There’s a nice looking younger man behind him and a woman too. I quickly get back to my task at hand and try to stop envisioning the built man without any clothes on. Shame on me!
“Dad, this is the man who owns the whole company of Bargain Bins, my big boss,” Danny says.
Oh no! Not that asshole!
He’s my family’s mortal enemy. I never realized he was so attractive. I’ve only seen a few pictures of him in the paper. But I hate this man. He’s the reason my parents live in public housing and I have to help them just to make ends meet.
When he opened a Bargain Bin in my hometown of Lockhart, Texas, he drove my parents, who owned a small tire shop, completely out of business. They lost their home and in just the matter of three years were on welfare.
That man is as close to the devil as they come!
“I brought your brother a video game. I had no idea he would be sleeping,” the devil man says.
“Yes, he’s sick with meningitis. I do hope you’ve been vaccinated,” I say as I busy myself with taking care of the poor sick boy.
“All of our vaccinations are up to date,” the young woman says. “Our father made sure of that. Even after we all grew up, he still kept records and called us after he’d scheduled our appointments to get them done. He died last week.”
My ire is quickly smashed by her news. I turn back to look at the three of them and notice they all have a resemblance to each other. “I’m sorry to hear that. Your father, you said? All three of yours?” I ask.
The great looking man who ruined my family nods, making his dark blonde hair move around his chiseled face in such a way it makes my knees weak as he says, “Yes, we’re siblings. I’m Blaine, this is my sister, Kate, and our brother, Kent. I know how deep that bond goes. When Danny came into my office yesterday he made me realize how important it is to have them around when things get tough.”
“Yeah,” Danny says. “Mr. Vanderbilt gave me time off with pay to come and be with Sammy. He’s not a bad man like everyone says he is.”
I stifle a laugh as the evil man’s perfect eyebrows arch. “I have a lot of changes to make. I think I have been kind of a bad man. But thanks to my father passing and you, Danny, I think I’ve seen a light.”
I doubt that, or perhaps it’s the light from the fires of hell, where the man is sure to go, he’s seeing!
Chapter 5
BLAINE
I can’t stop looking at those green eyes, they’re so dark, it brings to mind Emeralds. Her fiery red hair is pulled back into a sensible ponytail and her deep green scrubs actually make her look even prettier.
Moving further into the hospital room, I lean against the counter I’m sure she’s going to have to come to, to get something out of for the poor sick boy sleeping in the bed.
She’s so beautiful, she has to be married, so I search her quick moving hands for a wedding ring and find her fingers without a single ring on any of them. Good!
“So, how long have you been a nurse?” I ask her.
She looks over her shoulder but not directly at me. “Five years.” Her words are short and I have the distinct sense she’s judging me.
The sound of a voice comes over the hospital’s PA system, “Nurse Richards you’re needed in the neonatal unit.”
The gorgeous nurse looks up and sighs, parting her naturally ruby red lips as she does. “Okay. Either I’ll be back to finish him up or another nurse will come in to do it.” As she turns away from the kid in the bed, she looks at me for a second then hurries out of the room.
I find myself watching her as she goes and wishing she didn’t have to leave so damn fast. Then Kent takes my attention as he snaps his fingers in front of my face. “Earth to Blaine.”
“Huh?” I ask then blink and shake my head then look at Danny and his father. “You two fellas want to come with me to the cafeteria to grab something to eat? My treat.”
Danny nods and his father shakes his head. “I’ll stay with Sammy. I don’t like to leave him alone.”
Kate steps up to the plate. “Mr. Peterson, I’d be more than happy to sit with him while you go get something to eat. I work at a daycare. I’m really good with kids. And I don’t think he’s about to wake up but if he does for some reason, I’ll call my brother and he can let you know, okay.”
“Come on, Dad. You haven’t left this room since you brought him here,” Danny tells his father.
“Come on, Mr. Peterson,” Kent tells him. “I saw peach cobbler when we walked passed there on our way up. It looked good. And I saw one of those ice cream machines there too. I bet some of that cobbler with some ice cream would really hit the spot.”
The man nods and gets up. “It does sound good.” He looks at Kate who goes to take his place. “You will call if anything happens?”
“I promise,” she says as she pats him on his shoulder. “Now go eat something, Mr. Peterson. It’s important to keep your strength up.”
As we leave the room, I see the pretty nurse talking to a doctor. Her hands are on her hips and she seems to be irritated at the man. I eavesdrop as we pass them and hear her say, “Look, that’s not cool. I was with a patient. You can’t have me paged just to talk to me. It’s over and done with, Paul. I’m not playing your head games. I’m a grown woman with a good head on my shoulders. You still want to see other women and that’s cool. Only thing is I don’t want to be one of many, I want to be the one.”
Purposely, I hang back behind the others so I can listen to what they’re talking about. The doctor says, “And you might be. I have to have something to compare you to in order to make that decision.”
“And there you go,” she says. “We just aren’t meant to be, Paul. So, I’m going to get back to work after I grab a much-needed fourth cup of coffee and you are going to stop your shenanigans.”
“Fine, Delaney. But you’re going to be the one who regrets ending what we have. You’ll see,” he tells her.
I hang back even more in hopes of letting her catch up to me since she said she was going to get coffee. And now I have an in with her as I have something to offer her.
Her footsteps are soft but fast paced as she walks up behind me. I hear her stepping off to one side and take a step that way to. A huffing sound comes from behind me and I stop. Turning around, I act surprised. “Oh, sorry. I thought I was getting out of the way for the person coming up behind me so fast. Seems I managed to get right in your way. Where are you off to in such a hurry, Nurse Richards?”
She narrows her beautiful eyes at me, the long dark lashes nearly touch her high cheek bones as she does. “How do you know my name?”
“They called you over the speakers only moments ago,” I say and place my hand on her elbow to steer her forward as I start walking again. “So, where is it you were headed?”
“The cafeteria,” she says then looks at my hand on her arm. “And you?”
“Same place,” I say with a smile. “Allow me to get you something. Name your poison.”
Her tone is sharp as she snaps, “Coffee, and no thank you. I can get my own coffee. I don’t need your charity, Mr. Vanderbilt.”
“Call me, Blaine,” I say and move my hand from her elbow to the small of her back as we turn into the doorway of the cafeteria. “And may I call you by your first name, Delaney?”
She stops and glares at me as if I’ve called her a bitch or something other than her name. “How the hell do you know my name? That didn’t come over the PA system!”
“As I passed you talking to that doctor in the hallway, I heard him call you that. It’s such a pretty name,” I say as I escort her to the coffee machine. And see the case of pastries beside it. “Donut?”
“No, just the coffee and, like I said, I’ll get it myself.” We both reach out to pick up a large cup and our hands touch. She jerks hers back as if she was shocked or something. “I said, I’ll get it!”
“Sorry,” I say with a grin. “I want one too.”
“Oh, well, I didn’t realiz
e that,” she says with the tiniest look of embarrassment on her sweet face. “You go ahead.”
“Ladies first,” I say as I wait for her to get the cup.
She takes one and fills it up then I do the same. We both reach for the sugar at the same time, bumping hands again. I laugh and she growls. “We seem to keep getting into each other’s way.”
“I’d like to think we think alike, not get into each other’s way.” I reach for the pumpkin spice creamer and offer it to her first. “I’m putting this into my coffee, would you like some?”
She nods but frowns. “I was about to use that one too.” She holds her cup of steaming coffee out and I pour it in, stopping at the same time she says, “That’s enough. Oh, you stopped. Okay.”
“We do think alike,” I say as I drop a stir stick into her cup.
“Hardly,” she says then walks away from me.
I grab a donut from the case and follow her. I saw her eyeing them and know she wants one. Just as she gets to the counter, I slap a twenty on it. “I got this.”
She huffs, “Fine!”
The older woman who is behind the cash register gives her a shake of the head. “Not a very nice way to thank someone for a kind gesture, Nurse Richards.”
“If you knew who this man was, you’d understand,” she says then spins away from me.
Why does she act like she hates me?
Chapter 6
DELANEY
His hand on my arm doesn’t slow me down one bit. “I’m busy.”
“I know that,” his silky, smooth, deep voice says from beside me. Then he’s steering me to a booth and sliding me into it without me understanding how he’s doing it. When he slides in next to me, I find I’m trapped between his huge frame and the wall. Damn it!
“Look, Mr.”
His finger touches my lips and I fight the urge to bite it. “Blaine. And you have something you want to say to me, so badly it’s making you act a little crazy. So what is it? What have I ever done to you to make you form an instant opinion of me?”
I drum my fingers on the table in an attempt to control my anger at the man who really does seem clueless to his evil ways. “Look, Blaine, your ways of doing business have left a trail of bankrupt people behind you on your road to success. You have climbed on top of their nearly dead bodies to rise to the top of the business world. I, for one, do not care to hob-knob with a person such as yourself. Call me judgmental if you want to.”
“Okay, I will,” he has the audacity to say to me.
“You ass! You ruined my parents’ tire business in Lockhart. Do you recall that at all? I bet you don’t. I bet you gave less than a flying fuck who you ran out of business when you opened that damn store there.” I sip my coffee to try to calm down. Something about this man has all my red flags waving at once.
“I see now. So you are validated in your opinion of me. I can understand you a lot better now. You see communication is the key to any happy relationship,” he says with a smile. A very nice smile, that’s hovering on the edge of the best smile I’ve ever seen on a man in my life. Only that smile is on the face of the most horrible man I’ve ever encountered.
“Great. So let me out so I can go on about my life.” I pause and think about what he just said. “And the word, relationship, has no place in this conversation.”
“Oh, but I think it does. How about you let me take you out tonight. It could help make up for what my business has cost your family. And I don’t know if your parents ever told you everything about my business but I always offer to buy out the inventory of the businesses I happen to tread on with my discount stores.”
“Yes, they did tell me. You offered them fifty-thousand-dollars for their inventory worth twice that amount. So kind of you, Damien,” I say with a smirk on my lips.
“Damien?” he asks and his frown tells me he’s been called that before. “I am not the Anti-Christ. I have done some business dealings that I’m thinking more about now. I am a man who is in the beginning stages of changing my ways. Since my business has directly affected your life, I’d like very much if you would go out with me so we can talk and I can come to a better understanding of what I need to change.”
“Change?” I ask with a huff. “You need to change everything. Close the damn stores down. That’s what you need to do.”
“That’s a bit drastic and frankly, it would be very mean of me to suddenly end the employment of thousands of people. So some other suggestions would be appreciated, Delaney,” he says then his damn hand is moving across my shoulders as he lays his arm on the back of the seat.
Even the way he smells is expensive and it really pisses me off. “It’s not my job to educate you on business ethics. With your obvious education in business didn’t you even have one business ethics class?”
“I’ve had several,” he says with a smile. I can’t believe he can sit there and smile at me. It’s pretty damn obvious what I think of him!
“Well, you learned nothing from them. When you opened your first two stores you did so in huge cities that could handle that kind of competition. Then you decided to go for the jugular of our country, the mid-sized towns and that’s where you went wrong,” I let him know since he seems so damned oblivious to the fact.
“But those places are where my company makes the most money. It’s just good business sense, that’s all. Surely, you can understand that, if your parents were business people, themselves,” he says then picks up the donut he bought and pulls a chunk of it off and holds it near my mouth. “Would you care for a bite?”
“What?” I ask and he pops the piece into my mouth. I have to chew the delicious thing up and swallow it and am so damn mad at him for invading my mouth, it’s not even funny. “Don’t you ever do that again.”
“What, share my food with you?” he asks then pulls a piece off for himself and eats it as I glare at him, secretly hoping he’ll choke on it.
“No, shove food into my mouth without my permission,” I correct him and wiggle to try to let him know I want him to let me out of the damn booth. “I need to get back to work. You are more than aware that I need to go finish checking Samuel Peterson out.”
“Oh yeah, that.” He gets up and holds his hand out for me, which I ignore and get out on my own and turn to grab my coffee. As I walk out, I find him right next to me. “I’ll walk you back.”
I huff as I have no idea how I’m going to shake this man. “Do whatever you want. You always do, anyway.”
“You don’t know me at all. Not really know me. The man behind the business. I’m telling you, I’m changing things. I really am. I’d love to get to meet your parents and get some insight into how I can make things better. Right again.”
I stop and look at him with amazement. “Oh, you would huh? Would you like to go to the nice three-bedroom home they had before you ran them out of business? Because that’s gone. The mortgage company took it when they couldn’t pay anymore. Now they live in a one-bedroom tiny home in government housing. I’m sure they’d love it if you stopped by. My mother could make you a government cheese sandwich and give you a jelly jar with tap water in it. Want to know why?”
He shrugs and kind of looks like he doesn’t. “Why would that be?”
“Because they are dirt poor now, thanks to you!”
I storm away as he stands perfectly still. I leave him with the sight of my extended middle finger and hope he finally gets how I feel about him.
Chapter 7
BLAINE
“And she shot the finger at me and left,” I tell Kent as I pay for the Peterson’s food.
The cashier looks at me and says, “She’s usually a very nice woman. I can’t understand what’s gotten into Nurse Richards. Maybe it’s because she’s pulling a double shift and hasn’t slept in quite some time. She still has three more hours until her shift is over and she can finally get some rest.”
“I’m sure my brother just rubs her the wrong way,” Kent offers. “He’s not exactly the nice
st guy all the time.”
“You should show her how nice you can be,” the cashier says then points at a flyer tacked on the wall behind her with a picture of Santa on it. “It’s the holidays and the hospital always welcomes people who want to do nice things for the children here at The Children’s Hospital. Maybe that would show her the man you’re trying to let her see.”
“You are a genius,” I say as I look at her nametag. “Mildred.”
She looks at her nametag and laughs. “I borrowed this one. My name’s Shirley. And thanks, Mr.?”
“You can call me Blaine. Blaine Vanderbilt,” I tell her then her smile fades pretty damn rapidly.
“The owner of Bargain Bin, right?” she asks.
I nod and find I’m not feeling so proud as I’ve always felt about owning that company. “Yes. Have you had a bad past with any of my stores?”
“Only every damn thing I’ve bought from there is the cheapest shit ever made and breaks almost right away,” she says. “The latest thing I bought was a television stand which broke as soon as I placed my brand new television on it, sending it to the floor and breaking it too,” she tells me.
I reach into my pocket and pull out a thousand dollars and place it on the counter. “Sorry about that.”
She looks at the money as she shakes her head. “Keep it. If you really want to make me happy, change the return policy your stores have. It’s the strictest policy I’ve ever seen with the shortest amount of time to return the few things it allows.”
Feeling a bit shell-shocked with so much hate thrown right into my face, I nod and turn to leave. “I really am sorry.”
Kent puts his hand on my shoulder and walks with me as we leave the cafeteria. “Man, I’m sorry. You’re here to try to do a good thing and a lot of flack is being tossed at you.”
“I hate to admit it but I kind of deserve it. I have a ton of changes to make, Kent. And I need your help as well as Kate’s to make things right again. What do you say to working for me, instead of driving a truck? It would mean a nice office at the corporate headquarters and a boatload more money than you make now.”
Shattered: A Billionaire Romance Series (Contemporary Romance Novels) Page 123
