Just Say Yes (Just Say Yes Book 2) Read online

  My dad chuckled quietly at my joke.

  “Zoey, it’s so good to hear your voice,” my mom said. “We’ve been so worried about you.” Her voice trembled as she spoke, and when she sniffled, I knew she’d started to cry.

  “Please, Mom, I’m fine. Hold the waterworks or you’re going to make me cry too.”

  “Sorry, Mija, I don’t want you to be in any more pain than you already are. Andy, honey, are you still there?”

  He tilted his cell toward him. “Yes, I’m here.”

  There was a moment of silence. “How does our girl look?” she asked. “Is she really alright?”

  He looked over at me then smiled slightly as he laid his warm hand on mine. “She’s beautiful. The doctor gave her pain meds, so she’s about to fall asleep, but she’s fine.”

  “Thank you, Andy. For everything,” she said, her voice cracking again. “We’ll come see you in the morning, Mija. Andy, you go home and get some sleep, okay? You’ve been at the hospital almost as long as Zoey has.”

  I couldn’t believe he’d been with me the whole time. But, I knew if the tables had been turned and he was the one lying in a hospital bed, I wouldn’t have left him either. I loved him far too much to let him wake up alone.

  “Sure. I’ll try to later,” he said, sounding unconvincing to me.

  “Goodnight, Mom and Dad.” I yawned. Ow!

  “Goodnight. We’re so happy you’re awake,” my dad added before we ended the call.

  “Andy, go home,” I pleaded. “You need some sleep, a nice hot shower, and probably some food, too.”

  When I finally realized he’d been there for so long, I asked where our cat, James, was staying.

  “Justin and Will are taking care of him. Your friends have been a big help to me, especially since I didn’t know where the hospital was. They drove me here when I got the call from Jess. I honestly don’t know what I would have done if they hadn’t been home that night.”

  My eyes grew heavy and I smiled sleepily at my blue-eyed man. “Remind me to cook them dinner when I break out of here.”

  “I don’t think you’ll be doing too much for a while,” he stated flatly, his expression distressed.

  Whatever sort of drug cocktail that was in the IV bag began to flow through my body, and suddenly it felt like I was floating, my body light as air. My vision blurred slightly, almost like I was drunk, but the drugs were making me sleepy, too. I drifted off for a split second, then jerked awake. Ouch.

  “Go home, okay? I’m going back to sleep for a while.” I was losing my fight against consciousness, but needed him to know how much I loved him before I fell back to sleep. “I love you,” I slurred.

  “And I love you,” he replied and kissed me softly again before I drifted away.

  When I woke next, the sun was shining brightly through the windows. I was alone in the quiet hospital room; the only sounds came from the IV pump next to the bed. I vaguely remembered the night before and recalled waking up in pain then pushing that magic button a few times.

  I remembered Andy being there; calling my mom and dad, but that was about it. Hopefully, he’d gone home to get some rest, shower, and eat something.

  My purse was on the rolling table next to my bedside within reach of my good arm. I dug through it, found my birth control pills, and popped the ones I’d missed from being in the hospital. Crap, there went my plans for Andy and me before I left for vacation.

  The whole right side of my body ached, but nowhere nearly as bad as it had when I woke up the first time. I was feeling better, so I stretched out the neck of my hospital gown and looked down the front to see why I hurt so much.

  Ugh. No wonder everything hurt. I was one solid bruise from the top of my ribs to just below my hip. The side of my freaking boob was even bruised! I’d been in the same position in my bed so long my back was starting to ache. Unable to change position on my own because I couldn’t put weight on my injured shoulder, I pushed the nurse’s call button just as the doctor walked in.

  “Miss James, you’re awake,” he voiced.

  “Please, call me Zoey.” I hated it when people called me ‘Miss’. I was just plain Zoey.

  “Of course,” he said politely. “I am going to send you up to radiology for a follow-up CT scan of your head right now and if all is still well, you can go home later this evening.”

  Oh, thank God.

  “How are you feeling this morning?” he asked as he thoroughly examined my visible injuries.

  “I’m better,” I replied. “My back was starting to hurt, so I was calling the nurse to see if she could come help me roll over. How sad is that?”

  He chuckled and flipped through my chart, added notes, then glanced back up to speak to me. “Considering what you’ve been through, it’s not sad at all. You’ve experienced quite the ordeal.”

  “Can you tell me again what happened, doctor? The details are still a little foggy.” For some reason I dreamt about football all night and it made no sense why, especially since I hated football.

  “Well, Zoey,” he said, as if he had a memory of something amusing. “When you get run over by a man the size of ‘The Fridge,’ chances are, you’re going to get hurt.”

  Who the fuck is ‘The Fridge?’ “Sorry, Doc, I don’t get it,” I smiled in utter confusion. “Who is ‘The Fridge?’ ”

  Dr. Waits quickly flipped my chart open, scanned over it and looked back up at me. “Ah, you’re too young to know who he is. He played NFL football for the Chicago Bears and the Philadelphia Eagles. He was only six foot two, or so, but weighed over three hundred pounds.”

  Holy shit, Andy was right. “Awesome. Please tell me I am the only person in history to have been hit by a running appliance.” I made myself laugh at my own stupid joke and Dr. Waits even laughed with me.

  “You are definitely my first, Zoey,” he chuckled again. It didn’t seem like being hit by a person would cause so much pain, but after he described how I slammed headfirst against the front of my car before landing and hitting the back of my head on the street, it made more sense.

  The doctor and I spoke for a few minutes before a giant, male nurse pushed a wheelchair through the doorway of my room. “Are you ready for some tests so we can get you out of here?”

  “Let’s get this over with,” I laughed. This is gonna hurt. The nurse introduced himself as Allen as he helped me from the bed to the wheelchair. Allen wheeled me to the elevator, then up to the radiology department where they performed another CT scan, just to make sure nothing changed from the one they did when I was admitted.

  As Allen wheeled me back to my room after I was done, I noticed Andy waiting for me just inside the door. His short hair wasn’t sticking up from running his fingers through it like it had been the night before. He’d changed into clean clothes, looking as gorgeous as ever. The smell of his body soap and cologne infiltrated my senses the closer I came to him. However, I wasn’t confident he’d slept any. His blue eyes were tired and he still looked drained.

  “Hey, you,” I said to him as Allen pushed me to the side of the bed.

  “Good morning, Beautiful.” He smiled widely, obviously happy to see me out of bed.

  “Are you ready to stand, Miss James?” Allen asked. I nodded in response and that time it didn’t hurt nearly as bad as before.

  Allen locked the wheelchair in place and helped me to my feet, steadying me as I turned to sit on the bed. A draft of air grazed my bare skin, as my gown became untied and fluttered open.

  Andy took in a sharp breath and looked away as Allen re-tied my gown, helped me onto the bed, arranging the blankets for me. After he left, I eased to the side of the bed as far as possible, then patted the empty space next to me.

  “Come up here with me, please,” I pleaded, tapping the bed. Andy pushed the button to recline the bed a little so I would be comfortable.

  Andy slipped off his shoes and slowly eased himself up next to me, carefully wrapping his arm around my shoulders. I nestled into
him, losing myself in the constant warmth of his body, knowing that next to Andy was the only place I wanted to be.

  “Did you get some sleep?” I asked.

  He chuckled quietly while he very carefully tried not to move. “I’m the one that’s supposed to be worried if you slept, not the other way around. This is one of the reasons I love you so much. You’re lying here in the hospital with a head injury, and worried about me instead of yourself. You are incredibly selfless.”

  He kissed the top of my head and I burrowed into his side a little more until I felt a twinge of pain. I pushed the magic medicine button so the pain didn’t worsen then laid my arm across Andy’s stomach.

  We rested together for quite some time and it felt nice to be in his arms. He was warm and smelled wonderful from his shower. “You smell good,” I whispered groggily. I felt him lay his head back against the bed then we both drifted off to sleep.

  My parents woke us later when they came to visit. Andy slowly started to get up from the bed, but my dad spoke first. “You look comfortable. Stay where you are, son. Sorry we woke you, but we’re glad to see you get a little rest too, Andy.”

  My dad turned to me. “As for you young lady, I’m so thankful you’re going to be okay.” His eyes were teary when he bent over and gently kissed me on the forehead.

  He stepped back to give my mom her turn to see me. She squeezed my hand lightly. “Mija, we were so scared for you.”

  I smiled up at my mom and dad. “I’m fine, I promise. I’ll be sore for a while, but they’re only bruises. Nothing’s broken at least.”

  We talked for a while longer and I let them know about the tests they ran that morning. Andy was still on my hospital bed with me and I expected to feel uncomfortable with my parents there, but I wasn’t. As they were getting ready to leave, the doctor came in with my test results.

  “Good news, Zoey. It looks like you’ll get to go home later today. Your CT scan has been reviewed and everything appears to be normal,” he said. “We’ll get someone up here to get you checked out soon and I’ll send you home with some pain medication to take if you need them.”

  What a relief it was to be going home. I needed a nice hot bath and something decent to eat. I was ready to go to my quiet apartment to spend some quality time with my man.

  My parents kissed me goodbye and Andy spent the day in my hospital bed with me watching TV. We were still waiting for the discharge papers when my dinner was delivered. One glance at what was on the tray and I wanted to gag. They had brought the same thing to me for lunch earlier that day. Broth, a hard bread roll, and Jell-O. Gross.

  “Just eat it,” Andy said softly when he saw the look of disgust on my face. “You haven’t had much since Thursday, so you need to eat it. I’ll fix you something better when we get home.”

  “Okay, bossy. I’ll eat it.” Luckily, the hospital released me shortly after dinner.

  Andy brought a pair of sweatpants and my favorite hoody for me to wear home. I smiled at the fond memories of him pulling that hoody over my head the last time I wore it. He helped me change out of my hospital gown and I didn’t miss the pale, sickened look on his face while he helped me get dressed. The bruises really bothered him.

  He gathered all of my belongings, packed them in my bag for me then left to pull my car around to the hospital entrance. I waited patiently on the bed for my wheelchair ride out of the hospital when a nurse whom I’d never seen before entered. After a quick introduction, she wheeled me out the door to my waiting car.

  “So, did my hard head leave a nice dent on my Audi?” I asked Andy as I painfully stretched forward to see if I could find any damage.

  “No,” he answered gruffly, obviously not wanting to talk about it. He opened the car door and helped me in. When I tried to buckle my seatbelt on my own and couldn’t, he leaned over and did it for me.

  The ride home from the hospital was miserable, but I was ready to be home in my apartment. No matter how small each bump in the road was, I felt it. Andy parked as close to the lobby doors as possible and then helped me into the building. My bruised hip and leg made climbing the flight of stairs tortuous. I could barely put any weight on it, so Andy carefully picked me up and carried me. I rested my cheek on his shoulder, breathing him in all the way up the stairs.

  He situated me on the couch then turned on my iPod before making me a sandwich. I was famished and the broth and Jell-O at the hospital only made it worse. I pretty much devoured the sandwich and guzzled a glass of water in a matter of minutes. After I finished, Andy brought me the package of Oreos I kept in the back of a cupboard for PMS emergencies. He didn’t know that’s what they were for, but I demolished an entire row of those too.

  Andy kept himself busy tidying up my already clean apartment while I sat alone in the living room eating my dessert. He was being helpful and taking care of me, but he seemed a bit distant. There was definitely something going on in that head of his. Once I was finished with my cookies, he was right back at my side to see what I needed next.

  It was nice to be home, but I felt gross from not showering in three days and desperately needed a nice hot bath and a toothbrush to clean my teeth.

  “Can you help me with a bath, please?”

  “Of course I will,” he replied, his voice strained. “Stay here and I’ll go start it for you.”

  Since the bathroom in my bedroom only had a shower, he went into the guest bathroom and started the water in the large, garden tub. I watched as Andy went back and forth across the hallway, each time taking an armload of products and towels to the guest bathroom. When I heard the water shut off, he came out to collect me.

  “Ugh, I feel like an invalid,” I groaned as he helped me stand from the couch and walk down the hallway. While I held on to the bathroom counter for support, he stripped my clothes off me, dropping them in to a pile on the floor.

  “Get in with me?” I invited. He said nothing and shed his clothes. “I really need to brush my teeth first.”

  On the bathroom counter, my toothbrush and toothpaste were laid out for me. Tasting blood again as I brushed, my eyes wandered over my injured body in the mirror and I noticed where the bruises were darker over each rib. Andy and Sasha were right. I needed to gain some weight. It was creepy to see the outline of every rib because of the bruising on my skin.

  I felt Andy’s gaze on me. He was sitting on the edge of the bathtub watching me intently, his eyes roaming over my bruised body. He glanced up and I met his gaze in the mirror. It was almost like he was the one in pain instead of me. He swallowed hard then averted his eyes away from me as he ran his hands up his face and through his hair.

  I quickly finished brushing and spit the bloody toothpaste from my mouth into the sink, rinsing with a mouthful of water before making my way over to the tub. It upset me to look at Andy because he was still wearing a distressed look on his face. He very gently took my hands and pulled me between his thighs, placing kisses on my bruised ribs.

  “Are you in pain? I can get you a pill if you want one.”

  I shook my head slowly. “All I need is you and a bath. I’ll be as good as new in no time.”

  He stepped into the tub first to help me over the side. Andy sat down on the edge and helped me down to a sitting position then eased in behind me. The hot, vanilla-lavender scented water swirled around us. Ahh, heaven. A hot bath with a gorgeous man, what more did a girl need?

  Somewhere he’d found a large plastic cup and filled it several times, pouring the hot water over my hair to wet it. Once it was drenched, he leaned forward and kissed my bruised shoulder. I reclined back onto his chest, relaxing against him.

  After soaking a while, he stirred and took in a deep breath before he spoke. “Let’s get your hair washed.”

  Once he helped me sit up straight, he wet my hair again then lathered it up with shampoo. He took great care when he washed the sore areas of my head. Once he rinsed and conditioned my hair, he squeezed body soap into his hand, gently massaging it
onto my back and shoulders.

  He eased me back on his chest then squeezed more soap on his hands to wash the rest of my body. I raised my uninjured arm up, wound it around the back of his neck, and ran my fingertips through his short hair. After he’d finished bathing me, he skimmed his wet, soapy hands back up over my breasts–my nipples hardened even more from his touch.

  No matter how much I hurt, my body still craved him and the way he made me feel. “Please,” I whispered. “I need you.”

  He lightly teased my breasts, gently working my nipples with his strong, masculine fingers. It felt wonderful. I let out a quiet moan as I closed my eyes and let my upright knees fall open to rest on the insides of his legs. Andy took the hint, letting his hand slide from my chest, down my stomach and under the water to caress and stroke me. His fingers began moving in a slow, agonizing, circular motion.

  “Are you sure this is okay? I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “Mmm, feels so good,” I whispered breathlessly. “Please, don’t stop.” His fingers were driving me mad and it felt like he hadn’t touched me in weeks. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. I needed to be with him right then, so I pulled myself upright, not caring how bad it hurt.

  “What are you doing?” he asked, startled, when I started to get up.

  “I want to be with you, right now. I can’t stand it anymore,” I whispered, hearing the desperation in my own voice.

  His eyebrows rose in surprise when he realized what I wanted, then they furrowed with worry. “No, you’re too bruised. I don’t want to hurt you. Come on. Lean back and I’ll finish what I was doing.”

  Damn noble man.

  “Can you forget about being such a good guy for five minutes? I promise it won’t take any longer than that,” I laughed. Suddenly, I was glad he said no. I’d forgotten about missing my birth control when I was in the hospital.

  “Sit,” he commanded in a very sexy tone as he indicated for me to take a seat between his legs.