by Becky McGraw
"Since you're still on vacation for a week, that's gonna be kind of tough. I'll contact that manager Bud suggested though, and get him on board now instead of waiting. Then I'll go by there in the evenings and help out."
"Thanks, man. Do you know what time they're cutting her loose tomorrow?"
"They said the doctor makes rounds at eleven, and if she's okay, they'll probably release her around noon."
"I'll be there."
CHAPTER EIGHT
Cassie was tired of being poked and prodded. She wanted out of this godforsaken place now. The nurse had removed her IV earlier, and she was thankful. But she could probably use another painkiller because her head and ankle were starting to ache again. The doctor who'd been in earlier to release her had given her a prescription for pain and another for nausea, but those pieces of paper sure wouldn't help until she could get them filled. She hoped Cole would get here soon to take her home.
The doctor had had also given her instructions on caring for her ankle and told her to rest as much as possible. But rest was not something that was going to happen. Even though she was banged up, she had a ranch to run, and her daddy to take care of. And she damned well wished Cole would get here soon so she could get to it.
Her eyes moved down over the green scrubs she'd put on to go home and she grimaced. Last night, they'd brought here barefoot and in her bikini, so she didn't have any clothes or shoes to change into. Thank god, the nurse had mercy on her and had brought the scrubs and a pair of surgical booties to wear, or she'd have had to ride home in that split-back hospital gown with her backside mooning the world. She'd slit the leg on the scrubs to accommodate the bulky florescent green walking cast they'd put on her leg. Her bikini was in a bag next to the chair where she was sitting.
Cassie glanced over at the utilitarian black and white clock hanging on the wall by the TV and saw it was almost noon. Surely, he'd be here to get her soon. She owed Cole a lot for helping her out last night. He had been there for her every step of the way, holding her hand, encouraging her to be cooperative when she'd gotten fussy, and comforting when thoughts of Luke made her weepy. His kiss on her cheek before he'd left her last night let her know that he cared about her.
More than she could say for Luke, who'd run out on her like a rat from a sinking ship.
She looked up when a nurse came in smiling while she pushed a wheelchair over to Cassie. "Your ride's here, sugar."
Cassie grabbed the crutches they'd given her beside the chair and used them to push up to stand, then pivoted to sit in the wheelchair. "Thank goodness. I'm ready to blow this popsicle stand!" she said then chuckled weakly.
Once she was seated, the nurse leaned over the wheel to release the brake. Or at least she thought it was the nurse, until she looked down and saw a muscular male arm beside her doing the job. Cassie looked over her shoulder expecting Cole, but saw Luke's unsmiling handsome face instead. She gasped, "Where's Cole?"
Luke didn't answer her question, he just stood back up then spun her around and pushed the chair toward the door at a swift clip. When they went past the nurse's station, the pretty nurse who'd brought in her chair smiled at him. "Be seeing you, sugar," she said to Luke and winked. "Hope you get to feeling better Miss Bellamy."
Cassie growled. Every woman on the planet must be susceptible to the man. Well, she wasn't going to be anymore. Let some other woman deal with him and his stubbornness. Luke said he was done...we'll she was about two clicks past that. "I asked you where Cole was. He was supposed to pick me up."
"He had other things to do," he told her flatly when he stopped at the steel door of the elevator and leaned over her to push the button.
Luke made it sound like she was totally inconveniencing him and everyone else, because she'd gotten hurt. "Push me back to the nurse's station, I'm calling a cab to take me home."
The double doors swung open and he pushed her inside instead, then jabbed his finger on the button for the main floor. Anger coiled up inside of her then unfurled in her chest.
"Ah, hell no..." Cassie pushed herself up from the chair and put a crutch under either arm. Pain shot through her ankle, but other than a grimacing, she ignored it. He was not going to bully her around anymore. And she was not going to be trapped in the truck with this angry hard man from Henrietta to Bowie. No way.
"What the hell are you doing, Cassie?" His hands gripped her shoulders tightly. "Sit your ass back down before hurt yourself."
"If you haven't noticed, I'm already hurt. Not that you'd give a shit," she said heatedly. "I'm going to call a cab to take me home. Any obligation you felt to help me is unnecessary. I'll call Cole and thank him for his help last night and pay him for his trouble."
"Cole doesn't need your fucking money, and neither do I."
"Fine then." she said and hobbled past him when the door opened. "Goodbye, Luke."
Cassie had gotten about half way to the information desk and a phone, when her feet were suddenly taken out from under her as Luke swept her up into his arms. Her crutches fell to the floor with a loud clatter and a woman in a pink striped uniform ran over to them.
Luke smiled at her then asked sweetly, "Can you bring those for me, sugar?"
She nodded then he headed toward the exit with his arms tightly around Cassie. "Put me down, now!" she grated next to his ear.
Luke ignored her taking long easy strides toward the door, then went outside to his truck which was parked in the circular drive designated for patient pick-up. The young woman who'd walked beside them opened the door for him, and he put her on the hot leather seat, then leaned over and jerked the seatbelt across her and clicked it. He slammed the door, took her crutches from the candy-striper and threw them in the back of the truck before stomping around the truck to get behind the wheel.
"You know kidnapping is illegal, right Sheriff?" Cassie turned toward him to ask.
"Yeah, it's a good thing you're not a kid, Cassie. So stop acting like one."
She harrumphed and then sat back against the seat and crossed her arms over her chest. All the jarring she'd been through while he carried her, then the jarring when he dropped her on the seat, and now the pot-holed road leading from the hospital, made her leg ache. She reached a hand down and rubbed her knee, because the cast prevented her from rubbing where it really hurt. It also felt like her ankle was starting to swell in side the cast. It had gotten tighter than it had been when she woke up this morning, and her toes were numb again.
He glanced over at her and asked, "Hurting?"
"Yeah, I should probably have it propped up." She groaned as he hit another hole and the truck lurched.
He glanced at her and then back to the road a few times, before telling her gruffly, "Lay down on the seat and put your leg in my lap."
"No, thank you." She'd endure the pain before she got that close to his lap, or any other part of his body, ever again.
With his knuckles turning white on the steering wheel, he glanced over at her again and shouted, "Quit being stubborn, Cassie! Just do it!"
She scooted her butt to the edge of the seat and pivoted so she could lay down then lifted her left leg up. The cast was too heavy and when she groaned, he slid a hand under her knee and pulled it up for her, then moved his hand to the top of her thigh to hold it steady. Her other leg, bent beside the seat, rubbed on his calf. Cassie swallowed hard as his heat burned through the thin scrub pants to brand her skin.
Once she was settled, he looked down at her with concern in his whiskey-brown eyes. "Better?"
Cassie huffed out a breath and tried to relax. "Yeah, thanks." He gently patted her thigh then rubbed it, his long fingers sliding along the inside seam of the thin scrubs. She swallowed down the needy moan that wanted to escape from her lips as electric sparks of desire traveled up her leg to her center. What she wouldn't give for him to move his hand up, just a little, and put her out of her misery.
She covered her eyes with her arm, so he wouldn't see the desire she knew must be revealed th
ere, and so she didn't have to look at his handsome profile for the next eighty miles.
When the bouncing finally stopped, and she heard the humming of the truck tires on asphalt, she guessed they'd finally reached the main road. The monotonous drone and cool air blowing from the vent on her face, worked together to lull her to sleep.
Cassie eased into a hot dream where she imagined Luke's hand had traveled up higher on her leg, and he was whispering words of love and longing while he brought her to a spectacular climax.
When the truck started bouncing again, and Luke's hand tightened on her thigh Cassie was jarred awake. "We home?" she asked him, her heart pounding, as she let go of her erotic dream reluctantly, then sleepily rubbed her eyes.
"Just be still..." he said quietly without looking at her, and absently stroked her thigh again.
She laid perfectly still, but dug her nails into her palm, as the lustful urges that had been increased tenfold by her dream ramped up even more. She sucked in a breath and let it out along with a little mewl.
His gaze swung to hers and he raised one dark brow in question.
Breathlessly, she told him, "Either move your hand off my thigh or finish the job."
Both eyebrows shot toward his hairline over eyes that were filled with molten heat, then a grin kicked up the corners of his mouth and his dimple popped out, causing her mouth to go dry.
"I'd be happy to darlin'," he murmured in a sexy drawl then skimmed his fingers up the seam of the scrubs until he reached the spot that was aching for his touch at the V there. His fingers hovered over her lightly and she could feel the heat of them just millimeters from where she wanted them. Cassie gasped and licked her lips then lifted her hips toward his hand trying to increase the contact.
Instead of touching her though, his grin widened then he lifted his hand and placed it on the steering wheel and turned his focus to the road. What a bastard, she thought! and jerked to a sitting position. He yelped and grabbed himself when the heel of her cast caught him in the crotch when she pulled her leg off of him.
Cassie smiled evilly then scooted to her side of the truck and jerked the seatbelt back in place across her chest. Served the bastard right if she'd flattened his nuts to pancakes. He deserved it for teasing her like that. "Guess I'll have to see if Cole's up for finishing the job then. He seems to be the one who cleans up all your messes," she taunted then crossed her arms under her breasts.
Cassie heard a rumbling in his chest, then he slapped his hand against the steering wheel, and steered it to the shoulder of the road. Cars whizzed past them as he turned and gave her a hard look. She pushed back as far as she could against the door, and looked at him.
His eyes were like a black hole dragging her inside to drown her in his misery and anger. She couldn't ever remember seeing Luke this angry. His face was mottled red and his lips were peeled back over his teeth as he snarled, "You stay the fuck away from Cole, do you hear me? He doesn't need you messing with his head like you're doing with mine. The only messes he's cleaned up are the ones you created."
God, why was she always antagonizing him? Even when he was trying to help her, she needled him just to get a rise. Probably because if she kept him angry, she didn't have to deal with her feelings about the softer side of Luke. The one that made her want to curl up against his chest and kiss him like she used to and tell him that she loved him. And his walking away yesterday, the finality of it, had opened her eyes wide to the fact that she did still love him. As much as his actions made her hate him sometimes.
If she wanted him to open up and tell her what he'd meant by his shocking words at the lake yesterday, she needed to rein in her mouth and do more listening. Her lower lip trembled when she told him, "I'm sorry...I didn't mean it. You know Cole and I are just friends."
Luke took a deep breath then blew it out slowly, seeming as if he were trying to control his anger. He dropped his eyes from hers to look at his hand in a fist on his thigh. "Cassie, I can't do this with you anymore...."
She scooted over toward him on the seat until she sat right beside him. She put her hand over his on his thigh. "Do what, Luke?"
His chin wasn't too steady when he looked into her eyes. His throat muscles worked a couple of times and then he said, "Can't love you anymore. It's driving me crazy....you're driving me crazy. One minute you're hot, the next you freeze me out. I just can't take it anymore. That's why I didn't come to the hospital last night." He shook his head, pulled his hand from under hers then turned back to face the steering wheel.
"Shove over, I'm taking you home."
She gasped, and jerked the keys from the ignition, before tossing them on the dash.
"No--you're gonna listen to me for a second first," she told him forcefully.
Luke's fists clenched on the wheel, and he didn't look at her, or say a word. His face was hard and his jaw worked as he gritted his teeth.
Cassie knew she had to frame her words right or he was going to shut her down and take her home. She hesitated a second contemplating, then said, "I told you yesterday that I still love you. I meant it, Luke." She leaned up and put her hands on the side of his face to make him look at her.
The emptiness in his eyes made her stutter, "T-t-here's a lot we need to work out between us, I know. A lot that needs to be said. It would have probably been said by now if I hadn't been so stubborn and ornery. I haven't given you much of a chance to say anything, I've been so busy fighting with you."
His lips were a flat line and he still didn't say a word. She rubbed her thumb along the muscle ticking in his jaw. "I'm sorry for that...truly sorry. I'll give you that chance Luke, if you still want to talk," she told him and then leaned forward and pressed her lips against his tenderly. "I don't want to fight with you anymore," she whispered against his unsmiling mouth.
She eased back down on the seat and moved her hand down over his chest to cover his heart. It was beating like a hummingbird's wings, which told her wasn't as unaffected by her touch or what she'd said as he was trying to appear.
A little ray of hope parted the dark cloud of hopelessness inside her. "Say something, Luke."
She saw his Adam's apple bob a couple of times, then he said, "Okay, Cassie, I'll give it one more chance, but that's it." He didn't sound like agreeing to that made him very happy, or that he held much hope it'd work out.
Well, she had enough hope for the both of them. "I only need one more darlin'," she told him and leaned up to give him one more quick kiss before she scooted back on her side of the truck.
After one more intense look, he reached up on the dash and grabbed the keys. Luke seemed to be deep in thought the rest of the ride to Bowie, and she didn't break the thoughtful silence with needless words. She'd said her piece, and thank god he'd listened...and agreed to try to untangle their issues. Her heart was lighter than it had been in several days.
When Luke passed the turnoff to the ranch, and kept going down the main road, she glanced over at him. "You just missed the turn."
"We're not going to the ranch."
"So where are you taking me then?" she asked and chuckled. "You really kidnapping me?"
He glanced over at her with a teasing glint in his eyes. "Hey, you accused me of it, and put the thought in my head. It's always been my fantasy to kidnap a hot blonde and tie her to my bed. Guess it's about time I give it a go."
She felt blood rush to her face and moisture to other body parts. His low sexy voice vibrated in her ears and then sparks of desire traveled along her nerve endings straight to her core. Visions of the big handsome lawman handcuffing her to his bed and doing wild and wonderful things to her danced through her head. Her heart kicked, her breathing picked up and she pinched her thighs together to stop the throbbing there. It had been a long time since sex had been anywhere near wild and wonderful for her. About ten years now.
As delicious as that sounded though, she couldn't forget her responsibilities at the ranch. "Luke, I really need to go to the ranch. Dad--"