Joshua kissed Elodie goodbye on the lips, lifting his head and winking deliberately at a nonetheless outraged Clay. Non romantic relationship or not, he felt that he should be the only one of the opposite sex who kissed Elodie on the lips.
A nurse's assistant came in with Elodie's lunch, and she sat up more than she had, but she was still disinterested in food. Unfortunately, the guard dog beside her wasn't about to let her skip a meal.
Clay spent her entire hospital stay—three days—with her, night and day. He didn't even go home to sleep, preferring, he said, to suffer instead through his nights on one of those atrocious chairs that converted into some semblance of a bed, although he never looked like he'd gotten much in the way of sleep in the morning. He did everything for her, usually before she even thought of it herself. She had to try to dissuade him from feeding her at each meal. He ordered enough food for an army each time and tried to persuade her to eat it, but ended up eating most of it himself, wincing throughout at the atrocious quality.
Chapter 15
Clay stayed in her room during her examinations—not that she was going to object really, she just wasn't used to having someone in the room with her while she was being poked and prodded. He didn't just sit there like a bump on a log, either. He asked better questions than she did.
Elodie was worried about how much all of this was going to cost—she certainly didn't have any medical insurance, and what with the emergency room and all the tests and three days in the hospital, she was going to owe for the rest of her life! It didn't strike her until she'd been there for a day or two, but she was in a private room, too! There was no way she could afford a ward bed, which she didn't think they even had any more, much less a private room.
Although she desperately wanted to get home and lick her wounds, she wasn't in any hurry to be handed the bill for her stay in this lovely white hotel. When that time came, Clay was there, of course. The nurses' aide handed her all sorts of paperwork to sign before she left, which she did while he gathered up all the stuff he'd already packed for her that morning.
Elodie scanned all the paperwork that was put in front of her, needing to see that astronomical figure just to justify the dread in her heart. But there was nothing there. It was all after care stuff about taking it easy and watching for signs of this and that. But nothing that said what she owed.
Maybe they ran out of ink while printing the number. That was a distinct possibility, she thought, depression lying over her like a wet blanket. She would never be able to dig herself out from under this bill.
She was so absorbed in feeling horrid about owing a tremendous amount to the hospital, that she didn't notice where Clay was driving her to until the car stopped and she looked up to find herself at the entrance to his ranch. "Clay! You were supposed to take me home!"
He continued to drive up to the house. "This is your home," he growled, "at least until you're fully recovered. I'm not about to let you go home all by yourself. I've been to your apartment, remember? Church mice have it better in comparison." He came around and lifted her into his arms once he stopped the truck.
"I can walk," she protested. She had made sure that the doctor had given her a walking cast on her ankle so she could be mobile.
Clay didn't answer until he reached the bedroom, with her in his arms whether she liked it or not. "You don't need to." He set her down on the bed with infinite care and turned to go back and close up the truck, then stopped a few paces away. "In fact, you're expressly forbidden from getting up for any reason other than an emergency, or the bathroom. Am I making myself perfectly clear?"
Feeling bolder than usual and figuring it was due to the good drugs she was on, Elodie snapped back, "What are you going to do, spank me?"
Clay began to step slowly back towards the bed—and her, his eyes holding her stare, his expression one of unwavering intent. "I don't need to spank you." She could barely hear him, he was speaking so low and softly. "Although I will, when you're better, for leaving me when you shouldn't have. But all I need to do is slip up your nightgown and latch my lips onto your nipple, then slip my finger down the folds between your legs until it comes upon that lovely little bundle of nerves you have hidden there."
He lay down next to her and, as if to prove his point, her body began to respond to him, slickening for his potential invasion, wetting her panties in his honor.
"I'll touch you and tongue you and tug and suckle and rub until you're begging me, seconds away from release." Suddenly, he was half way across the room already, reaching for the door knob. "Then I'll stop, just like that."
Elodie couldn't writhe very well, but she was doing her damnedest. Dear God, he'd left her hanging, the snot! "Hey, that's not fair!" she wailed.
"Then you'd better be good, hadn't you?" he replied without a trace of remorse.