Fated Bliss (Bliss #2) (19 page)

I glanced down at the notepad and lifted a brow, amused. “Are we gonna be buddies now?”

“Trust me, when it comes to Sam, you’re gonna need someone to help you blow off some steam. She’s a firecracker and will test your limits at every turn.” He appeared to enjoy the prospect immensely.

“I don’t doubt it.” I laughed, rubbing a hand down my face. This day was bizarre, to say the least.

“Plus, you’re new to town,” Adam added, shrugging.

“Thanks.”

We were silent for a second, and I could tell that Adam wanted to ask something.

“Get on with it,” I finally demanded.

“Is that kid really yours?”

I didn’t expect that question.

“Yes.” I blanked my face, not knowing where this was going.

“You’re around my age, so that had to put you at, what, sixteen when he was born?”

Everyone’s always curious about that.

I’d grown accustomed to questions and judgements when it came to my son. Even if the situation around his conception was on the up and up, and whether I was ten or fifty when he was born, I couldn’t be prouder to call Lincoln my son. No one could take that away from me. If anyone didn’t like it, they could take a flying leap.

I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms over my chest, narrowing my eyes. “I was just shy of seventeen when he was born,” I explained, but I wasn’t going to give him any other details.

Adam held up his hands. “Whoa! I was just askin’ a simple question. There’s no need for the death stare.”

“Yet, you find that I’m suspicious of your question.”

“I’m curious.” He lifted one shoulder, unruffled. “Not judgin’. I couldn’t imagine bein’ that young and becomin’ a father.” He turned thoughtful. “By your reaction, you encountered a lot of judgmental assholes because of it.”

I relaxed slightly. “That’s putting it mildly.”

“But you still managed to go to medical school. That’s impressive.” His expression morphed into one of compassion. “Had to be tough.”

I let out a bitter bark of laughter. “It’s not tough when you’ve got a rich father paying your way. He dreamed that I’d be a neurosurgeon one day, so he took care of everything. He flipped when he found out that wasn’t happening and almost stopped footing the bill. My mother stepped in on Linc’s behalf.”

“Sounds like there’s no love lost between you and your old man,” Adam deduced with a wince. “I can relate. I hate my dad. He cheated on my mom my entire life and didn’t care about how it affected my brother or me.”

I was on uncomfortable ground with him again. Seriously, this guy was excellent at pulling information out of me. I needed to wrap this up.

“Are we going to continue to bare our souls, or are we done here?”

Adam smirked, dipping his chin. “We’re done.” He stood and walked to the door. “Oh, and good luck with Sam.”

It took a whole ten minutes after he left to realize that the sneaky bastard had written Samantha’s number under his.

Chapter 18

Samantha

Groggily, I tried
to pry my eyes open. There was a dull pain in my face and arm, and my head felt wrong…weird.

“She’s wakin’ up,” I heard Mom say.

“’Bout time,” Adam grumbled. “I’ve missed a half a days’ worth of work.”

“Oh, stop your bellyachin’,” Dad chided, laughing. “You could have left an hour ago. You’re worried like the rest of us.”

“True,” Adam agreed easily. “But I mainly stayed to see her face when she realizes what she said when she was all doped up.”

Doped up?

Why would I be doped up?

“Adam,” Grey warned, his tone chilling.

“What do you mean, what she said? What are you two hidin’?” Mom questioned, peeved.

Grey’s voice came back final. “Nothin’.”

Uh, oh.

Mom was about to flip.

“Grey, you know better-”

“Argh,” I groaned. “All this racket is givin’ me a headache. Can y’all shut up?”

The room quieted, but I heard movement. Someone touched my face and smoothed my hair back, and I recognized it as Mom’s touch.

“Sam?” she whispered, worried. “You okay?”

“If I could get my eyes to work, I might be,” I muttered, trying to fight off the drowsiness. Slowly, I blinked my eyes open, but the light was too bright and I had to squint to take in the room. It took a moment to realize I was in Dr. Melbourne’s clinic. “What on earth?” I murmured and glanced around, experiencing a weird sense of déjà vu.

Had this happened before?

It took another moment to realize Mom, Dad, Grey, and Adam were surrounding my bed. However, it was the face at the end of the bed that puzzled me.

Ben.

No, not Ben, I recalled suddenly.

Linc.

Memories of Ben flooded my brain, though the one of me telling the entire room that I had crazy monkey sex with Ben stood out the most. Gently, I covered my face with my hands and let out another groan, but this one was out of mortification.

“Are you in pain?” Mom asked, more concerned. “I can see if Lily can give you some more pain medication.”

“No!” I cried.

Adam snickered, sang, “I think someone’s rememberin’.”

“Shut it,” I snapped, then immediately regretted it.

More pain meds might be a good idea.

Everything in my face throbbed.

“Do you need anythin’?” Dad asked softly.

A one-way ticket out of the country
, I wanted to say. How in the hell was I going to face Grey after telling him that? And Ben! Dear God, Ben was in Bliss. He
lived
in Bliss. What was I supposed to do with that?

“No, Dad,” I told him and uncovered my flaming face, leveling him with pleading eyes. “Just get me out of here and get me home.”

“We’re waitin’ for Dr. Rhodes to come back, and then we’ll be able to get you out of here,” he assured me, offering me a tender smile.

I shot Grey and Adam a panicked look. “What?”

“You need the all clear from Ben,” Adam stated, grinning like a Cheshire cat. “I mean Dr. Rhodes.”

I gave him the evil eye and then flinched.

Damn, that hurt.

“I brought you some clothes,” Mom said, glancing between us. She knew something was up, but she was waiting to spring her questions on me. They were coming, though. “I ran to your house while you were asleep. I figured you’d want to get out of your bloody clothes.”

I glanced down at myself and saw that she was right – I had blood all down the front of me.

Crap, that’s one of my favorite tops.

Tentatively, I agreed, “Yeah, sure.”

“How are you feeling?” a new voice asked.

I peeked up at Linc, who was still apprehensive. “I’ll be fine. Nothin’ a little rest and time won’t take care of,” I assured the poor kid.

It was insane to look at him. The resemblance between father and son was striking. That brought up so many questions, but I wasn’t about to ask them. I needed to get away from Ben and his son as fast as I could. My head was too muddled to deal with it. Also, there was the damaged part of my heart that said
flee now
that I couldn’t ignore.

How was I supposed to live in the same town as Ben?

This had train wreck written all over it.

“Come on,” Mom urged, helping me sit up, and then addressed everyone else. “Y’all give us a minute to get her changed.”

No one argued as they shuffled out of the room, leaving us alone. Mom was quiet, which was a bad sign, as she helped me out of my shorts and blouse. Where my shoes were was beyond me, but she had enough foresight to bring another pair of flip flops.

Finally, after changing, I moved off the gurney and sat on the exam table, my breathing labored. It hurt like hell to move my arm.

“Here,” Mom murmured as she walked towards me with a sling. “Lily brought it for you. Ben said you needed to wear it until your arm heals.”

“Great,” I grumbled, knowing I’d be wearing it for a long while.

How was I supposed to work with one arm?

Mom helped me slip the sling over my shoulder and gently placed my arm in it, saying, “Clara has already said she’ll help at the B&B. I’m more than willin’ to do my part, too. You only need to worry about getting better.” She knew exactly where my mind was going.

“I just got back, Mom. Today was my first day back at work,” I complained, aggravated.

“Yeah, well…it wasn’t like you asked to get hurt,” she retorted frankly. “Accidents happen, Sam.”

I had no rebuttal.

She pushed my hair behind my ears and studied me. “We’re gonna have to do somethin’ about your hair. You’ve got blood and dirt all in it.”

“Wonderful,” I muttered.

“Ben said that you need to keep your movements to a minimum until your arms better. I’ll take care of it.”

I wanted to say something snarky, but I didn’t have the energy. “Okay, Mom,” I replied instead.

“Wow. You must’ve hit your head a lot harder than I thought. You’re not fightin’ me on this,” Mom teased.

“Just wait ’til I feel more myself. I won’t stop bitchin’.”

Mom sighed and shook her head mournfully. “And…she’s back.”

That dragged a smile from me.

“What were Grey and Adam talkin’ about earlier?” she wondered, eyeing me keenly.

And…the smile crashed and burned.

“I have no idea what you’re talkin’ about?” I feigned innocence, breaking eye contact.

Before she could interrogate me, a knock sounded at the door, saving me.

“Come in,” I hollered, praising God for His divine intervention.

Then Ben walked in.

Why me?!

I wanted to throw my hands in the air and cry out at the injustice of the situation.

I was mad at him. Okay…beyond mad – infuriated. Nevertheless, my body was fully aware of his, betraying me. Like before, my mouth was dry, my heart hammered in my chest, and my skin tingled. Even my nipples were pebbled, rubbing against my bra annoyingly, and ached.

“Samantha,” he murmured quietly, letting his eyes drag down my body. Every time the man looked at me it was as if he was touching me.
Grrr.
“You look better. How are you feeling?”

“Like I got into a fight with a rake, and the rake won,” I snarled, glowering at him.

“Samantha!” Mom cried, horrified. “What’s gotten into you?”

Humor lit Ben’s expression, but he blanked it quickly. “Do you mind leaving us for a moment, Emma? I need to speak with Samantha.”

My eyes bugged out, and I glanced at Mom, silently pleading with her not to leave.

She was oblivious.

“Sure,” she offered and grabbed her purse, heading straight for the door. “I’ll be in the waitin’ room while you two finish.”

She left without a backward glance at me.

I’m in hell.

“Samantha…” he whispered, moving so that he stood right in front of me. I stared at my lap, unable to meet his eyes. I’d turn into a pile of mush if I did. “Everything came back fine. No fractures. You’re lucky.”

“Yeah…thanks. Great. Can I go now?”

Instead of agreeing, he stated softly, “I came with a peace offering.”

That snagged my curiosity. “A peace offerin’?” I repeated, feeling a mix of disbelief and affection, and finally met his gaze.

He smiled and handed me his cell phone. “Yes. Here.”

My brows hit my hairline. “Your phone?”

“Actually, it’s the person on the phone,” he explained. There was a cute twinkle in his gorgeous eyes. “Go ahead…take it.”

Intrigued, I took his phone from him and placed it against my ear. “Hello?”

“Good for you,” I heard. “Don’t let him off the hook easily.”

A full smile curved my lips. “Lyric?”

There was laughter in her voice. “Yes, ma’am. How are you feeling, Carolina? Ben said you took a nasty spill.”

“That’s one way of puttin’ it.” Belatedly, it hit me that I was mad at her, too. “You’ve got some explainin’ to do.”

“You’re not letting me off the hook either, I see.”

“I believe there were plenty of moments durin’ the night you could’ve told me that Ben was livin’ in Bliss, the same town where I told you I lived. Oh, and nice job with the whole Dr. Melbourne charade. Great uncle, my ass.”

I noticed Ben’s forehead scrunch in surprise.

Guess he didn’t know about that.

I’d think on that later.

“And where would the fun be in all that?” Lyric teased, giggling.

“You did it on purpose?” I couldn’t believe my ears.

“Obviously. I’ve been waiting on pins and needles for the sparks to fly since Ben got into town.”

“Lyric…” I growled.

“He didn’t know either, Sam,” she informed me, her voice lowering with urgency. “I didn’t tell him. Once you disappeared, I figured you two would run into each other eventually, so I didn’t say anything. He’s already chewed my ass out for it.”

“I disappeared?” I questioned slowly, trying to keep up.

“Yep. I looked all over for you. So did Ben.”

I glanced up at Ben, shocked, and found him staring at me, watching my every facial expression raptly. “Is that right?” I asked her.

“Yes,” she replied instantly – there was no hesitation whatsoever. “I know you probably have a few questions-”

“A few?”

“Just give him a chance to explain. You probably don’t want to hear this, but he didn’t have a choice. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

“I don’t c-”

“Don’t give me that bullshit, Carolina. I saw the two of you together – fireworks exploded between you guys. You have an ungodly amount of chemistry. He hasn’t been able to stop thinking or looking for you.”

I swallowed thickly. “I don’t know what to say to any of that.”

“Just give him a chance.”

There was too much info to sort through right now. I had enough surprises for one day, so I only replied, “I’ll think about it.”

“Guess that’s good enough,” she backed down. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I wasn’t trying to set you up or anything.” She hesitated. “Okay, maybe I was, but it was in fun. How could I have known that Ben would have to up and leave the country like that?”

Leave the country?

What on earth happened to him?

“And how would I have known that you would have checked out of your room and escaped, destination unknown?” she continued, unaware of my curiosity. “I thought you two would figure it out while you were together or something. It was like my personal soap opera playing out in real life. You two almost spoiled the fun. Still, this is
way
better.”

I groaned. “You’re crazy.”

“Well, yeah… I’m surprised you’re just figuring that out.”

I huffed, but it turned into a laugh. She was too much.

“Good job on the smack to the face. He deserved that for leaving without waking you,” Lyric went on, and I felt my face flame again. “Mags and I told him he’d have some ass kissing to do, the idiot.”

“That’s one way to put it.”

Her tone turned serious again. “Sam, I know you don’t want to hear this right now. I’m sure you’re angry with him…and rightfully so. But Ben had a good reason for what happened. As one of his best friends, I will tell you that he’s an amazing man. The best. He’s had nothing but shit piled on him for years. I saw more contentment in him while he was with you, and later, when he talked about you, than I ever have before. I’m not trying to meddle – I’m just stating the truth.”

“Lyric…” I drawled, unsure. My feelings for the man were already too complicated.
Everything
about this situation was complicated.