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The mother nodded and she helped Olivia hop off the table. I walked out and closed the door behind me putting in my tablet that I needed a nurse's assistant. Someone arrived only a moment later and went in with a gown that had teddy bears on it. All the bright colors and sounds and kids were going to take some getting used to.

As I continued to look over her chart my cell phone started buzzing in my pocket. I figured I had a couple minutes to answer quickly when I realized it was my uncle calling. And he wanted exactly what I was expecting.

“So when do I get to meet this girl? How is the first day of work going?”

“Can’t you even say hello? The girl is great. And you can set up some fancy dinner for whenever you want. And so far the hospital’s not that bad. I do appreciate however that I'm not cleaning bedpans. Instead, I'm just fixing up a scraped knee.”

“I didn't want it to be a full prison sentence. You already did something similar to that in the past few days.”

“You're so charming when you're angry, do you know that?”

“I'm going to ignore that last comment. How about dinner at Poplopos, tomorrow?”

I nodded. “I'll make it work.” The nurse opened up the door again and I knew it was time to go.

“I've got your back to work. See you tomorrow.”

I ended the call and walked back into tend to Olivia's knee. Tomorrow, the ruse would begin.

Eleven

Addison

I looked around the fancy restaurant I was sitting in, still surprised because I got to visit such a place. It was still a lot to take in. The whole restaurant screamed money, and the customers wore clothes that were more costly than the monthly rent for my apartment. I’d never thought I would be the one to visit this kind of place—furnished with the most expensive things and materials. The gold crystal chandeliers were really sparkling, making me gape at them in awe, and there was even a live band that played classical music.

I’d also never thought I would be dressed in a really nice, satin dress with my straight hair and full makeup. I was in the middle of dinner with Cole and his uncle. I took a sip of my wine and brought my attention back to him. He was talking about something, and I tried to focus on him, but it was difficult since Cole was sitting next to me, and his nearness was making me tense.

Cole was wearing an expensive suit that made him even more attractive—if that was possible. His dark brown hair was slicked back and his expensive cologne was stirring everything inside me. From the moment I saw him I just wanted to jump on him and kiss the hell out of him.

I suddenly giggled, and both Cole and his uncle looked at me like I was weird, which was probably true. Here I was—supposed to enjoy this dinner and give my best to leave a good impression on Cole’s uncle—but I was acting like I was addicted to sex.

Addison, get a hold of yourself. Cole put his arm right next to mine on the table, and I felt hot and unable to breathe evenly. He was too near and I just wanted this dinner to end so I could get to kiss him again. I clenched my thighs together and reminded myself again to be a good girl.

“So Addison, tell me what you do for work? Typically Cole brings around models and call girls. But you’re different, I can see that.”

I pushed my glasses up on my nose. “Yes well I worked in coding, but with Cole and I getting more serious I thought it would be good to take some time off.”

“So you’ve asked her then?” Cole’s uncle countered, his eyes boring into Cole so hard I thought he might explode.

“Asked me what?”

“Not yet uncle, I’m waiting for the right moment.”

I pretended to be giddy but Cole and I had already decided we’d go ring shopping tomorrow, and then choose a wedding planner. I was still terrified of telling my family, but we had to

get through this dinner first.

“What type of coding did you do?”

“Security mostly, but I’m a stronger hacker than a coder. You know people say these days it’s better to have a good hacker on payroll than a paid assassin.” I laughed at my joke, but the men didn’t respond. Too dark Addison.

“And your work Cole? Going well?”

“Yes uncle, things are fine, though a kid bit me today.”

I laughed. “You didn’t tell me that!”

“Yeah the little bugger had swallowed a penny, I thought it might still be in his mouth. It wasn’t. But my finger was. Lucky me.”