Kiss Hard Read online

  Catie stroked his back again on a roaring wave of protectiveness.

  No one was allowed to do this to her people. And nemesis or not, Danny was one of Catie’s people. “Where the hell is Vili?”

  The other man appeared out of the mass of people at that moment and gave a short nod before putting one thickly muscled arm around Danny’s waist and pulling Danny’s arm around his shoulders. Though Vili was as tall and well-built as Danny, Danny was having so much trouble holding himself up that Catie stayed at his other side, her arm around his waist and his other arm around her shoulders.

  To outside eyes, it’d look like the three of them had had a few too many drinks—enough to get a little loose with their bodies but not enough to get Danny any bad press.

  “You’re heavy, hotshot,” Catie muttered in an effort to keep Danny awake.

  He was fighting the drugs, but it was obvious they were starting to win. And even Viliame couldn’t get Danny out if he became dead weight. Danny might be one of the fastest people on the team, his ability to sidestep opposing players legendary, but he was still a rugby player. The man was muscle on muscle in a way that was quite different from Catie’s runner’s physique.

  “Come on,” she said as they weaved through the crowd; the happy partiers provided excellent cover for their stumbling progress. “You can do this, Danny.”

  Her use of his actual name seemed to get through, and he managed to help them the last few feet off the dance floor. Probably because she mostly called him anything but his name. Hotshot, GQ, Skinny, and her favorite, Cutie. That last one always made him growl because he knew she was poking him just to get a reaction—and still he’d react.

  Never would Catie tell him, but that growl thing was actually cute.

  Once out in the dimly lit back corridor, she and Viliame only had to go a short way to get Danny to the back door. When Vili pulled it open, she saw why he’d been gone so long—a rugged dark green Land Cruiser sat by the back door. Right, of course. Vili was based in the region, must’ve driven tonight.

  “No Ferrari?” she huffed out, aware of his love for that sleek bullet of a car.

  “This rig is Romeo’s,” he said, naming another teammate. “I’m the designated driver for a bunch of us—but don’t worry, boys’ll be in the club for hours yet.”

  The two of them managed to get Danny into the back seat. “I’ll get in with him,” Catie said, suiting action to words. “Just in case he throws up or has another reaction.”

  “Hospital?” Vili glanced in the rearview mirror. “I don’t like how he’s looking.”

  “Yes, head for the emergency department.” Catie had managed to belt Danny in, and he was now lying with his head on her shoulder. “I wish we could protect him from the media, but his health comes first.” For whatever reason—whether his rugby royalty family, his natural charm, or his gorgeous face and body—the entertainment media had decided that Danny Esera was their current “It” boy.

  When she’d needled him about it, he’d given her a wry half-smile. “You know they build people up to tear them down, right? They’ll be on me like a pack of hyenas if I so much as stumble.”

  That was the thing with Danny; he could be weirdly wise.

  “Yeah,” Viliame murmured as he pulled out. “I mean, the doctors take oaths to keep things confidential, but there’s going to be a bunch of the public in ED.” Pulling to a stop at a red light, he added, “His team doctor is still in the city and is a good man, but I don’t know if he’d feel obligated to report this to the higher-ups. Especially with Danny having been selected for the national squad.”

  Catie’s mind flashed. “Wait,” she said, digging out her phone from the small purse of glittery gold that she wore slung across her body. “I know a doctor here. Maybe she can help. Hopefully she hasn’t put her phone on silent and gone to bed.”

  Dr. Priya Chauhal was thirty years Catie’s senior and a woman Catie had first met during her major surgeries as a child. They’d stayed in touch through the years, even after the doctor moved cities, and tonight she answered the call at once.

  The noise in the background told Catie that Dr. Chauhal was on shift at the hospital. When Catie explained the situation, the doctor told her to bring Danny around to a back entrance of the hospital.

  “I’ll get him into a private area for the assessment and make sure it’s a very small team that interacts with him. All of them far too old and dedicated to their careers to get starstruck and make a stupid decision.”

  “Thanks, Dr. Priya.” It was what Catie had called Dr. Chauhal back when Catie had been a shocked and scared child; that it came out tonight was no surprise.

  While Viliame got instructions from the doctor on how to find the correct entrance, Catie brushed back Danny’s thick hair with its slight hint of curl. Girls loved that midnight-black hair and so did all his sponsors.

  No reaction from Danny. He was unconscious. And his skin didn’t feel right.

  Face tight, Catie looked up after Viliame hung up the call with Dr. Chauhal. “Is it far?”

  “No, we’re almost there.”

  When they pulled up in front of the right entrance, it was to find Dr. Chauhal waiting for them with a stretcher and a couple of nurses. One of them was as big a man as Viliame, and together, they were able to get Danny onto the stretcher.

  Catie stuck to Danny’s side while Vili went to park the Land Cruiser. Goose bumps broke out over her skin as they navigated the hospital corridors. She’d forgotten her jacket back at the table she’d been sharing with her friends, and her pretty, sparkly top, devoid of a back and sleeves, was meant for the heat of a club.

  It was no match for this institutional building.

  But they were in a warmer patient room soon enough—a room far from the hustle and bustle of the ED. Minutes later, Dr. Chauhal led another woman into the room. Tall, her golden hair threaded with the odd strand of silver that caught the light, she had the kind of elegant bone structure that made it impossible to pinpoint her age. Her expertise, however, was clear the instant she began to examine Danny.

  “Drug reactions of this kind aren’t in my bailiwick,” Dr. Chauhal told Catie as they stood back and let the other doctor work. “Dr. Smitherson is one of the best in that area.”

  “Thanks for doing this.” She was very conscious it wasn’t procedure. “I hope it doesn’t get you or Dr. Smitherson into trouble.”

  Hands tucked in the pockets of her lab coat, Dr. Chauhal shook her head. “Perk of being extremely senior and actually willing to take night rounds. No one’s going to piss us off over something so small.”

  Dr. Smitherson cracked a smile but kept her attention on Danny.

  “And,” Dr. Chauhal added, “the only favor he’s received is a private way in. We’d give the same care to anyone who came in exhibiting the effects of a drug of this kind.”

  “Is it very busy out there?”

  Dr. Smitherson was the one who answered. “Not quite yet. We’ll start getting the weekend rush come eleven p.m. If this had happened then, I couldn’t have come up and Mr. Esera would’ve had to take his chances entering the public way.”

  She rose from her examination of Danny. “His heart rate is a little concerning but nothing dangerous. I don’t like the fact he’s lost consciousness, however—I’m going to have the lab run his blood as a priority. He stays here with full monitoring in the meantime.”

  Catie settled into the chair beside Danny’s bed after the medical staff vacated the room; prior to leaving, they’d drawn his blood, then hooked him up to various monitors. She was just pulling out her phone when Viliame walked in.

  “I found Danny’s jacket in the car,” he said, holding it out. “I gave him a ride in tonight. Anyway, figured you might need it.”

  “Thank you—you’re a lifesaver.” Shrugging into the fleece-lined corduroy jacket that Danny somehow pulled off, she was immediately overwhelmed by the warm, masculine scent of Daniel Esera. It was… comforting. Scowlin
g at her own thoughts, she said, “I can hold the fort here. You okay to head back to the club, run interference so no one starts to wonder where Danny disappeared to?”

  Lines forming above the dark brown of his eyes, Viliame folded his arms across his chest. “I don’t want you here alone.”

  “I’m surrounded by doctors and nurses,” she reminded him. “And you know people will’ve noticed us cutting out. Better to head off the gossip or they’ll have us in a threesome and the Vilimaidens will murder me with a hatchet.” To say Viliame’s fan club was devoted was a vast understatement; his future girlfriend or wife would be in for a hard time.

  “Seriously, Vili,” she added. “You know there are people out there just waiting for Danny to slip up, make an ass of himself.” Those hyenas, waiting for him to fall. “It doesn’t need to be true to stick—the worst would be if the person who dosed him takes advantage of his sudden exit to start a rumor about him doing drugs. Making him seem drugged out might’ve been the whole point of this.”

  Catie’s anger was a hot blade, her need for revenge a cold determination. The latter had to be a genetic trait she’d inherited from Jacqueline; her mother was definitely one for revenge being a dish best served cold.

  Viliame shoved a hand over his tight black curls. “Shit. Yeah, I see where you’re going.” Lips pursed and eyes narrowed, he said, “I have an idea that’ll blow all other rumors out of the water—I could make it sound like we were going to hit another club but then you two ditched me and went off together.”

  The usually reserved player waggled his eyebrows.

  2

  VILIAME THE GOSSIP COLUMNIST

  Catie rolled her eyes. “Like anyone is going to believe that.” The fact that she and Danny were not friends was well known. Possibly because they kept snarking on each other’s social media posts.

  Take Danny’s last comment: Oh, going for the princess look today, I see. In my considered opinion, you need more gold eye shadow, and wow, go you for not hesitating to glue spider legs to your eyelids. That’s true commitment to fashion.

  Danny thought he was a genius.

  Not that she was any better.

  Bit light on the weights today, Daniel. Tut-tut. Got a little lazy on holiday, huh? It’s all right. That’s why I got you the flamingo-pink kiddie weights for Christmas. Always thinking of what’s best for you. xoxo

  It was a good thing Danny’s mum, Alison, wasn’t on the social media platform the two of them preferred for their mutual mockery. She’d twist both their ears for behaving like children rather than the full-grown adults they were supposed to be. As it was, Danny’s brothers found it hilarious and Catie’s sister just shook her head at each new dig they made.

  “Um.” Viliame unfolded his arms and winced. “I mean, everyone thinks you two are flirting with the insults, so yeah, it’ll fly.”

  Catie shuddered even as she pulled Danny’s jacket closed around her upper body. “I will never flirt with Daniel Tana Esera.” The idea was so ridiculous that she couldn’t even be insulted. “But go for it. Whatever works. Tomorrow I’ll post that he made a move, I kicked his ass, and we’ll be back to all systems normal.”

  “I will never understand you and Dan,” Viliame muttered, then held out a fisted hand. “Look after my brother from another mother?”

  She bumped her fist with his. “He’s annoying, but I love his family.”

  Viliame just shook his head, then said, “Talk to you soon, brother” to Danny before leaving.

  Only then did Catie give in to her worry and stroke Danny’s hair back once again. “Hey, hotshot. Sorry to break it to you, but the nurses didn’t swoon over you.” Her stomach was all twisted up. She hated seeing him this way, so still and pale. Danny was energy and life. He was the guy who’d hauled her onto his back during the beach races at last year’s family camping trip and run so fast that they’d smoked the other teams.

  As the others were coupled up, the two of them usually ended up paired together unless her brother Harlow could make it or they had another friend join them. And because she and Danny were as competitive as all hell, they won more times than not.

  Danny was also one of the few people whose back she had no problem jumping onto and riding. Growing up, she’d gone out with a few boys who’d thought it the height of romance to sweep her off her feet and carry her around, forget about the fact that (one): Catie hated being startled and off-balance, and (two): she’d spent literal years learning to walk on her own two prosthetic feet.

  With Danny, it was different. He’d seemed to understand from the first that her prostheses were an indelible and treasured part of her, not attachments to be ignored or seen as lesser. When they raced, she was the one who usually suggested she take them off so she’d be lighter and he could run faster.

  “Still a cheater,” he’d said with a grin last summer, hailing back to the very first time she’d joined the family camping trip—after Ísa met and fell for Sailor, one of Danny’s two older brothers.

  Danny had been bare chested that summer’s day, all gilded brown skin and sleek muscle as he grinned down at her. Bare feet, board shorts, saltwater-tangled hair, and sand stuck to his calves, he’d struck her as beautiful.

  Quickly shaking off that random thought, she’d pointed at him. “You want to win or not?”

  “I always want to win, princess.” He’d watched her remove her legs. “That foot’s new, right?”

  “Yep. The lab’s testing a new everyday foot and asked if I wanted to be a guinea pig.” Thanks to her mother’s insane wealth, Catie had never had to fight to pay for a prosthesis, a privilege she never forgot and that she did everything in her power to pay forward—including by funding continuing research on low-cost prostheses that could be built from scratch by those on the ground in the developing world.

  That day Danny had picked up the foot, examined it. “Has a futuristic look to it. Robotic stuff in there?”

  “Microprocessors.” She’d grabbed back her foot. “You can ogle to your tech-geek heart’s content later. It’s race time.”

  He’d gone down on one knee, she’d hauled herself onto the smooth warmth of his back, and they’d run to the starting line. Sea winds riffling his hair, he’d been all fluid muscle and strength against her—and when he’d laughed at a comment from his brother Jake, she’d felt the vibration in her bones.

  Danny was meant for sunlit beaches and rugby fields, not a stark hospital bed.

  After shifting her hand to wrap it around his, she made a call she didn’t want to make—but his family wouldn’t thank her for keeping them in the dark.

  Her sister picked up the phone, sounding breathless. “Catiebug!” Love, so much love in that single word. “How’s it going down there? I hear the temperature’s dived. Oh, did you run into Danny?”

  Wrapped up in the warmth of Ísa’s affection, Catie told her what had happened. “Doctors are running the tests now, and from what I can see on the monitors, his vitals are steady.” Catie had spent enough time in hospitals to have picked up the basics of reading the onscreen output.

  “Oh, sweetheart.” Ísa’s shaken response. “Let me get Sailor.” Half a minute later, she said, “I’ve put you on speaker. Sailor’s here.”

  “Catie, darling.” Sailor’s deep voice. “I’m searching for tickets for the next flight down. Mum and Dad are going to want to be there for Dan.”

  Catie’s heart squeezed. Sailor was surely her first real crush—but not in a weird way. She loved how he loved her sister, loved how he was with their children, Emmaline and Connor. Sailor Bishop had spoiled Catie for dickheads and losers. She wanted a man who loved her the way Sailor loved Ísa.

  No holds barred. Now and forever.

  Sailor was part of why she’d been able to kick Ward to the curb without regrets. He’d somehow slunk in past her dickhead radar, but she’d seen him for who he was in the end and she’d known she deserved better.

  “Danny’s going to be mad at the fuss,” she
said.

  “Yeah, Mum is real scared of his wrath.”

  Laughing softly at Sailor’s deadpan tone, Catie squeezed Danny’s hand. “I’ll keep you updated on his condition.”

  “Looks like there are no flights till morning,” Sailor said. “You’ll probably get a call from our parents soon. He look okay?”

  “Yes.” Not like himself, but his color seemed better.

  “How are you doing, Catie?” Ísa, the mama bear. “Do you have support? Laveni’s there, isn’t she?”

  “I haven’t had a chance to tell her what’s going on, but Viliame’s been amazing. He’s currently out spreading the rumor that Danny and I vanished together because we’re hooking up.” She made gagging sounds.

  A male snort came down the line. “Danny must be looking okay if you’re being your usual self with him. Make sure you take care of yourself too while you’re looking out for him.”

  “Yes, boss.”

  She didn’t have to wait long for the call from Alison and Joseph. It always made her heart ache, seeing how they were with their boys. Warm and loving while raising them to be tough, independent men. You’d never know that Joseph was Gabriel and Sailor’s stepfather—he treated all four boys as his own, and the brothers never used the word “half” for each other. They were brothers. End of story.

  When it came to the parent thing, Jacqueline had gotten better over the years, but she’d never had and never would have this kind of love for her children. Not her fault. It was the way she was built: for creating empires and being CEO.

  The problem was that instead of falling in love with men who loved children and would do the heavy lifting in the parenting department, she’d picked Stefán, followed by Clive. Her current husband, Oliver, a man Jacqueline had married after her daughters were too old for it to matter, was actually a gentler, kinder sort of man, but Ísa’s dad was also an empire-builder while Catie’s was… less than reliable.