“No, keep your ring.”
“Ben, I can’t in good conscience get involved with Luke if I’m engaged to you.”
“Consider us unengaged. Whether we get married or not, I want you to keep the ring. And you should continue planning the wedding. Either way, one of us will be standing in the groom’s spot come December.”
The number of people who expected an invitation to the wedding of a man as influential as BJ Elliott was intimidating. She’d been working overtime arranging a candlelit ceremony on Christmas Eve, much like what she helped plan for Tyler and Annie last year, only on a much larger scale. Ben’s and her black-tie reception would be for nearly three hundred people instead of the sixty guests who attended her brother and Annie’s wedding.
She reluctantly shoved the diamond back on her finger. “But Luke and I could never afford the same kind of—”
Ben pressed his fingers to her lips. “Shhh....I love you, Sabrina. I want to give you the wedding of your dreams no matter who you marry. The fact Luke has been hiding how he feels about you, for God only knows how long, tells me it’s not going to be easy to change his mind about marriage.”
“So you think the odds are in your favor?”
“Let’s say I’m hoping they are. We’ll worry about making alterations to the wedding plans when the need arises.”
Tears welled in her eyes. She had to be crazy. Any women in her right mind would jump at the chance to marry a sophisticated billionaire instead of a rough undercover cop who dealt with the dredges of humanity every day. It was a no-brainer—like choosing between the Hope Diamond and a piece of unpolished quartz.
Luke’s idea of a formal evening was to put on a pair of shoes and eat off something other than a paper plate. He thought nothing of answering the door in just his boxers and lived as if tomorrow would never come—eating junk food by the pound and working overtime at getting himself killed between his job and extreme sports.
A woman would have to be an imbecile to prefer him over Ben. Especially one who’s family had been as poor as hers had been. She should be thrilled with the Cinderella twist in her life.
Unfortunately, she loved Luke and wanted a happily-ever-after with the big jerk.
~*~
“What’s with you, man?” Luke’s partner asked. “You haven’t said three words since we got here, and you haven’t even peeked at the talent.”
Luke shifted his gaze from Calvin Washington’s dark face to the nearby stage where a couple of worn out, silicon-enhanced dancers shook their overblown breasts at him to the throbbing beat vibrating through the floor. He sipped his club soda. “Nothin’. I’m busy watchin’ the door.”
He and Cal had come to the strip joint, hoping to bust Enrique Suarez, a dope dealer affiliated with the Latin Kings gang. One of their more reliable snitches had told them Suarez planned to meet with one of his suppliers at the club and, supposedly, had a big score going down that night.
“Watchin’ the door, huh?” Cal snorted. “Bullshit. The day you start ignoring double-D tits like those is the day I tell the captain you need a psych eval.”
Luke heaved a sigh and drained his glass. “Sabrina kissed me today, okay?” He glanced at his watch, which read one-thirty in the morning. “Well—yesterday, now.”
“All right! And that’s a problem?”
“Hell, yeah. She and Ben announced their engagement at her birthday party yesterday—you know Ben, one of my best friends.”
“So what? You should be celebrating, jackass. The girl who stars in all your wet dreams has the hots for you.”
Since his friendship with his partner was completely separate from his relationship with Tyler, Ben, or his family, Cal was the only one he’d ever told about his secret feelings for Sabrina.
“The hell with your buddy.” Cal waved his hand. “Seems to me Sabrina wants you and not him. Why don’t you speak up and marry the girl?”
“Believe me, I would if I could.”
Cal pointed one of his frankfurter-thick fingers at him. “Don’t give me that crap about how hard it is for a cop’s wife and kids. I’ve gone undercover for weeks at a time, the same as you, and Darlene and I’ve been married eighteen years. She and our three kids are doin’ just fine.”
“It’s not that simple, Cal. There’s more to it than just protecting her from my career.”
“Such as?”
“Take my word for it. I can’t marry Sabrina—or any other woman.”
If Luke ever told anyone why he’d condemned himself to going through life solo, he might as well put a bullet through his head. Either way, his life would be destroyed.
He glanced up as the door opened and Suarez strolled in. In the week since Luke had last seen him, the bastard had spiked his black hair and added a thick gold chain around his scrawny throat. Was it wrong to hope the necklace was heavy enough to drown the little cockroach if he happened to accidentally fall into the Delaware? Seeing as they’d been trying to nail the scumbag for over a year, no one would cry if Suarez sank like a slab of concrete.
“Don’t look now, but our boy just walked in with a new do, and it looks like business has been good lately.”
Cal peeked over at Suarez who stood in front of the stage and waited while one of the dancers shook her way over to him. He pulled a box of over-the-counter allergy meds out of his jacket pocket and tucked one of the blister packets into her red sequined G-string.
“Okay.” Cal hoisted himself out of his chair. “They sure as hell aren’t gonna make the transaction in here. I’ll cover the street. You follow him out once he makes contact.”
After his partner slipped out the exit, Luke kept his head down and watched Suarez wend his way to the back of the club where a swarthy, bearded brute sat, his gaze glued to the stage. The man responded to Suarez’s greeting without shifting his attention from the exotic dancers.
Suarez’s gravelly voice cut through a lull in the music. “Let’s go. I don’t have all night.”
Fuzz-face drained his glass and stood.
Luke threw a tip on the table and took the safety off his weapon as he followed them through the exit. Outside, Cal waved to him, crouched in the shadows between two parked cars. Suarez followed his contact a short way down the narrow alley to a dark blue sedan at the curb. When fuzz-face popped the trunk, the light inside filtered past the crack and illuminated the interior of the car.
Shit. There was a third man behind the wheel.
Before he could signal Cal, Luke’s partner stepped into the road, his weapon drawn, and yelled, “Police! Hands in the air where we can see ‘em.”
Luke dashed into position to cover Cal, and the sedan’s engine roared to life. “Get out of the way!”
The smell of burning rubber assailed his nose as the car peeled out, heading straight for Cal, who froze like a figure in a wax museum.
“Oh, fuck!” Luke sprinted the ten yards separating them, shouting, “Move, damn it! Move!”
He dove for his partner to shove him out of the vehicle’s path. Today was as good a day to die as any other. And he didn’t have a wife and three kids to worry about.
The crunch of bone registered a millisecond before the pain. Several gunshots echoed through the alley, followed by the sound of feet beating a retreat.
Luke groaned and lifted his head to locate Cal. Everything went black.
~*~
The click of the bedroom door opening dragged Sabrina out of a deep sleep. She held her hand up, shielding her eyes from the glare of the light spilling in from the hallway.
“I’m sorry to wake you,” Ben’s silhouette whispered.
“What’s the matter?” She yawned. Had he changed his mind about them sleeping together?
“It’s Luke. His chief just called. A perp ran him down with his car.”
She bolted upright and covered her mouth. “Oh, my God, no.” Her stomach convulsed. “Was he killed?”
“No. But the chief didn’t know about his condition. I tried get
ting some information from the emergency room, but they couldn’t tell me anything. Thomas is firing up the chopper. Get dressed.”
She swung her feet to the floor and scrambled out of bed. “What about Luke’s mom? Did you call her?”
“No. Not until we know something more. If it’s serious, Teresa can’t do anything to help him. And I don’t want to upset her if it’s only a minor injury.”
This explained why Luke had given the police department Ben’s number as his emergency contact. He hadn’t wanted his mother getting a phone call in the middle of the night telling her he was dead.
And Sabrina sure as hell didn’t ever want to receive a call like that.
~*~
“No, way!” Luke sliced his good hand through the air. “Have you lost your damn mind?” A man had only so much restraint. He’d go crazy having the woman he’d fantasized about night and day helping him change his underwear.
“It’s the most logical solution.” Ben pushed the wheelchair up the temporary ramp a couple of guys from the force had rushed to install over the steps to Luke’s back door. “She’s a nurse with no patients now that she’s quit her job to marry me, and you need someone to take care of you.”
Unfortunately, in addition to sustaining a concussion and severely fracturing his left ankle, Luke had sprained his right wrist, so crutches weren’t an option for the time being. The orthopedist had forbidden him to put any weight on his ankle for the first week. Therefore, he would be bedridden and wheelchair bound for a while.
He glared up at Sabrina as she entered the house and the screen door slammed behind her, foiling Dusty’s attempt to escape. “I suppose this was your brilliant idea?”
“No, this particular brainstorm was all BJ’s.” Sabrina bent down to elevate the footrest on his wheelchair and scratched the puppy behind the ears. “Hi, there, fella. I’m sorry I don’t have your sister with me.”
Luke turned his gaze back to Ben. “I guess Sabrina didn’t tell you what happened yesterday.”
“What? That she kissed you?” Ben shrugged one shoulder. “So? You didn’t kiss her back, right?”
“It wasn’t just a friendly little peck, pal. And I didn’t exactly stop her, either.” Another minute or so, and they would’ve had a bonfire blazing between them.
“So you’re saying you liked it.”
Like was an understatement. “Of course I liked it, damn it! What red-blooded, heterosexual male wouldn’t?”
“She kisses great, doesn’t she?” Ben winked at her.
Luke did a double take. If their roles were reversed, he’d be feeding BJ his teeth right about now. “I don’t believe you. Don’t you even care your fiancée hit on me?”
“Hell, yeah.” Ben spread his hands. “But if Sabrina feels something for you, now’s the time for me to find out—not six months after we’re married. You’re such a pain in the ass, I can’t think of a better way to convince her she wants to be my wife than for her to spend a few weeks at your beck and call.”
Luke snapped his gaze to Sabrina. “And you agreed to this?”
“Why not? It’s not as if Ben’s wrong. Anyway, I’ve seen what a terrible patient you can be when you’re sick. If we hired a home health aide for you, the person would probably hold a pillow over your face inside the first hour.” She shook a Percocet tablet out of the prescription bottle into Luke’s palm.
He couldn’t wait for the medication to start working. His ankle throbbed like a son-of-a-bitch. “It’s a completely insane idea. It’s like locking a starving wolf in a cage with a defenseless lamb and tellin’ the wolf not to eat.”
Ben cast a get-real look at him. “When it comes to the opposite sex, Luke, I’d hardly call you starving. Anyway, if the two of you can’t resist each other for a few weeks, then maybe she’s marrying the wrong guy.”
“No, she’s not—because I’m not marrying anyone.” Luke’s present situation had done nothing but reinforce his conviction to remain single.
Sabrina removed a can of soda from the refrigerator and popped the top. She took a sip before handing it to Luke. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, we’ve heard your confirmed bachelor theme song before.”
“Besides,”—Ben shrugged—“I can’t think of a better way to disillusion her about you. Relying on other people and letting them help you isn’t exactly your strong suit.”
Ben had that straight. The thought of being a burden on the people he cared about gave Luke a knot in his stomach the size of New Jersey. But what choice did he have? He did absolutely everything right-handed.
After shattering his right arm and shoulder during college and spending six weeks in a cast, the nurses at his orthopedist’s office had voted him the Least Ambidextrous Patient of the Year. They’d even printed up an official-looking award for him.
Luke tossed the pill into his mouth and washed it down with the ice-cold Coke. Ben just might be right. Maybe two weeks of him running Sabrina ragged would permanently kill any feelings she had for him. He fiddled with the denim fringe just above his knee. Why the hell did it have to be his favorite pair of jeans they’d cut off?
“So.” Ben crossed his arms, signaling the subject was closed. “Do you want me to haul your bed downstairs and set it up in the living room?”
“No. I can scoot up and down the steps on my ass.”
“Okay. Then I’ll call the medical supply company and tell them to send over two electric wheelchairs tomorrow morning.”
“No, this one is fine.” Luke took another swig of his soda. “I guarantee my insurance won’t cover more than one chair, and an electric one is a lot more expensive.”
“Then I’ll take care of it.”
“Like hell. I’ll pay my own medical expenses this time, thank you.”
“So what’re you planning to do in that chair with a sprained wrist—turn just the left wheel and rotate in circles?”
“Very funny.” He raised his hands. “Fine. You can order one electric chair, and that’s it.
Sabrina squeezed Ben’s arm. “Luke’s right. It’s stupid to pay so much for two electric ones. During the little time he’ll be out of bed upstairs, I can push him around.”
“Right.” Luke grinned. “We already know how good she is at that.”
She scowled at him.
“Okay.” Ben nodded. “But, in addition to the electric one for down here, I’m getting another manual chair that folds sent over for the car so Sabrina won’t have to carry this one up and down the stairs every time you want to go out.”
“You’d better tell them to send us a portable commode, too,” Sabrina suggested.
“Forget about it.” Luke shook his head emphatically. He was not crapping in some little pot for her to scrub out. Not today, not tomorrow—not ever.
“Your bathrooms aren’t wheelchair accessible,” she argued.
“Just get me to the door, and I’ll take care of the rest.”
“And what if you have to go during the night?”
“Hey—” Luke raised his good hand and smirked. “If you want the job as my nurse, you’ll just have to get your cute little tush out of bed and take me to the john.”
He could easily hop his way into the bathroom, but that would defeat his whole plan to drive her crazy. The more helpless he played it, the sooner he could convince her she didn’t want any part of a relationship with him.
Sabrina wasn’t the most cheerful person when she first woke up. Two or three nights of being rousted out of bed several times should prove to her she was much better off marrying Ben. “Of course....you can always hire someone else if it’s a problem for you.”
“If I’m going to have kids, I might as well get used to being woken up every night. You’d better include a baby monitor in that order,” she told Ben.
BJ chuckled and glanced at his watch. “I’ve gotta get going. I told Tyler to reschedule our meeting with the Powell guys for three. I’ll have Thomas drive Mopsy down here sometime tomorrow.”
“Tell him to m
ake it early,” Sabrina told him. “Once the medical supply place delivers the wheelchairs, I’m taking the patient for a ride to pick up some things from my apartment.”
“Unh-uh.” Luke shook his head. “I’ll drive. You’re riding.”
“I don’t think so.” Sabrina flashed a victorious grin at him. “Not unless your Jeep has recently had a transmission transplant and is now automatic.”
Damn. He’d forgotten Sabrina didn’t have her car, and they’d have to take his SUV, which Cal had promised to drop off that evening.
“Shit,” Luke muttered under his breath. There was no way he could safely work the clutch in a cast. He winced as he tried to open his right hand, which was wrapped in a thick Ace bandage. It would probably hurt too much to steer anyway.
“I’ll call you.” Ben brushed her lips with a tender kiss. “Oh, and by the way”—he smirked at Luke—“when I told Ty what happened to you, he said Sabrina should bring you out to visit one day next week. Annie will give you and little Jillian joint lessons in looking both ways when you cross the street.”
“Hardee-har-har. When you see Tyler, give him a message from me.” Luke flipped BJ the bird. “And be sure to keep some of that for yourself.”
While Sabrina stood at the back door and waved to Ben as he climbed into the taxi he’d kept waiting, Luke studied the way her black yoga pants hugged her rounded bottom. He let his gaze wander down the length of her shapely legs and shifted his hips.
Spending the rest of the month with Sabrina would be a living hell. He would have enough trouble getting his dick out of his fly without help, let alone trying to relieve his frustration left-handed.
He stared down at his toes peeking out of the fiberglass cast and cursed under his breath. This was just fabulous. He couldn’t even take a freaking cold shower without her help.
CHAPTER 4
Sabrina had waited a lifetime for the chance to get Luke alone for more than ten uninterrupted minutes. Now that she had, she didn’t have the foggiest idea what to say or do.
While she studied Luke’s battered face, her mind raced, trying to formulate a coherent thought to utter. The dark shadows under his eyes and his cuts and bruises made him look as if he’d gone ten rounds in a boxing ring and come out the loser.
A Heart Decision Page 5
