Latched (Coronado Series Book 1) (29 page)

The Doctor finally spoke, “Let’s decrease his medication. I think the Lt. Commander is ready to join us.” The nurses did as he asked, and it was now a waiting game. She texted Carol with the information and told her to take her time. The Doctor didn’t think they were going to see any significant changes until the morning.
 

Birdie went to the nurse’s station and got a cup of tea then returned to the room. Settling in with her iPad, she decide to start working on a song list for their wedding. She plugged in her earphones and started choosing songs. She didn’t realize she was singing along to the music and also didn’t know how loud she was. She suddenly felt Mark squeeze her hand, she pulled out her ear buds and stared at him. He was trying to say something - she quickly popped out of the chair and leaned into him. “I would know that awful voice anywhere, I sure missed it.” She started kissing his face and crying, “I knew you wouldn’t leave me.” She pushed the nurse’s button and they came in - everyone was surprised how quickly he was coming back. “People have always told me how bad my singing was and I sort of believed them. Now I know I’m bad enough to wake someone up from a heavily medicated sleep. I guess I really am that bad.” The nurses all laughed and Mark looked at her with love in his eyes. She looked back, “Hi. I missed you, thank you for coming back to me.”

MONDAY EVENING

Carol sat next to her son’s bed as the nurses took his vitals. Birdie had just left for the hotel to get cleaned up. Mark’s voice had not fully come back yet and he was speaking very quietly. “Mom, thanks for coming, you didn’t have to.”
 

She looked at her son with a disbelieving face, “As if I would not come and make sure my only son was all right. It worked out, I had gone down to spend the weekend with Birdie and her Mom, so when I got the call she had a plan within five minutes. I think you’re going to be in good hands with her, she never faltered for one second. She actually arrived before me. Unfortunately I took the Navel transport and it took forever.
 

 
Mark tried to sit up and remembered how badly he got banged up this time. “I knew she was special before any of this happened. I’m damn lucky to have survived this one, we had some bad Intel and our back up came in a little late. We got the job done though. That is the last thing I remember before the explosion. Some asshole got lucky with a rocket launcher. Gave us a little trouble during our extraction.
 

The nurse came in and disconnected some of the equipment that he was plugged into and changed some of the meds in his IV line. “We are going to try and get you in a wheel chair later on and let you get out of the room for a little while.”
 

“I can try walking, with some help.”

She looked down at him sympathetically, “Not with your knee so torn up. They are going to reconstruct it here.” He looked down at his leg and recognized the feeling of pain in his knee. He knew it was unlikely that he was going to go back to active duty. All of the king’s horses and all of the king’s men were probably not going to be able to put him back together again. He had already had it reconstructed twice before. A new bionic knee was going to be nice, but not enough to get him back on the teams. He knew he had a lot to be grateful for but wasn’t sure if he was ready to leave active duty.
 

Carol looked at him, “We knew it wasn’t going to last forever. But it is always a shock when it happens sooner than we think.” He looked at his mom and nodded.

********

Birdie walked into Mark’s room and caught sight of him sitting up and her heart flipped over. He was impossibly handsome to her. She went up to his bed, took his hand and planted a big kiss on him. “Hi Handsome, how is it going?”

He leaned his head against hers and whispered in her ear, “Did you miss me?”
 

“I sure did.”

Carol got up, “I am in need of some coffee. Birdie would you like some?”

“Let me go get it, you two visit.”
 

“Catch up with him. I’ll be back in a little bit, I have some phone calls to make.”

“Oh my gosh, that’s so embarrassing. I feel like I got caught necking with my boyfriend in the basement.”
 

“Quick let’s make out before someone else comes in. I missed you.”
 

“Is that allowed… I don’t think that’s allowed.”
 

He pulled her against him and laid his mouth on hers, “Baby, it’s the best medicine in the world. You wouldn’t deny me a little physical pleasure.” Birdie got caught up in the kissing and didn’t hear the nurse come in.

She finally heard the laughter and pulled back. The nurse looked at them both, “I’ve heard about the magic powers of SEALs and I guess I’ve seen it in person now.”
 

Birdie sat up and pulled her shirt down and whispered in his ear, “Don’t say anything.” He just smiled back at her and looked very satisfied.
 

“I heard you found a wedding dress, it sounds like we could get married next month.”
 

“I did find a dress, but we’re not getting married next month.”
 

“How about a winter wedding….December? We could have it the first weekend of December.”

“I am not competing with Christmas. We can get married in January. How about the last weekend in January?”

“How about the first weekend in January? How about New Year’s Eve?”

She looked as if she was considering the idea, “I will make some calls when we get home. Maybe we can pull it off for New Year’s Eve. Let’s get you out of here first and then work on a wedding.”

Sitting next to him on the bed, she held his hand, “I’m sure glad to see your handsome face.”
 

Mark leaned forward and gently placed his lips against hers and it felt like the first time he kissed her at the wedding. He felt the pit in his stomach and his heart was racing a little. He felt Birdie lean into him, he placed his big hand on the back of her head and deepened the kiss. She returned his kiss with all the love in her heart. Birdie James was a good woman to come home to and he was damn glad he found her.

Birdie pulled back a little, “Can we not tell people how my bad singing woke you up from a drug- induced sleep?”

“Sure baby, whatever you want.”
 

Mark was damn happy that Birdie had finally latched on to him, he was never going to let her go.

THE END

I am a visual thinker and I need a story board to look at while I am creating the characters in my book. Please take a look at my Pinterest board

 
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SNATCHED

CORONADO SERIES

BOOK TWO

Coming in May 2015

CHAPTER ONE

At least it wasn’t a dead body or rat on the front porch, only a bunch of dead, decapitated roses.
 

Ignoring the sweat trickling down her back, Rory jumped in her car and made her way downtown. Dead flowers were not that big of a deal in the scheme of things. Coming face to face with the person who was sending such sweet gifts might be.
 

She zig zaged in and out of traffic and thought about the man that she’d met yesterday and how attractive he was. She hoped he was as good as Birdie said, otherwise she was never going to be free. She drove into downtown, found the street and checked the address on the tall elegant glass building. Discovering she was in the right place, she swung into the parking structure and found a spot.
 

She gathered her things, got in the elevator and tried to take a deep breath. Unfortunately, the form fitting business dress she wore made it nearly impossible. She walked up to the offices of ASI and noticed two security cameras above the door. She looked for the door handle and couldn’t find one, she finally saw a panel to the left and a bell right above it. She heard the whirring sound of the cameras as they moved to locate her image.
I guess they must be good if they have all of these precautions.
She rang the bell and a minute later heard a click as the door slid silently open. She walked in through the door and was greeted by the receptionist, “May I help you?”

“Yes, I’m here to meet with Max. He is expecting me, I’m Rory Basso.”

“Of course. Please have a seat and I will let him know you’re here.”

The lobby was beautiful – luxurious yet comfortable. There were huge plants in the corners, soft classical music in the background and plush armchairs to enjoy. She sat down and looked around as she waited for Max to be available. She noticed some impressive original art on the walls and the lovely Aubusson carpet beneath her feet.
They must be good at what they do, to afford such lovely offices.

She looked through the heavy glass wall that separated the back offices and watched him walk down the long hall in front of her
. He, is as attractive as I remember
. At a little over 6 feet, with broad shoulders he certainly qualified as man candy. The man was built like a bear, you could see his well-developed chest under his dress shirt. He had short light brown hair and eyes the same color as hers. The man was very good looking. She admonished herself,
Pull it together - not here to get a date. Here to get rid of a stalker.
She had bigger fish to fry and this wasn’t time for her sleeping libido to wake up.
 

Max walked down the hall and watched her stand and was struck again by how much she reminded him of an Italian movie star from the fifties. It wasn’t hard to imagine a man becoming obsessed and stalking her. He walked through the glass doors, “Hi Rory. Welcome to Security Alliance.”

She took his big hand, shook it and smiled into his eyes. Feeling a jolt of electricity, he calmly held her hand and gazed into her pretty emerald eyes.
That’s interesting
. “Let’s go back to my office, would you like anything to drink?”

“No thank you, I’m fine.” She followed him down the hall and noticed that beneath the wool of his black slacks he had a very fine ass. You could probably crack a walnut on it. She knew it was inappropriate, yet it didn’t stop her from enjoying the view.
 

As they arrived at his office door she passed in front of him, and he smelled vanilla. He had no idea that vanilla was an aphrodisiac. He watched her walk over to a chair that faced his desk and allowed himself to enjoy the view of her curvy figure. She dropped her briefcase and sat on the edge of the chair and waited for him to take his seat. He noticed the tension in her shoulders and hoped he could solve this for her quickly. “When you’re ready, let me know how we can help you.”

No dead bodies… only dead roses, pull it together.
“I want you to know that I’m both scared and mad at the situation I find myself in. I don’t like feeling vulnerable and I’m furious with the son of a bitch who is doing this. In fact, I may bash the bastard’s head in when I find out who it is.” She let out a big breath and crossed her legs. “Sorry about that, I’ve been holding that thought in for a while.”
 

“No problem, let it out. The more information you give us, the faster we can solve this for you.” He watched her sit back and heard the hiss of nylons as she re-crossed her legs. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d heard anything so sexy. A surprising image flashed through his mind and it involved him slowly pulling down her stockings. It might or might not involve him using his teeth. It definitely involved his hands in places that she might not feel was appropriate in light of their current relationship. He tried to regulate his breathing and keep a neutral expression on his face. He didn’t want her to figure out what was going through his mind.
 

She opened her briefcase and looked for the bag with the notes. “I want to thank you for taking the time to meet with me. I’m sure you’re terribly busy and I appreciate it.” She continued to rummage through her briefcase and finally found what she was looking for. She looked up and stared at him, “Where are you from?

He laughed, “I’m from a small town in Georgia called Cedartown. I sometimes forget about my accent.”
 

“I thought you might be from Alabama. I’m not sure why I’m asking about that right now. Before I got here I reminded myself to be thankful that there were only dead roses and not dead bodies on my front porch. Maybe I’m just distracting myself.”
 

“I know walking through our doors often makes the situation more real for our clients.” He watched her closely and realized she was getting close to her limit. He came around the desk, sat next to her and put his hand on her arm. “We got this. The team and I will take care of you.” Her eyes lifted and she felt relief for the first time in several months. She put her hand on top of his and squeezed.