by Lynn Cahoon
Yes, she had a lot to think about with Landue Health Care. But right now, she had to get Brad off his computer and resting. She headed into the makeshift bedroom and library. As she suspected, Brad was focused on his laptop. When she walked in, he blushed and closed the computer.
“Checking out porn?” She joked as she took the computer off his table and put it on the desk.
“What?” Brad adjusted his covers. “Why would you ask something like that?”
“You closed down pretty quickly, like you didn’t want me to see what you were working on. Winery business doesn’t seem to be that proprietary that you needed to react that fast.” She moved to the bookshelves and started looking for the next volume in the series. “Anyway, what’s up for the afternoon? Do you want to read or watch television before you fall asleep?”
“Maybe I won’t fall asleep.” Brad yawned as he rubbed his face. “Okay, so yeah, I’m probably slowing down. I don’t know how I’m going to work a full day when I go back. I’ll need to nap on my office couch for an hour at lunch.”
“You’re getting stronger by the day. Soon, this will just be a bad memory.” She stood by the bed. “Do you need anything?”
He looked at her, their gazes meeting, and for a second, Destiny felt a heat connecting them and her breath caught. She wanted him to say what they were both thinking right then. Instead he picked up an empty soda can.
“Another one of these would be great. Do you want to watch a movie with me?” He didn’t break eye contact. “Or are you busy?”
Looking for another job. She could almost hear the accusation in the unfinished question. She shook her head. How could he have known what she’d been researching, and besides, she had to be employed after she left here. What did he expect of her? She took a deep breath. There was no way Brad had been thinking about her job search. She was just being paranoid.
She nodded toward the shelf filled with movie videos. “My choice?”
“As long as it’s not a romantic comedy, sure. I don’t think I could stay awake for a showing of Sleepless in Seattle or You’ve Got Mail.”
She wandered to the side of the room with the videos. “I would doubt that you had anything like that in your collection.”
“Maggie’s a jokester. She said I needed chick flicks to be able to keep a girlfriend. So for Christmas last year, she bought me a collection of what she considers the best romantic movies ever. You can take some up to your room and watch them if you like that sort of thing.”
She ran her hand over the section that Maggie must have bought, pulling out several for her own viewing. “I’ll take you up on that. There are a few here I haven’t seen and of course, some old favorites. You may not see me for a few days.”
“As long as you throw me food and pain killers, you’re good. I probably can make it to the bathroom by myself, if I needed to.” He pointed to the top shelf. “Fantasy’s up there. Want to watch the first Lord of the Rings and we can talk about what they left out from the book?”
“Perfect.” She grabbed the Fellowship of the Ring and put the compact disc into the player. Then she grabbed the pile of movies she wanted to watch in her hands. “You get it set up; I’ll go get us sodas. You want popcorn?”
“Can you microwave?”
“Yes. And after tonight’s lesson, I’ll be able to make a salad too.” She didn’t add cook scallops because she was sure that part of the lesson would be a bust.
As she left the room, she realized she was smiling. Imagine that. Brad Castle, the ogre who lived in the beautiful castle-like home could actually make her smile.
CHAPTER 9
“Haven’t you ever held a knife before?” Brad took the chef knife carefully from Destiny’s outstretched hands. “You hold it by the handle, not the blade. Especially with how I keep these sharpened. You’re scaring me here.”
“I was just switching hands.” She shrugged. “I told you I don’t spend any time in the kitchen. I’m good if I have dip and water in my apartment. And typically the dips go bad because I forget to buy more chips.”
“Let’s start with the basics then.” Brad held his hand out for the cutting board. “You wash the veggies, cold water only, no soap, and then bring them over to the table. Get the big blue salad bowl out of the top cabinet too.”
She followed his instructions as he rolled his wheelchair over to the table. As she put the salad ingredients into the empty sink, she kept her head turned away as she asked. “You sure you’re up to this? It’s pretty late.”
“It’s six in the evening. If I can’t stay up long enough to teach you to make a salad, I’m getting a different doctor.” Brad left the table and wheeled over to the wine cooler. “Why don’t we have some white for dinner?”
“You shouldn’t be drinking with your medications.” She laid the cleaned vegetables on a kitchen towel on the granite countertop next to her.
“I won’t tell if you don’t.”
When she didn’t answer, Brad pulled a bottle out of the cooler and grabbed an opener from a drawer. “Fine, I’ll limit myself to three glasses. One before, one after and one during.”
“One glass. With food.” She brought the salad ingredients over to the table.
Brad uncorked the bottle. “Get us glasses.” When she didn’t move, he sighed. “Fine, one and a half glasses. Half before dinner, a glass with dinner. And I’ll eat a roll while I watch you chop these veggies.”
“It will have to do.” Destiny went to the glass cupboard and pulled out wine glasses. From the weight, they were expensive. “I hope these aren’t your good glasses. I don’t see any other wine glasses in the cabinet.”
“I don’t have good versus everyday. My mom had Sunday china and she never let us kids use it for anything but special occasions. I don’t want to be that way. I think every day is special, especially when you take the time to make the meal yourself.” Brad paused and looked up at her when she stood frozen at the edge of the counter. “What? You think I’m wrong?”
“Actually, no, I think you’re right. I just didn’t think you were so insightful.” She sat the glasses on the table. Man, the guy was getting into her head. Who knew Brad Castle could be this guy in front of her. She’d always thought he was rude, uncaring, and, she’d admit it, a bit of a jerk. The Brad she was getting to know was thoughtful, caring, and intelligent. A long way from the guy who ignored her like a household appliance a few weeks ago.
“You expected me to be an jerk.” He shrugged. “I get it. People who know Mark and Maggie never really got my sense of humor or even tried to figure out who I was. It was always your big brother was in football, why aren’t you? Or Maggie was an A student in Chemistry, why was I struggling?”
“High school can be miserable.” Destiny got it. She hadn’t had to deal with over-performing older siblings, but she had been bullied and teased about her name, her thrift shop clothes, and her shyness. She remembered thinking each summer when she got her new clothes from the Sears store in the larger town next door that this year would be different. She’d be popular. She’d know what to say. And she would have friends. It wasn’t until she stopped caring about what other kids thought that she found her place in the school hierarchy. “I guess your family having money doesn’t change that.”
He rolled his shoulders, clearly uncomfortable with the direction the discussion had taken. “I think being a Castle made it worse. Dad had opened the cat sanctuary around the time I started middle school and all the kids thought it was weird. And of course, John came to live here in St. Joseph’s then. And everyone knew he was different.”
Sandy had told Destiny that as one of her husband’s army buddies, John had been hired originally to run the non-profit sanctuary. However, it became clear very quickly that working with people was not his strong suit. So they’d gone through several administrators before Abigail came back to town to take over the complex. She sat at the table. “Your mom told me that John had some issues.”
“Today th
ey’d call it PSTD and he’d probably get medical help from the VA. But back then, he was just messed up by the war. John’s a good guy. My dad thought the world of him. I guess he saved Dad’s life over in Vietnam.” Brad moved the cutting board in front of Destiny. “Let’s get this party started or it will be midnight before dinner’s ready.”
She stared at the knife he held out to her. “I can do this,” she muttered as she took a deep breath.
“Yes, you can.” Brad smiled at her and she realized she’d said the words aloud. “Let’s start with the lettuce.”
He walked her through chopping the romaine, the tomatoes, the green onions and then they peeled and shredded the carrots. As the bowl filled with different colored vegetables, she considered the mixture. “How do you know what ones to put into a salad? Is there a recipe? Every time I go to a new restaurant, they have a different mixture of ingredients.”
“Oh, there are several recipes, but it’s all about what you like. Mom puts pickled beets into hers, and I love the color, but the taste freaks me out, so I don’t use them in my go-to salad.” Brad nodded to the cucumbers. “We’ll finish up with those and a few thin red onion slices.”
Destiny picked up a cucumber and started to take the skin off with a potato peeler. “I don’t improvise well. I like a plan, then I follow it, and like magic, it works. I guess I’m going to have to pull out Grandma’s cookbook.”
“I don’t use recipes unless I’m baking or trying something new and complicated. I like working without a net, I guess. Before the accident, I cooked at home most nights.” He caught her staring at him. “What? Not what you expected to hear from me?”
“Actually, no. I figured you were too buttoned up to experiment with anything, and as far as you cooking yourself, I don’t know why you would with Maggie’s restaurant just down the street.” She sat the cucumber down and slowly started slicing it.
“I’m not buttoned up.” Brad moved her hand on the cucumber. “Hold it with your fingers curled inward. That way if you do cut yourself, you won’t slice the top of your finger off.”
“Whatever you say.” Destiny moved the knife a little faster. She kind of liked making her own salad. Now all she had to do was figure out what meat to put on top and she’d have most of her evening meals planned.
He took the knife from her hand and set it on the cutting board. “Believe me, I can be adventurous.” He pulled her onto his lap and kissed her.
Destiny froze. She didn’t know what to do. If she responded, she’d be telling him it was okay. If she didn’t—ah, hell, there was no way she couldn’t fall into this kiss. She closed her eyes and opened her mouth against his, feeling his desire.
The kiss seemed to go on forever. But when she pulled her head back, their gaze locked, he brushed hair out of her eyes. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to…”
“Kiss me? So it was an accidental kiss I just fell into?” Destiny lifted herself off his lap. “Let’s just hope we didn’t hurt your leg.”
“It’s the lower bone that’s broke, not my thigh.” He grabbed her by the hand. “Are you okay? I really am sorry if I took advantage of you.”
“You think I couldn’t have stopped it?” She stood to take the cutting board back to the counter. “I share some of the blame. I just don’t think it’s a good idea for us to go there. We spend way too much time together alone here.”
“True.” His eyes gleamed with humor. “I suppose having wild monkey sex isn’t on the list of approved activities for week three of the recovery.”
“Not hardly.” She came back to the table but didn’t sit. “Look, it’s just a bad idea. So let’s forget it even happened.”
“If that’s what you want.” He wheeled to the fridge, opened the door, and took out the scallops. “Then let’s go on to lesson two.”
As she followed Brad’s instruction, she thought about the kiss. And how warm it had made her feel. Okay, so the word would actually be hot. She still could feel her body reacting to the kiss and when he reached over to move her arm, the heat intensified.
“I need a quick break. Can you watch this?” She bolted from the kitchen, not waiting for his answer. She ran upstairs and shut the door to her room, locking it, even if he couldn’t get up the stairs to follow her. She closed her eyes and waited for her breath to settle before opening them again.
Three more weeks of being near Brad Castle was going to test every ounce of her will power.
***
Brad turned the stove off and dumped the scallops onto a plate. He looked back at the door. Was she coming back or had he scared her off with the reckless kiss. He smiled as he grabbed the bowls and plates she’d set out early for the table. He didn’t care. It had felt good to be reckless for a minute. And wow, the girl could kiss. He’d been watching her lips as she talked and finally, he couldn’t wait any more. He had to find out what she would feel like, taste like. He took bite out of a slice of the garlic bread. Now the problem was he wanted more of her. A lot more.
He’d finished two slices of bread before she returned. No sign of tears but she wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Ready for dinner? I set up the table and,” he held up his hand into a salute. “I promise I didn’t drink more than a half a glass of wine.”
“I’ll get the food.” She gave him a wide berth as she walked around his chair.
He reached for her hand and she leaned away. “Look, I said I was sorry.”
“I believe I’ve made my wishes clear. Please don’t touch me again.” She turned and this time she did meet his eyes, but her gaze was ice cold. “Do you understand?”
He felt his anger building. “Your wish is my command.” He nodded to the stove. “Bring over that plate of scallops and let’s get dinner over with.”
They sat eating, but not talking. Tension seethed between. Finally, Brad set his fork down and waited for her to look up. “This is stupid. I made a mistake, it won’t happen again. But we have to talk to each other.”
“I agree.” She took a sip of the wine she’d been avoiding all night. “So what should we talk about? Sports? Weather? Politics?”
He smiled. There was the smart aleck he’d grown to love. No, like. Keep the relationship professional, he reminded himself. “How about you tell me why you think your business failed? I’m a pretty good listener, and I’ve had a lot of success with the winery. Maybe I could help?”
She scrunched up her shoulders and closed her eyes tightly. When she opened them, Brad could see the shine of unshed tears. A small smile curved her lips. “Are you sure you don’t want to talk about politics or, what about religion?”
“It’s okay, there’s no judgment here. Just tell me what you think happened.” Brad softened his voice, trying to make her feel more comfortable.
She put her napkin on the table and leaned back into her chair. “Where to start? I guess my business plan wasn’t thought out enough. I chose St. Joseph’s because I wanted to have a place closer to my customers. I think I just chose too small of town. Without a hospital here, or even a long term care facility, my patients were limited. Mostly your mom and one or two other people from town who didn’t want to drive into Spokane.”
“So you think the customer pool was too small.” He balanced his fork on his plate. “I can see that. If you’d set up in Spokane, you could have partnered with the hospital and maybe even doctors. Maybe you just need to change venues? What’s your cash flow like? Do you have the money to set up in a small place in Spokane?”
“You’re kidding, right?” This time she took a larger gulp of the wine. “I dumped all my savings into setting up here, and still I was only able to pull it off because you and your family talked the bank into looking favorably on my small business loan. The good news is once I’m done with this assignment, I’ll be able to pay off the last of that loan and walk away debt free. Which a lot of failed businesses can’t say.”
He had cringed inwardly when she’d called their arrangement an assignment, but if tonight’s fiasco hadn�
�t made it clear that she wasn’t interested in him, he didn’t know what would. Why did he always fall for the girls who didn’t want to be seen with him? Maybe he liked rejection? Or maybe, he picked the wrong ones to let inside his iron defenses. “You know, sometimes it requires taking a risk to be successful. Maybe you didn’t invest enough into the business or maybe, you’re giving up too soon?”
Now her eyes lost the teary look she’d had before. Now, they almost glowed red. “Seriously? You’re questioning my commitment to my dream? Look, Brad, you don’t know what it’s like to be poor or even middle class. Your dream business was handed to you on a silver platter.”
“That’s not true. I worked for everything I got.” Brad squeezed the arms of his wheelchair tightly. “You don’t understand what it’s like to be a Castle. I’m just an average guy.”
This time she laughed, but it wasn’t the fun sound he was used to; this one felt mean and angry. “An average guy who builds his own castle to himself.” She held up her hands and motioned to the kitchen. “Seriously, this isn’t a normal American house. This is a freaking mansion.”
“So I like nice things. I also work 10-12 hours a day and I’m dedicated to my job.” He shrugged. “Sue me for being successful when you weren’t. I can’t believe you’re jealous.”
“I. Am. Not. Jealous.” Destiny paused between each word, making the single word its own sentence for emphasis. “I just want you to realize how lucky you are.”
Her words hit Brad like a slap in the face. “Lucky? Do you see where I’m sitting? Do you know what it’s like not to even remember the car crash that put me in that freaking bed for most of my day? Do you know that the braces make my legs itch in places I can’t reach?”
