Chapter 9

Monday morning - Luke

Thank God.The relief I felt when Ellie told me last night that she was staying nearly made my knees buckle. Hiring her as my nurse began as a good idea but had somehow turned into an obsession. I seriously wasn't entirely sure why. But I only hoped she wouldn't live to regret her decision. To that end, I needed to keep things strictly professional between us. Ellie was hot, that was simply a fact, but we were just friends. And now I was her employer.

I had already called my manager, Mark, and told him the good news. I finally had a new nurse again, and the insurance company could rest easy. He said they'd email me and Ellie all the paperwork she needed to fill out. Of course Mark asked me to have Ellie sign an NDA, and I told him that wasn't necessary. When he insisted, I told him it was non-negotiable. I trust Ellie. That's why I wanted her to take the job so badly.

Once all that was settled, and Dolly was snoring in her bed in the corner of my bedroom, I hopped on my laptop for my weekly therapy session with Dr. Heinselberg. She's a shrink. I'd got her number from Mark. Apparently, rich people did things like go to therapy, and Dr. Heinselberg was popular with several of Mark's other clients. Mark had recommended seeing someone because of the extreme trust issues that had cropped up after the first nurse had taken off to the tabloids with pictures. That and it had become slightly difficult for me to leave the house. I was paranoid there would be someone taking a picture of me behind every bush and tree. Which sounds hella narcissistic until you actually have a picture of you sleeping with your damn mouth open on the internet and getting hundreds of thousands of clicks a day.

Dr. Heinselberg was one of the best psychologists in the country, but she lived in Los Angeles, so we met online. I liked her and had already taken to calling her Dr. H. She was calm and collected and hadn't pushed too much into my past. Though I expected that topic to be broached any time now. And I dreaded it. I already knew why I was screwed up. It didn't take a Ph.D. to figure it out. My parents had a bad marriage, and my dad was an addict…and a flake.

But the fact that I couldn't allow anyone new into my house was a problem. And not even wanting to leave the house lately was worse. I didn't want to give that shady nurse the satisfaction of scaring me into hiding for good. Hence, the therapy.

Dr. H asked her usual questions about how I'd been doing since we last spoke. I told her about Ellie. Dr. H said very little, and she ended with her usual advice that I should plan to take a trip out of the house even for a quick errand. It was something called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Which, from what I'd gathered, basically meant go do the thing you really don't want to do to get used to it.

"Yeah, sure. I'll get right on that," had been my sarcastic reply. Of course we both knew I was being sarcastic because I hated the fact that it had become a thing I couldn't do. Even though I wanted to.

After the session was over, I snapped my laptop shut and glanced up at the huge TV screen in front of my bed. I clicked a couple of buttons on the remote and the screen divided into several smaller vignettes that showed images from all the security cameras at once. The Land Rover had pulled up in front of the garage. Meg and Ellie were just getting back from shopping. I'd sent them out with my credit card to buy Ellie some clothes so she wouldn't have to make a special trip to Milwaukee to pack more. She'd told me it was ridiculous to buy new clothes, but I'd insisted. The truth was, I didn't want her to leave town. Not yet anyway. She might not come back.

I fired off a quick email to my bandmates to make plans for practice later in the week at my house and had just clicked Send when a soft knock sounded on my bedroom door. I got up and opened it to see Ellie standing there in the same sweater and leggings she'd been wearing last night. Those damn leggings. They hugged every curve of her long legs, and her ass was a thing of beauty. The girl was just hot.

Damn it. That was not the sort of thought I should have about my new employee. I shook my head to clear it. No more inappropriate thoughts about Ellie.

"Hey," Ellie said, giving me a bright smile. I liked it when Ellie smiled. I liked it even more when she laughed. I liked both a lot. They were certainly preferable to her frowns or her dirty looks, which were what I was more accustomed to from her. Or, God forbid, her scorching eye rolls.

"Find some clothes?" I asked as Dolly came rushing over to get petted by Ellie.

"Yes, thank you," she said, leaning down to coo in my dog's ear. When she stood again, she said, "I only got a few things. I can wash them when I need them."

"You could get whatever you needed. I told you that."

"I know, but you've already done so much. I mostly just bought some new panties. Nothing expensive."

Oh, damn. The last thing I needed to be thinking about was her panties. Any of them. "Well, you can always go shopping again if you need anything else."

"Thank you," she said. "Anyway, I came up to say that I filled out that paperwork you sent me this morning, and according to my contract, I have to treat your wound once every twenty-four hours or sooner." She tapped the watch on her wrist. "It's time."

"Oh, yeah, of course." I stepped back and opened the door wider to allow her into the room.

She marched directly into the bathroom, and I followed her. Since she already knew where the supplies were, she was pulling them out of the drawer by the time I caught up to her.

"Okay, shirt off," she said in a completely matter-of-fact tone. I couldn't help but notice that she wasn't looking at me. In fact, she was staring quite obviously at the floor.

I pulled my shirt off my right shoulder and took a step toward her. She breathed in deeply before lifting her head. Her gaze moved immediately to focus on my left shoulder, the hurt one. She slowly pulled off the left sleeve and then focused on the tape she'd applied to my wound yesterday. As she worked, I couldn't help but notice her eyes dip lower. She swallowed and shook her head, refocusing her gaze on the gauze.

"Still looks good," she said when the dressing came off.

I so wanted to make another crack about working out. But I was kinda scared she might run from the room. Or knee me in the groin. "Good," I said instead. There. How was that for professional?

Next, she dabbed the clean cotton against the lip of the alcohol bottle and wiped it gingerly across my shoulder. I sucked in my breath, but the sting disappeared after a few seconds. Her fingers lingered on my skin and the feel of her gaze on my bare chest did something to me. Damn. I was getting another hard-on. So freakin' inconvenient. I shifted on my feet, hoping to hell she didn't look down there. Surely, she'd quit immediately if she thought I was being inappropriate. She already thought I was a womanizing player. I didn't need to add anything more to her bad opinion of me.

Ellie made quick work of treating the wound and replacing the dressing. "You're lucky that wound wasn't just a few inches lower," she said, shaking her head.

"I know it. I'm a very lucky man."

Our eyes met and my cock throbbed. She briskly pulled my shirt back up over my left shoulder. I grabbed it and pulled it over my right shoulder as I booked it out of the bathroom.

"Knock, knock," came Meg's voice from the doorway that led into the hall.

"Come in," I called. Damn was I glad for my sister's presence. Immediately made my hard-on disappear.

Ellie came out of the bathroom and stood in the doorway as Meg trotted into the room. "Hey, Ellie, Jeremy got a call from one of his neighbors. Mrs. Timms is in the hospital again."

Mrs. Timms was Remington's next-door neighbor who'd been his dog sitter and general mother figure ever since he'd moved into his craftsman-style bungalow in Milwaukee. He treated her like his real grandma even though they weren't related. Turned out Mrs. Timms didn't have many actual relatives left and she was about ninety years old.

"Oh, no," Ellie said, concern creasing her brow. "How's she doing?"

"It doesn't look good," Meg said, shaking her head. "We were hoping we could use the jet to go back to Milwaukee tonight."

"Of course," I said. "I'll call the pilot." I grabbed my phone and hit speed dial. A few minutes later, it was all set. "They'll meet you there in two hours," I said to Meg after I'd ended the call.

"Thanks, Luke," Meg replied. "I'll go tell Jeremy and pack." She paused at the door. "This means it'll be just the two of you here for a bit," Meg said, arching her brow at both of us, hands on her hips. "Can I trust you two to be civil to each other?"

Ellie's gaze caught mine. I winked at her. "I think we'll be able to handle it."