“You didn’t bust my balls, girl.”

I took a step closer to him. “Call me girl again. Then you will know exactly what it feels like.”

Seller made another scary growling noise. Never one to back down from a challenge, I took another step in his direction. Emmie’s hand grabbed my elbow and jerked me back and into Liam’s room, delaying my foot from being able to get better acquainted with his man-parts. When the door closed behind us she was fighting a grin. “Behave.”

I rolled my eyes at her again before straightening my shirt and turning to face the others in the room. It was a huge room, probably one of the biggest private rooms the hospital had to offer. Marissa and Wroth were standing by the window, the frown they had been wearing most of the week eased now that Liam was out of the woods.

Liam was raised up in the bed, and a few of the tubes from the day before had been taken away from the maze of wires and tubes that had been attached to him. His leg was raised with a sling that hung from the ceiling and there were multiple other casts and bandages that would have to be changed in a few days for longer-lasting ones, once the orthopedic surgeons found out if the bones were healing the way they should.

When Liam turned his eyes on me they narrowed for a moment before he grinned. “Dee! It’s about time you got here. Tell them I want something real to eat. Like steak. Or a burger… Yeah, I could really go for a burger.”

That he was wanting something hearty to eat was good news, but I shook my head as I approached the bed. “No can do. You need to start back slowly on the food. Liquid diet today, soft foods tomorrow, and maybe we can talk about steak or burgers the next day.” I scanned over the heart monitor, pleased to see everything at a normal rate. “You’re doing great, Liam.”

“That’s what the doctors said when they all came in a few minutes ago,” Marissa assured me with a beaming smile that I couldn’t help but return. “And as long as he follows doctors’ orders we might get to take him home next week.”

Before I could open my mouth, Wroth and Emmie were surrounding me. “But he’s still going to need some extra care,” Emmie told me, and I suddenly felt cornered between her little body and Wroth’s much larger one.

“And a physical therapist,” Wroth chimed in. “The doctors said that he is going to need lots of physical therapy and if he is going to get to tour with OtherWorld then they recommended a nurse as well as a private PT to travel with us.”

“Ah, hell,” I muttered. I knew what they were going to ask, and I would have been all for it except for one little problem. “I’m not spending three months trapped on a fucking bus with Axton Cage, Emmie.”

She quickly shook her head. “No, no. You won’t have to I swear. I’ll get another bus. Have it fixed up so that Liam will be as comfortable as possible. You, the PT, and Liam will be on there with Marissa.”

“And me,” Wroth rushed to inform me.

“But I’ll still have to deal with Ax for three. Fucking. Months.” I sighed and pushed past them, trying to clear my head of all the static that had filled it as soon as I realized what was going on. I would be an idiot to turn down a private nursing job like this. It was something that few nurses would ever get to even think about, let alone be offered. Plus, I wanted to do it for Liam. He deserved my help as much as my friendship.

But all of those pros weighed less than the one heavy con.

Being that close to the man who ruled my body without even really trying. A man who had tattooed his name on my heart the first night he had fucked my brains out. The only man to ever shatter me so completely when our so-called relationship ended… It would be pure torture.

“Dee?”

I turned at the almost pleading tone in Liam’s voice. He looked so small in that big hospital bed. He’d lost weight. He’d nearly died. I couldn’t say no to him. “Okay, but I have one condition.”

“Name it,” Wroth told me.

“We can discuss it,” was Emmie’s immediate reply.

“Linc is a certified physical therapist. He doesn’t use it because he makes a killing in tips alone working at Fit for Life, letting the cougars drool over him. But he’s really good. I want you to hire him as Liam’s PT.” I needed Linc with me. He was my voice of reason and I seriously needed reason if I was going to be that close to Axton, who could tempt me so easily.

“Would Linc want the job?” Emmie asked. “He seems pretty happy where he is.”

I shrugged. “I can persuade him.” We might argue about every little thing, but Linc loved me as much as I loved him. He would do this for me.

“Okay. If he can get me all the right documents, his PT license and all that, then the job is his.”

Marissa moved away from the window and wrapped her arms around my waist. For once I didn’t stiffen at the feel of soft, feminine arms around me. Marissa was just so captivating that my discomfort was forgotten. “Thanks for doing this, Dallas. This means a lot to us.”

“Don’t thank me yet.” I hugged her back. “This shit isn’t going to be easy.”

Dallas

Liam’s release the next week didn’t happen. He required another surgery to adjust the rod that were used to replace his femur in his left leg. The doctors had told him that he would have a limp for the rest of his life, but at least he was going to be able to walk. The swelling around his spine had lessened and he was even able to move.

The hospital required a full week of physical therapy before he was released under not only my care but Linc’s as well. Getting Linc on board as Liam’s PT had been harder than I had expected, but he had finally given in when Emmie had sweetened the deal with a huge-ass number money-wise. She knew I wasn’t going to leave New York without Linc, so she had little choice but to help me convince him.

We closed up our apartment for the four months we were going to be gone. With Natalie as Emmie’s assistant, handling the tour and anything else, the apartment was going to be vacant for four months at least. One month was going to be spent in Tennessee on Wroth Niall’s farm. It was where Liam was going to be recuperating, and it was Linc’s job to get him ready as much as possible before we left at the beginning of March.

Of course no one had told me about the month in Tennessee until it was too late to back out. I had nothing against Tennessee. My dad even owned stock in a few farms there; where, I had no clue, as my mother had never let me get to know that part of my dad’s business when I was growing up. And I definitely had nothing against farm life. I loved being around horses and cows, and would have still been in Texas on my father’s ranch if I’d had anything to say about where I grew up.