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Authors: Mary Hughes
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through my clothes.
He bent and kissed me, and his size was even more apparent, his lips covering mine, his tongue filling my mouth with heat and hunger. I went nova.
The ding of the elevator startled me. It gave me barely enough warning to leap back from him. Of course I landed wrong and he had to catch me as I stumbled, and I was smashed against him in his arms as the doors opened.
A tank rolled in on thick-soled white Mary Janes. Her nametag read Nurse Krankenstein, and she glared like I wasn’t going to sit down for a week. I’m sure my lips were swollen and if my hot face was any indication, I was red. I cleared my throat and straightened.
Zajicek simply looked amused. “This is our floor.” He released me to guide me with a gentle hand around Nurse Stinkeye and off the elevator.
“Darn.” I stopped. “I have to go back to the gift shop. I forgot flowers for Hugo.”
“Hugo prefers live plants. I had three delivered, one from me, one from the orchestra and one from you.”
“Oh. Thanks. I didn’t know that, about the plants.”
“Why should you?”
Nonchalantly said, but it struck me. “Why should you ?”
He quirked a smile, as if congratulating me for the hit. “I have been friends with Hugo for a long time. Most of his life.”
“Don’t you mean most of your life?”
“Yes, of course that’s what I meant.” He said it gently, making me think that wasn’t what he meant at all.
Hugo’s room was hushed except for the soft intermittent beep of a monitor. It was dark with the curtains drawn. We made our way into the cool room, me a bit timidly. I wasn’t sure how bad off he was and didn’t want to stress him.
I needn’t have worried; he was asleep. We stood there for a moment. Hesitantly, I whispered, “Maybe we should come back later.”
“Why don’t you check to see if our plants have been delivered to the nurses’ station? I shall sit with him for a moment.”
“All right, Maestro Zajicek.”
“Raquel,” he said so sternly it stopped me mid-turn. “Call me Dragan. Or I will kiss and lick your luscious pink cheeks until you do.”
Kiss and lick my luscious what ? The way he was looking at me, I’d have a stroke and Hugo’d have a roommate unless I surrendered, so I said, “Yeah, okay. Dragan.” My pink cheeks on fire, I left.
By the time I returned with the plants, I’d regained some of my composure. Hugo was awake and we had a nice chat. He honestly didn’t look that sick and several times referred to the hospital stay as a vacation. I wondered about that. As Zajicek was an “information broker”, Hugo’s stroke might have been staged to facilitate Zajicek’s being in Chicago. It was out of the ordinary, but everything about Zajicek was so far out of the ordinary orbit he could have been a comet.
I mentally dumped it next to vampires in my Not-Very-Probable-But-What-The-Hell-Else-Can-It-Be category, and moved on.
About six thirty Nurse Krankenstein came in to take Hugo’s vitals and shooed us out. Zajicek started for the elevator but I remembered how he’d turned a ten-second ride into a kiss that would have had me on my back if it had lasted one more second, and spun for the stairs. “I need the exercise.”
He caught my wrist. “As do I.” His lips were curved in the slightest of smiles. I didn’t know what that smile meant but my legs did and when he tugged, they trotted along after him. Or maybe even then I was starting to catch on.
We entered the elevator. A hospital technician with his nose in a chart started to come in after us, but Zajicek barred the door with one arm. “This car is full.” His voice rang softly.
The technician’s head snapped up. His pupils were fully dilated. “Yes, sir.” He turned and strode for the stairs.
The doors slid shut. I blinked. “What was that?”
Zajicek only smiled and pressed “G”. The elevator started moving. Three went out. Two lit up. Two went out.
He pushed the old-fashioned stop button.
And
He bent and kissed me, and his size was even more apparent, his lips covering mine, his tongue filling my mouth with heat and hunger. I went nova.
The ding of the elevator startled me. It gave me barely enough warning to leap back from him. Of course I landed wrong and he had to catch me as I stumbled, and I was smashed against him in his arms as the doors opened.
A tank rolled in on thick-soled white Mary Janes. Her nametag read Nurse Krankenstein, and she glared like I wasn’t going to sit down for a week. I’m sure my lips were swollen and if my hot face was any indication, I was red. I cleared my throat and straightened.
Zajicek simply looked amused. “This is our floor.” He released me to guide me with a gentle hand around Nurse Stinkeye and off the elevator.
“Darn.” I stopped. “I have to go back to the gift shop. I forgot flowers for Hugo.”
“Hugo prefers live plants. I had three delivered, one from me, one from the orchestra and one from you.”
“Oh. Thanks. I didn’t know that, about the plants.”
“Why should you?”
Nonchalantly said, but it struck me. “Why should you ?”
He quirked a smile, as if congratulating me for the hit. “I have been friends with Hugo for a long time. Most of his life.”
“Don’t you mean most of your life?”
“Yes, of course that’s what I meant.” He said it gently, making me think that wasn’t what he meant at all.
Hugo’s room was hushed except for the soft intermittent beep of a monitor. It was dark with the curtains drawn. We made our way into the cool room, me a bit timidly. I wasn’t sure how bad off he was and didn’t want to stress him.
I needn’t have worried; he was asleep. We stood there for a moment. Hesitantly, I whispered, “Maybe we should come back later.”
“Why don’t you check to see if our plants have been delivered to the nurses’ station? I shall sit with him for a moment.”
“All right, Maestro Zajicek.”
“Raquel,” he said so sternly it stopped me mid-turn. “Call me Dragan. Or I will kiss and lick your luscious pink cheeks until you do.”
Kiss and lick my luscious what ? The way he was looking at me, I’d have a stroke and Hugo’d have a roommate unless I surrendered, so I said, “Yeah, okay. Dragan.” My pink cheeks on fire, I left.
By the time I returned with the plants, I’d regained some of my composure. Hugo was awake and we had a nice chat. He honestly didn’t look that sick and several times referred to the hospital stay as a vacation. I wondered about that. As Zajicek was an “information broker”, Hugo’s stroke might have been staged to facilitate Zajicek’s being in Chicago. It was out of the ordinary, but everything about Zajicek was so far out of the ordinary orbit he could have been a comet.
I mentally dumped it next to vampires in my Not-Very-Probable-But-What-The-Hell-Else-Can-It-Be category, and moved on.
About six thirty Nurse Krankenstein came in to take Hugo’s vitals and shooed us out. Zajicek started for the elevator but I remembered how he’d turned a ten-second ride into a kiss that would have had me on my back if it had lasted one more second, and spun for the stairs. “I need the exercise.”
He caught my wrist. “As do I.” His lips were curved in the slightest of smiles. I didn’t know what that smile meant but my legs did and when he tugged, they trotted along after him. Or maybe even then I was starting to catch on.
We entered the elevator. A hospital technician with his nose in a chart started to come in after us, but Zajicek barred the door with one arm. “This car is full.” His voice rang softly.
The technician’s head snapped up. His pupils were fully dilated. “Yes, sir.” He turned and strode for the stairs.
The doors slid shut. I blinked. “What was that?”
Zajicek only smiled and pressed “G”. The elevator started moving. Three went out. Two lit up. Two went out.
He pushed the old-fashioned stop button.
And
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