Nick held his hands up, still refusing to make eye contact and said, “Ladies, I don’t have many rules, but I have to draw the line at talking about hemorrhoids, tampons or PMS. If you want to talk about sex, then I’m your guy, well unless it’s with my brother, but no talk of the female cycle or anything hanging out of your body, ok?”
They all laughed, and Suzy called the waiter over to order a beer for him. For such a ladies’ man, the guy really needed to loosen up. She had to appreciate the fact that although he didn’t know them all that well, he was still willing to spend his day taking her to a doctor’s appointment and then spend lunch with three women. From what she could tell, like his brother, Nick was a good man.
All too soon lunch was over and they dropped Claire back at the front doors of Danvers. Suzy tried to convince Nick to let her go into the office to pick up her mail, but he adamantly refused. He did offer to pick it up on Saturday and bring it to her. By the time they made it home, Suzy was exhausted and her body seemed to be aching all over. She didn’t want to admit it, but she’d overdone it a bit today. She was grateful when Beth suggested she rest on the couch for a while.
Nick offered to stay for a few hours so that Beth could go to the supermarket and pick up some of Suzy’s clothing. She’d refused to wear sweat pants for another day so Beth had caved to pressure and promised that she’d have her own clothing by tomorrow.
~~~
Gray sat on the bed in his hotel looking down at his cell phone. He’d wanted to hear Suzy’s voice, but according to Nick’s text, she was sound asleep on the couch. Disappointment stabbed through him even though he’d just talked to her a few hours earlier. Running his hand across his face, he admitted that Nick was right about him, he was a love-sick sap. Being away from her was tearing him apart. He knew that once she was his, he’d be able to breathe easier when they were apart. Right now with so much hanging in the balance, he was afraid of losing ground while he was away. He just couldn’t start over again with her. It had been hard before, but now that he’d finally established intimacy between them, even though they hadn’t had sex, the bond was there. He’d go to pieces if she walked away now. Giving someone this type of power scared the hell out of him. If he was smart, he’d probably run and never look back. He knew that he’d past the point of no return, his life was with Suzy and a life without her was nothing at all.
The one thing still stopping him from relaxing was Reva. He wasn’t naive enough to believe that the silence since changing phone numbers would last. She’d be back and it was high time he dealt with it. He couldn’t start a life with Suzy with something like that hanging over them. It was also time that he came clean with Suzy and told her what was going on. When she’d asked about him changing his cell phone number that morning, he’d been stumbling around like an idiot trying to find an explanation. Gray had always believed in being honest and he wasn’t going to continue keeping something like this from her. He didn’t want to tell her over the phone, but as soon as he got home, it was time to level with her and hope that it didn’t change anything.
He was surprised at how well things had progressed between them. The feel of her hand on his butt yesterday had both shocked him and almost brought him to his knees. He’d always desired her, even with the front she presented to him and the world. You couldn’t be a male and not immediately take notice when she walked into a room. Suzy was a drop-dead gorgeous woman and she didn’t dress to minimize it. It wasn’t that she dressed specifically to draw attention to it; she was just unique and her style represented that. He wouldn’t change anything about her. Just smelling the light fragrance of her perfume when she walked by him was enough to make him hard as a rock.
He’d been amused by her when they’d first met. She seemed to do and say a lot of things just for the shock value. He had a feeling being raised by such uptight parents had something to do with it. He’d bet that she’d spent her adolescence finding ways to get a reaction out of them. They probably about had a coronary the first time she walked out wearing an eye-popping animal print. Gray saw through the smoke and mirrors to the person underneath that camouflage. Suzy might seem tough, but she was breakable. She acted like she didn’t want or need affection when in reality, she craved it. She wanted someone to love her enough to peel back her layers and see the person inside.
As Gray started dressing to attend a party at the home of their potential new customer, he was still uneasy and the feeling bothered him. He decided to text Nick again to make sure everything was ok. He hated to have these gut feelings because they invariably drove him crazy until whatever was causing them finally presented itself.
Chapter Twelve
Gray had been gone for almost two weeks. Suzy had no idea it was possible to miss someone as much as she’d missed him. The simple trip that Gray had assumed would last no more than a week had run much longer than he’d imagined. He had been in Nevada for a little over a week and then in California dealing with a supply problem, which luckily he’d finally settled. The new guy at Danvers, Declan Stone, was flying down to California in the morning and Gray was handing the reins over to him. He thought someone should be there for a few extra days to ensure there were no other issues and he didn’t want it to be him. He’d wanted to fly home for an evening just to see her but she’d put her foot down, or her boot at least. As much as she wanted him home, she didn’t want just a few hours. She had big plans for Gray tomorrow night when he finally made it home and she didn’t want to be rushed.
Suzy was feeling much better than she had when he left. She’d learned to manage pretty well on her crutches and was much more mobile now. Things that she’d always taken for granted like showering or going to the bathroom still required more time, but she was getting the hang of it. Beth had finally brought over her clothing and it felt better to look more like herself. Skinny jeans were out since she couldn’t fit them over her cast, but skirts were comfortable even if she had to settle for ugly flat heeled shoes to go with them.
Gray had insisted on Nick staying with her and Beth at night. She was glad to have him in the house, but Beth seemed to hate every moment of it and never failed to let Nick know. If Suzy didn’t know better, she’d swear it was some form of foreplay between them. Beth had been working at Danvers for the past week. She went in to pick up messages and mail and returned the calls and handled correspondence for Suzy. She planned to go back to work on Monday. She knew it would be a fight with Gray, but she couldn’t stay home forever and with several projects in the works, she had to be there in person some of the time.