Page 26 of Vows of Betrayal

Giselle's eyes got watery, and she nodded. “Okay, Francesca. Whatever you say.” She looked down and pursed her lips. “But can you do me a favor?” Her eyes hit mine. “Don't hurt him. He's a wonderful man, and he doesn't deserve it. Be gentle with his heart. Okay? Promise me you'll be gentle.” Giselle looked like she was about to cry. Over what, I had no idea.

So what if she caught me making out with Stefan? That didn't mean we were going to get married and have six kids.

“Look, I don't know you. I don't know Stefan.I don't know any of your family. I don't know what you think you saw the other night. And I don't care. And, no. I won't be hurting anyone.”

Giselle nodded and gave me a small, sad smile. “Okay, fair enough. But he really likes you, Francesca. I can tell. And so do I.” With that, she turned and headed down the hallway.

I decided to get lost for a while. I didn't want to go back into Stefan's room yet. Instead, I helped out some of the other nurses. Until one of them pointed me in the direction of Stefan's room. I was ordered to go “deal with him.”

So, I did.

He was alone when I walked in, and I was glad for it. Giselle seemed nice enough, but she had gotten the total and completely wrong idea about us.

Honestly.

The woman practically already had us moved in together. And that was never, ever going to happen.

Not in a billion years.

“Decided to come back?” he asked, still sitting up in his bed. “Where'd you run off to?”

I walked up to the side of his bed. “I work here, Stefan. I have stuff to do. What do you need? I don't have much time.”

He smiled and set his hand on my arm. “Bullshit. They sent you in here because none of them want to deal with me. Were you the last hired nurse on the floor? I'm assuming everyone else has seniority over you.” His hand started rubbing up and down my arm, and it felt way too good.

“No, I'm not a nurse. I only have my nursing assistant certificate. That's it.”

His eyes narrowed. “What does that mean?”

I sighed and said, “It means I took a course. I don’t have a degree.” Talking about this made me uncomfortable, and I really hoped he gave up on this soon.

“How long did you go to school for your certificate?”

I huffed out a breath. “About five minutes. Any other questions?”

He nodded. “I'm guessing you don't get paid as much as the nurses.”

I let out a laugh. “You guessed right.”

He gave me a frown. “You do everything around here that they do. Why don't you go back for your nursing degree?”

That made me laugh. “Why don't pigs fly, Stefan?”

I tried to pull my arm away from him, but he tightened his grip. “Why are you getting pissed? I just asked you a question.”

I rolled my eyes and stared down at him. “Why do you think? Do you know how much a nursing degree costs? Do you think I'm made of freaking money? Do you even know how long it took me to scrape together the cash to get my stupid certificate?”

He shook his head. “No, how long?” His tone wasn't cutting or mocking.

And that made me take a breath before I spoke again, “It doesn't matter.”

He went quiet for a moment and then asked, “You could take a loan out.”

My head fell back, and I laughed.

Hard. “No, you could take a loan out. Things like that aren't as easy for people like me.”

The confusion on his face was real. And that stunned me. How could he not know what kind of person I was? Where I came from?

---