Sweet Surprise (3 page)

“Okay, but we don’t want
you
to worry about anything either.” Jackson reached down and took her hand. “I can make a call to your insurance company and health-care provider if you want. I’ll check your house and make sure everything’s secure. And Abby already has Izzy’s bedroom pulled together. So we’ve got that covered.”

“It’s a beauty too.” Jana gently tweaked Izzy’s cheek. “Isn’t it, sugarplum?”

Izzy nodded. “But no Unca Weeno castle.”

“I’ll bet if you ask Uncle Reno nicely, he’ll paint you a castle in our new house,” Jackson assured her.

Izzy’s eyes grew wide, and Jana laughed. “Sugarplum, you know you’ve got your Uncle Reno and Aunt Charli wrapped around your little pinkie.”

“They do spoil her.” Fiona stroked her hand down Izzy’s back.

Jackson chuckled. “Amen to that.”

“But no more than the two of you.” Fiona smiled, even if it made her head feel like it would split. “Or Abby. Or Martin. Or Jesse and Allison. You get the idea.”

Jackson and his mother looked at each other and shrugged. Then Jana said, “There are worse things in life than being loved.”

“Well, I do appreciate it. So thank you.” Fiona looked down into her daughter’s worried eyes. “Yay! You get to hang out with Daddy and Abby for a few days while mommy’s ankle gets better.”

“Abby said I can go see the doggies at her rescue.”

Jana chuckled. “She still trying to talk you into getting her a dog?”

“Every day. Every night. And every moment in between.” Fiona smiled, wondering how, since Abby ran an animal rescue center, Izzy hadn’t snuck one home yet. “I told her as soon as we got moved in, we’d talk about it.”

“That’s as good as a yes in her mind.” Jackson’s eyes lit up with complete adoration for their little girl.

A hint of pain crept past the meds, but Fiona recognized the need to let everyone know everything would be hunky-dory, so they’d go home and not worry. Plus she needed some time to figure out how she would manage the rest of the move to Sweet plus set up her cupcake shop on crutches and without transportation.

“Looks like it’s about dinnertime.” As a cue, Fiona glanced at the clock on the wall. “Maybe you guys should head on home.”

“Sugarplum, are you trying to get rid of us?”

“You know better than that,” she told Jana. “Don’t worry, they’ll take good care of me here. And honestly, the less drama the better for you-know-who.” She tilted her pounding head toward Izzy. Too many uncertain elements had dogpiled on a child who’d just turned four to understand why her mommy looked like a punching bag. The less scary talk of injury and such, the better. “If you know what I mean.”

“Message received.” Jackson held out his arms. “Come here, baby girl. How about we head home and see what trouble Miss Kitty and Liberty have gotten themselves into.”

When Izzy moved into his arms, Fiona blinked away the ache of the sudden loss.

Life was as it was meant to be. But sometimes that didn’t make it any easier. Sometimes when Izzy was with Jackson and Fiona had little to do but stare at the four walls, she wished things could have been different. Regret was a powerful medicine that reminded her if she ever found a way to completely trust herself again and start to—gasp—date, it would be a slow and methodical process. No expecting the first guy she dated would be
the one.
No hanky-panky until she was sure there was something more than long-ignored hormones at play.

No sex.

Dang.

She missed the intimacy. The moments when your body let go a big sigh of satisfaction. When your heart felt safe, even if only for a few minutes.

She loved sex.

But there were certain things in life that were far more important.

“Give mommy a kiss.” Fiona leaned toward her daughter at the risk of the blood vessels in her head popping like balloons. “When you get home, ask Abby if she’ll let Liberty sleep in your room tonight.”

“You be okay, Mommy?”

“I’m going to be just fine.”

The kiss Izzy delivered was a tiny buss on the cheek, then Izzy reached for her grandma.

Jana swept her into her arms. “You’re sure it’s okay for us to go?”

Fiona nodded though deep down she really wanted them to stay. Not only for the support and the comfort they gave when she was planted butt first in an unpleasant situation, but the entire incident today had left her drained, confused, and very unsettled. She needed to compose her thoughts and get things figured out in a jiffy.

Independence had been hard-earned. But once she’d gotten her life together, there’d been no looking back. Lying in a hospital bed without options didn’t settle well. Fingers crossed, time would pass quickly, so she could get up and go home. Even if home was currently a new and strange place stacked with unopened boxes and an empty refrigerator.

“We’ll be back first thing in the morning to pick you up,” Jackson said.

“I’d appreciate that.” She touched Jana’s arm. “Could you give us a minute please?”

“Of course.” She bounced Izzy on her hip. “Come on, sugarplum. Grandma’s going to find you a treat in the gift shop. See you downstairs, son.”

Once they walked out the door Fiona looked up at her former husband. “Jackson? I honestly appreciate everything you’ve done. Everything you do for me.” Her heart gave a little twist. “But I’m not your responsibility anymore. You have a beautiful fiancée, a new house, and a wedding that needs your focus. Don’t worry about taking care of my business. I’ll make the call to the insurance and health care companies.”

“But—”

“I’ll be fine.” She patted his hand. “I promise.”

He sighed. “I care about you, Fi.”

“I know you do. The feeling’s mutual. But I’ve got this.” She flashed him a smile. “Now go on and get the heck out of here.”

“Okay. But I’m here if you need—”

“I’ll call if I need anything,” she promised with a chuckle.

Once the room had cleared out, the only sounds that remained were the beep-beep-beep of the heart monitor and the steady march of footsteps moving past her door.

For several minutes, she lay there contemplating her circumstances. She wondered where her purse was so she could make those calls. But when the pounding in her head became unbearable, and the ache in her bones and muscles became too much, she closed her eyes and tried to let the pain medication do its job.

A quiet knock dragged her attention to the doorway and the six-foot-plus, gorgeous, dark-haired, dark-eyed, and built like a Roman god of a man standing there.

Her gaze dropped from his chiseled features to his sculpted body in the blue firefighter’s uniform, then to Izzy’s fluffy white teddy bear clasped in his big hand.

Though her eyes were a bit blurry, she immediately recognized the handsome face as the one from the opposite side of her rain-streaked car window.

And she knew.

Mike Halsey was her knight in shining armor.

Chapter 2

B
y the time Mike ended up at the door to Fiona’s hospital room, he’d convinced himself he was only there to do the right thing. The teddy bear in his hands became his pathetic source of validation.

Somewhere along the path to total denial, he’d persuaded himself that it made sense to return Isabella’s toy. The part of him that spoke with reason said he could have and should have left the toy with the boxes they’d rescued from Fiona’s car and stored at the fire station for safekeeping. The other part of him, the one that had always been hardheaded and determined to blow the roof off absurdity, said he could have easily returned the toy to Isabella when he’d seen her walk out of the hospital holding on to her father’s hand just moments ago.

But he hadn’t.

He’d stayed right there in the shadows of his Dodge Durango like some adolescent kid with a crush waiting for his chance to walk the cute girl home from school. The action reeked of pubescent desperation.

Not his usual MO.

Hell. Not his MO ever.

If the stuffed bear didn’t verify that he’d overstepped his boundaries, there was no damned good explanation for the bouquet of flowers in his other hand.

Calling himself ten kinds of crazy and promising himself a good long stretch on a headshrinker’s couch, he gently knocked on the open hospital-room door.

Before he could walk away from making a huge fucking mistake, Fiona turned her head in his direction. Instant recognition brightened her blue eyes, and a smile curved her luscious mouth. A slight bruise darkened her forehead where a bandage sealed the stitches underneath. Her left foot was propped up on pillows. An IV ran clear liquid into the top of her left hand. And her silky blond hair was matted with dried blood. Yet somehow she still managed to look heavenly.

And he had to admit he’d never seen a plain blue hospital gown look so damned good.

“Mind if I come in?” The simple inquiry gave him one last opportunity to back out of exhibiting his total lack of intellect. That was
if
she said no. Which was a mighty big
if,
and seriously contemptible that he’d even put that kind of responsibility on her.

Be a man, asshole. Walk away.

“After rescuing me from life as a sardine?” She lifted the hand he’d held just a few hours ago and waved him in. “Please do.”

Of course, his feet didn’t have any better sense than his head, and they, like every other reckless bone in his body, headed straight to her bedside.

“The station sent me to make sure you were doing okay. These are from all the guys.” He handed her the bouquet of bright pink, blue, and yellow daisies.

A gift of roses could have been taken the wrong way, so he’d gone for something that conveyed a simple get-well wish. Or friendship. At least he hoped that’s what they communicated. Then again, he shouldn’t be communicating anything.

Jesus. What had he gotten himself into?

Especially since friendship was really the last thing on his mind.

Nope, the engaging smile that curved her luscious lips, those fairy-tale-princess eyes, and her tall, curvaceous body kicked his caveman instincts into high gear. And he wanted nothing more than to carry her off to his cave.

“Please tell them thank you for me.” She gently touched the petals with her long, delicate fingers. “I see you’ve got Bubba too.”

“Bubba?”

“Izzy’s bear.”

“Oh.” He looked down at the stuffed animal that seemed to look up at him with a knowing grin before he handed it over. “Right. I didn’t want it to get left behind. I was afraid with the way it was carefully strapped in the seat, it might be Isabella’s favorite.”

“You just missed her.” She tucked the fuzzy little bear by her side. “She just left with Jackson and Jana a few minutes before you came in.”

“Sorry about that. My shift just ended.” This much, at least, was true.

“Although it might be a good thing you missed Jana.” She gave him a little smile. “Don’t you still owe her from bidding on you at the Bachelor Auction?”

“I’ve been trying to pay off that debt for a while now.” He ran a hand through his hair, wondering why he was so damned nervous.

Why?

Oh yeah.

Because he was totally there under false pretenses.

“She keeps telling me she’s waiting until she finds just the perfect job for me,” he said.

“Sounds ominous.”

“I don’t mind her making me break a sweat. I’m just hoping it doesn’t have anything to do with castrating calves. I’ve heard some gruesome stories from Jackson and his brothers.”

“That’s when it pays to be a city girl. No one thinks you can stomach it. Although . . .” Her gaze traveled up and down his body and the air in the room became instantly warmer. “I don’t think anyone could mistake you for a girl.”

“My mother would be sorely disappointed if they did since I’m her only son.”

She chuckled, then settled a little deeper into the bedding. He glanced away so his mind didn’t wander to forbidden places, like what it would be like to share her pillow.

Or her bed.

The grimace that shadowed her face when she shifted shoved a big wad of guilt right down his throat for thinking such things when she was in such bad shape.

“Do you have a big family?” she asked, a little breathless.

“I grew up with five sisters.” Although sadly, only four now remained. “But enough about me. How do you feel?”

“With my fingers.” She wiggled those on her right hand and the tubing for the IV rattled.

He laughed, amazed that as banged up as she was from the accident, she could still make jokes.

“I’ll be fine,” she said. “Thanks to you.”

“All in a day’s work,” he managed, trying to sound like she hadn’t scared the shit out of him when she’d kept passing out. Or when they hadn’t been able to get her foot out from where it was wedged beneath the brake without causing more damage. Or a myriad of other things that’d had him barking out “hurry up” orders to the crew.

She took a deep breath, flinched, and gave him a slow blink that twisted his stomach. Here she was, in pain. And here he was, gawking at her as though he wanted to massage every sore muscle in her body for personal pleasure.

What a jackass.

“Ribs hurt?”

She nodded. “Among other things.”

In a brief moment of quiet, the tap-tap-tap of high heels echoed through the hallway and stopped at Fiona’s door.

“Have no fear, Foofalina is here!”

Mike turned and found an attractive, chestnut-haired Hispanic woman standing in the doorway with her arms opened wide as if she were taking a bow on Broadway. Her painted-on jeans and clingy top pegged her as the usual type of woman he’d be interested in chatting up and losing a few hours with behind closed blinds. But from the moment he’d spotted Fiona at the charity auction, his attention hadn’t wandered any further.

His problem. Not hers.

When the new arrival’s eyes darted from Fiona to him, her lips curled up in a smile. “Well hello, tall, dark, and gorgeous. Who are
you
?”

“Sabrina, this is Mike Halsey,” Fiona motioned toward him. “The firefighter who rescued me today.”

“So
this
is your knight in shining armor?” She nodded as if she approved.

“Just doing my job, ma’am.”

“And is it your job to visit your damsel in distress afterward?”

Shit.

Mike recognized her smile. It was the same one women all over the world wore when they knew they had your number.

“Izzy’s bear was in the front seat of my car,” Fiona clarified. “Mike was kind enough to deliver it along with flowers from the guys at the fire station. Wasn’t that nice of him?”

“
Very
nice.”

Yep. She definitely blew through his smoke screen.

“Foofalina? Interesting last name,” he said to Sabrina with hopes of throwing a detour in the path of her painfully astute mind.

“It’s actually Sanchez.” She chuckled. “Izzy tagged me with the nickname when she started to learn to talk, and it sort of stuck. You know . . . Foofalina rhymes with Sabrina. Kind of like the name game only without the bananafanafofana’s.”

“Cute.”

“Yes.” Sabrina winked. “You are.”

Fascination lifted Sabrina’s brows, and Mike knew it was time to hit the road before she got any more wild or accurate ideas.

He shifted his focus back to Fiona. “The captain wanted you to know we took all the boxes that were in your car to the station. They can stay there until you’re able to pick them up.”

“Thank you. I really appreciate that. I worried that they might have gone to the junk pile, along with my car.”

“No worries. Just looking out for you. We’re all family at the station. Since you’re related to Jackson, you’re included.” Before he got in any deeper or made a bigger ass of himself, he muttered, “Hope you’re back on your feet soon.”

Before he headed toward the door, Fiona gave him a smile that made him wish really bad he wasn’t such a fucked-up mess in the head and heart so he could pursue an amazing woman like her.

But he was.

And he couldn’t.

A
fter a few awkward moments with her best friend hitting on her rescuer, Mike excused himself and left. Once he cleared the room, Fiona could finally breathe.

The second she’d looked up to see him standing there, her heart had gone into overdrive, and she’d had the most ridiculous thoughts. Like, did she still have on makeup? Was her hair zombie-matted to her head? And how horrible did she really look in the atrocious tush-revealing hospital gown?

Even with her leg elevated and a gash in her forehead, when a woman found a man attractive, she wanted to look her best.

Fiona had no doubt she looked like roadkill.

“Oh. My. God.” Sabrina’s brown eyes widened. “Did you see that man?”

As friendships went, theirs was yin and yang. Sabrina never failed to speak her mind or openly display her emotions. Fiona, on the other hand, had left her over-the-top outbursts behind with her party-girl days.

“What a gorgeous face.” Sabrina cupped her cheeks in wonderment. “Ai-yi-yi. Such dark, mystical eyes. Those full lips. And good Lord, that body. Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm.
Él está muy caliente.
”

Fiona couldn’t agree more, but she didn’t necessarily like the twinge in her stomach that felt a little bit like jealousy. No doubt Mike was calendar-boy worthy. And though she’d never had the pleasure of seeing him without a shirt, there was no denying the bulk of muscle that expanded the chest or the sleeves of his firefighter uniform. Any woman in her right mind would stare.

So why did it bother her so much that Sabrina had done just that?

Time to detour.

“Hey.” Fiona scrunched up her face. “I thought you came here to see
me.
And, by the way, how did you even know I was here?”

“Hey, don’t feel slighted if my imagination is busy conjuring up a 911 call.”

Fiona exaggerated a pout and threw her hands up, which was only slightly hampered by the IV stuck in her hand.

“Of course I came to see you, silly goose. And if you must know, Jackson called me. I actually came to spring you from this joint, but it doesn’t look like you’re going anywhere today with
that.
” She pointed at Fiona’s ankle. “Or
that.
”

The face she made while pointing at Fiona’s stitched-up forehead was comical. Leave it to Sabrina to provide the funny. Which immediately turned to concern.

“You sure you’re okay?”

Fiona nodded. “They say I can go home tomorrow.”

“And where exactly is home,
chica
? The old apartment or the new place? Because last I talked to you, everything was in midmove.”

“It still is.” Fiona gently pushed out a sigh. “As you heard Mike say, the rest of my boxes are at the fire station. I got the furniture and the majority of the boxes moved. But nothing is in place or unpacked. Right now, the new house either looks like a storage unit or a hoarder’s paradise. I literally have no idea where a clean pair of underwear might be hidden.”

“So why don’t you get those good-looking Wilder brothers to come help you move stuff around and unpack? I’ll volunteer to help.”

At the wiggle of Sabrina’s brows, Fiona laughed. “I’m sure you would. But I don’t like depending on them. They all have their own lives, and they’re busy. Reno has the hardware store. Jesse has his veterinary clinic. And Jackson and Abby are moving into their new home and getting ready for their wedding.”

“But you know they all love you. And you know they’d help you in a blink if you just ask.”

“I know they would. But . . . I really want to do this on my own.”

“You’re still trying to prove yourself, aren’t you?”

Fiona shrugged and flinched with the painful twinge in her neck muscles. Ow. Looked like she had whiplash along with everything else.

“
Chica
. . . let the past go.” Sabrina’s serious tone matched the narrowing of her dark eyes. “You’ve come so far. You should be bragging about your accomplishments instead of letting the past shame you.”

“That’s not my style.”

“No?
¡Ridículo!
Do you even know what your style is anymore?” When Sabrina got fired up, her Spanish accent came heavily into play, and it became a game of “
What did she say?
”

There’d been times when they’d been roommates the summer they’d both attended a three-month pastry course at
Bellouet Conseil
in Paris that Sabrina’s accent turned into a full-blown Latin tizzy. One that continuously baffled their very proper, very composed, and very Parisian
professeurs.

The school tuition had been a college graduation present from Fiona’s grandmother, who’d scrimped and saved to afford such a lavish gift. To this day, the love and generosity with which it had been given still melted Fiona’s heart.

“We all make mistakes,” Sabrina continued.

“Well, God knows I made plenty.”

“Consider the circumstances. You were broken,
chica.
Greater beings have crumbled for less. But look at you now.”