by Cara North
“It’s not that bad really,” the doctor said in a cheery voice. “The stitches can come out in a couple weeks. The ribs need to be taped for a few days, and the cast will come off in a few months. As long as he’s good to that ankle, he should be fine once it’s all healed up. The first week or so he’s going to be in a lot of pain. Watch the amount of meds you give him. They are addictive and easy to overdose on. He should feel pretty numb right now, but he should not be up and moving for a few weeks, and he should have limited movement after that. Someone needs to be with him for a while, especially until some of the swelling goes down.”
“We will be.” Heath shook the doctor’s hand. “Thank you, Dr. Beasley.”
“Tell your mother hello for me. I miss that woman’s cooking. She always brought me a plate after I fixed you or Jack up.” He laughed. “Best fried chicken in the world.”
“I’ll tell her, and I’ll send you a plate from Momma’s Kitchen. Chance makes it just the same.” Heath looked at Rafe when the doctor left the room. He walked three long paces to stand next to the bed. “When you get better, I am going to kill you. You scared the shit out of us.”
“Sorry.” Rafe closed his eyes. “I feel really weird.”
“Well, you’re all drugged up, so I guess you would feel weird.” Heath snorted. “Come on, we need to get you in the wheelchair and get you home.”
“Wheelchair?” Rafe opened his eyes. “What all’s broke?”
“Just your arm, and a few ribs cracked.” Heath laughed. “A few inches farther and that bull would have landed right in your chest. Most of this damage came from the fall and the fact that you went up, hit the bull on the way down, and then hit the ground. You looked like a pin ball in a machine and everything was hitting.”
* * *
“Jan, you need to go to class. This is your last semester, and you can’t miss anything or you risk your grade point average.” Buck was trying to reason with her Rafe could tell.
“I’m not leaving him,” Jan said stubbornly.
“Go to school, Jan,” he croaked out. “Get me a glass of water, and then go to school.”
“Rafe, you’re awake.” She seemed so pleased by that he laughed. Laughing hurt.
“Ah, still hurts.” He smiled. “What day is it?” It dawned on him if Jan was in school it sure wasn’t Sunday anymore.
“Thursday.” She held out the glass of water Buck brought in. “You seem to be in and out, but most of the time you just sleep. The doctor said you would be like that for a few days.”
He realized he was propped up, and Jan had the straw pointed his way. He reached up for the glass and knew why she was holding it. His right hand was in a cast. “Well hell.”
“Yeah, you’re going to have to be a lefty for a little while.” She held the glass closer. He took a long drink of water.
“I’ll stay with him, Jan. You need to get off to school,” Buck reminded her.
“Rafe?” She looked at him.
“Go to school. I’m awake now and fine, really.” He smiled when she kissed his forehead. “You’re my favorite little sister.”
“I’m your only little sister.” She shook her head at him. Then she turned to Buck and whispered something in his ear. They shared a brief hug and kiss and an exchange of quiet words before she left.
“You hungry?” Buck asked after a moment of looking at him.
“Yeah, I think I am.” Rafe nodded. His head still hurt. He could definitely feel the ribs ache. He moved his legs, and his right ankle spiked a new pain for him to deal with. “Man, this feels like hell.”
Buck nodded. “You look like hell, too, buddy.”
“Thanks,” Rafe said.
“Anytime.” Buck left the room.
* * *
Layla approached the house at the same time Jan was leaving. No doubt Rafe’s little sister was going to give her an earful.
“I’m not happy about this,” Jan said to her point blank.
“I understand.” Layla nodded. She did understand.
“Well… okay then.” Jan seemed to have lost her argument when the children caught up to them. “Hi guys, how are you?”
“Is Rafe awake today?” Savannah asked.
“Yes, well, he was a minute ago…” The children ran past them into the house calling his name.
Layla moved quickly behind them so as not to give her a chance to say anything else.
“Hey there.” Buck, Jan’s husband, greeted her with a friendly smile. “You need help getting your things?”
“No, thank you. I’ll grab it later… there really isn’t much to…” She looked away toward the stove. “He wants to eat?”
“Yep.” Buck stirred the soup again. “I figured we might need to start with liquids first, see how that goes, then move on if he stays awake and keeps this down.”
“Well, I guess there’s no time like the present.” Layla turned off the stove and poured the soup in a bowl. She grabbed a few napkins and the crackers Buck had laying out. “Don’t leave in case he doesn’t take this well.”
“I’ll be in the hall if you need me.” Buck nodded. The giant grizzly bear Jan was married to was the easiest person to be around.
Layla picked up the tray she had placed everything on and took in a fortifying breath.
When she came closer to the bedroom, she could hear him talking to Savannah and Brice. They were so afraid he was dead they cried every night. It didn’t matter that they could see him in the bed, and that everyone had told them otherwise. Until today, they didn’t fully believe it. Of course, he looked a wreck to grown up eyes, so he must have looked worse to the children.
“Be careful, Savannah,” Layla whispered unintentionally. Savannah was on the bed next to him, and it made her nervous. She could hurt him very easily right now, and that would only make her little heart sad if she did.
“Yes, ma’am.” Savannah eased off the bed.
“She’s fine,” he said, defiance laced his tone. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, it’s a long story…”
* * *
“I’ll take the readers digest version if you don’t mind.” He was certainly in a foul mood today.
“Savannah, Brice, why don’t you ask Buck if he would put in a movie for you. Let mommy and Rafe have a few minutes alone.” She watched him watch them. They listened to her now. She wasn’t frazzled or confused. By no means was the relationship perfect, but she was learning, and they were eager to help her be the best mom she could be. They had open communication now, and that made a world of difference.
She set the tray on the tray table and then sat boldly next to him on the bed. “I’m taking care of you.”
“The hell you are,” he said in a low breath.
“You wanted the readers digest version.” Layla looked at him, at the stitches over his right eye, the bruising on his chest over his ribs, the cast on his arm. It was pointless for him to refuse. “I’m here. Actually, we are here. Bethany told us to move in because you needed twenty-four hour supervision and assistance, and everyone else around here has to work, and you know better than me this place is a full-time job all on its own. It never sleeps with the guests and the workers…”
“I know how this ranch operates, but that doesn’t mean Bethany, or anyone else can let you move into my house, or… what about your job?” He seemed to think she cared more about the job than she actually did. If she could apply elsewhere, she would have, but no one else was flexible with the childcare hours and what she almost had a degree in wasn’t in high demand in Montana. “I lost my job. They closed the shelter. The lease is month by month, so of course, in a week this month would be up, and I couldn’t see spending my last paycheck on a place if it would only buy us a month. When we came to the hospital, Bethany pulled me aside and asked if I needed a job. So now, I am here, at your beck and call. My job is to take care of you.”
He snorted. It hurt; she could tell because he put his hand up to his ribs.
> “When you’re better, if you don’t want us here, we’ll leave. I have my aunt in Texas…”
“That’s not fair.” He looked at her. His brown eyes were sad, frustrated, and painful. “I want them here.”
“It’s a packaged deal.” She sighed. No point in putting him through the emotional gauntlet while he was hurting physically. “For now, I am your nurse, your housekeeper; whatever you need I am just a bell ring away.”
She nodded toward the bell on the table. “So do you want to eat soup or not?”
“I can’t hold a spoon.” He showed her his cast as if she couldn’t see it herself.
“Again, that’s why I’m here.” She picked up the bowl with one hand and the spoon with the other. “Open up.”
Rafe narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth. He was hungry. His stomach rumbled from the need for real food. It was the worst kind of punishment his family decided to enact on him. Sending Layla to be his keeper, knowing he was trying to get away from her in the first damn place. What had he done to make them so? He knew what he had done. He scared them, and he had been a complete jackass for at least three months. Now he was going to take his punishment like a man, and she was going to regret taking him on. He wasn’t finished being mad at her, not by a long shot.
After eating the bowl of soup and a few crackers, he did feel better. In fact, he thought it was a fine time to break her in as his new personal assistant. He rang the bell.
Layla appeared in the doorway, pleasant, unusually so. “Yes?”
“I want some water.”
She nodded and left the room. When she returned, he had her hold the water, though he could hold it in his left hand if he chose to. When she left, he gave her five minutes then rang the bell.
“I want to watch the news,” he said smugly and watched her walk to the television hanging on the wall across from the foot of his bed and turn it on. She found a news station and brought him the remote. Damn remote.
He did that for about an hour; then she brought him his medication. Against his will, he was sleepy again.
“Rafe?” A small voice came from the doorway. “Can we come tell you goodnight?”
“Come on in, baby-girl.” Savannah and Brice made their way, quietly and slowly toward him. “Come on this side.” He patted the bed on the left side. They both climbed up in slow motion. “It’s okay. I’m not going to break.”
“We don’t want to hurt you,” Brice said and looked at his foot still propped up on the pillows.
“You won’t, cowboy. Don’t worry,” he reassured him. They both looked unconvinced. “You know what you could do though?”
They shook their heads no.
“You could read me a story. I’m pretty sleepy myself.” He yawned a genuine yawn.
“I’ll go get the book.” Brice lit up.
“Hang on.” Rafe grabbed the bell, and Layla appeared in the doorway. Before she could get onto them for being on the bed again, he said, “I told them they could get up here. They want to read me a story for bedtime.”
“I’ll be right back.” She left to get the book.
Instead of leaving him with the two children and the book, Layla stayed. She sat on the left side of the bed and helped Brice sound out his words. Rafe remembered this was what he had asked for, prayed for, and now he had it, just not the way he thought he would get it.
After the story was over, Savannah gently hugged his arm and then slid off the bed. Brice was a bit less delicate, and he squeezed a lot harder.
“I’m glad you’re not dead,” he said as he slid off the bed.
“Me too, cowboy.” Rafe laughed. That made his ribs hurt, but he didn’t care.
“I’m going to go tuck them in. Do you need anything?” Layla asked before walking out the door. She stopped, turned, then said, “You have a urinal bottle if you need to do number one, but if you need to do number two, I will have to call your brothers until you can handle some of your own weight again.”
He knew his mouth was open. She had just shocked him right to his core. How had he been using the bathroom the past three days? Had he been using the bathroom? Was she going to have to clean up after that, too? No, no, no. He was more determined than ever to do one thing on his own. It hurt like hell to sit up completely. It really hurt when he stood up, and his ankle gave way, and he went right back to a seated position on the bed, which in turn made his ribs hurt. Fighting back tears of pain, he looked at the bottle she had set out on the nightstand and then at the bathroom door just a few feet away.
A stream of profanity was coming from his bedroom as Layla entered the hallway. She ran to see what had happened and found him trying to sit in one of the chairs his guests had been using to sit in while visiting him the past few days. “Rafe!”
“I’m not pissing in a bottle.” He growled.
“Okay.” She stood there, uncertain what to do. “Should I call one of your brothers?”
“No.” He glared at her. “Just give me a damn minute. I can do it myself.”
“Fine.” She took a step back and watched him push out of the chair using only his left arm. His chest and forehead were glistening with sweat. His pajama bottoms hung low on his hips, and for the first time since the accident, she looked at him in an appreciative way not like he was fragile and helpless. Under all the bruising, he was still all lean muscle and determination. That was the stubborn man she knew and loved. He staggered. She moved under his left arm and unwillingly he allowed some of his weight to rest on her. He was a heavy man. “Just let me help you in there okay?”
He cursed a blue streak, but he didn’t tell her no.
“Shit,” he said as they finally got to the commode. “I can’t use my right hand.”
“You want me to hold it for you?” He couldn’t see her face, but she was blushing, that much he knew for sure.
“You wish.” He growled. “I need you to undo my pajamas and help me turn around. I can pee sitting down.”
“Really?” She didn’t mean to sound so surprised but she was. This whole conversation was scandalous.
“Pants.” He shifted his weight from her to the wall. His left side was going to be as sore as his right if he wasn’t careful.
Layla quickly undid his pants, tugged them past his knees, and helped him turn around.
“I can take it from here. I’ll call you when I need to go back. I need to rest a minute.” He sounded so out of breath and defeated as she left him.
Layla closed the door to the bathroom and took the opportunity to fix up his bed again. She fluffed the pillows, pulled the sheets tight, and tried to clear a path from the bathroom to the bed without moving the large sturdy chair too far away in case he needed to stop again on the way back. She knew this was hard for him. His pride was bruised more than his ribs right now, but what else could she do?
Chapter 8
Once back in the bed he fell right into a deep sleep.
He vaguely remembered her bringing him something to drink in the middle of the night. He definitely remembered Jack helping him to the bathroom this morning when Layla had taken the kids to school. He was grateful his brother was there. He didn’t want to have too many trips to the bathroom with Layla as his keeper.
“What’s that?” he asked as she brought in a square tub and set it on the tray table.
“Sponge bath.” She shrugged. “You can’t get in the shower, or the bathtub, so…”
He let a stream of curses fly under his breath.
“You know I don’t care that you have taken to cursing like a sailor in my presence, but please don’t do it in front of Savannah and Brice. They will join you as foul mouthed crew members in no time.” She rang the cloth out and stepped toward him.
“I… I won’t. It…” He knew it hurt but also knew he would never curse like that in front of children. He had never cursed in front of Layla before now.
She pulled back his sheets and noticed he was in boxers. “How did you?”
“Jack came
over while you took the kids to school.” He watched her as she uncovered him completely. Never in his wildest dreams was Layla his servant. In most of his fantasies, he had been the one rescuing her, taking care of her, driving her wild with lust. Now here she was, in a pair of jeans and a well-fitted T-shirt taking care of him. Planning to give him a sponge bath no less. He made a sound of irritation at the thought.
“What?” she asked as the warm cloth made contact with his skin.
“Nothing.” He closed his eyes so as not to be betrayed by his face. Of course, he was sure other parts of his anatomy were going to be harder to control.
She let it drop. He tried to think of something, anything other than Layla touching him. She spent extra time at his neck and shoulders, and that relaxed him too much. It was useless to resist her effect on him. She caressed him everywhere but where he wanted her to touch him by the time it was over. His cock strained against the boxers he now tented.
She made no mention of his erection. He was sure she noticed. His brain was functioning on a whole different level now. Nothing, not the pain, the frustration, the fact that he was not supposed to like her anymore, or the fact that technically she was being paid to take care of him mattered. She put the cloth back in the tub and started to pick up the whole thing to leave.
“Layla.” She hesitated. He smiled. Then he drew his face to a scowl. “You’re not done yet.”
“I… I don’t understand.” She turned to look at him, set the tub down, folded her arms, and waited. He looked to his tented shorts then back to her. Her eyes rounded, and her mouth opened into a perfect little ‘O’. “I thought since Jack was here he would…”
“Jack can’t do what I need you to do.” Rafe bit his lower lip and watched her expression. Heat crept up her neck and spread over her face. He loved to see her blush.
“But, I thought…”
“Oh, I’m still mad at you for several reasons.” However, he was having trouble at the moment recalling any reason other than her rejecting the marriage proposals. “But I am also right handed, and I can’t take care of that with my left,” he lied. “So I need you to do it.”