answered, glancing up from his laptop. “Just nutrients to replenish your system.”
“Sooooooooo no real medication or anything?”
“Nope.”
“Oh.” Syd nodded, slowly removing her hand from Bryce’s as her palm began to sweat. The doctor and Bryce continued to speak about the checking-out process, but they sounded like the adults on the Charlie Brown cartoons. She was speechless. She’d thought surely she was on some type of drug when Bryce had kissed her and she’d willingly responded—and rather enjoyed it. Why else would she even let him kiss her for so long? Sure, the man apparently knew how to kiss. His tongue had done things with hers that should’ve been outlawed in the state of Georgia. Heck, every state and country, even. And that was just in one place. She had other regions on her body that wouldn’t have minded a tongue journey. When he’d glided his hand sensually down her arm and pulled her by the hair deeper into his mouth, she had the urge to seduce him right then, not caring that nurses were watching their escapade. No. It had to be something in that damn bag to make her hallucinate and think that she could actually kiss Bryce Monroe and enjoy it. Enjoy him to the point of desiring more.
No. No. No. No. No.
Once Sydney was settled onto the plush leather seat of Bryce’s Benz, she knew it was time to escape. Her goal had been to say goodbye to him in the elevator, but the hospital had other plans. She’d tried to protest to the nurse about taking her out in the wheelchair, but apparently it was protocol. Her devoted husband had skedaddled out to pull his car around to the patient pick-up area. When they arrived, he’d lifted her up gently from the chair and placed her in the front seat with a knowing gleam before turning around and thanking the nurse for taking good care of her.
Sydney turned to Bryce as he started the car and drove around the winding road toward the parking lot exit.
“Thank you for everything. I sincerely appreciate you coming and checking on me...for Megan.”
He glanced at her. “No problem. We’re family. So tell me how to get to your place.”
“Oh...no... You can just drop me off at the bus stop over on Church Street by the Infiniti dealership.” She grabbed her purse from the floor and rummaged through her wallet, searching for her MARTA card. “It’s on the left-hand side about one block from here.”
“You’re not taking the bus to get home.”
“It’s no problem. I take MARTA sometimes.” She found the card and slipped it into the inside pocket of her waist-length leather coat. A dizzy wave overwhelmed her, and she closed her eyes for a second, resting her head on the headrest.
“Yes, but not when you’re being released from the hospital.”
“I’ll be fine,” she reassured him, turning her head toward him. “Besides, it will be a madhouse for you to get in and out of the downtown Decatur area with all of the Valentine’s Day and normal rush hour traffic, and on a Friday at that.”
“I promised Megan to make sure you were fine.” His gaze rested on her as she peered at him through the slits of her eyes. “You can barely keep your eyes open as it is.”
She sat all the way up and opened her eyes wide, shooting him a glare. “I’m fine. I just need to go to sleep.”
“Exactly, and you want to take the bus. Ha! You’d fall asleep and wake up hours later with all of your valuables missing. I’m taking you home.” He pushed a button on his navigation system. “Type in your address and then lay the seat back and get some rest.”
Clearly, she wasn’t going to win this argument, and she wasn’t surprised. She’d seen him in action in the courtroom plenty of times. While she may have not always agreed with the outcome, Bryce had always led a very convincing argument.
She typed in her address and pushed the button on the side of the seat to recline it back. “Fine, but only so my sister won’t worry.” She slid her shades from the top of hair over her eyes and then closed them as she sighed.
Thirty minutes later, Sydney awoke to him shaking her lightly. She opened her eyes to see her Craftsman-style house in front of her and was relieved to be home. Now she could finally take a shower and scrub his scent off her despite the fact that she actually liked the woodsy fragrance.
“Thank you again. I’ll let Megan know I’m home.”
“You’re welcome.” He got out and trekked around the car to open her door.
“Thank you. You didn’t have to do that.”
“No problem.” He opened the back door and grabbed a bouquet of a dozen red roses, handing them to her. “While you were snoring, I bought these from a man off of the exit ramp. They were his last bunch. Didn’t want the brother out there for too long. It’s getting cold out here. So happy Valentine’s Day,” he said with a smirk.
She inhaled the light fragrance of the petals and rested her eyes on him. “Thank you for the roses, but I don’t snore,” she said, shaking her head and raking her eyes over him in disdainment.
He choked out a laugh. “Um...like hell you don’t. You were calling hogs, cows and sheep. But in your defense, I know you’ve had a long, exhausting week.”
He stepped around to his trunk and pulled out a gym bag. Sydney tilted her head as he began to walk alongside her to the porch.
“You have any dogs?” he asked as she unlocked the red door that Megan had insisted on selecting when she’d remodeled the 1920s bungalow into an updated contemporary-designed home in an upcoming neighborhood outside of Atlanta. Megan and her associates at Chase and Whitmore Designs remodeled Sydney’s home last summer for a segment on Megan’s decorating show, The Best Decorated Homes.
“Um...no. No pets,” she said, setting her boot halfway inside the foyer while the rest of her body remained on the porch. “Thank you again.”
Raising an eyebrow, he swished his mouth to one side. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”
She pushed the door and opened the alarm panel on the wall to stop the aggravating beeping. “Aren’t you leaving?”
“No. Dr. Smith said you need someone to watch over you for the next twelve hours, and I told him I would.”
“Wh...wait.” She glanced at her watch. It was six-thirty. Was he going to spend the night? “That won’t be necessary.”
“Even though your CT scans were fine, you just never know. You could faint again, bump your head and then Megan will kill me for leaving you alone.”
A devilish grin formed as she glared up at his six-foot-two frame. “Mmm...” She nodded with a smirk.
“Don’t get any ideas, woman.”
“Darn it. And to think I was going to fake a swoon.”
“Swoon? I take it you watch classic movies and read books like Little Women and Pride and Prejudice,” he said, raising a curious eyebrow.
“Yep,
