Page 8 of By Candlelight

Well god dammit.This was a complication I really didn’t need. I finally caught a break and of course, there’d been some sort of mix up. If I were a gentleman, I’d leave, no questions asked.

Once upon a time, I was a gentleman. But now, I was a tired and grumpy asshole who just wanted to get some fucking sleep. And Pollyanna was here complicating everything. But the worst part was that she was most definitely in the right. She paid to be here, and made arrangements with Alex, and here I was fucking up her vacation.

But I didn’t have anywhere else to go. That was embarrassing as hell to admit. My car was busted, and Alex wasn’t answering, probably already in bed for the night.

The pretty little thing kept sneaking glances at me. I knew I made her off-kilter, but I found myself kind of liking it. Did that make me a sadist?

“Wait a minute, how did you even get here? There’s no other cars outside and no garage.”

“My tire busted out on the road. I walked the rest of the way. So like I said, I’m not going anywhere. At least not till tomorrow morning when Rick comes to bring me a spare.” Recognition flashed on her face and I figured she remembered seeing my car on the side of the road.

“Well what do you propose we do? I’m just supposed to trust that I’m safe here with you? I don’t even know your name.”

She had a point, so I tried to keep my annoyance hidden. I didn’t think I was doing a good job at it, but I tried at least. I opened the lock screen on my phone and went to the hospital’s website. I found the staff page and showed her my dumbass photo. She took the phone and paced the room while looking at it.

“You work for the hospital?”

“Yes.”

“You’re the director of security?”

“Yes.”

“You seem a little young for such a big job.”

“Okay.”

“Andrew?”

“Drew.”

She handed the phone back to me, seemingly satisfied for now, and then held her hand out.

“I’m Mia.”

I looked at her hand and fought the smile that wanted to form on my lips. This chick was adorable. And I didn’t find anything adorable. But I shook her hand because I didn’t want to leave her hanging.

Interesting that I cared.

“Well, there’s only one bed here. Alex told me the other one was ruined and the new mattress hasn’t come in yet.”

“Whatever, I’ll just sleep on the couch.”

“This couch?”

We both looked at it and I shrugged.

“This couch is about two feet too small for you.”

“Yeah, well, I’ll deal with it. You paid for the bed, I’m not gonna take it from you.”

She kept looking at me, and why did I like it so much? But it also felt too real. Half of me basked in the attention this beautiful woman was showing me and the other half wanted to run and hide.Don’t let anyone in.It had become a motto for a reason. I needed to keep it that way.

Mia turned and walked up the stairs without another word. I guess that settled that. She wasn’t giving me a second thought. That was for the best. But then a moment later I heard her footsteps return to the top of the stairs. And when she walked down, Her hands were full of pillows and a big, fluffy blanket.

She walked right past me and began to make up the couch for me, turning it into as comfortable a bed as she could make it. She even smoothed her delicate hand over the blanket, ridding it of wrinkles. And shit, that made my chest ache a little, and I didn’t know why.

She looked at me one more time, before nodding and heading back to the stairs, but paused on her way up.

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