When she told him she loved him he’d felt…well, he honestly wasn’t sure what he’d felt. It was just…unusual. No one had said that to him in a long time. He and his wife had stopped expressing sentiments of love long before the final meltdown. The pain of their breakup had been less about lost love than the humiliation of her deceit, and his own stupidity for not seeing her for what she really was.
In the long run he honestly believed she had done him a favor, although he could have done without seeing the proof with his own eyes.
Even if Melody thought she loved Ash, she obviously didn’t mean it or she wouldn’t have cheated on him in the first place. Besides, their relationship wasn’t about love. It was more about mutual respect and convenience. She was only saying what she thought she was supposed to say. She probably just assumed that she would never be engaged to a man she didn’t love. But that was all part of the plan, wasn’t it? To make her believe that they were in love. And apparently it was working.
He couldn’t deny that in her current condition, he was having a tough time keeping a grip on the anger he’d felt when he learned about her pregnancy. He was sure that once he got her back home and she started acting like her old self, the wounds would feel fresh again. He would approach the situation with a renewed sense of vengeance.
He was counting on it.
Six days after Ash arrived in Abilene, after showing what Dr. Nelson said was remarkable progress, Melody was finally released from the hospital. An orderly wheeled her down to the front entrance, her heart pounding in anticipation of finally being free, and as they exited the building, a wall of hot, dry air washed over her.
She hoped their place in San Francisco had a courtyard or a balcony, because after being cooped up in the hospital for so long, she wanted to spend lots of time outside. She closed her eyes and breathed in deep, felt the sun beat down hot on her face as she was wheeled from under the awning to the curb where Ash waited with his rental car. It was barely 10:00 a.m. and it had to be pushing ninety degrees. The sun was so bright, she had to raise a hand to shade her eyes. She wasn’t sure of the make of the vehicle, but it looked expensive.
Ash had dressed casually for the trip, in jeans and a T-shirt, and Melody didn’t miss the group of nurses following him with their eyes, practically drooling on their scrubs.
Look all you like ladies, but he’s mine.
Not that Melody blamed them for gawking. He looked hot as hell dressed that way. The shirt accentuated the width of his shoulders and showed off the lean muscle in his arms, and the jeans hugged his behind in a way that gave her impure thoughts. She could hardly wait until she was feeling well enough to have sex again. Right now, if she did anything marginally taxing, her head began to pound.
As soon as they reached the car Ash opened the door. A rush of cool air cut through the heat as he helped her from the chair to the front seat. The interior was soft black leather, and it had what looked like a top-of-the-line sound and navigation system. Ash got her settled in and helped with her seat belt, and as he leaned over her to fasten it, he smelled so delicious she wanted to bury her face in the crook of his neck and take a nibble. When he seemed convinced she was securely fastened in, with her seat as far back as it would go—just in case the airbag deployed and bonked her head, rattling her already compromised brain—he walked around and got in the driver’s side. “Are you ready?” he asked. “I am so ready.”
He turned the key and the engine hummed to life, and as he pulled from the curb and down the driveway toward the road, she had this odd feeling of urgency. She felt that if he didn’t hurry, the staff members were going to change their minds and chase her down like a fugitive, or an escaped mental patient, and make her go back to that awful room.
It wasn’t until he pulled out onto the main road and hit the gas, and the hospital finally disappeared out of sight, that she could breathe easy again. She was finally free. As long as she lived, she hoped she never had to stay in a hospital room again.
He glanced over at her. “You all right?”
“I am now.”
“You’re comfortable?” he asked.
“Very.” He’d brought her suitcase to the hospital and she’d chosen a pair of jeans and a cotton shirt to start the trip. She’d tried to find a bra she liked, but either they were push-up and squeezed her breasts to within an inch of her life or they were made of itchy lace, so she’d opted not to wear one at all. As long as she didn’t get cold, or pull her shirt taut, it was kind of hard to tell. Besides, it was just her and Ash and he’d seen her breasts plenty of times before.
The jeans were comfortable, and although at one point she was guessing they were pretty tight, now they hung off her. Despite her constant cravings for food, her eyes were bigger than her stomach, but Dr. Nelson assured her that her appetite would return.
She’d opted to wear flip-flops on her feet and toed them off the instant she was in the car, keeping them within reach should she happen to need them.
Other than the dull ache in her temples, she couldn’t be more comfortable.
“If you need to stop for any reason just let me know,” Ash told her. “And if the driving gets to be too much we’ll stop and get a hotel room.”
“I’m sure I’ll be fine.” If it were at all possible, she wished they could drive straight through until they got to San Francisco, but it was a twenty-four-hour trip and she knew Ash would have to sleep at some point. Still, she wanted to stay on the road as long as possible. The sooner they got home, the better. She was convinced that once she was there, surrounded by her own possessions, her memories would begin to return.
Ash turned onto the I-20 on-ramp, hit the gas and zoomed onto the freeway, shooting like a rocket into traffic.
“This is pretty nice for a rental,” she told him.
“It’s not a rental,” he said as he maneuvered left into the fast lane. “This is my car.”
His car? “I thought you flew here.”
“I did, but I wanted you to be comfortable on the way home so I arranged to have my car brought to Texas. It arrived yesterday morning.”
That couldn’t have been cheap. She’d never asked Ash about their financial situation, but apparently CFOs at San Francisco ad agencies made decent money.
“It looks expensive,” she said. “The car, I mean.”
He shrugged. “I like nice cars.”
“So I guess you do okay? Financially.”
He flashed her a side glance, one of those funny looks that had become so familiar this past week. “Are you asking how much I make?”
“No! Of course not. It’s just, well…you wear expensive clothes and drive an expensive car. So I’m assuming you make a decent living, that’s all.”
“I do okay,” he said, a grin kicking up one corner of his mouth, as though the idea of her even asking amused him. And she knew that if she asked exactly how much he made, he would probably tell her. It just wasn’t that important.
All that mattered to her was how wonderful he’d been this week. Other than running an occasional errand, or stepping out to pick up food, Ash hadn’t left her side. He got there every morning after visiting hours started and didn’t leave until they ended at ten. She had been off her feet for so long and her muscles had deteriorated so much that at first walking had been a challenge. Because she was determined to get out of there as soon as humanly possible, Melody had paced, back and forth, up and down the corridors for hours to build her strength. And Ash had been right there by her side.
At first, she’d literally needed him there to hang on to, or to lean on when her balance got hinky. It was frustrating, not being able to do something as simple as taking a few steps unassisted, but Ash kept pumping her full of encouragement and, after the second day, she could manage with only her IV pole to steady her. When they finally removed her IV, she’d been a little wary at first, but realized she was steady enough walking without it. Yesterday she had been chugging along at a pretty good pace when Dr. Nel
son came by to let her know she would be released in the morning. He had already discussed her case with a neurologist in San Francisco—one of the best, he said—and Melody would go in to see him as soon as they were home.
Melody’s lids started to feel droopy and she realized the pain pills the nurse had given her right before she was discharged were starting to kick in.
Ash must have noticed because he said, “Why don’t you put your seat back? It’s the lever on the right. And there’s a pillow and blanket in the backseat if you need them.”
The man thought of everything.
It was plenty warm in the car, even with the air on, but the pillow sounded good. She reclined her seat then grabbed the pillow from the back and tucked it under her head. She sighed and snuggled into the buttery-soft leather, sure that her hospital bed hadn’t been half as comfortable. She wanted to stay awake, to keep Ash company, but her lids just didn’t want to cooperate, so finally she stopped fighting it and let them close. It couldn’t have been ten seconds before she slipped into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Six
Melody woke, disoriented and confused, expecting to be in her hospital bed. The she remembered she’d been set free and smiled, even though her head ached so hard she was sure that her eyeballs were going to pop from their sockets.
“Have a good nap?”
She looked over and saw Ash gazing down at her, a bottle of soda in his hand. Only then did she realize they were no longer moving. She rubbed her eyes, giving them a gentle push inward, just in case, and asked, “Why are we stopped?”
“Lunch break.”
She looked up and saw that they were parked in a fast-food restaurant lot.
“I was just going in to grab a burger. Do you want anything?”
“No, I’m good. But my head is pounding. What time is it?”
“After three.”
She’d been asleep for five hours?
“It’s probably the elevation. Do you need a pain pill?”
She nodded, so he opened the glove box and pulled out the prescription they had filled at the hospital pharmacy. “One or two?”
One pill wouldn’t put her to sleep, and she would be able to keep Ash company, but gauging the pain in her head, she needed two. “Two, I think.”
He tapped them out of the bottle and offered his soda to wash them down. “I’m going in. You sure you don’t want anything?”
“I’m sure.”
While he was gone she lay back and closed her eyes. She must have drifted off again because when the car door opened, it startled her awake.
Ash was back with a bag of food. He unwrapped his burger in his lap and set his fries in the console cup holder. It wasn’t until they were back on the highway, and the aroma permeated the interior, when her stomach started to rumble in protest.
Maybe she was hungry after all. Every time he took a bite her jaw tightened and her mouth watered.
After a while Ash asked, “Is there a reason you’re watching me eat?”
She didn’t realize how intently she’d been staring. “Um, no?”
“You wouldn’t be hungry, would you?” he asked.
She was starving, but she couldn’t very well ask him to turn around and go back. “I can wait until the next stop.”
“Look in the bag,” he told her.
She did, and found another burger and fries inside.
“I kind of figured once you saw me eating you would be hungry, too.”
“Just one more reason why I love you,” she said, diving into her food with gusto.
She was only able to eat about half, so Ash polished off the rest. When she was finished eating the painkillers had kicked in and she dozed off with her stomach pleasantly full. A few hours later she roused for a trip to the rest stop, and as soon as the car was moving again, promptly fell back to sleep. The next time she opened her eyes it was dark and they were parked in front of an economy hotel. She realized that Ash was standing outside the open passenger door, his hand was on her shoulder, and he was nudging her awake.
“What time is it?” she asked groggily.
“After eleven. We’re stopping for the night,” he said. “I got us a room.”
Thirteen hours down, eleven to go, she thought. Maybe this time tomorrow they would be home.
He helped her out and across the parking lot. All the sleep should have energized her, but she was still exhausted, and her head hurt worse than it had before. Maybe this trip was harder on her system than she realized.
Their bags were already inside and sitting on the bed.
“They didn’t have any doubles left and there isn’t another hotel for miles,” he said apologetically. “If you don’t want to share, I can sack out on the floor.”
They had shared a bed for three years. Of course, she had no memory of that. Maybe he was worried that she would feel strange sleeping with him until they got to know one another better. Which she had to admit was pretty sweet. It was a little unusual being with him this late at night, since he always left the hospital by ten. But actually, it was kind of nice.
“I don’t mind sharing,” she assured him.
“How’s your head feel?”
She rubbed her left temple. “Like it’s going to implode. Or explode. I’m not sure which.”
He tapped two painkillers out and got her a glass of water. “Maybe a hot shower would help.”
She swallowed them and said, “It probably would.”
“You can use the bathroom first.”
She stepped in the bathroom and closed the door, smiling when she saw that he’d set her toiletry bag on the edge of the sink. He seriously could not take better care of her.
She dropped her clothes on the mat and blasted the water as hot as she could stand then stepped under the spray. She soaped up, then washed and conditioned her hair, then she closed her eyes and leaned against the wall, letting the water beat down on her. When she felt herself listing to one side her eyes flew open and she jerked upright, realizing that she had actually drifted off to sleep.
She shut the water off and climbed out, wrapping herself in a towel that reeked of bleach. She combed her hair and brushed her teeth, grabbed her dirty clothes, and when she stepped out of the bathroom Ash was lying in bed with the television controller in one hand, watching a news program.
“Your turn,” she said.
He glanced over at her, did a quick double take, then turned back to the TV screen. “I thought I was going to have to call in the national guard,” he said. “You were in there a while.”
“Sorry. I fell asleep in the shower.”
“On or off?” he said, gesturing to the TV.
“Off. The second my head hits the pillow I’ll be out cold.”
He switched it off and rolled out of bed, grabbing the pajama bottoms he’d set out. “Out in a minute,” he said as he stepped in the bathroom and shut the door. Less than ten seconds later she heard the shower turn on.
Barely able to keep her eyes open, Melody walked on wobbly legs to the bed. She’d forgotten to grab something to sleep in from her suitcase, and with her case on the floor across the room, it hardly seemed worth the effort. It wasn’t as if he had never seen her naked before, and if she was okay with it, she was sure he would be, too.
She dropped her towel on the floor and climbed under the covers, her mind going soft and fuzzy as the painkillers started to do their job.
At some point she heard the bathroom door open and heard Ash moving around in the room, then she felt the covers shift, and she could swear she heard Ash curse under his breath. It seemed as though it was a long time before she felt the bed sink under his weight, or maybe it was just her mind playing tricks on her. But finally she felt him settle into bed, his arm not much more than an inch from her own, its heat radiating out to touch her.
She drifted back to sleep and woke in the darkness with something warm and smooth under her cheek. It took a second to realize that it was Ash’s chest. He was flat o
n his back and she was lying draped across him. At some point she must have cuddled up to him. She wondered if they slept like this all the time. She hoped so, because she liked it. It felt nice to be so close to him.
The next time she woke up, she could see the hint of sunlight through a break in the curtains. She was still lying on Ash, her leg thrown over one of his, and his arm was looped around her, his hand resting on her bare hip. The covers had slipped down just low enough for her to see the tent in his pajama bottoms. It looked…well…big, and for the first time since the accident she felt the honest-to-goodness tug of sexual arousal. She suddenly became ultra-aware of her body pressed against his. Her nipples pulled into two hard points and started to tingle, until it felt as though the only relief would come from rubbing them against his warm skin. In fact, she had the urge to rub her entire body all over his. She arched her back, drawing his leg deeper between her thighs, and as she did, her thigh brushed against his erection. He groaned in his sleep and sank his fingers into the flesh of her hip. Tingles of desire shivered straight through to her core.
It felt so good to be touched, and she wanted more; unfortunately, the more turned on she became, and the faster her blood raced through her veins, the more her head began to throb. She took a deep breath to calm her hammering heart. It was clear that it would be a while before she was ready to put her body through the stress of making love.
That didn’t make her want Ash any less, and it didn’t seem fair to make him keep waiting, after having already gone through months of abstinence, when there was no reason why she couldn’t make him feel good.
Didn’t she owe him for being so good to her? For sticking by her side?
Melody looked at the tent in his pajamas, imagined putting her hand inside, and was hit with a sudden and overwhelming urge to touch him, a need to please him that seemed to come from somewhere deep inside, almost like a shadowy memory, hazy and distant and just out of reach. It had never occurred to her before, but maybe being intimate with him would jog her memory.
Money Man's Fiancée Negotiation Page 6