Insatiable Bachelor

  “I’ll tell him,” I assure him, trying to paint on a bright smile even though I’m scared out of my mind.

  Dr. Greenlaw and I walk in silence to the ICU. I’m hoping for some reassurance, but clearly he’s a man of few words. Or he’s smart enough not to get suckered into making a promise he can’t keep.

  “You can stay with him as long as you like. There will be frequent interruptions by the staff. Hit that red button there if you need anything.”

  “Thank you,” I muster as I cross the room and slide a chair close to his bed. Dalton looks relatively normal. His messy hair is pushed back, and a tiny tube of oxygen runs into his nose. But otherwise he looks as huge and handsome as always.

  “Dalton,” I whisper as though his eyes might pop open and all this could be over. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here for you. I wish you had called. I would have come. I would have been here with you.”

  He doesn’t move. No stirring of any kind. He looks peaceful and still. A man who is always in motion, always working, is now sidelined. He’d hate this.

  Glancing around the room, I take in how empty it is. There are no well wishes, no cards. Whoever Dalton has brought into his life over the years, he’s trained them well to keep their distance. I lace our fingers together and rest my head on his chest. “Wake up, Dalton. Come back to me.”

  The clock on the wall ticks in true cliché fashion, counting the minutes then hours of agony. Nurses pour in and I step back. They do their tests, smile warmly at me, and leave. I told both Ben and Kylie they can take off. There’s no need for them to hang around and wait. A hospital cafeteria is not what the two of them would be used to. I know my sister is relieved when she texts back.

  Kylie: We’re not going far. There is a nice bar down the road. We’ll be there. Call when that lazy ass wakes up.

  “Kylie is calling you lazy,” I report to Dalton, who responds only with the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest. In all the commotion I forgot to ask his father how he was doing. Was the procedure a success? Was he going to be all right? I consider going back down to ask, but I can’t imagine leaving Dalton right now. He’s going to wake up. I can feel it. Being the first thing he sees is the least I can do. “She seriously does not get when it’s too early for jokes. Socially awkward. You know she’s down the road right now with Ben at a bar. You think they’d ever date? He’s the opposite of anyone she’s ever been with. But you’re the opposite of anyone I’ve been with so maybe there is hope. Though I guess at this point we wouldn’t exactly be a good example. More like a cautionary tale.”

  I’m rambling because there is no one here to cut me off. “I called my father to tell him what happened. I couldn’t reach him. I figured he’d go off the radar for a little while to mourn the business. But I really wanted to tell him all about your plan. Just one more reason you need to wake up. You promised to help my father. You promised to help Kylie who is about to bite off way more than she can chew with the Bachelor Tower. You have things left to do.”

  Dalton groans as his lashes flutter slightly. “Dalton, wake up. It’s Penny. You have to wake up.”

  He responds with another grumble, but this time he sounds like he’s in pain. I slap my hand to the red button and wait as the nurses rush in.

  “He’s making noise,” I report frantically. “His eyes moved.”

  One machine bursts to life with a blaring alarm and the urgency on the faces of the nurses increases. They exchange orders to each other as a doctor rushes in. It’s only a moment later that I’m pulled out of the room and find myself standing alone in the hallway. “He’s waking up,” I say to myself. “That’s good, isn’t it?”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  Penny

  “He’s awake?” Kylie asks, looking thoroughly confused and out of breath. Ben’s on her heels and skids to a stop on the shiny linoleum floor.

  “I don’t know,” I admit, leaning myself against the wall. I’ve been out of his room for twenty minutes, and no one has come out to give me an update. “He made some noises, and I hit the button and everyone rushed in. Then it seemed like he was in some kind of distress and they had me wait out here.”

  “It’s probably nothing,” Ben says, trying to reassure me, but I’m way too far into the dark hole of worry to consider he might be right. “The doctor said it would be like a delayed reaction of coming out of anesthesia. Some people are sick when they wake up.”

  “Yeah,” Kylie jumps in. “Remember when I got my wisdom teeth out and I puked the whole way home?”

  I nod, just to let her know I’ve heard her, but I’m sure she can see it’s not working.

  Finally the door opens, and a few nurses come out looking pretty calm. If he was dead in there, surely they’d be looking a little more distressed.

  “You can go in. Just one at a time,” one nurse said, holding the door open for me.

  “Dalton,” I gasp as he tries to reposition himself and greet me. “Just lie still,” I insist, waving my hands at him. “I’m here.”

  “You didn’t have to—” he begins, but gives up when the doctor leans over to adjust one of the machines he’s attached to.

  “Dalton, I need you to take it easy for a while,” Dr. Greenlaw says, as he pushes a few buttons and steps back. “We’re going to continue to monitor you. You cannot have company for long. I’ll be back shortly, and then you’ll have to leave.”

  “Yes,” I say obediently, but fully intend to protest when the time comes. I have no intention of leaving Dalton’s side.

  Everyone clears the room as I rush to his side and slide my hand into his. “How do you feel?”

  “I feel like I lost a fight with a gorilla,” he admits, but he’s forcing a smile. “I’m sorry you had to sit around and worry. How did you find out I was here?”

  “Not from you calling me, that’s for damn sure,” I say, glaring at him. “I had to hear it from a couple jerks in the lobby at the tower.”

  “What were they saying?” he asks, shifting himself upward. “Who was it?”

  “Who cares?” I cut back, pressing his shoulder down and insisting he relaxes. “They were talking garbage about you missing some meetings or something.”

  “I need to call the office,” he says suddenly as though reality is falling on him one brick to the head at a time.

  “Dalton,” I say gently as I lean in and kiss him on the cheek. “The world is going to keep spinning just fine for a while so you can heal. What you did for your father, that’s what matters.”

  He looks for a moment like he’s woken from a dream, clearly still groggy from the sedation. Though a light in his eyes seemed to flick on. “My dad. How is he?”

  “I was talking to him earlier today and he seems all right. We didn’t talk much about his health; he was more worried about you.”

  “Yeah, this must have freaked him out.” Dalton sighs, and gestures over to the beeping machines he’s attached to. “It was supposed to be a pretty standard procedure. Just a small thing.”

  “You don’t do anything small,” I tease and feel a flutter of relief as he laughs. “Your father was very grateful. He said you seemed different when you met to talk.”

  “I felt different,” Dalton admits, though somewhat reluctantly. “You had my head spinning, trying to figure out what you meant. I didn’t want love before I met you, but I guess I also didn’t understand it either.”

  “But now you do?” I ask, half hopeful, half skeptical.

  “Not completely,” he admits. “If we were talking business strategy, I’d say this is more of an evolution than a revolution. What I don’t want is you seeing me all sick and feeling bad for me. You were right to walk away. I’m no good for you.”

  “I was right,” I agree, watching his face closely to see his reaction. But he’s too stoic and serious for me to get a read. “But maybe you don’t have to evolve all on your own. I’ve learned a lot since I met you.”

  “In bed?” He can hardly get the words out before laughi
ng.

  “Glad to see you’re still in there. I wasn’t sure if you had any brain damage. Same old Dalton. But no, I wasn’t talking about sex. I was talking about the things I learned about myself. I’ve dug my heels in so deep I can’t actually tell which parts of my life makes me happy and which parts I’ve stubbornly held on to as a way to prove to my mother and sister I’m right. It’s time for me to face up to that and decide how much more like them I should be.”

  “Don’t change too much,” he pleads as he takes my hands to his lips and kisses my fingers gently. “I fell in love with the Penny who can smile even when things are hard. The one who will go down fighting for her family. Keep those parts.”

  “I will. I love you too, Dalton.” I nod and eye him closely. “You shouldn’t talk too much. Maybe we need to do a full reboot. Have you thought about maybe a lobotomy while you’re in here?”

  His wry smile brings a calm to my thudding heart. “Maybe we can get a two-for-one deal, because your sister is nuts to think she’s ready for the fight she has coming. I had plenty of time to think about it, lying around before the procedure, and she’s really going out on a ledge.”

  “She’s right outside that door so you might want to keep your voice down or she’ll put you on her hit list. Right now I’m pretty sure it’s only the three of us who aren’t on it.”

  “Three of us?”

  “Ben’s out there too.” I smile, knowing he’ll get a kick out of the image of Ben and Kylie hanging out. “He helped track you down, and the two of them have been sticking close by, waiting for you to wake up.”

  “Ugh,” Dalton groans. “Just what I need. People palling around and expecting to spend time together. Lives getting all mixed up and dramatic.”

  “This really breaks your rules about not having friends. Is that part of the evolution of Dalton Croft?”

  “Friends,” he murmurs as though it’s a vile curse words. “It’s messy and distracting. I don’t know why anyone would actually allow that in their lives.”

  “You can’t think of a single reason?”

  Dalton’s face softens, and he looks around the stark hospital room, possibly noticing what I noticed before. “I guess it would have been shitty dying here alone. Or even waking up here alone. Don’t get me wrong. Having your smiling face here when my eyes opened, that was worth something. Maybe even worth having to put up with Ben and Kylie.”

  “I guess we’ll have to find out,” I say as the door cracks open and two heads peek in nosily.

  “Is he dead or what?” Kylie asks, feigning impatience.

  “Why?” Dalton chuckles. “You planning on knocking down a wall and taking over my apartment too?”

  “You’ll need a bigger place,” Kylie insists, looking over at me with a smile. “How else are you going to shack up with my sister?”

  Ben hangs back, but I can see him taking all of this in. “Glad to see you’re awake, Dalton.”

  “Thanks, Ben. You’re a good friend.”

  I take Dalton’s hand in mine and kiss it because I know that he means it. He likes Ben. He loves me. Things are going to be okay.

  EPILOGUE

  Dalton

  Three months later.

  Saturday mornings used to be a solitary time for me. Looking back on them, they’re now a blur of hangovers and childish smugness. The things that made me feel good before Penny now seem inconsequential.

  After a morning of what, if I may say so myself, was pretty adventurous sexual feats on a swing I installed in our bedroom, Penny and I are almost too relaxed to speak. I’m cooking eggs. She’s pouring coffee.

  I turn and smile when she bends over the kitchen table. I’ll never tire of her perfect ass beneath cotton pajamas. I see our beginning, the wonder of our present, and our future lifetime together right there in that view.

  She turns and catches me staring at her ass. One of her beautiful eyebrows lifts just enough for me to know that my thoughts are evident on my face—and in my tented lounge pants. I draw my shoulders back, puffing out my chest. No words are necessary to flirt with someone who knows me as well as she does.

  I can almost hear her teasing that I’m incorrigible.

  The smile she flashes tells me she knows I know she loves it. She sits down. I place a plate of eggs in front of her then place two more plates on the table.

  I give her a slow, lingering kiss and say, “I have something for you.”

  Her eyes drop to my flagpoled cock then fly up to meet mine. “Kylie will be here any minute.”

  “Ignore him,” I say with a dismissive wave at my cock. “He’s always like that around you. I’ll be right back.”

  Her laughter echoes as I rush out of the room. I’m back in a flash with a small box I’ve been carrying around for days. I stand beside her chair and drop down to one knee while flipping the small box open. A flawless princess-cut diamond glitters brightly from the ring I designed. “Penny, when I met you I thought you didn’t belong in this building or in my life. I thought I had everything exactly the way I wanted it. I didn’t realize how much I had closed myself off. You came in, shook me up, turned my whole life upside down—and I hope our journey has been as good for you as it has been for me, because I cannot imagine a me without a you.”

  Tears fill her eyes but she is smiling. “You really were an ass in the beginning.”

  I laugh and my eyes mist up as I imagine briefly how easily I could have lost her. I jokingly shake my head sadly and begin to close the box. “I don’t suppose you want this then.”

  “Don’t you dare close that.” She makes a grab for the box. I stand and hold it just beyond her reach.

  “Too late.” I sidestep so the table is between us. “I’m heartbroken, but I think I can get a full refund for it.”

  “Your heart isn’t what will be broken if you don’t hand over that ring.” She steps toward me. I step away again.

  I laugh, keeping the table between us by circling it as she does. “Sorry, you had your chance to say yes.”

  She starts after me again. Damn she’s fast. I could outpace her, but I’m laughing too hard. She grabs the edge of my T-shirt. I slow and let her have the win. She plants a hand smack dab in the middle of my chest.

  The laughter falls away, and I barely breathe because she is looking at me with such love and wonder in her eyes. Her hair is wild, breaking free from her ponytail. Her chest is heaving beneath a modest pajama top. I’ve never seen her more beautiful. “I want to make sure you’re ready. It’s okay if you aren’t. I love living with you. I don’t want you to feel pressured to take the next step.”

  I pull her into my arms. “I’m sorry; you didn’t hear all that romantic crap I spouted a moment ago?”

  She frames my face with her hands. “I did.”

  “Do I say shit I don’t mean?”

  “You don’t.” She cocked her head to one side. “Do you think it’ll mean we have to move? I know Christen rewrote our lease to let me stay here, but this is a whole other level.”

  “I love you, Penny. I don’t care about this building anymore. I’ll move tomorrow if you say you want to, but something tells me you want to be next to Kylie.”

  Penny wraps her arms around me and hugs me tightly. “Dalton, I thought I knew what love was before I met you. I didn’t. I do want to be next to Kylie, at least until we’re sure the trouble here is over. But I can’t imagine a me without a you, either. I love you so much. Put the damn ring on my finger and kiss me.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” I do as she says. As it often happens with us, one kiss leads to two. I can’t get enough of her, and she becomes just as frenzied. I lift her so she is straddling my waist and back her against the table, sending the eggs to the floor. I don’t care.

  A loud knock on our door gives us little time to right ourselves before it opens and Kylie walks in. I lower Penny to the floor and adjust my clothing.

  Straight-faced, Kylie takes a few steps into the apartment. She looks at the eggs all over th
e floor and the expressions on our faces. “Should I come back?”

  “No.” Penny rushes over to her and holds up her left hand. “We’re engaged!”

  Kylie hugs Penny then nods at me in approval. I’d walk over and hug her, but I need a little time to rev down from what was interrupted. I nod back.

  Kylie looks us over again. “Why don’t we celebrate over dinner?”

  Penny looks from Kylie to me. “I’d like that. I’d love to invite the rest of the family, but I don’t know if I’m ready for that yet.”

  I hug Penny to my side. “We’ll plan something soon. I’m looking forward to meeting your mother.”

  Kylie barks out a laugh. “Dalton, you’re a good man, but you’re an awful liar.”

  I square my shoulders. “I intend to be her favorite son-in-law.”

  “You’ll be her only son-in-law,” Penny says.

  I shrug. “Until Kylie takes the plunge.”

  “Not going to happen,” Kylie says emphatically. “But I will leave you two lovebirds to finish whatever sent my breakfast to the floor.”

  Penny and I exchange a guilty, sexually charged look.

  “Yeah,” Kylie continues, “listen, while we’re in this awkward place anyway, can I ask you for a favor?”

  “Okay,” I say slowly.

  “Please swap your office and bedroom. I don’t know what the two of you crazy monkeys do at two a.m., but I can’t sleep through it.”

  Penny blushes.

  I laugh.

  “Done,” I say.

  Kylie waves and leaves.

  I have my arms back around Penny, but this time I’m simply savoring the feel of her against me.

  “Maybe we should move,” Penny mumbles against my chest.

  “Or we could tone things down.” I’d hate to, but I have a new appreciation for family and the place they could play in our lives.

  Penny tips her head back so she can look me in the eye. “Nah. But we could swap the rooms.”

  We both burst out laughing.