Strangers with Benefits (Siren Publishing Classic) Read online

  “Ah hah.” She nodded drunkenly but never opened her eyes.

  “Wanna jump off of a bridge with me?” he asked, wondering if she even was able to understand a word that came out of his mouth. Or if she would agree to any damn thing he said right now.

  That was a major turn on, to have this woman so gone that she couldn’t even think.

  “Wh-aa?” She popped her lids open and looked at him.

  He chuckled. “Nothing.” When he smacked her cunt with his hand again, she writhed and wailed, her juices ran between them and coated his balls.

  “Shit!” He pulled out of her, quicksilver fast, but even then, he barely staved off his orgasm.

  Den flicked the condom off and thrust back inside her, only this time he was back within the well-travelled depths of her cunt.

  Sidonie screamed, but he aborted the sound with his hand. He knew how she got down and there was no need to have a knock at the door this weekend, too. When he delved back into her, there was no reason to hold back and he felt the trickle of semen eke into the clutching clasp of her cunt.

  “You. Fuck. Like. A. Beast.” She huffed and puffed for breath as she tossed her arm over her eyes.

  When he rolled over and looked down at the satisfied grin on her face, his heart raced.

  Damn.

  The next day, he went to work and wondered what Sidonie was doing. Yet again, he found himself distracted and all he wanted was to get off so he could play cops and robbers with her. Maybe he’d get lucky and she would cook something else for him to eat.

  He was going to have to start going to the gym if he kept dating Sidonie.

  Dating?

  But there was nothing else he could think of that fit.

  She was more than a friend. Less than a wife.

  More than a lover. Less than a fiancé.

  He spent the morning on a car chase that took him into Beauford County and he had to call for back up from the local officers to get the guy off of the back roads there.

  The report on that one took ages, as he had to call in reinforcements from outside of his district. The worst part was it took him so long that he arrived back home late.

  But when he got there, Sidonie was waiting for him.

  All she wore was his half of his uniform, the top half at that, the shirt he’d taken off the night before unbuttoned to reveal a thick strip of skin and she twirled a spare set of cuffs around her fingers. He remembered that movie and he had no problem reenacting an inside man with her.

  “How was work?” she asked.

  “Long enough that I was ready to run as soon as it was late enough to.”

  “I made dinner if you’re feeling… a bit hungry…”

  “Oh, yeah. I could eat.” He winked and undid the heavy duty leather belt.

  Her eyes twinkled as he dropped the clothes from the door to the sofa where she waited. He ate, but he imagined his meal wasn’t what she imagined when she slaved over pots and pans that day, he’d bet on it.

  Chapter Eleven:

  Healing and Heartbreak

  After a lusty weekend with Den, Sidonie felt as if she had burned both ends of the candle and maybe the middle, too. She was exhausted and even that was a sorry description for how she felt at the moment.

  By Tuesday night, she was face down in her bed by the time the kids went upstairs for the evening. They had an extended bedtime due to their ages, and lights out usually was by ten thirty. The next morning seemed interminably slow as she was with the development team.

  They were smart, but she had never met an odder bunch of geeks in her life. After lunch, they chit chatted about a nothing really.

  The drone testing in Canada was interesting, but not enough to distract her and she found her mind wandering off in every direction.

  Really one direction.

  Den.

  Then she heard one of the techs, Elisha, gasp.

  “What?”

  “I just got a message from my son.” Elisha’s son was a state trooper and whenever something bad happened that might show up on the news, he usually sent her a message to let her know that he was all right.

  “He’s all right?”

  “Yeah. But it looks like a local officer was shot and run over this morning.”

  “Oh, that sounds bad.” No way was it Den.

  He was fine. She was just freaking out for no reason. But she pulled out her phone and sent a message. It’s just to check up on him.

  Hey, hon. Heard that someone got hurt. Are you okay?

  The cursor blinked as she waited for him to reply.

  He’s probably busy.

  He’s just fine, Sid, stop fretting.

  But after twenty minutes, Sidonie piped back into the conversation.

  “Hey Elisha, did your son mention who it was?”

  “No. But they usually don’t release the name until the next of kin has been notified.”

  “Any chance he would know?”

  “Probably. If not, he should be able to find out.” Elisha started texting immediately.

  Sidonie bit her thumb nail, one tiny shred at a time, until there was nothing left but the quick and a ruined cuticle.

  Ten minutes later, Elisha’s phone chimed. “I don’t know him, but Eric said the officer is a… Dennis McTavish?” She shrugged.

  Sidonie gasped just before her vision went black. She heard the chatter of several voices, but she couldn’t see a thing.

  Open your eyes.

  Open your eyes.

  “Sid! Can you hear me?”

  “Huh?”

  “Are you okay?”

  No. She wasn’t.

  “Uh, I’m fine. I have to go. Now.”

  “What?”

  “You can make do without me. Send me an e-mail when you have a prototype.”

  She walked outside and realized, she had no idea where she was even headed. Elisha said he was at the hospital, but she didn’t know where. New Hanover was the most likely option, but not the only one.

  When she hopped into the SUV, the phone rang. “Is this Sidonie Clark?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m Anna Benson at New Hanover.”

  “Uh, okay.”

  “We have a patient here that has been calling your name since the anesthesia wore off.”

  “Den?”

  “Sounds like it. His parents have been contacted, and they are on their way up now, but I thought that a friendly face might help him out.”

  “I’m on the way.”

  When she hung up the phone, she realized something. First, she had to pick up the kids. Secondly, she was supposed to take care of the carpool. Thirdly, she had no idea how long she could stay. Sidonie dropped her head on the steering wheel as her mind went over the possibilities.

  Her fingers flew and she listened as the phone rang.

  “Hey, Moo Moo!” Mimi called out.

  “Hey, Meem. I need the biggest favor I have ever asked for in my life.”

  “Sure.”

  “You might not want to agree before you know what it is.”

  “Moo Moo, I don’t have a bunch of money and you know it. No firstborn child to offer up. We’re a different blood type so I can’t give you a kidney. So anything else is fair game at this point.”

  Sidonie chuckled. “Den was shot and I need to go to the hospital. But the kids have to be picked up for the carpool and I don’t want to leave stuff hanging.”

  “So, you need me to pick ’em up and drop ’em off at the game then home? I can do that.”

  “I can call Charles, but he won’t be here in time. Plus, I’ll need you to stay at my place with them tonight. I should be fine for tomorrow.” Or so she hoped. But she would cross that bridge when she got to it.

  “That’s fine. But you know my car is too small for the pool right?”

  “Yeah. Wanna switch?”

  “All right, that works for me.”

  Fifteen minutes later, she had packed a bag and called in an order for It
alian to be delivered at eight-thirty before she handed her keys off to Mimi.

  She could probably stay long enough for his parents to arrive and be back by the next evening.

  Fuck, she had to call her boss. Devlin Brenner would have to wait until she knew what was happening.

  The entire ride was spent sobbing and railing at the asshole that would hurt him. She devised torture methods that would make Guantanamo look like a stay at the Hilton.

  She cursed and cried until her eyelids were swollen enough to make them half shut.

  A half hour later, she parked in the visitor’s lot at the medical center and slid of sunglasses on. She walked inside, greeted by the scent of antiseptic and despair, despite the cheerful atmosphere and bright paint.

  “I’m Sidonie Clark, here to see Dennis McTavish?”

  The receptionist clicked away and a moment later, she looked up. “Hi, Ms. Clark, he’s on the third floor in room three seventeen.”

  Sidonie rushed to the elevator and jabbed the button several times.

  “I know, slow right?” A woman Sidonie hadn’t even noticed stood next to her.

  She nodded, but didn’t speak back. Her throat was too raw to do anything more than that.

  “Would you like a hug?”

  Sidonie nodded and the tiny elderly woman wrapped her arms around her.

  A few moments later, the elevator emitted a ding and the doors opened. Sidonie motioned the lady in, but the woman nodded. “I’m not waiting for it. I’m headed home.”

  The question must have been written on her face as the woman replied to the very thought that crossed her mind.

  “Why did I wait, deary? It looked like you needed me to.” The woman winked and wandered off without another word.

  She clicked the button for the third floor and remembered the when Den stood next to her that first night.

  “Please, Lord, take care of him for me,” she whispered as the car moved with agonizing slowness.

  When it opened and she was spat out onto the floor proper, there was a flurry of activity. Nurses walked at a quick clip from one place to the next. Doctors meandered with tablets under one arm and didn’t look left or right, as if removed from the very place they were.

  She checked the placard on the wall to see what direction she was supposed to head for and went to the left. When she arrived, she took a breath and opened the door.

  “I already told you! I don’t want a fucking sponge bath!”

  It was Den, but this didn’t sound anything like the man that she knew.

  “Well, at least the volume tells me you’re alive.”

  “Sidonie?” he asked as she stepped into view.

  Her heart began racing at the sight of him, but for the first time, the adrenaline had nothing to do with arousal and everything to do with fear.

  He looked terrible. His hair stuck out in odd patches, there were bandages everywhere that she looked. He had on a hospital gown, but even that couldn’t conceal the fact that he was scraped from head to probably his toes.

  “God, you look terrible,” she said.

  “Yeah, well… feel terrible, too.”

  “Your parents should be on the way.”

  “I told them not to call.” Den huffed.

  “Why not?”

  “You don’t know my parents. My mom’s going to get here and cry for two days and my father is going to ask me if I want to take over the farm.”

  “So?”

  “I’m a cop, Sidonie. I’ll die being a cop.”

  She knew he meant it.

  Just like she knew that arguing with him was going to do either of them little good. “Well, you’re good at it, I know from personal experience.”

  “Can you sit down? I can’t take anymore hovering.” His voice was low and worn.

  “Okay.” She took the plush chair next to him. “Are you hungry or thirsty?”

  “Not really.”

  “When was the last time you ate?”

  “Last night.” He sighed.

  “Then we’ll start with that. What would you like?”

  “Sid, I already said I wasn’t hungry.”

  “And your opinion has been vetoed. If I call the nurse in here, I have a feeling that this isn’t the first time that you’ve rejected food.”

  He sighed and raised a hand to his forehead. “Fine, do whatever the hell you want.”

  “I will.” She got up and walked out to the nurse’s station.

  “Hi, what can I do for you?”

  She looked at the name tag. “Oh, hi Anna. I’m Sidonie. You called me earlier I think.”

  “Sure did. He’s grouchy, in case you didn’t know.”

  “Yeah, I noticed that.”

  Anna chuckled. “So what’s going on?”

  “Can he eat?”

  “Can he? Yep. Will he? That’s another story.”

  “He’s going to eat if I have to cram the food down his throat.”

  “Okay then, what do you want brought in? I have a menu.”

  “I don’t need it. If possible, a turkey sandwich and chips. Actually, make it two.”

  “All right, I can have the kitchen send something up in a bit. What to drink?”

  “Got any OJ?”

  “Of course.” Anna grinned.

  “Thanks, Anna.”

  Sidonie walked back into the room and plopped back into the chair. Den was silent, so she assumed he was asleep. There was no point in waking him until the food arrived, so she let him be. But she took the hand without a bandage and held it.

  Sidonie rubbed her fingers over his relaxed palm.

  Over and over again.

  She looked over him and prayed that he would be whole when all was said and done. She didn’t realize Anna had opened the door until the other women popped her head into the room.

  “Hey. Brought up the food if you’re ready for it.” Anna walked over to the table and sat the tray down. “Wow. He fell asleep, huh?”

  “Yeah. It should keep until he gets back up.”

  Sidonie sat in the silent room as one hour bled into the next. Before she knew it, she had laid her head on Den’s hand and fallen asleep for herself. She had nightmares that all started with her in the hospital. She ran the halls, looked for Den, and couldn’t find him. When she ran downstairs, to the basement, he was there.

  On a slab.

  Sidonie gasped and jerked awake. She looked at the bed and he was there, whole and alive. So long as the terrifying vision she had was wrong, she’d take it.

  “Thank you, Jesus.”

  When he finally woke moments later, she smiled at the scowl on his face.

  “Are you hungry?”

  “Maybe a little bit,” he conceded.

  “All right, then open up.”

  She picked up one of the sandwiches and held it up to his mouth.

  “I’m not an invalid you know.”

  Sidonie rolled her eyes as she looked around. He was laid up in a hospital bed after heaven knows what kind of surgery he’d had. And not to mention she had no idea what had happened to land him here in the first place.

  “Fine then, point taken. Feed away,” he muttered.

  “All right. Buzzz-zzzz, look at the airplane, Den!”

  “You are a harpy woman.”

  “Aww… Is Dennie wennie angries?”

  “Lady, I’m going to heal so I can spank the hell out of you when I get out of here.”

  “That’s what I’m counting on.”

  “You better pray that I mellow… a lot before I walk out of here.”

  “Come on big man, eat.”

  “Okay.” He took a bite of the offered sandwich.

  When he finished the first one, he looked at her. “Since you are fussing about my eating habits, when was the last time you ate?”

  Sidonie stopped wrestling with the chip bag long enough to think. “Uh, lunchtime.”

  “Yeah, eat the other sandwich.”

  “Nope. It’s for my sick bo
y toy.”

  “I’ll show you sick when the nurse comes in to check on us and you’re coming on my hand.”

  “No way.”

  “It would scratch another requirement off of the lists.”

  “Nope. You have to gimme the cock to fulfill the public sex requirement.” She winked.

  “I got some cock for you all right.”

  “Can you even get it up?”

  “Maybe?” He thought about it for a second and looked down at the blanket, where a tiny tent started to form right before her eyes.

  “You are a piece of work. Are you going to call your parents?”

  “I guess I have to eventually. What time is it?”

  Sidonie grabbed her purse and looked at her phone. “Ah, it’s ten thirtyish.”

  “Ish?”

  “Fine, Den. It’s ten twenty-seven.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Time Nazi.”

  “Food Nazi.”

  “Oh, I liked it better when you were asleep.”

  “So this is what it would be like to live with you?”

  “You’ve thought that far ahead?”

  “You haven’t?” The statement was a challenge in honesty. No way would she admit to how often she thought about the two of them together as a couple.

  She lifted the other sandwich to his lips and he took a bite. “Eat.”

  “It’s for you.”

  “And I want you to have it.”

  “How about we share?”

  “I can do that.”

  She took a bite, and then gave him another until there was nothing left. Once he finished, he looked at the bed where a bag of chips sat.

  “Can you?” He winked.

  “Sure.” She gave him one at a time, and even had a few for herself. When he slurped the last of the orange juice from the bottom of the bottle, she smiled. “That wasn’t so hard. See?”

  “I’ve got something that can be so-ooo hard.”

  “You are loopy. Have you been pushing that button for the morphine on the sly?”

  “Nah. It’s delivered automatically.”

  “I did hear you complain about a sponge bath.”

  “I don’t want some person I don’t know touching me.”

  “Well, it’s better than being rank.”

  “I don’t stink!” He huffed, but then he gingerly lifted an arm and took a deep breath. “Do I?”

  “If you have to ask…” Sidonie quipped.