Hellraiser (Erotic Romance - Romantic Comedy) by Kelly Wallace Page A

as scared as he was? Did she feel used? Was she falling in love? Where were they headed with all of this? Should he stay or go? Apologize?
    He couldn’t see his own eyes but they felt big, almost wild. Sam laid a tender finger over his lips. “Shh…” She trailed her palm down to his chest where she lay her head. Just like that he relaxed; her willing prisoner. Zach put his arm around her, pulling her close. She sighed and yawned, her body going lax as she drifted off to sleep.
    In the murky room that smelled of sex and berries, he looked over at the woman so close to him and knew where he belonged.
     
    * * *
     
    A knock on the door woke Zach up from a dead sleep. He shook his head and realized Sam was standing by the side of his bed in her pink fuzzy bathrobe. For a moment he wondered if she wanted to make love again, but the worried look on her face told him this was business not pleasure.
    “Zach, come downstairs, quick!”
    “What’s wrong?” He threw the covers back and reached for his slacks and shirt that lay on the floor and quickly put them on.
    “I heard someone knocking on the door downstairs. When I went to see who it was through the peephole, I saw that it was Marissa Martinez and her father. I opened the door and he was carrying her, she looks bad. I called 911 and came right up to get you. Since you were in emergency medicine I figured you might be able to do something until the paramedics get here.” She left the room and started down the stairs, Zach right on her heels.
    When he entered the waiting room the light was on and the little girl lay on the carpet with her father by her side. “What happened?” He directed the questions to the Mr. Martinez, but he replied in Spanish.
    “Mrs. Martinez is visiting her mother and Mr. Martinez speaks very little English. From what I could gather she was playing outside and he called her in for dinner. A little while later she started having muscle pain and nausea then fainted on the way over here.” Zach glanced up at Sam and noticed that her eyes were on the child and she held the side of her fist to her mouth looking very worried.
    “Why didn’t the father call 911 or take her to the ER?” Zach took her vitals. Her breathing was shallow and her eyes looked distant. He’d bet anything she was having an allergic reaction to something, but what?
    “I’m assuming Mr. Martinez figures we’re his child’s doctors so we’d know what to do.”
    Zach looked at the man who nodded then looked down at his daughter with tears in his eyes. “Por, Dios, help please!”
    “Do you know any Spanish at all?” he asked Sam, knowing he had to keep a level head.
    “Some, why?”
    “Ask him if she was playing near any wood piles, a shed, maybe the garage.”
    Sam asked and Mr. Martinez replied.
    “He said she was in the garage with her cousins playing.”
    Zach searched the child’s arms and legs and found what he suspected. “It looks like a black widow bite. I saw it many times in the ER, though a reaction such as this isn’t common, it does happen. I doubt you have any antivenin here?”
    She shook her head. “Of course not. The deadliest thing I handle here is strep throat.”
    Zach breathed a sigh of relief as he heard the sound of sirens approaching. Moments later the EMTs rushed in. Zach gave them his opinion as to what the girl’s problem was and showed them the site of the bite. They ran her vitals, gave her an injection, then put her on the cart and started an IV. “She’s going to be okay,” the female EMT smiled at them. “Thanks for the heads-up.” She nodded at Zach as they wheeled the girl out to the ambulance, Mr. Martinez following close behind.
    After they left, Sam sat on one of the waiting room chairs and said, “I’ll be honest, that scared the life out of me. I’m so glad you knew what to look for. If not…” Her eyes filled with tears as she looked up at him.
    Zach walked over and rubbed her back. “She would have been