Shock and confusion rendered Drake immobile.

What the fuck?

“Please don’t.” Bethany pushed against him. If Drake let go, Bethany would surely crumple to the ground.

“Bethany…Bee, it’s me. Drake.” He shook her gently. Bethany winced. Fuck the migraine, he needed to get through to her. “I would never hurt you, baby.”

The moment he found out who did this to her, he was not even going to let the bastard get a chance to defend himself.

Even under the lobby’s soft and almost elegant lighting, Bethany’s pallor was unmistakable. A thin sheen of sweat covered her face and her pulse throbbed angrily at her temple. Drake had seen this once, a long time ago.

“Taxi,” she gasped.

“Not needed. I told you I was going to take you, remember? For once Bethany, quit being stubborn,” he growled softly. “You were never like this before.”

Her mouth lifted only a fraction before she groaned.

“Is she alright?” A night nurse came out of the 24/7 café holding a steaming cup of tea with the labelled string hanging by the outside.

“Yeah, she’ll be fine,” Drake said. “Her migraines do this to her all the time. I’m taking her home.”

“I need to go home,” Bethany murmured at the same time.

The nurse nodded in sympathy. “Sorry to see you in pain. I get those too. I’ve got some ibuprofen.” She took something out of her pocket. “Will this help.”

“Oh yes please.”

The nurse returned to the café to bring out a cup of water. Bethany drank it gratefully.

“Hope you feel better soon,” the nurse said smiling before go to the bank of lifts.

“Thank you,” Drake murmured.

“What for?” Bethany’s forehead crunched with the effort of talking.

“Nowadays, you always have to give a long explanation. People might think I’m abducting you.”

“I’d like that,” she said on a breath. “Then maybe… shit, I’m going to be sick.”

Bethany pulled away from Drake, running in a haphazard manner out of the hospital. He followed her down the stairs just in time to hold her hair away from her face while she retched by the hedge. Nothing came out except a strangled gurgle and dry heaving while the wind blew droplets of rain at them.

“Better?”

“I think so. The mist is helping.” She lifted her face to the darkness, her profile haloed by light coming from the hospital’s lobby.

Drake forced himself to look away. Bethany’s exposed throat was tempting him to lick and gently graze his teeth on it. Her voice was sultry and sweet with VIP access to his mouth, his body. All of him. His hand was itching to grab her wrist and drag her to the AMG and take his fill. Fuck, it might even cure her migraine.

“Ready to go?” he asked softly, not wanting to shake her with the sound of his voice.

She nodded.

They walked the short distance to his car. Bethany allowed him to wrap his arm around her waist, helping her into the seat. When he secured her belt, Bethany leaned forward giving him a kiss that landed on the side of his mouth.

“Thank you,” she whispered, her dark blue eyes searching his, caressing his face. His body took notice. Drake saw the flare of desire amidst the pain before she lowered them, banking the fire that warmed him.

He closed her door gently, inhaling and appreciating the sharp cold invading his lungs. It wasn’t enough to turn his thoughts completely away from what he wanted to do to the woman sitting in his car but it was a start. Besides, the reason why he returned to the hospital was to be with Bethany in any way he could. He doubted if he’d get into her good graces if he just fucked her brains out.

And what the fuck did she mean about not hurting her?

 He entered the driver’s seat and closed the door and looked at her sleeping form. Her mascara made her lashes longer than they were. Her pale berry coloured lips made dusky by the shadows slightly pouted in slumber, her body curled, her forehead smoothing out the deeper she slept.

Bethany’s street was dark and deserted when Drake turned into the off street parking behind her car. He shut the engine. The front lights on the houses pierced the gloom and illuminated the cars partially parked up the curb.

“Bethany, we’re here.”

She mumbled and settled even more into the cradle of the seat.

Drake’s lips twitched before he got out, locking the door behind him. No one was going to hurt Bethany, not even if he was gone only to open her house door. He took the key once more from under the vase, his forehead pulling into a scowl. He shook his head when it opened and there was no beep of an alarm. Bethany had no fucking security system at all. Irritation and anxiety burned low in his gut and spread to stranglehold his chest. It was so easy to kick Bethany’s door down but it wouldn’t have made him any different from the lowlifes he had to tangle with from Manchester’s underbelly after being thrown out on his arse.

Drake’s hands balled into fists, his breathing laboured, and his jaw hard as he willed himself to release his pent up tension. His breath seesawed and he concentrated on the sound of the air coming out of his nasal passages. Miles had forced him to take those meditation classes and some yoga shit for flexibility and calm when all Drake wanted to do was go inside the cage and fight because fate had dealt him an unfair hand. It took a long time for him to accept that holding grudges was not doing him any favours.

He pulled in a lungful of air and let it out slowly. Miles was right, though. This medication shit calmed him the fuck down.

Scooping Bethany in his arms, his lips curved to the side at the sexy noise she made against his chest. He closed the front door softly with his back and took a step up the flight of stairs he’d previously vowed he wouldn’t until he felt worthy.

With only the foyer’s light helping him see, Drake stood on the landing. Three doors greeted him. Two were closed and one was left opened where the lights from a passing vehicle illuminated it.

Bethany’s room.

Drake’s shoes sank into the thick carpet as he lay Bethany on the bed and carefully removed her boots. She made another sexy noise before turning away, her sweet ass pushing back in sleep and crowding Drake’s mind with thoughts of what he wanted to do with it. He straightened and watched her sleeping form and a wave of protectiveness soaked him.

Something had happened to her that changed her from the sweet girl of his youth to the woman he wanted in his bed. Her fear gnawed at his gut. Asking her point blank could shut him out. He needed to tread carefully. He also couldn’t leave her, not like this. Not when she’d be alone without any alarm in place. He was going to fix that whether she liked it or not.

In the meantime, he was going to lock up and make sure Bethany’s house was as much a fortress from burglars as it could be. Much as Drake wanted to spoon Bethany, he was going to sit his ass on the sofa downstairs and nurse his aching balls while he guarded her. He may not be beside her but this was as close as he could get to the gates of heaven since crawling his way out of hell.

“Drake…” Bethany’s sleepy and sensual voice reached him.

He tensed before his mouth kicked to one side. Was she dreaming of him?

Had she been doing this the whole time they were apart?

She rolled to face him, her eyes still closed.

The tightness around his chest eased as pleasure in the knowledge that he had never been far from her mind nestled inside him taking some of the guilt from his soul. That was enough to keep him content downstairs. For the moment.

He moved to the door.

“Stay with me…”

He froze, his hand on the doorknob.

“Please.”

He didn’t move, still unsure.

“I’m barely awake, Drake, and my head bloody hurts.” Bethany’s croaking voice reached him. A painful pucker decorated her forehead. “I’m not going to ask again.”

A small, humorous huff escaped his throat.

He sat on the side of the bed, toeing his shoes off. Bethany groaned. The moment he lay down, she was over him like a sexy kitten, not even waiting for his arm to curl her to his side. He clenched his jaw so hard he might need to go to the dentist to have his molars brought back down.

The purring sounds of pleasure coming from Bethany zinged straight down to his cock, thickening it, lengthening it, waking it. Those same sounds spread heat across his belly and his thighs. Bethany had her arm draped over his chest and her thigh over his right leg. But that was more than enough for him to want to tear off her clothes and explore the body of the woman whose memory had kept him sane and alive.

Bethany stopped moving, her hums turning to sighs as she sank deeper into sleep.

Drake placed his other hand beneath his head trying not to mind his raging hard on. It was going to be a long night.

He smiled at the ceiling.

Fuck blue balls. He’d take sleeping with Bethany anyway he could.