by Marie Force
A soft knock on the door dragged her out of her thoughts. Speak of the devil himself.
“How’re you making out?”
“No disasters yet.”
“Let’s keep it that way. Do you need me to dry your back or powder your unmentionables?”
The teasing question restarted that surprising hum of desire she’d experienced last night. “My unmentionables don’t require powder, but thank you for the offer.”
“I also do lotion and excellent massages, should the need arise.”
As the thought of him rubbing oil on her body registered, the tingle between her legs intensified. “Also good to know.”
“Breakfast is ready when you are.”
“I’ll be out in a few.”
“Take your time. It’ll keep.”
In the short time she’d been in the shower, he’d made breakfast. Most of the guys she’d dated were long gone by the time breakfast rolled around. The shower had worn her out, so she settled for combing out her wet hair and leaving it to air-dry rather than using energy she didn’t have to blow it dry. She brushed her teeth, then found her favorite moisturizer in the bag Ella had packed for her. Other than deodorant, she skipped the rest of her usual beauty ritual because it would take strength she simply didn’t have.
She put on a bra and a long-sleeved University of Vermont T-shirt that often doubled as a nightshirt. Good thing, because the underwear and sweats wouldn’t be happening without some help. “Hey, Tyler?”
“Yep?”
“I could use a bit of assistance here.”
“Can I come in?”
“Uh-huh.”
When he opened the door and stepped into the room, she saw that he, too, had showered—and shaved. He looked more like he usually did except for the clean T-shirt and basketball shorts he wore rather than the starched dress shirts she’d become accustomed to. “What? Do I have something on my face?” He rubbed his cheek. “Did I cut myself shaving?”
“No,” she said, embarrassed to realize she’d been caught staring. Again. “You shaved.” Duh, Charley. Obvious much?
“I couldn’t take the scruff anymore. It was starting to itch.”
“You look good.”
“So do you. But then again, you always do.”
“Right. Especially lately.”
He came into the room, stopping a couple of inches from her. In the mirror, she noted the way his hands rolled in, as if he were trying to control the urge to touch her. “Never more so than lately. I’m so damned glad you didn’t die on me last weekend.”
“That would’ve been a bummer.”
Tyler raised his hand to skim his finger over her cheek where a fading bruise remained. “A huge bummer. I never would’ve gotten to do this if you’d died on me.”
Before she could ask what this entailed, his lips were sliding over hers. Oh. That. That was quite nice. Just as she decided to lean in to get more of that, it stopped.
“Sorry,” he said, his thumb continuing to stroke her face as he stared down at her. “Didn’t mean to do that.”
“No?”
He shook his head. “You called me in for help, not that.”
“That wasn’t bad, per se.”
His bark of laughter made her smile. “I can do better than that, but not when we’ve got Abbotts lined up at the door wanting to see you.”
She wanted to ask when he planned to do better, but instead she said, “We do?”
Nodding, he said, “Four phone calls while you were in the shower. Hope you’re feeling social today.”
“I will once I get some pants on. I seem to have hit a snag there.”
“More than happy to help, although, for the record I’d like to say that I’d much prefer to remove your pants than put them on.”
She playfully slugged his shoulder.
“Too much?” he asked, raising that brow of his as he dropped to his knees before her, putting all sorts of salacious ideas into her addled brain. The drugs! It had to be all the damned drugs that were making her horny for Tyler Westcott. That little voice inside her head chose that moment to weigh in, reminding her she was horny for him because he’d been flat-out incredible to her since her injury—and because when she took the time to really look at him she’d discovered he was sexier than hell.
“No.”
“Feel free to say so if harmless flirting ventures into the land of harmful. I don’t want to do anything to hurt my chances of actually having that first date in Boston.”
“I’ll keep you posted.”
“You do that.”
With her hands propped on his shoulders, he helped her into underwear and sweats with a minimum of fuss. At critical moments, he looked up at her rather than sneak a peek at the goods, which earned him more points with her. He was really racking them up.
“All set,” he said, standing.
“Thank you.”
“You want breakfast in bed or do you feel up to a short walk?”
“I’ll do the walk. The more I lie around, the worse I feel.”
“Just take it slowly.”
“No choice about that.” It took ten long minutes to make her way to his dining room table, which he’d set with navy-blue dishes and coffee mugs.
Tyler held a chair for her and took the crutches as she eased into the seat.
Charley closed her eyes for a long moment, catching her breath from the arduous trek. When she opened them, he was watching her with concern.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.”
“You don’t look okay.”
“I can’t believe that short walk totally wiped me out.”
“You’ve been through a lot. It’s going to take a while to feel normal again. No need to rush yourself.”
“I couldn’t if I wanted to.”
“Physical therapy starts tomorrow. That’ll help you regain your strength.”
“Something tells me there won’t be anything fun about that.”
“Probably not, but it’ll expedite your recovery.”
Charley shifted her gaze toward the window, doing a double take when she saw the extraordinary view. “Whoa. Where the hell are we anyway?”
“About halfway up the mountain, looking down at the town.”
“I remember when this house was built! Everyone wondered whose it was.”
“Ella said the same thing—and she promised to keep my secret.”
Before she could ask why it was such a big secret that he lived here, he went into the kitchen and returned with coffee that he poured for both of them. “I made eggs, bacon and toast, but I have other stuff if that doesn’t work for you.”
“That sounds delicious.” Her stomach let out a loud growl that made them laugh.
“The lady is hungry.”
They enjoyed delicious scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, wheat toast and coffee.
“These eggs are amazing. What’s the secret?”
“I’ll tell you if you’re nice to me.”
She stared at him. “Not sure what you think is possible, but this is as nice as I get.”
Laughing, he leaned in and whispered, “Half-and-half.”
“Like the stuff you put in coffee?”
“Yep. Makes the eggs fluffy and light.”
“Wow, that’s a new one on me.”
“I learned that in cooking school.”
“How did you go from cooking school to doing what you do now? And what is it exactly that you do now?”
“I buy and sell stocks.”
“For a company?”
“Sort of.” Was it her imagination or did he squirm? “I do it for my company.”
“Oh. So you . . .”
“Manage money.”
“Whose money?”
“Mine.”
“And that’s a full-time job?”
His low chuckle came off as a nervous laugh. “You could say that.”
“Oh.”
“What does that mean?”
&
nbsp; “It’s what people say when they don’t know what to say.”
He gazed at her over the top of his mug. “Is it a big deal that I have money?”
“No, of course it isn’t.”
“Good, because if it was, that would be disappointing.”
“How much are we talking?”
“Enough to keep myself and any family I may have someday very comfortable for a long time to come.”
“Oh.”
“I’m going to level with you, Charley.” He pushed his plate aside and put his arms on the table. “After we get you through all of this, I want to take you on that first date to Boston. I want that to be the first of many things we do together. But if the fact that I have money is going to be a problem for you, I’d rather know that now than later.”
“Has it been an issue in the past?”
“It’s always an issue in some way or another.”
Charley wanted to hear more about how it had caused him trouble. She wanted to know how’d he accumulated such a vast fortune and what it took to manage it. But her questions were put on hold by the arrival of her grandfather and her mother’s sister, Hannah, who came bearing cider donuts from the store.
Elmer Stillman walked right over to Charley and kissed her cheek. “How’s my granddaughter today?”
“A little better, Gramps. Thanks.”
“Darned glad to hear it—and see it. You gave us a heck of a fright for a few days there, sweetheart.”
“Sorry about that.”
“Your mother is going to kill us for keeping this from her,” Hannah said bluntly.
“I’ll take all the blame,” Charley said, tipping her face up to receive a kiss from her aunt.
“Nice place you’ve got here, Tyler,” Hannah said.
“He doesn’t want people to know he owns this house,” Charley said, drawing a curious glance from her aunt.
“It’s okay,” Tyler said. “I didn’t want the whole town up in my grill when I was building it, but it’s no big deal now.”
“Heck of a view,” Elmer said.
They spent half an hour visiting, during which Tyler helped her move to the sofa, propping her leg up on more pillows and producing a fresh ice pack. While Tyler showed Elmer his office, Hannah sat on the oak coffee table.
“What’re you doing up here with him, Charley? Are you two dating?”
“We’re friends,” she said, suddenly defensive of her relationship, such as it was, with Tyler. “He’s been really great to me since the accident.”
“Just be cautious. No man does all this without an ulterior motive in mind.”
Her aunt had earned the right to be bitter toward men in general after her husband, Charley’s uncle Mike, left her alone to finish raising eight children. “I’m always cautious, Auntie. Don’t worry about me. So is this the weekend Grayson is due to move home?”
“He got here yesterday with a moving truck,” she said with a sigh.
“You’re not happy to have him home?”
“Oh no, I’m thrilled. But I worry that he’ll regret giving up that plum job in Boston.”
“From what I’ve heard, that job wasn’t making him happy.”
“So he says. Everyone sends their regards. I talked to Izzy yesterday, and she said she’ll be by to see you at some point when she’s back in town. She’s at a shoot up north this weekend and then she’ll be home until Hunter’s wedding.”
“That’s nice of her. So how mad is Mom going to be that we kept this from her?”
“On a scale of one to furious? I’d venture to say furious. You’ll find out for sure on Tuesday when they get home.”
Her aunt and grandfather left a short time later, and must’ve passed Will and Cameron coming in with Max and baby Caden.
“Oh my God,” Charley said of the baby Max placed in her arms. “He’s grown a ton since I last saw him.”
“He’s doing great,” Max said with obvious pride.
“How’re you?” Charley asked her youngest sibling while Will and Cam visited with Tyler.
“I’m fine compared to you. How’s the leg?”
“Great as long as I stay on top of the pain pills. But don’t blow me off on the other thing.”
“I’m doing the best I can in a shitty situation. We’re dividing time with the baby for now. I’ve got him for the weekend, so I brought him over here.”
“That’s a long ride by yourself with a new baby.”
“I stopped every fifteen minutes to make sure he was still breathing,” Max confessed. “He slept the whole way.”
“I’m sorry it’s been so hard for you.”
Max shrugged. “Wasn’t meant to be with Chloe, I guess. I just wish she would show a little more interest in her son.”
“You show enough interest for both of you.”
“I guess. I worry about him when I’m not with him.”
“You don’t think she’d ever . . .”
“No, nothing like that, but it’s pretty obvious that she wants nothing to do with him—or me.”
“Have you thought about asking her for full custody?”
“God, no. I couldn’t handle it by myself. No way.”
“Yes, you could.”
“No, Charley. I really couldn’t.”
Cameron came over to gaze down at Caden, whose lips moved adorably in his sleep. “He’s so cute. So, so cute.”
“Thanks,” Max said. “I think so, too.”
Will put his arm around his wife and took a turn at gazing. “I think he looks like me.”
“He does not,” Max said. “He looks like me. Mom says he looks exactly like I did as a baby.”
“He really does,” Will said as Charley nodded in agreement. “Poor kid.”
Max laughed at Will’s good-natured ribbing. It was nice to hear him laugh again after the upheaval of the last few months with Chloe.
“Do you think it’s over for good with Chloe, Max?” Charley asked.
“It is for me. The way she’s acted about him . . . The only thing I feel for her anymore is disgust.”
Cameron put her arm around Max and rested her head on his shoulder. “She’s going to wake up someday and realize she let the best guy in the whole world get away.”
“Hey!” Will said, making the others laugh.
“Thanks, Cam,” Max said. “I should get him home because he’s going to wake up hungry.”
“Are you staying at Mom and Dad’s while they’re away?”
“They’re staying with us this weekend,” Will said. “No need for them to be alone when they could have company.”
“I’ve made this all about me and Caden,” Max said. “We should be talking about you, Charley.”
“I’d rather talk about Caden,” Charley said.
“You’re feeling okay?” Cameron asked.
“Better today than yesterday, but still weak as a kitten.”
“That’ll get better every day,” Tyler said.
“How’s the pain?” Will asked.
“Manageable as long as I take my horse pills on time.”
“You’re not missing anything outside,” Cameron said. “It’s snowing like crazy. That’s all it seems to do lately.”
“Welcome to your first winter in Vermont, babe,” Will said.
Cameron smiled up at her husband. “Nowhere else I’d rather be than in the midst of your snowy winter.”
“And it’s not even officially winter yet until the twenty-first,” Tyler said.
A collective groan greeted his statement, making him laugh.
The foursome left and over the course of the day, they saw Hannah and Nolan, Colton and Lucy, who had her sister, Emma, and niece, Simone, with her, Hunter and Megan, Ella and Gavin, Lucas and Landon and then finally Wade.
“Bringing up the rear, little brother,” Charley said from her perch on the sofa. Tyler had started a fire in the huge fireplace, making the room toasty warm and cozy. He’d tended to her quietly throughout the day of visits
with her family, making sure she ate and took her pills and stayed hydrated, without interfering in her time with her loved ones. More points.
“Hannah had a schedule,” Wade said. “I got the last slot.”
“She actually scheduled everyone?”
“She didn’t want us to overwhelm you or Tyler.”
“She’s too funny,” Charley said, imagining her sister organizing the rest of them. “Mom will be back on Tuesday to relieve Hannah of her need to be in charge of everything.”
“Thank God for that.”
They chatted until Charley’s eyes got heavy, and Wade took his leave, promising to be back soon. “Sorry to pass out on you.”
“No worries.” Wade kissed her forehead, shook hands with Tyler and headed out into the snowy late afternoon.
“You want to go to bed?” Tyler asked when they were alone.
“Nah. This is delightful. I love the fireplace.”
“I do, too. I designed the entire house around it.” He covered her with a light blanket that he tucked in around her. “Take a nap while I make dinner.”
“Spoiling me,” she said.
“Am I?”
“Mmm.” She thought she felt his lips on her forehead, but she couldn’t summon the energy to open her eyes to confirm it. But the suspicion was enough to fill her with an unusual sense of contentment as she drifted off to sleep.
CHAPTER 7
The torture began on Monday with the arrival of Debbie, the physical therapist sent straight from hell. She was young, blond and peppy, and Charley hated her on sight. First, she removed Charley’s brace and bandages to check the incision, and she was a whole lot less gentle than Tyler had been when he’d checked the incision the night before.
“Looks good,” Debbie declared. “You’ve been icing it?”
“Religiously.”
“Excellent. You’ll need to keep using the crutches for another week or so, when we’ll want to start working on some weight bearing. For today and this week, we’re going to do some basic stretches to work on strengthening your quadriceps.”
What sounded simple enough was anything but once the “basic” stretching began. Five minutes in, Charley was bathed in a cold sweat and whimpering pathetically from the agonizing pain.
“You’re doing great,” Debbie said. “You’ve got excellent muscle tone to begin with. That’ll make for a speedier recovery.”
