"Ben," Dr. T says. "She's been through the worst of it."
He nods.
"Think back to the violent vomiting," I remind him and he winces.
"I'd rather not."
"This is nothing compared to that. I don't feel this at all."
"No?" he asks.
I shake my head. "Nope."
"Okay," he tells me. He reaches for one of my hands and I shake my head. "Oh yeah." He walks over and washes his hands again. He's got on sterile scrubs: top, bottoms, booties, cap, and they're now putting on his mask. They're not going to make him wear gloves since he's not touching anything but my hand-and his are sterile from the soap scrub they use.
"Ready?" Dr. T asks.
"Yes," I tell her. "More than ready."
She winks and hooks up the stem cell infusion to my catheter.
"Here we go."
Three days later I'm just falling asleep to take a nap, while Ben goes back to his hotel to shower and change clothes, when the plastic on my door is peeled back. Gotta love isolation.
A tall man in sterile hospital scrubs enters, then walks over to wash his hands again. Um …
He turns slightly and … he looks familiar. My mind flashes back to that cold Colorado night when this same tall man took me and my mama in, protecting us and giving us a home.
"Uncle Frank?" I ask quietly.
He takes in a deep breath as he dries his hands. Then he turns to me, his eyes wet with emotion he doesn't bother to try to hide.
"Nicole," he whispers and walks over to me, hugging me to him, rocking me slowly as I cry.
"How did you find me?" I ask through my tears.
"That's not the question that needs to be answered right now," he tells me, sitting back. I rest back against my pillow and look at him in confusion. "The question that needs to be answered is: why, Nicole? Why did you go?"
The hurt in his eyes makes me feel guilty for what I did, but I did it for a good reason.
"I had to," I tell him, my eyes pleading with him to understand.
"You didn't."
"He was close and I wasn't going to be the reason you, Aunt Monica and the kids had to move again. Again." I stress.
"That's not a decision you should have made alone. We had a say, Nicole," he tells me.
"The boys were finally adjusted and happy, Uncle Frank. I wasn't going to force you to rip them from the home that made them so happy, not because of him," I confess.
"Nicole, you didn't force anyone to do anything. We love you like one of our own. We'd do anything for you. Do you know how much that hurt Monica and me? You took a piece of us with you when you left," he tells me, a tear falling from his eye.
"I left a piece of myself there with you, too. I did the only thing that seemed right. You had already sacrificed so much-"
He grabs my shoulders. "I would die for you, Coley. Don't you know that? You may not be mine biologically, but you're the daughter of my heart. It very nearly killed me when you left and I couldn't find you." He pulls me back against him and I'm swallowed by his warmth.
"I don't want you to die for me. I wanted you to be happy, to live a normal life, for the boys to live a normal life with you."
He sighs. "And what about your life? Going into foster care while you were so sick." He shakes his head. "Foster care. It's no wonder we couldn't find you. That and changing your name. Clever, but so fucking unnecessary, my girl," he tells me.
"I'm sorry I made you worry. I never meant to hurt you."
He nods against me. "I know."
We hold each other for a long time before I ask the question again.
"How did you find me?"
He sits back. "I have a few secrets we hadn't told you yet. We wanted to wait until you were eighteen."
I lift a brow. "What sorts of secrets?"
"Big ones," he admits. "My last name isn't really Parsons. That was my mother's maiden name."
"I don't understand."
"Much like you, I had family I didn't want to take part in, not then anyway."
"So you went with Parsons … "
He nods. "Instead of Russo."
I blink and my heart begins to race. "What?" I whisper.
He nods. "I'm Frank Russo."
"Shut the front door!"
He chuckles. "It's not open." I snort and he grins. "Too much Sera time."
"How are you related? How close are you to them? Did you know that Lucy picked me for the Blush Baby? Why didn't you come to me sooner?" I blurt out question after question and he chuckles again.
"I'm Anthony Russo's cousin, brother of Ernesto Russo, son of Lorenzo Russo who's brother to Giovanni Russo which makes me-"
"Giovanni's nephew. Holy Hannah," I whisper and he grins.
"When Lucy's at home, I work as her bodyguard of sorts," he tells me.
"No kidding?"
"Nope. And to answer your question, I didn't know it was you as the Blush Baby. If I'd known I'd have been there from the very first day, my girl." He hugs me again. "I've missed you so much, Nicole."
"I missed you too," I tell him, a watery mess.
The plastic peels back on the door again and I hear Ben's sigh of disappointment.
"I'm gone less than an hour and my wife's in the arms of another man."
I snort and Frank chuckles.
"What's up, Frank?" Ben asks as he washes his hands, as if this isn't a surprise to him.
I narrow my eyes at Ben through the mirror by the sink.
"Don't go giving me squinty eyes, Sunshine. It was a surprise. And, besides," he tells me as he dries his hands, "I just found out, myself."
"Hmm," I say, not quite believing him.
"Truth," Ben says, holding up three fingers. "Scout's honor."
I snort again. "You were never a scout."
"Technically, no. But in spirit … " he trails off and I snicker.
"You goof," I tell him and he kisses me through both of our masks. I sit back and get comfortable. "Which one of you is going to tell me the story behind this?"
They take turns relaying what they know and when they're done only one thought is in my head.
"Giovanni Russo is going to be in some seriously hot water when Lucy finds out."
"He's already there with Sera and Cage," Ben tells me.
"Ooh. Giovanni Russo or not, his life is going to suck for a while."
Uncle Frank nods. "That's a fact."
"Finally," Ben says as he kisses down my neck, "finally I can kiss and touch your bare skin."
"Mmm, all you want," I reply. "You can do whatever you want as long as it keeps feeling as good as it does right now."
Ben grins and looks up at me from where he was just licking my belly button. "Sunshine, it's going to feel so much better than this."
"Then get to it," I order, teasing. "All talk and no action, that's my husband."
He growls. "Is that so?"
I nod. "So it would seem. Can you convince me otherwise?" I challenge.
He grins again, this time with a devilish edge and moisture pools between my thighs. "Let's find out."
He wastes no time. He pulls my panties down and begins licking my pussy. I moan aloud. Holy Hannah that feels amazing. It gets even better when he opens me with his thumbs then plunges his tongue into me. My eyes roll back in my head and I swear I'm going to come already.
He alternates between fucking me with his tongue and licking my clit, and when he reaches up to gently squeeze my nipple, I'm done for. The orgasm bursts free, pulling me under into an abyss of pleasure, each spiral stealing my breath.
"Ben!" I scream, not caring who hears me in this hotel. When the last shudder runs through me, I feel his grin against me.
"How was that?" he asks.
"Huh?"
He chuckles. "More?"
"Of that? Maybe later. I want you inside me."
"There's nowhere I'd rather be," he tells me as he braces himself on his forearms beside my head. It reminds me of the first time-all except for that glint in his eyes that tells me there'll be no mercy.
Wasting no time, he thrusts into me, again, and again, and when he's as deep as he can go he lets out a groan.
"Heaven," he mutters as he moves inside me, filling me so full I can't breathe without feeling him everywhere. "Sunshine and light. Hot, wet heat."
I sigh when he adjusts his position, his cock hitting me just right. I can feel it building again.
"Until your smile, it was all darkness," he murmurs against my lips, his eyes staring into mine.
"Ben," I whisper, touching his cheek with my hand.
"Until you, it was loneliness."
Tears well in my eyes.
"Until your touch, I felt nothing."
My breath catches as the orgasm builds, drawing nearer.
"Until your love, my life was empty, Nicole. So fucking empty," he tells me, his eyes wet with emotion.
"Come for me, Sunshine. Light up the darkness for me."
It's as if my body can't deny him. It surrenders immediately to his demand as the pleasure, hot as lightning, flares through my belly and outward.