Page 62 of Playing for Keeps (Checkmate 4)

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Andi

Last Ditch Effort

Sitting forward on the couch, I bury my smile against my shoulder when I reach out for my glass of wine and inadvertently yank Riley’s hand forward.

He lets out a literal growl and pulls me back when I get my hand around the wide glass. “This is super fucking annoying, Dee. Undo the cuffs.”

“Your whining is super fucking annoying, Cruz. Not even a desperate stalker will stick around for long if you keep that shit up.” Sitting back on the couch, I bring my feet up and tuck them close to his thigh, forcing him to keep my toes warm. Bringing my glass of fruity white wine to my lips, I have to swallow my giggles and try not to choke when his handhasto follow my movements. He’s fighting me on this, he’s fighting so hard he’s going to give himself a hernia, but listening to him growlDeetime and time again is reason enough to stick around.

When he makes it toDeedee, I’ll know I’ve basically won.

“Riley.” I dig my feet in when he moves away. “Stop squirming, dammit. I’m trying to enjoy wine and a movie with my fiancé. You’re ruining it.”

“I’m just gonna go to bed.” He brings our hands up and half spills my wine. “I’m not playing, Dee. Undo these now and let me go. If you don’t, I’ll just call X and have him open them.”

“You gonna call the big, bad, sheriff? It’s awesome how I found every single set of keys in this house, huh? If you were less organized like me, you might’ve left a set in a random place and could be in control of the handcuff keys right now. But because you have a nasty case of anal retention, I knew where to look, I knew how many sets you have, and now I know where they’re all hidden. Tell me, Cruz? What doyouknow?”

“I know how to kill a person and make it look like an accident.” He’s going for scary, but the look in his eyes says something else entirely. “I know how far out of town I have to dump your body before it becomes someone else’s jurisdiction, and thus, you won’t get Alex or Oz on your case.” Again, he squirms and yanks on the cuffs in frustration. “Get the fucking cuffs off, Dee. I need to go to bed.”

With narrowed eyes, I set my wine glass down and turn on the couch until I’m on my knees and looking down into his eyes. I glance to his rapidly moving chest, to his belly moving with his breath, to his pale cheeks and glassy eyes, then finally, down to his bad leg. “Riley, on a scale of one to ten, how much pain are you in right now?”

“None, just undo the fucking cuffs!”

“Why won’t you let me help you?” Leaning closer, I basically rest my chest against his arm and drop my non-cuffed hand to his thigh. His eyes snap down to my hand, his breath coming in fast little pants as I start massaging the twitching muscle. “You’ve been out of the hospital for a week, missing twelve percent of your leg for three weeks. You’ve been taking your medication religiously, because you’re a good boy. But you don’t tell a soul about the muscle spasms, do you?” I slide my hand over the top of his thigh, digging my fingers in deep and fighting the muscles that cord and battle to be released. “Is it like a tingling sensation? Numbness?”

“It’s like someone is shoving a fork into my foot.” Finally,finallyhe admits a weakness. “It’s like the fork is in an electrical socket, and now it’s stabbing my foot.”

“Riley…”

His voice cracks. “My foot isn’t even there, Dee! I can’t tell someone my left foot feels like it’s on fire, because there is no left foot!”

I lean closer, use my strength to uncoil the spasming muscle just above his knee, and use my eyes to distract him from the phantom pains he’s too scared to tell anyone about. “It’s okay to not be okay, Riley.” I press my lips to his chin. His jaw. The soft flesh behind his ear. “To be able to heal, you need to be able to rest. How often does the phantom pain kick in and drag you out of sleep? How many nights have you lain awake in that room and not told me? Huh?” I lean back. “How long have you suffered and told no one?”

“Every night,” he admits on a grunt. The nerves that used to run down his leg and into his foot now have nowhere to go. They’re literally live wires that dangle in the wind, zapping him and bringing him pain. “This has happened every single night since they took it.”

“Baby…” I don’t stop working on his leg, but I do lean around him and press our lips together. This morning, I might’ve wondered if he’d punch me in the face and tell me I had it coming, but now, I accept the sigh that transfers from his lungs to mine, I slide my tongue over his bottom lip, and I pray I’m bringing him comfort and diverting the electrical currents that zing through his leg. “I’d really like for you to let me in, Riley.”

I want to sob when he brings his hand up and tucks my hair back.

It was getting in the way – of my eyes, of our lips.

“Let me help you, because whether you like it or not, I’m still gonna be here, I’m still going to try, but if youletme, we can do it together and make it better faster.”

“Okay…” Closing his eyes, he drops his head and steals his lips from mine. “Okay. For now. You can help.”

“Forever.” I press a kiss to his forehead. His brow. His cheekbone. Lifting his face with my nose, I slide my tongue over the single tear that glistens on his cheek. “I actually kinda love you. The kind where my heart went and got involved, plus, word on the street is we’re engaged, so I’m staying here.”

He chokes on a laugh. Refuses himself the freedom to find humor in his situation. “For now.”

“Come on.” Pulling back, I climb off his couch and take his hand. “I have something I have to do, but since we’re cuffed together, you’ve gotta come, too.”

He reaches out for his crutches with a frown. “You could just undo the cuffs.”

“Ha! Funny story; I actually have no clue where the keys are. You’re literally gonna have to call Alex at some point to release us.”

I wait patiently while he gets the crutches into place and pulls himself up. I stand close – approximately four centimeters away – as he brings the crutches under his arms and scowls as the silver chain clangs against the crutch. I step back when his eyes come to mine in question. “We’re just going to the kitchen. It’ll be good for you to get up for a minute anyway, then you can sit on the counter while I work.”

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