MATCHMAKER (A Billionaire Bad Boy Romance) (17 page)

“He’s a fighter. He’ll get through this.”

The nurse examined Ben’s chart. “Mr. Waters, the cancer has spread through most of his body. If he does get through this, he still doesn’t have long to live, I’m afraid.”

Sterling appreciated that he didn’t sugar coat things. Straight talk. Sterling nodded. “I know. I just want to say goodbye.”

“There’s no reason not to talk to him.”

“I want him to say goodbye to me.” He wanted to hear he was loved one last time. Ambrosia had said it with her eyes, but she wasn’t here anymore. He thought of Jenna, furious and cold in the waiting room.

“I’ll leave you alone with him,” the nurse said.

“No, I have something I need to take care of for a bit. It won’t take long.”

Sterling stood and tucked the backpack in the corner. If—when—Ben woke up, he’d get a kick out of seeing it again. He showed himself out into the waiting area.

Jenna didn’t get up this time. Sterling perched on the edge of the chair.

She glared at him. “You just left.”

“I needed to clear my head.”

“You didn’t tell anyone where you were going. You didn’t even say you were going. Who found you? I certainly couldn’t.”

“Why didn’t you come over that night?”

“It seemed like a private thing. You and…your dog.”

Sterling wanted to scream in Jenna’s face, tell her to use the dog’s name. “I was dying. I can’t remember the last time I felt hurt like that. And you weren’t there.”

“So you called Cherise?”

Her name on Jenna’s lips bit like iced fire. He deserved anything she had to dish out on that topic. “She came. I called you first.” That time. That one time. Only because he knew Cherise wanted nothing to do with him.

“Sterling, I’m going to need you to—”

“Stop,” he said. “I don’t want to do this anymore. You don’t love me, you love Steven. I don’t love you. I don’t think I love anyone.”

Jenna snorted. “Didn’t we already kind of know this?”

“Yeah. We did. I thought I could do it, but I can’t. I don’t want to marry someone just to have a wife. I’d rather be alone.”

She frowned at him. He wanted to think better of her, but he thought he could see her doing math in her head, watching her future income plummet back to the salary of an accountant.

“You know, I thought you were kind of a prick that night at the bar. I Googled you when I got home and realized who you were.”

“You’re not really making this a hard decision.” His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he ignored it.

“That’s because it’s an emotional decision, and you’re a goddamn robot.”

“Says the ice queen. Go back to your Steven shrine. You’re not ready now, but perhaps you will be someday.”

She laughed again. He realized he didn’t really care for her laugh all that much. “Looks like I don’t have to waste the rest of my day sitting around here, then.”

“I get that you’re mad and you’re saying shit you don’t mean. You should just go.”

Jenna picked up her bag and the expensive coat he’d bought her and stalked out without a backwards glance. He was almost embarrassed by the relief it brought him.

Sitting in the quiet for a few moments, he finally checked his phone. He had a text message from Cherise.
I’m at your guest apartment. If you can get away for a bit, I have a surprise for you.

Feeling like he didn’t know who he was anymore, he hoped it didn’t involve her naked and waiting for him. He didn’t have the energy for it. He went back in to check on Ben and the nurse. The nurse was moving his limbs so the muscles didn’t atrophy while he was in the coma.

“You think I’m good to step out for a bit? Get a change of clothes and shower?”

“We’ll call you the moment there’s a change in his condition.”

Sterling waffled. He wanted to be here when Ben woke up, but everyone was right, he looked like a hobo and smelled like he’d been traveling for two days. He’d have a shower, a change of clothes, see what Cherise had up her sleeve, then be back here to sleep in the uncomfortable chair by Ben’s bedside.

CHERISE

Cherise didn’t expect to be able to get back into the apartment, but her key card still turned the light green. Her arms full, she rode the elevator to the 99th floor like she had for the months she’d lived here.

Inside, it didn’t seem like anything had changed since she’d moved out. While she was there, she hadn’t put too much of herself into the place, knowing it was temporary. She texted Sterling and waited for his answer. If he said no, she didn’t know what she’d do. She’d sort of gone all in on this plan.

Her phone seemed to take forever to buzz back at her.
Okay. Be there in 20.

At least he was coming. Would hear her out. Would see her great romantic gesture. Would it work? It was hard to tell with her not knowing where he was at right now. She hoped so. God, she hoped so.

The twenty minutes flew by as she got everything ready for him. Her heart pounded in her throat as she heard the elevator whir to life. This was it. Do or die. Everything was in place. Looking back stopped being an option when Sterling texted her.

The doors opened, and Sterling stepped into the room, looking exhausted, rumpled, and more handsome than she’d ever seen him. It took everything not to rush to his arms. She second-guessed her plan when she saw how tired he looked, but then his eyes landed on the surprise she’d gotten for him, and he smiled.

The eight-week-old, mix-breed puppy had worn itself out playing before they got to the apartment, and at present, made a sleepy brown-and-white puddle of fur on the rug.

“You got a dog?” Cherise picked up the puppy, who opened his blue eyes, and handed him over to Sterling. “You got me a dog?”

“I know it’s soon, but I also know you’re lonely.”

“What is he?”

“I don’t know. I got him at the shelter. They think shepherd or husky and border collie, or something.” The puppy had huge ears, which flopped over at the tops, making imperfect triangles. A round brown spot covered his left eye. Sterling inspected the dog, then tucked him into the crook of his arm.

“I’ve never had a male.”

“He was there with his brothers and sisters. I liked him the best of all the puppies.”

Sterling stroked the soft puppy fur. “How’d you pick him? What do you like best about him?”

Fear gripped her. “You don’t like him?”

“I’m just curious how you picked him and what I’m in for.”

“I liked him because he was feisty. He came running for me when his sisters hung back a little. He barked at me and was sassy.”

“He’s going to be a handful.”

“I think you can manage.”

Sterling held the little guy up so he could take a closer look at him. The puppy’s tummy was round and firm, his tail a little whip. His paws and ears too big for his little body.

“What’s his name?” Sterling asked.

“It’s up to you. They called him ‘Spot’ at the shelter, but I think we can do better than that.” Her use of the word “we” caught Sterling’s attention.

She plucked the sleepy puppy from his arms and set the little guy down on the bed she’d brought for him. She stood in front of Sterling and put her hands on his shoulders.

“Try me,” she said. “I think you should—”

“I split up with Jenna.”

Cherise wasn’t proud of the excitement and relief that blossomed in her chest.

“I was stupid to think I could half-ass something like a marriage.”

“Plenty of people do it all the time… But yeah, I question how rewarding you would have found it. I think it’s for the best.” Cherise wanted to add more but resisted the urge to say ugly things about Jenna.

“I’ve done an awful lot of thinking over the past few days,” Sterling said. “More than the past few days, actually.”

“Okay.” Here was where it all worked or it all fell apart. She knew she could handle either. She braced herself but also let herself feel excited.

“You’re right. I do want you. I do think we work together. But I’m terrified of letting you down. Of not being able to be present.”

“Just having this conversation with me is a huge step forward.”

“You’re right, absolutely.” He checked his watch, and her heart dropped a bit. “I want to take a shower and head back to the hospital. Come with me?”

“To the shower or the hospital?”

Sterling smiled but looked exhausted. “The hospital. And the shower. But I’m tired, babe. I just want to be close to you.”

She tucked the puppy into his crate and led Sterling to the bathroom upstairs in the apartment. She pulled off his t-shirt. “You smell terrible.”

“I know. You’re not the first person to tell me that. Two coach flights, and the first thing I did in Tanzania was a ten-mile run in ninety-degree heat. I thought I’d get to go back to my room and shower and sleep, but then you called. I felt really bad for the woman next to me on the flight home.”

In the pristine white bathroom, Cherise let him undress himself and busied getting the shower temperature just right. She led him to the big shower with the multiple heads. She’d fantasized about getting him in here since she’d first seen it. Somehow, this tenderness was better than the frantic sex she’d imagined them having here. Working his body with a thick, soapy lather, she washed the grime from him and rubbed his sore muscles. She shampooed his hair, and he stood still as she shaved his face, noticing a scar on his chin.

“I can’t go back over there yet,” he said, toweling himself dry in the bathroom. “Call Brad to bring me some clothes, please?”

She did as he asked, and within minutes, Brad appeared with a few selections.

Cherise dressed in a smart red dress, one she could comfortably sit in the hospital in. Sterling pulled on a dark pair of jeans, a clean t-shirt, and a black blazer. He looked much more himself after the shower.

“Has the dog been out?”

“Right before you got here.”

“I’ll have Brad see to him in a little bit.”

They said goodbye to the oblivious puppy and headed back to the hospital, this time taking one of Sterling’s limousines so they could relax in the back. “I’d forgotten how puppies sleep like the dead,” he said.

“How’s Ben?”

“Not good. Unconscious. There’s the stroke, and there’s the cancer. I’m going to lose him. I just hope he wakes up to say goodbye.”

“You’re not alone,” Cherise said. He gave her a look reminiscent of a wounded animal, one that didn’t quite trust what it heard. She reached across the seat and squeezed his hand.

“I picked an awful time to go running around the globe, huh?”

“It wouldn’t have made a difference. You told me he was unresponsive from the moment he came in to the hospital. When my grandmother died, it was the same thing. She wasn’t conscious, but we all got to say goodbye to her, and I truly felt she heard us.”

The limo pulled up at the back entrance of the hospital. Sterling walked her up to the private elevator, and they went up and up to a posh part of the hospital she’d never seen. The admissions nurse gave Sterling a look, obviously for showing up with another woman, but didn’t say anything.

“This way,” he said. “They didn’t believe I was me before. Thought I looked too scruffy.”

“You were pretty scruffy,” Cherise said. “You still need a haircut.” He led her to the room. “Do you want me to wait out here?”

“No, he likes you. Come in with me.”

Dr. McGuire met them at the door. “There’s been no change. I’m sorry.”

They sat with Ben into the night. Sterling fell asleep holding Cherise’s hand with his right and Ben’s with his left, his head a heavy weight on her shoulder.

She texted Brad Chadwell a few hours later to see how the puppy was doing. It had already won over all of Sterling’s staff, and they were crazy about the little thing, even though he’d peed on a $15,000 carpet and chewed a shoe.

Sometime in the night, Cherise realized she’d fallen asleep when machines started to beep frantically. Staff rushed in, turned on the lights, and told Cherise and Sterling they needed to step out. She didn’t know what was happening, but it wasn’t good.

Outside on the plush sofa, Sterling clung to her. He told stories about hiking and mountain climbing, all the adventures he and Ben had taken when he was a boy and younger man. “He’s slowed down so much, but we’ve still done something together every year. I can’t believe it’s gone. I mean, even nine months ago, we were in Carlsbad Caverns. It wasn’t the same—we just did the tourist stuff, stayed on all the walkways, but we were there, outside, experiencing nature together.”

It was ten o’clock in the morning when Dr. McGuire stepped out and sat with them. Cherise knew what this meant.

“I’m so sorry,” she said. “He had a cardiac event after the stroke, and we couldn’t save him.”

“Thank you for trying,” Sterling said. “I always wanted him to get a DNR, but he wouldn’t listen to me.”

“Would you like to say goodbye?”

Sterling nodded and gestured to Cherise that she should stay. He was gone about ten minutes before coming back, dry-eyed. She supposed a man could only cry so much. She thought about platitudes, how the cancer meant he was in great pain but now he was at peace. Ben was with Ambrosia. She chose to keep them to herself for now.