Page 16 of The Billionaire's Fortunate Accident
Beep. Beep. Beep.
I opened my eyes. My cell phone, lying on the nightstand, lit up as the alarm clock went off. “Shit.”
My body was hot and shaking from the intensity of the dream. The room leaned as I sat up — dizziness had the room spinning. I held my head in my hands as I took in slow, deep breaths to calm myself down.
It had all felt so real. But as I sat there, trying to bring myself back to reality, it struck me that my subconscious was already at work. I wanted Stone Nash, and I wanted him badly.
Going to shower, I had to make sure my brain, heart, and soul knew that I could not be in a relationship with anyone at this point in my life. I had too much going on to even try to have something with that man.
Most nights, I didn’t have any time for anything but grabbing a few hours of sleep. I couldn’t be what any man would need me to be right now. It wouldn’t be fair for someone to have to deal with my crazy schedule.
I wasn’t selfish. I wasn’t some dimwit who thought I could make something work for me and Stone. Nothing would work for us. Not yet anyway.
Dreams like this would wreck my days, I knew that for sure. I couldn’t be daydreaming about him or anyone. I had to focus, and I couldn’t do that if my subconscious was busy falling in love with Stone Nash.
No one had come into my life in the last six years, so why it had to happen now was a mystery to me. All of a sudden, the light at the end of a long tunnel that I’d finally seen seemed to be growing further and further away.
Once I graduated from medical school, I still had to get through three to seven years of residency. Sure, I wouldn’t have to take a second job since I would get paid, but I wouldn’t get paid that much either. And the hours I would have to put in would be the same as I was putting in now.
I couldn’t ask anyone to understand why I’d brought this onto myself. I couldn’t ask anyone to love me. Not now. Not even five years from now. Stone was a pipedream.
Even though it wasn’t a thing I wanted right now, I knew the right thing to do would be to not talk to Stone when he came to see me at work. If I made it seem like I was too busy to talk, eventually, he’d just stop coming by.
Leaning my back against the cold tiled shower wall, I couldn’t believe how my heart ached with the thought. Stone and I had spent a total of a couple of hours together, and there I was, heartsick with the thought of blowing him off.
My subconscious was a real problem. But I would work hard to get control of it. I had to. There was no other choice. Stone wasn’t a viable choice for me. Plus, he didn’t seem like the kind of man who stuck around long anyway.
Maybe if I gave him one night, we’d get each other out of our systems and be able to move on.
I knew that human nature made the unattainable incredibly attractive. But once the unattainable was attained, that attraction grew to be less and less. And eventually, there wasn’t enough attraction left to bother with.
There wasn’t any time to give to the man. But if I didn’t find a way to get him out of my mind, I might end up flunking a class. And I couldn’t flunk a class. Or I might end up not doing well with my internship. And I had to do well with that. Then again, I might end up falling asleep at work, and if that happened, they’d fire me for sure. I couldn’t lose my job either. It paid for half my school.
I didn’t know how to get out of this tight spot.Give in to my desires, and risk way too much. Not give in to my desires, and still risk too much.
Nothing made sense. My world seemed topsy turvy. And it was all that handsome Stone Nash’s fault. I already rued the day he’d stumbled into Hamburger Hut and stolen my damn heart.
Shaking my head, I had to rid it of that idea. “He hasn’t stolen your heart. It’s just lust. It’s just an attraction. There can’t be any real feelings. You don’t even know each other enough to figure out if you actually like him. He’s nice to look at. He’s built like a brick house. And he’s charming in his own way. Just calm the hell down.”
I wasn’t one to talk to myself, so that was out of character for me, and it bothered me a bit. I wasn’t the type of person who let others affect me much. I did my own thing. I was my own person. I didn’t need anyone. And I sure as hell didn’t need this man getting into the deep crevices of my brain, trying to pull me away from my main goal in life — becoming a well-respected doctor.
I could just give in and get things over with. I’m sure that’ll work for us both.
But what if a few hot times aren’t enough for either of us?
Chapter Nine
Stone
I’d never felt so pumped for something as simple as going to talk to a girl since I was a kid in grade school. But just as I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed a big truck coming in behind me. It went around to the back of the place, and I had this sinking feeling that the arrival of that damn truck would keep Jessa busy for quite a while.
Sitting in my truck, I watched and waited for the delivery truck to leave. An hour later, it finally left, and I got out, still unsure if Jessa would be free to talk to me anytime soon.
Tammy stood behind the counter, the lackluster smile plastered on her face faded as I walked inside. “She’s busy, Romeo.”
“I’ll wait.” Taking a seat in a booth in the back, I pulled out my cell and looked for a game to play so I could pass the time.
Before the game had even started, I heard a terrible crashing sound coming from the kitchen, followed by a horrible howling noise. Tammy sprinted around the little partition. “What the hell’s going on back here? Oh, God! Josie, what did you do?”
