Linden: Rocking Pleasure: New Adult College Romance (Coral Gables Series Book 3) Read Free

Priest here. So would you please get a doctor, and I will gladly figure it out with them?”
    “ I’m sorry I’m keeping you from going to bed, Miss Leroux,” Linden murmurs sheepishly.
    “ It’s okay,” I whisper back.
    I have a feeling the woman just checked the insurance line, because suddenly there’s a smile on her face. “Please come right along here, Mr. Priest.”
    When he looks at me with an uncertain expression, I nod. “Go.”
    “ Would you maybe … come with me?” he asks hesitantly.
    Sweet Jesus, are you kidding me? I think. All right, so I asked for a miracle when I left that craptastic party, but, God, was it really necessary to send me a helpless man whose hand I seem to be destined to hold? Recently, God seems to have been enjoying making a fool out of me. I sigh. “Okay, I’ll stay with you.”
    Linden’s face lights up. “Thank you, Miss Leroux.”
    “ But please call me Thalia. I don’t like being called Miss Leroux.”
    “ Okay. Thank you, Thalia,” he repeats.
    “ You’re welcome, Mr. Priest.”
    We follow the woman into one of the examination rooms, and only a few minutes later, a doctor shows up. “Good morning, Mr. Priest,” he says. “You’ve injured your right hand, I hear?”
    Linden holds up his bloodied hand, and now I can see the large cut across his palm, dirty and rather deep.
    I feel queasy. I turn away so I don’t have to look too closely.
    “ What happened?” the doctor asks.
    “ I don’t remember.”
    “ What is the last thing you remember, Mr. Priest?”
    “ A phone number, which Miss Leroux has called already,” he answers.
    “ What is your name?”
    “ Linden Julian Priest,” Linden says.
    “ When and where were you born?” the doctor continues, cleaning Linden’s hand at the same time, which I verify with a hesitant glance over my shoulder.
    “ On March eighteenth, but I have no idea where,” he says.
    “ We need to run a few tests,” the doctor decides. He’s bandaging Linden’s hand, after cleaning it and putting some garishly colored ointment on the cut. Probably iodine.
    “ What kind of test?” I ask. I’m not a pre-med student or anything, but I am curious.
    “ We need to look at his brainwaves, do an EEG and a CT, maybe even an MRI,” the doctor explains.
    I give a curt nod. “How long is that going to take?”
    “ Mr. Priest would have to be admitted as an inpatient.”
    “ Yeah, you should do that,” I say. “I think it would be best if he stayed here for now.” Why is the doctor speaking to me anyway? I’m just the girl that picked up a stranger on the curb.
    “ You have to sign for the hospitalization. With amnesia, he isn’t considered compos mentis —of sound mind.”
    My eyebrows shoot up. “I’m not a relative. I’m sure I can’t sign for him,” I stall. I hope they’re not going to make me.
    The doctor takes a deep breath.
    “ Please, would you just sign it, Thalia?” Linden asks.
    I have no idea what to do. Maybe this is Candid Camera , and my friends have staged an elaborate stunt for my birthday because I told them to skip the jokes for an entire year. Or maybe this is real, and I’m somehow responsible for this guy. My shoulders droop. “Okay. I’ll sign it.”
    “ Please wait here, Mr. Priest. I’ll be back in a minute.” The doctor starts to leave the room and motions for me to follow.
    “ Okay, Linden,” I say once we’re alone. “I’ll go home after signing this thing. If I find the time, I’ll come back tomorrow.”
    “ Will you promise me that?”
    What a big baby! But I try to smile. “Sure. And if I really can’t manage it, your friend has my number.”
    “ Okay. Thanks a lot for driving me here and everything.”
    “ Don’t mention it. Get well soon, Linden.” I leave the examination room and follow the doctor into his office. I’m still surprised I have to sign this form for his admittance. Linden doesn’t exactly look like a man who needs a legal guardian. But I put