Shattered: A Billionaire Romance Series (Contemporary Romance Novels)

by Love, Michelle

  Chapter 2

  DELANEY

  “Do you like the green jello better than the red?” I ask a very tired and terrible feeling thirteen-year-old girl who’s just come back from her daily chemo treatment.

  The dark shadows beneath her pale blue eyes show me just how tired she really is and it breaks my heart. I’m trying my best to get her interested in anything. When people space out the way she has been doing for the last week, it means they’re thinking about giving up the fight.

  “I don’t care,” she mumbles as I tuck the blanket in around her.

  “I’ll bring you some of each. I made them into jiggly Thanksgiving figures, turkeys, pumpkins, cornucopias. I’ll bring you one of each,” I say as I plump her pillow then lay her back down. “What do you think about that, Tammy?”

  “I think I’d like to be left alone.”

  The poor girl only has her mother for support and I’m afraid that’s just not cutting it. She is the first person on my list if a good looking celebrity decides to come in and visit.

  Since the last of her hair fell out, she’s been a shell of her former self. So I decide I’m going to go find her a wig that looks like the hair she used to have and bring it to her this afternoon. Maybe that will perk her up.

  “I’ll let you take a nap then I’ll be back at lunch time with a surprise for you, Tammy.”

  “Why?” she asks with a bland tone.

  “Because I love you. You’re my most favorite patient. You’re nice and quiet. I really think you just need something to look forward to. So I’m going to surprise you every day.”

  Just as I turn off the overhead light so she can sleep, I hear her whisper, “I just want my mom.”

  Her mother has been so busy working, trying hard to make enough money to pay her ever-growing hospital bills, she’s had very little time to spend with Tammy.

  “I know, baby,” I whisper then leave with a heavy heart. I wish like hell there was something I could do to help her.

  I have to wipe a tear that’s managed to escape me as I walk down the hall toward the nurses’ station to see who’s next on the list for me. “Use me where you need me the most,” I hear a familiar man’s voice.

  When I go around the corner I see him. “You!”

  “Hey you!” Blaine Vanderbilt greets me with a huge smile. He has on dark brown scrubs like he’s a nurse or doctor or some shit and a pilgrim hat. I don’t know how he’s managing to still look so damn handsome in that stupid hat but he’s pulling it off.

  His hand moves with ease to the small of my back as he moves us away from the nurses’ desk. “What are you doing?”

  He looks at the charge nurse over his broad shoulder. “I’ll follow her around today.”

  “No, he won’t!” I say and try to stop but his hand moves around to hold my elbow and somehow he manages to keep me moving.

  “Room 536 is next, Delaney. And stop being so hard to get along with. Mr. Vanderbilt is here to make the kids happy. Put your happy face on, Nurse Richards. It’s about the kids, not you!” Sheila, my boss, tells me.

  “Yes, it’s about the kids, Delaney,” he says with a low voice that’s creamy and rich. “Not you. Now, I know where you’ve been hiding from me. I’ve missed you as I’ve visited Sammy and his family every day. He’s doing much better, you know.”

  “I do know. I’ve asked about him. And I heard you ask where I am every day. How did you find me here? Who is the rat who told on me?”

  “How sweet that you think I’d resort to stalking you,” he says with a chuckle. “No one told on you. I had no idea you were working with the cancer patients. Just good luck, I guess. I filled out a form to come and visit the kids here and help make their holidays better. My background check cleared and I started my work here just now. I think it’s more than just a happy coincidence you’re here too.”

  “I don’t believe you,” I let him know. “I’ll find out who told you.”

  “Paranoid?” he asks as he opens the door to my next patient’s room.

  I give him a go to hell look then step in past him as he holds the door open. “Hello Terry, how are you doing today?” I ask the fifteen-year-old boy with stage three cancer in his leg.

  His eyes go straight to Blaine as he answers me, “Not too good. It really hurts today. Can I have more pain meds, boss?”

  “Hello, Terry,” Blaine walks past me to introduce himself. “I’m Blaine. I’m here to help get you kids into the spirit of the holidays.” He reaches into one of the pockets of his scrubs and produces a pumpkin lollipop.

  Terry smiles as he takes it from him. “Yum. So about more pain meds.”

  Blaine looks at me and I assume he notices my frown. This kid has asked for more pain medication every day. He takes the chair on the other side of the bed. “So tell me what has you cooped up here.”

  Terry turns his attention to Blaine as I busy myself with checking his vital signs and tidying up his mess. “I was swimming at the end of the summer and felt a pain in my leg. I thought it was just a cramp but it didn’t go away. Four days later, I couldn’t take the pain anymore and told my parents about it.”

  “You kept that to yourself all that time?” Blaine asks the kid.

  “Yeah, I’m not some wimpy kid. I’m tough. I play football, ride motocross, and have even skydived. I’m not a crybaby.”

  “I’d say you’re not!” Blaine agrees. “So you have something in your leg then?”

  “Yeah, a big cluster of some cells that are overgrowing. And this crap hurts, man. The radiation isn’t working. The chemo is terrible too,” Terry says.

  I have to intervene. “Terry, the radiation is working, the tumor is getting smaller. And the chemo is what’s making the radiation work better. It takes time. The same way it took time for that tumor to grow.”

  Terry hooks his thumb at me and smiles at Blaine, “Nurse Hot Redhead, here is the eternal optimist.”

  “She is one hot redhead, isn’t she?” Blaine asks then winks at me. “But, I think she must be right about your tumor and the treatment working.” Blaine looks around the room. “I don’t see any kind of gaming system in here. You don’t like to play any video games?”

  “I’m really more of an outdoor kind of kid. I don’t even own any gaming systems,” Terry says as he opens his lollipop and puts it in his mouth.

  “Not yet,” I say, pulling it right back out and handing it to him. “I have to take your temp.”

  He nods and looks grim as I bother him with taking his temperature. Blaine looks on and asks, “If I got you one and some cool games like football and motocross games, would you like that?” Terry nods, enthusiastically. “Would you let me play with you too?”

  Again he nods and I take the thermometer out of his mouth. “That would be freaking awesome! Are you rich or something?”

  “I have a dollar or two in the bank. I’m going to take the hot red-head out for lunch to help me pick up some things, so you can look forward to playing some football with me after lunch. How does that sound?” Blaine asks him as I start to fume.

  He’s a fool if he thinks I’m going to lunch with him!

  Chapter 3

  BLAINE

  “Have you ever looked at yourself in a mirror when you get pissed off?” I ask Delaney as she’s fuming mad about having to go to lunch with me. The charge nurse told her to, so she could help me buy the things I’m going to give some of the patients. “Your cheeks get this rosy color to them and your green eyes sparkle like gems. The way your bottom lip is trembling is crazy good too.”

  “And you are infuriating!” she says as she presses the button on the elevator to take us down to the lobby.

  I pull out my phone and call my driver. “Pick us up in front. We’re on our way down now.”

  “Who’s picking us up?” she asks as she crosses her arms in front of her.

  “My driver.” I look her up and down as I take the pilgrim hat off. “I really like that color on you. Pink isn’t a color I�
��d say naturally goes with someone with your hair color. I think it’s the pink in your cheeks that let you pull it off.”

  “Stop looking at me!” she says with a scowl which only serves to make her even prettier. “And I don’t want to ride around in a limo with you! I’ll take my own car.”

  “First, it’s not a limo. I’m not eighty. It’s a Suburban. I brought it today so we’d have plenty of room to carry all the things I buy the kids. Smart, huh?” I ask her.

  “Well, I’ll take my own car anyway.” The elevator stops and she steps out first, hurrying to get ahead of me as she starts to pull her car keys out of her purse.

  Casually, I reach around her and take the keys and put them in my pocket. “No, you’re riding with me. I’m not about to waste time having my driver go slow so you can keep up.”

  “Give me the keys,” she says through gritted teeth.

  With a shake of my head, I say, “No. And stop gritting your teeth. That’s very bad for them. Now, tell me where you want to eat.”

  “Home. My plan was to go home for lunch and eat a tuna fish sandwich.”

  Taking her elbow, I steer her out the door and see my driver holding the back door open for us. “This is Mr. Green. Mr. Green, this is Delaney Richards.”

  “Nice to meet you, ma’am,” he says as she slides into the car.

  “We’ll be eating at that Chinese place I like,” I tell him then get in and scoot on beside her. “They have tuna there.”

  The face she makes nearly makes me laugh then she says, “I’m allergic to MSG.”

  “Fine,” I say then tap the control that lowers the glass between Mr. Green and the back of the car. “Instead of that place, take us to Dillon’s Café.”

  “Of course,” he says then rolls the window back up.

  Laying my arm on the back of the bench seat, I stretch my legs out. “Long day for you, already?”

  “I was up at four this morning,” she says as she rubs her temples. “But I’m used to it.”

  “I was up at six. Only a couple of hours behind you. Now, I want to know if there are any kids up there who really need a boost today. I only met four kids. I figure I’ll make a few kids happy each day,” I tell her and play with her thick ponytail a little.

  Her hair is so soft and silky and I bet it looks gorgeous when it’s down, falling over her shoulders, which I’m sure are the color of creamy porcelain.

  Moving her hand, she quickly brushes my hand away. “There’s this one girl I was planning on getting a long blonde wig for. She’s really down. Her mother is all she has and the poor woman is working so much overtime to pay her hospital bills and it’s not even making a dent in them. The poor little girl just wants her mom around more than anything else.”

  “Do you know where her mother works?” I ask, getting an idea.

  “She’s a waitress at Hasselbeck's. She’s constantly working,” she says.

  I roll the window down again. “Sorry, Mr. Green. Another change of plans. Take us to Hasselbeck’s instead.”

  “Yes, sir,” he says and rolls the dark glass back up.

  “And what do you plan on doing there?” she asks me as she frowns. “I shouldn’t have told you where she works. I could get into trouble for that. It’s confidential.”

  “Don’t worry,” I say and run my finger around her ponytail again. “She won’t complain when I make her an offer.”

  Her green eyes roll. “And just what would that be?”

  “You’ll see.” She moves her hair again and makes a huffing sound. “I really like the way your hair feels. What kind of shampoo do you use?”

  “The cheapest stuff they make,” she says. “I send any extra money I have to my parents so they can eat.”

  Like a punch to my midsection, her words take the wind out of me. “Ouch! About them, I’m working on making huge changes to my stores. I’m thinking about incorporating some of the businesses my stores shut down. I’d like to have your parents come to a meeting I’ll be setting up with other owners I’ve shut out. My company will pay for everything. The flight to Houston, the hotel, their meals, everything.”

  “You’re shitting me!” she says with wide eyes. “No way!”

  “It’s true. It’s going to be scheduled for the first week in January, the invitations will be sent out just as soon as everything is made final. I’m changing the way we do business. I’m changing a lot about who I am, Delaney.”

  I watch her eyes go from wide open and accepting to a bit narrow and untrusting. “Well, when you get things finalized then I’ll believe you a little bit more. For now, you’re pretty much all talk.” The way her mouth quirks up into a crooked, half-smile has me wanting to take those sweet lips and make them all mine.

  I let out a sigh and wish she was into me the way I’m into her. But she’s hard as a rock. “You will see. And just so you know, I’m doing this as much for myself as anyone else. It’s me who decided to make these changes. With the death of my father, I found something opening inside of me for the first time in a long time. Since my mother died, I closed myself off.”

  “Your mother’s dead too?” she asks and her eyes tilt a bit at the outer corners.

  “She died twenty-five years ago, the day my brother was born. It took a lot for the five-year-old I was back then to understand why she never came back home after Pop’s left us with his mother to take our mom to go have the baby. Pop’s came home alone, with Kent. He told me and Kate, who was three, the Lord took our momma home with him. It kind of made me hate the guy.”

  “Your father?” she asks.

  “No. The Lord.”

  Chapter 4

  DELANEY

  I have to turn my head so Blaine doesn’t catch me getting glassy eyed with what he’s told me. Swallowing back the lump that magically appeared in my throat, I manage to ask, “You don’t hate God now, do you?”

  With a shrug, he says, “I’m not exactly sure how I feel about him. I mean, Pops is up there now too. If there really is a Heaven. You see, he’s been coming to me in my dreams.”

  “God?” I ask as I scoot over a bit. Because if he thinks God is coming to him in his dreams he may be a little on the psychotic side.

  “No, Pop’s,” he says with a light chuckle. “He’s been talking to me and telling me what’s right and what’s wrong. He tried like hell to get me to listen to him when he was alive but I wouldn’t. Now he has my ear when I’m asleep and he talks and talks and it’s beginning to sink in.”

  “So, you might really be changing,” I say as I look out the window. “But then again, you might revert right back to who you’ve always been after a year has passed. That’s the typical mourning period after someone close to a person passes away. You might become the money-hungry vulture you’ve always been in a year’s time.”

  “Wow, aren’t you a little ray of sunshine!” he says with a sarcastic tone to his deep voice. “Thanks for the show of support.”

  “I’m not one of your supporters so don’t expect any from me.” We pull up to the restaurant and stop at the front door. “I’m sorry if you don’t like me.”

  “I happen to like you a lot. Your forthrightness is refreshing,” he says with a smile.

  “You’ve got to be kidding.” The door opens and his driver is holding it open.

  Blaine slides out and reaches back in for my hand. I take it only because the truck is tall and I don’t want to fall when I get out of it. His arm runs around my waist as we walk up the walkway. He looks over his shoulder and says, “I’ll bring you something delicious, Mr. Green and a sweet tea too.”

  “Oh, thank you, sir!” his driver says, sounding genuinely glad to be getting some lousy take out while we go inside and eat and he has to wait in the car.

  “Invite him in,” I say.

  “Huh?” he asks as he stops.

  “You should invite him to join us,” I tell him and find him smiling at me.

  “Hey, Mr. Green,” he turns around and calls out. “Park the c
ar and come in and join us, please. We’ll wait right here for you.”

  “Oh, that’s too much, sir,” the older man argues. “The meal is more than enough.”

  “Insist,” I whisper.

  “I have to insist, Mr. Green. Please,” he says.

  “Alright, sir. I’ll just park then and be right up.”

  I let out a sigh and smile. “Now, that’s a nice thing to do.”

  “See, you’re good for me, Delaney.” His hand moves up my back. “I need some good influences in my life right now. I’ve had them all along, I just ignored them. I’m not about to ignore you.”

  I find myself looking into his light brown eyes and I want to believe him. “I’m more of a show me kind of person, Blaine. I don’t fall for words.”

  His hand creeps all the way up to rest on my shoulder and he pulls me closer to him as he whispers, “I’d love to show you, Delaney. I’m glad you don’t fall for mere words. You’re the kind of woman a man needs around him on a regular basis to keep him on the straight and narrow.”

  And just like that, I see he’s looking at me to be his mother. Something I’m not about to become. But with his father’s death still so fresh, I’m not about to go on a rampage and tell him anything just yet.

  Mr. Green makes his way to us, hobbling a little bit and I notice he’s giving into his right knee. “Knee problems, Mr. green?” I ask.

  “Well, last month this one started giving out on me. I probably will have to have a knee replacement. My older brother had to have that done two years ago when he was my age.”

  We head into the restaurant, Blaine’s arm still around my shoulders. And me, still wondering how I’m going to avoid falling for the handsome man with a troubled soul.

  I spot Tammy’s mother right away as she hustles around a table, picking up the empty plates. The hostess asks us if we want a booth or a table. Blaine answers quickly, “A booth. And I want one in,” he looks at me. “What’s her name?”

  “We want a table in Patsy’s section,” I say.

  “Oh, friends of hers,” the hostess asks as she leads us away.