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“Aubrey—”
“You can’t keep me from seeing Vic because I’m living here. This is a wild—and extenuating—circumstance.”
It was ridiculous enough not to be allowed to go back to her apartment. Aubrey had argued about that, too, but had come to understand the doctor’s reasoning. Dr. Mitchell had warned Aubrey that she could have a dizzy spell and fall in the shower or wake disoriented, having no idea what’d happened to her or where she was. The doctor had added that a familiar environment could overwhelm Aubrey with too much input, worsening her headaches or causing the memories she did have to retreat.
Losing more of her memory was unacceptable, so Aubrey agreed to bind and gag her independent nature for the sake of her healing. Anyway, her mom and dad were both retired teachers who were home most of the time, save for a few speaking engagements here or there. Staying with them would give Aubrey time with them, as well as someone looking over her who wasn’t a nurse. It was the best solution. Well, not the best.
Aubrey had considered asking Vic if he had room at his place, but instinct warned her against mentioning it to him. They didn’t live together, and there must be a reason. Plus, he was busy with the ranch most days. She refused to rattle around in his house—whatever that looked like—waiting for him to come home from work.
She was certain he’d invite her over soon enough, and then she could close another gap in her memory. They could make new memories of being in bed together while they were at it. A grin pulled at her lips.
“Just like when you lived here.” Her mother clucked her tongue. “You were over the moon for that boy then, and your father couldn’t tell you otherwise.”
“Why are they so angry with each other?” Aubrey frowned, unable to recall a plausible reason. “I know Dad’s protective, but I’m not an innocent virgin any longer. Vic took that from me a long time ago.”
“Aubrey!”
She laughed at her mother’s cartoon expression of shock, bugged-out eyes and everything. “Come on, Mom. Don’t act like you don’t know Vic and I have—”
Aubrey’s cell phone rang, saving her poor mother from further trauma. She reached into her shorts pocket and pulled out her phone, excited to see Vic’s name on the screen.
“Hi, babe” came out of her mouth feeling both familiar and foreign at the same time. What an odd sensation.
“Hey, uh, Aub,” he responded with the slightest hesitation. “Do you need anything, or do your parents have you settled?”
“I’m settled.” She walked out the front door and stood on the porch, soaking in the eighty-five-degree weather. September in Texas was still summer, and felt like it. She loved the heat. The sun warmed her skin and reminded her she was alive, the day holding a million possibilities. “Would you like to come for dinner? Mom’s making mac and cheese.”
“I love your mom’s mac and cheese,” he answered, his voice low and sexy.
“After dinner you can take me out.”
“Take you out?”
“Yes. Out. I’ve been wearing a hospital gown for a week, and I can’t spend another minute with my doting parents. I am willing to be polite through dinner, but then you have to steal me away.”
His rich laughter sent shivers to the surface of her skin in spite of the hot evening. “You sure you want me to do that?”
“Who else would I want to rescue me?” She paced around the outside of the house, admiring the thick bushes and colorful flowers surrounding her parents’ pristine covered porch. Through a window she saw her mother bustling in the kitchen. “You could bring me to your place tonight. For some alone time.”
There was a lengthy pause before he said, “I’m not sure you want to come to the ranch just yet.”
She frowned. He still lived at the ranch? Granted, his family’s home was massive. She remembered the stats—it was hard to forget a number like sixteen thousand square feet. The Grandin family home could easily house the entire family and more. With private entrances dotted throughout, she’d rarely stepped through the front door.
“Fine. I’ll have to settle for you coming for dinner. We can drink iced tea on the porch, or you can take me out for ice cream after. I miss you.”
He cleared his throat. “You do?”
“Yeah.” Why wouldn’t she?
“Ah, let me finish up and I’ll be over. Can I bring anything?”
“Just your sexy self, in a perfectly tight pair of blue jeans. How’d that be?”
She heard the grin in his voice when he said, “Sounds good to me, sugar.”
Vic ended the call with Aubrey and stared at the cell phone in his hand in wonder. He hadn’t fully wrapped his head around what had transpired during the last week. Namely, that his ex missed him and wanted to spend the night with him.
“What was that about?” His sister Morgan echoed his thoughts as she stepped into his office. Two years younger than him, she was the sister who was almost always on his side. Likely because she didn’t give a hoot or a holler—her words—about inheriting the ranch. She owned a fashion boutique called, aptly, The Rancher’s Daughter. She knew what she wanted out of life, and it had nothing to do with raising cattle.
