Under Her Skin

by Michelle Love

  “You kept that to yourself all that time?” Blaine asks the kid.

  “Yeah, I’m not some wimpy kid. I’m tough. I play football, ride motocross, and have even skydived. I’m not a crybaby.”

  “I’d say you’re not!” Blaine agrees. “So, you have something in your leg, then?”

  “Yeah, a big cluster of some cells that are overgrowing. And this crap hurts, man. The radiation isn’t working. The chemo is terrible too,” Terry says.

  I have to intervene. “Terry, the radiation is working and the tumor is getting smaller. And the chemo is what’s making the radiation work better. It takes time—the same way it took time for that tumor to grow.”

  Terry hooks his thumb at me and smiles at Blaine, “Nurse Hot Redhead, here, is the eternal optimist.”

  “She is one hot redhead, isn’t she?” Blaine asks, then winks at me. “But, I think she must be right about your tumor and the treatment working.” Blaine looks around the room. “I don’t see any kind of gaming system in here. You don’t like to play any video games?”

  “I’m really more of an outdoor kind of kid. I don’t even own any gaming systems,” Terry says as he opens his lollipop and puts it in his mouth.

  “Not yet,” I say, pulling it right back out and handing it to him. “I have to take your temp.”

  He nods and looks grim as I bother him with taking his temperature. Blaine looks on and asks, “If I got you one and some cool games like football and motocross games, would you like that?” Terry nods enthusiastically. “Would you let me play with you too?”

  Again, he nods, and I take the thermometer out of his mouth. “That would be freaking awesome! Are you rich or something?”

  “I have a dollar or two in the bank. I’m going to take the hot redhead out for lunch to help me pick up some things, so you can look forward to playing some football with me after lunch. How does that sound?” Blaine asks him as I start to fume.

  He’s a fool if he thinks I’m going to lunch with him!

  Chapter 3

  BLAINE

  “Have you ever looked at yourself in a mirror when you get pissed off?” I ask Delaney, as she’s fuming mad about having to go to lunch with me. The charge nurse told her to, so she could help me buy the things I’m going to give some of the patients. “Your cheeks get this rosy color to them and your green eyes sparkle like gems. The way your bottom lip is trembling is crazy good too.”

  “And you are infuriating!” she says as she presses the button on the elevator to take us down to the lobby.

  I pull out my phone and call my driver. “Pick us up in front. We’re on our way down now.”

  “Who’s picking us up?” she asks as she crosses her arms in front of her.

  “My driver.” I look her up and down as I take the pilgrim hat off. “I really like that color on you. Pink isn’t a color I’d say naturally goes with your hair color. I think it’s the pink in your cheeks that lets you pull it off.”

  “Stop looking at me!” she says with a scowl, which only serves to make her even prettier. “And I don’t want to ride around in a limo with you! I’ll take my own car.”

  “First, it’s not a limo. I’m not eighty. It’s a Suburban. I brought it today so we’d have plenty of room to carry all the things I´ll buy the kids. Smart, huh?” I ask her.

  “Well, I’ll take my own car anyway.” The elevator stops and she steps out first, hurrying to get ahead of me as she starts to pull her car keys out of her purse.

  Casually, I reach around her, take the keys, and put them in my pocket. “No, you’re riding with me. I’m not about to waste time having my driver go slowly so you can keep up.”

  “Give me the keys,” she says through gritted teeth.

  With a shake of my head, I say, “No. And stop gritting your teeth. That’s very bad for them. Now, tell me where you want to eat.”

  “Home. My plan was to go home for lunch and eat a tuna fish sandwich.”

  Taking her elbow, I steer her out the door and see my driver holding the back door of the car open for us. “This is Mr. Green. Mr. Green, this is Delaney Richards.”

  “Nice to meet you, ma’am,” he says as she slides into the car.

  “We’ll be eating at that Chinese place I like,” I tell him, then get in and scoot on beside her. “They have tuna there.”

  The face she makes nearly makes me laugh, then she says, “I’m allergic to MSG.”

  “Fine,” I say, then tap the control that lowers the glass between Mr. Green and the back of the car. “Instead of that place, take us to Dillon’s Café.”

  “Of course,” he says, then rolls the window back up.

  Laying my arm on the back of the bench seat, I stretch my legs out. “Long day for you already?”

  “I was up at four this morning,” she says as she rubs her temples. “But I’m used to it.”

  “I was up at six. Only a couple of hours behind you. Now, I want to know if there are any kids up there who really need a boost today. I only met four kids. I figure I’ll make a few kids happy each day,” I tell her and play with her thick ponytail a little.

  Her hair is so soft and silky, and I bet it looks gorgeous when it’s down, falling over her shoulders, which I’m sure are the color of creamy porcelain.

  Moving her hand, she quickly brushes my hand away. “There’s this one girl I was planning on getting a long, blonde wig for. She’s really down. Her mother is all she has and the poor woman is working so much overtime to pay her hospital bills, but it’s not even making a dent in them. The poor little girl just wants her mom around more than anything else.”

  “Do you know where her mother works?” I ask, getting an idea.

  “She’s a waitress at Hasselbeck's. She’s constantly working,” she says.

  I roll the window down again. “Sorry, Mr. Green. Another change of plans. Take us to Hasselbeck’s instead.”

  “Yes, sir,” he says and rolls the dark glass back up.

  “And what do you plan on doing there?” she asks me as she frowns. “I shouldn’t have told you where she works. I could get into trouble for that. It’s confidential.”

  “Don’t worry,” I say and run my finger around her ponytail again. “She won’t complain when I make her an offer.”

  Her green eyes roll. “And just what would that be?”

  “You’ll see.” She moves her hair again and makes a huffing sound. “I really like the way your hair feels. What kind of shampoo do you use?”

  “The cheapest stuff they make,” she says. “I send any extra money I have to my parents so they can eat.”

  Like a punch to my midsection, her words take the wind out of me. “Ouch! About them. I’m working on making huge changes to my stores. I’m thinking about incorporating some of the businesses my stores shut down. I’d like to have your parents come to a meeting I’ll be setting up with other owners I’ve shut out. My company will pay for everything. The flight to Houston, the hotel, their meals, everything.”

  “You’re shitting me!” she says with wide eyes. “No way!”

  “It’s true. It’s going to be scheduled for the first week in January. The invitations will be sent out just as soon as everything is made final. I’m changing the way we do business. I’m changing a lot about who I am, Delaney.”

  I watch her eyes go from wide open and accepting to a bit narrow and untrusting. “Well, when you get things finalized, then I’ll believe you a little bit more. For now, you’re pretty much all talk.” The way her mouth quirks up into a crooked half-smile has me wanting to take those sweet lips and make them all mine.

  I let out a sigh and wish she was into me the way I’m into her. But she’s hard as a rock. “You will see. And just so you know, I’m doing this as much for myself as anyone else. It’s me who decided to make these changes. With the death of my father, I found something opening inside of me for the first time in a long time. Since my mother died, I’d closed myself off.”

  “Your mother’s
dead too?” she asks and her eyes tilt a bit at the outer corners.

  “She died twenty-five years ago, the day my brother was born. It took a lot for the five-year-old I was back then to understand why she never came back home after pops left us with his mother to take our mom to go have the baby. Pops came home alone, with Kent. He told Kate, who was three, and me that the Lord took our momma home with him. It kind of made me hate the guy.”

  “Your father?” she asks.

  “No. The Lord.”

  Chapter 4

  DELANEY

  I have to turn my head so Blaine doesn’t catch me getting glassy-eyed with what he’s told me. Swallowing back the lump that magically appeared in my throat, I manage to ask, “You don’t hate God now, do you?”

  With a shrug, he says, “I’m not exactly sure how I feel about him. I mean, pops is up there now too. If there really is a heaven. You see, he’s been coming to me in my dreams.”

  “God?” I ask as I scoot over a bit. Because if he thinks God is coming to him in his dreams, he may be a little on the psychotic side.

  “No, pops,” he says with a light chuckle. “He’s been talking to me and telling me what’s right and what’s wrong. He tried like hell to get me to listen to him when he was alive, but I wouldn’t. Now he has my ear when I’m asleep and he talks and talks and it’s beginning to sink in.”

  “So, you might really be changing,” I say as I look out the window. “But, then again, you might revert right back to who you’ve always been after a year has passed. That’s the typical mourning period after someone close to a person passes away. You might become the money-hungry vulture you’ve always been in a year’s time.”

  “Wow, aren’t you a little ray of sunshine!” he says with a sarcastic tone to his deep voice. “Thanks for the show of support.”

  “I’m not one of your supporters, so don’t expect any from me.” We pull up to the restaurant and stop at the front door. “I’m sorry if you don’t like me.”

  “I happen to like you a lot. Your forthrightness is refreshing,” he says with a smile.

  “You’ve got to be kidding.” The door opens and his driver is holding it open.

  Blaine slides out and reaches back in for my hand. I take it only because the truck is tall and I don’t want to fall when I get out of it. His arm runs around my waist as we walk up the walkway. He looks over his shoulder and says, “I’ll bring you something delicious, Mr. Green, and a sweet tea too.”

  “Oh, thank you, sir!” his driver says, sounding genuinely glad to be getting some lousy take out while we go inside and eat and he has to wait in the car.

  “Invite him in,” I say.

  “Huh?” he asks as he stops.

  “You should invite him to join us,” I tell him and find him smiling at me.

  “Hey, Mr. Green,” he turns around and calls out. “Park the car, come in, and join us, please. We’ll wait right here for you.”

  “Oh, that’s too much, sir,” the older man argues. “The meal is more than enough.”

  “Insist,” I whisper.

  “I have to insist, Mr. Green. Please,” he says.

  “All right, sir. I’ll just park, then, and be right up.”

  I let out a sigh and smile. “Now, that’s a nice thing to do.”

  “See, you’re good for me, Delaney.” His hand moves up my back. “I need some good influences in my life right now. I’ve had them all along. I just ignored them. I’m not about to ignore you.”

  I find myself looking into his light-brown eyes and I want to believe him. “I’m more of a show-me kind of person, Blaine. I don’t fall for words.”

  His hand creeps all the way up to rest on my shoulder and he pulls me closer to him as he whispers, “I’d love to show you, Delaney. I’m glad you don’t fall for mere words. You’re the kind of woman a man needs around him on a regular basis to keep him on the straight and narrow.”

  And just like that, I see he’s looking at me to be his mother—someone I’m not about to become. But with his father’s death still so fresh, I’m also not about to go on a rampage and tell him anything just yet.

  Mr. Green makes his way to us, hobbling a little bit, and I notice he’s giving in to his right knee. “Knee problems, Mr. Green?” I ask.

  “Well, last month this one started giving out on me. I probably will have to have a knee replacement. My older brother had to have that done two years ago when he was my age.”

  We head into the restaurant, Blaine’s arm still around my shoulders and me still wondering how I’m going to avoid falling for the handsome man with a troubled soul.

  I spot Tammy’s mother right away as she hustles around a table, picking up the empty plates. The hostess asks us if we want a booth or a table. Blaine answers quickly, “A booth. And I want one in,” he looks at me. “What’s her name?”

  “We want a table in Patsy’s section,” I say.

  “Oh, friends of hers,” the hostess asks as she leads us away.

  “Not yet,” Blaine says. “But I hope we will be soon. You see, I’m about to make an attempt to steal her away from here.”

  “How romantic,” the hostess says, then looks back at us. She takes notice of Blaine’s arm around me, then frowns. “Oh, sorry. I guess I misunderstood.”

  Blaine laughs, and I nearly pass out as his lips touch the side of my head. “Not romantically. I’m going to offer her a job at my company.”

  “Now I get it. Well, she’s one hell of a worker,” she tells us, then gestures to a booth. Obviously, she ignored my words when I said we wanted a table instead of booth.

  Blaine moves me into the booth and sits next to me, moving in so close that our legs touch. I lean against the wall and find him leaning too, so our bodies stay touching. “How about a little cocktail with lunch? I won’t tell on you, Delaney.”

  “No,” I say quickly. “No drinking when in charge of people’s health. It’s a hard and fast rule I have.”

  “I was just testing you,” he says with a laugh. “You passed.”

  Patsy makes her way to us and nods when she sees me. “Nurse Richards, how’s my girl doing today?”

  “She’s blue,” I tell her. “But I think I have found something or someone to help.”

  Blaine extends his hand, and she shakes it with a confused expression. “Hello?”

  “Hi, I’m Blaine Vanderbilt and I think I’m about to help your life become a bit easier for you. When can you take a break to talk to me?”

  “Blaine Vanderbilt? The man who owns that chain of stores called Bargain Bin?” she asks.

  “That is me,” he says with a big, old smile.

  “I’m sorry, sir. I don’t see how you could make my life easier,” she says. “Now, what can I get you all to drink?”

  “Sweet teas all around,” Blaine says. “Please give me a chance to tell you my offer. I think you’ll like it very much.”

  She looks at him for a moment, then at me. “Can you vouch for him?”

  I don’t want to vouch for him. He hasn’t even told me what he’s going to offer her. But I find myself nodding anyway. “I can.”

  “Okay,” she says. “I’ll be back with your drinks, then place your order and take ten minutes to talk to you.”

  “Great!” Blaine says. “You will not be disappointed.”

  She leaves us and I ask, “So, what are you going to offer her?” His hand moves over my leg, and I nearly slap it away until I realize my keys he took from me back at the hospital are in it. I bite my lip with how hot his touch is making me and have to clear my throat before I say, “Oh, my keys. Thanks.”

  “I thought you might want them back. I forgot I had them until I sat down. They were making me uncomfortable.”

  Our hands touch under the table as I take the keys, and I hate the way my heart is pounding in my chest. I hope he can’t hear it!

  Chapter 5

  BLAINE

  She smells like sterile alcohol and mint and it’s driving me cr
azy. “What made you become a nurse, Delaney?”

  “Um, the need for money. Nursing school was a shorter program and the need for nurses had me knowing I’d get a job as soon as I graduated,” she answers as she looks at the menu. “Do you think the chicken-fried steak is good here?”

  “I have no clue. You should ask our waitress, Patsy,” I say as I look over her shoulder at the menu. Her hair smells like apples, and I take a deep breath. “Man, I love that shampoo.”

  She makes a little huffing sound as if I’m bothering her, and I know it’s not in the way she’s trying to make me think. When our hands had touched, hers had trembled. That only happens when you find the other person attractive. Her body is telling me more than she realizes.

  “The picture on the menu looks good, so I’m going to go for it,” she says, then hands me the menu. “You seem to be looking at mine instead of yours, so here you go.”

  “I’ll have what you’re having. It does sound good.”

  “Me too,” Mr. Green says. “Thanks for inviting me. This place is pretty nice and the prices are reasonable. I think I might bring Mrs. Green here for dinner.”

  “That’s so nice,” Delaney says as she smiles at him. “How long have you been married?”

  “Thirty-seven years. We’ve got three grown kids and five grandkids. Life didn’t start out too great for me. I was nineteen and in prison when I met my wife. She came into the prison on a missionary project with her church. I fell in love with her the minute I saw her.”

  “Aww,” Delaney says, then looks at me. “Did you know that?”

  I shake my head. “I’ve never taken the time to ask.” My eyes move to Mr. Green, the man who’s been my driver since the very beginning. “I’m sorry about that. It’s just that I thought of employees as just another part of business. I made sure to keep emotions out of every aspect of it.”

  “You won’t ever hear me complaining, Mr. Vanderbilt. I know many drivers who get caught up in the personal affairs of their employers. I’ve never had to worry about that with you.”