Page 22

It’s a little surreal.

I knock quietly.

“Willow? You awake?”

“Come in.” Her voice is soft but not overly raspy, so she may have been awake for a while.

Damn.

What if she needed something?

I open the door and step inside. “Hey, there.”

The vision she makes lying there in the bed nearly takes my breath away.

Holly helped her shower last night, so her blond hair is down, tumbling around her shoulders in soft waves, and her blue eyes are clear and alert. Her skin is like porcelain, blemish-free and bright—definitely not like someone who just spent a month in a coma.

“Hi.” She looks shy, almost timid, but she’s sitting up, the copy of Pride and Prejudice I grabbed from the hospital in her lap.

“How are you feeling?”

“Pretty good, to be honest.” She looks down. “This bed is very comfortable.”

“My sister—Briar—picked it out, said guests needed to be comfortable. I told her that was the opposite of what I wanted because then they might stay longer. She laughed and called me an asshole.”

For some reason, that makes Willow smile. “She sounds like a pistol.”

I snort. “Wait until you meet my niece. Two peas in a pod. And Frankie just turned four. I won't survive the teenage years.”

“I imagine that will be interesting.” She looks around, as if taking note of her surroundings. “This room has a woman’s touch. Your sister…or someone else?”

“The only woman in my life is my sister.” I pause, realizing how that sounds. “Wait—I didn’t mean it that way.”

She laughs, and the sound is a delight. “No worries. I know what you meant. You and your sister are close.”

“Our family is close,” I say, leaning against the door jamb. “My buddies from college—Atlas, Banks, and Royal—and now Banks and Royal’s girlfriends, Aspen and Jade. They’re my family, along with Briar and my niece Frankie. We’re together a lot. In fact, all the time. It’s like having?—”

“Do they come here?” she interrupts, a look of alarm on her face.

“Well, sure.” I frown. “I mean, not often. We usually gather at Briar’s house because she likes to entertain and it’s easier for Frankie to have all her toys and stuff. But since my accident, I have a feeling they’ll be checking on me a lot more often than normal.”

“Oh, please, you can’t let them see me.” She sits up, shaking her head. “That’s just too many people. Someone is bound to let it slip, and Dylan will find me. Don’t underestimate him. Your family won’t do it on purpose, but someone has a bestie who loves Summer in Provence, and they’ll tell her I’m here and then…it will snowball. Please, Hudson. Promise me you won’t say anything. Not until I’ve found an attorney and figured out a way out of this mess. Please.” Her eyes fill with tears.

Christ.

I don’t like keeping secrets from my family.

Especially not one this big.

And how the hell can I keep Briar from checking in on me?

But the look on Willow’s face guts me.

She’s in a panic, and I don’t know how I can possibly make her understand the bond our family has. Briar and the others would never tell a soul, especially not if I explain the circumstances.

Of course, they’re also going to have a field day with the idea that I have a woman I barely know sleeping in my guest room.

They’ll get the wrong idea about it, and then it’ll spiral into something I don’t even want to think about.