Not Planning on You (Danvers #2)(10)
Nick left to get checked into a hotel, and Gray made his way back to Suzy’s room. He was surprised and pleased to see that she was awake and talking to Beth. Gray walked over to the bedside and was relieved to see the color was back in her face. Beth had also helped her change into a gown that was much more…Suzy. The woman did like the leopard skin.
~~~
Suzy felt her heart skip a beat as Gray walked in the door. Here she was lying in a hospital bed in complete disarray, and he looked like he’d just stepped off the pages of GQ Magazine. She felt a little better since changing out of the horrid hospital gown but there was only so much leopard skin could do. Her hair was a mess, her make-up was gone, and she was pretty sure she even smelled. She looked like she’d been rode hard and put up wet.
Suzy cleared her throat and tried to come up with one of her usual smart comments. The fact that it wasn’t coming naturally was out of character. It must be the damn drugs. “Hey slick, sorry about the date disaster and all.”
“Couldn’t be helped, Suzanna. You might want to check into some more sensible shoes though before our next date,” Gray said.
“Yeah, right, I don’t do sensible, you should know that by now,” Suzy sniffed.
Gray walked over and picked her small hand up from the top of the hospital sheet and rubbed his thumb slowly back and forth over the sensitive nerves of her palm. He locked his gaze with hers and lowered his voice to a sexy timber, “Oh, I know you Suzanna, better than you know yourself.”
Beth shifted in place awkwardly, clearly uncomfortable with the tension in the room. “Um…Sis, I’m heading home now. Are you sure you don’t want me to call mom and dad?”
Tearing her gaze from Gray’s, Suzy warned, “You better not unless you want me to send them your way next.”
Beth held up her hands in surrender and said, “Ok, ok, but we might actually need their help. How are you going to get to the second-floor of your condo on crutches, and I also live on the second floor.”
“Beth don’t worry about it; Suzy will stay with me,” assured Gray.
“The hell I will,” shouted Suzy. The sudden movement jarred her injured ribs, and pain flooded through her.
Gray saw Suzy’s face pale and pressed the call button for a nurse. He rubbed her arm in a soothing pattern and said, “Baby, calm down. We can talk about all this later.”
A nurse came in and soon Suzy was floating again. As she was drifting away, she wondered when she’d started allowing Gray to call her ‘baby’ and had he always smelled sooo good.
Gray watched Suzy’s eyes grow heavy and soon the fight left her body. It was going to be a battle to convince her to move in with him until she was recovered. If he had his way, she’d be living with him permanently. This kicked things into overdrive a bit on the house front. He knew Suzy would use the excuse that he was living in the penthouse of Danvers to avoid moving in with him. He planned to take care of that in the morning. If there was one thing having money had taught him, things that usually took weeks could be accomplished in days or hours. He’d call a realtor tonight and look at homes first thing in the morning.
Gray noticed Beth fidgeting, clearly uneasy over being in the room with him. Beth was a stunning woman, but obviously not comfortable taking center stage. Suzy not only took it; she owned it. Giving her a smile, Gray said, “Beth, I’ll see that Suzy is taken care of when she’s released, you don’t have to worry about anything in that regard. I’d like to ask a question, though, why is Suzy so against contacting your parents? I’d think they would want to know about her accident.”
Giving him a shy smile, Beth said, “Our parents are a little…different. Actually, they’re a lot different. I get along ok because I don’t rock the boat, but Suzy has battled with them for all of our lives. They’re both professors, quite brilliant really. They live, eat and breathe higher education. Our mother is a history professor and our father a biology professor. I caved to pressure a bit, which is one of the reasons I’m a teacher. Suzy rebelled from early on, and they clashed at every turn. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure they love us in their own way, but they aren’t warm, nurturing people. If they came here now, they would spend the entire visit lecturing Suzy about her job, her clothes and how her lifestyle caused her injury.”
As if realizing that she’d been talking to a near stranger, Beth’s face flushed a pink shade. “Thank you for telling me, Beth, I appreciate the honesty. I’ll in turn be honest with you. I’m crazy about your sister and have been for quite a while. I realize that it will take some time for her to be able to trust again after the emotional damage that Jeff inflected on her, but I’m not going anywhere.
Beth appeared to study him for a moment as if testing the sincerity of his words. Finally, she seemed to come to some decision, and he could see her face softening. “Gray, I believe you. My sister comes across as fearless and unbreakable but that’s just a façade. Don’t get me wrong, I fully believe that she could conquer the world if she wanted to; very little stops her. She can, however, be hurt. Jeff did a real number on her, and I watched her fall to pieces over it. She got up and brushed herself off but make no mistake, inside she’s still torn apart. I know she has feelings for you too even though she has tried to fight it. With an affectionate smile, Beth added, “She can never hide anything from me. Don’t let my quiet demeanor fool you though, if you hurt my sister you will have two Denton sisters after you and that, my friend, would not be pleasant.”