Lust Thy Neighbor (26 page)

“Fuck, please be fine. Please be okay.”

Declan rushed into the emergency room entrance, immediately wincing when the scent of antiseptic hit him with a vengeance.

"I'm looking for Violet Kelly," Declan heard himself say to the ER receptionist. “There was a car accident. She would've been brought in early this morning.”

The receptionist typed something into her computer then glanced up at him "Are you a relative, sir?"

“No.” His throat felt tight. "I'm her—" What was he going to say? Should he lie and say he was her husband, fiancé, her brother? Or tell the truth and say that he was her ex-boyfriend who had plans to fix that mistake as soon he saw for himself that she was alive and well. He settled on the most basic truth. "She's mine."

The receptionist gave him a questioning look. “I'm sorry, but—.”

"Listen, I just really need to see her.” He leaned against the receptionist’s desk, his chest rising and falling rapidly. “I’m in love with her. I love her, and I ... I just want to make sure she's fine. I need to be there for her.”

Something in his eyes must have softened her because she clicked a few keys her computer and nodded toward the elevator on the other side of the lobby. “She’s in room 206.”

*

V
iolet’s head pounded violently and despite the pain meds, a dull pain settled over her entire right side. 

"Follow my finger." A penlight shined in her eyes and she tracked the doctor's finger. "Good. Well, Miss Kelly, you’re going to be just fine. You're going to have some pain and discomfort, but your prescription should take care of that. You're a very, very lucky girl.”

Violet nodded, massaging her temple. She remembered the crash vividly—the sound of the collision and the horrible crunch of metal. The airbags deployed and had given her a second shock since she'd never been in an accident before in her life. She had come to only to find a stranger asking if she was okay—a passing driver who had witnessed everything and waited with her until the paramedics arrived.

“Do you have any questions?” her doctor asked, and she shook her head. She just wanted to get out of there.

"Do you live with someone, Miss Kelly?" When she shook her head again, he continued, "The reason I ask is that we don't need to keep you overnight as long as someone will check on you every hour or so to make sure you're okay."

"I-I could call my ... mother." But for some reason, it wasn't Alice’s face she saw when she closed her eyes but Declan’s. The same face she'd been thinking about before the accident. Of course, she wouldn't call him because she didn't want him helping her out of pity or some sense of misplaced guilt. Maybe, so she wouldn't have to face Alice's hysterics, she’d call Beck so she could wait a few hours before telling her mom what had happened.

"She's going home with me."

Both she and the doctor turned at the low voice from the door. Her breath caught and something twisted her chest as she stared across the room into dark brown eyes. “Declan?” Her voice sounded hoarse, relieved.

He strode into the room and took the hand she’d lifted to anxiously tuck her hair behind her ear, gripping her fingers like she’d slip away if he released her. "Thank god you're okay. When Jake told me you'd been in an accident, I thought....”

In her mind, she was able to finish the words left unsaid. He had thought she was gone, like his parents. “I'm okay.” When he pressed his mouth to the spot where the airbag had burned the palm of her hand, a shiver coursed down her spine, and she was breathless when she added, “A little sore, but I promise I’m okay.”

“If I take her home, is she free to go?” He looked over his shoulder to the doctor, who responded with a brief nod. “Good,” he added before returning his gaze to her. His voice was low and rough when he said, “You're not calling Alice, because I want to be the one to take care of you. You're coming home with me, where you belong. You belong with
me,
and I'm a goddamn fool for not making sure I told you that sooner.”

Her throat felt tight as the intense heat from his dark gaze swept over her, but she found herself nodding.

"I'll give you two a moment." She heard her doctor as he walked toward the door, but she couldn't take her eyes off the man in front of her. “The nurse will be in soon with your discharge papers and your aftercare instructions. Take care, Miss Kelly.”

"Thank you, doctor.”

When the door was closed and they were alone, Declan eased down on the edge of her bed and drew in a deep breath. He exhaled and closed his eyes for a moment. "You scared me to death." Gently, he pressed her hand to his chest, where she felt the harsh, erratic drumming of his heartbeat. “I thought I’d be too late. That you’d be seriously hurt or worse, and the last thing I said to you was that I didn’t want to try anymore.”

"I'm sorry,” she whispered.

For a moment, he stared at her incredulously. Then, he cupped her face, his fingers sifting through her disheveled hair as he brought his forehead down to hers. "Why are you apologizing? I'm the one who needs to be saying sorry.” She felt his warm breath fanning her face, and she closed her eyes, savoring the feel of him. “I fucked up epically.”

Even though she knew that talking through their issues was inevitable, she didn’t want guilt and fear clouding what they needed to say to each other. “We'll talk about it later.” She touched his face, tingles bursting over her skin when he turned his head to rub his nose against her palm. “I promise we’ll talk about everything.”

He nodded slowly. "I’d planned to talk to you tonight.”

She swallowed hard. "You were?"

Declan covered her lips with his, and she felt his answer to her question as he moved his mouth against hers. The kiss was desperate and passionate, and when he pulled away they were both winded. “I want to be with you, Violet—anyway I can have you. I'm going to take you home, tuck you in my bed, and when we're both ready, we're going to talk about what happened. We’re going to fix things.”

The corners of her lips quivered into a smile, and even though every inch of her body hurt, she felt better than she had in the last couple weeks. "Sounds perfect,” she whispered.

––––––––

W
alking toward his front door, Declan juggled the armful of papers and notes that had to be read and revised over the weekend, a few bags of groceries and Violet's pain meds. He had stayed up late last night, waking her up every hour to ask her if she knew her name, how old she was, where she lived, and other simple questions that had been on her hospital release papers. He had watched her sleep, finding comfort in the sight of the woman he loved drawing in breath after breath.

And he did love her. While he had already made up his mind before her accident to work things out between them, watching her sleep was just a reminder of how much he had nearly lost. His fear of getting burned seemed so trivial and childish because she’d brought so much happiness to his life.

For the past couple years, he'd been so cautious about getting hurt, he’d only focused on Jacob and his career and how to juggle the two. Even when he told Violet that he loved her, a part of him was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. He had been wrong. If he wanted the good, he had to deal with the bad. Life was too short to do anything else.

He found her curled on her side on his pillow, her gaze focused on the bouquet of daisies he had left for her on the nightstand that morning. When he opened the door a little more and it creaked, he heard her breath catch and she scrambled to sit up in bed. With her dark hair tangled around her shoulders and her eyes wide, he decided she’d never looked more beautiful.

"You're awake." He approached her slowly, feeling a heavy pressure on his chest as she licked her lips and stared down at her hands.

"I couldn’t sleep,” she admitted.

He sat down on the edge of the bed by her hip. "How are you feeling?"

"A little sore, but I’m okay.” She glanced at the flowers beside her. “Did you—are these from you?”

He reached out and touched the bandage on her chin before dropping his hand to the other side of her body, forming a loose cage around her with his arms. "They seemed like something you'd like. I had thought about grabbing you a Snickers bar, but since Alice said she wasn’t going to tell your grandma about the accident—”

“You talked to my mom?”

He nodded. “And she told me she was disappointed in me—for breaking up with you and for taking so long to get in touch with her to let her know what was going on. She asked me to tell you to call her the ducking minute you’re feeling up to it.” He cocked an eyebrow. “Ducking?”

“My mother made an autocorrect mistake a few months ago and she can’t let the joke go.” She groaned and squeezed her eyes shut. “I really, really hope she wasn’t too....”

When her voice trailed off, he found himself smiling. “Too Alice?”

“Yes.”

“She had some questions, but nothing I couldn’t handle.”

“Good,” she sighed. Without thinking, she plucked a daisy out of the vase and pulled a petal, biting her lip as she stared at him. For a long pause, they were silent—Violet pulling petals and Declan searching for the right words—until finally, he reached over and pulled a petal of his own.

"He loves you," he said, his voice rough and demanding.

"That wasn't the last one."

He grinned as he grabbed the flower and continued, "He loves you. He loves you." Twirling the stem, he showed her that one petal remained before he let the flower fall onto the bedspread between them. “I love you, Violet.”

Closing her fingers around the stem, she slowly lifted her gaze to his, the corners of her lips tugging up. "Are you sure I don't have a concussion?"

"No." He covered her hand with his. "I never stopped loving you. I was just an idiot. I overreacted because I didn’t know how to deal with bad memories. All I saw was a lie, and I pushed you away. But the thing is, I
can’t
stay away from you. I won’t ... unless that’s what you want and even then, I’ll fight like hell to win you back.”

"What if this happens again?” She flicked her tongue over her lips and hugged one arm around her stomach. “What if I do something that triggers another memory? Are we going to keep doing this because if we are—”

"No." His eyes hardened as he slid closer to her. "I promise you, I'm not going to bail like I did. If we break up, it won't be because of a misunderstanding."

"If we break up?"

He skimmed the pad of his thumb down the side of her face. "I just meant that I won’t let the shit that happened in my past get in the way of me loving you. And that’s what this is. Love.”

“I love you too,” she murmured. “But try your best not to be such a big ass again, all right?"

The corner of his lips kicked up in a smile. "Deal."

"And tell me you've been miserable without me."

“Trust me, I've beaten myself up about it. And don't worry—Jacob has barely spoken to me since we broke up. I've been doing a lot of thinking since you've left. I've missed you like hell."

"Me too."

"I’d planned to come talk to you last night—to explain things—but then you got into the accident....”

"I was going to talk to you, too."

"You were?"

She made a face but a smile curled her lips. "Yes, but I still feel like I should make you pay."

"Oh, I'm ready to." He leaned forward and kissed her, his mouth hot and demanding. "I'll make it up to you."

She leaned back and pulled him on top of her. "How so, neighbor?”

"With my mouth," he hummed against her neck. He inhaled her scent, drawing it deeply, trying to memorize something that he had desperately missed the last couple weeks. “With my hands,” he added, tracing his knuckles from the hollow of her throat to her belly button.

Her breath caught. “Keep going. Please.”

Resting on his elbows, he framed her face in his hands. "I don’t want to hurt you—” he started, but then she pulled his mouth to hers. 

"Stop being cliché and just love me, okay?”

Laughing, he tugged off the soft, well-worn tee he had put on her the night before. He smiled at the predictable way she blushed as he paused to take a moment to drink in the sight of her. "Damn, you're beautiful."

She smiled but remained silent. She loved that he constantly told her that. Too often she only saw the flaws in herself— her small breasts and wide hips—but Declan made her feel beautiful and wanted and perfect.

She loved him for that.

A moment later, her smile faded to a moan when his mouth covered her breast, and the sensation of his teeth against her nipple left her clutching his sheets. "Declan...."

"I could come just from tasting you." His voice was husky and rough, letting her know just how on edge he really was. He shot her a wicked grin that made her toes curl as he moved himself between her legs. "Lie back, sweetheart. I want to taste the rest."

She held her breath, knowing what was coming but nothing could have prepared her for the sensation of his mouth between her thighs. She expected him to remove her panties, but shock shot through her veins as he ran his tongue over the cotton covering her sex. "Declan!"

"Hmm?” She could clearly hear the amusement in his response. He used his tongue to push aside the fabric barrier and circled two fingers around her clit, a wide smile on his face as he looked up at her.

"You're killing me,” she moaned.

"No," he laughed and breathed in her scent."I'm loving you—just like you asked."

"Well love me up here." She pulled at his hair, briefly giving him a sting that only aroused him more. "I want to touch you.”

A moment later, his tongue tangled with hers, and she stroked light fingers over his chest. She felt him between her legs and then he was filling her slowly, fully. When she moved her legs onto his hips, he slid himself to the hilt and breathed against her neck, murmuring something unintelligible. Gripping her hip with one hand, he wedged his other between their tangled bodies, grinding his fingers against her clit until she was on fire and practically singing his name.