Part 1: No Regrets(Divine Creek Ranch 2)(97)

Her Gentle Giant, Part 1: No Regrets

221





Chapter Twenty-five


Rachel was the best convalescing patient ever, even when she thought the process would drive her crazy. She spent a little time every day moving around, pushing herself to do things when she could do it in safety while her mom hovered nearby. She did not want to elongate her stay at home.

A week into her recovery, she could no longer stand the thought of the work piling up at her job and called Mr. Grogan. Bernice put her on hold, and after a minute, he came on the line.

“Young lady, you may not return to work.”

“But—”

“I’m sitting at your desk right now. The bills that need paying are getting paid, anything else pressing is coming directly to me. The other stuff you can catch up on when you come back. Get your butt back in bed and get better.” Rachel could hear him chuckling as she gasped in surprise, and then she did something very uncharacteristic as she made a face at her phone and blew a raspberry at it.

She put the phone back to her ear in time to hear him say, “I heard that.

Now, see? I told you that you’d fit in just fine around here.”

“But you could send me everything electronically. I can do that from bed.”

“But that’s not restful or healthy, now is it?”

“I’m bored!”

Thorne chuckled deeply. “Tough shit, sweetheart. We miss you around here. You kind of ‘class’ the place up a bit. But I don’t want to see you here or have you working for at least another three weeks. That’s what your doctor says, right?”

Begrudgingly she replied, “Yes, how did you—”

“A little bird told me.” She looked at her phone and stuck her tongue out at it then put it back to her ear in time to hear him say, “So there you have it,



222

Heather Rainier

sweetheart. Rest and heal, and we’ll throw you a party when you come back.

In three weeks.”

“I like working. I’m not a baby.”

“I know. You should work on that book you’re writing instead of

pestering your poor old boss. Three weeks, not a moment sooner.”

She set up her laptop and spent time each day working on her

manuscript. In a way, the accident had provided her an opportunity to work on it consistently. Writing helped to pass the time.

Eli often spent his evenings off at the Lopez ranch and came to visit her in the afternoons, on the nights he had to work at The Pony. Her parents never tired of his visits and always seemed curious about his work and his plans. Her father was especially observant of Eli, and she wondered what was going through his head when he watched Eli and the way he was around her. She was glad to see they had become friends. Several times she’d observed them deep in conversation and wondered what they found to talk about.

Her mother’s eyes always twinkled when Eli was around. She quickly found out what his favorite foods were and cooked them for him. She approved of the way he treated Rachel and always made a point of complimenting his manners and personality to Rachel. Mike and Rogelio came to visit her, and, of course, she saw Grace or talked to her on the phone almost daily. That helped because Rachel always laughed when she talked with Grace.

Her one difficulty regarding her recuperation was sleeping. She

struggled with insomnia and nightmares of the accident, but she refused to take sleeping pills. She dreamed of being trapped and unable to talk or get out of the car, of being in pain and not being able to move. One time, she even dreamed she was the doe being chased and struck by the SUV. She always woke bathed in sweat, sometimes screaming, which scared the crap out of her poor parents.

Once she had the nightmare, she had a hard time falling back to sleep.

Some nights she wasn’t troubled by bad dreams, but she still couldn’t fall asleep, her mind filled with thoughts of Eli. She didn’t worry about him on the job. She just missed him. Eli was having trouble sleeping, too, because he’d told her about it one night when she mentioned that he looked tired. He told her he needed her, that was all. Her heart felt full at his words.



Her Gentle Giant, Part 1: No Regrets

223

She would lay there in the dark and remember what it felt like when he surrounded her with his big, strong arms and cuddled her against his broad chest and she used his biceps as her pillow. Sometimes she’d go for full-on torture and think about making love with him, clinging to his warmth as he slid his stiff cock into her and stroked her to a hot, moaning orgasm. If she fell asleep thinking of those times, she woke with her body clamoring for his, wet and ready. Once she woke as an orgasm inspired by her dream washed over her, but it felt unsatisfying when she realized she was alone with no warm arms to hold her and help her come down from it.