The Nurse's One Night to Forever

He consoled himself that just as he’d made a new life with the Brothers family—a much better life than he’d had—he’d now do the same with Kyle.

Sighing, he went to put his phone on the nightstand and missed. His phone clanged down between the bed and the piece of furniture.

Sitting up in bed, he flipped on the lamp, and looked in the space between his bed and the nightstand, expecting to see his phone.

He didn’t. It must have landed beneath the bed.

Getting up, he knelt on the floor and felt around for his phone, but still didn’t see it in the shadows.

“Great,” he muttered, opening the nightstand’s top drawer and pulling out a flashlight.

Bending down, he shone the light into the shadows, spotting his phone where it had landed.

A golden glint reflected in the flashlight’s beam was what he reached for, though. And his hand shook as he closed his fingers around the gold chain with its tiny cross.

He’d found Riley’s necklace.

* * *

“Men are stupid,” Cassie murmured, tossing a flower petal onto the ground.

As her friend stretched out on the bench Riley sat across from her in a chair, opposite the burned low fire in the pit. Daisy lazed in her lap, only opening her eyes long enough to look up and nudge Riley’s hand when it stilled in stroking her back.

“Agreed.”

“I mean, Sam should have called by now.”

Which meant her friend was waiting for him to call. Riley fought against wincing. Would Cassie never learn? She and Sam had been doing this on-again, off-again for years.

“Don’t you think it’s time to call it quits for good with Sam?” she asked.

Cassie gave her an Are you crazy? look. “Why would I think that? I love him.”

Riley frowned. “Then why aren’t you with him?”

Cassie gave her a point-blank stare. “Why aren’t you with Justin?”

Justin. She didn’t want to talk about him. Or think about him. Doing either hurt too much.

“The two have nothing to do with each other,” she assured.

Cassie had the audacity to snort. “Yeah, right. You’ve sniffed this eucalyptus one time too many.”

“It’s not the same,” she defended, but even to her own ears her words sounded weak. Which didn’t make sense. She didn’t love Justin. “I do miss him,” she admitted.

Of course she missed him. She’d had a great time with him.

And not just the sex. It was more the way he made her laugh, made her see the world in vivid colors, made her feel young and silly—beautiful, even. He’d made her step outside her comfort zone.

Ha. That wasn’t what she missed. That was what had been their downfall. Him trying to push her beyond her comf

ort zone.

“Do you miss him with all your being? To the point that you’d do just about anything to hear him say your name? To see his smile? Hear his laughter? Feel his touch?” Cassie continued, her voice becoming more and more emotional as she did so. “’Cause that’s the way I miss Sam.”

Her roommate’s words dinged at her like pointed darts, hitting their target. Riley did miss Justin in all those ways.

“If Sam hasn’t called by tomorrow I’m calling him,” Cassie announced.