I have to.
“Angelica,” Len calls. “It’s for you.”
My heart flips over even as my ovaries begin to sing. There are only two people in this town who would call me on the phone and one of them is standing here holding the receiver. “For me?”
He shakes the receiver in my direction. Wiping my damp hands on a paper towel, I wind my way toward him and press the phone against my ear.
Whomp. Whomp. Whomp.
I inhale, trying to calm my racing heart and the blood rushing through my ears.
“Hello.”
“Hi, sweetheart.”
I pull the receiver away from my ear and stare at it even as Len’s chuckle rings in my ears instead of Knight’s smooth as aged scotch voice. The sound sends a current rippling through my bloodstream as if I’ve just been hit by a rogue bolt of lightning.
My stomach twists for a million reasons. “Um…”
“I’m sorry to bother you at work, but I don’t think your phone’s reception is very good up here. Maybe your network doesn’t have enough towers. I’ve been having a hard time touching base with you. It totally happens this far north.”
I press the back of my hand to my forehead, the sudden heat overwhelming. Whirling around, I crouch down, pretending to swipe away another crumb. My voice dips low as the lies fall from my sinful lips.
“I’m so glad you called, Knight. I want to apologize about the other night. I shouldn’t have had that last glass of wine. That’s not an excuse, I know. Maybe a reason… I don’t normally do things like that. I’m a good girl.” I heave a sigh and rush to fill the empty silence again. I hate talking on the phone. Hate not being able to see the person I’m talking to so I can gauge their expression – and possible eye rolls and middle finger salutes. “It won’t happen again. I promise. I would never put our friendship in jeopardy, and I hope you can forgive me.”
Just as I’m about to rush in again, he sneezes. And not just one little sneeze, but a whole series of sneezes as if he just snorted a nose full of ragweed. My heart skips a beat as I forget about myself and my discomfort. My forehead creases into a frown of alarm.
“Knight? Are you okay?”
“Um… no. That’s why I’m bothering you at work.”
A pause. “Are you coming down with something?”
“I think so.” Another set of sneezes pierces the phone line until my eyes widen into moons. “I have a fever and I can barely stand. I never get sick – hell, I’m out in the middle of nowhere without much human contact. Probably that damn town hall meeting. But I’m a little worried about taking off to feed the kits in this condition. Even I know I’m not a superhero. I could fall down and freeze to death out there.”
My spines stiffens. “Knight, you go lay down right now! You men need to stop being so stoic and rest when you’re sick for the love of God! You cannot go outside if you have a fever. You’re right. You could die!”
I push my fingers to my temple. The kits. Those precious, adorable foxes are completely dependent on a sicko.
“I’m afraid you’re the only one I could ask for help. Um… seeing that you’re the only one who knows how to feed them and where they’re located. I’m so sorry, Angel. I know you’ve been working all day. You must be exhausted, and…”
“Just shut up.” With a sinking sensation, I remember the day he gave me his parka. What if he caught a bug because of me? He crawled around in the snow without adequate protection and now he’s suffering. He’s probably ruing the day he met me. And knowing how volatile the critter situation was with the Sweetheart Hills folks, Knight can only depend on me.
Hugging the phone tight to my ear, I stare outside into the darkness. “You can’t go outside and that’s final. I can feed them. Just tell me what time and where everything is.”
“Everything’s here. At my trailer. And they’re going to be really hungry around eight tomorrow morning. I hate to do this to you, Angelica.”
“Don’t even think about. This is the Midwest. Friends help friends, period.”
With his relief, his voice sounds stronger. But when I hang up, I find that I can’t breathe around the hitch in my heartbeat. I’d just agreed to keep tiny, living things safe and protected all by myself. There will be no Knight to help me. What if Hilda comes and decides she wants to move from a little torment to a breakfast buffet? I’d climb a mountain for Knight without issue if he really needed me. I inhale a ragged breath. I can do this. I’ve done it before, and I can do it again.
As long as I don’t have a run-in with a bear.
Chapter Ten
Knight
A few minutes before eight, I hear her car door slam. I give a quick glance to myself in the bathroom mirror, making sure I look appropriately sick. My old college sweats. Five days’ worth of beard growth. A little snort of Spring Breeze air freshener to induce a sneezing attack and make my eyes as bloodshot as an epic hangover. I already sat in front of the potbelly stove for ten minutes straight, effectively making my body look wracked with fever.
Am I a liar?
If I were made of wood, they’d name my lying ass Pinocchio.
Now ask me if I give even one fuck about my deception.
I don’t like being ignored.
Nothing is going to keep me from my woman. Not even her.
I fling a dirty towel in the back of my closet, thinking that looking my absolute worst is not the way a man usually goes about getting in a woman’s pants. On the other hand, desperate times call for desperate measures. My Angelica has been blowing me off ever since we almost had sex that night in her cabin. Do I believe my own bullshit about cell phone towers? Hell, no. She’s been ghosting me, and I don’t like it one bit. I almost barged into Cool Beans, but then I thought of this hairbrained idea. Now, I just have to sell it.
I scrub my hands through my hair until it stands on end just before opening the door – only to face my gorgeous girl. And she’s bristling.
“Get out of the draft, Knight! God, don’t you know anything? Step aside and let a woman handle things for once.”
I should have guessed she’d have this all organized to a tee. She sets a huge pot on the stove. With a guilty inhale I realize it’s chicken soup. Then she rushes back out to grab a tote bag emblazoned with sweetheart roses and embroidered with her initials.
“I’m not sure if you need an urgent care. Just how high is your fever?” She presses her hand to my forehead and clucks her tongue. Thank you, potbelly. “In the meantime, I brought Tylenol Cold and Zinc.” As she verbally catalogs the traveling medicine cabinet, her hood falls back revealing tousled platinum hair and cheeks rosy from the exercise. “You’re hot, Knight. This is not good. I wonder if we should call an ambulance.”
An ambulance? For fuck’s sake. I don’t even think Sweetheart Hills has one and the nearest hospital is a half hour away.
I moan into her touch. “I’m so hot.”
A bossy finger wags in front of my face. “Get into bed, Knight. Right now. And don’t even think about giving me one word of sass about it.”
A terrible fist of guilt claws at me, but I demand it get lost. “Okay.”
“We’ll pull the blinds and get you set up with juice and Tylenol and Zinc lozenges. You can be flat on your back and still explain how to make the formula for the kits. And you don’t have to worry. Once I have the formula made, I’ll drive to the exact spot where you always park your truck. I know how to find them from there. Everything will be fine. You’ll see. You can trust me.”
I already know I can trust you, Angelica. It’s you who doesn’t think you can trust me.
And after you find out I’m a lying sack of shit in the name of getting laid, you might trust me even less.
For the first time since I decided to pull the wool over her eyes, I’m considering that maybe I didn’t quite think this thing through. Well, too late now. The train has already left the station and I just have to stay on board.
Through this whole speech, sh
e pushes me toward the bedroom and watches me climb into bed and settle myself underneath the comforter. I can’t remember the last time I went back to bed after getting up in the morning. Maybe never. Angelica tucks me in after she fluffs my pillow. God, a man could get used to getting fussed over. Taken care of.
Worried about.
Loved.
I flick that ridiculous thought out of my mind. She doesn’t love me. She doesn’t even like me at this moment. I’m the idiot who dragged her out of bed early in the morning the day after a hard shift at the coffee house. But that isn’t going to stop me from enjoying her hovering over me like a mother hen making me feel like I belong to her.
Because I already do. I’ve belonged to her ever since she first lifted that wild gaze to mine, pleading with me to help her.
Protect her.
Claim her.
“Thank you,” I whisper, going for broke and an Academy award.
“Are you warm enough?” Creases mar her porcelain forehead and my hands itch to reach out and smooth them away. Then grab her by her curvy hips and pull her down on top of me. In my clusterfuck of not thinking this through, I didn’t realize how having her in my bedroom without sinking inside her warm heat would make me feel like a caged animal.
I slide my hands under my butt cheeks to make sure I don’t give myself away. I’m looking at the long game here. “Comfy cozy.”
She leans over and her fingertips drift along my jawline. My cock twitches under the blankets and I’m glad she layered me up so she can’t see it. “Poor baby. You look awful.”
“I’ve felt better,” I say weakly, making eye contact. Except instead of thinking about how I’m lying my ass off, I’m thinking about capturing her full lower lip in my mouth and sucking on it.
Fuck me.
“It’s horrible when you have a virus, I know.” She pats and fusses and tucks, then stops. By the time she’s finished, I’m sure I have a legitimate fever because her full tits filling out her sweater that I now know taste like heaven, those curvy hips hovering around my face and that heart-shaped ass that I want to squeeze has ignited a blazing heat coming from the inside out. “Now be honest with me, Knight. Have you thrown up? It would make a difference on what medicine you need if there’s a chance you might be dehydrated. It’s important to get lots of fluid. That’s why I brought juice and chicken soup.”
I gaze up at her and blink a few times, drawing attention to my red eyes. “From scratch?”
Those damn magic fingers continue to drift. “Is there any other way to make it?”
I might be going to hell. “I hate soup that comes from a can.”
“You and me both.”
Angelica has the most mesmerizing blue eyes, the color of a soft summer sky. “You better not be lying to me about throwing up, Knight.”
I am totally going to hell.
Her beautiful eyes narrow. “Well, okay then. I’ll get started on making the formula for the kits. Sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite.”
“You sound like my mom. She used to say that to me when she tucked me in at night.”
She nods. “Good. You need to be taken care of until you feel better. I don’t like the idea of you out here all alone and with a fever. They’re unpredictable. They can spike and put a person in a world of hurt.”
From my bed, I can see her shadow in the kitchen. It takes her about twenty minutes to get everything ready, get organized and get herself bundled up in her outerwear. The instant her car leaves the driveway, I jump from the bed and toss the covers onto the floor.
I’ve clearly put myself in peril by pretending to be sick in front of Angelica, and as I cross myself, I promise God I’ll never, ever do it again. But so far, my plan’s working. Screw honor and honesty. I had to do something to get her to talk to me again. As I suspected, nothing will get in Angelica’s way if she thinks she’s needed. And I’m not wrong. She totally forgot about the other night – and how she screamed my name as the waves of pleasure hit her.
But despite that, I don’t have any intention of leaving her alone outside in the woods. No fucking way.
I drive my truck, taking a backwoods route different from hers, then hike across the snowpack to the fox hole. A pair of mini binoculars stuffed in my pocket; I also have my tranq gun strapped to my shoulder. If I thought she might be in danger, I would have fessed up and taken my penance. But she’s safe. I know she is. The critters of my forest know her now, even Hilda. But it never hurts to have insurance. Sometimes even the best laid plans go awry.
I back up into the shadowing arms of a huge spruce located on the ridge top. Even though I traveled by foot and Angelica by car, I still arrive first. Her short legs are hindered by the gear she’s carrying as well.
Behind me, yards away, I hear the almost inaudible crunch of massive paws on the snow. It’s Hilda and her brood. She must have been lazy this morning, because I expected her to catch my scent and show up long before this. If she hibernates at all this year, I expect it will be in late January when the temps fall consistently below zero. While waiting for Angelica, I have a good chance to clean the lenses on my binoculars.
Despite Angelica thinking the old girl wants to eat her, I think Hilda finds Angelica fascinating with her platinum hair and soothing voice and my woman has quickly become the bear’s favorite.
I’ve been replaced.
My heart squeezes from that knowledge along with the massive dose of indigestion from my acerbic web of lies.
My mom raised me to respect a woman, especially one I care about. And a good man never forces that woman to do anything she doesn’t want to do. Angelica made it clear by ghosting me that she doesn’t want to talk about our almost night together. She’s afraid of Hilda and she’s afraid of me. No amount of incredible orgasm faces changes that. It’s her right to tell me to fuck off, and any man who disrespects that is an asshat.
Which makes me said asshat.
But dammit. How can I just give up? She does things to my insides, turning them soft and mushy and lovesick. She reaches the darkest places inside me with her kindness and charm and warmth. She bathes them with her special brand of light and now that those spots are no longer dark, I don’t want them to ever go black again. And the way she comes alive under my hands… under my mouth…
We’re perfect for each other. And now I just have to convince her.
That prick from her past is the reason she won’t trust me one hundred percent but knowing that doesn’t help the situation one iota. She closed up when I asked her about the dreaded ex, and I can’t force her to tell me the truth. I can’t even force her to lie. But I definitely notice that every time I push her – even the tiniest bit toward opening up – she slams back shut like that necklace scene from Pretty Woman.
But when I leave her alone to do things her way, like I’m doing right now, she seems to gain faith in herself and her strength.
She comes into her own.
That alone should tell me how much I need to butt out. When it comes right down to it, I’m at war with myself.
I spot her blue parka, bouncing down the slope from the crest of the ravine. And I hear her husky voice even before she reaches the clearing and starts organizing her bag. She talks to nothing in particular, keeping her voice quiet and calm in case critters are nearby. I chuckle inwardly at her actual words, only a little bit disappointed they’re not about me.
“Hello, beautiful creatures of the woods. I’m here to offer assistance, not strife. Everyone is just going to go about their business and remain calm. We’re all in this together. Shit!”
My shoulders hunch forward, my attention riveted on Hilda. The other times she’s been around, the huge bear never took her eyes off Angelica. This time, her huge snout burrows through the snow as she tries to find a morsel of something interesting to eat.
“Oh, fuck. I’m going to puke. Please don’t eat me, Hilda. I promise, even though I look like a succulent buffet, I’m full of gristle.”
“Now listen to me, Hilda. Woman to woman here. I’m no threat to you. But you don’t trust me, do you? Hell, I don’t even trust me. I screwed up my life beyond belief. You know what happened to me, Hilda? Well, I’ll tell you. My fiancé fucked my best friend on the night of his bachelor party and didn’t even cop to it. She did. The friend that I played on the jungle gym with, made friendship bracelets with, did everything with. Yeah, that so-called friend betrayed me. And so did he. Even worse, he called me fat and disgusting. So, when you think you’ve got it bad because of climate change, Hilda, you just think of poor pathetic Angelica and you’ll feel better about yourself.”
Fat and disgusting? Fucked her best friend right before their wedding? My stomach clenches as I imagine throat punching the faceless asshole subject of Angelica’s tortured words.
My stomach clenches even as my hand stays steady. If that motherfucker was standing before me right now, I’d shoot him with the tranq gun and then kick him in his fat and disgusting ball sac. But that’s going to have to wait. I stare at Angelica, mesmerized by her soft, feminine monologue directed at Hilda. The bear couldn’t care less, swiping through the snow and wiggling her butt on the tree bark.
I hiss in a breath when Angelica pulls off a mitten and extends her hand toward the bear. Adrenaline shifts my pulse into high gear. The last thing she should be doing is making a gesture toward something ten times her size that said thing could misconstrue as aggressive. I told her a thousand times not to touch the bears. They’re not stuffed animals and she knows better.
“Come on, Hilda. Come over here. I even brought a special treat just for you and just in case I saw you. And if you can’t figure out I’m a friend, that just might break my heart. Because Knight loves you and Knight is my friend too.”
My friend too.
Finally A Bride: A Valentine's Day Romance Page 10