by Terra Wolf
I still couldn't believe I was doing this though, marrying a total stranger. I had thirty days to get to know him before we walked down the aisle. And then another three months to figure out where this was going. Or if at the end of four months we go our separate ways, but right now I was hoping that we wouldn't. And I was not about to tell Julia about the fact that I was getting married in a month. If her freaking out about me moving out wasn't enough, if I told her I was getting married she would lose her mind. It wasn't worth the risk. She might have me committed or something.
“It's not that, it's just that some things change. And I need to change.”
“You lost your job. You lost your job and now you're going to live with your boyfriend. This is what a quarter life crisis looks like Molly. Know the signs.”
“It's not that,” I said as I threw more clothing into the suitcase. I walked down to the kitchen and grabbed a trash bag bringing it back into my room. I started shoving shoes inside.
“Then what is it? What happened with your job?”
I stopped throwing shoes into the bag instead sitting down on the floor looking up at my big sister, just like always. “I got fired. The security system I built got hacked. At least I wasn't being replaced. By I have to move on and this is a really good start. I'm not having a quarter life crisis or mental breakdown, I promise. And what I'm doing is going to be great for me, actually for both of us. You'll see.”
“Fine.” She crossed her arms still looking annoyed. “Tell me about this boyfriend of yours, what's he like? What does he do for a living?”
“His name is Aiden.” I didn't tell her his last name because I realized I didn't know it. “And he's a doctor at that cute little hospital up in the mountains.”
She raised an eyebrow at me. “You're dating a freaking doctor? That's incredible! Where the hell did you pick him up?”
Now I could be honest. “In a little pub, my laptop needed to charge and he offered me his outlet.”
I didn't mention that that was just yesterday, or that the outlet was next to his bed. I couldn’t wait to get back into his bed.
“Offered his outlet, eh? That code for something?”
“You're the one who’s talking about magical penises, not me. But anyway we started seeing each other and realized that we have some stuff in common.” Absolutely nothing in common actually, another lie. “Like he is former military like Dad and his parents are dead. So that's why I haven’t introduced him to you, he's got some family issues. Though he does have two brothers I think he gets along with. And he’s a shifter.”
“How did his parents die? P.S. I’m not ignoring that shifter comment either.”
“I don't know,” I shrugged. “He didn't say, I haven't pressed the issue. But his uncle owns a pharmaceutical company.”
“So they have money.”
“Yeah, they do.”
“So wait, he’s a doctor, former military, shifter, and his parents are dead. And he has money? What the hell do you have in common?”
“We both really like breakfast.”
“So he understands your coffee addiction then?”
“Yep. And my love of pancakes. I don't know,” I said in a dreamy voice, “he could be the one.”
She took a pillow off my bed and threw it at me. “I want to meet him. Make sure he's not a total douche bag or a player.”
I threw the pillow back at her and then continue to shove shoes into the trash bag. “You will, I promise you will.”
Eight
Aiden
I sent the car to get Molly at her apartment while I picked up some food at the grocery store and flowers for her. I figured that my bachelor pad could use a little bit of a woman’s touch. Flowers should be enough, at least I hoped they would be. They made my bear miss the great outdoors though. I was the only bear in the family who maintained a residence in the city. Even Uncle Murray didn’t live here full time, it made his bear go nuts. But for me, a couple runs a month in the mountains was enough.
The guestroom was already set up, I told her that she could stay there and keep all of her clothes and feminine necessities in the bathroom. Suddenly she felt like she had her own space, that she wasn't forced to sleep with me. It was the final thing I needed to convince her.
Why she wouldn't want to stay with me, I had no idea. Just thinking about her from this morning, walking around in my shirt with only a few buttons attached, she knew how to make me hard. I couldn't wait to get back and learn more about her, and about her desires. My phone rang as I was standing in the flower section of the grocery store and I looked down to see a number that he didn't recognize. I answered it anyway.
“Hello is this Dr. Aiden Bradford?”
Nobody called me doctor. “Yes, can I help you?”
“This is Maggie from the Lower East Mountain Hospital, 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 to have 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 mountain hospital to work. “Absolutely nothing. I look forward to seeing you, Maggie.”
She hung up the call and I stood looking at the roses again, I had Molly waiting for me.
At home.
Our home. Maybe this whole fake fiancé thing wasn't so bad after all.
Nine
Molly
“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 wild 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. Aren’t your older brothers like that?” He avoided my eyes and pushed the box back further into the practically empty truck.
“Not really. Luke cares sometimes, but Zion and I don’t get along. He was much older when my parents died.”
He mentioned that his parents had passed, but I hadn't asked when, he was starting to open up. 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 h
andled the books even when I was a kid. Shifters all stick together, we’re a clan. So he took care of things.”
“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 Aiden 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 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 had 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 give it 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 Aiden, I thought just maybe I could fall for him.
“So my uncle will want to meet you, probably my dumb ass brothers too,” he said as he drove back to his penthouse apartment. “We’re going to have to make this believable, they’re smart. And Uncle Murray 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 Aiden 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.
But I was dying to find out.
Ten
Aiden
“Morning, I’m Dr. Aiden Bradford, 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. Especially the poor shifter kids, they need your sympathy the most. You understand them better than any of us.”
That hit me right in the gut. Even if I wasn’t really a kid person, I would definitely do my best.
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, another Bradford guy right? 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 Molly. 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. Bradford number three. 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 while I was in Alpha Squad 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 ca
se, 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 people, or maybe no doctors who understand shifter protocols. 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. Bradford, but you can just call me Aiden, 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?”
