“This is Maggie from the Children's Hospital of Manhattan, really looking forward to meeting you tomorrow. Your first week of shifts will be three ten-hour days, then four days off. The following week will be twelve-hour shifts as will the rest of the month. I understand you’re on loan from another hospital, I can't tell you how pleased we are to have you on staff.”
“Wait, so what time do I report?” Clearly, my uncle had fabricated a lovely story about my medical background. On loan? Great. I was going out to come up with even more lies.
“Your shift begins at 7 AM, making rounds on the first floor. I apologize you are coming in right as summer cold season has started. It's been a little bit of a madhouse in here the past few weeks.”
Great, snotty nosed kids. This was going to be a super fun time. Fuck my uncle.
“Yeah, I'm sure that it is, between pollen season and the changing of the temperatures most his immune systems can't keep up. I would like to stay out of oncology by the way.” Kids sick was bad, kids with cancer was worse.
Fuck cancer.
“Of course, we have our regular attendings on staff to hit oncology. You'll mostly be staying on the first floor dealing with minor injuries and the cold season. Is there anything else you require for tomorrow morning?”
Cold shower and to not go into the Children's Hospital to work. “Absolutely nothing. I look forward to seeing you, Maggie.”
Of course I did, if she looked even half as hot as her sultry voice sounded on the phone the hospital wouldn't be so bad. She hung up the call and I stood looking at the roses again and I realized I didn't really care what Maggie looked like. I had Addison waiting for me.
At home.
Our home. Maybe this whole fake fiancé thing wasn't so bad after all.
Nine
Addison
“So what does your sister say about all this?” He asked me as he loaded the next box into the moving truck he had sent to my tiny apartment. I don't know why he thought I had a lot of stuff, but the truck was way bigger than it needed to be.
“Not much, she's kind of used to me doing some crazy things.”
He set the box down in front of him “Oh? You like to get wild?”
He knew how loud I could get. That wasn't what I meant in this case.
“Let's just say that I've had some harebrained ideas before. Or at least according to her that's what they were. She's my older sister, she cares about me. Wants to look out for me. Do you have any siblings like that?” He avoided my eyes and pushed the box back further into the practically empty truck.
“No, no siblings.”
Here are he mentioned that his parents had passed, but I hadn't asked when. Maybe it was before he could even have a chance to have siblings. That would be incredibly sad. I started to walk up the stairs towards my apartment again. My sister was at work, so it was just the two of us. As we entered my bedroom to pick up the last few boxes and a couple suitcases I had packed I decided to broach the subject. “You mentioned that your parents had passed. So your uncle is your guardian?”
“Something like that.” He said still not meeting my eyes. I knew I was pushing it, but I also knew that these questions were going to come up. I would have to meet some of his family at some point. If no place else then the extravagant fake wedding that we were planning.
“He mostly runs the money. He always handled the books even when I was a kid.”
“Before you got into the military.”
“Yeah. That was always his job. So when my parents passed I guess they had it set up in their will that he would continue to maintain the money. He's done a great job at it, I can't say that he hasn't. But he certainly treats me like a child still.”
“Do you act like one?” He turned and looked at me, his dark eyes boring into me. Why did he have to do that? Why did he have to look at me in such a way that I couldn’t help but be turned on? I was trying to have a real conversation with him. A real conversation with my future husband and I couldn't focus on that. All that I could think about was getting back to his place and seeing what else Cole had to offer. This was insane, I had agreed to marry someone that I hardly knew anything about. But somehow looking at him, it felt okay, nearly safe. Nearly.
But I knew that just beneath the surface practically a wild animal prowled. There was a reason his uncle was forcing him to do this. Something had to set him off. We walked down the stairs, him carrying my suitcases and I had a lamp and a small box in my hands when finally I asked the question. “So what did you do that pissed your uncle off enough that he's making you get married?”
He turned and looked at me. “I already told you. I stole a yacht from one of the investors, which was a bold move. And now one I'm paying for.”
“Yes. That's what you said. But I don't think that that would be it. I don't think that's what set him off. There had to be something else like maybe this wasn't your first indiscretion?”
I'd only known him for a day, and I could tell that his bad boy attitude had probably gotten him in a lot more trouble than he was telling me.
“Fine,” he said loading the last suitcase into the truck. “That's not my first issue. I have some issues I got back from the war. That's actually not my first rodeo with a boat either. I need to stay the hell out of the water. He pulled up his shirt to reveal his washboard abs and I practically felt my pussy warm even in the summer heat. He had that effect on me.
But then he pointed to something I hadn't noticed before. A scar. It was large, but I hadn't noticed it before because I've been so focused on the rest of his delicious body. But now that I saw it I realized that had to come from a pretty serious injury. “What happened?”
He let his shirt go loose. “Like I said, I have an issue with boats. When I got back from overseas I got a little too wasted one night and then fell off the yacht. Some metal went right through me, I was alone. So I had to handle it myself.
“You stitched it up yourself?”
“Yeah. Being a doctor has its benefits. Like knowing exactly how anatomy works.” He said as he took his finger along the skin beneath my chin. “I know exactly how to treat a body. How to get everything it needs. Don’t you agree?”
My knees trembled beneath me and my pussy ached with desire. He leaned in and laid a kiss on my lips.
“Convincing my uncle I'm obsessed with you is going to be easy.”
He walked away leaving me breathless and I quickly followed him to get in the other side of the moving truck. Once he started up and I felt the rumble underneath my body. I realized that I was so hot and bothered I couldn't wait to get back to his apartment. I wanted to see just how well he knew a woman's body. Sure the sex last night had been hot, but now that I was getting to know Cole, I thought just maybe I could fall for him.
“So my uncle will want to meet you,” he said as he drove back to his penthouse apartment. “We’re going to have to make this believable, he's a businessman. He can smell a lie a mile away.”
“So how do we convince him?” I couldn't disappoint him. I realized I was desperate to make this ridiculous arrangement work, and not just because I needed the money. It was because I wanted to make Cole happy.
“I'll set up with him. I'm sure he'll want to take you out to dinner or the both of us, see us in action together as a couple. Can you handle that?” He said as he slid his hands across the seat and placed it on my thigh. I was wearing shorts and with our bare skin touching, I would've said anything to me, trust me. To get back to the apartment back into his bed.
“Sure. I can play a part. You just have to tell me what his strengths and weaknesses are. So I know what to look for. If you say that he's good at catching a lie, I’ll make sure a lie is believable.” Out of the corner of my eye I could see him smiling at me. I knew he was right, it wouldn’t be hard to keep up our ruse. Not with how easily we were falling for one another. And it had only been a day. Where would we be when the four months was over?
I wasn't sure.
&nbs
p; But I was dying to find out.
Ten
Cole
“Morning, I’m Dr. Cole Brennan, I believe I’m assigned to the first floor?” I winked at the receptionist for good measure. Maybe she could show me where the coffee was later.
“Hi there, you’re reporting to the attending, Dr. Mallory. He’s about my height, with dark hair, actually, why don’t I just take you down there?” She offered, her sparkling green eyes looking up at me from behind the desk.
“That would be great.”
As we passed rooms, she poked her head into one and gave greetings to parents and kids.
“First day?” she asked.
“Yeah, is it obvious?”
“Well you just looked at the kid in the wheelchair like something was wrong with him, so yeah, that’s obvious. You have to look at them like they’re normal, like nothing is wrong. Because for some of these kids, this is their whole life. So this is normal. Their normal.”
That hit me right in the gut. Even if I wasn’t really a kid person, I would definitely do my best. And when I was done here I would make sure we made a large donation to the hospital.
No kid should have to live here. No kid should feel like being sick is normal.
She walked me down the hallway until finally, we hit another reception desk.
“Is Dr. Mallory with a patient, Ashley?” She asked the receptionist.
“No, he is sitting in the break room. Kind of quiet here this morning, you must be the new doc on staff. I'm Ashley. I work the day shift.”
I waved at the petite blonde behind the desk but noticed that I wasn't even that interested. That didn't really make much sense except of course I could only think of Addison. I was really going soft.
The original receptionist pointed me in the direction of the break room. “Follow the smell of the coffee. And good luck.”
I nodded to her and walked down the hallway a few more doors before saw one that was open. A few doctors were sitting in on brightly colored couches drinking coffee and a couple were looking at magazines.
“Dr. Mallory?” I asked addressing a man with dark brown hair like the receptionist had said.
“Oh hey there, you must be Dr. Brennan. It's nice to meet you. Under interesting circumstances, no?” He stood up and walked out to the hallway as I followed him.
“I'm sorry, I don't think I understand.”
“Your uncle is on the board. Easy to get a job when you have connections.”
“Yeah I guess you could say that, but I'm on loan so…”
Dr. Mallory stopped in front of me and spun around facing me. “You and I both know you're not on loan from anywhere. But I'm the only one in this whole damn hospital that knows that so I'll keep my mouth shut, mostly because these kids deserve good doctors. Are you a good doctor?”
I shrugged. If he already knew the truth about me there was no point lying. “I've no idea to be totally honest. I did medic training in the Army and then they paid for me to go to school but I have no hands-on experience, especially with kids. I mean besides my residency and that was in a veteran’s hospital. No kids there.”
He rolled his eyes. “I had a feeling that was going to be the case, but I was hoping I was wrong.” He pulled a tablet off the wall next to the reception desk and gave it to me quickly using his finger to drag across charts.
“See this turquoise color? That's all of your charts. It's a pretty quiet morning in here so I think you only have about three kids right now. Appointments for the day I mean. You'll get the occasional walk-in but really we mostly deal with kids that have already been patients here in the past. The walk-ins come from other hospitals that can't set a bone or don’t have an MRI machine that small enough for little humans. The work is steady and you won't deal with anything too serious on this floor.”
“Sounds good, where do I start?”
Dr. Mallory smiled at me. “Well good, the military gave you something besides your medical background.”
“What's that?”
“A can-do attitude. I appreciate that. It means you get the job done, and I don't have to follow you around. I really don't have time to babysit you.”
I shook my head. “I don’t need to be babysat, I'm a grown man. Point me in the direction of my first patient and I'll get to work.”
He pointed me toward a room labeled AB one and I walked in to see a young girl sitting on the table with what mostly look like a scraped knee. I scanned through her chart as I introduced myself to her mother and realized why she was there. Previously she had some blood clotting issues, so a scraped knee for her meant a hospital visit. That sucked.
“I'm Dr. Brennan, but you can just call me Cole, what do we have here?”
Her mother introduced her as Olivia. “I know it's probably nothing, but she's had so many problems in the past, and I just felt like we needed to come in.”
I waved her concerns away. “Don't worry about it. Let's see that knee, Olivia. What were you doing anyway? Trying to partake in some type of rodeo?”
That elicited a small smile from the girl. “I'm not a cowgirl. I was just playing on the monkey bars and I fell. It's very simple doctor.”
She was sassy, and I appreciated it. “Monkey bars huh? How many did you get to?”
“Only three. Then I lost my grip, I fell in the mulch.”
I heard her mother sigh behind me. “I told you not to go on the monkey bars, they're dangerous.”
Olivia now sighed, matching her mother's tone almost perfectly. “And I told you I was careful. It was an accident Mom.”
I took a look at her chart again, someone had already come in and done some blood work on her and it seemed that her iron levels were normal. The blood had mostly dried on her knees and she looked pretty good overall.
“I like to do a full examination just to be safe, but I think she's fine. I'm going to send in a nurse to put a gown on her and we’ll get started.”
The mother nodded and she helped Olivia hop off the table. I walked out and closed the door behind me putting in my tablet that I needed a nurse's assistant. Someone arrived only a moment later and went in with a gown that had teddy bears on it. All the bright colors and sounds and kids were going to take some getting used to.
As I continued to look over her chart my cell phone started buzzing in my pocket. I figured I had a couple minutes to answer quickly when I realized it was my uncle calling. And he wanted exactly what I was expecting.
“So when do I get to meet this girl? How is the first day of work going?”
“Can’t you even say hello? The girl is great. And you can set up some fancy dinner for whenever you want. And so far the hospital’s not that bad. I do appreciate however that I'm not cleaning bedpans. Instead, I'm just fixing up a scraped knee.”
“I didn't want it to be a full prison sentence. You already did something similar to that in the past few days.”
“You're so charming when you're angry, do you know that?”
“I'm going to ignore that last comment. How about dinner at Poplopos, tomorrow?”
I nodded. “I'll make it work.” The nurse opened up the door again and I knew it was time to go.
“I've got your back to work. See you tomorrow.”
I ended the call and walked back into tend to Olivia's knee. Tomorrow, the ruse would begin.
Eleven
Addison
I looked around the fancy restaurant I was sitting in, still surprised because I got to visit such a place. It was still a lot to take in. The whole restaurant screamed money, and the customers wore clothes that were more costly than the monthly rent for my apartment. I’d never thought I would be the one to visit this kind of place—furnished with the most expensive things and materials. The gold crystal chandeliers were really sparkling, making me gape at them in awe, and there was even a live band that played classical music.
I’d also never thought I would be dressed in a really nice, satin dress with my straight hair and full makeup. I
was in the middle of dinner with Cole and his uncle. I took a sip of my wine and brought my attention back to him. He was talking about something, and I tried to focus on him, but it was difficult since Cole was sitting next to me, and his nearness was making me tense.
Cole was wearing an expensive suit that made him even more attractive—if that was possible. His dark brown hair was slicked back and his expensive cologne was stirring everything inside me. From the moment I saw him I just wanted to jump on him and kiss the hell out of him.
I suddenly giggled, and both Cole and his uncle looked at me like I was weird, which was probably true. Here I was—supposed to enjoy this dinner and give my best to leave a good impression on Cole’s uncle—but I was acting like I was addicted to sex.
Addison, get a hold of yourself. Cole put his arm right next to mine on the table, and I felt hot and unable to breathe evenly. He was too near and I just wanted this dinner to end so I could get to kiss him again. I clenched my thighs together and reminded myself again to be a good girl.
“So Addison, tell me what you do for work? Typically Cole brings around models and call girls. But you’re different, I can see that.”
I pushed my glasses up on my nose. “Yes well I worked in coding, but with Cole and I getting more serious I thought it would be good to take some time off.”
“So you’ve asked her then?” Cole’s uncle countered, his eyes boring into Cole so hard I thought he might explode.
“Asked me what?”
“Not yet uncle, I’m waiting for the right moment.”
I pretended to be giddy but Cole and I had already decided we’d go ring shopping tomorrow, and then choose a wedding planner. I was still terrified of telling my family, but we had to get through this dinner first.
“What type of coding did you do?”
“Security mostly, but I’m a stronger hacker than a coder. You know people say these days it’s better to have a good hacker on payroll than a paid assassin.” I laughed at my joke, but the men didn’t respond. Too dark Addison.
“And your work Cole? Going well?”
Twins Make Four: A Mistaken Identity Secret Baby Romance Page 57