“I’m a little out of my league with this one,” he admitted with a sigh, which made her a little nervous because that meant-

“We have two choices here, Tinkerbelle,” Danny said, taking her hand into his. “I can either take you to the emergency room or go get my brother.”

Yeah, that’s what she figured he was going to say.

“I’m fine,” she said, and she was just as long as she didn’t move or care that seventy percent of her body was on fire.

“Sweetheart,” he said, giving her hand a small squeeze, “you’ve got some serious rug burn from a hotel carpet. Besides the fact that it looks really painful, I’m concerned about all the bacteria.”

“I’ll just rinse off in the shower. It will be fine,” she said, moving to do just that when Danny decided to go into detail.

“Sweetheart, it’s a hotel room carpet,” he stressed. “It’s probably coated with dirt, sweat, rotted food, urine, semen, fecal-.”

“Okay,” she rushed out, cutting him off as she squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to think about all the bacteria coating her body, “go get your brother!”

*-*-*-*

“Get the germs out! Get them out!” Tinkerbelle muttered into her pillow, her small hands gripping the pillow she had her face buried in, tightly.

“He’ll be here soon,” he said soothingly as he glanced down at his watch, wondering what was taking his brother so damn long to get his ass here.

“It’s gross!” she whined miserably into her pillow.

“Shhh, I know, sweetheart. I know,” he said, gently rubbing her leg as he tried not to look at the damage he’d done to her back and bottom.

He may have lost control a little at the end there…….

“No more sex on hotel floors,” she muttered.

“Agreed,” he easily agreed, because as far as game plans went, he’d seriously fucked this one up.

He should have waited and gone with his plans to make this special for her. He should have gone with yellow roses, her favorite, sleigh rides, holding her in front of the fire, champagne, chocolate and-oh, fuck.

Swallowing, he stood up and walked over to the bag he’d dropped. Even before he picked the bag up, he already knew he’d fucked up more than just the rug burn. He picked up the bag, looked inside and closed his eyes in defeat.

Condoms.

He’d forgotten to wear a condom, something that he’d never done before. His father had drilled it into his head to always use a condom.

Always.

Dropping the bag on the coffee table, he walked back over to the bed and sat down. “Tinkerbelle?”

“Hmmm?”

“I have to tell you something.”

“What’s that?”

“I, um,” he started to say only to pause to take a deep breath, “I didn’t use a condom.”

“Oh, crap,” she muttered with a groan that ended with an, “Ow!” when he tried to give her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

“Sorry,” he said, wondering just how badly he was going to end up fucking this whole thing up.

Chapter 33

“Is your brother here yet?” she asked, simply to have something to say to break the silence.

When he didn’t answer her, she turned her head and opened her eyes to find him sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at the wall. “Danny?”

“I’m going to marry you,” he simply said, taking her by surprise.

“I’m sorry. What?” she asked, trying to sit up, but the pain shooting up and down her back had her lying back down on her stomach with a wince.

“I’m going to marry you,” he said more firmly this time.

“Is this about the condom?” she asked, having absolutely no idea where else this could be coming from.

“Yes,” he said, sighing as he shook his head and said, “No,” confusing her even more.

“Okaaay,” she said, drawing out the word, even more confused now.

“This isn’t because of the condom, Tinkerbelle,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I planned on asking you. I have a game plan and everything, but I thought after what happened tonight that I should tell you that I planned on marrying you in case-”

“In case this got me pregnant,” she finished for him with a nod of understanding.

“Yeah,” he said, turning his head and giving her one of those smiles that she loved. “I didn’t want you to worry.”

She grabbed a handful of comforter as she struggled not to have a nervous breakdown. “I wasn’t worried,” she said, glad that she was lying down for this conversation. She wasn’t ready to get married, not yet.

After what Jerry had put her through, was still putting her through, she was in no position to get married. She was still cleaning up the damage her last fiancé had left her with. She had an insane amount of debt, barely any savings and a year before she’d be out of debt. She didn’t want to go into a marriage like that. When she got married it would be without debt and without the daily stress that she had to deal with.

She didn’t want her problems to become his.

“Good,” he said, leaning down and kissing her cheek, “I don’t want you to worry about anything.”

“Danny, I can’t-”

“Thank God,” he said, sighing with relief as he stood up to go answer the knock at the door that had stopped her from telling him that she couldn’t marry him.

It was probably for the best, she decided as she closed her eyes and prepared herself for his brother to see her naked, scratched up ass. What she wasn’t prepared for was Danny’s father seeing her ass instead.

*-*-*-*

“Aidan told me that you needed a doctor,” his father said before he could ask him what he was doing here.

For a moment he considered turning his father away, but Jodi needed him. With a nod, he stepped back and gestured for his father to come in. Without another word, his father walked into the room and headed to the bed where he suddenly stopped and stared.

“Is that, um,” his father cleared his throat just as he noticed Tinkerbelle’s beautiful skin turning a fiery bright red from the tips of her toes to the tips of her ears, “rug burn?”

“Is that Dr. Bradford?” she whispered.

“Yes,” Danny said, answering both questions at once.

“I see,” she said, lifting her head as she grabbed her pillow and in one move, pulled the pillow over her head and attempted to hide.

“From this rug?” his father asked offhandedly as he glanced down at the dark green rug.

“Yes,” he said, leaning back against the wall, waiting for his father to fix Jodi’s back and leave.

“You’re probably going to need a shot of antibiotics as well as a topical solution just in case,” his father said, clearly intent on acting like he wasn’t even in the room.

Like usual.

He wasn’t having that, not when it came to his Tinkerbelle. “She reacts badly to medicine,” he told his father, not at all surprised when his father didn’t bother looking at him.

“What’s her reaction?” his father asked, taking the black backpack off his shoulder and placing it on the edge of the bed next to Jodi’s dainty little feet.