Chapter 21

MARIAH

She felt his hand on her forehead as he wiped her hair off of her face. Mariah felt nauseous and didn’t want to open her eyes for fear that she was going to vomit all over the place. But she also didn’t want River to keep touching her like that. With every stroke of his hand, she felt emotions welling up inside of her that she couldn’t control.

When his hand touched her body, it made her feel like she wanted more with him. She couldn’t think about just being friends when he was touching her in any way. He needed to stop. Mariah was trying to keep their relationship on a professional level. He had way too much to deal with, and Mariah couldn’t imagine getting into another fight with him.

“I’m fine,” she said as she sat up, and then immediately the room started to go black. “Oh, I’m not fine.”

Mariah lay back down and closed her eyes again. She wasn’t going to be able to get away from River anytime soon. She needed to just lay still and keep her eyes closed while she tried to get control of the dizziness that was going on all around her.

Feeling like throwing up was the worst sensation in the world. There was a constant need to move to a different position to try and feel better, yet every time she moved, Mariah felt much worse than before.

“You’re not going anywhere. I have a doctor coming over soon. He’ll check you out. That’s the end of things. You can sleep in my bed. I’ll stay on the couch,” River said.

“How are you going to get me home? I can’t even stand.”

But as soon as the words left Mariah’s mouth, she knew exactly how River was going to get her home. He slid his hands under her legs and her back, and quickly lifted her off the small sofa before making his way out the door and toward the parking lot.

“Edward, can you grab the car door for me?” River said as they got closer to the parking lot.

“I really think she needs to go to a hospital,” April added.

The group made their way quickly toward the parking lot and seemed to be relatively unnoticed by the students that were in the area. They were college kids, after all; there were probably much crazier things they had witnessed.

“No, no doctors,” Mariah said as she opened her eyes.

Somewhere between opening her eyes and looking around to find Edward, the dizziness got the best of Mariah, and she couldn’t hold back the vomit. She tried to get River to release her, but everything happened too quickly, and before she knew it, Mariah had thrown up all down the front of River and herself.

“Oh, darling, are you okay,” April said as she rushed over and tried to help out.

They had just made it to River’s car, and Edward had opened the door. It was a new Range Rover with a white exterior and black leather interior. One of the nicest cars Mariah had ever been in. She felt horrible for christening his car with the rancid throw up that was all over the front of her.

Unfortunately, there just wasn’t anything Mariah could do about it at that moment. She couldn’t even keep her eyes open, she felt so horrible. Her hands were shaking, and she had sweat on her forehead. Mariah was in no position to argue with anyone. She was going to have to go wherever River took her.

“I’m okay,” Mariah said as she leaned back and closed her eyes.

Partly saying it to River and partly to herself. She was alright, she just felt horrible. As soon as the nausea passed, Mariah was going to be just fine. She knew it.

She was intent on not vomiting in his vehicle and quickly went to work to try and overcome the dizziness. Unfortunately, everything she did made her feel sick to her stomach. When she moved, she felt sick; when she didn’t move, she also felt sick.

“I’ve got a gym bag in the trunk; will you grab the towel out for me?” River asked April.

She grabbed the towel and was back at the car door very quickly. Then something happened that had Mariah in absolute awe. Instead of using the towel to wipe himself off, River used it to clean up Mariah. He gently wiped her off, and then when she was all cleaned up, he put the car window down and closed the door.

“You should go to the hospital,” April said again.

“No, no, doctors,” Mariah said softly.

“It’s alright. Doctor Reynolds will be there shortly. We will follow his recommendations,” River said as he wiped himself off quickly and threw the towel in a nearby trashcan. He also pulled off his shirt and tossed it in the trash before grabbing a clean T-shirt out of his gym bag in the trunk.

Mariah couldn’t help feeling something for River. She knew he hadn’t meant to hit her with that chair. Certainly, he had no idea she was coming through the door, but it was nice to see his softer side as he tried to take care of her. That was certainly the side of River that Mariah wanted to see more of.

The softer, sweeter River was the guy Mariah had feelings for. He was the one she thought about at night, and he was the one she wanted to have there with her. She was grateful that his anger and agitation had calmed down. Of course, it sucked that he had to throw a chair at her and she had to get injured before River finally got control of himself.

“I take it the meeting went badly,” Mariah said quietly as they drove toward River’s house.

“Yeah, I’d say so.”

The rest of the day was pretty much a blur for Mariah. She remembered getting back to River’s house and having a doctor ask her a lot of questions. He said she had a concussion and that she shouldn’t fall asleep; River was instructed to keep her awake, or if she had to sleep, to wake her up every fifteen minutes.

The doctor did suggest that Mariah take it easy and not do anything too strenuous. She wanted to know when she could go back to work, and River instantly stepped in to say she could take off as much time as needed.

Mariah knew that River wasn’t in a big hurry to fix what was going on in his life, but she still wanted to feel better and get back to work. Mariah was pretty intent on helping River figure a way out of his mess, whether he wanted a way out or not.

River took his job of caring for Mariah very seriously and consistently woke Mariah throughout the evening and all night long. He didn’t sleep at all as he watched her from a chair next to the bed and continued to ask if she needed anything.

“How are you feeling? Do you want some crackers? I’m going to get some fresh ice for your lump on your head. By the way, I’m so sorry,” River would say practically the same thing every time Mariah awoke.

“I’d be much better if you let me sleep,” Mariah said although she was very grateful for River being there and taking care of her.

By morning, Mariah was feeling much better. The bulk of the nausea had subsided although she had a splitting headache. She opened her eyes to see River sound asleep in the chair next to her. She couldn’t help smiling at how peaceful he looked while sleeping. It was weird that they had been in that same bed only a few days before, and Mariah had wanted to be naked with him all day long. But at that moment, her head hurt, and her resolve to be professional was still strong; so all she wanted to do was get something to eat and take some medicine.

Instead of waking him up kindly, Mariah decided to play a bit of a prank on River. She slid out of the bed and lay on the ground on the other side. Gently, she tugged on the blanket that River was resting his head on, just enough that he started to wake up. She giggled to herself as she waited for him to wake up and realize she wasn’t in the bed at all. After spending the whole night so diligently watching her, it was funny that he had fallen asleep just when she started to feel better.

As River jumped up from the chair and came around the bed to look for Mariah, She screamed out at him and scared him. River jumped back and tripped as he fell to the ground. Mariah couldn’t help but burst out laughing at how badly she had scared him. It was like a scene right out of a comedy movie, and Mariah needed a good laugh. She couldn’t keep it together as she continued to giggle at River.

“Oh, my gosh. I’m so sorry,” Mariah said through her laughter.

“You aren’t sorry,” River said as he tried to keep a straight face but laughter kept seeping through for him as well.

“No, really. I didn’t mean to scare you that bad. Were you a skittish child?” She laughed.

River didn’t bother standing back up, and instead made his way over to Mariah by crawling across the floor. They both laughed, and then as they made eye contact, Mariah felt the mood change. The look in his eyes abruptly changed from silly to serious as his intense gaze tore through her defenses. His longing started to show as he looked at her, and Mariah instantly went on the defensive and prepared to do her damndest to keep things professional.

“You look like you’re feeling better.”

“Yes, apparently you can recover from being beaten by a chair.”

“Oh, that was low. You know I didn’t mean to. I’m so sorry,” River said as he sat down next to Mariah, and they both leaned back against the bed.

“I do feel better. Just a headache,” Mariah said as she felt the lump on her head.

She was really grateful that she had gotten some ice on it when they arrived at River’s house. That was probably why the swelling was down, and she wasn’t walking around with a huge lump on her head.

“How much better?” River said as he moved even closer to Mariah and let his hand run up and down her thigh.

Mariah had longed to feel his hands on her body again, but she wasn’t interested in the anger thing that was going on with River. She also didn’t like that he wasn’t willing to put the work in to actually make his life better. He needed to make a statement or apologize, or meet with the governor. Something needed to happen to calm the animosity between the two of them so they could move forward. It was impossible to think that River would ever get his life back together if he didn’t properly take care of the issues at hand.

“I think you need to concentrate on yourself for a while. You don’t need any more distractions.”

Mariah didn’t want to say more than that. She wanted River, and if the situation were different, she probably would have made love to him. But River’s life was a mess, and Mariah wasn’t going to be able to help him if he didn’t find a reason to help himself.

“I’d like to concentrate on you first,” River said as he brushed Mariah’s blonde hair away from her neck and let his lips gently kiss her.

The warmth of his lips on her neck made it near impossible for Mariah to push River away. He had a way with her that she just hadn’t ever felt before. The smooth warmth of his lips sent a tingling throughout her body. She didn’t care that she had a concussion; Mariah wanted to feel her body naked next to his. It took everything she had not to make a move on him.

“How about we make some plans for the next week or so. What are you willing to do?”

The look on River’s face said that he wasn’t really all that happy with where the conversation was leading. He didn’t want to make plans for the upcoming week; it was obvious he simply wanted to make plans for his bed that day.

“Like what?” River said as he started to get defensive.

“Like meeting with Kimberly, at least. You two could simply talk and have everything worked out.”

“You saw how bad the last meeting went. How about we hold off on that for a little bit?”

River leaned in to kiss Mariah, but she wasn’t in the mood at all. Was she the only one who was actually worried about River’s life? He didn’t seem to care at all that he was spinning out of control and was going to lose his whole business.

Mariah pushed River away. She didn’t want to. Everything in her body wanted to kiss River and feel his hands on her body. But she had to push him away. River had to concentrate on his own life, and he wasn’t going to be able to use Mariah as his distraction anymore. It was up to Mariah to keep River focused, and if that meant she had to give him up, then she was going to give River up.

“What about visiting with Jackson? You missed your last appointment. At least, go visit with him; he didn’t do anything wrong. You say you want to be a good father to him, but look how you’re acting. Would any of this behavior be something you would want your son to see?”

“That isn’t fair,” River said as he pushed himself away and stood up. “I didn’t do any of this in front of Jackson. He doesn’t know what’s going on.”

“So that makes you a good father figure?” Mariah asked as she started to stand up.

River was quickly there helping her, despite the fact that they were starting to argue again. Mariah knew that River was a good guy, and he wasn’t behaving the way he had been because he purposely was trying to be a jerk. But River needed time to work on himself and Mariah could see that. She was certain that nothing was going to get better until River actually talked with Kimberly. Although Mariah couldn’t force that conversation, she was more than willing to push him in the right direction.

The presidential race was heating up, and the governor was going to be out on the campaign trail more and more. That would mean that Kimberly could easily meet with River undetected. But it also meant that the governor might be asked more questions about River and Kimberly’s relationship. Mariah had a really bad feeling that if River didn’t step up and decide to start working to save his company, no one else was going to be able to make it happen.