Chapter Fifteen

Talk about a night filled with dreams and fantasies.

Those same three words rolling off of Reed Fletcher’s tongue had played over and over in her silly, teenage brain more times than she’d ever admit.

She never imagined they’d become a reality.

“What?” she laughed because part of her wasn’t convinced she’d heard him correctly.

“You and me. Down the aisle. Flowers and rings and shit.” He hopped up from the bed and stalked bare-assed to the table for wine. Topping off a glass, he crawled back into bed, sitting in front of her with one leg bent and his goods barely covered by the sheet.

“You’re serious.”

He took a sip of the wine, then handed her the glass. Thank God. This conversation was going to require all the alcohol.

“Yep, and here’s why. One...” He held up a finger. “We’ve been friends forever. I trust you, you trust me, and people will believe that we’re doing this for the right reasons.”

One of those reasons was not like the others, but pointing that out hardly mattered. The whole idea was crazy.

“Two, we have amazing chemistry. We could pull off the whole commitment thing without giving anything up.”

“Commitment thing?”

“Monogamy, M. We’d fuck like normal married people. Obviously we’re pretty fucking good at it.”

Wow, he really knew how to charm a girl, didn’t he?

“Three, your dad likes me. Seeing you become Mrs. Fletcher would give him exactly what he wants and we could both rest in peace, knowing we’ve done right by him.”

Well, that was all hunky dory, except... “It wouldn’t be a marriage based on love.” And that was what her father really wanted, wasn’t it?

“I’ve loved you since we were kids, Mia.”

As she had him, but they both knew it wasn’t the kind of love her father had wanted for her. “This is crazy.”

“Not that crazy.” He reached for her left hand and rubbed the bare spot where another man’s ring used to sit. “It’s a hell of a lot less crazy than you going back and marrying Montgomery.”

So, he’d thought about that, too, had he?

“Jesus Christ,” he rasped, dropping her hand to lift her chin and search her face. “Tell me you didn’t consider that.”

“Not really.” At least, not with any sincerity. If she had, the confession she’d shared with her dad earlier tonight would have eliminated the prospect, anyway. “I told Dad about Ben today. He knows the truth and he’d never let me marry him, even if I wanted to.”

“Do you want to?”

“No!” She pushed a hand through her hair and blew out a frustrated breath. Unfortunately, the only one she had to blame for his concern was herself. She’d gone back to the jerk, after all. Not once, but twice.

“Thank fuck for that,” he grumbled, and her gaze fell to her lap, with a sudden fascination in the quality of the hotel sheets. “Mia?”

“Hmm?” Rough, but gentle fingertips lifted her chin once again and one look into his dark, gorgeous eyes had butterflies whirling around in her belly.

“Did you consider me?”

Oh, Reed, you have no idea. “You’ve never really been an option. I believe you said it yourself once.”

A heated haze fell over his expression and his eyes dropped to her mouth. “Fuck that. I want to be your only option.”

He was actually serious. Holy crap.

“I can’t believe we’re having this conversation.”

“I can.” His thumb stroked tenderly over her nipple and she bit back a moan. “We’ve got something special, Mia.”

But was it marriage material? For Pete’s sake, they’d never even dated! They were like...friends with benefits, at best.

“For how long?” she blurted out. “And what would we tell people when...” Oh, dear God, his crazy was rubbing off on her.

“When what, babe?”

“We break up.”

A soft, almost sympathetic smile lifted his handsome face, then he leaned in and brushed the sweetest kiss across her lips. “Why don’t we worry about planning the wedding first?”

“I haven’t said yes.”

“You haven’t said no, either.”

* * *

The next morning came too quickly, considering Mia had barely slept. Instead, she spent most of the night curled up in Reed’s arms, thinking about his proposed solution to a problem that might never actually occur. After all, no one knew what the future held. Her dad could very well recuperate and nullify his fear of missing one of the most important events in her life.

Then again, he might not.

But it wasn’t the uncertainty of her father’s health that had kept her awake. Or even Reed’s suggestion that they tie the knot to give him solace.

It was Reed’s willingness to give up his renowned bachelorhood.

For her.

Sure, he’d admitted to feeling left out while so many of his friends settled down. But this was Reed Fletcher they were talking about. Women across the state of Nebraska—and probably Oklahoma and Colorado, too—would weep if he put a ring on her finger.

Those tears, however, would not be in sorrow. No, she was willing to bet they’d all be laughing their tight little asses off at the hilarity that a man like Reed would ever give himself to one woman.

Being the woman in question? Well, that scared the shit out of her.

She was a big girl and she knew that a marriage to Reed would not be the kind her fairytale princess dreams had been made of. What she didn’t know was if she was woman enough to keep reality and fantasy separate so she didn’t end up wanting something he couldn’t give. She’d read way too many romance novels and it always happened. Always. 

“Mia?”

Blinking out of her trance—and the passenger window of Reed’s car—she turned to find the man himself grinning behind the steering wheel. They were already at the rehab center and, from the look on his face, had been for a while.

“You okay?”

“Uh, yeah. Just...” Don’t say tired. He’ll wonder why the hell he put so much effort into last night. “Just thinking.”

“About?”

“You know what about.”

His sexy smirk stretched wide and that wicked tongue came out to play again, teasing at the corner of his mouth, much like she imagined it had last night when he’d licked her—

“Stop that!” She gathered her purse and overnight bag and hurried out of the car before he could see the smile on her own face.

“Come on, baby, you know you like my tongue.”

Hell, yes, she did, but she would not marry him just because he ate pussy like a porn star.

“You’re thinking about my face between your legs, aren’t you?” He chuckled, suddenly behind her on her fast trek to the front entrance of the rehab center.

“Not everything is about you, you know.”

His low, wicked laugh spread from her ears to her nipples in an instant. “Tell your body that, babe, because if what you say is true, it’s all about me. My fingers, my mouth, my cock...”

She spun just before they reached the entrance and, of course, collided with him, her chest to his ribs.

“Whoa, there, gorgeous. You’re going hurt someone.”

“That someone is going to be you if you don’t zip it. How am I supposed to go in there and look my parents in the eye right now, huh?” Her face was hot, her nipples were hard, and her panties were completely soaked.

“Seeing as married people usually fuck, they’re going to figure it out sooner or later, M.” He had the audacity to wink and steal a big fat kiss.

“We are not getting married.”

“Uh huh. Keep telling yourself that, babe.”

* * *

Good night?

Oh, God, did he know? Was it stamped somewhere on her skin in ink only fathers could see? Your daughter was ravaged last night by a flagrant man.

“Um, yeah. I mean, we just hung out. Ordered room service. Slept.” Together. More than once. “How about you? Mom says you weren’t as restless.”

He scribbed on the notebook again. Feel better.

“That’s amazing, Papi. Looks like we’ll be bringing you home sooner than we thought.” She snuggled close and debated whether or not she should bring up the one thing they hadn’t talked about—the diner. Specifically, his unlikely return to the kitchen. Maybe down the road, he could help out on the front end of the diner, but working in the back was too dangerous for someone who didn’t have all of their faculties in order. “Papi, at some point we’re going to need to talk about the diner, too.”

His body went rigid next to hers.

“We don’t have to talk about it now because Pam and Bobbie Jo have everything under control, but it is something we need to figure out in the long-term.”

He gave a careful nod and, when she glanced up at him, a fine crease had etched between his brows. The diner was his life, after all. My second greatest accomplishment after you, mija. God, he must have told her that a hundred times growing up.

Don’t sell, he began to write, and she shook her head before he finished the sentence.

“I wouldn’t dream of it. Never.” And she meant that. Heck, she’d work there as long as she needed to if it meant keeping Jose’s open. Her father wasn’t the only one who loved the place—everyone in River Bend did, too.

He gave her hand a gentle pat. Nature calls.

Chuckling, she crawled out of the bed and hit the call button for the nurse. She’d helped him on her own the last time, but it was almost time for his mid-day jaunt around the unit, so it made sense to multi-task if the staff had time.

“What’s shakin’, Jose?” Tina, the pretty blonde that had quickly become one of her dad’s favorites, came bopping into the room in a pink and purple scrub smock patterned with books.

“Potty time,” Mia replied with a yawn. “And, if you don’t mind, I’m going to run to the cafe for some coffee.”

“No problem. We got this.” Tina winked at her dad and began to help him out of the bed.

On the way to the other side of the rehab center, Mia caught up on a couple of texts from Bobbie Jo about a delayed food supply order and one from Pam, asking her to wish Jose a happy wet-n-wild Wednesday, otherwise known as wet burrito and wild berry pie day at the diner.

Not surprisingly, Reed had texted, also. Ten times, the goofball. The first few were to make sure she didn’t need anything while he was out with her mother and then there was a picture of the two of them at breakfast. He had an omelet the size of a football and Stella had a mountain of pancakes and a huge smile on her face.

Reading the remainder of the idle chitchat, she grinned when the three little dots began dancing next to Reed’s picture.

Bought you something, he texted, followed by more dancing dots.

She rolled her eyes, yawned, and grabbed the biggest cup of coffee she could find in the cafe. Damn sexy man, keeping her up all night.

Picking up some hummus and pretzels for herself and an apple cinnamon muffin for her dad, she started back to his room when her phone beeped again with another message from Reed.

What do you think? Wedding night? And below, a picture of the inside of a Victoria’s Secret bag...with lots of pink and white lace.

OMG, you’re nuts! she typed.

Nuts about you ;)

Uh huh.

Mia tucked her items under her arm and thumbed out another message. My mother better not know you bought that

Helped me pick it out

Smartass 

She returned to her father’s wing with a ridiculously cheesy smile on her face. Reed Fletcher was not only flirting with her, but he’d bought her lingerie, as well. Lingerie for a wedding that wasn’t going to happen, because it was, hands down, the craziest idea in the history of crazy ideas.

People couldn’t just go around marrying their friends for convenience. That wasn’t how it was supposed to go, no matter how tempting the perks might be. Sharing a bed with the man of her dreams? Bonus. Enjoying his panty-melting smile first thing in the morning? Mmm. Feeling him slide that big dick into her body on the regular? Good freaking Lord.

But again...crazypants. And she’d already made enough desperate decisions in her life, hadn’t she?

She rounded the corner to her father’s suite at the same time Daniel, a physical therapy aide, ran toward the room from the other direction with a panicked expression.

“Ms. Carderas, your father...”

“What’s wrong?”

“He fell,” Daniel said, out of breath and moving fast.

Oh, no. She hurried after the aide and found Tina and another nurse leaning over her father on the floor.

While blood pooled around his head.

* * *

“After he used the bathroom, I helped him into the chair by the window, so I could grab the safety belt for our walk. When I came back, less than two minutes later, he was on the floor all the way over by the bed,” Tina explained to Stella an hour later, as they sat in family triage at the hospital. She’d been kind enough to come over from the rehab center after Jose had been taken in the ambulance. “Hitting his head on the night table, combined with the medication he was given to help with blood flow after the strokes, resulted in excessive bleeding. The CT scan will help our doctors determine what’s going on inside Jose’s brain.”

Stella cried softly while Mia rubbed her back, sitting beside her on the sofa.  

“I have to be honest with you both,” the nurse continued, “the likelihood of internal bleeding and additional brain trauma is high.”

“When will we know?” Stella asked, her words and body shaking.

“We’ll have a preliminary result soon. From there, the doctors will make recommendations on the next course of action.”

“Recommendations?” Mia frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Babe...” Reed set a gentle hand on her shoulder, but she shook her head.

“No, I don’t understand. Shouldn’t the doctors decide what comes next?”

Tina gave a soft, sympathetic smile. “The family ultimately gets to do that, Mia.”

The family...

Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no. This was not happening.

Beside her on the sofa, her mother began to sob. The doctors at the hospitals back home had explained that Jose wouldn’t be out of the woods for a long while. That accidents like this could happen, or he could even have more strokes with much more serious, life-threatening complications.

But those things only happened to older people. Not physically strong, fifty-five-year-old men like her father.

“Ahh!” She jumped to her feet, hands fisted in her hair, while tears poured down her cheeks.

All the fucking time she’d missed, all the stupid, scared little girl choices she’d made, all the pathetic excuses she’d made for not coming home sooner...

And this. This was how God decided to punish her.

She couldn’t even be angry, because, in her heart of hearts, she knew she deserved it. She’d neglected the one person she cared about the most.

Goddamn, the line between love and hate was a fickle fucking bitch.

“I need some air,” she muttered, brushing past Reed on her way to the door.

“I’ll come with.”

“No.” Just...no. There was nothing anyone could do or say right now that would make this easier to understand or accept.

Her father was going to die, and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it.

* * *

A few minutes later, footsteps crunched on the pebble path leading to the wrought iron bench in the middle of the garden. Mia’s gaze remained on the birds flitting around in the birdbath and loving life while hers fell apart.

“Hey.” Reed’s voice was quiet and tender as he straddled the bench, his muscular, denim-encased thighs cradling around her from the side. “Thought you might want to know that they’re taking Jose straight from the CT scan to the Intensive Care Unit.”

She nodded and curled into him without a second thought. Like finding a haven in his arms was the most natural thing in the world.

“Ah, baby, I’m so sorry.” He pulled her close, smoothing a hand over her hair while she burrowed into him as far as she could physically go, absorbing as much of his strength and support as she could. He said nothing. Did nothing but let her take what she needed.

Her eyes fluttered shut, and she inhaled his familiar scent, letting it fill her lungs and numb the ache in her chest.

“I’m so afraid he won’t wake up,” she whispered. They’d intubated him before he’d come out of unconsciousness in order to stabilize his system and keep his body as calm as possible. If what Tina said was true—and Mia knew in her heart it was—it was entirely possible she’d already heard her father’s last words.

Already felt his last touch.

Already let him down.

Reed’s arms tightened around her. “I know. I’m scared, too. But he’s spent his entire life fighting for his place in this world, M. He isn’t going to stop now.”

“But what if he’s tired?”

“He’s not. Men like your old man don’t get tired—they get pissed off.”

A half-snort, half-sob burst from her throat, and she turned her face into his neck where his skin was warm and comforting, and the connection to him felt so damn right.  

What if her father did wake up? What if it wasn’t too late after all?

“Did you mean what you said last night?” she asked, knowing the window of opportunity wouldn’t be open forever.

“About getting married?”

“Yeah.”

“I’d marry you in a fucking heartbeat, M. Just say when.”

They say love makes a person do crazy things. Well, so does regret.

She pulled back, looked into the eyes of the one person she knew would catch her if she fell, and whispered...

“When.”