The Billionaire's Secret (17 page)

“You need to make sure you eat healthy and
more often, at least until you follow up with your primary care
physician. You also had a CT scan. You have a concussion from when
you hit the back of your head on the floor when you fainted. How is
your headache now?”

“Better, but at times it increases, and it’s
still tender here,” she said, gently rubbing the back of her
head.

“I suggest Tylenol for the pain, as we don’t
want to give you anything stronger that could cause you to become
drowsy. We need to you to stay awake for the next twenty-four
hours, especially since you experienced a loss of consciousness. I
would like to admit you for observation overnight.”

Even though she was getting the best care
here, all she wanted to do was go home. “No, I will be fine. I just
want to go home.”

“I understand, no one likes to stay, but we
need to make sure you’re not alone for the next twenty-four hours.
Understand?” Lizette nodded. “Okay. You also seem to have suffered
short-term memory loss. This is common with your type of injury. I
am fully confident that you will recover completely and regain your
memory within the next forty-eight to seventy-two hours. Do not try
to force the memories—they will come back naturally.”

That explained why the other doctors kept
asking her the same questions again and again. Based on the
information she’d been provided, it appeared she couldn’t remember
the last two weeks of her life. The harder she tried to come up
with answers for all the questions the doctors were asking, the
more her head ached.

“Do you live alone?” the doctor asked.

“Yes, but I live in Rhode Island. I’m not
sure where I’m staying in New York.”

“Well, that will come back to you. You will
need to make sure you don’t sleep for the next twenty-four hours
and avoid stress as much as possible. It’s a precaution with
concussions. Do you have any questions for me?”

“No.”

“With your permission, I would like to
update your fiancé, who has been not-so-patiently waiting to see
you. ”

She nodded.
Fiancé?
Lizette had a lot
of questions, but not for the doctor. If he was right, she would
have all of them answered when her memory returned.

“Okay, then, I’m sure you’ll be back to
normal within a few days. Until then, do not exert yourself. Stay
home with someone and come back immediately if your headache
worsens or any other symptoms occur. Understood?”

“Yes, thank you.”
Fiancé?
That word
played again and again in her mind. She guessed she really did
suffer some memory loss. Obviously the doctor had misunderstood her
and Jon’s relationship. Yes, they had spent some time together, and
she did have to admit it had been the best night of her life, but
fiancé
—when did that happen? From what the doctors said,
she’d only lost two weeks worth of memories. It must have been one
helluva two weeks for her to become engaged to Jon. She closed her
eyes and tried to think back to the last thing she could remember.
Jon making love to her was her last memory.
Not a bad place to
leave off,
she thought and then smiled. Once she was with Jon,
she was sure things would start to come back to her.

“I will let Mr. Vinchi know he can come in
to see you now—which is good because I’m not sure my staff could
have held him back much longer. He is one persistent man. But I’m
sure I don’t have to tell you that.” The chief of staff smiled.
“Make sure you follow up with your doctor to confirm you don’t have
hypoglycemia. The nurse will be in shortly with your discharge
paperwork.”

Within minutes after the doctor left, Jon
appeared. He came rushing to her side and kissed her on the
forehead. “How are you feeling? The doctor gave me the update. I am
so sorry about all this, but we will be home before you know it,
and I promise to take good care of you.”

We will be home?
Yep, there seemed to
be a lot she was missing. “Did he tell you about my loss of
memory?”

“Yes, but he said it will all come back to
you over the next few days. I will be with you the entire time, so
don’t worry, you won’t be alone,” Jon said, sitting on the edge of
her bed, holding her hand.

She had to admit, she felt safe with Jon
close by.

***

“There is something I need to tell you,” Jon
said. He needed to tell her the truth, and there was no better time
than now, before it got out of hand.

When he was just about to tell her, a nurse
came in to remove her IV and detach her from the monitors. She
started asking Lizette more questions and generally chatting up a
storm. Jon wished she would hurry up and get out, but she totally
ignored him. “Ms. Burke, your fiancé here sure gave us one heck of
a hard time in the waiting room. I thought for sure he was going to
wear out the floor with all of his pacing. He was worse than an
expectant father.” She laughed.

What could he say? He was just about to tell
her he was in the waiting room, going crazy with worry, and how
they wouldn’t give him any information no matter how he yelled or
threatened. All they did was quote the HIPAA privacy rule. Since he
wasn’t family, they couldn’t tell him anything, but once he said
Lizette was his fiancée, everything changed. And once he’d said it,
there was no taking it back. He knew it was wrong, but he also knew
Lizette would understand why he’d said it. And he was just about to
clear it up before the loudmouth nurse decided to hover around. He
wasn’t moving from his spot, so the nurse just worked around him.
Funny, she didn’t even bother asking him to move. It was like she
knew what his answer was going to be. The nurse reviewed all the
prior instructions she’d been given by the doctor. Lizette signed
the discharge papers and handed them back to the nurse. Before she
left the room, the nurse finally acknowledged him by saying, “See,
Mr. Vinchi, I promised we would have your fiancée all fixed up and
home with you. Now you best make sure she follows these orders. No
stress—we don’t want her to end up back here, you hear me?”

“Don’t worry, I have it all taken care
of.”

The nurse looked him over, shook her head,
and with a slight chuckle on her way out of the room she said, “I
just bet you do, Mr. Vinchi, I bet you do.”

When they were alone, Jon asked, “Ready to
go home?”

“Yes.”

Jon reached out his hand. Lizette hesitated
a moment, but then, to his relief, she took his hand and together
they walked out of the ER into the cool of the night.

They sat quietly during the limo ride back
to his place. She’d had a rough day, and he could tell she still
wasn’t feeling well.

“How are you doing?”

He could tell it was with a forced smile
that she answered, “Okay, I guess, I still have a headache and
can’t wait to be home. It’s been a long day.”

Jon kissed the top of her head, and she
leaned against him. When the doctor had updated him in the waiting
room on her condition, he had done the only thing he could think
of, which was to call Matt and have her personal belongings moved
from her apartment to his penthouse.

Doctor’s orders were she couldn’t be left
alone, and it was obvious to Jon she was in no shape to travel back
to Rhode Island to be cared for by her family. So that left him
with only one option: continue letting her believe they were
engaged for another twenty-four hours and then find a way to
explain how this had all come about. What he had said and done was
all with the best intentions, though it did seem to have spiraled
out of control. Who would have thought one simple little word like
fiancée
would spread like wildfire through the hospital
gossip grapevine. Why was there such a battle around the HIPAA laws
that he could not get anyone to speak to him, but once he used the
word
fiancée,
well, that seemed to echo around him since the
moment it slipped past his lips. If it wasn’t for her health and
well-being, he would have corrected the issue instantly. But the
correction would need to be temporarily put on hold. Telling her
wasn’t going to be easy, and he was positive she wasn’t going to be
happy—
okay, that was an understatement
—but at least he would
make sure she was taken care of, without stress, and then they
could go back to where they’d been before all of this happened.

Oh, this is not going to be good
. One
thing he’d learned about her over the last couple weeks was she had
a difficult time trusting him. This latest development wasn’t going
to help change that, but if he told her the truth now, she would
never stay with him. It wouldn’t matter what the doctor had said;
she would go back home alone. The doctor had explained the risk and
complications of having a concussion, and there was no way any of
that was going to happen to her.

Lizette was injured all because of him. He
had her move from Rhode Island over the weekend, and booked an
early-morning meeting with her to review all the company’s
financials. Then not even give her a break for lunch? What kind of
a jerk does that to a person?
Oh, yeah, that would be me
. He
may be used to these kinds of hours and deadlines, but he should
have shown some consideration for her. He wasn’t used to thinking
about another person; he just gave orders and expected results. He
never asked for more from anyone than he was willing to do himself.
After this incident, he might need to reconsider how hard he drove
his staff. But for now, all he could think was,
Thank God her
condition isn’t more serious.

His heart still skipped a beat when he
thought back to that moment. He’d been on the phone with Matt
discussing lunch options when he saw her sway a bit and then
instantly drop to the floor. If only he’d been faster he might have
caught her and she wouldn’t have hit her head. The sound echoed
through his mind. When he hadn’t been able to wake her, he lost it.
It had brought back a pain long buried, from when he lost his
father. The emotions had threatened to shake his very core. As he
held her limp body in his arms, he knew right then he couldn’t be
without her.

Now, hours later, with her sitting quietly
next to him, it was clear he didn’t want to lose her, not now, not
ever.

Since she wasn’t allowed to sleep for
twenty-four hours, Lizette was happy she wasn’t home alone. Jon
stayed up with her all night. They watched movies, from comedy to
horror to action to chick flicks, taking turns choosing them. They
were all great, although during the horror film Jon chose, Lizette
spent most of the movie covering her eyes or squeezing his hand
during the scary parts. He was right about one thing: you can’t
fall asleep during one of those movies. She thought for sure she
wouldn’t be able to sleep for a week after that one, or at least
not without having nightmares.

Between movies, they made sure to stop long
enough to eat something. Their kitchen was close to being bare
except for the takeout Jon had had delivered after they got home.
She had no idea why she hadn’t been shopping so they could cook at
home, but Jon had told her they would make time to do that
tomorrow. She didn’t want to know how all the takeout and sitting
on the couch was going to affect the scale the next time she
stepped on it.

“I need to move a bit—my body feels stiff as
a board,” she said, standing and stretching.

“Let’s go for a walk.”

“At this time?”

“One thing about New York, this city never
sleeps.”

Jon was right. It was almost three a.m. and
it should be dark, but the streets were lit up and buzzing with
cars and people. Tonight it was refreshing, but it was not the life
she was used to. Where would she go to watch a sunset, or do yoga
with the sunrise? The city was definitely the place where big
dreams come true, but her dreams were of something different. She
hoped when she agreed to marry Jon they had talked about maybe
moving out of the city, someplace where they could raise a family,
in a house with a yard. She forced thoughts of the future out of
her mind; she needed to regain her memories of the past first.

When they returned to the penthouse, Jon
found a deck of cards. Neither of them had played cards in years,
but they found themselves playing Go Fish and gin rummy. They spent
the next several hours laughing about how poorly they both played
and how blatantly they cheated. Even in a city as huge as this one,
they found wonderful, simple things to share, and she absolutely
loved that. Guess no matter where she was, as long as she was with
Jon it would be home.

When cards got old, they moved to another
game, Truth or Dare.

“How old were you when you had your first
kiss?” she asked.

“Ten. My turn. What’s your favorite
position?”

“Jon, really? You can’t start with questions
like that.”

“No? Well, I never played this game before.
Can I change my question?”

“Yes, please do.” She laughed.

“Okay, when I kiss your neck like this, what
does it make you want?”

Jon leaned toward her. She couldn’t pull
herself away. She longed for the feel of him. He kissed up her neck
to her jaw, then finally claimed her lips. It was the kind of slow,
gentle, and tender kiss you wished would never end. Her body
tingled all over as he pulled her against him. She wasn’t the only
one who’d been affected; she could feel his growing erection.

Just when she thought she couldn’t take
anymore, Jon stopped.

Sitting only inches away from her he asked,
“So, truth or dare?”

Still breathing heavily, Lizette replied
softly, “I think you have your answer already.” She put her hands
on his chest and scooted back. “Let’s go back to playing cards.
Know any other games we haven’t played yet?”