The Writers' Circle

Piper arrived early on Friday to give herself plenty of time to file the flight plan and to make the necessary safety checks. As she ran her fingers along the nose of the jet, Niklas spoke softly in her ear and she damn near wet herself.
The guy could sneak up on God.
"Piper, I am jealous of the jet."
Piper looked over her shoulder. "She's a beautiful machine and so responsive," she said with a smile.
She stepped back from him to give herself the personal space she needed to handle his charisma. Only to find herself staring mindlessly at his delicious body- a body outlined in hugging black jeans and a black t-shirt that was stretched taut across his powerful chest. His silky hair was pulled back in a ponytail and it only served to flaunt his facial bone structure. The guy was flat beautiful.
"Yes, she's very beautiful," Niklas murmured, but he wasn't looking at the jet. He stuck his hands in the front pockets of his jeans.
"See anything you like, Piper?" he teased.
Piper licked her lips nervously; she was such a poor liar. "I was just noticing that you always dress casual when you fly."
Niklas reached out and cupped her chin in his hand. "Liar-you were checking to see how well my jeans fit."
The heat and humor in his eyes wrapped itself insidiously around her and Piper's chin kicked up despite the warmth she felt igniting in her cheeks. "Maybe," she conceded.
"Maybe nothing. You make me burn. And you know it."
His words convinced her nipples to stand up and shamelessly and beg for his attention. Piper knew the moment Niklas caught sight of her pouting nipples because his pupils blew wide open, and a naughty smile began its trek across his cheeks.
The irony didn't escape Piper. While her emotions remained standoffish, her body was heating up like a day spent soaking up the sun on a Caribbean Island.
It was insanity. Possibly at its finest.
"Let's go-if you're ready."
After they boarded, she watched him settle in front of his laptop before she climbed into the cockpit of the jet.

Piper glanced at her watch and surprise shot through her. It'd been over four hours and not a word from Niklas. The jet had reached cruising speed and altitude so she put it on autopilot and headed back into the cabin of the plane to stretch her legs for a few minutes. As she walked out of the bathroom, she glanced over at Niklas and did a double take. He was stretched out on the couch, eyes closed, his teeth clicking as they chattered uncontrollably against each other.
"Niklas, what's wrong?" she asked sharply.
He thrashed restlessly, but he didn't answer so she touched his shoulder. He was hot. She grabbed the thermometer from the first aid drawer and placed it under his arm. 105.7. Seizure territory.
"Niklas, wake up. It's Piper. Take these pills. Then we need to get you in the shower."
No response. She pinched his cheek and his eyes opened just a fraction. She watched anxiously as he struggled to focus. "You're sick Niklas-your fever is very high. Take these pills now," she demanded.
He opened his mouth obediently and she dropped them in, holding the bottle of water for him. "You've got to help me get you in the shower. Do you understand me?"
"You want me to take a shower?"
He sounded confused and his speech was slurred. "That's right Niklas. Come on."
Piper tugged on him and he sat up slowly, staring at her with a blank intensity she found disturbing. As she continued to pull, he rose to his feet and swayed dangerously.
Shit, she was in trouble here. Piper put her shoulder under his arm, and he leaned on her heavily. By the time they reached the bathroom, she was panting. Niklas leaned against the wall and his eyes closed.
"No Niklas, you can't close your eyes. Keep them open and look at me."
He opened his eyes and gave her a vacant smile. "What are we doing?"
Alarms bells were ringing crazily in Piper's head. "You have a very high fever Niklas. You need to take a cool shower."
He stared at her, obviously not processing what she was saying. He tried to smile, but couldn't pull it off.
"Are we going to shower together?" he finally asked in a puzzled voice.
Piper comprehended then she had no choice but to shower with him; he couldn't stand alone. She turned the water on cool and striped his clothes and she undressed down to her bra and thong. He didn't blink an eye at her nudity. Piper's heart slammed against her ribs. They needed to be on the ground. Now.
She pushed him into the shower and followed him in, flinching when the cold water hit her skin.
"Hell, its cold. Turn it up," he slurred.
Niklas leaned against the wall and his eyes closed again. Piper slapped him lightly with her fingers. His arms wrapped around her and the wheat of his eyes peered back at her through narrow slits.
"You're so warm. Make me warm Piper," he pleaded.
She hugged him close and he groaned. She was trying not to shake herself. Cold water running down over her body was a bitch to take. How did guys stand it?
"I'm so cold Piper, so cold," Niklas muttered into her hair over and over again.
His teeth chattered without remorse and Piper felt the tightness in his shoulder muscles. She finally turned the water off, grabbed a towel and dried them both off briskly. She redressed and then struggled to get his pants back on him. Pulling on his arm to get him moving out of the bathroom accomplished nothing.
"You've got to help me Niklas. I can't get you back to the couch without your help."
He nodded wearily and seemed to be looking right through her. She rechecked his temperature and it was 104.1. Better anyway.
She got him into the bedroom she'd known existed, but hadn't explored. Still shaking, he fell into the bed.
"Make me warm Piper."
"Niklas, I need to get back to the cockpit. Try to sleep."
She looked back at him from the doorway. He was the epitome of a powerful and wealthy businessman who always got what he went after, but right now she wasn't sure he could sign his name.
Miami was the best match for medical care in their current airspace. Contacting the air traffic controller's emergency frequency, Piper relayed their need for emergent landing and available medical assistance to a private hospital. As Piper brought the jet down into a landing pattern, she noted the lights of the emergency vehicles and an ambulance standing by. She was relieved; Niklas' illness didn't seem like the flu. The mental changes and lethargy really concerned her.
Once on the ground she released the flight door and ambulance personnel in masks, gloves and gowns clamored into the plane. Since his condition was unknown, they told her they had to treat him as possibly infectious. Piper frowned when they handed her a mask. The EMT explained she needed to wear it to protect her contacts at the hospital until a definitive diagnosis could be made.
Niklas was loaded on a stretcher after starting intravenous fluids and putting oxygen on him. He hadn't spoken or opened his eyes, but when the EMT informed her she couldn't come with him in the ambulance, his eyes popped wide open.
"She comes with me," Niklas said wearily. When no one answered, he tried to sit up and they pushed him back down.
"She is my fiancée. She is my family. Leave me on my jet if she cannot accompany me." His voice was gravelly with the effort it was taking to argue, but Niklas refused to give in and held the paramedics eyes unflinchingly.
"Okay Mr. De Barro. We'll make an exception this time."
Niklas closed his eyes while Piper reeled from his claim. That'd been a drastic answer to the problem that had arisen. Rolling her suitcase off the jet and leaving instructions on its refueling needs and hangar storage, she took the hand Niklas had stretched out to her and walked along side him to the ambulance.
They drew what seemed like an entire unit of blood for lab tests once they were placed in an isolation room. Niklas was lucid now, his temperature having come down to 102.1 with the addition of Tylenol and the cooling blankets he was sandwiched between. After everyone had gone, Niklas reached for her hand and held her gaze steadily.
"Thank you Piper. No one has ever had to care for me since I was a child. I believe I've figured out what's wrong with me. I think its recurrent malaria from many years ago in my childhood. I remember my mama telling me I had to stay healthy or it might come back."
He tried to smile, but it was more of a grimace. "Tell the doctor so they can test me for it without taking another unit of my blood. I feel like I have been served as dessert to a swamp full of mosquitoes. The same damn mosquitoes that gave me the malaria to start with."
Hours later a doctor came into the room and explained that Niklas had been right. They had been skeptical because malaria was rare and almost unheard of in the United States. Niklas explained he had grown up in Brazil and the doctor nodded in understanding.
"That explains the confusion. You need rest, plenty of intravenous fluids and we'll start you on quinine for the malaria. You'll be here a week related to the toll on your body. Do you have any questions?"
Niklas looked around the room and back to the doctor. "There is no bed for Piper to sleep in. Bring one."
Piper bit back a smile. It wasn't a request and it wasn't asked nicely. It was the demand of a man used to having people jump to do his bidding when he spoke.
'I think we can accommodate that Mr. De Barro. Anything else?"
"A takeout menu for Piper. I'm not hungry, but she needs to eat."
"Again, not a problem. I will check on you later today," and the doctor turned and left the room.
The effort of the conversation had worn Niklas out. He reached his hand out.
"Lie with me and rest Piper; at least until you get your own bed."
She shook her head and he gave her a pleading look. The first she'd seen- and it was positively lethal.
"Please give a sick man comfort. I am harmless, I assure you. Lie with me."
Piper smiled; the guy was so blunt. Slipping her shoes off, she climbed into the bed. Putting her head on his shoulder, she was asleep in seconds. The nurse came in with a rollaway bed and Niklas shook his head. It was not needed; he had Piper right where he wanted her.
Niklas fell into an exhausted sleep-until he woke several hours later feeling like a race horse given a water pill. The intravenous fluids he was receiving had him tanked. He tried to slide Piper off his shoulder and sit up, but felt dizzy immediately. Hell.
'Piper."

Piper woke and scrambled to a sitting position. "What's wrong?" she asked quickly.

"Nothing. I need to pee," he growled.
She smiled at him and he scowled back. Climbing off the bed, Piper took his shoulder to help him sit up, but he swayed with the position change. She pushed him back down on the pillow.
"I need to piss," he repeated irritably.
Piper bit back a grin at how petulant he sounded. The guy needed to learn a little patience. "I understand Niklas, but it won't do any good if you end up on the floor. Give yourself a minute and we'll try again."
Shejust didn't get it did she? "Piper, have you ever seen a stallion take a piss after he's been given a water pill?"
"Ah no. I can't say as I have."
He sat up with her help once more and forced his legs off the side.
"What's with the question on watching a horse urinate?"
How polite, Niklas thought. Urinate.
"I mean they tanked me up so high with these fluids that I have to urinate so bad it feels like someone kicked me in the ba.kicked the boys," he amended. Now did she get the urgency of the situation?
Piper smiled reassuringly at him. "Ready to try to walk?"
What the hell was she smiling about?
"Yes, I'm ready to walk," he bit out caustically. He stood up and swayed precariously.
"Maybe I should call the nurse."
"No time."
Piper held on tightly to his arm and prayed he wouldn't fall as they made there way across the room.
"Just get me to the door and you can go. I can manage."
Piper almost laughed, but bite it back just in time. "I don't think so. I don't want your head injury on my conscience."
"There are some things that a guy does alone. This is one of them."
"Yeh-I know that. But this is not a normal situation," Piper added placatingly. "We got naked and took a cold shower together on the plane when your fever was so high, Niklas. I was afraid you were going to have a seizure," Piper told him calmly. "I striped you, held you in my arms to keep you upright while we were in the shower and then dried you off. I know your body Niklas. He's even sexy soft."
Oh. My. God. Please tell me I didn't actually say that out.
"Sexy.You like him? He's a very likable guy."
She had-and his voice just oozed male pride.
Piper felt her cheeks burning. When she took a chance and glanced sideways at him, he was grinning. Pale, but grinning. She shook her head.
"You can't stand in there by yourself. I won't look," she promised.
They had reached the doorway and Niklas leaned heavily on the doorframe. He was sweating and she could see his chest rising and falling rapidly.
"There is no way on God's green earth you can stand up alone Niklas," she told him firmly.
He gave her such a look of outrage that she started to laugh and had to cough instead.
"I can see your trying not to laugh," Niklas said indignantly between breaths. She was so going to pay when he got.
"You're not standing alone."
In some ways he was so suave and sophisticated, Piper thought. But in others, he was so machismo, so Neanderthal. With startling insight, she realized that he was two cultures colliding and the pieces vying for a place to fit back together again. This whole scenario was just plain awkward. And weird. She turned away and buried her thoughts back on Serenity Ranch. And the girls-the reason she was in this predicament in the first place. They're worth it, she affirmed.
"Piper."
His voice wore an edge of desperation. She turned back around and he was swaying side to side. Perspiration ran in rivets down his face and his scrub top was glued against his chest. She grabbed his arm to steady him.
"Niklas," she snapped. "Stay with me. Hang in there big guy."
He didn't answer. Piper grabbed a towel and stuck it under the cold water tap of the sink while still hanging onto his arm. Not an easy feat. She slung it across his neck and he groaned and closed his eyes.
"Open your eyes, damnit. Don't you pass out on me."
She looked around frantically for the emergency light. If he'd been pale before, he was bloodless now. And his eyes were losing the battle to stay in focus.
"I'm going down," he slurred.
Piper saw the emergency button as he started to fall and she hit it hard with the palm of her hand. She heard the alarm sounding in the hallways and prayed they'd arrive swiftly. She couldn't take all his weight, but she could protect his head. She dropped to her knees and barely caught his head in her lap when he crumpled forward. Then the entire hospital room was inundated with medical personnel.
"We got it from here Miss Kensington. Put this pillow under his head and move so we can get another line in before we put him on a stretcher."
Piper nodded her head to show she understood. Niklas was still out cold.
"What was he doing up in the first place?"
Why did it sound like they thought it was her fault? They didn't know Niklas.
"He needed to use the bathroom and there wasn't a urinal. He couldn't wait. The IV fluids."
Piper felt the sting of tears and turned away. She shouldn't have let him get up.
Is that right, her mind threw back at her. Which branch of Special Forces do you think could have stopped him?
"I'm going to step out for a minute," she said to no one in particular. She went to the waiting room down the hall and stared unseeingly out the window. She had no idea how long she had been standing there when the nurse came rushing up to her.
"Mr. De Barro is awake now and demanding to see you. He thinks he hurt you when he fell and that's why you're not there with him." She paused. "He won't listen to reason."
Now that sounded like the Niklas she knew. Piper hurried down the hall and hadn't even opened the door to his room when she heard him.
"Bring her to me now. I want to see her," he was demanding.
"Mr. De Barro, please don't get up. I promise you."
"I'm here Niklas," Piper said lightly as she came through the door. "I'm fine."
She continued to the bed and took his hand. "I'm okay," she repeatedly softly. He fell back on the pillows and wouldn't let her pull her gaze from him. The intensity burning in his eyes was hypnotic and he spoke in a clear, but husky voice.
"Everyone leave."
"Ten minutes Mr. De Barro. You're getting a fluid bolus right now to help with your drop in blood pressure and it will finish in ten minutes," the nurse told him firmly.
Niklas nodded his head and then they were alone. He scooted over and patted the bed. "Sit. Please sit," he amended softly.
Piper sat and still he continued to stare intently at her. It started to be a little unnerving.
"Did I hurt you in any way? Did I bruise you?"
He was still worried he'd hurt her, Piper realized. "I'm perfectly fine-really Niklas."
He nodded his head. "Tell me what happened."
"Do you want the long or the short."
"Piper," he warned.
"You turned to me and told me you were going down and I hit the emergency button. I knew I couldn't hold you up so I dropped to the floor so I could protect your head in my lap. That's it."
She watched the play of emotions as they chased across his face; he was too sick to hide them behind a façade. The play ended with the devil dancing in his eyes.
"So I had my head- my face- in your lap and I was passed out. Hell-that's twice. That's so wrong," he huskily complained.
"What are you talking about Niklas?"
"First, I was in the shower with you naked in my arms and now I had my face, my mouth, within touching distance of what I know must be the sweetest tasting."
"Don't you finish that Niklas," she warned sharply.
".and I was out of my head both times and can't remember even one second of it," he mourned pitifully.
Piper couldn't help it. She burst out laughing and had tears running down her face before she could stop.
"God Niklas, only you would think of that angle."
He looked like a little boy who had been deprived of the one toy he wanted more than anything else in the world.
Niklas reached up and touched her cheek with trembling fingers. "I am very attracted to you Piper. I do think of other things-at least occasionally," he added with a lopsided smile.
He was starting to perspire again. "Try to sleep Niklas; your body needs the rest to get well."
"You're right; I'll nap."
Piper watched as he rearranged his pillows. She turned and walked toward the door.
"Piper?"
She stopped, but didn't turn around. "Yes?"
"Will you give me a kiss goodnight-on my cheek?" he asked innocently.
The man's level of allure was killing her. She should just say no and walk out.
"Niklas."
"Piper."
"I don't think..."
"Please Piper. It's just an innocent kiss for a sick. friend."
A peck on the cheek. Fine.
When she walked back over to him, he gave her a boyish grin and winked.
She'd been had.
Piper bent down and the laughter in his eyes was contagious. She smiled back and kissed him softly on the cheek.
"Again," he whispered.
She kissed his cheek again and afterward he turned his face so that there lips were almost touching.
"Just once-kiss my lips, Piper. Please. I won't move," he promised her huskily.
The guy was incorrigible. "You're pushing it, big boy." And she kissed him.
When she pulled back, he slowly opened his eyes and ran his tongue over his lower lip, then his upper. As if tasting a fine wine. Her breasts tightened in response. God help her-the guy had turned a nothing kiss into a sensual experience.
"Go to sleep Niklas." He took her hand and kissed the top of it.
"Thank you Piper."
His breathing slowed and he was asleep.
Piper had to get out of the room. Get some fresh air. Regroup and put her shields back up; Niklas had seriously breached them today. She wandered until she found a solitary rose garden in the inner sanctum of the hospital walls. Sitting on a stone bench, her thoughts turned further inward.
She was in way over her head-being pulled in two directions-her body desperate to feel him inside her and her emotions still running scared. How was she going to deal with the fallout when her emotions crashed into the brick wall she knew was waiting around the corner for her?