Waiting on the Bachelor (The HoliDATE Series Book 1)

by Heather Young-Nichols

  “OK,” he gave in but began walking toward the kitchen leaving me no choice but to follow. “Yes. I was hooking up with this girl who thought we’d spend Valentine’s Day together and that meant something big for her.” He pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge. “So, I told her I had to go home for the weekend.”

  “That didn’t mean you actually had to come home. Just don’t answer your phone or the door.”

  He snorted. “You don’t know this girl.”

  True. Sam sometimes had a knack for picking out stage four clingers. He liked to say the ladies got addicted to him because he was so good in bed. Once they had a taste, there was no going back. No idea how true any of that was, and I didn’t want to. What I wanted was for him to deal with his woman issues somewhere else.

  “You have parents,” I pointed out, hoping that he intended to stay with them and this was a drop by that ended with him leaving quickly. Sometimes when he came to town, he stayed with Cain. Actually, most of the time he stayed with Cain, but I really, really didn’t want him there this weekend.

  “The bed in Cain’s guestroom is really comfortable,” he countered.

  “Sam,” I said then sighed.

  “Calm down, Flannery.” He laughed his way through the words. “I’ve heard you guys have sex before, I wouldn’t be an interruption. But I plan to stay at my parents. They’re out of town. I stopped here first because I thought he’d be home already.” He finally cracked the top on the bottle of water he’d gotten from the fridge.

  “Thank you.”

  Sam scanned down my body as if he just now realized what I was wearing. Now he’d spent the last couple of years joking about us hooking up, but it had never been serious. He liked to tell me he was waiting in the wings for when I got tired of Cain. That would never happen either. He did it to get under Cain’s skin and I’d long ago suspected that Cain had his own way of pushing Sam’s buttons.

  “I’m going to go change,” I said as I pointed toward Cain’s bedroom. It was ridiculous to being standing there in front of him the way I was dressed. I’d only ever intended Cain to see me in that.

  He pulled the bottle away from his mouth. “Don’t bother. I’ll head over to my parents. Tell him to call me tomorrow. We’ll do something this weekend.”

  “I can do that.”

  He grabbed his bag and left the apartment.

  After more than an hour, I felt kind of dumb sitting around the apartment alone in what was the sexiest thing I’d ever owned. So much so I decided to get changed into regular clothes and put the sexy number back on once Cain message me saying he was actually on the road after his plane landed.

  On my way to the bedroom, the front door opened and shut again. I couldn’t believe Sam would have the audacity to come back. Then again, after knowing him as long as I had, it honestly shouldn’t have surprised me.

  “Damn it, Sam,” I said as I turned ready to give him a piece of my mind. Or a kick to the shins.

  Chapter Three

  When I spun around to give Sam a piece of my mind, I found that it wasn’t Sam standing inside the apartment at all.

  Cain dropped his bag next to the door with a hungry grin on his face. “Not Sam,” he said in that deep voice. The mere sound of which made my knees weak. I’d been waiting for two weeks for this very moment. Since the moment he’d left.

  A smile broke out across my face as I ran across the room to him, leaping at the last minute because I didn’t wonder if he’d catch me. He always would. I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck and held on. “You’re home,” I said against his shoulder.

  “Did you think I wouldn’t be?”

  “I was beginning to wonder if it’d ever happen.”

  Cain chuckled as he set me back down onto my feet. “Now, let me see what this is you’re wearing.” He took a step back but kept each of my hands in his then pulled them out to the sides, so he could get a really good look. “Wow.” Though the belt was still tied, my robe had adjusted with my movement. He’d get a glimpse of what was beneath.

  “I’ve been waiting for you,” I said back softly.

  He leaned down, cupping my cheeks in his hands and kissed me gently on the lips. I pushed back harder encouraging him to kiss me the way I’d been longing to be kissed. As his lips rediscovered mine, he let his hands trail down to the belt on my short robe. He yanked it open and slid his hands inside all the while slowly walking us toward the bedroom.

  Sure, I wanted to hear about his trip, but I wanted him first.

  As we were about to make the turn into the hall toward the bedroom, Cain ran a hand over my breast, pausing to give me a squeeze. The only thing that broke the moment was that my phone began to ring.

  “Ignore it,” he said against my lips still moving me toward the bedroom.

  The ringing stopped as we fell onto the bed, our lips still reacquainting themselves with each other. Then my phone sprung alive again.

  “Damn it,” I said pulling away from him. “I’m going to check it really quickly. Make sure it’s not important.”

  Cain groaned and dropped his head onto my chest. I ran my hands through his hair then yanked on it to make him look up at me.

  “It doesn’t sound like it’s going to stop anytime soon. It’ll be quicker for me to go out there.”

  “Fine.” He rolled off me and dropped his hand onto his stomach.

  I hopped up, not bothering to tie up my robe, and jogged out to the living room as it started ringing again.

  Fucking Sam. “Hello?”

  “I need you to come get me,” he said but something sounded off in his voice. Sam rarely sounded anything other than upbeat or sarcastic.

  “What? No. Cain just got home.”

  “Flannery.” The way exhaustion laced the way he said my name brought me to attention. He hadn’t left but a couple hours ago and it wasn’t late. It couldn’t be tiredness alone.

  “Sam?” As I said his name, Cain moved into my line of sight.

  “I need you to come get me. Or Cain since he’s home. I’m at the hospital.”

  “What?” I yelled to which he groaned. That wasn’t at all what I was thinking he was going to say. “Why are you at the hospital?”

  Cain’s surprised gaze locked with mine as I spoke and mouthed “Hospital?”

  I shrugged. Sam hadn’t told me yet.

  “I fell on some ice. Hit my head.”

  “But you’re fine, right?”

  “I’ll heal but I need someone to come get me. One of my sisters drove me in but I made her leave.”

  I was already nodding before he finished. “We’ll be right there.” Then I ended the call. “Sam needs a ride from the hospital. He fell on some ice and hit his head.”

  “Is his car there?”

  “No,” I answered as I made my way back to the bedroom. I certainly couldn’t go the way I was dressed.

  Cain didn’t need to change his clothes, but I clearly needed something more appropriate. I did the switch in superman time and we were in Cain’s car on the way to the hospital ten minutes after we got the phone call. In no time we were there with Sam in the emergency room.

  “What the hell happened?” Cain asked him.

  “I told her I fell.”

  “But you’re fine?”

  “Mostly.” Sam adjusted himself on the bed.

  “Is this your ride?” The nurse asked as she swept into the room.

  “Yup.”

  “Did you explain that you can’t be left alone tonight?” she asked him.

  “What?” Cain asked calmly.

  “He has a concussion,” the nurse explained. “He’ll be fine but needs to have some supervision for twenty-four hours.”

  “My parents are out of town,” Sam said looking directly at me. “And my sisters have a ton of friends over.”

  “So, you need to stay with us.” I finished the story for him. “Obviously that’s fine.”

  “Seriously?” Cain scoffed.

  “Don’
t be a dick,” I said back with a smile.

  The nurse got everything together, discharge papers with instructions for after care and covered it all with us so that Sam could be discharged. Cain and I stepped out of the room while the nurse helped him get his clothes on. I didn’t know if he needed the help, but I didn’t think, even injured, would pass up the opportunity for a woman to dress or undress him.

  “So he’s staying…” Cain let his voice trail off.

  “Yup.”

  “That sucks.”

  I chuckled quietly. “But what was the other option? Let him die?”

  “I doubt he’d die.”

  I moved in closer to him and dropped my voice. “We can have some alone time after the children go to bed.”

  His chest shook with silent laughter as Sam’s door opened and the nurse followed him out. I used to think you had to leave in a wheel chair but apparently not. He walked slowly and wobbled twice before Cain told us to wait on the bench in the lobby for him to bring the car around.

  “How did you fall?” I asked after we sat down.

  “My sisters have a bunch of friends over so I was going to sneak in the back way but with my parents gone, of course they haven’t salted out there. Stepped up and my feet flew out from underneath me.”

  “Ouch.”

  “No shit.” He glanced out the window and added, “Cain’s here. Let’s go.”

  I walked slow beside him until he was safely ensconced in the back seat of Cain’s car and we were on the road back to his apartment. He held my hand, stroking the side with his thumb. I sat back into the seat and watched the muscles in his arm tighten and release whenever he turned. I couldn’t believe most of the day had passed yet Cain, and I still hadn’t had a moment alone.

  I didn’t care if Sam was spending the night, Cain and I were going to make up for lost time one way or another.

  Back home, Cain walked super close to Sam as he made his way up the walk. It wasn’t that Sam couldn’t do it himself, but he seemed… off balanced. Cain would be there to catch him if he fell again. Once inside, Sam dropped onto the couch with a sigh.

  “Sorry to cock block you,” Sam said to Cain as I headed to the kitchen to get him a drink. He might need to take pain meds soon and having a drink would be handy.

  “You’re not cock blocking anything,” Cain said back.

  “True. Like I haven’t heard you two before.”

  “Uh, can we talk about something else?” I asked when I came back.

  “Flannery remember you’re always welcome to come over to my room if he disappoints you. I am the far better choice and I’m not an asshole,” Sam looked past Cain to say to me.

  I cocked my head to the side and said, “You’re not?”

  He shook his head. “Sick burn, Flan. Sick, sick burn.”

  I giggled as he shook his head. “You guys suck.” Sam pushed up off the couch, headed for where I didn’t know.

  Chapter Four

  Sam didn’t make it far before the door opened, catching us all by surprise. We really needed to start making sure the thing was locked so random people didn’t come in without us knowing. It wasn’t usually a problem but today, since Cain and I wanted some alone time, the apartment was like a busy airport.

  “Shit!” Sam startled, lost his balance, falling back onto the couch. Cain’s hand shot out to grab him or at least try to break his fall a little.

  “You need to be more careful,” I cautioned him as I glanced over to see who had come in. I should’ve known. There were only so many people who’d come in Cain’s apartment without knocking.

  Adam and Kendra were standing barely inside. Kendra with a big smile on her face but Adam looked irritated as hell. Coming to our apartment was absolutely the last thing Adam would’ve wanted to do.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked hurrying toward them.

  “Nothing,” Kendra said back as stood in the doorway with the door still open. “I thought Adam and I would come hang out with you since Cain wasn’t home.” She let her coat fall down her arms and tossed it onto the chair by the door.

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Cain muttered and when I glanced over my shoulder at him he was rubbing a hand over his face.

  “Oh…” she said sounding utterly disappointed. “You’re back.” When she looked over to the couch and noticed that we had company she added, “And Sam’s here? Is this some sort of sex cult I wasn’t aware of?”

  “Yup, I’m back. Thanks for stopping by.” He moved over to the door, grabbed a hold of it, and began pushing it shut with our guests still in the way.

  “Cain,” I said with a giggle. “Leave them alone.” Technically this was my fault. I should’ve at least sent a text telling Kendra Cain finally made it home. If I had, she wouldn’t have dragged Adam here. It wasn’t like I’d had the time to message her, not to mention it slipped my mind. Once he shut the door again I said, “Sam’s here because he has a concussion and needs a babysitter.”

  “Are you OK?” she asked him.

  “I’m fine. But my parent’s house is like Girls Gone Wild. I can’t go back there.”

  “Why not?” Adam asked. “That sounds right up your alley.”

  Sam gagged as if he was going to throw up. “Not with my sisters.”

  Adam chuckled as did Cain. Yeah, it sucked that we were interrupted, but I loved all of us being together which we didn’t get enough of with Sam in California.

  I slipped into the kitchen unnoticed and waved for Adam to follow. He still looked really irritated, and I was dying for the details of what had happened. If his plan to peel off another layer of Kendra’s defenses had worked, or even started.

  “What’s going on?” I asked him as soon as he got close to me.

  “She was worried you’d be alone on Valentine’s Day. Why’s Sam back in town in the first place? If he was in California, he wouldn’t have fallen on ice.”

  “Escaping a girl.”

  Adam snorted. “Sounds right.”

  I loved that none of us were very surprised by the fact that Sam was running from a girl. When he’d moved to California, I’d secretly hoped he’d find the one, but it was becoming more and more apparent that he wasn’t even looking.

  “I don’t care about Valentine’s day by the way,” I told him.

  “Yeah, I know,” Adam agreed.

  “Then what—”

  “You know Kendra, Flannery. It was probably just an excuse.”

  Yeah, I did know Kendra, and I loved her but man was she clueless when it came to him. I patted Adam on the back with sympathy.

  “Sorry, Adam,” I said as I began rubbing circles instead of patting. “She’ll realize what she’s got one day.”

  He shook his head and shrugged. “We’ll see if I’m still around to find out.” He turned away from me abruptly and left the kitchen. Apparently he didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

  When Adam got back out with the others, he joined into the conversation as if he’d been there the whole time and laughed at something Sam said. Adam was a pro at acting like Kendra’s attitude didn’t bother him but one day… that guy was going to explode.

  “So, Sam is staying here?” Kendra asked when I got back out there.

  “Apparently,” Cain said back dryly.

  “Stop,” I said to him with a giggle. “He’s debilitated. He can’t do anything for himself. Look at how helpless he is. His entire body is now broken.”

  “Not my entire body,” Sam quipped with a wink at me. “Listen, I’ve got to take a shower.” He stood up, rubbed his head, and shuffled away.

  “Should he be showering alone?” Kendra asked me.

  “Are you volunteering?”

  She shuttered. “Not even close. But they could help him.” She pointed to where Adam and Cain were. “Guys see guys naked all the time.”

  “No,” Cain and Adam said at the same time.

  While I tried to stifle a giggle, I said, “Go see if he needs anything. Make su
re he’d steady. He keeps wobbling.”

  Sam had left some clothes here when last he visited so he’d at least have some pajamas and a few other clothing items. We’d have to check, but it’d be good enough for now and we’d have to keep him a wake for a while. The nurse said we have to make sure he doesn’t sleep for a little while and wake him up every two hours over night.

  “Fine,” Cain said while rolling his eyes. He hurried off to the bathroom but called back, “Adam, grab him some clothes from the guestroom.”

  Adam groaned but did it, anyway.

  These guys were babies. I’d help Kendra shower if she needed it and she’d do the same. Hell, I’d help Sam shower if the guys weren’t here.

  Twenty minutes later the three of them returned. Sam’s hair was still wet while both Cain and Adam’s shirts had been splattered with tiny drops of water.

  “What the…” I said pointing at Cain’s shirt though I probably didn’t really want to know.

  “He put up a fight.”

  “Yeah, silly me. I don’t like to have my personal private space invaded,” Sam countered as he lowered himself back to the couch. “I’m hungry. They didn’t say anything about not eating.”

  “Right,” I agreed. “Why don’t we order in?”

  “Pizza would be perfect.”

  “On it.”

  I headed into the bedroom to grab my phone and was about to dial our regular pizza place when someone slid in behind me. Hands passed over my hips and pulled me into a hard, warm mass behind me.

  “Cain,” I said more a sigh than an actual word.

  “I want to bounce them all out the door,” he whispered into my ear. “I need you. It’s not even a want anymore.”

  I turned into his arms and wrapped mine around his waist. He pulled me tightly against him again, his erection hard against my stomach. Cain leaned down and kissed me. It wasn’t soft. It was needy and hard like the rest of him. His tongue swept into my mouth as he moved me back against the dresser. The moment reminded me of a time when we were in Florida for spring break. Not long after we first got together. He had me on the dresser exactly like this, but we were interrupted by his brother.