The Boyfriend Arrangement

“I guess. I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck.” He brought his hand up to his face, dragging all his IV tubes along with it. “What happened? Where am I?”

Harper was surprised but relieved that he didn’t remember the last few days. It had been a roller coaster of tests, bloodwork, scans and, finally, a stint placed in one of the arteries to his heart. He’d been out of it most of the time. Harper had just sat by his bedside waiting for the next bit of news from the nurses and doctors caring for him.

“You had a heart attack at the airport,” Harper explained. “You’ve been in the hospital for a couple of days.”

Sebastian frowned as he looked around, taking inventory of his body. “Why does my wrist hurt?”

“That’s how they went in to put a stint in your chest.”

He put his hand against his chest and shook his head. “Wow.”

Harper sa

t on the edge of the bed. She’d been filled with a mix of emotions over the last few days that she’d never expected—and never wanted to experience again. First was the fear of being shot by a vengeful and bitter Josie. She’d never anticipated being confronted with a weapon like that and had hardly known how to respond. When Sebastian collapsed, Harper had reacted and rushed to his side, forgetting all about Josie. She wasn’t sure how long her blackmailer had stood there with the gun, but eventually Harper looked up and Josie was gone. Apparently she hadn’t wanted to hang around for the fire department and ambulance to arrive.

Since then, she’d hardly given that situation any thought. The fear of suddenly losing Sebastian before she could tell him how she felt had taken its place in her mind. All the way to the hospital, she’d sat in the back of the ambulance, racked with guilt at thinking she’d put him in a dangerous situation that had almost killed him. Then days of anxiety waiting for the results of all his tests.

Finally, and most recently, she was angry.

That was the most surprising emotion, but the one she couldn’t shake. The night before, the doctor who had been treating Sebastian had come in with another man he introduced as Sebastian’s cardiologist. They’d spoken to her about his ongoing condition like it was something she was aware of. They’d discussed how this was more serious than his previous attack. Two weeks away from the office wouldn’t be enough this time.

As they’d continued, it became harder for her to keep a neutral expression on her face. Harper hadn’t wanted them to know she had no idea what they were talking about. But the more they’d talked, the more things about Sebastian had started to fall into place.

Like why the workaholic could drop everything and take a trip to Ireland. He wasn’t allowed to work. Not after his last heart attack had driven him to the floor of his lab less than two weeks ago.

Two weeks ago he’d had a heart attack and he hadn’t said anything about it. He’d acted like nothing happened and got on a plane with her to Ireland. The truth of it made her mind spin. What if something had happened in Ireland? That castle had been out in the middle of nowhere, literally hours from Dublin. How long would it have taken to get him to a hospital with a state-of-the-art cardiac care unit?

If he had told her, at least she could’ve known to watch for the signs. Or when he’d collapsed, she would have known what it was and been able to tell the 9-1-1 operator and the EMTs he had a heart condition. As it was, she’d just sat helplessly, crying and saying, “He just collapsed,” over and over in despair and confusion.

Talking to his business partner hadn’t made her feel any better. Finn was listed as his emergency contact and medical power of attorney, so he’d been called into the hospital the minute they’d arrived. He was the one who had authorized the tests and cleared it with the hospital for Harper to stay even when she wasn’t family. She was indebted to Finn for that alone, much less the information he’d shared with her while he was there.

“The doctors said you’re going to be okay. But you’ve got to take it easy. You’ll probably be discharged tomorrow. Finn has set up a nurse to stay with you at your apartment.”

“I don’t need a nurse,” he argued.

“Finn says, and I agree, that you lost your ability to make decisions in this arena when you had that second attack. You’re not going into work. You’re getting a nurse to make sure you’re taking all the medications and eating well. You’re supposed to register for a cardiac rehabilitation program to help you rebuild your stamina and design an exercise regime to keep this from happening again. You have to do it all, to the letter, or you’re going to have another attack. You might not bounce back the next time.”

Sebastian opened his mouth to argue with her and then stopped himself. “Okay. You’re right.”

Harper had practiced what she’d wanted to say to him a few times in her mind. She wasn’t sure it would come out right, but she had to try anyway. “It’s been a long couple of days in this hospital, Sebastian.”

“I bet. Weren’t you wearing that outfit on the flight home?”

Harper looked down, but she knew he was right. She hadn’t gone home. She had ventured down to the gift shop for a toothbrush and some other toiletries to get her through, but other than that, she hadn’t left his side. Their suitcases and everything in them had been left behind at the airport where they’d run into Josie. In the ambulance, she’d called Jonah and he’d gone back to pick up their things for them. He and Emma had offered to bring her whatever she’d needed, but she hadn’t wanted to be a bigger imposition than she’d already been.

“It’s been even more stressful for me because it came out of the blue. Young, healthy thirty-eight-year-old men do not just drop to the ground with a heart attack, Sebastian.”

She watched as his jaw tightened. “I didn’t think it was important.”

“Important?” she cried. “You didn’t think it was important to tell me that you were recovering from a heart attack? That you were supposed to be recuperating? I didn’t need to know that because it wasn’t important? We had sex, Sebastian. That could’ve killed you.”

Sebastian sighed. “I didn’t want you to treat me like I was fragile. I’m not fragile. The sex didn’t kill me. Not even close. And if that woman hadn’t tried to kill us, I probably wouldn’t even be here right now.”

“That’s not what the doctor said. He said that you were supposed to schedule a heart catheterization while you were off from work to check for arterial blockages. Not only did you not schedule it, you left the country instead. You could’ve died, Sebastian. Right there at my feet. And I wouldn’t have had the slightest clue as to what was happening to you or why because you didn’t tell me.”

“I thought I had it handled. I didn’t want to worry you when you had your own problems to deal with.”

“If it were only that, I might buy it. But it’s more than just your heart condition, Sebastian. Yes, you kept something so important a secret from me, but you haven’t opened up to me about anything else, either.”