All or Nothing (All Series Book 1)

by Ann, Natalie

“There are some offices back here not being used. We can have a bit of quiet.”

  She shrugged. The quiet would be nice. A few more turns and he was unlocking and opening a small break room door. On the table were two Styrofoam containers.

  He pulled out a seat for her, which momentarily surprised her. He obviously read the expression on her face. “What? My mother taught me manners. I thought I told you that already.”

  Choosing to ignore his comment, which he had said in a mocking tone, she sat down and opened the container in front of her. A big juicy burger with fries—her mouth was salivating already. But she wasn’t ready to let him off the hook yet. She wasn’t that easy. “How do you know I’m not a vegetarian?” she asked seriously.

  His eyes crinkled. “Are you?”

  “No.” Again, beside the point. “Well, I appreciate the dinner. I’m starved. I’m pretty fussy about my burgers, but I’m hungry enough to not care.” She lifted the top bun to see what was on her burger, and her jaw dropped.

  “Bacon, Swiss cheese, tomato and mustard,” he supplied while smothering a laugh. As if she couldn’t see her favorite toppings for herself.

  “Lucky guess,” she said, refusing to be impressed.

  He opened his own container, revealing a burger and fries also. Picking his up, he took a healthy bite. She shrugged and lifted hers, took a bite and then eyed the inside of it with speculation. “Medium rare, with just a little pink,” he said, this time not even trying to hide his smile.

  She set her burger down and narrowed her eyes. “OK. I’m trying not to get creeped out here.”

  “As you so kindly pointed out, I can find out information when I need it.” He took another bite of his burger, chewed and swallowed while she continued to stare at him. “And in this case, I believe the source of my information is named Lucy?”

  “Traitor,” she mumbled and continued to eat when he laughed out loud.

  Several minutes passed in silence while they ate their meals. When Presley’s burger was gone and she was left to only pick at her fries, she asked, “Well, since you know so much about me, I guess I can ask you a few questions?”

  He leaned back in his chair, relaxed, looking as handsome as ever. “Go ahead.” His burger was completely gone, along with most of his fries.

  “OK, first question,” she said.

  “There’s more than one?” he asked chuckling, finding more humor in this situation than she did.

  “Sure, why not? So, question number one. What are you still doing here this late? I thought your office closed at five.”

  “It does, but I work all sorts of hours. I like to be seen and let people know I’m here if they need me, even after hours.”

  She’d heard that about him, but it was nice to hear the words come from his mouth. Not too many people put that amount of effort or sacrifice into their job. “OK, that night at the bar, what brought you there? I hadn’t seen you there before.”

  “I was out for a drive and decided to stop in and have a beer. And I had been there one other time.”

  Made sense. She still wasn’t getting anywhere with him really. But he seemed to be open to the conversation. “Why did you stop in for a beer? I mean, you looked like you were brooding or something?”

  He raised his eyebrows at her, almost like he couldn’t believe she noticed that about him that night. Well, she had been watching him. He just didn’t know it. With a casual shrug, he answered, “I was drowning my sorrows.”

  “Somehow I don’t believe you’re the type of guy to drown his sorrows,” she said, snatching a fry out of her container and popping it in her mouth.

  He tilted his head to the side. “True. But I was that night. My sister Kaitlin had gotten engaged a few days before, and I had been stopped several times that day and asked if it was true. It put me in a mood, you could say.”

  “You don’t like your sister’s fiancé?” she asked.

  “It’s not that. It’s just she’s my baby sister. I don’t think anyone is good enough for her.”

  She softened. That was sweet. She could see him looking out for his sister that way. “OK, next question.”

  “You haven’t asked enough already?”

  “No. Not yet. I don’t like sneaking around finding out about people. I’d rather ask them face-to-face for more personal information.”

  He smirked. “Points for you.”

  “So, that night at the bar. You were trying to put me at ease when you thought I didn’t know you—and I appreciated that, by the way. You said ‘I’m pretty well known in these parts; at least my family is.’ Why did you say that? I mean even a serial killer could be well known in these parts. That wouldn’t have been enough for me to let him take me home.”

  “That’s good to know. That you don’t let strangers take you home.” His fries were gone, but he reached over and took a few of hers—and had to move his hand fast when she tried to slap it away. “Anyway, I was trying to reassure you, but you’re right, it shouldn’t have made a difference.”

  “What I don’t get is why you’d think I would have known who your family was. Or you, for that matter.”

  “Most people recognize my name, that’s all,” he said with another shrug.

  She stopped for a minute, said his name in her head again and then all of a sudden light bulbs went off. “Ben Harper, as in Harper Investments?”

  “That would be my father, yes,” he said indifferently.

  “And your sister, Kaitlin, would that be the same Kaitlin Harper whose engagement was just announced to Ryan Mathews?” Holy cow, he wasn’t kidding when he said he was well known in this area. That meant that he was close to Lucas Mathews, the head of the Legal Department in the hospital.

  “Yes. That’s my sister.” Her heart gave a little knock at the soft look that came into his eyes at the mention of his sister.

  “And Harper Construction? Is that any relation to you?”

  “My brothers, Alec and Phil.”

  Okay, his family was rolling in it. And he kept some pretty tight friends if she remembered correctly. No wonder he had said what he had. “So why did you go into the service then?”

  “What makes you think I did?” he asked.

  “Please. You’ve got ex-military written all over you. So which branch? Has to be Navy or Marines.”

  He smiled proudly. “Navy.”

  “Let me guess, you were a SEAL, too.”

  “Hoorah.”

  She laughed. And wow, she just had a mental imagine of him in his uniform. Whoa, major turn-on.

  She would have loved to sit there and talk to him more, and actually found she was having fun and relaxing, but her lunch break was over. She still didn’t find out why he went into the service. Another day then. “I need to get back now. Thanks again for lunch. Well, dinner actually, for you.”

  “I’ll walk you back.” He picked up the remains of their dinner, stuffed it back in a bag and carried it out with him. “I meant to ask you. That girl, Tiffany, how did she make out with her surgery?”

  She knew shock was written all over her face. She was touched that he remembered, and that he thought to ask. He got points for that, but she didn’t think he was asking for the points.

  No, he looked like he truly wanted to know how she was doing. “She’s doing well. The surgery was a success and she’s in recovery mode. She should be up and about in a few more days. Then she and Sarah will be causing me more grief.”

  “Oh, I don’t know. I think you enjoy them giving you grief, as much as they enjoy giving it to you.”

  Damn, she wished he hadn’t figured her out so fast.

  Spill

  Presley was waiting for Lucy outside the automated doors of the ICU. The minute Lucy walked through, Presley grabbed her arm and pulled her along the corridor. “Okay, spill. What else did you tell him?”

  “Who?” Lucy asked, acting like she didn’t know who Presley was talking about, but Presley knew better. Lucy had the worst poker face known
to mankind.

  “Don’t play games. Tell me,” Presley demanded.

  Lucy sighed deeply. “Fine. I’m sorry. But he caught me off guard,” she said in an exaggerated whiny voice.

  Presley held her tongue and waited patiently while the two of them walked to their cars. She knew the silence would bug Lucy, and it did. “He just wanted to know when your lunch break was and if you brought your lunch or not,” she rushed out after a few minutes of silence.

  “And somehow out of that question, he figured out exactly how I eat my burgers?”

  “Well, no,” Lucy hedged, looking anywhere but Presley’s face. “But you know how I am. I got nervous and I just started blabbing about things.”

  Presley stopped walking, forcing Lucy to stop also. Then she crossed her arms over her chest. She wasn’t mad, not really, but rather annoyed, and more so… humiliated. The last thing any woman wanted was the guy she was interested in to know personal details about her without her knowledge. “What else did you say, Lucy?”

  “Not much. I’m not sure,” she wailed, guilt splattered across her face. “He was just standing there smiling at me the whole time and I kept losing my train of thought.”

  “Lucy,” Presley warned, narrowing her eyes. Lucy was so easy to crack. Presley didn’t even have to try hard. Sometimes it was actually funny to see how fast a certain look would get Lucy to spill everything.

  “I might have said your age.”

  “Not the end of the world. What else?”

  “And that you like country music.”

  “Again, not the end of the world. Anything else?”

  Lucy started to squirm and Presley felt the dread sink in. “What Lucy?” She could only imagine the things Lucy might have spewed out in that moment of weakness.

  “I said you were single,” Lucy said helpfully.

  “What else? There has to be more by the look on your face.”

  Lucy turned and started to walk toward her car again but didn’t get far before Presley caught up. “I’m sorry, but I don’t remember everything I said.” Lucy started to squirm under Presley’s stare and finally caved. “I might have said you’ve been single for a long time. And that maybe”—she paused and looked across the parking garage—“that you haven’t dated in over six months.”

  “Ugh, geez, Lucy. You aren’t supposed to say those things. What’s wrong with you?” Presley asked with a pained expression of humiliation.

  “I’m sorry, Pres, really. I couldn’t help it. The words just tumbled out. You know how I get. And he is soooo cute,” Lucy said in another high-pitched whine.

  “OK. As long as that’s all you said. And yes, I know how you are. Which is why the next time you see Ben you’re going to turn around and walk in the other direction. I don’t even care if he’s not approaching you. You get away from him as fast as you can. Do you understand me?” She gave Lucy her most intimidating stare, fighting back a grin.

  “That’s a little harsh, don’t you think?” Lucy complained, pouting.

  “Not unless you want me to tell Mark what you really think of his new hair removal routine.”

  “You wouldn’t,” Lucy accused, wide eyed. “That was private. I told you that in confidence.”

  “Yeah, well, so were some of the things you told Ben. So, do we have a deal?”

  Lucy huffed out. “You don’t play fair.”

  “Nope. Maybe next time you will think twice before you provide information to the other team,” she said, giving a hoot of triumph. “Now go home and crawl into bed with your new, freshly waxed boyfriend. Give Mark a little cuddle.”

  Lucy gave a shudder and Presley laughed.

  ***

  Ben was sitting in the living room cleaning his guns. They hadn’t been discharged this week, but he was meticulous about them. He planned on going to the shooting range tomorrow and wanted everything in tip-top condition. He enjoyed the range, enjoyed honing his skill, or really in his case, keeping him focused. There wasn’t much call for his gun to be fired at the hospital.

  Thinking back to earlier today, he had to laugh at how much information he’d gotten out of Lucy. And he wasn’t even trying. Poor Presley. She better watch what she says to Lucy, because that girl had a fast trigger when it came to her mouth.

  Ben had only approached Lucy to ask when Presley’s break was and if she normally brought her lunch or not. Next thing he knew Lucy was blurting out all sorts of information.

  First, when Presley’s break was, then that she usually bought lunch, and for some reason, she started talking about how Presley’s boyfriend always made her hamburgers wrong. The word “boyfriend” made him pause and ask, “She has a boyfriend?”

  “No. Sorry, it’s her ex. Presley hasn’t had a boyfriend in years. Honestly, I’m not sure she’s even been on a date in six months. Could be more.”

  To Lucy’s credit, she seemed to realize her faux pas and blushed, but the damage had been done. It had been hard for him to bite his tongue over that comment, but he did. Mostly, because he was positive Presley wouldn’t have approved of having that information shared.

  Ben was known for his interrogation skills, in fact he excelled at them. He had the uncanny ability for his facial expression to never relay what he was thinking or feeling. Therefore, he was always throwing people off, and unwittingly, they ended up giving him the information he was looking for, plus much more.

  In this case, though, he felt bad. He didn’t want to know all the things that Lucy told him about Presley. Because Presley was right. He would rather ask face-to-face. But the one thing he learned that explained a lot was that she had been on her own for the last eleven years, since she was eighteen.

  He didn’t know why, and didn’t ask, nor would he have. He was absolutely positive that was information Presley would prefer he didn’t have.

  So for now he would store it away. He finished assembling his weapons, locked his work-issued gun away in the lockbox, brought it to his room, and placed his ankle pistol and holster next to the lockbox on his nightstand. Then he put the key to the lockbox under his pillow, next to his Colt.

  Home

  On Sunday afternoon, Presley walked through the automated doors and made her way to the nurses’ station for her shift. She didn’t mind working second shift, not really. She’d always been a night owl anyway. But she hated never having two days off in a row.

  She supposed she should be happy she was off on Saturdays, but that just made it harder for her to go to work on Sunday afternoon. Not that she did much last night. Saturdays were also Lucy’s day off, and she normally spent hers with Mark.

  “Presley, there’s a package for you.”

  She turned to the nurse who had spoken and saw the bright red gift bag being held out to her. Happily, she took the bag. “Thanks. I love it when parents give me gifts.” And she did. Not that she ever expected gifts from her patients or their parents, but it always felt good. It made her feel appreciated, something she never felt much of in her life.

  She had long since given up expecting praise from anyone. Never having gotten it from home, she learned at an early age to do things for herself and do them right. Not because she wanted someone to tell her she did a good job, but because she was only answerable to herself.

  Walking a few feet to a chair, she sat down and ripped the tape holding the bag together. Peeking inside, she saw a good-sized bag of assorted chocolate truffles—expensive gourmet chocolate truffles. It was her lucky day. Suddenly her Sunday shift had improved drastically.

  Reaching inside, she pulled out the little envelope, dying to know who left it for her. Her jaw dropped, forcing her to look around guiltily, making sure no one saw her reaction.

  Once she realized no one was paying attention to her, she schooled her features and silently read, I didn’t know your favorite, so I figured I would cover my bases. To balance the scales: I felt at home in the water. B

  Slowly closing the card, she placed it in her purse on the floor, then
hid the chocolates in there as best as she could. No way was she sharing those. She couldn’t believe he remembered that he hadn’t answered her question as to why he went into the service. Not that his answer really made sense to her. But she didn’t think Ben did anything simply, and the fact that he shared that with her made her heart beat just a little bit faster.

  ***

  Any pity that Ben felt for Presley at having been on her own since she was eighteen quickly flew out the window after just twenty minutes at his parents’ house on a Sunday afternoon for dinner.

  His mother tried to get everyone together at least twice a month, if possible. Since he didn’t cook very well, he showed up pretty much every Sunday whether his siblings did or not. But today everyone was there, or on their way.

  He was relaxing on the couch with a beer in his hand, watching his older twin brothers rib and jab at each other. “Do you two ever stop?” he asked with a good-natured snarl.

  Alec, the older twin by just two minutes answered simply, “No.”

  Phil, the quieter of the two, mumbled, “Try working with him all day,” as he dodged the hand that shot out to flick at the buttons on his shirt pocket.

  Ben chuckled. There was no heat to Phil’s statement. Matter of fact, there was a lightness to Phil that the family hadn’t seen in years. He would like to think it had to do with Phil finally cutting the dead weight—by the name of Linda—from around his neck a few months ago.

  No one really knew what happened, or why, and frankly no one really cared. Ben knew it was harsh to think like that. Phil had been with Linda for over five years, but personally, Ben didn’t care for her.

  As for his two brothers working together all day, he had been to their office, and it definitely got crazy there from time to time. Though, Alec was on site more often than not since he ran the construction side, leaving Phil in the office since he was an architect.

  But that didn’t mean they didn’t still get on each other’s nerves. In the end, they always came together. Always worked it out and always got the job done, and done right. Must be the twin bond thing.