Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 56651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
I spent the rest of my shift tending to my patients. But in between checking vitals, dispensing meds, and comfort, I daydreamed about Drake.
CHAPTER FOUR
Drake
This was it. After weeks of waiting and wondering who she was, if she might like me, if she was even real… Tonight, or early in the morning, I would see Sunshine. Not just for a minute in a parking lot, though that had been glorious.
Tonight, I would take her on a date.
Dana Boyle, I reminded myself. That was her name. And what a name it was.
It was the perfect name for the perfect girl.
My Sunshine had had quite a life, I thought after reading her file for the dozenth time. Hard knocks didn’t begin to cover it. I stared at the photo of the beautiful young woman holding a newborn child. There was a lot of sadness in those eyes. Sadness, and a little bit of guarded hope. A little bit of tentative joy. A young single mother with no father in sight. Then a tragic accident. Dana had been orphaned young and adopted by an already elderly aunt with limited resources. But her aunt had raised her well. The girl was tough as grits and as determined as anyone I had ever known. Dana had pulled herself up by her bootstraps with sheer will and determination.
I knew everything about her that could be gleaned from public records. I had the file sitting on my kitchen table. Now I just needed to learn what wasn’t in the file… her hopes and dreams. What made her happy. What mad her tick.
I would use anything I had at my disposal to win her over. My future depended on it. It felt like my life, my salvation, depended on winning her heart.
Because even now, even after such a short time, I could not imagine a life without Sunshine in it.
I flipped the file open, pawing through the pictures, scant newspaper clippings, and other details of her life. It didn’t feel wrong, even though I knew she wouldn’t like it. Who would? But she would never find out the lengths I had gone to. That was my secret. And I would take it to the grave.
Trace and Cain had dug deep, even Vice had gone in the act, doing the leg work visiting neighbors, friends, various schools, and going through old files in her church’s basement, while Trace mined the web. Cain had called in favors he had all over the state of California, including in the adoption and child welfare systems who had extensive files on her even all these years later. Hell, he somehow knew the superintendent of her old school district, gaining access for Vice.
It had been a team effort. And what a fucking team it was. Together, they had found every little scrap and detail about her life.
Cain hadn’t wanted me to pay but I had insisted, though they certainly gave me the friend price and didn’t charge for a rush job, the way they would if I was some random client. I wanted to pay them more. The information they had gotten for me was worth its weight in gold. I still owed them big time.
They had delivered up my Sunshine.
And now all I had to do was collect.
Tonight was the start of that. The start of us. It was the beginning of our long and happy life together, if I had anything to say about it.
So I had gone all out. I wanted to impress the girl. And make sure she was well fed for the rest of her shift. Nobody worked harder than my Sunshine. She had a hard job. She needed her energy. I had gotten everything cold that Mae’s had to offer. Milkshakes, of course. Cold pies. Sandwiches. Two sundaes. And if they were still open when she had her break, I would be picking up some hot options as well. Hell, I might just wait until they were about to close and order the hot stuff anyway. I texted Mae to set that up in advance. She wrote back that she had some insulated to go bags that would keep food hot, or at least warm, for up to three hours.
I intended to spoil my Sunshine rotten.
The dramatic switch from carefree asshole to devoted man with a mission was not lost on me. Everyone was talking about it. I knew I was a changed man. Seeing myself in this moment would have shocked the hell out of me, barely over two weeks ago.
But now?
I couldn’t see any way forward other than this. I had one purpose. I had one goal and one only.
Sunshine was mine.
Tonight was the first step of many.
But I would achieve my mission.
I would make her mine.
I sat back with my feet up to wait for her text.