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CHAPTERFOUR
Wade
What the heck was I thinking kissing her like that?
Presley must think I’m a real creep.
Presley. An unusual name for an unusual person. As soon as she dictated her personal info for me to fill out the paperwork in admitting, I began in my mind’s eye to doodle her name with my last name. Presley Wood. Mr. And Mrs. Wade and Presley Wood. Presley Rose Wood.
Damn, that sounds good.
I’m a dork for even thinking about it.
But I can’t help it; I’m drawn to her. I feel her in my veins. When she hinted at her troubles, the wildest protective feelings kicked in, and I knew she would never be out of my sight again.
It’s more than Presley’s pretty eyes that I could lose myself in. It’s more than her snappy New York accent, though I do find it fun to listen to. Something inside her speaks to something inside me. We have a bone-deep connection, though we barely know each other. And all the fiancé banter has made me feel it on an even deeper level.
I drive to the nearest fast food place on the highway, but nothing looks good enough on the menu for her. She needs real food. They don’t have Ruby’s here…maybe I should talk to Nick and Ruby about expanding into Gold Hill. I set that random thought aside as my desire to take care of her wars with the need to get back to her side immediately.
Pick your battle, Wade. I finally decide on a burger and fries and vow to cook something better for her tonight at my house. Because yeah, she’s coming home with me after this.
Presley might resist at first. She might think I’m a creep. If that’s the case, I’ll have to prove myself. I see the look in her eyes when I fuss over her; no one is taking care of this girl. She’s totally unused to it. Something tells me she’s been fending for herself for most of her life because she doesn’t know how to take me.
I quickly pay for the drive-thru food and gun it back to the hospital.
A doctor is reviewing her X-rays when I arrive with her burger and fries.
“You’re very lucky. I see no fractures. But it’s badly bruised, and you will need to stay off of it as much as possible until it heals. Ice it and keep it elevated.”
“How long until I can go back to work?” Presley looks horrified. “In fact, I have to look for a second job. You have no idea the kind of bills I have.”
The doctor puts up her hands to try to calm Presley down, but it only seems to amp her up even more.
“You just don’t get it. I didn’t go to college, and I have no marketable skills to work from home. I couldn’t even get a part-time job at the library putting books away because I failed the Dewey decimal tests. There are no retail jobs in this town. Nobody is hiring any servers. It’s construction or nothing in Fate.”
The doctor simply blinks and stares hard at Presley. “I’m sorry for all of that. But you need to take time to heal, or you’ll continue to have problems in the future. That’s my advice.”
My hand automatically goes to Presley’s back, and I thank the doctor. My fake fiancée’s ragged breathing calms, and she looks up at me with eyes welled up with tears. “What am I going to do?” Presley asks as I unwrap her burger.
“The first thing you’ll do is eat your lunch and wait for them to release you. That’s all you have to worry about now, sweetheart.”
No snarky retort comes this time when I call her sweetheart. Instead, her eyes soften, and she wipes away a tear. I hate that she looks so embarrassed. I never want her to feel that way around me.
“Eat,” I order.
“Yes, sir.”
CHAPTERFIVE
Presley
The truck stops not at my house but at a smallish bungalow on the outskirts of Gold Hill.
“Whose house is this, and what are we doing here?”
Wade smirks at me. “My house. And this is where you’ll stay until you’re healed up.”
“Excuse me? I didn’t agree to that.”
