Maya Banks - Sweet Seduction

Two policemen were talking to Connor, and Connor called him over.

"He and I both witnessed it," Connor explained when Nathan walked up.

"Yeah," Nathan said distractedly as he looked back to see the progress they were making with Julie. "I got the plates on the truck that hit her."

"I'd like your statement," one of the police officers said as he stepped away from Connor and the other cop.

"Uh, look, can it wait? I want to go to the hospital with her."

The cop gave him a curious look. "You know her?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Let me have your contact information. If I don't catch you at the hospital, I'll get in touch with you later this afternoon. We'll need what information you can give us so we can prosecute this as a hit and run."

"Damn right," Nathan growled. "The son of a bitch wasn't looking where he was going and then he left without even slowing down. I'd like to ring his damn neck."

One of the paramedics motioned for Nathan. They had Julie on a stretcher and were wheeling her toward the ambulance.

"Go. I'll get with you later."

"Thanks," Nathan said as he sprinted to the back of the ambulance.

After the stretcher was loaded, one of the medics stepped back and motioned Nathan inside. Nathan climbed up and slid along the bench until he was at Julie's head.

The paramedic got in behind him while the other shut the doors and went around to the cab.

"Do me a favor and hop into the jump seat," the paramedic said, motioning to the seat above Julie's stretcher. "I need to examine her on the way in so I can give the hospital a report."

When Nathan repositioned himself, Julie softly called his name.

"Right here, honey," he said, lowering his hand to lightly stroke the side of her head that wasn't injured.

He watched while the paramedic efficiently examined her for other injuries, checked her vitals, assessed her pupils and fitted a loose bandage to her head to stop the bleeding.

He listened with keen interest when the medic called in his report to the emergency room and breathed a sigh of relief when he reported nothing major in his findings.

A few minutes later they came to a halt outside the ambulance entrance to the ER and the doors opened. He and the medic piled out and he waited to the side while they removed Julie's stretcher and wheeled her inside.

No one shooed him from the exam room, so he stood back out of the way while they poked and prodded, hooked her up to monitors and ascertained her level of consciousness. She looked frightened and incredibly vulnerable. Her gaze skated frantically left and right. Was she looking for him? He told her he wouldn't leave her, but how was she to know that now if she couldn't see him?

He stepped forward just enough that he could get into her peripheral vision. When her gaze settled on him, her eyes flooded with relief. She seemed to relax under the straps holding her to the backboard.

One of the nurses turned to him, putting her hand on his arm. "We need to clear her spine before we remove the C-collar and take her off the backboard. We're also going to get a CT of her head. She's doing fine so far. Her vitals are stable. Blood pressure is good. She's reacting to normal stimuli. You can stay with her until we do the X-rays."

"Thanks."

As soon as she moved, Nathan beat a path to Julie's bed. Her gaze moved upward when he stood over her and their eyes locked.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"For what, honey?"

"I don't know where you came from, but I was so scared, and you made me feel safe. That was the single most terrifying moment of my life. I'm so glad you were there."

He lowered his head to brush a kiss over her forehead. "Glad I could help. You scared the life out of me when I saw that truck hit you."

A shudder quivered through her body, and he touched her cheek with his fingers, caressing lightly in an attempt to soothe her.

"You're going to be fine, Julie. Just a knock on the head it looks like, and hey, if a part of your body is going to get abused, it might as well be your hard head."

She grinned and then winced. He frowned when he saw a little tiny cut in the corner of her mouth. Had she bitten it? Before she could close her lips again, he leaned down and gently fused his mouth to the cut.

She went still, her quick intake of breath her only reaction.

"Better?" he murmured as he pulled away.

"Better," she whispered.

His mind was already doing swift calculations. He knew she lived alone and didn't have anyone to look in on her much less take care of her. Taking her home with him was probably out of the question, and she probably wouldn't appreciate his slobby ass bachelor den anyway. He seriously needed to clean it up because he didn't want her to run screaming the first time she came over. And she would be coming over.

But he could definitely go home with her and make sure she took her pain pills, ate right and didn't fall on her face on her way to the bathroom. She could end up lying there all night and nobody would ever know.

His scowl deepened as he imagined her cold, alone and in pain. No, he could stay with her. It was just as well the independent heifer learn to have him around, because he didn't plan to go anywhere, despite her repeated attempts to shake him.

She might be stubborn—beautiful, willful, a handful of luscious woman but stubborn nonetheless—but he hadn't grown up with four women just to turn out to be some namby-pamby pushover. He was skilled at getting what he wanted. Hell, he had to be in a houseful of hormonally deranged females.

Two male techs entered Julie's room.

"Hi, gorgeous. My name is Steven and my partner here is David. We're going to go take some pictures of you."

He glanced up at Nathan. "We won't be long if you'd like to wait in the waiting room. She won't be coming back to this room. This is sort of our triage holding area. We'll be moving her to a different exam room until it's determined if she'll be admitted or not."

"You'll get me when she comes back?" Nathan asked.

"Sure, I'll holler at you myself. What's your name?"

"Nathan Tucker, and thanks."

"No problem, man. We'll take good care of her, I promise."

Nathan leaned down and kissed her forehead again. "I'll see you soon, okay?"

She gave him a half smile. "Okay."

Nathan waited until she'd been wheeled out before he made his way to the waiting room. Connor was standing there, hands shoved into his pockets leaning against one of the windows. He straightened when Nathan came out.

"How's she doing?"

"Good, I think. They've taken her to X-ray to clear her spine, and they want to do a scan of her head to make sure there aren't any bleeds. She was still conscious. Shaky and scared out of her mind, but that's to be expected."

"You staying?" Connor asked.

Nathan nodded. "Yeah."

"Okay, if you want, Pop and I will run your truck over and park it in the garage. I'll find you to give you the keys."

"Thanks. I'd appreciate that. Not sure what's going on here. They won't know if they're keeping her until they get the X-rays back."

"Not a problem. I called Pop and let him know what was going on. You might want to call her friend Serena. No sense worrying Faith if Julie's going to be all right. She and Gray are flying in tomorrow morning. I don't want to ruin their last night in Vegas."

"Yeah, I agree. I'll give Serena a holler when I know more. I don't want to freak her out."

"Okay, see you in a bit."

"Thanks, man."

"You bet," Connor said as he walked toward the exit.

Julie breathed a sigh of relief when they unfastened her C-collar and carefully pulled it away from her neck.

"There you go, Miss Stanford. Can you move your head a bit?"

Julie stared up at the nurse and moved slowly from side to side.

"Good. Does that hurt? Any tenderness?"

Julie frowned. "Just a little stiff."

"That's to be expected. You're definitely going to feel it tomorrow."

"What about my head?"

"The doctor is just now getting the report. He should be in to talk to you shortly." She frowned when Julie winced. "Are you in pain?"

"Head," Julie muttered. "And my shoulder."

"Ah, yes, you have quite a bruise forming on that shoulder. As soon as the doctor gives me the okay, I'll give you something for pain. In the meantime, want me to let your young man back in? He's been pacing a hole in our waiting room floor."

Nathan. He was still here. For a moment, anticipation and something that felt strangely like joy surged through her veins like a shot of adrenaline. Where had he come from? She was still confused by the entire episode. Maybe she'd never really remember it all. One minute she'd been driving down the freeway enjoying having the top down, the next she was staring up at Nathan while he held her hand.

When she realized the nurse was staring at her, still waiting on an answer, she carefully nodded. "Yes, send him in, please."

The nurse smiled, patted her on the arm and turned to walk back out. A few minutes later, Nathan hurried in, concern shadowed in his eyes.

He did feel something for her. Something beyond lust and frustration. There was genuine worry for her reflected on his face. It made her feel warm and kind of funny on the inside. No one had ever really fussed over her like he had on the way to the hospital. It was strangely addicting.

"Hey," he said softly when he neared the bed. "I see they got you out of the bondage gear."

She chuckled softly, careful not to shake parts that didn't need shaking. "Yeah, it's a huge relief. That backboard was about to kill me, and having that C-collar on is like having someone's hands wrapped around your throat just waiting to squeeze."

He touched her face, smoothing her hair back behind her ear. "How are you feeling?"

"I've been better," she said ruefully. "I'd say I feel like I've been run over, but I guess I was."

His expression darkened. "Yeah, you were."

"Can you tell me what happened?" she asked. "I don't remember a whole lot. It all happened so fast. I just remember spinning and thinking I was going to die."

"Are you sure you want to go over this now? I don't want to upset you."

"I'm sure. I'm okay, really. Just stiff and sore. Nurse says I'll be worse tomorrow."

"A truck coming up the on-ramp decided that yield meant run over the nearest car, and he rammed you right in the middle on the passenger side. Sent you spinning into traffic where, thank God, you didn't hit any other cars. You came to a stop against the concrete dividers. Your airbag didn't deploy, and you hit your head on the steering wheel."

She tentatively reached to touch her shoulder, wincing at how tender it felt. "That would explain the shoulder too." She glanced back up at him. "You saw all this?"

"Connor and I were behind you when you got hit."

"Oh."

"They say whether they're keeping you yet?"

She shook her head. "I'm waiting on the doc to go over the results of the scan. X-rays were all negative, so that's good."

"Yeah, that's great. You scared me, honey."

She allowed the endearment to roll around, even testing it silently on her tongue. It sounded good coming from him, all soft and lovey sounding almost. Nothing like the affectionate "hon" she used when talking to Faith or Serena. Coming from him, it sounded damn sexy.

"I scared myself." Then reality hit her square in the chest. "My car," she said mournfully.

"What?"

"My car. She's totaled, I bet."

He looked confused by her emphasis on the car, and she couldn't blame him. She was lucky to be alive, but damn, she loved that car.

Tears brimmed in her eyes, which really pissed her off. The last thing she wanted was to turn into a weepy mess in front of Nathan, but her car. That vehicle represented an essential part of her freedom. It was an absolute celebration of herself, warts and all. She'd bought it the day after she'd gained back her weight and grew back her self-esteem.

"Aw honey, don't cry. I'm sure if the car is totaled, the insurance will pay for a new one."

She sniffed indelicately and wondered for the hundredth time why she couldn't cry like Faith. "It won't be the same. That car was special."