICU? He tried to think logically. Running a hand through his wavy quiff of short hair, he exhaled deeply and settled into his usual calm demeanour before gently knocking on her door.
Violet had been so busy recalling the events before her fall that she hadn’t gotten to what happened after. The memories of after quickly crashed through her mind. This was the man who’d helped her, her knight in shining armour.
She hadn’t realized he was so tall, and he was looking at her now with a slight tip of a smile that made her heart skip a beat. For a moment, she closed her eyes as she recalled how badly she had wanted to kiss him last night. She flushed at the memory. Violet, with a clearer mind than last night, opened her eyes, taking in her rescuer with fresh eyes. Well, she hadn’t been wrong. He was extremely handsome, in a sort of quiet book smart-looking way.
He was tall and clean-cut, lean, but clearly muscular under his crisp white dress shirt. The sleeves of his neatly tucked shirt were rolled up casually, revealing a sleek black titanium watch on his solid wrist. An expensive looking leather belt wrapped around the trim waist of his dark slim-line pants, and the ensemble was finished with a pair of stylish cognac brown leather lace-up shoes. This man was seriously put together. Sexy and maybe a little bit nerdy like in a Clark Kent sorta way.
“My rescuer.” She gave him a friendly grin.
He chuckled. “Aye, I suppose so. I hope it’s all right that I’ve come by to see ye.”
Violet nodded. "Of course.”
“Yer lookin’ a lot brighter than when I last saw ye. How are ye feelin’ this morning?”
He held a bouquet of flowers in his hand. She wondered if they were meant for her. “I’m feeling so much better.” She sighed, realizing how relieved she was. “I can’t thank you enough for helping me. I don’t know what would’ve happened if you hadn’t been there.” As she thought back to the fall, she realized she couldn't piece together everything that had happened. "Did you see me fall? There are parts that still feel fuzzy," she said, trying hard to will the memories to come back to her.
"Aye, I did." He looked as if he were contemplating on whether or not to say more.
"It looked bad," she stated, trying to read his features that had turned serious.
He nodded.
"I remember walking along the pier just soaking in the beauty of it all, and then I remember my foot caught. And there was nothing I could do to stop from falling, but then it's a blank until I was sitting on the grass with you."
He looked reluctant to speak about it, but she was grateful when he did.
"I got to ye as fast as I could, and by the time I did, ye were trying to stand and walk. But I could tell ye werenae steady, and the next thing I ken, ye passed out on me.”
"Sorry about that," Violet interjected, liking that she'd gotten a smile out of him.
"I had to carry ye to the grass. I called for the ambulance, and thankfully, that's when ye came to again."
Violet was surprised that he'd actually carried her. God, he really was her knight in shining armour. She knew it was ridiculous, but she wished she knew with all her might what it had been like to be carried in those strong arms. There was no doubt she'd stew on that little tidbit for a long time to come—thanks, smut books.
“I wish I could huv done more," he said as if he hadn't been an absolute hero.
Violet eyed this stranger who stood before her and wondered what else he could have possibly done. He'd come to her rescue without hesitation. What would have happened if she'd awoken alone? The thought made her shudder.
“You were amazing. I think a lot of people would have turned a blind eye.” She tucked her hair behind her ear. “You sat with me and comforted me. I'll never forget that.” Her voice quivered slightly, recalling how connected she’d felt with him. She remembered how tender he'd been with her, as if she wasn't a total stranger but someone special to him. Logically, she knew it was ridiculous to think his kindness was anything more than him being a decent human being, but for her, it had felt like so much more. He shifted, and the rustle of the flowers he held brought her back to the present. His expression had turned sheepish, and the effect charmed her.
“Ach, lass. I’m just glad I was there.” He looked down at the flowers in his hand as if only just remembering he had them. “I brought these for ye,” he said, stepping toward her.
And she found her eyes more drawn to the way his dress shirt tightened around the curve of his thick bicep than the bouquet he held out to her.
“Oh, that’s so sweet. Thank you.” Violet willed herself not to ogle the man and brought the pretty bouquet of white freesias and pale peach and pink tulips to her nose, breathing in their fresh spring scent. "They are beautiful." She eyed him over the bouquet. Her knight in shining armour was a pretty decent guy.
Gesturing a hand toward the hospital green vinyl chair in the corner of the room, he asked, “May I?”
Polite too , Violet thought as she nodded, feeling glad that he didn't seem to be in a hurry to leave. Her knight pulled the chair closer to the bedside where she sat perched, and he leaned toward her, sexy veiny forearms resting on his dark pants. Then his eyes seemed to lock onto hers and hold them like how a couple holds hands, intertwined, firm, and intimate. Butterflies erupted in her empty stomach.
“Yer memory has come back then?” he asked, his deep voice gentle and soothing. Like it had been last night.
She couldn't help but take in his handsome features. His nose was long and narrow but quite proportioned to his face. He was clean-shaven with a strong, defined jawline. His lips sat straight, but she recalled that when he smiled, they tugged to the side. A crooked smile, almost flawed—but definitively not. Despite all of those features, it was his eyes that held her captive. They were a deep, intense cerulean blue. Who has eyes like that? And with the way he was looking at her, she felt like he could look into her soul if he so desired. It was oddly comforting and disconcerting all at the same time.
“I remember you,” she said, a smile touching her lips.
Those impossibly blue eyes dropped to her lips, and Violet sucked in a breath, unconsciously leaning in closer to him. And then, in an instant, the moment was gone as he stood and stepped to the window.
“Well, that’s something,” he said as if praising her for recalling anything at all while at the same time glossing over the significance of the recollection. He leaned up against the frame of the frosted window and crossed his muscular arms over his chest, unaware of how it made him look as if he were a model in a GQ spread.
Violet blinked, wondering what had just happened. Had he wanted to kiss her? Well, if he did, he certainly didn’t want to now. Not that she could blame him. She’d spent the night in a hospital, and she sat here before him in her own dried-up sweat, never mind her mouth hadn’t seen a toothbrush in twenty-four hours. Gross. Of course, he ’ d moved away from me.
“My memories are all coming back this morning. Thank goodness,” Violet added brightly, even though she was feeling a bit more self-conscious now.
“Och, I’m so pleased to hear that.” Even from across the room, warmth emanated from him. “I confess, I was worried for ye lass.”
“Fortunately, it was a temporary little brain scramble,” she quipped, liking how he called her lass.
“Aye, well, I’m truly pleased that ye are well. It must huv been quite frightening for ye.” He dropped his arms, and his big hands curled casually over the window sill.
“It was such an odd thing,” she said, reflecting on how it felt. “It was as if nothing existed prior to that moment. My mind was just totally blank. I literally had zero recollection of anything before the fall.”
“I can no' imagine.”
“It was so weird,” she continued, hugging her knees up as she tried to wrap her brain around it. “It is a massive relief that my memories are coming back. Even menial, nothing stuff from yesterday, like what I had for breakfast. I never thought things like that would be happy memories,” she joked light heartedly.
“I’m sure.” His lips tugged in his side smile that grew sexier every time she saw it.
“Well, I’m genuinely so pleased that yer so much better, lass. It’s nice to see ye upbeat and…” His voice trailed off, and he got that sheepish look again.
“And able to hold a conversation?” she supplied with a laugh.
He chuckled and nodded. “Aye. It is nice to huv a proper blether with ye, lass.”
Violet was momentarily confused by his Scottish slang, but then she realized that blether must mean conversation or something like it. “Thank you,” she said genuinely. “It feels good to be myself again.”
Putting the flowers on the bed, she stood gingerly, and her knight was across the room in an instant, reaching out an arm to steady her. Sheesh, was this guy for real?
“Is it okay if I give you a hug?” she asked, looking up at him.
“Och, aye, I think we could both use a good coorie after everything.”
Violet assumed coorie must be another Scottish term. From the way he said it, it sounded cozier than a hug—more like a cuddle. And looking at the broad, handsome man before her, she definitely wasn't opposed.
She was a relatively tall woman at five-foot-eight, but it was still a stretch to reach up and hug him. The man had to be at least six-foot-four. She wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders, and in turn, she felt his strong arms wrap around her waist. There was a rightness to being in his arms that she couldn't explain. Violet settled in, laying her face against his chest, hearing the steady beat of his heart, and feeling his warmth wrap around her like a sun-drenched towel after a cold swim in the sea. He curled down over her, pulling her in closer to him, and a little sigh escaped her.
It seemed such a natural thing to do. They might be strangers, but they’d been through an intense ordeal together. It felt right to hug the man who’d virtually saved her and cared enough to get her help and even come back the next day to check on her.
Her knight was a good guy…with an incredibly broad, firm chest. A new awareness tingled through her as his hand stroked down her back. It was as if time stood still as his deliciously muscled arms snugged her in closer. Her head nestled perfectly into his chest. Mmm , and he smelled yummy—clean and fresh with a hint of expensive spiciness. Unfortunately, she remembered her own disheveled state: stale and sweat-laden skin and clothes after a long night’s stay in a hospital.
Reluctantly, she untangled herself from their embrace. Aside from her current hygiene-deficient condition, she probably shouldn’t be lusting after the man anyway, especially not in her hospital room.