Page 10 of Heartless Pucker in Love

April’s cheeks turned crimson. I looked at her from my periphery as I limped over to the coffee machine. Since when did blushing become so…hot?

“I told you I didn’t need anyone, Mom. I’ll be leaving in a couple of days.”

“Actually, it’s best if you have someone tend to those cuts you have on your legs, and…” April stopped talking when I directed my scowl away from Mom and towards her.

The last person I wanted in my personal space was April freaking Bennet. She was the cause of my accident. I massaged the bridge of my nose. Okay, I couldn’t really blame her for my memories of her distracting me. I was just in a foul mood, and it worsened upon seeing her...especially since I’d made a fool of myself the other night in the hospital.

“Yeah, whatever.” Fine, if it made my mother feel better to have a nurse here, I’d play along.

“I thought you’d be happy to have April here, Julian.” Mom gave me a reprimanding look for being rude. “You two went to school together. Weren’t you two friends?”

An awkward silence ensued. I rubbed my heavily stubbled jaw while April’s shoulders visibly tensed. Mom was scourging the refrigerator so she missed the glare April directed at me. I lifted a brow. Clearly, she still hated my guts. I didn’t know how I felt about my nurse hating me. I glanced warily at the medical bag. She probably had sharp objects like needles in there that she could use to take her revenge.

When she got no answer, Mom straightened and turned to glance at us questioningly.

“Yeah, yeah, we were cool,” I lied.

“Great friends,” April backed up, then blushed profusely.

I sank my teeth into my lower lips to hold back my grin. The little liar. She was adorable when she fibbed.

“Good.” Mom clapped her hands. “Well, I have a few errands to run so I’ll leave you two to it. Julian, make sure you eat up.” She waved a hand over the plate of waffles, bacon, and eggs she’d prepared.

I almost groaned out loud when April smirked. She probably thought I was a momma’s boy. Mom could be so embarrassing sometimes.

“Andy, we’re leaving in five!”

“But I want to stay with Miss April!” he shouted back from upstairs.

Mom huffed. “I’d never subject April to more than five minutes with you, Casanova.”

Hanging my head, I chuckled. Andy was a riot. Plus, we hung out a lot when I wasn’t working or traveling so he’d picked up on the art of flirting.

Mom glared at me over her shoulder. “He’s like this because of you.”

I shrugged then grinned unabashedly.

When April and I were left alone, my amusement vanished. Slowly, I turned to face her. She put her mug down and squared her shoulders. I almost rolled my eyes. It was like we were squaring off for war or something, like we were still kids. She once called me a selfish dickwad with the intelligence of a worm. Of course, that was after I made fun of her silly bedazzled jacket with the humongous plastic daisies sewn onto it. In my defense, I was a thirteen-year-old asshole. I chuckled at the memory and April’s perfectly arched eyebrows scrunched together.

“What's so funny?”

“Memories,” I muttered.

Her eyes narrowed, and I swore I saw steam come out of her ear. Her memories of me weren’t that great, I was sure. A little ashamed of the stupid things I’d said as a kid, I hung my head and sighed. “Look, April?”

“Your mom hired me, right? I can go if you want and get someone else to come in.”

I blinked. “Is that what you want?”

“What I wanted was never to see you again. But, hey, we can’t always get what we want.”

I blew out a long breath. Yup, she still hates me. “Yeah...I’m sorry about the other night. Whatever I might have said, I didn’t mean it.”

Lie. April was a total babe, and I did want to hug her just to have her amazing rack pressed against me for a few seconds. She sure had filled out. Not even the loose scrubs could hide her curves. Jaw clenched, I forced my attention away from her chest to make eye contact.

“I want you here as much as you want to be here, but I’m leaving in a couple of days. It makes no sense to go through the process of hiring someone else.”

April peered at me with contempt, and I was reminded why I didn’t like her much sometimes. I mean, I always thought she was cute, but a little nuts. Who incorporated flowers into everything they wore? Who had to save every freaking animal and insect in nature?

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