Sweet Seduction

Chapter 23

“Where the hell is Micah?" Nathan asked.

Pop looked up from the scattered paperwork on Faith's desk while Connor stood to the side staring over Pop's shoulder as they looked for an invoice.

"I forgot this was his time off," Pop muttered.

"You gave him time off when we're short Faith and Gray?" Nathan asked in disbelief.

"Well, it wouldn't be my first choice, but the only time he ever asks for is every year on precisely the same days. He has a standing request in. Never changes them. Never calls in any other time, so I have a hard time telling him no."

Nathan frowned. Come to think of it, Micah did take off every single year on the same days. Even stranger, he disappeared and no one knew where he went or heard from him until he came back to work.

"Faith and Gray will be home tomorrow," Connor offered. "At least we'll have decent coffee again."

Pop grunted, his lips curled into a surly line. None of them was worth a damn without their supply of coffee. Problem was, no one knew what kind Faith used. It was her highly guarded secret. She used it as a weapon in case they ever got any crazy ideas about firing her. As if.

"So how'd your date with Julie go, anyway?" Connor asked. "Haven't had a chance to ask you since you two went out."

Nathan blinked. They didn't normally talk about their damn personal lives. But he saw the gleam in Connor's eyes and scowled.

"It went fine."

"Yeah? She stick around long enough for you to call it an actual date?"

"You're asking for it, Malone."

"Leave the boy alone," Pop said with a wave of his hand. "We've got enough to do without you two bickering like a bunch of children."

Connor sent him a sideways look and grinned slyly. "I was thinking, if you two aren't going out regularly, I might ask her out. I've only met her a couple of times but she's seriously hot."

Nathan rocketed to his feet. "Over my dead body!"

Pop gave him a disgusted look. "Sit down, son. You're way too damn easy."

Connor chuckled. "Who says I wasn't serious?"

"That girl would eat you alive," Pop said, not looking up from his search. "Look at what she's done to Nathan. You like your conquests to be easy, and I'd say Julie's anything but easy."

Nathan snickered. "You like 'em easy, eh, Connor? There's a word for that, you know."

"Fuck you. I just like girls who don't rank up there with crazy ex-girlfriend status."

"You've had your share of crazy exes," Pop muttered.

"Oh?" Nathan hooted. "Do share, Pop."

"Don't we have work to do?" Connor asked.

Pop grinned and looked over the paper he was holding. "I'll never forget the one girl who waited for him naked in bed. He was coming home on leave, and he'd broken things off with her before he shipped out last. Only problem was, it was my bed she took position in. I liked to have never got her out of there. Connor hid in his bedroom like a damn coward."

Nathan laughed until his sides hurt while Connor glared holes in his dad.

"There was also the one who painted herself in camo colors and decided that was all the clothing she needed."

"Pop, enough already."

Connor sounded a little desperate, which made Nathan all the more determined to hear Pop out.

Ignoring Connor's frantic attempts to hush him, Pop laid the stack of papers to the side and leaned back in his chair, his teeth flashing in a smile.

"The girl had brass, I have to hand it to her. Connor and I were at the local pizza place having dinner—with Connor's new girlfriend, I might add—when Miss Camo-in-All-the-Right-Places waltzes up to Connor and plops herself onto his lap."

"Yeah, and my new girlfriend dumped me over that," Connor grumbled. "I've sworn off psycho women."

"Julie's not psycho," Nathan growled.

Connor grinned. "I never said she was. I want to ask her out, remember?"

"Quit yanking his chain," Pop said. "Wouldn't hurt you to ask someone out, though. I'm not getting any younger. I'd like grandchildren before I'm too old to see them."

"We could always set him up," Nathan snickered. "I'm sure Micah knows someone."

"I don't need your goddamn help finding a woman. The day I do is the day they put my ass in a pine box."

Nathan held up his hands. "Touchy today."

"It's called not getting any," Pop said with a perfectly straight face.

The laughter Nathan had been trying to hold back poured out. Connor rolled his eyes and sighed in resignation.

"When you two are through dissecting my love life, I'll be out in the truck waiting. Someone has to do the goddamn work around here."

Connor stalked off while Nathan was still laughing. Connor could give with the best, but he damn sure couldn't take it.

Still chuckling, Pop hauled himself up and grabbed his keys. "Well, come on. Let's go join my grumpy-ass son so we can get this job done. He's right about one thing. Someone has to work around here since it seems everyone's taking off at the same time."

Nathan walked out ahead of Pop and slid into the SUV with Connor. A few minutes later, Pop ambled over to Connor's side and motioned for him to roll down the window.

"You two go on ahead. I'll take my truck. I want to check on a system I just got a call about. Owner says the alarm keeps going off."

"Sure you don't want us to come along and help diagnose the problem?" Connor asked.

Pop grunted. "I may not be the computer guru in the family, but I'm laying odds it's a damn stray cat or a squirrel that's the culprit. If I have any trouble, I'll holler at you boys."

Connor nodded and backed out of the parking lot.

"Want something to eat before we go?" Connor asked.

Nathan shrugged. He wasn't really that hungry, but Connor and food made a date at least every two hours. Nathan was convinced the guy had tapeworms. There was no other explanation for how he never worked out with the other guys, and yet he was lean and muscled despite the fact he ate half an elephant's weight on a daily basis.

They hit the drive-through of their favorite local fast food joint, and Nathan listened while Connor ordered an obscene amount of food. Nathan got a coffee, thinking it couldn't be worse than Connor's earlier attempt. It wasn't much better, but it was liquid caffeine.

"Julie's salon isn't far from here, is it?" Connor asked casually.

"No," Nathan said tightly.

"Shopping center one block over, huh?"

Nathan turned to look at Connor, his eyes narrowed to slits. "Cut the crap, Connor. Unless you're wanting to schedule a hair appointment, why the hell do you care where Julie's salon is?"

"Or a massage," Connor said innocently. "I guess I could always get my ear pierced like you and pussy boy Hudson."

"Pussy boy Hudson would kick your ass and you know it," Nathan said with a grin.

"Nah, he's old and rusty."

Nathan snorted. "And you aren't? You've gotten soft since getting out."

"Julie's different," Connor said, pulling the conversation back to her again. It was starting to annoy the shit out of Nathan.

"What do you mean, different?"

Connor shrugged. "You know what I mean. She's .. . rounder, a little on the plump side. You usually date the tall, lean blonde types."

Nathan stared at him agape. Plump? Was he trying to insinuate that Julie was fat?

Connor glanced over at him and cocked an eyebrow. "Why do you look so appalled, man?"

"What the hell are you trying to say?"

"Just that she's not your usual type. She's got hips, breasts."

"She's fucking perfect," Nathan growled. "Ain't a goddamn thing wrong with her." Hips and breasts. Was Connor sitting there seriously criticizing Julie's attributes? If he wasn't driving, Nathan would kick his ass on the spot.

"I wasn't badmouthing her, dude. Just citing the differences."

"How about you don't even fucking look at her, and you won't have to worry about her differences."

Connor chuckled and held up one hand in surrender.

"Hey, speak of the devil. Isn't that her?"

Nathan blinked at the abrupt change in topic but looked in the direction of Connor's attention. Sure enough, Julie's sporty convertible darted into traffic from the on-ramp and surged ahead three cars.

Her hair blew behind her head, whipping in the wind like strands of silk. She handled the little car like a pro, and she obviously enjoyed the ride. There was a hint of daredevil in her as she weaved back and forth in the busy traffic.

"On second thought, I can see why you're hot for her," Connor murmured as he accelerated to keep up. "Something about a chick in a hot car."

Nathan rolled his eyes. Julie could be driving a grandma car and Nathan would still be hot for her.

Ahead, Julie moved over to the far right lane and put her blinker on to exit. At that precise moment a truck came barreling up the on-ramp and T-boned the small car without ever coming close to yielding.

"Son of a bitch!" Nathan yelled.

Julie's car spun crazily into traffic, and cars scattered across four lanes in an effort to avoid a collision. The asshole driving the truck never even slowed. He careened wildly around several cars, regained control and roared off.

Julie slammed into the far left concrete divider and came to a halt.

In a maneuver eerily reminiscent of Julie's crazy skitter across the freeway, Connor roared over, executing a sharp U-turn and narrowly missing an eighteen-wheeler that had slowed when the accident occurred.

Nathan was out and running as soon as Connor came to a stop. Connor was already on the phone. Nathan's only thought was to get to Julie.

The car was facing the wrong way and the battered passenger side rested against the concrete dividers. Julie's head lolled to the side, blood dripping from a cut above her eye. So much for the goddamn airbags.

He glanced around and then to the steering wheel. It was the only thing she could have hit her head on. Thank God she'd worn her seatbelt.

"Julie? Julie, honey, can you hear me?"

A soft moan was her only response.

He touched her shoulder, too afraid to touch her anywhere else. He didn't want to jostle her or have her move her neck unnecessarily. If she hit the steering wheel, she'd have a hell of a case of whiplash and who knows what kind of neck or back injuries.

Her eyes flickered open and she stared fuzzily back at him.

"Nathan?" she whispered.

"Yes, honey, it's me."

Her brow crinkled in confusion and pain. "Am I dead?"

His gut clenched at even hearing such a thing.

"No, you're not dead. I need you to stay with me, though, okay? Can you keep those gorgeous eyes open until the ambulance gets here?"

By now more than one person had stopped. Two cars had parked in the inside lane to keep traffic diverted around Julie's car, a fact he was grateful for. The last thing he wanted was for them to get plowed again, and he wasn't going to leave her nor was he going to move her out of the car.

In the distance, sirens wailed, which meant either the cops or the ambulance was already en route. The sooner they got Julie the hell off the freeway, the better he'd feel.

"Am I going to be all right?" she asked anxiously, her eyes focusing unsteadily on him. "I don't feel so well."

Panic surged through his system. He reached tentatively for her hand, doing a quick look to see if there were any obvious injuries before curling his fingers gently around hers.

"You're going to be fine, honey. I promise."

Please don't let him have just handed her a huge lie.

Connor hurried up to stand next to Nathan. "Don't move her. Wait for the ambulance."

Nathan tempered his irritation. Connor was only doing what was best for Julie. "I know. I'm just trying to keep her calm."

Connor leaned over to stare at the blood seeping down Julie's face. "Julie, sweetheart, do you hurt anywhere else but your head?"

She clutched at Nathan's fingers a little tighter, her pupils dilating a bit in fear. That had to be good, right? He remembered one thing about head injuries. It was good if the pupils were equal and reactive. And she was awake. Not entirely lucid, but she'd just had the shit scared out of her. He could hardly expect her to act normally.

"I don't know. My head hurts." Her brow wrinkled in concentration. "My shoulder, I think." She glanced down and both Connor and Nathan shouted a quick no.

She blinked in confusion.

"Don't move your neck, honey," Nathan said soothingly. "Try and stay as still as possible." He rubbed his thumb across her knuckles and tried to ease the shaking in her hand.

Connor nudged Nathan's arm. "The ambulance just pulled up."

Connor moved out of the way, but Nathan stayed with Julie, holding her hand until the paramedics hurried up and asked him to step aside.

Though he hated to get too far away from her, he was only in the way as they began the process of extricating her from the car.

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.