“Molly, please, I can’t talk about this anymore. I don’t love him anymore, and he’s not interested in me. When will you guys understand? Garrett always gets what he wants. He’s not a subtle man. If he wanted me, don’t you think he’d go for me?”
When Beth and Molly exchanged sad looks and fell silent, Kate’s stomach sank. Well, what had she expected? Had she wanted one of them to lie and contradict her? Maybe so, but the truth was the truth, and they couldn’t change it.
Molly attempted to lighten up the suddenly somber ambience. “I still think it’s sweet, you going over with soup and muffins.”
“Well, he’s obviously sick because of me. I have to repay the favor. I was thinking of doing something nice for him to say thank-you for taking care of me, anyway.”
For holding me and watching my fever break and just making me feel like he cares at least a little bit.
Even if the devil’s ultimate plan had probably been to remove Miami from Kate’s agenda.
She sighed as she glanced at the muffins. Without further hesitation, she put them in a small basket, then poured the soup in a large glass container. This might be the last time in her life she nursed Garrett back to health, so she had to make it count.
* * *
The doorman recognized Kate as she walked into the marble lobby with her goodies in her arms. She told him that she was here to drop the stuff off for Garrett, and he allowed her to go up to the penthouse.
Trying not to make noise, she entered the palatial bachelor pad. It was simple and modern, with dark leather furniture with chrome accents, glass tables and dark walnut flooring. But what she most loved was the stainless-steel, state-of-the-art kitchen. It almost seemed to be merely decorative, since she knew Garrett rarely ate at home, but it was still worthy of a five-star restaurant.
Heating up the hot drawer, Kate slid the chicken soup container inside, and then set the muffins on a covered cake stand. Satisfied with her work, she resisted the urge to go primp herself, but did take a peek at her appearance in the mirror over the entry console.
She looked...quite nice, actually.
Now that she was no longer sick, the color had returned to her cheeks. Her eyes had a nice shine, as though she were excited about something, and the soft cotton sundress with blue-and-white stripes almost made it seem like she was ready for the beach. She’d bought it specifically with Florida in mind, but, oh well, today she’d felt like wearing something he hadn’t seen her in before.
And she wasn’t even going to dwell on her reasoning either.
It was only that he’d looked extra good when he’d come to see her and she’d felt and looked like crapola, and now she wanted him to...well, to think she looked like a fresh piece of sunshine.
“Garrett?” She called his name softly down the hall, her stomach turning leaden at each tentative footstep she took toward his bedroom. She didn’t know what she’d do if she found him in bed with someone. Nothing, probably, but she would definitely cry about it later.
She knew he slept with women. A man like him had his choice of girls all the time. But Garrett had always been discreet about it and he’d never really paraded a lot of women in front of Kate. She couldn’t begin to imagine how much it would hurt if she saw him kissing someone, or lying in bed with someone, or putting his arm around someone....
She paused at his open bedroom door, holding her breath. The drapes were wide open, letting the sun inside. His bedroom was done in different shades of gray and black, the nightstands made of ebony wood with chrome accessories. It was all so manly, she couldn’t imagine any design more fitting to Garrett’s dark good looks.
Something warm flitted through her when she spotted his prone figure on the bed. Her heart almost stopped when she realized he was only wearing a pair of black boxer briefs, the rest of his body covered in his natural golden tan and nothing else. Suddenly he looked very large, very dark and very powerful.
“Garrett?”
He stiffened almost imperceptibly, but Kate couldn’t miss the tensing of the muscles in his back. “I’m going to kill my mother,” he growled into his folded arm.
“She didn’t tell me. Molly did.”
“Then I’m going to kill Julian.”
He rolled to his side and pulled the satiny gray bedspread up to his waist.
It was hard not to notice how beautiful his muscled torso was, and how sexy he looked with his dark hair all rumpled.
It was also hard not to notice his scowl.
Kate bit back a smile and stepped in with her arms up in feigned innocence. “Me. Come. In. Peace. Bring food. For. Grumpy. Man. May I pass?”
“Freckles, get away or you will get strep again.”
“I will not.”
“Get out of here, Katie.”
She shook her head. “Katie. No. Understand. What. Grumpy. Man. Says.”
“Grumpy man says leave,” Garrett said, but all of Kate’s maternal instincts had flared to life with just one look at him, and she couldn’t suppress the need to coddle this man like she had when they were younger and she’d helped Eleanor take care of him.
She kicked off her shoes, and before thinking about it, jumped onto the bed next to him, taking care not to touch any part of his body. “You’re not the only bed crasher, you know. I have full authority to crash your bed now that you’ve crashed mine twice.”
He sighed and closed his eyes, banging his head on the headboard. “Get out of my bed.”
“Not until you let me feed you. Starve the virus, feed the fever? Sound familiar? My part-time doc told it to me.”
“Docs are renowned for failing to take their own advice.”
“This one is special. Hey, have they medicated you?”
“I’m already drugged as hell. I don’t want to eat, Freckles. Just get out of here.”
Now Kate scowled, too.
“Garrett, why won’t you look at me? Are you in pain? You look like you are.”
“Yeah, I’m in pain.”
“What is it? Is it your head?” She felt his forehead and he was definitely hot. And she noticed he’d stiffened.
“Don’t,” he murmured, seizing her wrist and returning her hand to her lap.
Eyes widening at the lines of agony carved in his face, she curled her fingers into her palm because they tingled after his touch.
He inhaled long and deep before his lids finally lifted open, and her heart melted when he looked at her with that dark, tired gaze. His glassy look killed her, but something there, something she couldn’t decipher, made her stomach constrict. His pupils were fully dilated and his eyes held a strange awareness.