“You need to move,” he said in a husky voice.

  I stepped back but kept my eyes on him to make sure he didn’t fall. “I, uh, need to get on your other side,” I reminded him.

  His eyes flared as he looked at me. “I need a fucking minute, Shiloh.”

  Okay. I nodded and stood there, waiting.

  “Fuck,” he muttered and clenched his teeth. “Come help me. I can’t keep standing much longer.”

  I hurried to his side and slid under his arm, and then we made our way back to his bed. Turning so he could sit down without falling, I went slowly, and finally, he put some weight on me. When he was back in bed, I stood up, and he let me help him scoot back, which was a first. Then, I moved his cast back onto the bed.

  Feeling accomplished and like I was doing my job for once, I leaned over him to adjust his pillow. It had slipped down. He said nothing while I did it, but his deep intake of breath made me pause. I pulled back and looked at him.

  “That’s enough,” he said quietly.

  I stepped back and made my way back over to the chair.

  “Fucking peaches,” he muttered.

  Did he want peaches? I waited for him to say more, but he didn’t say anything. When the silence continued, I reached for my e-reader. He slept some, and Huck came by to check on him. I used that time to go to the bathroom myself and get a bottle of water. When I returned, they were talking in hushed voices. I paused at the door, and Gage’s eyes locked on me.

  “I can come back later,” I said.

  He shook his head. “No, we’re done.”

  I walked in and went back to my chair. Huck gave me a nod on his way out.

  “How’s your pain? Need anything for it?” I asked him. It had been well over the time he usually needed pain medicine.

  He shook his head.

  I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket and pulled it out to check my messages. It was Wilder.

  Back home. Dishwasher crisis is over. Want me to bring home barbecue and we can watch some more iZombie?

  I smiled at the dishwasher crisis and started to text him back.

  “Who is it?” Gage’s question startled me.

  I looked up at him, and he was glaring at the phone in my hand. I wasn’t supposed to use my phone here. Crap, I had forgotten.

  “I’m sorry. I forgot,” I replied and went to put it in my bag.

  “Who is it?” he repeated more forcefully.

  “A friend,” I replied.

  “Male?”

  I nodded.

  His jaw tensed as he stared at me before turning his attention back to the television so he could glare at it.

  “I never get texts during the day. It was an honest mistake.”

  He continued to look at the television as if it were his next victim. I wasn’t going to keep apologizing. I was here because he’d wanted me to come back. I’d forgotten a rule. He could get over it.

  “How many friends do you have?” he asked.

  “Male or female or both?” I straightened in my chair.

  “Male.”

  “One.”

  He let out a hard laugh. “Yeah. Guys aren’t friends with women who look like you.”

  I narrowed my gaze. “Yes, they are, and that doesn’t even make sense. How I look doesn’t factor into it.”

  His head turned back to me. The look in his eyes made me shiver. “Is he heterosexual?”

  I nodded.

  Gage’s jaw worked back and forth, and his nostrils flared. “Then, he’s thinking about sinking his dick into your hot little pussy every fucking time he’s around you and jerking off with you in his head when he’s not.”

  Several things happened to me. I was taken aback by his choice of words. My nipples got hard, and I had to press my legs together to ease the throb caused by Gage Presley referring to the area between my legs as a hot little pussy. Oh my God, what was wrong with me? I didn’t respond this way—ever.

  He was staring at my legs and breathing heavily. If he didn’t stop, I was going to need a time-out—alone.

  “You’re pressing your thighs together.” He sounded angry.

  I said nothing. I wasn’t about to explain that one.

  He lifted his eyes to mine. “Are you wet?”

  I swallowed and stared at him. He was asking me about that? Wow, yeah, not answering him.

  “Shiloh!” He raised his voice, and I jumped. “Are you fucking wet?” he growled.

  I closed my eyes tightly so I didn’t have to look at him. “Why are you asking me that?”

  “You’re pressing your thighs together. You do that when you’re wet and horny.”

  Another thing he knew about me. Which meant … which meant we had done things. If I had left at nineteen, he’d have been twenty-four—my age now—when we might have done things. I opened my eyes to stare at him. Had we done sexual things when I was that young?

  “I left here at nineteen,” I said, my voice sounding as if I’d just run a mile. “You would have been my age now.”

  His grin looked evil, and because I was messed up in the head, it was also sexy. “Trust me, I know when you fucking left.”

  That hadn’t answered my question.

  “You need to go,” he said, looking like he would strangle me if he could.

  I stood up to leave the room.

  “Take your shit. Go home,” he barked.

  I picked up my bag, then looked back at him. I wanted to ask him what about my question had made him angry. The fury in his expression stopped me from saying another word. I hurried out of the room. Uncle Neil wouldn’t be here for a few more hours. I wasn’t going to explain that to Gage though. I went downstairs and walked toward the kitchen with my phone in my hand. I’d text Uncle Neil and see if he could come now.

  Levi was standing at the fridge when I walked in the kitchen, and Kye was at the table, looking down at his phone.

  “You leaving?” Levi asked, looking at the bag on my arm.

  “Yes. He told me to go home.”

  Levi frowned and looked at the time. “It’s only three.”

  I nodded. I was aware of that.

  “He give you a reason?” Levi asked me.

  I pressed my lips together and tried to decide how to word this. Levi stood there, waiting on me to say something. I wished he’d just ask Gage himself.

  “Uh, well, I think a conversation we were having went in a direction that made him angry.”

  Levi closed the fridge and cocked an eyebrow. “What was the conversation?”

  I tucked some hair behind my ear. “It, uh, well, you see, he said some things about, uh, that guys can’t be friends with girls like me and that my friend Wilder is secretly attracted to me. It just got out of hand, is all.”

  Levi smirked and shook his head. “He’s not wrong, but that’s not shit he needs to discuss with you.”

  I didn’t respond to that. Instead, I held up my phone. “Is it okay if I text Uncle Neil to see if he can come get me early?”

  Levi nodded his head toward the door. “I’ll take you home,” he said. “Kye, let’s go.”

  Kye stood up and waited on me to follow Levi as he started to walk toward the other kitchen door. I didn’t argue because he wasn’t waiting on a response from me. I figured it was pointless. We walked through the living room and to another door leading into the garage.

  Levi pulled out his phone as he walked toward a black sedan. “Yeah, check in on Gage. He sent Shiloh home, so I’m giving her a ride. Kye is with me.” He paused. “You ask him.” He ended the call.

  I noticed the Mercedes symbol on the front of the car as the lights flashed on it and the doors unlocked.

  “Let’s go,” he said to me as he opened the driver’s door.

  The thought that this could be the last time I saw Gage occurred to me, and it didn’t feel good.

  Fifteen

  Gage

  The brunette Levi had brought home last night was draped over him on the sofa while they slept. Both of them were naked.

  She’d sucked my dick and straddled me on the bed so that she could sink down on me without putting pressure on my ribs or chest. Then, I watched her and Levi fuck for over an hour. It had been a good distraction, but when I was coming, it wasn’t the brunette I had thought about.

  When Carmichael had called last night to tell me the replacement nurse would arrive today, I’d agreed because I knew, for my sanity, Shiloh had to go. That hadn’t kept me from throwing the remote across the room when I hung up or the fact that it fucking physically hurt to think I wouldn’t see her again. Sitting in that damn chair. Fixing my pillow and torturing me with her scent.

  I ran a hand through my hair and glared at the ceiling. Not even a fucking week, and she had me screwed up. Why? What was it with this one woman? It didn’t help that she was different now. Especially since all the shit that had changed was the stuff that had led to our destruction. Gone was the spoiled princess with a cruel streak. She was now fucking perfect. Fate was a bitch.

  “Mmm,” the female whose name I could not remember moaned and stretched on top of Levi.

  He reached up and grabbed a handful of her ass. Not even the sight of an available pussy put me in a good mood.

  “Morning,” Levi said sleepily. “Gonna ride my dick before we get up?”

  She laughed and reached over to take a condom from the floor. Tearing it open with her teeth, she rolled it down on his morning wood like a pro, then shifted to sit on top of him.

  “AH!” she cried out as he filled her.

  I watched her bounce on him as he grabbed her waist and began slamming into her hard. She screamed and moaned while her fake tits barely moved. I laid my head back and closed my eyes, letting them finish. It wasn’t doing anything for me.

  She shouted that she was coming, as if we couldn’t tell. Levi groaned as he got his nut, and then I heard him slap her ass.

  “All right, sugar, get on up. I got shit to do.”

  There was a good chance the new nurse would arrive with them both naked in here while used, tied-off condoms littered the floor still. That should make her feel comfortable.

  “What about you?” the brunette purred as she ran a hand under the blankets.

  I started to tell her no thanks, but I reconsidered. Thinking about Shiloh while the brunette had sucked me off made for a fucking good orgasm last night.

  The door opened.

  “New nurse is here. Get dressed and pick up the fucking condoms,” Huck said.

  “I was gonna let her suck my dick before she left,” I told him.

  He shook his head at me. “You’ll fucking scare off the new nurse. Carmichael is with her. He’s got other people to see.”

  Then, Shiloh would have to come back. I didn’t let that thought take root. I shoved that shit out of the way. Having her here was going to be my downfall. I couldn’t do that again.

  Levi started picking up the used condoms as the brunette put her clothes on. I glanced at the empty chair, not liking the idea that someone else was going to sit there. I hadn’t even been able to let the brunette sit in it last night. Another thing that told me I was doing the right thing by not having Shiloh come back.

  Levi left the room, still naked, carrying his clothes, while the brunette followed him. I glanced at my phone and thought about texting Shiloh. I had almost done it last night while I was getting my cock sucked. This morning, it was a little more tempting. Especially since I wouldn’t see her today. I wanted to have some contact.

  Fucking weak. I glared at my phone and my damn lack of self-control.

  “Good morning,” Carmichael said as he walked into the room.

  I looked from him to the woman beside him. She was fifty and built a lot like Huck. He had been full of shit—I wasn’t sure anything would scare off the woman.

  “Gage, this is your new nurse, Doreen. She’s been in the health care business twenty-five years and specializes in patients that need the kind of care you do,” Carmichael began.

  I nodded at Doreen, and she nodded back at me. No smile. All business. Fine, she would work. Hell, she could bathe me too. Fuck knew I wouldn’t be getting a stiff dick with her. This worked out for the best. Carmichael continued to talk, and I tuned him out, then reached for my phone.

  The new nurse is bigger than me.

  I sent it. Why the fuck I’d sent it, I didn’t know. I’d just needed to connect with her somehow.

  No response. I gave it a couple of minutes, and the longer I waited, the more my chest tightened up, and I fucking hated that.

  Don’t go silent on me.

  If she didn’t fucking respond, I was calling her as soon as her uncle got out of here.

  Shiloh.

  Then, finally, the dots appeared. She was texting me back.

  You’re bossy.

  The memory of her asking me if I was bossy and demanding in bed when she had been sixteen came back to me. Fuck, I should have left this alone.

  And demanding.

  I pressed Send because I wasn’t leaving it alone.

  I’m well aware.

  I smiled down at her words.

  You were the one squeezing your legs together yesterday.

  Yep, I was going there. She’d been fucking wet, and it had made me feel an insanity I hadn’t felt in a fucking long time. I had wanted her sitting on my fucking face so bad that I could hardly breathe.

  Why are you doing this, Gage?

  I stared at her question.

  Can’t seem to stop.

  I answered her honestly. She didn’t reply, and I forced myself to put the phone down.

  Carmichael said his goodbyes and left. It was clear that he was in a much better mood now that Shiloh wasn’t here. I couldn’t blame the man.

  “Smells like sex in here,” Doreen said bluntly. “You want to go wash the woman off now or wait until later?”

  She was right. It didn’t smell like peaches and cream. I wanted it gone. It was grating on my nerves.

  Sixteen

  Shiloh

  The next week and a half went by as if the days with Gage had never happened. Sarah came to stay at Wilder’s, and we made cupcakes. I walked with them to the park Saturday afternoon. Tuesday night, I went to dinner with Wilder and his clients. I went back to my office job for Uncle Neil. Things fell back into a pattern I was used to. The one I had made for myself that was comfortable.

  Except, now, it seemed empty.

  Before meeting Gage, I had been perfectly content with my life. How had only a few days changed it all? They hadn’t even been a good few days. They had been painful, confusing, and frustrating. Yet here I was, still missing this guy who had gone out of his way to make sure I knew he hated me.

  I grabbed the bag of potato chips from the pantry and poured them over my rocky road ice cream, then went to watch Gossip Girl. I was on season three, and I freaking loved ice cream with potato chips. All things I would never have known if Gage hadn’t told me.

  I glanced at my phone lying on the coffee table. It had taken me four full days of checking my text messages constantly to accept he wasn’t sending any more. I’d asked him why he was doing it, and he had said he couldn’t seem to stop. That was it. Nothing more. He stopped. Out of sight, out of mind for him. Wished I could do that as easily.

  As if I had summoned my phone to do something, it rang. I stared at it, confused, because that was rare, then reached over to pick it up. Gage’s name lit up the screen. I glanced at the time. It was after nine. For one brief second, I considered not accepting it.

  “Hello?” I said, realizing this was stupid.

  “Hey.” His deep voice came over the line.

  Dang, that was a powerful jolt.

  I waited since he was the one who had called me.

  “How’s your week been?” he asked me.

  I frowned, looking down at my ice cream. Had he called to see how I was doing?

  “Uh, good. Regular routine,” I replied. “How are you and the new and improved nurse?”

  He chuckled. “I wouldn’t go that far. She’s a hard-ass.”

  I was smiling. Dang it, why was I smiling?

  “She can take care of you better.”

  He sighed. “Yeah, I wouldn’t say that either.”

  His tone made goose bumps break out all over my arms and legs.

  “The view isn’t appealing anymore,” he added.

  Yes, I was grinning like a fool. I put my bowl on the coffee table and wrapped an arm around my legs, pulling them up to my chest.

  “I seem to recall your former view not appealing to you either. In fact, it made you angry.”

  He let out a soft laugh. “I tend to get angry when I feel like I can’t control something.”

  I didn’t work there now. Questions were allowed.

  “Gage, you verbally admitted to hating me,” I reminded him.

  “Yeah, I did,” he replied. “But then you weren’t you … or the you I hated.”

  This was a setup for questions. “How am I different? For you, that is? I still have no idea what I did or what we were.”

  He was quiet for a minute. “What do you think we were?”

  I chewed on my bottom lip, thinking about it. Then decided to go with the less likely theory. “Well, I wondered if maybe, since I was younger and you are hot, I had some sort of fatal attraction thing. Like a crazy stalker who ruined your life.”

  The laugh that resonated over the line made my chest feel warm. He had a great laugh. I was sure this meant that I hadn’t been a crazed stalker.

  “No, but damn if I wasn’t slightly tempted just now to make you believe that.”

  I laughed this time. “That would have been cruel.”

  “I’m surprised that was what you came up with,” he said.

  I sighed. “Well, you’re five years older than me. I couldn’t think of a scenario that made sense.”